Chapter 59
Whose smile was it that dispersed like tiny particles in the blowing wind?
…… …
…… …
Fortunately, there was a sudden blow of gale like wind. The slight tremble in Yan Liang’s voice was covered by the sound of the blowing wind. “How can you promise this on behalf of the Ming Ting board….”
Suddenly her face froze. In the silence, her face , which looked like she was about to cry was instantly replace by indifference and precaution. Lu Zheng was also surprised and looked at the direction of Yan Liang’s gaze..
Jiang Yu Nan gracefully walked towards them.
Unlike his elegant manners, the man’s eyes were ice cold. Even though he came in front of Lu Zheng and greeted him politely, “Mr Lu, what a coincidence to run into you here”, Lu Zheng did not feel the slightest trace of friendliness.
She was wearing an elegant wedding gown, he was also wearing a suit. There was no need to remind Lu Zheng about the relationship between the two. Much as he would like to forget, he could no longer ignore the reality. Humbly, Lu Zheng said, “Mrs Jiang and I are good friends. I was in the vicinity today, so I decided to come over and meet her.”
“Is that so?”, Jiang Yu Nan raised his eyebrows and smiled at Yan Liang. His eyes subtly issued a warning.
Lu Zheng had no intention to stay any longer. He looked at his watch and bid farewell to the two of them, “ I need to attend to some things, I won’t disturb you anymore.” His eyes moved uncontrollably to the woman- he just wanted to say goodbye to her.
He didn’t have the opportunity to say the word after all , because at this time Jiang Yu Nan politely but indifferently said, “ Well, see you soon!”
Lu Zheng’s eyes moved from Yan Lian to Jiang Yu Nan, he nodded politely, “ See you soon.”
Yan Liang’s body was still covered by his jacket. She could only tightly clutch the jacket as she looked at the upright figure slowly walk away; she could not bring herself to utter the word..”Stay”
Go, and let him take with him the last piece of her uncorrupted and kind self. In the future, even if she turned vicious, at least in the eyes of the man who had left, she would still be the better person she had once been.
When all the photo shoots were finally completed, the sun was setting. The weather had not been sunny, now the day was turning darker. Yan Liang was in the lounge, changing out of her clothes while the staff packed up .
The rest of the room was very busy. There was an endless stream of noise from all the moving and shifting. Suddenly, all the noise ceased. Yan Liang was removing her eye make up, after a brief period of silence, she could hear the staff silently filing out of the room. She couldn’t open her eyes to see what was happening, until she heard footsteps. These deliberate, calm footsteps only belonged to one specific person
Her entire mind was filled with disgust. She pretended complete indifference as she stood in front of the mirror , picked up the cotton and continued removing her make up.
He had quietly signalled the staff to leave. It seemed that he had the courage to approach her only when he was confident they would not be disturbed
The mirror reflected Jiang Yu Nan standing behind her , but Yan Liang did not raise her eyes.
Jiang Yu Nan looked down at her dress and saw that the zipper had only been pulled down partially. He quietly pulled down the zipper fully and then placed his hands on her shoulders, not removing the dress.
His actions were very natural . Then he signalled towards the unopened gift box , “ Havent you unwrapped it yet?”
Yan Liang removed his hands from her shoulder and completely ignored his question. Neither did she touch the gift box
Instead Jiang Yu Nan picked up the gift box and opened it.
It was a pair of high heels..
The gift from Lu Zheng..
Yan Liang was quickly removing her make up. She did not want to spend a minute alone with this man, but when she saw the shoes, she froze.
After half a second, she stood up and took the box from Jiang Yu Nan.
This pair of shoes, how could she not be familiar with them?
The soles were engraved with the name of an independent designer- Elaine, and she was familiar with every stroke of that word.
Jiang Yu Nan stared at the flowery script of the English word. While Yan Liang was still in a trance, she heard him suddenly laughing, “ So you knew each other since New York.”
She looked up at him, but there were no emotions on his face. There was a world of mockery hidden under that laughter. Yan Liang was so shocked with his words, she blurted out , “ What do you mean?”
..New York..
When she was studying and did not have the slightest interaction with these two men
..New York..
Now she recalled her memories, no Jiang Yu Nan in her life, how happy she was..
Jiang Yu Nan had been calm all along, as if he was a person completely unaffected by her emotions. Even if he spoke, there was trace of disturbance.But now he quickly changed the topic, “ I thought you intended to never talk to me for the rest of my life.”
Yan Liang put the high heels in the box, She stood in front of the mirror to resume removing the last touches of her makeup, “ Do you think if I say two words to you it means I have forgiven you?”
She sneered at him, took the jacket and bag from the sofa and walked towards the door.
She couldn’t wait to leave the room , when he commented cruelly, “ I do not want you to forgive me. On the contrary, if you hate me for the rest of my life, that would be the best outcome”
“……” “…”
“……” “…”
Yan Liang paused, thought a minute on whether to answer him, then banged the door behind her as she walked out
*** ***
What does marriage mean?
In this wedding, apart from the bride, no one from Xu attended. All the political and business big shots, including Lu Zheng were invited.
As she was busy entertaining guests , Yan Liang looked at the huge display of alcohol. Between getting drunk and keeping herself clear headed , she chose the latter.
She soberly watched from the sidelines how this funny drama played out.
Two renowned TV hosts were invited to serve as master of ceremonies. The big screen was displaying the story of their love, from the time they did not know each other to now, when they were on the brink of achieving the ultimate happiness.
It was a fantastic wedding celebration, and in the hands of the masters, the packaging was done so well that it looked like the bride and groom were destined to meet, love and now live their happliy-ever-after.
No wonder all the guests broke out in loud applause.
Yan Liang looked at the big screen where their wedding photos were finally frozen, In the photo, one could not see how bad the weather had been, on the contrary, only cloudless blue skies were visible.
But then who could tell from the pictures that the smile of the bride was also fake?
After seeing off an official who had come to greet them, Jiang Yu Nan hugged her waist and leaned over her to whisper, “You smile very well.”
She wanted to laugh, but she just smiled brightly, worried that her laughter would attract attention.
Just that this smile looked very fragile, as if it would collapse at any moment
Even a professional actor would need a break. She went into the bathroom to temporarily take off hermask and listened to how the people outside were evaluating her performance.
“ If I was in her place, I would definitely chose Lu Zheng. Even if Xu was given away, at least in the future I would be the co-owner of Ming. Jiang Yu Nan is capable, he is also well placed. Life would be first class with him, but it cannot compare to owning the entire Ming Ting. As a CEO, how can he even compare?”
“ You are too materialistic. Maybe Jiang Yu Nan is her true love! Its not always about money, what about real feelings?”
“ That’s also true. The bride seems very happy. The outside world can call her crazy, but after today, when they see she is happy, maybe people will stop insulting her.”
“ Hey.. after all, she has been through a lot. She’s faced a reversal in fortunes, her father died, she lost her family business, after encountering so many mishaps, her man cannot possibly leave her on her own…”
*** ***
Yan Liang walked back to the hall, with a smile again on her face.
The two women who were talking in the bathroom were companions brought by her friends from the business community. The men came to congratulate Jiang Yu Nan . Yan Liang also greeted the women with a rare bright smile.
Once they left, Jiang Yu Nan noticed that her mood seemed better than before. He could not discern whether it was a fake smile or genuine happiness. Looking at her, he asked, “ You seem to know them.”
To speak to her, Jiang Yu Nan had dropped his head . Yan Liang lifted her eyes and looked at him , “ Just now in the bathroom, I heard them discussing a problem.”
“What is the problem?”
“……” “…”
“……” “…”
“Why I chose you, not Lu Zheng.” Yan Liang’s smile was now more beautiful, more brilliant.
Jiang Yu Nan’s bright eyes turned dark
Yan Liang was feeling good,. She took the initiative to hold his hand . His hands were stiff, revealing some emotion that he had successfully always managed to disguise earlier. Jiang Yu Nan brushed aside her hand , “ What do you want to drink?”
Saying this, he walked towards the waiter holding a tray
But she did not want to let go and held on to his arm.
She looked at him with a smile , her eyes were almost gentle. “ But I forgot to tell them that i did not choose Lu Zheng, not because I could not let go of you, but because I felt I was not worthy of him.”
“……” “…”
‘Do you understand? I am saying…” Yan liang’s voice was sweeter and sweeter but her eyes were cold. She reiterated the words again, clearly and unequivocally, “ ..I’m not worthy of him.”
Yan Liang’s voice broke..
Was this finally heartache?
For the first time in the evening, Yan Liang smiled from the heart.