During the remaining Christmas holiday, Xia Sanghuan buried herself in work and even refrained from turning on her phone unless necessary.
There was no other reason; she was simply afraid of receiving another message from Jiang Zimo.
In the meantime, the gifts she had bought for her father, elder brother, and elder sisters had arrived. Although they were not particularly expensive, they still made them happy for a while.
Fu Moning and Fu Youqing even posted a photo of the two of them wearing the scarves she had given them on social media.
Today was the last day of the Christmas holiday, and she had almost analyzed Jing Zhan's condition during this period. When she returned to school tomorrow, she could directly discuss the conclusion with Professor He.
She had wanted to send the analysis to the professor right away, but then she suddenly remembered the messages he had sent her before, and she abandoned the idea.
After all, judging from his state in the past few days, he was truly enjoying this rare holiday.
"Miss Xia, dinner is ready."
"I'll be right there."
She saved the documents, then turned around and replied.
Everything seemed so peaceful.
"Isn't Brother Chuanjin coming back for dinner?"
She sat down at the dinner table and found that she was the only one at home tonight.
Leng Wanqing had gone out early in the morning to hang out with her friends. It was said that she had pleaded with Leng Chuanjin for a long time to get this opportunity; otherwise, she would have had nothing to do but yawn at her textbooks at home.
"Miss Xia, the eldest young master has a business dinner tonight. He probably won't be back until very late," Wang Fu said apologetically as he served her vegetable cream soup.
She picked up the spoon and took a sip of the soup without saying a word.
Since Christmas Eve, the second elder brother had been busy again, so she hadn't seen him much in the past few days.
She sighed and finished dinner alone.
...
"Have you reached an agreement?"
Leng Chuanjin stood up from his office chair and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window.
He raised his hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Fatigue was evident on his face.
"No."
A woman's voice came from the phone.
If Xie Qiaoyang were there, he would immediately recognize that the voice belonged to Shen Siyuan.
Shen Siyuan let out a sigh. From her tone, it was clear that she was worried about this matter.
"That kid Xie Qiaoyang is too difficult to deal with."
"Unlike his elder brother, he is overly cautious. So, should I put more pressure on him?"
Leng Chuanjin pondered for a moment.
"Don't be hasty."
"If you pressure him now, it will only arouse his suspicion."
He looked at the neon lights below, his eyes flickering. It was hard to tell what he was thinking.
"Okay."
"I'll lie low for now and see if he will come to us on his own."
"If not, I'll think about the next step."
Just before she hung up the phone, Leng Chuanjin suddenly said, "Thank you."
She was taken aback for a moment, then replied nonchalantly, "There's no need to thank me."
"After all, I'm just thinking about our Shen family. If we wait until the Xie family monopolizes the market, it will be too late to act."
After saying that, Shen Siyuan hung up the phone.
She took the phone away from her ear and looked back at her younger sister.
She saw Shen Ruoyan looking at her eagerly and asking, "Sister, did Chuanjin mention me on the phone?"
"No."
She gave her a disappointed look.
"After all these years, can you stop pining after him?"
"With your conditions, you can have any man you want."
Shen Ruoyan pouted.
Every time she asked her sister about Leng Chuanjin, her sister didn't want to talk to her.
After all, when she had pursued that man before, she had been flatly rejected.
The man hadn't even bothered to look at her, let alone talk to her.
But fortunately, he had signed a contract with the Shen family.
"Come on, stop looking so pathetic."
Shen Siyuan frowned.
"Now is not the time for you to think about these things."
"Have you completed the tasks I assigned you?"
"Not yet."
She replied in a small voice.
"If you don't want to starve in the future, do your job properly."
"Do you hear me?"
Shen Ruoyan hung her head and replied, "Got it."
...
"Where's Wanqing?"
Leng Chuanjin took off his coat and handed it to Wang Fu.
"To answer the eldest young master, the second young lady has gone to bed," the butler replied.
"What time did she get home?"
"Eight o'clock."
She hadn't exceeded the curfew.
He thought to himself.
"... Has Sanghuan gone to bed too?"
The butler's hand paused as he was tidying up the coat.
Normally, the eldest young master hardly ever asked about Miss Xia on his own initiative.
"Miss Xia has also gone to rest," the butler replied.
"She has class tomorrow."
Did the eldest young master need to talk to Miss Xia?
However, Leng Chuanjin just fell silent for a moment and didn't say anything else.
It wasn't until he lay down on the bed that the uneasiness in his heart subsided a little.
For some reason, when he was at the company, he was extremely eager to see Xia Sanghuan.
In fact, he had been eager to see her in the past few days.
He felt as if he was sick, and the only way to relieve his symptoms was to be by her side.
Maybe it was because he had deliberately hidden the deal he had made with the Shen family from her.
But he always felt that it wasn't as simple as he thought.
...
The next morning, Xia Sanghuan only had a brief encounter with Leng Chuanjin before she rushed off to school.
The man was dressed very formally, as if he was going to meet an important client.
He walked to the door to see her off and, before she left, he ruffled her hair.
For some reason, she thought his expression was a bit strange.
But she had an appointment with Professor He to go to the research lab twenty minutes early, and there was no time left.
She didn't have time to think it through and just got in the car.
...
"Is this the final contract?"
"Yes."
Shen Siyuan sat on the sofa, looking at the man across from her with a slight frown on his brow.
"This contract was jointly drafted by our lawyers and your attorney."
"Master Leng, it's a very fair deal."
Leng Chuanjin let out a sigh.
"I know."
It was precisely because it was so fair that he couldn't find any room for the other party to make further concessions.
"Shall we finalize it then?"
Although Shen Siyuan was actually very eager inside, she still pretended to be calm.
This was a contract that was beneficial to both her and Leng Chuanjin, but for some reason, the other party didn't seem very willing to agree.
The man picked up the contract document again and examined it carefully. Then he pointed to one of the clauses.
"Can't this item be replaced with something else?"
"If Master Leng can come up with a better solution, I'd be more than happy to make the change," she replied.
Hearing his words, her expression immediately turned cold, as if her patience had run out.
"Master Leng is always so hesitant. It makes you seem insincere. If you want to terminate the cooperation, we'll be happy to oblige."
"However..."
She suddenly softened her tone.
"I wonder if Master Leng will be able to bear the consequences of going back on his word."
...
After walking out of the meeting room, Shen Siyuan wiped the cold sweat off her forehead.