Chapter 173 Take the Hard Approach If You Still Can’t Handle Her
Shen Yuechuan did not expect himself to be witnessing such a… shocking image.
Lu Boyan, the man who had sworn off all women and had treated them with nothing but aloofness night and day, was actually kissing a woman right now. If it were not for the fact that he was now witnessing it with his own two eyes, Shen Yuechuan could never imagine how that image would look like.
“Now it seems like… Oh, so Lu Boyan is a normal guy, after all!” Shen Yuechuan thought. He then realized that Lu Boyan had not sworn off all women; Lu Boyan had merely sworn off any woman who was not Su Jianan.
Shen Yuechuan rubbed the tip of his nose awkwardly; this was his first time killing the mood for someone. There was a cupboard beside the door, on which Shen Yuechuan set the breakfast food he had bought for them as well as Lu Boyan’s gastric medicine. Pressing his hands together in apology, Shen Yuechuen performed a bow. “I didn’t know you guys were… Ahem. The point is, I didn’t do it on purpose. Just pretend that I was never here.”
Su Jianan and Lu Boyan had kissed each other countless times. Then again, this was still the first time where they had their moment ruined by someone they knew well.
The flush on Su Jianan’s face was so deep that she might as well be bleeding through the pores of her face. She tilted her head aside and shut her eyes forcefully. How she wished she could just disappear right then and there.
Shen Yuechuan was someone who knew how to take a hint. He quickly made himself scarce, closing the door for the sweet couple on his way out.
Lu Boyan released Su Jianan. “He left already, so why don’t we…” Lu Boyan said, his tone amused and suggestive.
Su Jianan could tell what Lu Boyan had been about to suggest. She lowered her head and gave him a light shove. “Why don’t you leave too!”
Lu Boyan actually stood up and headed towards the door. At the sound of his footsteps, Su Jianan raised her head and stared stupidly at Lu Boyan’s back. To her surprise, Lu Boyan was not leaving. Instead, he took the congee and medication from the cupboard before turning around to walk towards her bed.
Lowering her head quickly, she busied herself with pretending that she had not been watching Lu Boyan all this while.
The corners of Lu Boyan’s lips lifted slightly. He dragged a movable table top towards the bed and set it up before Su Jianan. He opened the containers to reveal the contents of their breakfast courtesy of Shen Yuechuan.
Two bowls of preserved egg meat congee, a basket of soup dumplings, and two tea eggs.
Due to his unbearable gastric pain, Lu Boyan instinctively reached for the gastric medication first. Su Jianan stopped him. “Your medication is supposed to be taken after meals.”
Then, in a feat of unprecedented acquiescence, Lu Boyan put down the medication and reached for the congee instead. He took a sip and then frowned. Seeing the clear frown on his face, Su Jianan took a sip as well. It tasted mediocre. No wonder Lu Boyan seemed so revolted by it.
There was a knock on their door. It was Shen Yuechuan again.
He poked his head inside. “I forgot to mention just now that I bought the food from a little store near the hospital. The taste might not be stellar, so you guys will just have to bear with it for the time being. I’m looking for a nice restaurant right now. You have my word that you won’t be enduring such coa.r.s.e food for lunch.”
City Z was merely a small prefecture-level city; finding a restaurant whose food suited Lu Boyan’s taste was most likely impossible. Plus, Shen Yuechuan was not someone who was familiar with the area, so it would not be an easy task for him to find a decent restaurant.
Shen Yuechuan obviously knew that, too. After a brief pause, Shen Yuechuan suggested, “Still think that it’s best if you guys can return to City A, though.”
Su Jianan lowered her lashes in thought. Lu Boyan had no idea what was going through her mind right now. Lu Boyan gave Shen Yuechuan a look, signaling him to leave.
It was then that Shen Yuechuan finally understood what was going on: Su Jianan was hesitant to go back. Then again, that felt strange to him. “They had been kissing just now. How come Lu Boyan hasn’t convinced her yet?” He wondered.
Still, Shen Yuechuan took the hint and left quickly.
After breakfast, Lu Boyan booted up his laptop so that he could manage his company remotely. He was so neck-deep in work that he barely spared Su Jianan a glance.
In contrast, Su Jianan felt more relaxed than ever, lying on her bed with nothing to occupy herself. The only thing she could do was silently watch Lu Boyan work.
Captain Yan and the squad leader came by when it was nearly noon. Xiao Ying and Jiang Shaokai came with them too.
The few of them crowded the single hospital room. The tiny room, which had been quiet for the whole morning, suddenly became lively.
Lu Boyan closed the lid of his laptop and stood up. “You guys chat. I’ll step outside for a while.”
“Oh,” Su Jianan said in response. Then, she watched as Lu Boyan’s tall form vanished through the doorway. All of a sudden, there was an indescribable feeling in her heart.
Jiang Shaokai held out a hand and waved it in front of Su Jianan’s eyes. “He’s just stepping out briefly. Do you really have to act like it’s an eternal parting?”
“Stop joking around,” Su Jianan said, slapping Jiang Shaokai’s hand away. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to take over your job,” Jiang Shaokai said with a sigh. “If I had known that you would end up getting hurt, I wouldn’t have agreed to let you come.”
Su Jianan thought about it. “Well, it’s not like I gained nothing by coming here.”
At least she had heard those three words from Lu Boyan’s mouth, even if everything from this morning still felt like a dream.
Jiang Shaokai knew Su Jianan far too well. With that kind of look on her face? Surely, this gain had nothing to do with work at all.
He laughed. “What did you gain? Care to share with the cla.s.s?”
Su Jianan snapped out of it instantly and schooled her features. The next second, she was back in work mode again. She started relaying her findings from yesterday’s autopsy to Jiang Shaokai in detail, including the fact that the location of the victim’s body was not the actual crime scene, etc.
Jiang Shaokai took down notes as he listened. “Not bad,” he said, nodding. “I heard from the doctor that you had banged your head into something. And yet you still remember so many important details.”
“Just because I was. .h.i.t in the head doesn’t mean I’ve become stupid.” Su Jianan was not in the mood to bicker with Jiang Shaokai. “Also, I’ve recovered some samples that need to be a.n.a.lyzed from the body yesterday. I left those samples in my kit, which I place under a tree on my way down.”
“We’ve already retrieved it yesterday,” said Captain Yan. “The labs in this town just won’t cut it. Shaokai will borrow the lab in the Munic.i.p.al Bureau and perform the a.n.a.lysis there. Jianan, your early arrival at the crime scene yesterday to conduct the autopsy proved immensely valuable to us. You shouldn’t worry about the rest and just leave the case to us. Focus on getting better.”
Su Jianan shrugged. “It’s not like I can do anything about it even if I worry.”
“I bet your Boss Lu doesn’t have the heart to let you worry about work. Not when you’re hurt like this,” Xiao Ying said in a giggly tone. “He went up the mountain to search for you yesterday despite the heavy rain. He even beat the pros by locating you first. That really shocked everyone for quite a while. In the past, we’re always so envious about how nice he’s been treating you. Now it seems like he’s willing to lay down his own life for you.”
Su Jianan cleared her throat awkwardly. “Aren’t you guys supposed to be busy? How is it that you guys still had the time to engage in idle gossip?”
Captain Yan glared at Xiao Ying. “Be serious!” He said. Then, turning back to Su Jianan, he said, “Just rest well. We’ll head back to the town first. There’re still loads of things waiting for us to do.”
The squad leader, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly spoke. “Miss Su,” he said. “I’m here on behalf of our entire police station. We wish you a speedy recovery, and we deeply appreciate the dedication you have shown to our case.”
“It’s all in a day’s work. I’m just doing what I should so.” Suddenly, Su Jianan remembered that the squad leader was a local. “By the way, squad leader. Can I ask you something?”
“By all means,” said the squad leader. “I’ll answer you anything as long as it’s within my knowledge.”
Su Jianan suddenly felt a bit sheepish. But then she remembered Lu Boyan’s picky appet.i.te, so she decided to go all in, “Are there any decent restaurants in town?”
That was obviously not a question that the squad leader had been expecting. It took him a while to recover and give her an answer. “Ah, you’ve come to the right person for that question,” the squad leader said. On a piece of paper, he wrote down the names of a few restaurants including their addresses and handed it to Su Jianan. “I’ve been to every restaurant in town. These few aren’t bad and are worth a try.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” the squad leader said before leaving the room with the others.
Lu Boyan came back into the room not long after. He was speaking on the phone when he walked in, leaving work instructions to his a.s.sistants. He was frowning as he spoke, and his forehead bore the signs of exhaustion.
“It’s probably a huge inconvenience for him to be in City Z, right?” Su Jianan thought.
When Lu Boyan hung up, Su Jianan asked to borrow his phone. She then used the phone to send the address of the restaurants to Shen Yuechuan. When she was giving his phone back to him, she looked as if she had something to say.
Lu Boyan knew every single one of her facial expression far too well. “What is it?” He asked straightaway.
“Um… Do you want to head back first?” Su Jianan asked. “What’s going to happen to the company if you keep staying here?”
“What’s going to happen to you if I go back?” Lu Boyan stared at her with a blank expression. “I can run the company remotely. Do you think I’ll be able to do the same when it comes to you?”
Su Jianan interlaced her fingers together. “My injuries aren’t that serious. Plus, my brother and Jiang Shaokai are both here. You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll head back once this case is solved.”
Her intention was to relieve some of Lu Boyan’s exhaustion, though Lu Boyan had completely misconstrued her meaning.
His eyes narrowed dangerously. “Oh, so you think Jiang Shaokai will be doing a better job looking after you, is that it?”
“That’s not what I—”
Su Jianan was cut off before she could finish.
“Also, I won’t be able to look after you, since I’m flying back to City A tonight.” The door opened and in came Su Yicheng. “I’m your brother. Some tasks will be too awkward to handle if I’m the one taking care of you. How can my care compare to Boyan’s?”
“…” Su Jianan bit her lips and said nothing.
Su Yicheng gave Lu Boyan a look, signaling him to leave first. Feeling a surge of frustration in his chest, Lu Boyan left with a frown.
Su Jianan and Su Yicheng were the only ones left in the room.
“Why are you refusing to go back with him?” Su Yicheng asked without preamble. “It’s impossible for him to leave you on your own at a time like this.”
“I don’t know how to face him,” Su Jianan said, her head hanging low on her shoulders, and her voice betraying her confusion. “He told me a few things, and right now, I’m still in a state of disbelief. I feel the same way as Xiaoxi did when you suddenly told her that things were possible between you two. I feel like I’m in a dream. I guess I just want to figure things out before I go back.”
“What else is there to figure out?” Su Yicheng laughed. “You said you lacked confidence. But Lu Boyan was the same. He lacked confidence, too. He thought you had feelings for someone else, so he tried to be nice to you without saying anything. In fact, he even had to worry about you feeling burdened if he was too nice to you. It wasn’t easy for him, you know? If it were me, I wouldn’t have that kind of patience. I will just make the person you like disappear from the face of the earth and then take you for myself.”
“But he said…” Su Jianan trailed off, feeling a bit sheepish. After a bout of stammering and stumbling over her words, she told Su Yicheng about Lu Boyan having feelings for her long before they were even married.
Su Yicheng was stunned at first, and then he started laughing.
“I was wondering why he was so nice to you after you two got married. So the truth is that he’s got his eyes set on you ages ago,” Su Yicheng said, shaking his head. “You two really make an interesting pair. Your feelings for each other were already so obvious from your daily interactions, and yet neither of you realized a thing. At the end of the day, it all boils down to your lack of confidence, the both of you.”
“Jianan, he really does have feelings for you. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even bother being nice to you, because that’s just not his personality. Look, you should give it a rest even if he really did p.i.s.s you off this time. A person like him? I’m telling you, his patience and temper are much worse than you imagine.”
“What do you mean, ‘a person like him’? I seem to recall you being the same type as well,” Su Jianan said, mercilessly having a dig at her own brother.
“Fine, I’m the same.” Su Yicheng raised his hands in surrender. “I’ll be heading back to City A tonight. You should go home after two days’ rest. Don’t mess around anymore, understood?”
“Fine,” Su Jianan said grumpily.
Su Yicheng patted his sister’s head and left the room. Outside, he saw Lu Boyan smoking at the end of the corridor.
He walked over and took the cigarette out of Lu Boyan’s hand. “Stop smoking. She’d probably ignore you again if you go back inside smelling like tobacco.” “That’s just how she is. She’s headstrong and yet easily moved. If you still can’t handle her in two days, just take the hard approach.”
Su Yicheng patted Lu Boyan’s shoulder and left the hospital.
Lu Boyan opened the window, and a breeze swept in. The smell of tobacco on his body gradually diminished…