Chapter 45
Ok. Apologies are in order.
One, I wrongly translated the last sentence in chapter 44. Its corrected now. Unfortunately this kind of thing happens because the translator doesn’t know a word of Chinese. It usually happens in the midst of a chapter so I can correct it before I publish it.
Two, the reveal starts in Chapter 45.. but you really need to get to know only in chapter 46. So you’ll have to wait for one more day for the BIG REVEAL. Sorry.. I thought it was 45.
Chapter 45
“When are you going to come with me to visit your father’s grave?”
The other side seemed to be outdoors. The quiet tone was accompanied by the sound of winds, equally cold, “In some time.”
“Then I will go alone once every day,” Jiang Shi Jun said. He leaned his head back, as if talking to a very familiar person. “When will you be free? The flowers you sent last time have withered away.”
There was no more conversation. The other side hung up the phone, Jiang Shi Jun called his secretary as he touched the side of the pot of tea on his table. It had long ago gone cold.
“Get me some tea.”
“Ok.”
Jiang Shi Jun never liked to wait for too long, so the secretary was trained well to work quickly. Soon there was a knock on the door.
Jiang Shi Jun looked up, “Come in.”
The door was pushed open, but it wasn’t the secretary..
Jiang Shi Jun was surprised for a moment, narrowed his eyes suspiciously and then an elegant smile spread on his face, “Why did you come?”
Xu Ziqing carried a pot of tea inside and smiled, “ Why ? Don’t you want to see me ?”
Xu Ziqing approached the desk. Using an antique tea set, she quickly poured the tea and handed a cup to Jiang Shi Jun
He took the cup but did not drink. He asked her, “ Weren’t the lawyers supposed to come and read the will today?”
“ I left after they ended.”
“What happened?” He asked again, and seemed to be more anxious than her.
Xu Ziqing smiled wryly, “As expected, my Dad gave Xu to my sister.”
As she said this, she poured tea for herself.
She was looking so calm that Jiang Yu Nan narrowed his eyes and looked at her again, “ I thought you would resent that.”
Contrary to his expectations, Xu Ziqing helplessly shrugged her shoulders, “Xu is now in a volatile situation. She will take over that mess. Jiang Yu Nan is very capable , but how much will he be able to save the situation? Rather than charge directly, I figured it is better in a business community to be the woman behind a successful man.”
Xu Ziqing , while drinking her tea, secretly observed the reactions of Jiang Yu Nan to her views. He simply nodded , but there were no other emotions.
She did not understand his response, she should relax…
Ignoring the tumult in her mind, Xu Ziqing sat on the arm of his chair and looked at his gray sideburns. Then she tilted her head back and asked, “What about you? What are you doing?”
“”Come on, we will go and have dinner.”
Jiang Shi Jun stood up. Both of them walked towards the door. He took his jacket from the hanger and wore it. Standing behind him, Xu Ziqing lightly touched the phone in her bag.
When the key was pressed, the phone rang immediately.
As he put on his jacket, Jiang Shi Jun heard the phone ring and turned around. Xu Ziqing picked up the phone and said, “Mom?”
“……” “…”
“ I am outside.” Xu Ziqing looked up at Jiang Shi Jun, paused , and then continued , “ What happened?”
“……” “…”
“Yes, I’ll go back soon.”
She hung up the phone and apologetically looked at Jiang Shi Jun, “ I cant have dinner with you..”
“Something happened at home?”
Xu Ziqing nodded his head.
“……” “…”
“……” “…”
“Well, okay.”
Jiang Shijun readily agreed. Xu Ziqing walked quickly walked to his side and kissed his cheek, “Next time.”
Then she walked away , quickly disappearing around the corner.
As soon as she was out of his sight, she started running, all traces of elegance disappearing. She ran into the elevator, reached the ground floor and hailed a taxi. Only when the car pulled away was she able to suppress the trembling in her body.
She could not help but look back and see the Li Bo building becoming smaller and smaller. She still felt that from the window of the top floor, a pair of eyes was staring at her fiercely.
Stunned, she immediately turned away, hesitated, then picked up her phone and dialled a string of familiar numbers. Her heart settled down slightly. The phone was quickly connected. Xu Ziqing did not wait for him to speak and she said, “Where are you?”
“……” “…”
Zhou Cheng did not answer, she said: “I urgently, urgently need to see you!”
*** ***
Yan Liang lived in the Xu house for three days, till Jiang Yu Nan was forced to come and drag her away.The funeral was supposed to be held the next Monday. Her mother was very busy so when Jiang Yu Nan came to take her away, it was actually quite a critical period.
When they stepped out of the house together, for the first time, she pulled away from him and appeared dissatisfied. “You should not pull me way. I am not at ease with my mother being alone in this empty house.”
“Your mother is the one who asked me to take you away.”
Hearing this, she raised her eyebrows. She did not say anything and turned to look out of the window.There seemed to be strange distance between her and Jiang Yu Nan now.
“ You don’t seem to have slept for a few days, the dark cycles under your eyes are scary.”
She leaned back, pillowing her head on his shoulder. Her speech was slow and tired, “ Yesterday some of dad’s friends came to visit us. Including Liu Jun.”
“ They have sold our shares. How did they have the gall to say “ Sorry” when they did not think about our feelings?
“……” “…”
“Really … … the world is cold.” Yan Liang carefully chewed out the word,
Jiang Yu Nan just hugged her and tightened his hold on her hands, “ Dont think so much…”
“ How can I not think? My father is dead. If I am not successful, then it will be like I single handedly ruined all his efforts”.
Yan Liang paused, thought about it and decided to say something else, “ I have been thinking. What if we re-purchase the stock and at the same time create a new share plan, so that my mother and other trusted shareholders get a preferential dividend? If there is no way to stop the hostile takeover, the acquirer will be forced to pay higher prices and this may push them into a financial crisis.”
“
“……” “…”
“……” “…”
“Yes there is a way. If we figure out who is behind the hostile takeover, we can actually find a friendly supporter , we can deliberately raise the purchase price. We can lock in the right to choose,…”
Jiang Yu Nan, who had been listening to her, interrupted. “If you did that, you would not have to repel the hostile takeover, maybe you will go bankrupt first.”
Yan Liang was taken aback.
After thinking about the matter, she had to concede that what he said was right…
“Then……”
She wanted to blurt out her question but was interrupted by the ringing of the phone. Only her subordinates knew the new phone number, so as to shelter her from the media and other nuisances.
Every time the phone rang, she was expecting another piece of bad news.
So she did not delay even half a second and immediately picked up the call.
It was Zhou Cheng
“..Zhou Cheng…”
She had only said this one word when she was interrupted by him,” Where are you ? I have something to show you.”
Yan Liang was surprised.
Zhou Cheng speaking to her in this tone made her sit up straighter, “What happened ?”
“ The line is not clear. In short, I need you to come now to the apartment that you used to live in.”
Jiang Yu Nan looked at her questioningly , at the same time, Zhou Cheng said ,” Don’t ask why. Just come over now.”
“……” “…”
“……” “…”
Yan Liang reluctantly said ,”Don’t tell me this is because of Xu Ziqing.”
“……” “…”
“……” “…”
Zhou Cheng was silent but Yan Liang was already determined , she could only say ,”Ok.”
She hung up the phone and wondered what to tell Jiang Yu Nan when he asked,” what happened ?”
Obviously he heard the urgent voice in the other end. He also heard some of the conversation. Naturally, he did not miss the sentence that Yan Liang had uttered ..don’t tell me this is because of Xu Ziqing
But he did not wait for Yan Liang’s answer and said, “I’ll drop you back.”
“No, I’ll take a taxi. You go home.”
Jiang Yu Nan no longer insisted. He asked the driver to stop the car , watched her hail a taxi and only then told the driver to drive away.
His car quickly took the next lane and they could no longer see each other.
More than ten minutes later, the taxi reached Yan Liang’s apartment.
She saw Zhou Cheng waiting not far from the parking lot, his body leaning against his car. She looked around but could not see Xu Ziqing
As Yan Liang took her bag from the taxi, Zhou Cheng also saw her.
“Where are we going ?”
Zhou Cheng decide to sit in the drivers seat, as if to tell Yan Liang that this time he was determined not to answer any of her questions.
“ Just now were you out with Jiang Yu Nan?”
“Yes what’s the matter?”
“It’s nothing……”
His tone sounded weird but Yan Liang did not ask again.
The car was going further and further into the suburbs until it reached the cemetery.
Yan Liang did not how to ask why they were taking this extremely strange trip.
Zhou Cheng got out of the car and led Yan Liang along the stone steps of the mountain. Yan Liang stopped at the steps and reminded him ,” You have come to the wrong place. My dad is in another cemetery.”
She did not go further but Zhou Cheng simply reached out and pulled her.
Yan Liang could only reluctantly keep up with him
Finally he reached the tombstone of a stranger.
Yan Liang stopped.
She looked at the tombstone. It was dusty and seemed to not have been tended to for a long time. Next to the photo, there were two fresh bouquets of flowers . She could not help but break the silence and ask ,”Who is he?”
Miumiu : I think it’s fairly obvious who he is