Chapter 40
“I will retire early in the middle of next
year. As for the successor, I have a candidate. She is -”
“……” “…”
“- Xu Ziqing.”
As soon as Jiang Shi Jun stopped speaking, there was an uproar in the audience.
The camera zoomed to the reporter, the entire media was surprised and were looking at each other’s faces in confusion.
The camera zoomed back to Jiang Shi Jun’s face. His face was blurry because of the countless lights shining on him, but there was a faint smile at the corners of his mouth; ultimately what did that smile mean ?
Yan Liang sat stunned in front of the Tv , incapable of moving till she heard the sound of the door opening.
She was woken up from here reverie. At that moment, advertisements were being shown on the tv. She had been staring at the tv for so long she hadn’t even realised when the news on Jiang Shi Jun had ended.
She turned and looked at the door.
Jiang Yu Nan had just changed intro slippers and looked up to meet Yan Liang’s eyes.
He was surprised to see her at home at this time,”Why are you back so early?”
Yan Liang was completely dispirited , with her hand on her forehead, she didn’t even want to sigh,” Now with this situation, doing anything is as good as doing nothing. There is no way to clean up this mess.”
Jiang Yu Nan was surprised for a moment. He came to her side, and as per his usual habit, hugged her shoulders ,”Why are you suddenly thinking so negatively ?”
Yan Liang was still sitting on the sofa, she looked up at the man in front if her. Suddenly she extended her arms and firmly hugged Jiang Yu Nan’s waist and leaned her head against it.
She did not want to speak, she had no words to express herself, she just held on to him tightly.
Today, he was the only one she could depend on.
…
Jiang Yu Nan had never faced a situation like this before. He was obviously a bit uncomfortable, but after a pause, he gently caressed her hair to pacify her.
Yan Liang looked up and asked him,” How did your meeting with Lai Zhengnian go?”
The Xu Group was in such a turbulent situation , the most important thing at this moment was to stabilise the morale of the key shareholders.
Obviously Jiang Yu Nan was well aware of this point. This is why he had personally lobbied with the shareholders; it seemed the results were good , so he easily answered, “ It’s settled..”
She wasn’t alone in this, in fact she had a special team mate helping her – thinking of this, Yan Liang could finally let go of the feeling of helplessness. With her arms around her knees , she moved back to the corner of the sofa.
As she was holding on to his waist, Jiang Yu Nan felt a bit of numbness around his waist.
Now we took off his coat and sat down beside her. He heard her calmly say, “ Li Bo Group just concluded a press conference, Jiang Shi Jun had nominated Xu Ziqing as his successor.
“Oh ? Is it?” Jiang Yu Nan’s tone was also calm.
This perfunctory answer sounded harsh to Yan Liang. She opened her eyes and looked at him,”Why are you not surprised ?”
Calmly he said, “ I have already heard the news when I was in the car.”
Yan Liang’s shoulders relaxed . Of course. The whole world was watching this joke on the Xu family, how would anyone be in the dark ?
Yan Liang did feel a twinge in her heart, but she shrugged it off. Leaning her head on Jiang Yu Nan’s shoulder she said, “ I don’t understand this.”
This man was definitely a great teacher, in a placid tone he explained to her ,” Although your father favoured Zi Qing , he is neither too old nor confused. Even if he protects your sister, after this incident, it is impossible to put Xu Ziqing in any leadership position within Xu Group.
You have effortlessly won this battle. Xu Ziqing naturally understands that she can no longer succeed in Xu Group. You should know your sister’s style. Family, men, father, love ..these are all just things to be used by her to gain an advantage. Since she can longer bank on Xu, she found another backer. But this is not a profitable proposition for Jiang Shi Jun. What he saw in Xu Ziqing..”
Jiang Yu Nan abruptly stopped here, it was up to her to understand what he was alluding to.
What did the old fox see in Xu Ziqing ?
Youth and beauty ?
Or were Xu Ziqing’s interests somehow aligned to his own agenda ?
Yan Liang was puzzled and shook her head in confusion.
When she was still trying to think of other possibilities, Jiang Yu Nan raised her chin with his finger and put a stop to her train of thought..
“ It’s better to help your husband with his bath”, Jiang Yu Nan smiled at her,” don’t you think so?”
After listening to the press conference of the Li Bo Group, there was someone else who sat motionless in front of the tv for a long time, even longer than Yan Liang.
.. in Zhou Cheng’s apartment..
There were no lights in the living room. The tv screen was the only source of light. Zhou Cheng was sitting there, the sound of the ads in the tv muted to a whisper. His handsome face was mottled by the changing lights of the tv screen.
Alone and in a reverie, Zhou Cheng sat on the sofa for a long time till the sound of his cell phone ringing pulled him out of his daze.
He picked up the phone, the screen showed the name ,”Xiao Qing”.
He hesitated till the phone was about to turn dark , then hurried to answer.
The connection was established, but both sides were silent as if in tacit understanding , none wanting to break this silence and speak.
In the end, someone had to.”Have you seen it ?” Xu Ziqing asked .
Compared to Xu Ziqing’s indifference, Zhou Cheng was completely at a loss. He laughed, “ I tried calling you at least twenty times today, you didn’t even pick up once!”
After a pause, Xu Ziqing spoke again, deliberately skipping the topic “Meet me at our old place.”
Then she hung up, leaving only one person still holding the cellphone and listening to the short beeps of the line disconnecting with a desolate heart.
This was a library open till 1:00 am at night.
While he was a student, Zhou Cheng had often come here with a girl in the afternoons to sit by the window.
Until the afterglow of the sunset penetrated through the blinds, he would not leave, just so he could watch the girl sitting opposite him, studying foreign language books with her head down.
Now the library was still there, they were still sitting by the window, the same woman was sitting opposite him , but the love of his youth was lost forever.
He had sat in the library for a long time , almost near closing time.
Then he heard the footsteps of Xu Ziqing , and watched her as she sat opposite him.
“I heard Jiang Shi Jun’s statement at the press conference today.”
Xu Ziqing just looked at him, listening to his deliberately disguised , calm voice but did not speak
“You finally found a man to fulfil your ambitions, congratulations!”
His smile was extremely bitter, even more bitter than the black coffee he had ordered in advance for Xu Ziqing
Xu Ziqing seemed emotionally moved , but she suppressed her emotions forcefully, and only smiled wryly, making Zhou Cheng feel embarrassed. “My dad has already made it clear that this is the last time he can help me. If I can’t be the master of Xu, then I might as well fight to be the future master of Li Bo.”
Zhou Cheng just laughed. His smile was calm but still made a person feel uncomfortable.
Xu Ziqing’s demeanour had been restored to a calm and decisive attitude. “Jiang Shi Jun is now my only hope, Zhou Cheng , I know you will understand me.”
“……” “…”
“……” “…”
In the ensuing silence, Xu Ziqing sipped the last dregs of coffee from her cup. It was the most bitter part, but when she finished it, she smiled.
She took out her wallet from her bag, retrieved a few notes and put in on the table. Then she stood up,”Thank you for helping me cover up the fact that I had embezzled the funds from the secret project to make up for my failed investments. You even lied to Yan Liang because of this, thank you for that.”
“……” “…”
“……” “…”
“ I have replaced all the money I took. You don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
Zhou Cheng was surprised, “How did you suddenly come up with such a large sum of money? “
Xu Ziqing has turned away. There was no response.
Zhou Cheng had seen her leave numerous times before, probably,this was destined to be the last time.
After tomorrow, he was of no value to this woman, she would no longer need to meet him.
*** ***
This translation was done for miumiu596.wordpress.com.please so not copy.
The first day of their wedding, Yan Liang was exhausted after the press conference.The next day, when she woke up in the early morning, the first thought that came to mind was : after yesterday’s terrible day, today can’t be any worse, right ?
At this time, she heard a voice behind her,” What’s the first thing to do when you wake up?”
Yan Liang turned around to look. Jiang Yu Nan had woken up long back , he was looking at her.
“Good morning “, she said and kissed his lips.
Jiang Yu Nan smiled gently.
He had always been an active man and had never been in the habit of lounging in bed after he woke up. The reason he had not got up today was to wait for this morning kiss.
After the kiss, he did not dally any longer and stood up to go to the bathroom.
When he reached the door, he suddenly thought of something and turned back towards Yan Liang ,” There was a call for you on the landline at home. Someone was looking for you.”
“Oh!” Yan Liang cried. She had left the home landline number with her assistant for emergencies only. If she had called, there must be something important she wanted to tell her.
“My assistant called?”, Yan Liang immediately sat up on the bed, looking worried,” did she say something ?”
Yan Liang could not see the emotion in Jiang Yu Nan’s eyes as he was far away, but she heard him say the three words, “It was Lu Zheng.”
Miumiu : Ah ! Who do you feel more sorry for? Is it Zhou Cheng , who continues to put in all efforts for a love that will never bear fruition, a love that he had nurtured in his heart for so long ? Is it Yan Liang , who is getting more and more dependent on Jiang Yu Nan and thinks that he is by her side in all this mess?
… and how does Jiang Yu Nan react to the presence of Lu Zheng ? If all of this is just a master plan, he shouldn’t care, but does he ? That’s in chapter 41