To Escape an Arranged Marriage, I Became the Heir’s Fake Girlfriend - Episode 35

Qi Jinyou was momentarily speechless—his logic was flawless.

The two got out of the car again and removed their helmets.

At this moment, Qi Jinyou felt an unprecedented sense of openness in her heart.

“Do you always come here to practice driving?” She could tell that Song Chu was very familiar with the track.

Driving on city roads couldn’t fully showcase a supercar’s performance; only on a closed racing circuit like this could its true power be unleashed. The mini track at the F&F Club was clearly not enough for him.

The man nodded and turned his gaze toward the road ahead.

Qi Jinyou could tell that he genuinely liked supercars and wasn’t just showing off.

“I used to have a prejudice against people who drove supercars, thinking they only did it for attention. But now, I realize I was wrong.”

Song Chu turned his head and studied her face for a moment.

She was obviously in a better mood.

He asked, “Do you want to experience what it’s like to drive a supercar?”

Before, Qi Jinyou would have refused without hesitation. But now, she found that she no longer felt the same resistance toward it.

After a few seconds of silence, she still shook her head. “No.”

She thought of Zhuang Xiaoran’s radiant expression when driving a sports car—behind that carefree look was immense financial support.

Song Chu’s gaze lingered on her face for a moment before he finally spoke. “Get in the car, let’s go back. I’m hungry.”

Qi Jinyou checked the time—it was almost nine o’clock. She asked, “Why didn’t we eat before coming here?”

The man gave her a look of silent exasperation and didn’t reply.

They got back into the car and drove back to the city. Near her apartment complex, they found a small restaurant with decent food. After eating, Song Chu dropped her off at home before leaving.

Even when she got into bed, ready to sleep, she still hadn’t received any messages or calls from Le Yi. It seemed she hadn’t convinced her family yet.

Wednesday to Friday
Qi Jinyou was busy with the villa’s interior design project.

On Wednesday afternoon, she received a message from Le Yi: “Mother has finally given her approval.”

On Thursday, just before finishing work, she got a message from Chen Nuo inviting her to dinner. She politely declined, saying she was too busy with work—which was true. She had to work overtime until 9 PM for the past two days. She was eager to secure this project, both to prove herself and for the substantial commission.

Her efforts paid off. On Friday morning, she completed all the design drafts and quotations. After a final review in the afternoon, she sent them to her supervisor’s email.

At lunchtime, her team sat together to eat. Shi Heng, one of her colleagues and a senior designer at Da Jiang Company, approached her.

“Xiao Qi, how’s your design coming along?”

Qi Jinyou gave him a polite smile. “Engineer Shi, it’s almost done. I’m just finalizing the quotation.”

She anticipated that he wanted to know her total quote, so she cut him off before he could ask.

Pricing was often a key factor in a client’s final decision.

When she first joined the company, she had studied the past projects of her team members. Shi Heng’s designs stood out to her—not because they were remarkable, but because they were repetitive and uninspired.

To put it nicely, he ‘learned from successful cases.’ To put it bluntly, he copied them.

Every company had people like this—those who just coasted along.

As a newcomer, Qi Jinyou couldn’t afford to offend him, so she remained vague with her answer.

Seeing that he couldn’t get any information from her, Shi Heng looked displeased, let out a dismissive snort, and walked away.

That afternoon, Qi Jinyou carefully reviewed her design drafts before packaging them and sending them to her supervisor. She finished half an hour later than usual.

She silently prayed that her design would make it to the final selection and looked forward to meeting the client next week.

As she stepped out of the office building, the weather was clear and bright.

After a busy week, she finally felt a weight lifted off her shoulders.

While crossing the parking lot, she debated whether to treat herself to a nice meal at a restaurant before taking the bus home or just take a taxi and order delivery instead. She chose the latter.

Eating alone at a restaurant felt lonelier—especially on a Friday night.

She stood by the roadside, waiting for a taxi. The office building was located on a moderately busy main road, which was now filled with cars.

A sports car drove past—a black one.

Qi Jinyou froze for a moment. It reminded her of Song Chu’s car.

Her eyes followed the vehicle for a few meters, but upon closer inspection, she realized it was far inferior to his Bugatti in both appearance and aura.

Since Tuesday night, Song Chu hadn’t contacted her again.

Thinking about it, there was really no reason for them to stay in touch.

It was rush hour, so her taxi would take five minutes to arrive.

Leaning against a street sign, she suddenly recalled what her aunt had said about the Song family planning a political marriage for him.

Her aunt had called her again after that, once more urging her to consider Chen Nuo.

She had told her she was busy and hung up. But she knew there would be many more such calls in the future, and the thought irritated her.

Before leaving work, Chen Nuo had texted again, offering to pick her up for dinner.

Qi Jinyou declined once more.

But she realized that even if she got rid of Chen Nuo, there would be Zhang Nuo, Wang Nuo…

She needed to save money faster.

Whenever she had free time, she checked part-time job postings in chat groups. But those jobs were always taken in seconds, and by the time she was available, it was too late.

For now, she couldn’t go back to the club either.

She decided to visit her parents’ graves the day after tomorrow.

Sitting in the taxi, she opened a ticket-booking app and bought a train ticket to Lincheng for an early morning trip—she would return the same day.

Thinking of home reminded her of her mother, Shen Wan.

Her father always said he had pursued her mother. But one day, he accidentally let it slip that it was actually the other way around. Back then, her father had come from an ordinary background—with nothing but good looks to his name.

It took courage to ‘marry down.’ Her mother had that courage—she had given up things that most people eagerly chased after.

But ‘marrying up’ required courage too.

Qi Jinyou gazed at the passing skyscrapers outside the window, lost in thought.

Suddenly, she found her own reflections rather pointless.

There were far more important things in life than love—like what she would have for dinner, or the fact that Le Yi was coming to Haishi next week.

When the driver received a new order, Qi Jinyou got out of the taxi at the entrance of her apartment complex.

Stepping out of the car, she felt as if she had shed a heavy burden, much lighter than before.

She had figured some things out—or perhaps there was never that much to worry about in the first place.

Her lighthearted mood translated into her steps, which became brisk and cheerful.

Meanwhile, Song Chu sat in his car and watched everything unfold, feeling increasingly frustrated.

He had left work half an hour early to wait outside her office, watching as she walked past his car, glued to her phone, without even glancing his way.

He had deliberately driven the Bugatti she had ridden in multiple times.

He had watched her for a long time, seeing her get into a taxi looking deep in thought.

Following her all the way to her neighborhood, he parked in a noticeable spot near the entrance, waiting to see if she would finally notice him.

But she got out of the taxi, visibly happy, and walked right past him—completely oblivious to his presence.

Song Chu let out a sigh, shaking his head in frustration.

This woman had been blind for years—he could trace it all the way back.