Unlike what a lot of you predicted..Yan Liang doesn’t agree. What are her motivations ? In the mean time trouble is brewing elsewhere.
Chapter 31
“Lets get engaged.”
Hearing no objection from her, Jiang Yu Nan took the ring in one hand, her hand in the other. He was going to put the ring on her finger.
Yan Liang panicked a little. She bowed her head a little to look at the ring that was going to be put on her finger. It was more than a carat. Suddenly she snatched back her hand.
Jiang Yu Nan’ s hand was now empty. He looked at the woman in front of her. Her hands were fisted on her side.
He frowned.
Looking at his scrunched eyebrows and his deep bottomless eyes, her heart skipped a beat. “I…”
His expression was becoming more and chilly, and Yan Liang was not sure how to continue. She felt at her wit’s end, uncertain.. The only certainty was that this man was waiting for an answer.
Yan Liang finally responded ,” Give me a month.”
“……” “…”
“……” “…”
Half a month later, Yan Liang watched the first snow of the year as she returned home, heralding the onset of winter.
On Monday , during the regular meetings, the CFO announced his intentions to retire early. Zhou Cheng was appointed the new CFO.
Through the windows of the conference room, one could see the vast expanse of the roof. The glass was fogged.The outside temperature was close to zero while the inside was maintained at a constant 20 degrees. Jiang Yu Nan personally announced the name of the new CFO. Yan Liang could not help but glance at Zhou Chang sitting diagonally opposite her.
In this weather, Zhou Chang was wearing a three piece suit which looked thin and inadequate in the cold. But on his face, there appeared rare traces of happiness.
After the meeting, Zhou Cheng got up to accept the congratulations of his colleagues.
Yan Liang stood up, and was walking toward him to congratulate him when she was surprised to see Xu Ziqing cut diagonally across the room and stand in front of him, “ Congratulations !”
Zhou Chang looked at Xi Ziqing, his eyes cautious, “Thank you.”
Seeing this scene, Yan Liang paused. The she turned towards the door of the conference room .Yan Liang soon reached the elevator bank. She saw a few people standing there, waiting for the elevator and she paused for a moment. Jiang Yu Nan, Secretary Li and both managers were standing there. Secretary Li greeted her first.”Ms Yan.”
Secretary Li’s voice faded, she looked at Jiang Yu Nan standing behind her.
This was not the first time that she had experienced Jiang Yu Nan being very polite and distant to her. He simply nodded and Yan Liang felt a little strange.
Till the lift reached, Yan Liang did not smile as well.
She forced herself to move away as far as possible from Jiang Yu Nan and not to look at him at all. She looked up at the display as the numbers of the floor rapidly changed. Suddenly her cell phone vibrated.
She took out the phone .Jiang Yu Nan had sent her a text message, although, obviously ,he was still in the elevator with her.
She took the phone to the side and surreptitiously peeked at the message. “ I can’t have lunch with you. Something came up.”
She thought about it and was about to text back ,”ok” when Jiang Yu Nan sent her another message.
“He got promoted. You should be happy for him, why do you look unhappy?”
(Miumiu : This guys is certainly jealous of Zhou Cheng!!)
Yan Liang was surprised.
In the meeting , he had never looked at her. When the meeting was finished, he was the first to come out. When did he see her unhappy ?
Yan Liang touched her face. She had no clue why he thought she was unhappy. She did not respond and just put her phone back into her bag.
As the elevator arrived at the respective floors , the occupants moved out. The only people left inside were Secretary Li, Jiang Yu Nan and Yan Liang. At the 64th floor, Jiang Yu Nan and secretary Li also prepared to leave the elevator. Secretary Li was the first to get out, and Yan Liang took half a step to the side to allow Jiang Yu Nan, who was behind her, to move forward.
As he walked towards the door, while passing her, his arms suddenly wrapped around her waist . Yan Liang stared at him, stunned and he kissed her on her lips. Yan Liang shrunk back.
The whole process was over in two seconds. Before Yan Liang could recover, Jiang Yu Nan gave her a slight smile, then as if nothing had happened, he calmly adjusted her collar and walked away.
(Miumiu : Awww.. how cute is that ?)
The only person in the elevator now, Yan Liang looked at the door closing with widened eyes. Then she recovered and raised her hand to touch her lips and laughed
She really didn’t have anything urgent this morning. Rather than stay in office, she thought it was better to go to the rooftop, breathe in some fresh air. Maybe because of the snow, unfortunately, the roof access had been locked by security. She sat on the steps, her thoughts in confusion.
She looked at her watch, it was 10:50 now. Of the one month period she had asked for, only 14 days,13 hours and 10 minutes were left.
She had asked for a months time. She had thought that would be enough to get her thoughts together. She never expected that time would fly by so quickly; in an instant half a month had passed by.
She had tried to probe him countless times before, but she had simply wanted a sense of security.
Marriage – this was the most insecure thing.
In half a month’s time, what had she thought through?
Nothing. They were both working round the clock, he didn’t ask her anything and she didn’t want to ask him.
At that moment, when she was just planning on how to proceed from then on, her phone rang
Her assistant asked her,” We’ve got the advance approval for the make up products. The design department has sent two alternative designs.”
Yan Liang sighed, “ I’m coming.”
She stood up and patted her cheeks.
Within a short time, she was back in office. Work was important. She could deal with everything else later on. “ Where are the designs?”
Her assistant immediately handed over the designs to her.”What about the 3D effect?”
The designer handed over the USB to her, “It’s in here.”
“ Lets get into the conference room.” She turned around and walked towards the conference room while her assistant called out,” Guys, please go to the conference room. I’ll get the projector.”
“……” “…”
Thus, Yan Liang worked overtime for almost a week. She was exhausted but very satisfied – of course, only with her work.
At one o clock in the morning , Yan Liang put on her coat and scarf intending to leave the company and have dinner with her team members who had worked overtime.
As they walked down to the ground floor, a colleague took his car out of the parking lot, intending to give all of them a lift. As they walked toward the car, they suddenly heard a subordinate exclaim,”Huh!”
Yan Liang was just getting ready to get into the car. Hearing the remark, she straightened up and looked back. This time the subordinate said, “ Isn’t that Director Zhou?”
Yan Liang was surprised. She looked back at where the subordinate was looking. Zhou Chang and some staff from the finance department were also getting ready to get into a car.
Zhou Chang also saw her, he came forward to speak to Yan Liang. “ You’ve just finished work as well?”
It was so cold that she could see his breath condensing in white vapours as he spoke.
The Ya Yan team and the Finance team decided to have dinner together.
Yan Liang naturally sat in Zhou Cheng’s car.
The heating was on full volume, Yan Liang took off her scarf and rubbed her palms together , finally feeling warm enough.
Zhou Chang looked at her though the rear view mirror, “ Only a few days have passed, why do you look like you’ve aged several years?”
“ You don’t look any better.”
“ No way, I’ve only worked continuously for three days in a row.’
The talked all the way. The atmosphere should have been harmonious, but Yan Liang felt a little restless because Zhou Cheng’s phone kept vibrating , but he never answered.
The first time the phone vibrated, she didn’t realise what was happening. But when it continued for the second time, the third time, and many times after that, she finally determined that the vibrations were coming from Zhou Cheng’s brief case placed in the back seat of the car.
Yan Liang finally could not help but ask, “ Why are you not taking the call?”
As soon as she finished speaking, the phone vibrated again.
Zhou Cheng hesitated a bit, picked up the phone and hung up.
He put the phone on silent mode, and put it in his pocket.
Yan Liang frowned,”You..”
Zhou Cheng switched on the radio and adjusted the volume. He gave her an irritated look, forcing Yan Liang to hold back her questions.
He seemed to have unconsciously accelerated the car.In the silence of the car, they both suddenly heard the sound of something snapping.
The car jerked abruptly. Zhou Cheng braked.
The car had been driven into a deep rut on the side of the road and finally came to a stop.
“ What happened ?” Yan Liang wound down her window to look out.
Zhou Cheng opened the door in his side. “I’ll go out and check.”
As the door opened, the cold wind outside entered the car. Yan Liang shrunk back. She put up the window on her side. Zhou Cheng returned “ There is ice on the road. It hasn’t been plowed. My tires couldn’t handle it.”
( Miumiu : I thought cars skid on the ice. I’m not sure what happened to the tire. I drive , but in a tropical country. I tried googling it but nothing. If any of you drive in icy roads can you please let me know so I can change the words if required. I try to be as accurate as possible :))
“Then..”
“Don’t get out. I can handle it myself.”
As he was talking, he bent into the car and adjusted the heater. Then he stepped outside and closed the door.
The windows were fogged. Yan Liang leaned back. She use her sleeves to wipe off the condensation on the window and watched Zhou Cheng changing the tire.
At this moment, Yan Liang saw a light blinking on the drivers seat.
She looked down..it was Zhou Cheng’s phone.
His phone had fallen in the car. The screen blinked continuously.
Yan Liang looked out of the window, Zhou Cheng was taking out the spare tire. She again looked at the phone.
Her brain was telling her not to dig any deeper, while her heart was curious. She hesitated and then picked up the phone.
The screen showed seventeen missed calls, and one last message,
“ Zhou Cheng, if you don’t help me, I’m finished!!”
The message was from Xu Ziqing.