Sorry. This chapter is huge..this is part 1
Chapter 82
Jiang Shi Jun was arrested under suspicion of first degree murder
The news was quickly spread through out the industry and Li stocks came crashing down as the emperor was arrested
Li was also now suspected of plagiarism, but this did not get much attention. Nevertheless, some reporters wanted to interview Yan Yan , there were numerous phone calls to the company. The spokesperson answered on behalf of Yan Liang, “ We will have a press conference the day after tomorrow, we will specifically answer any questions at that time. The only thing I can disclose now is that we identified a problem with the formula during the experimental stages. The product that will be launched the day after tomorrow will be an improved version. Li Bo probably has this problem because their spy stole the discarded formula.”
Two days later
The J’appelle conference created more interest than normal. Earlier due to Li Bo’s pressure, J’appelle could not get adequate media coverage, but this conference was fully packed.
As Yan Liang looked at the news articles, the stones in her heart finally dissolved .
After the end of the conference, she had been really busy till late at night. By the time she came back home she was always exhausted. So this was the first time she switched on the TV. She saw Jiang Shi Jun in TV.
The reporter was outside the Public Security Bureau.
Jiang Shi Jin was out on bail. Outside the bureau, the night sky was as bright as daytime with the continuous flashes of the camera.
Jiang Shi Jun did not face the reporters, his body guard escorted him to the car immediately and they drove away
Although the police only announced the name of the victim, Song Jinpeng, they did not announce anything about the footage . But in Li’s conference room, so many people had witnessed the video, this was the most sensational news and hence, it spread through the grapevine rapidly .
It was obvious to everyone in the industry that Jiang Shi Jun was ruthless, but pushing someone off the roof was really extreme madness
At that moment, Yan Liang thought to herself – how could anyone accept the cruel truth that someone he revered as a father figure was actually the murderer of his own father?
From his childhood, he had lived in hatred of his father’s murderer. How would he face the rest of his life ?
But she immediately got rid of these thoughts. She forced herself to see the news, as the two rear lights in the car gradually became smaller and smaller on the screen
When the news was shot, Jiang Shi Jun was sitting in the back seat with his lawyer while his assistant was on the front seat. The assistant was on the phone and looked back at Jiang Shi Jun, “ This call is for you.”
Jiang Shi Jun sat up and took the phone from his hands.
The other party was slow to speak
Jiang Shi Jun finally laughed, “ You’ve indeed proved yourself a worthy descendant. The student surpasses the master.”
“……” “…”
“……” “…”
“ How are you so sure that I am the one behind this?” Although the silence was finally broken, the tone was very calm.
Jiang Shi Jun sighed. The word ‘ defeat’ was one he faced after a long time.
“ Yu Nan , I have always treated you like my own son, I never thought that you would betray me. You were always the most trusted person. You know how much I loved your mother, not long after Ya Yan died, your father wanted to marry another woman. He even hypocritically asked me to be understanding, I would rather personally murder him , than allow him to destroy Ya Yan’s memory.I believe you will understand me.”
“ Are you now asking for my forgiveness because you fear that the shareholders of Li will drive you out and the whole company will fall in my hands ?”
He had really hit the mark with the comment.
Jiang Shi Jun had no time to say anything
Jiang Yu Nan hung up the phone.
*** ***
Jiang Shi Jun was the soul of Li. The industry estimated that if he was unable to avoid prison , then the Li stock would be depressed for almost five years.
J’appelle on the other hand, was flourishing rapidly. In December, the new products that were launched had numerous orders, sales naturally rose.
Based on their new launch, J’appelle quickly seized the market and was one of the top selling counters in Ming court.
Earlier, her co operation with the Ming Group was subject to a lot of satire, but now the media turned one eight degrees and started calling it a strong combination.
After inspecting the counters in the Ming Court, she made a trip to the headquarters.
Outside Lu Zheng’s office, the Secretary greeted her.
“ Is Mr Lu busy?”
“No, you can go in.”
She knocked on the door and the voice of Lu Zheng came, “ Come in.”
Yan Liang entered to find that Lu Zheng was in a meeting. She guessed it would be ending soon. She went out quickly and waited outside for a while. When the meeting ended, and the others left, Lu Zheng personally came out to lead Yan Liang inside.
“ Why didn’t your Secretary tell me you were in a meeting and that I shouldn’t disturb you ?”
“ I told her that no matter how busy I was , she was supposed to tell you always that I was not busy. Otherwise I would have to wait for you to come next time, I don’t know how many years or months later that would be.”
Lu Zheng revealed so much about himself, Yan Liang bit her lips in consternation.
Luckily, he was iron hearted enough to tease her the next second , “ So why are you looking for me ? Is it a business or personal matter ? I personally prefer the latter.”
In fact, Yan Liang now hesitated for a bit.
As Lu Zheng waited for her to answer , he dialled for the secretary to send in two cups of tea when suddenly he heard Yan Liang say , “ please help me buy a ticket to Zurich.”
Snap !
The handset in Li Zheng’s hand fell on the table.
He froze, completely stunned, them slowly turned around to see the woman sitting in the sofa opposite him.
Suddenly he was overwhelmed by too many emotions to express, he was speechless, but his breathing was slightly erratic and finally he just said , “Ok.”
After telling him about her decision, Yan Liang was completely relaxed. She got up and said, “ You’re busy, I will leave now.”
*** ***
The tickets to Zurich were booked on the 20th
This time the city was really cold
On the night before their departure, Lu Zheng called her, “ If you have already packed, I will come and pick you up.”
Yan Liang was driving at that time. “No, I have something I need to deal with. I will come directly to the airport.”
“ You can be really busy”, lu Zheng said , “ don’t cut your holiday in half and rush back to office.”
“ Don’t worry.”
No. This night was enough for her to bid farewell to all this.
Her car was parked in the same hospital where Xu jinFu had been sick for so long
She got out of the car and looked up at the night sky
It was a dark night. There were tiny ant like aircraft lights flashing in the dark – was this flying to New York ?
It was on the flight that she had seen the man for the first
time.
And it was in this hospital, that she met the strange man for the first time and learned who he was .
What was she going to do next?
Yan Liang parked the car under the Xu building, her next destination
Once the building had been acquired by Li, they had sold it. Now it was a mixed commercial complex.
There were originally forty three floors and four conference rooms. Now the whole space had been divided into tiny cubicles and there were people working overtime. Yan Liang could no longer find her own room
Was this the room when Xu Ji Fu had thrown a hot glass of water at her ? When she had been embarrassed and he had taken off his suit to help her out in that awkward situation ?
Unconsciously, Yan Liang drove her car from one place to another. She surprised even herself. She had many places to go
Eventually, her car was parked outside a jewellery store.
This was the store that made their customised wedding rings. They had not yet started their business. Yan Liang was surrounded by the morning mist . She stood alone, clad in a windbreaker , as she looked through the display glass of the store.
In fact, she couldn’t now recall where the counter was . The slinger where the man had handed over a ring to her and said, “ Lets get engaged.”
*** ***
When Yan Liang finally parked her car and took a taxi to the airport, it was almost noon.
The radio was broadcasting their next program at that time, “ With the investigation lending in the Jiang Shijun case, the former cosmetics industry emperor may be destined to imprisonment .After the unanimous decision of the shareholders of the Li group, Jiang Shijun was officially dismissed. The internal staff broke the news. One of Jiang Shi Jun’s close confidantes Li Yugan, president of theGroup, has also formally submitted his resignation to the Board of Directors. Finally, will Jiang Yu Nan compromise under the pressure of the board, or does he have no future hope in Li as well ? To find out more, tune in to our special news at 9 on today.”
It was finally over.
Even she would soon move with a new man to a new place.
The end…
Was she sad ? Happy ?
There was a slight ripple in her heart, but nothing was left anymore.
She switched off the radio
Now she could only hear the low purring of the engine. Just then her phone rang.
“ Where are you?”
“ I’m just ten minutes away.”
He seemed to be in a good mood, “ I’m waiting for you. Call me when you come in, I will come out to meet you.”
Yan Liang hung up the phone , shifted the acceleration, and with a speed of 120 kmph, accelerated away rapidly, leaving her past behind.
She could see the airport signs in front of her when there was a call on her phone from an unknown number.
“ Hello?”
“ Miss Yan”
Yan Liang was momentarily surprised, “ Secretary Lee?”
“ Where are you now ? Mr Jiang wanted me to give you a copy of some documents.”
“ If I remember correctly, I have nothing more to do with Mr Jiang.”
Yan Liang could not wait to hang up the phone. She was about the press the button when..
“ It’s a divorce agreement, he’s signed it.”
Yan Liang suddenly stopped the car.
*** ***
The sound of the brakes was as harsh as the tone of the Secretary, “ Now that you know what the document is, you can’t wait to get your hands on it.”
Yan Liang closed her eyes and started the car again. Her voice was as cold as the wind blowing outside. “ I will be waiting for you at the airport. But you only have forty minutes. If you don’t want to rush, you can send it to my lawyer directly.”
In fact, both of them knew that forty minutes would not be enough time to reach the airport from the city.
Yan Liang parked her car in the long term parking lot in the airport. With her luggage , she walked towards the airport and called lu Zheng on her phone.
“ Where are you ?”
“ Are you in the second VIP room? I will come there.”
Because it was a private plane, right after crossing the expressway, the second VIP room was close to the airport hangar. It’s front was fully glass, giving a panoramic view of the terminal and the airport.
Yan Liang could see lu Zheng from a distance
He was chatting with a slightly older well dressed lady
Yan Liang approached them, she could not help overhear her telling Lu Zheng, “ One of your cousins has a son, the other one is getting married a second time, how long will you drag on till you get married?”
Realising that someone had approached them, lu Zheng turned to look at her and then smiled at his aunt, “ That depends on her.”
His aunt had rarely seen him smile like this. The smile almost brightened up his whole face. Curious, she turned to see a tall young woman coming towards them
Yan Liang approached them and she immediately greeted her eagerly, “ Yan Liang ? I’m long yang yang.”
Lu Zheng looked at her and laughed, “ Why are you staring at her like that ?”
Yan Liang looked around. This was really a family vacation. The whole family seemed to be here.
Lu Zheng sensed her embarrassment, and took her to a seat in a corner.
Yan Liang said, “ I didn’t realise there would be so many people. It’s a family vacation and I’m an outsider. “
Lu Zheng lowered his head to look at her passport and said, “ It’s a little late to regret now.”
Yan Liang was silent.
She turned to look at the other side of the waiting room. There were old and young people, the room was really bustling , but there was no sign of Lu Mingting. “ Where is Mr Lu?”
“ Hs is in New York. If he doesn’t personally request my mother to come, my mother will never come to Zurich.” Lu Zheng briefly introduced Yan Liang to his relatives and said, “ There is an exhibition of shoes in Paris. If time permits, we can return back via Paris.”
Seeing that Yan Liang just smiled, he realised she did not want to talk about this topic. Slightly disheartened, he looked at the bar not far away,” Do you want to drink something?”
“ Coffee. “
Lu Zheng went towards the bar to get the coffee. Yan Liang was bored and looked around. The children were chasing each other. One of them hugged Lu Zheng’s legs and refused to let go. Yan Liang smiled.
At this time, the door of the waiting room was pushed again.
Yan Liang turned her sight from the bar, the smile still on her face. She caught a glimpse of Secretary Lee standing outside the door,
Yan Liang was stunned.
After a moment of thought, she finally got up and walked toward the door.
** **
Secretary Lee took her to the secluded smoking area.
“ How did you know I was in the VIP room ? How did you reach here?” In forty minutes , a person had dashed from the city, had a security check and even accurately found her in the VIP room, this was a bit impossible.
Secretary lee did not say anything and handed her the file.
The divorce agreement was only a few sheets of paper, but the file he handed over to her was quite thick.
“ Where is the divorce agreement?”
Secretary Lee just coughed and said, “ Ms Yan, please see this.”
“ Then you can go now.”
Secretary Lee was still standing there so Yan Liang simply turned and left.
The boarding time was almost approaching, she could no longer waste any more time here. While walking, she opened the file to check if the divorce agreement had really been signed.
The divorce agreement had indeed been signed, the elegant Jiang Yu Nan’s signature she was very familiar with was at the bottom of the page, but he seemed not to have put in the date.
Yan Liang looked over the document carefully when the phone in her pocket suddenly rang. She tried to retrieve the phone to see if Lu Zheng was calling, but at this time, her other hand lost its grip and the file fell to the ground.
All the papers inside the file scattered on the ground. With a tired sigh, Yan Liang could only bend over to pick it up. She was aware that Secretary Lee was still watching her.
She bent down at the waist, but didn’t straighten up immediately..
She saw a document with the signature of Liang Ruiqiang.
The phone stopped vibrating but started again.
Footsteps approached her.
Secretary lee approached her, squatted down and picked up the documents for her.
“ You think it was so easy to buy Zhu Chengzi?”
In the next second he said, “ Where did you think the recording you heard was obtained from?
Who did you think handed over the evidence of Xu Ziqing’s criminal actions to the police ?”
The fourth part pertained to the document Yan Liang was holding stiffly in her hands, “ Who did you think helped you connect with Liang Ruiqiang? “
Yan Liang slowly looked up at the Secretary, her eyes reddening, her ears roaring as the secretary relentlessly placed the last straw to break the camel’s back, “ Think. Who saved you when you were trapped in the flooded car by pulling you out?”
“……” “…”
“……” “…”
“impossible!”
After keeping silent for so long, the woman finally uttered just one word.
Secretary Lee looked at her like she was being absurd. “It’s all here in black and white. Just because you hate him, you think these are all false?”
Yan Liang suddenly stood up and took the documents from his hands. Ruthlessly, she went through page after page. She had once in all happiness trusted one person, only to be pushed into a deep abyss in the end. The memory of that scar was still deeply ingrained in her, she could not believe in the same man for a second time.
…… But in the documents in her hands … …
“You already know that Liang’s wife is a former subordinate of Jiang, I have been trying to understand why you did not follow this clue and investigate further. Later,I finally figured out, you are now so accustomed to hating a person, you fundamentally don’t want to change anything anymore. Because changing it would mean your original wounds would be opened once again and you would have to go through all that pain again . But why did you never think that it may be more painful for him?”
Secretary Li was clear and lucid. She turned a deaf ear to his harsh voice, but her head was bent down to see the files.
She kept reading till the last page, when she finally dropped her hands. The black and white truth again scattered on the ground. She took gulps of fresh air, but still felt as if no air was reaching her lungs.
“ I know that you went to the hospital every day when Jiang was there. Every day I hoped that you would finally push the door to see him, but till he was transferred, you did not do it.”
Her head was down as she looked at the files. Hearing him, she looked up with surprise in her eyes.
“ It’s not that difficult. The nurses saw you several times. Naturally I heard about it. I thought you still cared about him. Otherwise , in that recording, Jiang Shi Jun’s voice was clearly there but you edited out Mr Jiang’s voice.. was this not to keep his reputation ?”
Yan Liang’s heart thundered
But this time she lowered her head, and the glimpse of emotion in her eyes was no longer visible.
His earlier angry voice now gradually sounded dismal , “Unfortunately, it was wrong on my part to meet you. But I also wanted to praise you, you have been really ruthless to him, and also so merciless to yourself. Jiang will never tell you himself, but this time he cannot control me. Because this time he may die on the operating table. If I tell you that, would you be satisfied ?”
*** ***
Her brain was unable to accept this fact for a moment.
He legs felt weak and she slowly sunk to the ground.
Secretary lee left a business card, “Maybe the day he is buried , you can rejoice in the fruits of your victory.”
It was the business card of a private hospital. Yan Liang picked it up as her fingers trembled uncontrollably.
She was most afraid of giving up on all her hate all of a sudden and regretting it later . Suddenly , she remembered a month ago, in the elevator outside the Li conference, that kiss of despair, and that word, “ Goodbye”.
Now she felt that sentence was actually ..
Really to say farewell to her..
Farewell..
Secretary Lee left her and walked away.
But his pace was slow, as if waiting for someone..
Finally, he heard footsteps rushing after him
Yan Liang crossed him, bumped against his shoulders but did not stop at all.
She was so anxious, she did not even look back at him.
The big stone on his heart was finally dispelled..
As if he had been through a battle, Secretary Lee turned sideways and leaned against the wall as he breathed a sigh of relief.
He took out the phone from his pocket and viewed the text message
It was only a few short words, but it heralded the beginning of a new dawn,”The surgery was successful.”
*** ***
In the waiting room, they were about to board the plane but Yan Liang was untraceable on phone. Lu Zheng paced back and forth anxiously .
Seeing him as anxious as ants on a hot wok, his aunt also felt anxious, “ She’s not reachable on phone ?”
Lu Zheng looked back at his Aunt and helplessly shook his head when the phone rang.
His taut nerves finally relaxed, “ Where did you go? Quickly..”
“ Lu Zheng”
Her voice sounded shaky, as if her emotions were turbulent.
But her tone was firm.
Lu Zheng was unsettled.
“I’m sorry …” she said to him.
Lu Zheng froze.
In the window in front of him, he could see planes landing and flying off while the voice continued talking in his ear..
*** ***
A flight suddenly took off and soared in the sky. At the same time, the first ray of the winter sun pierced the sky and shone down on earth
One lone car was also speeding away from the airport.
The woman in the car looked calm.
Her voice was not as calm as her expression, “ I have to go back to him.”
Just as she was about to say the next words, her heart felt a pang. But she still completed the sentence.”..regardless of whether he lives or dies.”