Shoutout to Alinaza for the commission!
Miss: 【I have something tonight.】
The conference room was bright with clear windows, sunlight spread across the floor.
Lu Huaiyan looked at the WeChat message. Remembering she said she was going to see Xu Zhou today, he set his phone down and said to Zhou Qing: “Tonight’s dinner doesn’t need to be canceled.”
“Yes, Young Master Lu.” Zhou Qing said, “Just now Old Master Lu called specifically, reminding you to return to the old residence after tonight’s social dinner. He said Miss Guan brought you a gift, and by emotion and reason you should go personally to say thank you.”
How could Lu Huaiyan not understand what his grandfather was thinking?
“Miss Guan is at the old residence?” he asked faintly.
“Yes. When Old Master Lu called, it seemed he was about to take Miss Guan to the theater to watch a play.”
Lu Huaiyan lowered his head and flipped through the documents in his hand, his voice flat: “Go to Zhenbaozhai and order two bowls of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall to send to the old residence. At nine tonight, call Grandfather and tell him I’m drunk.”
Zhou Qing responded, about to leave to make the call, when he suddenly heard Lu Huaiyan say: “Make it three bowls. Two to be sent to the old residence, and one to be sent to Xinhufu after the dinner tonight.”
Old Master Lu loved Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. Before the two bowls from Zhenbaozhai even reached the old residence, he had personally come to the Lu Corporation office building.
When Lu Huaiyan received the internal call from Lu Xingqiu, he couldn’t help rubbing his brow.
No need to guess, his grandfather had definitely brought Guan Jiayi over.
Lu Xingqiu spoke pompously: “Jiayi wanted to personally deliver the gift, and also take a look around Lu Corp. I had nothing to do anyway, so I brought her along. After touring, we’ll have a simple lunch at the employee cafeteria, then head to the theater to watch Kunqu. Don’t tell me you don’t even need lunch. Either come eat with us at the cafeteria, or I’ll have someone bring the food up and we’ll eat in your office.”
Old Master Fu’s serious illness had given him some sense of sorrow at the dying of fellow old men. That’s how it is with age, people around you keep leaving one by one, and it’s hard not to feel melancholy.
He’d lived long enough to feel he’d had his fill of life; his only lingering regret was Lu Huaiyan’s marriage.
Fu Jingyao might be sick, but at least his son’s engagement with the Zhu family girl was set in stone. As for his own grandson, he was still alone, without even the shadow of a female fly near him.
How could Lu Xingqiu not be anxious?
Once the old man dug in his heels, ten oxen couldn’t pull him away. Lu Huaiyan had no choice but to tell Zhou Qing to go reserve lunch early at the employee cafeteria.
The Lu Group headquarters’ cafeteria was known for being cheap and delicious, always filled to the brim daily.
Two Chairmans appearing there at the same time, and bringing along a sweet-looking, outstandingly graceful girl, it was impossible not to attract attention.
The company gossip group exploded, and within minutes someone had dug out the girl’s background.
The little princess of the Guan family of Hong Kong City, former soloist of the Royal Ballet in the UK, and officially the principal dancer of the Northern Ballet earlier this year.
Next month’s Northern Ballet production of “Onegin” had her as the lead.
With a prestigious background, solid ability, and a kind and friendly personality, all these tags stacked together made Guan Jiayi’s social-media following instantly rival that of top-traffic starlets in the entertainment circle.
At noon, accompanying the meal were also a few assistants at Lu Huaiyan’s side, but everyone’s attention was focused on Lu Huaiyan and Guan Jiayi.
Countless people had been eyeing the cooperation between the Lu family and the Guan family.
Now that the Guan family’s little princess had come all the way from the UK to Beicheng, it was hard not to make people think in the direction of a marriage alliance.
Messages and photos in the company group were flying by the second. Almost in the blink of an eye, a long string shot out. When Zhou Qing finished accompanying the two big leaders for lunch and returned to the general office, he found all the company groups exploding.
He frowned and flipped through several hundred messages, and remembering the look on Young Master Lu’s face when he had just spoken to Miss Guan alone, he directly spoke in the group: 【Don’t make up rumors, don’t spread rumors, Young Master Lu hates this kind of gossip news the most.】
After sending the message, he glanced at the tightly closed door, not knowing whether the “Buddha Jumps Over the Wall” from Zhenbaozhai still needed to be ordered.
The gift Guan Jiayi brought for Lu Huaiyan was a bottle of men’s perfume.
Lu Huaiyan didn’t take it, saying mildly: “I don’t use perfume.”
The girl smiled sweetly upon hearing that: “This perfume is specially made by me, it’s the same scent as the agarwood you like.”
Lu Huaiyan said: “I haven’t used the agarwood at home anymore. Grandfather likes this scent. Leave it for Grandfather, I’ll thank you on his behalf.”
“How could I possibly not bring a gift for Grandpa Lu?” Guan Jiayi gave a light laugh, raised two fingers, her whole face lively: “I brought a full two bottles for Grandpa Lu.”
Lu Huaiyan quietly looked at her for a moment and said: “You shouldn’t have left the UK. This place isn’t worth you staying.”
“Who says it’s not worth it? I like Beicheng, and I also like the Beicheng Ballet.” Guan Jiayi looked straight at Lu Huaiyan, her gaze open, “I have to step out and give things a try. Daddy and Mommy support my decision, even Second Brother was persuaded by me. Ah Yuan, I don’t want to wait until I’m old and regret not doing my utmost to fight for what I want.”
Second Brother had told her Ah Yuan liked someone and told her to give up.
But she didn’t want to.
Even if he wasn’t lying, she didn’t want to give up just like this.
This was the person she liked at first sight.
She had liked him for ten whole years; if she didn’t throw herself at the flame at least once, she wouldn’t be willing.
The girl’s wholehearted devotion did not make even half a ripple on Lu Huaiyan’s face.
He nodded slightly and said: “Grandfather likes you very much. Since you’ve decided to build your career in Beicheng, I will try to let him disturb you as little as possible.”
–
When the black car drove toward Beicheng Grand Theatre, Guan Jiayi was clearly much more silent than when she came.
Old Master Lu smiled and asked her: “Did our Ah Yuan say something unpleasant to you?”
Hearing this, Guan Jiayi shook her head like a rattle-drum: “No, Ah Yuan is great, he’s just afraid I won’t get used to Beicheng and even encouraged me to dance well.”
The old man looked at the girl’s protective tone, and smiled kindly: “He’s right. More than anything else, you really should fulfill your dreams. Our Ah Yuan isn’t worth you giving up your aspirations or your career for him.”
Guan Jiayi smiled brightly: “Grandpa Lu, don’t worry, I’m just greedy, I want both my ideals and my dreams.”
The Grand Theatre was in the arts district of Beicheng. When the Lu family car passed by the painting institute in the district, Jiang Se had just walked up to the third floor of the institute.
Ji Yunyi had a lecture at the painting institute that afternoon.
By the time she arrived, the lecture was already at its end.
Jiang Se didn’t take a seat, standing quietly in the last row, listening to Ji Yunyi introduce contemporary European figurative painting.
The moment she came in, Ji Yunyi had already seen her.
When the lecture ended, she handed her script and catalogue to her assistant and walked toward Jiang Se with composed steps.
“What are you doing here?” Her voice remained as gentle as ever, “I thought this was a place you’d never want to come again in your life.”
Jiang Se indeed did not want to come.
Seven years ago, it was here she saw her mother and her mother’s student having an affair, two bodies covered in smeared oil paint intertwined together, and it had even made her feel nauseated by painting.
Jiang Se said in a calm voice: “There are some things I want to talk to Teacher Ji about.”
Ji Yunyi came to stand before Jiang Se, looked her over carefully, and smiled: “What is there left to talk about between Miss Jiang and me?”
Jiang Se slowly slipped both hands into her coat pockets, met Ji Yunyi’s gaze, and answered in the same gentle tone: “Naturally there is. The matter from seven years ago between you and your student, we’ve never talked about it.”
Her gaze drifted toward the hallway where shadows passed, and she said: “Does Teacher Ji want to talk here? Or shall we find a place with fewer people?”
The smile at Ji Yunyi’s lips cooled. After a quiet moment, she said: “To my studio.”
“A different place. That place, I will never step into again in my life.”
The smile on Ji Yunyi’s face vanished completely. She gave Jiang Se a sidelong glance and said: “Then we’ll go to your old studio.”
Jiang Se’s old studio was on the second floor, right next to Ji Yunyi’s.
She hadn’t used that studio for many years. Pushing the door open, inside was still empty, aside from a few easels and chairs, nothing else.
Those easels and chairs were the ones Jiang Se had used before.
What the studio was like when she left, it remained like now.
Ji Yunyi had never let anyone else use that studio again.
She gently pulled out a chair and sat down, legs crossed elegantly, and said to Jiang Se: “Go ahead, let me hear what from seven years ago can still drive you mad.”
Jiang Se did not sit. She stood before Ji Yunyi, looking at her, and said: “Did you come to the painting institute every weekend to have your affair? Who from the old manor’s housekeepers brought you over each time? Of the Cen family’s housekeepers, who could possibly have known about your matter with your student?”
Ji Yunyi narrowed her eyes at her, voice cold: “If you’re here just to humiliate me—”
“There was a fourth person,” Jiang Se cut her off coldly. “There has always been a fourth person in the kidnapping case from seven years ago. I’m very close to catching him. So don’t worry, I’m not here to humiliate you.”
Ji Yunyi’s brows knit: “What are you talking about?”
“There’s an inside ghost in the Cen family’s old residence. This person colluded with the real mastermind behind my kidnapping, purposely guiding me to the painting institute that day to catch you two having an affair.” Jiang Se said, “He knows your affair like the back of his hand, knows when you’ll meet, where you’ll meet. I’m going to find that person now.”
Ji Yunyi pressed her lips tight, silent.
Jiang Se glanced at her, the corner of her lips hooking up in an extremely faint smile.
That expression again.
“I’ve never told you what I went through during those three days I was kidnapped. Why don’t I tell you today?” Jiang Se smiled, “While you were busy dealing with your mess, those two men put their hands on me, tried to tear off my clothes and force drugs down my throat, saying being able to play with a socialite like me once in their lives was worth dying for.”
She pulled out a painting chair and sat facing Ji Yunyi, speaking word by word: “Do you need me to tell you in more detail? Talk about how they tried to rip open the zipper of my dress——”
“Sese!”
Jiang Se’s expression didn’t change, still smiling: “You don’t even want to listen, but the sixteen-year-old Cen Se truly lived through those two days, until Zhao Zhicheng killed them. Right when that warm blood splattered onto her face, right when she thought she was going to die, do you know what she was thinking?”
“She was thinking her father and mother and her brother would definitely avenge her, that they would definitely find those people and avenge her.” Jiang Se stared into Ji Yunyi’s eyes. “After I was kidnapped, you abandoned me once. When I begged you in the hospital to find the real mastermind, you abandoned me a second time. Teacher Ji, you abandoned me first, that’s why I abandoned the Cen family. Now, please think carefully, who could possibly be that inside ghost in the Cen family. I’ll avenge the sixteen-year-old Cen Se myself!”
Her voice was extremely calm, her expression also calm, even the curve of her lips didn’t shift half a fraction.
When these words fell, the entire oil painting room sank into dead silence.
Ji Yunyi looked at Jiang Se. The tight frown between her brows slowly smoothed out. After a long while, she slowly said: “When your father and I married, there were no feelings. After marriage, there were no feelings. After giving birth to you all, our mission was complete. He had his lover, I had mine, we didn’t interfere with each other. Several of the Cen family’s old housekeepers know about us, but the ones I’m used to are Butler Yu and Butler Hou. I like coming to the painting institute to meet Kingston on rainy days, and they all know that habit. On the day you were kidnapped, the one who brought me to the painting institute was Butler Hou.”
But Butler Hou had already retired two years ago.
The only one who could have meddled in both the kidnapping seven years ago and the switching of that jar of rock sugar was Butler Yu.
No wonder that New Year’s Eve night, when she had only said two sentences to Ji Yunyi and Cen Minghong, Butler Yu rushed over to interrupt them.
“Thank you for your honesty.” Jiang Se slowly stood up, smiling politely and gracefully, “Don’t worry, today should be the last time we see each other. I won’t come disturb you again.”
After speaking, she turned and left.
Ji Yunyi looked at her back. When she reached the doorknob and was about to push open the wooden door of the studio, she suddenly called out: “Sese.”
Jiang Se didn’t stop. With a “click” she turned the knob, and without even turning her head, walked out of the oil painting room.
—
It wasn’t yet four when she left the painting institute. Jiang Se returned to Xinhe Residence to change clothes, put on very light makeup, and calculated the time to go to Shangyue Lake Hotel.
When she arrived, there were still twenty minutes before seven. The hotel manager saw her and greeted her with a smile: “Miss Jiang, Mr. Fu is already waiting for you in the private room.”
It was still the same manager from before, one who recognized Jiang Se. Even though today she no longer bore the Cen surname, his attitude toward her was as respectful as before.
Jiang Se nodded in thanks and followed the manager to the private room.
Whether coincidence or on purpose, the room Fu Yun booked was the same one where they had once eaten together, the window facing Double Moon Lake.
They had once stood on the arch bridge in the center of the lake watching Beicheng’s first snowfall of that year.
Today Beicheng hadn’t snowed, but the bushes by the lake still carried traces of mottled spring snow.
The ice on the lake had already melted, moonlight like flowing silver drifting on the slightly wrinkled surface, turning into strands of fine glimmers.
Fu Yun saw her looking out the window and smiled in a warm voice: “After dinner, should we go walk over there? Since the snow melted, the stone arch bridge should be accessible.”
Jiang Se looked back at him: “You come here often?”
“Mm, the scenery is beautiful, and it’s not as noisy as the hotels near Beicheng. After too many social engagements, I prefer finding a place like this, eat a quiet meal alone, then take a quiet walk alone and enjoy the view.”
The man’s words were unhurried, gentle and temperate in tone. When those clear eyes looked over, there was a kind of sincerity, as if he really meant to speak heart-to-heart with you.
Jiang Se smiled lightly: “Then let’s go walk later.”
They had barely sat down before several waiters came in line to serve the dishes. Every dish was to Jiang Se’s taste.
Fu Yun’s table manners were very good, his gaze always lowered, but every time Jiang Se lifted her eyes to look at him, he caught and returned her gaze in time.
In the past she only thought him gentlemanly; she had never realized he was this perceptive.
After the meal, Jiang Se went with him to the elevator to head toward the lakeside.
The elevator reached the first floor; as soon as the doors opened, two reckless children rushed straight in.
Jiang Se was knocked off balance, and fortunately the man behind her caught her in time.
In the mirror-bright metal elevator wall, Fu Yun’s hands held her waist, his gaze quietly lowered on the top of her head. His long fingers stiffened involuntarily the moment they touched the fabric at her waist, and at the same time, his Adam’s apple moved quickly.
Without a trace of emotion, Jiang Se stared at the elevator wall. After steadying herself, she lightly withdrew her gaze and turned to say, “Thank you.”
The night wind was strong, the snow foam on the treetops falling in the cold wind.
When they were close to the lake, Jiang Se stopped walking, smiling: “It’s too windy. Let’s not go up the bridge today.”
She wrapped her coat tighter around herself. “I heard you and Zhu Mingli are getting engaged. When are you holding the banquet? I’ll send the gift over in advance.”
“What? You’re not coming in person?” Fu Yun looked at her and lifted a brow, saying with a smile, “Father’s meaning is the sooner the better. If nothing unexpected happens, the banquet will be held in the middle of next month.”
Jiang Se said in a calm tone: “My relationship with Zhu Mingli isn’t good, she may not want to see me.”
“What does that matter? When I was getting engaged to you, didn’t she also come?” Fu Yun said with a warm smile, “Besides, I’m the one inviting you, not her. Whether you come or not, you don’t need to consider her. It can’t be that just because I’m getting engaged to her, you and I can’t be friends anymore? Sese——”
Fu Yun’s smiling eyes gained a few hints of seriousness: “I said this before. No matter what happens, you’re the friend I keep in my heart at every moment. The friendship between you and me doesn’t need to consider anyone else.”
These words, Fu Yun indeed said before.
When the two of them cancelled the engagement.
Jiang Se slipped both hands into her coat pockets, walking toward the parking lot while saying carelessly: “We’ll see. The next few months I’ll be in Beicheng, but I need to get investment for the family’s liquor, I’ll probably be quite busy.”
The man sounded a little helpless: “Fine. If you don’t come, then I’ll privately ask you out for a drink, you can’t make excuses to refuse.”
Jiang Se didn’t commit, only smiled and asked him: “Did you not set ground rules with Zhu Mingli?”
Fu Yun’s smile paused: “Ground rules?”
“You forgot?” Jiang Se said, “When we got engaged before, didn’t we agree that as long as we hadn’t met someone we liked, we had to stay loyal to each other and try our best to manage that marriage. If we privately met with the opposite sex alone, at the very least we had to inform the other person as a sign of respect. Believe me, with the relationship I have with Zhu Mingli, you wouldn’t want to meet me after you get engaged.”
Fu Yun tilted his head and looked at her: “Me and Zhu Mingli, and me and you aren’t the same.”
Jiang Se said: “What’s different, you’re both chess pieces pushed out by your families to form alliances.”
“The two years I was engaged to you were the most special period in my life.” Fu Yun’s clear eyes were hidden in the pitch-black shadows of the trees, “Before that, I, the Fu family’s illegitimate son, had no place on the stage at all. After getting engaged to you, my life finally began to turn. So Sese, to me, you will always be different.”
Jiang Se’s steps slowed a little. She glanced sideways at him and said: “When I left the Cen family, you said that as long as I wanted, you could get Old Fu to agree to continue our engagement. That wasn’t a joke?”
Fu Yun laughed softly: “Of course not. But since you didn’t want it, naturally I respected your wishes.”
Jiang Se slowly smiled, indifferent: “As a marriage partner, Zhu Mingli is very suitable for you, more suitable than me. Whether I go to your engagement banquet or not, I’ll send my blessings.”
—
The parking lot was built right by the lake, a ten-minute walk around.
After Jiang Se left, Fu Yun didn’t leave with her. Instead, he returned to the stone arch bridge of Shuangyue Lake.
The bridge was silent, swaying tree shadows covering more than half the bridge.
Fu Yun walked to the center of the bridge, took out a cigarette box, and while doing so dialed a call: “No need to continue surveying the old district by Fuchun River. I’m not planning to touch that land for now.”
The person on the other end responded immediately: “Yes, Chairman Fu. By the way, the last time you asked me whether Miss Jiang was doing business with someone called ‘Boss Zhang’, I actually found a woman with the surname Zhang.”
A woman?
That day when Jiang Se was eating with him, she received a call from Boss Zhang.
She was standing by the river, smiling quite happily.
Fu Yun was very curious what kind of person could make her smile like that, so he asked someone to investigate whether this Boss Zhang was a man or a woman, and what line of work they were in.
He fished out a cigarette and held it between his teeth, asking in a gentle tone: “A distillery owner?”
“No, a qipao master, named Zhang Yue.”
Fu Yun’s hand, lighting the cigarette, paused slightly, “Qipao?”
“Yes, this qipao master’s embroidery skills are somewhat famous in Tongcheng. She originally had a qipao shop in Tongcheng.”
A “szz” sound, fire caught the cigarette tip, the burning tobacco glowed red in the darkness.
Fu Yun slowly exhaled a breath of smoke.
Back when he went to Jiangcheng to find Zhao Zhicheng, what he held in his hand seemed to be a piece of embroidery.
“Go investigate this Boss Zhang’s background.” The man removed the cigarette from his mouth and instructed with elegant calm, “When she came to Tongcheng, where she stayed before that, check everything clearly.”
—
The red sports car drove out of the hotel. Jiang Se only took out the recorder from her coat and pressed the stop button after she could no longer see Fu Yun’s figure in the rear-view mirror.
Thinking of the man’s hand on her waist in the elevator, and that slight, almost inaudible swallow when his Adam’s apple moved, her hand on the steering wheel slowly tightened.
When she returned to Xinhufu, the time had just passed ten.
A thin line of warm yellow light seeped from the crack beneath the corridor door, someone was inside.
Jiang Se entered the password to unlock the door. As soon as she stepped into the entryway, she saw the man sitting on the sofa.
He must have just showered. He wore a thin dark V-neck knit shirt, a tablet in his hand, his fingers sliding gently across the screen now and then.
At the sound of the door opening, he lifted his eyes and looked over, his gaze calm.
Jiang Se tossed her coat aside, began kicking off her shoes and unzipping the back of her dress.
The dress Fu Yun had touched slipped down to the floor as she walked toward the sofa. She stepped over it barefoot, and directly sat on Lu Huaiyan’s lap.
The man quietly studied her face, his Adam’s apple sinking slowly: “You drank with Xu Zhou?”
Jiang Se didn’t speak. She took the tablet from his hand, guided his hand to her waist, and as her body softened, she rested her chin on his shoulder.
“I didn’t drink.” She closed her eyes, pressing her cool cheek against his neck, “Lu Huaiyan, hold me.”
She crawled into his arms nearly bare of defenses. Lu Huaiyan drew a slow breath and asked in a low voice: “You only want a hug?”
“Mm. I’m so tired. Hurry and hold me.”
Lu Huaiyan freed one hand to pull the plush blanket from the sofa and draped it over her, then clasped both hands around her waist, holding her firmly in his arms.
“Is taking off your skirt really necessary just to ask for a hug?”
Jiang Se said: “The skirt got dirty, I don’t want to wear it.”
Her whole face was nestled against the hollow of his shoulder, Lu Huaiyan couldn’t see her face, so he could only touch her temple with his lips and say: “Don’t you think you’re getting more and more willful?”
Jiang Se didn’t deny it: “I’ve always been very willful.”
Lu Huaiyan laughed: “Good. I like you being this willful.”
The girl in his arms went quiet, her fragrant, soft breaths making his neck hot and itchy again, but Lu Huaiyan didn’t have any distracting thoughts. He could feel her exhaustion.
The room was silent.
No one knew how much time passed. Just when he thought she had already fallen asleep, Jiang Se suddenly murmured something almost inaudible: “You will definitely hate my willfulness in the future.”
Her voice was so light it was like she was talking in her sleep.
But Lu Huaiyan heard it clearly. He smiled, and in his low voice there was a bit of coaxing: “With your habit of bringing up my old debts at every turn, no matter who I dare to hate, it wouldn’t be you, Miss.”
