But she foolishly believed there was still true love and affection between them, enduring with the most humble posture. Xie Qining became increasingly excessive, indulging himself without restraint outside, eventually turning her into a public discard.
Xiao Anjing felt a sense of pity for her and found her pathetic. It was indeed courageous for a girl with no background to marry into a wealthy family. To be realistic, no matter how beautiful the affection, without the foundation of matching social status, it would eventually turn into a bubble. However, he didn't rub salt into her wounds; she would realize these truths herself.
Lan Yu couldn't help but ask him, "Mr. Xiao, for people like you who are wealthy, is someone with nothing but sincerity the cheapest?"
Xiao Anjing frowned and said pointedly, "This has nothing to do with money. If sincerity is given to the wrong person, it is indeed very cheap."
As soon as he finished speaking, his phone rang. It was a trader calling about the progress of the acquisition of Shu Group, something that absolutely could not be known by others. He got up and said, "I'm going to take a call."
Lan Yu watched him take his phone and walk to a corner of the restaurant where he could be hidden from everyone, speaking something with a grave expression.
She called the waiter and added a cup of hot lemon black tea. When paying the bill, she told the waiter, "Please tell the gentleman at this table later to drink less coffee tonight and more lemon black tea to calm the nerves and clear the lungs."
Without waiting for the waiter to ask anything, she picked up her bag and left the restaurant before Xiao Anjing noticed.
Xiao Anjing finished his call and returned to his table, only to find Lan Yu no longer in her seat. Just as he was about to ask the waiter, he saw the waiter place a cup of hot lemon black tea in front of him.
"What is this?" he asked.
The waiter said, "The lady who just paid the bill ordered it for you. She said you should drink less coffee tonight and have a cup of lemon black tea to calm your nerves and clear your lungs."
Xiao Anjing said "oh" and looked out the glass door of the restaurant, but Lan Yu's figure was no longer visible.
He cupped the warm lemon black tea in his hands and took a sip. He realized that besides coffee, lemon black tea tasted quite good too.
Back at the group's office, he had intended to continue working overtime, but he found himself involuntarily searching online for gossip about Xie Qining's divorce and remarriage to a celebrity.
He discovered that in the almost expired gossip news, Lan Yu was barely mentioned. Her codename was merely Xie Qining's ex-girlfriend, an unknown ballet dancer.
The media were all hyping up the Xie family and the female celebrity named Sasha, with their various scandalous news, appearances at luxury hotels and other venues, and sometimes clear, sometimes blurry photos of the two of them together.
In the gossip of that time, Lan Yu was truly like dispensable air; he couldn't even find a single photo of her.
Suddenly, Xiao Anjing began searching through the messy files in his office for that proposal.
He remembered Su Su mentioning that after the charity gala that night, she had someone deliver this proposal to his office.
However, among the documents his secretary sent in daily, he only quickly reviewed what was urgent, discarding anything that was not important. When the pile grew too large, he would have his secretary put them all into the shredder.
He hadn't asked his secretary to use the shredder for the past few days. If someone had delivered it to him, it should still be here.
He flipped through the papers for a long time and finally found the slightly crumpled proposal, which he began to study carefully.
...
Qin Tianyi stood at the main entrance of the Lu family's old house, like a stone statue, gazing at the sky in the distance, which was like black velvet. Tonight, dark clouds obscured the sky, making it almost impossible to see the moonlight.
Lu Yuanhong had gone out for something tonight and hadn't taken him along, only asking him to stay and look after the house.
He didn't know how much longer it would take to gain Lu Yuanhong's trust, but no matter how anxious he was, he couldn't show it. He could only remain patient, or all his efforts would be in vain.
The biting cold wind blew, and he remained motionless, his mind filled with thoughts of Susu. She was the only motivation that kept him going.
However, faintly, he seemed to hear low, intermittent crying, which interrupted his thoughts. Who was crying?
He alertly followed the sound of crying and circled the house. Finally, in a blind spot without surveillance, he found someone wearing a hooded garment squatting there, crying with extreme suppression.
Because the person wore a hat, he couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, but judging by the crying, it sounded like a woman. He saw that the person squatting had a shadow, so it wasn't a ghost.
He asked coldly, "Who are you? How did you get in?"
The person squatting on the ground stopped crying, lifted the hood of their garment, turned to look at him, and said with a choked voice, "A Ban, it's me."
"Miss A Mei, why aren't you sleeping in your room so late?" Qin Tianyi asked with surprise.
A Mei remained squatting and said, "I can't sleep, I'm scared."
Qin Tianyi said, "Don't worry. Although Mr. Lu hasn't returned tonight, I'm guarding outside, and this house is very safe."
"It's not that I'm afraid of this," A Mei wiped away her tears.
"Then what are you afraid of?"
A Mei didn't answer him, only saying, "It's nothing. Go about your business, don't mind me."
As she spoke, she tried to stand up but felt her legs had gone numb from squatting and almost lost her balance. Fortunately, she quickly steadied herself against the wall.
"Miss A Mei, are you alright? Can you walk by yourself?" Qin Tianyi asked caringly from the side.
"I'm fine, my legs are just numb."
"Do you need me to help you walk a few steps?"
A Mei nodded, holding onto his arm with one hand, and slowly began to walk.
"A Ban, I feel you are different from the other bodyguards around Mr. Lu."
Qin Tianyi let her lean on his arm and walked her towards the house's main entrance, saying, "I know, it's because I'm uglier than them, so no one dares to look at my face."
A Mei stopped and no longer leaned on his arm, saying, "Wait, look at me and don't move."
Qin Tianyi could only obey her, lowering his head to look at her, not knowing what she was trying to do.
She tilted her head up and stared at his face, showing no fear. In the light from outside the house, she examined him carefully.
Qin Tianyi's heart panicked, fearing she might see something. He quickly said, "Miss A Mei, you..."
"Looking at this half of your face, although it's dark and wrinkled, your features are not ugly. You must have been quite handsome before you were disfigured." She then looked at the half of his face covered with a silicone mask and said, "Why is this side covered with a mask?"
Qin Tianyi turned his face sideways, avoiding her gaze, and said, "This half is more severely disfigured. I don't know if I was handsome, but a fire when I was young turned me into a monster that everyone feared."
A Mei smiled and said, "But I'm not afraid."
Qin Tianyi turned his whole body away, no longer meeting her gaze, and casually asked, "Why?"