Su Jianan was so tired she did not want to talk. She asked the chef to make her a bowl of noodles. She took a few bites of it after a shower and fell asleep when she returned to her room.
She fell asleep before she could even close her doors tightly. Lu Boyan entered and closed the curtains for her. Then, he pulled the blankets from under her carefully and covered her with it.
She was exceptionally obedient today and she curled up under the blankets like she was in a womb as if she wanted badly to make herself as small as she could and hide under the blankets. Then, she stopped moving or kicking the blankets and was as obedient as a small animal.
Lu Boyan’s hand twitched a few times. But in the end, he did not reach out to touch her. He turned around and left silently.
Just like how she had not known that he was behind her, Su Jianan did not know that he had been in her room.
Su Jianan only woke up at around five in the afternoon. It felt as if she had slept for a century, her entire body felt extremely relaxed. She stretched and got up. It was only then, did she notice that the room was completely dark because the curtains were drawn.
Did she draw the curtains before she fell asleep?
She was already at her limits then and did not even know how she got into bed. Whether she drew the curtains or not… she could not remember.
Perhaps because she had to focus on too many details at work, in her personal life, Su Jianan did not care too much about such minute details. She changed and went downstairs, walking straight into the kitchen.
Uncle Xu thought she wanted to prepare dinner for Lu Boyan and said with a smile, “Young Madam, you can slow down. Young Master is still sleeping.”
Su Jianan only smiled and said, “Uncle Xu, can you find me a thermos?”
Uncle Xu noticed something and his smile froze for a second. However, he still fetched a thermos for Su Jianan.
Su Jianan quickly handled the ingredients she had. She boiled two pots of soup and then fried some dishes.
After more than an hour, she finally plated all the dishes. The two pots of soup were ready as well.
Su Jianan filled the therms with the bone broth and brought the other dishes to the dining room.
Lu Boyan had awoken and she smiled at him, “We can eat now.”
Lu Boyan had felt horrible all day, and Su Jianan’s smile was like the sun shining down at his heart even though his expression remained stoic. He only made a hum of agreement and sat down.
Su Jianan had already convinced herself to forget the news of Lu Boyan and Han Ruoxi’s four-hour rendezvous in the hotel and Lu Boyan’s promise to bring her a surprise. She naturally filled Lu Boyan’s bowl with soup and then started to eat, swallowing forcefully.
Lu Boyan frowned and asked, “Are you very hungry?”
Su Jianan looked up forcefully. “You’re the silly one!” Then, she realized that Lu Boyan wasn’t scolding her. She touched her nose shyly and then continued sc.r.a.ping her rice. “No, I have something on later.”
She suddenly felt full and put down her bowl and chopsticks. She brought the thermos out of the kitchen and left. Someone suddenly grabbed her hand from behind when she was reaching for the car keys.
She turned around. It was Lu Boyan.
“Where are you going, aren’t you going to tell me?”
Lu Boyan’s gaze was dark. It was so dark one could not tell what he was feeling. His deep-set eyes seemed calm, but made one feel as if there was a burning fire behind the calmness.
Su Jianan felt a little unsure as she said, “I’m going to the hospital.”
“To visit Jiang Shaokai?” Lu Boyan asked.
“Yup.” Su Jianan nodded. “He should be awake.”
Lu Boyan’s lips curled up. Su Jianan had not had the time to see whether it was a self-mocking smile or a light smile before it disappeared. Then, she released her hand.
“I’m off.”
Su Jianan retrieved the car keys and went to the garage to get the SLK350 that she drove before and headed to the hospital.
Jiang Shaokai had woken up in the afternoon. Luo Xiaoxi had turned up without her knowing. The two were playing fruit ninja on an iPad, their fingers sliding across the screen as if they were possessed.
Luo Xiaoxi saw the thermos Su Jianan was holding from the corner of her eyes and asked, “What good stuff is that?”
“Bone broth.”
Luo Xiaoxi’s eyes shone and her reaction slowed, cutting a bomb. The screen shone. Jiang Shaokai had won.
Jiang Shaokai flexed his fingers and said, “Luo Xiaoxi, will you lose to me forever? Just like how you’ll never get Su Yicheng.”
Luo Xiaoxi glared at Jiang Shaokai and then made an angry movement as if she wanted to poke his wound and said, “I’ll make your wound rip open if you speak nonsense again!”
She opened Su Jianan’s thermos and the fragrance of the thick soup drifted out. She quickly went to wash the bowls.
Su Jianan sat on the caretaker’s seat beside the bed and asked Jiang Shaokai, “How are you?”
“The anesthetic wore off. It hurts.” Jiang Shaokai looked pitiful.
Su Jianan said, “You could still beat Luo Xiaoxi in fruit ninja. Who’d believe you?”
Jiang Shaokai was speechless.
Luo Xiaoxi emerged with two washed bowls and ladled the soup in them. She gave it to Jiang Shaokai and said, “Don’t say that I’m not treating the injured well.”
“If you’re treating me well, would you still fight for soup with me?”
“… I’m helping you!” Luo Xiaoxi said indignantly. “You can’t finish such a big thermos of soup.”
Su Jianan could not be bothered with the two. She riffled through Luo Xiaoxi’s bag. Luo Xiaoxi had indeed brought her phone, except that it had automatically shut off having been drained of battery. She borrowed Jiang Shaokai’s charger and then switched on the phone.
There were dozens of missed calls from the same person.
Lu Boyan.
She looked at the time. It was just after the news of his four-hour rendezvous with Han Ruoxi broke. It was from yesterday morning.
So he had called her. What had he wanted to say? Explain things between him and Han Ruoxi?
Luo Xiaoxi saw Su Jianan s.p.a.cing out and poured another bowl of soup. “What are looking at with so much focus? Did someone spend some tens of thousands on your card?”
Su Jianan put down the phone and let it charge. Then, she turned her attention to Luo Xiaoxi. “Didn’t you meet with an agency yesterday afternoon? How did it go?”
“Not too well?” Luo Xiaoxi sighed. “It’s a very small company. The girls in it are very pretty. They split the cost and bought two different colored Chanel bags. Whoever accompanies the boss would use it.”
“…”
“What I want is a boss who can let me shine on stage. Not a rich boss.” Luo Xiaoxi did not eat meat during dinner. So she gave a bone that had meat on it to Jiang Shaokai. “If I wanted to earn money accompanying someone for dinner, I can just accompany my dad.”
Luo Xiaoxi had really once earned money from eating dinner with her father. Back then, she made trouble outside every day, and she had lost the bodyguards that her family sent. In the end, her father froze all her cards and ordered her to eat dinner with him every week before he would give her cash. It would also at the same time allow her to familiarise herself with business settings.
Luo Xiaoxi was very obedient. She would dress up s.e.xily each time and no matter whether it was a client of an employee across the dining table, she would hold her father closely and call him boss. Her father was so mad he almost had a heart attack. He unfroze all her cards and told her to leave.
“Then what do you intend to do?” Su Jianan asked.
“Wait, I’m sure there will be a big company willing to sign me on!”
Luo Xiaoxi smiled. Sometimes, she did not know where she got such confidence and always believed in some things stubbornly. For example, she believed that Su Yicheng would fall in love with her one day, just like how she now believed that she would be able to sign on with a large company and walk on a large stage.
Jiang Shaokai looked at her carefully and said, “Isn’t the biggest agency Lu Enterprises Media under the Lu Enterprise?”
Lu Enterprise Media? Su Jianan thought that the name was a little familiar.
Luo Xiaoxi could not stand Su Jianan’s confused look and reminded her, “Your husband’s company!”
Su Jianan finally reacted, “I’ll go home and ask him for you?”
“No!” Luo Xiaoxi rejected her strongly. “It is said that all the agents in Lu Enterprise Media all have good foresight. They’ll come look for me themselves!”
With that, Luo Xiaoxi took her bag and left.
She had always come and gone like the wind and both Su Jianan and Jiang Shaokai were used to it. Jiang Shaokai gestured to Su Jianan, “Go close the door. I have something to ask you.”
Su Jianan did as he asked and returned to look at Jiang Shaokai curiously. “You’re so secretive. What do you want to ask me?”
“Why did you go to the crime scene so late at night yesterday?”
“I wanted to see if we missed any clues. Didn’t our professor tell us that we have to trust our instincts? When we are stuck, we should return to the start and start over again. So I…”
“I know that you’ve always been hard working at work.” Jiang Shaokai interrupted her. “But I did not know you’ll be so hardworking.”
Su Jianan paused and asked, “What are you trying to say?”
“You forced yourself to work the entire day the day before yesterday. You were doing a.n.a.lysis even during lunch time and refused to leave after work. You went to the crime scene in the middle of the night…” Jiang Shaokai stared into Su Jianan’s eyes. “I’ve known you for seven years. I know you well. Do you dare to say that you weren’t using work to numb yourself so you won’t think about other things?”
Su Jianan’s heart had made a s.p.a.ce to bury these worries. Jiang Shaokai’s words were like a shovel, digging out these secrets from the bottom of her heart and airing them in front of them.
Jiang Shaokai threw the last bomb and said, “Did you think you hid it well? Actually, everyone in the office could see it. That’s why we did not dare to mention Lu Boyan and Han Ruoxi.”
Su Jianan looked down. “Then I should thank you guys.”
If they had come to ask her whether Lu Boyan and Han Ruoxi had really had s.e.x, she might really break down.
“Jianan, let’s start from the beginning.” Jiang Shaokai sat up. “When we graduated, Luo Xiaoxi and I asked you jokingly if you had someone you liked since you refused to date even though so many people wanted to date you. You kept silent, and we treated it as you have agreed silently. But you did not want to tell us who the person was.”
“A few months ago, you suddenly said that you were going to marry Lu Boyan and said that there were no feelings between the both of you. You were only doing that for your safety and that you were marrying him so your brother wouldn’t worry. You also said that he and Han Ruoxi were the real couple and you two will get a divorce in two years.”
“I almost believed that you did not have any feelings for Lu Boyan. But after your marriage, your mood became dependant on him. That night when you worked over time and he came to visit you, you smiled for an entire day. Yesterday, when there were rumors between him and Han Ruoxi, you forced yourself to work and tried like a mad person to look as if everything was normal.”
“Jianan, you didn’t fall in love with someone else. The person that you’ve loved for so many years… it’s Lu Boyan, isn’t it?”