The nine - grid photos showed a magnificent pool party. There were many A - list celebrities in the photos, and the atmosphere was heated up. In the last photo, Jiang Yue seemed to be nestled in Lu Qianzhou's arms. She took a side - face photo of him without his notice. There was no frontal shot.
She looked back at the chat records with Lu Qianzhou.
Their conversation was frozen at the moment when Yan Xia told him the news that Shengshi announced her as the vice - general manager.
He hadn't replied to her, and it had been like this until now.
She clicked on Jiang Yue's photo again, and her heart sank faintly.
Was Lu Qianzhou just playing with her?
He had so much free time to attend parties but didn't even bother to send her a single message. With a beauty in his arms, living a carefree and leisurely life, he seemed to be having a great time.
What about "handling their relationship properly"? He just wanted to amuse himself with her, right?
Yes, she should have thought of it earlier. A man like him couldn't possibly be without a girlfriend. It wouldn't be difficult for him to silence the media. Moreover, the rumors about him and Jiang Yue had spread more than once or twice, and he had never denied them.
What did she have? A plastic - surgery face, a heart full of hatred, nothing at all, and she was also burdened with such a great responsibility.
The only thing she could offer Lu Qianzhou was to cooperate with him to devour the entire commercial empire in Shoujing.
How stupid she was!
Yan Xia closed her phone. Well, it was still not too late. Before she completely gave her heart away, she could just stay away from Lu Qianzhou from now on.
Having made up her mind, she wrapped herself in the quilt and hid her head. She completely immersed herself in the darkness, as if this could isolate all the outside world, and all those troubles and sorrows would be kept out.
However, she couldn't fall asleep. Tossing and turning, her mood became more and more restless, and it felt like there was a fire burning inside her heart.
She remembered that Uncle Fu had trouble sleeping and sometimes lit sleep - aiding aromatherapy at night. So she got up in the middle of the night and rummaged through the house looking for the aromatherapy. But she couldn't find it no matter how hard she tried, and she even woke Uncle Fu up.
Uncle Fu was greatly shocked when he saw her dejected and impatient look.
"Second Miss, I've put all the aromatherapy you need in my room. Wait a moment. I'll go get it for you now."
So she sat quietly in the living room waiting. The curtains were wide open, and the ground lights in the backyard were not turned off. Faintly, the bamboo shadows were as delicate as a painting, and the unknown insects chirped tirelessly.
The next day, she went to the company with dark circles under her eyes. After taking the position of vice - general manager, she was busier than usual, and she didn't even have time to look at her phone. It was not until noon when Fang Jiangyi came to see her with lunch that she saw the message from Lu Qianzhou on her phone.
Apart from congratulating her on her promotion, there was nothing else.
Yan Xia threw her phone aside, in a low mood.
She wasn't the kind of person who would take the initiative to question him, nor the kind who would cry and turn back to beg him to reconcile.
Fang Jiangyi carefully laid out the food one by one and frowned, saying, "Your dark circles..."
Yan Xia reached out her hand weakly to cover them and complained, "Maybe I was too excited about being promoted to vice - general manager. I didn't sleep well last night, and my eyes looked like this as soon as I woke up today. Am I really ugly?"
Fang Jiangyi held back the smile on his lips: "It's okay. Who were you messaging? Did someone make you angry?"
She pushed her phone even farther away and shook her head.
"It's nothing. Just work - related matters."
Days passed like this. Her chat records with Lu Qianzhou still stopped at that day and never got updated.
But as her work became increasingly busy and she always had to work overtime on weekdays, she didn't have the heart to think about these things.
Fang Jiangyi's attitude towards her changed greatly. He was very attentive. It was okay that he picked her up and dropped her off for work every day. He even took her shopping. All their interactions were captured by the media. To this extent, whether they made their relationship public or not didn't really matter to the outside world's speculation.
One day, Fang Jiangyi told her to go back by herself, saying that he had other things to do.
So she went to the mall alone to buy some clothes for herself. She hadn't bought many winter clothes since winter came.
...
The atmosphere outside the prison was always depressing and heavy, and it happened to start drizzling.
Fang Jiangyi was wearing a neat black suit and standing at the prison gate with his assistant. The assistant held a black umbrella and stood beside Fang Jiangyi. The fine rain was like needles, and the slanting wind blew the raindrops onto his shoulders, wetting his clothes there.
Soon, the prison gate opened, and a man in prison clothes with half - white hair walked out carrying a bag.
Fang Jiangyi stood still. The man's eyes were red, and he strode towards him, excitedly calling out, "Jiangyi, you're here."
Fang Jiangyi called out softly, "Dad."
The man's face resembled Fang Jiangyi's, especially his facial features. Although the man's face was already covered with wrinkles, and the double blows of life and family had made his hair half - white, it was still vaguely visible that his facial features were still regular.
Fang Jiangyi took the umbrella from his assistant and shared it with his father. "Mom is waiting for you at home. Let's go back to see her first, and then go to see Jiang An together."
He always kept his emotions in check. Even when he was extremely angry or sad, there were not many changes in his facial expressions.
He just hid all his emotions and sufferings deep in his heart.
His mother said it wasn't good for him to be like this, but maybe it was his character since childhood. He was used to hiding things in his heart, used to reporting only good news but not bad news, and used to bearing everything alone.
His younger brother Jiang An once said that he was a cold - blooded monster, but in fact, he just knew how to distinguish between advantages and disadvantages. Sometimes, being too sober made him even doubt whether he had gone beyond ordinary people's emotions and was no longer controlled by his emotions.
...
As soon as she entered the mall, she could smell the Jo Malone perfume. The smell was neither too strong nor too weak, just pleasant and perfect.
She walked around the mall. Wen Liang followed her all the way, carrying her bags and shopping bags, very dutifully.
When she reached out to get a nude - colored overcoat, another hand was faster than hers and took it away first.
The woman had a pleasant perfume smell. She had long curly hair that reached her waist. She was a very young and beautiful girl. Maybe she saw the clothes she liked, so she turned around excitedly to ask her male companion for advice.
"Honey, do you think this dress matches my outfit today?"
Yan Xia also subconsciously looked over. Unexpectedly, when she saw the man's face, she was stunned for a moment and tentatively called out.
"Mr. Peng, what a coincidence."
Peng Zixu finally saw her. There had been a row of clothes between them just now, and he hadn't seen who was there at all. Now that he saw her, he was a bit at a loss and even blushed at the roots of his ears instantly.
"Miss Lu, you're also here shopping?"
"Yes." Yan Xia tilted her head and looked at the vigilant female companion beside him. "Mr. Peng, are you here shopping with your girlfriend?"
"No, no, no." Peng Zixu reacted quickly and immediately pulled the woman's hand off his arm and explained. "She's just an ordinary friend of mine. I'm just accompanying her to pick out some gifts."
Yan Xia nodded understandingly. Although she saw through it, she didn't expose it.
The female companion immediately became dissatisfied and pulled on Peng Zixu's sleeve and shook it. "Young Master Peng, how can you be like this? Didn't you invite me to go shopping? Who's just your friend..."
"Don't talk nonsense!" Peng Zixu turned his head and glared at her, trying hard to clarify the relationship.