Lu Boyan extended his hand to Su Jianan, and she held it obediently. With the thermal lunchbox in her hand, she hastened her pace to match his.
Su Jianan took special notice when they passed by the assistant’s office.
It seemed like everyone was even busier than before, but the atmosphere in the office had not changed much. The typical panic at the verge of danger was not present; not a bit of chaos. Everything was in order and steadily progressing as always.
After entering the office, Su Jianan pushed the lunchbox to Lu Boyan. “I’ve brought you lunch.”
Her dainty face was grinning from side to side. Lu Boyan’s heart fluttered for a moment, and in the next moment, he pulled her in by her waist and kissed her on the lips.
They thought they were going to stop just after having a quick taste.
But they had been too busy lately, and the only time they had together was to exchange a few words before sleeping. It was only that time when Lu Boyan realized that he had missed the little monster’s sweetness more than ever.
It was Su Jianan who forcefully pushed Lu Boyan away in the end. She pursed her lips, and asked, “I heard Shen Yuechuan mention some Huinan Bank earlier on. Are you going to get a loan from them?”
Huinan Bank was a foreign investment bank. Su Jianan had heard that their newly appointed loan manager was a returnee, who had grown up overseas. He was very young, yet farsighted and accomplished.
Could he give Lu Enterprises the hope to survive?
Lu Boyan said, “I will be attending a cocktail party the day after, to meet their loan manager.”
The previous group of people at the golf course had left Su Jianan tramautized. She was hesitant, “Would this person…”
“They won’t.” Lu Boyan knew what Su Jianan was worried about. “Fang Qize grew up in the United States, and is Westernized in his ideas. Even if he was going to reject the deal, he would be doing it in a gentlemanly way.”
“…” Su Jianan looked at Lu Boyan speechlessly—it was a crucial period. How could the man still be so at ease about the possibility of being rejected?
Considering that the chance of Huinan Bank rejecting Lu Enterprises’ loan request that time, then Lu Enterprises… would really be done for.
Lu Boyan ironed out Su Jianan’s knitted brows, and decided to reveal his plans to her anyway, “If Huinan Bank were to reject my application, I will still have other ways to help Lu Enterprises. “Stop knitting your brows. You look like a little old granny.”
“What ways do you have?” Su Jianan’s eyes were shimmering in curiosity.
Lu Boyan acted secretively, pinching her face. “I’ll tell you when it’s time.”
Su Jianan pouted, refusing to continue fooling around with him. She said, “I’m heading to the police station.”
Two days went by quickly; Su Jianan accompanied Lu Boyan to the cocktail party.
Su Jianan dressed in her usual style: a simple long gown, her hair bunned up simply. She used light makeup, making her small face look incredibly charming.
She held a cup of cocktail in one hand, the other arm was locked to Lu Boyan. She would often receive praises like, “Mrs. Lu is so pretty”, but regardless of whether they were sincere or diplomatic, she would accept them all with a smile, and adroitly reciprocated with compliments.
She had been to many of such occasions with Lu Boyan, and had learned so many more things than she did in school.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThey were already done walking around the event hall, and suddenly a man’s voice called from the side, “Mr. Lu.”
It was a strange but somewhat familiar voice. Su Jianan subconsciously looked in the direction of where the voice came from, and she was stunned.
The man who Han Ruoxi was kissing at the top floor of the hotel, was right beside Han Ruoxi at that very moment.
They were locking arms according to social ettiquette. It was not particularly intimate, yet anyone could see right through that they had an intimate relationship.
Lu Boyan leaned towards her, and said into her ear, “The loan manager of Huinan Bank, Fang Qize.”
“Boom—” It was like something had exploded in Su Jianan’s head.
“—He listens to me. You better remember that.”
Su Jianan finally understood why Han Ruoxi had said those words to her.
She subconsciously tightened her grip on Lu Boyan. She asked, “Why is Mr. Fang together with Han Ruoxi?”
“I’m not sure,” Lu Boyan said. “I’ve never heard of them knowing each other.”
“…” But, did Han Ruoxi not say that Fang Qize had been wooing her for a year?
Among the state of confusion, the four people had come to meet.
Fang Qize initiated a handshake with Lu Boyan. “Mr. Lu, nice to meet you.”
Lu Boyan shook hands with Fang Qize, and introduced Su Jianan to him, “This is my wife.”
“I had heard that Mrs. Lu was young and beautiful. Now I get to see it for myself in person.” Fang Qize shook Su Jianan’s hand very gentlemanly, and then looked at Lu Boyan. “Mr. Lu, shall we go somewhere else quiet to speak?”
Su Jianan loosened her grip on Lu Boyan. Lu Boyan whispered to her, “Go look for Yuechuan. I’ll come look for you after I’m done.”
She nodded, and watched Lu Boyan and Fang Qize walk into the lounge, then turned to look at Han Ruoxi. As expected, there was a smirk of sarcasm on her beautiful, charming face.
“Su Jianan,” Han Ruoxi said. “I hope you haven’t forgotten what I told you.”
“What are you trying to say?” Su Jianan paused and then said, “Or shall I ask you, what do you want?”
Han Ruoxi had told her, Fang Qize strongly obeyed her.
She was simply hinting that, if she were to pull some strings, chances that Fang Qize would grant Lu Enterprises’ a loan would increase greatly.
But, with such a good opportunity, why did Han Ruoxi come to her to request for conditions, instead of Lu Boyan?
“My condition is—for you to initiate a divorce with Boyan.”
Just when Su Jianan was feeling perplexed, Han Ruoxi gave her command in the most arrogant way.
Su Jianan could not help but sneer. “Han Ruoxi, you must be crazy.”
“That’s right. I’ve gone crazy.” Han Ruoxi closed in on Su Jianan. “Since I can’t have him, then neither can you! As long as you divorce him, then I can convince Ah Ze to grant the loan to Lu Enterprises. Otherwise, you can wait and watch him be burdened with debt and eventually go into bankruptcy!”
Su Jianan shooked her head with determination, “Even if he went bankrupt, I would stay with him to rebuild what we had. Han Ruoxi, you’ve miscalculated.”
“Heh, did you think it was a cliché soap opera?”
Even if Huinan Bank did not grant the loan, Lu Boyan would still have other ways. Even if Lu Boyan had no other way to go, he would still not agree to a divorce just to get a loan from Huinan Bank.
“Han Ruoxi.” Su Jianan looked at the glamorous star with pity for the first time. “Do you really like Fang Qize?”
“I don’t like him.” Han Ruoxi was honest, smiling as she said. “But Lu Boyan needs something from him. This is why I had agreed to date him.”
Su Jianan was left speechless, and was no longer willing to say another word. She turned to leave.
She started liking Lu Boyan even before Han Ruoxi did, and she believed that her love for Lu Boyan was not any lesser than Han Ruoxi’s. Yet, she would never lose herself like that.
Han Ruoxi was no longer the strong and independent queen her fans saw her as.
Shen Yuechuan was chatting with a few people when Su Jianan approached him and said, “Boyan asked me to come look for you.”
Shen Yuechuan took her away, and replaced the cocktail in her hand with fruit juice, saying, “Don’t indulge on cocktail like it’s not alchohol. You’ll get drunk once you drink too much of it. If you get drunk, I would be doomed.”
It was only then that Su Jianan noticed how Shen Yuechuan was being a rather considerate and attentive person. She looked at him curiously and asked, “Do you have a girlfriend?”
As far as she could remember, Shen Yuechuan had been following Lu Boyan forever; it had not seemed as if there had been any women around him.
That made no sense. Even though Shen Yuechuan could be a bit frivolous, he was surely reliable whenever he was working. And he was comparable to Lu Boyan in terms of looks. Unless…
Shen Yuechuan asked back instead, “Sister-in-law, do you want to introduce anyone to me?”
Su Jianan took a sip of juice, and said calmly, “Before I introduce anyone, I need to first confirm your sexual orientation.”
Shen Yuechuan glanced at Su Jianan, and said in a lighthearted manner, “Don’t worry. My orientation is very mainstream, very normal. Your Boss Lu is very safe.”
Su Jianan glanced at the lounge. It seemed like Lu Boyan would not be done with the talk so soon, so she decided to nose around with Shen Yuechuan a bit more, “Have ever had a girlfriend?”
“It’s your Boss Lu who never had a girlfriend up until this age,” Shen Yuechuan said. “Too many female celebrities had exhausted all ways to try to stick by his side, but he had never looked at any of them properly. Now that I’ve mentioned it, Boss Lu is really a somebody.”
There was a sense of blissfulness in Su Jianan’s honesty as she spoke, “That’s because he likes me!”
Shen Yuechuan smiled all of a sudden; his tone changed to a sentimental sighing, “Yeah, he has always liked you.”
He liked her to the extent that, even when Lu Enterprises was in such a serious crisis, he would rather lower himself to seek everywhere for a loan, in order to not let Su Jianan down and not put her in danger. He would probably have never agreed to such extreme methods to save Lu Enterprises until the very last moment.
When the two of them were still chatting, a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around Su Jianan’s waist. A familiar presence enveloped her. She turned to see; it was indeed Lu Boyan.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmShe asked excitedly, “How did your talk with Mr. Fang go?”
“Mr. Fang said he would need time to consider,” Lu Boyan said.
“… Oh.” Su Jianan allowed only disappointment to surface, while repressing the uneasiness inside her.
Would Fang Qize trully obey Han Ruoxi completely?
Lu Boyan lifted the sides of Su Jianan’s lips with his fingers, “The fact that Mr. Fang is willing to consider, means that Lu Enterprises still has chance. You should be happy.”
Su Jianan forced a smile, and continued to follow Lu Boyan around to meet people.
The business world was transitory and ever-changing. For anyone to be accomplished, they would have to become extremely shrewd. If not because Su Jianan had deliberately taken note, she might not have been able to tell the subtle difference in attitude those people had towards Lu Boyan.
They were still polite as ever, but there was an additional attitude akin to a spectator who was waiting to watch a good show.
Everyone was waiting for Lu Boyan to lose that battle, and watch him become the butt of the joke.
Su Jianan could not fathom, what sort of faces they would be making by then.
It was already past 11 p.m. when they got home after the event ended. After Su Jianan was done removing her makeup and bathing, she lay in bed as Han Ruoxi’s voice uncontrollably resounded in her head.
“—initiate a divorce with Boyan.”
Initiate… a divorce…
She turned over and buried herself in Lu Boyan’s embrace, ordering herself to stop thinking about it. But her mind was beyond her control, being completely filled with Han Ruoxi’s voice.
She transformed into the Little Monster, crawling onto Lu Boyan.
Lu Boyan was surprised for a moment, then squinted his eyes, and solemnly looked at Su Jianan.
Su Jianan mustered her courage and dived in, going right for Lu Boyan’s lips, kissing them.
Just like when she had stolen a kiss from Lu Boyan, her heart was pounding, then turning flustered very quickly—what should she do next? Who was going to tell her what to do next?
Lu Boyan raised his brows at her. She bit her lips, and let go of him at once. “I won’t do it again!”
“Stupid.”
Just as he finished speaking, Lu Boyan had already gotten the tables flipped, flipping over to pin Su Jianan down instead.
He brushed her fringe apart, and smirked. “Mr. Lu is going to give you a lesson. Learn carefully.”
“…”
When she woke up the next day, Su Jianan had forgotten how many times Lu Boyan had taught her.
Of course, she still could not master it.