Phew ! This was a really long chapter. Things are really heating up. We see the real mastermind behind all the conspiracies and some cute interaction between our protagonists before all h.e.l.l breaks loose…
Chapter 43
After bidding farewell to Lu Zheng, when Yan Liang returned home it was not even 3 PM. The stock market had not yet closed; it was gratifying that the Xu share price actually stabilised until the final closing time.
She would be able to give the shareholders some a.s.surance for the time being.
Because he had gone against the shareholders resolution about Xu Ziqing, Xu"s credibility in the eyes of the board of directors was severely damaged. Her father also had a stiff relationship with her mother after she had personally come to lobby a year ago. With Yan Liang having het grandfather"s stocks in her hand, Xu"s position was very precarious at present
Unfortunately, though Yan Liang would like to dismiss all this as ridiculous, it impacted the whole Xu family. Even the scandal around Xu Ziqing was the family"s responsibility. And they had to pay a huge price for this.
Ya Yan and the diversion of secret funds required further investigation. If the shareholders were not willing to grant this…. well, she had many more things to worry about.
She did not go to work at all. Although she had escaped earlier from the building next to Xu, she did not know how long she could hide from the reporters.
The news on the portal was picked up and flashed on all major news networks by the afternoon. Even the paper media was not spared. It could be said that the spread of the news was all pervasive. This helped Ya Yan but destroyed her. Yan Liang read a few comments from the netizens, there weren"t any positive comments. She did not look any further and minimised the page.
Would Jiang Yu Nan agree with the comments that the netizens made?
She couldn"t even smile when she thought about this
Her cell phone started ringing and Yan Liang was surprised. Was it an instance of "Speak of the devil …"?
She took the phone and found it wasn"t Jiang Yu Nan, her heart rate went up and down.
She picked up the phone , the other side seemed to hesitate to speak first, so she asked, " Aunt Liang?”
" Miss, can you…" Aunt Liang seemed to have a request she was finding difficult to enunciate. She paused and then said, "Can you come home to see your father?"
"What happened?”
" I don"t know. But after your mother quarrelled with him, he locked himself up in the study. He just came out and asked me to call you home."
Yan Liang rubbed her forehead with her hand. She was not interested in abiding to this request," I told him I have nothing to say to him."
Aunt Liang knew this would be her answer. She tried to coax her with her old techniques, " Come for a short time. You are father and daughter after all.."
" I think you should tell this to Xu Ziqing. They are the real father daughter pair."
As she said this, Yan Liang raised her head and suddenly paused, her eyes widening. Jiang Yu Nan was leaning against the door to the study. There was no apology for his sudden appearance, he just uncrossed his arms and wiggled his fingers at her and silently mouthed " h.e.l.lo"
Yan Liang wasn"t sure how much he had heard. She wasn"t ok washing the dirty lined of Xu Family in public. While as the son in law of the family, he was also half family, she didn"t want this man to think of the family as a joke.
She chatted with Aunt Liang for a while then finally put the phone down without promising anything about going home. After seeing her put the phone down , Jiang Yu Nan approached her .
Yan Liang sat there and smiled at him, " When did you come back? You didn"t say anything..”
" You were on the call. I didn"t want to bother you."
Jiang Yu Nan was standing by her side now. Yan Liang looked up at him , but also noticed the computer screen and stealthily stretched her hand towards the mouse. He just put his hand on the mouse and said, " Don"t close it. I have already seen the news!"
Yan Liang raised her head in surprise.
Jiang Yu Nan just smiled and looked at her. This smart man had caught on to her intention of closing the news site.
" I"m sorry.." Yan Liang didn"t quite understand his reaction to this matter and was thinking all kinds of thoughts. She could only say that one sentence, " Sorry.."
She carefully observed Jiang Yu Nan, but did not see any signs of anger. However she had seen a few times earlier that his face rarely revealed his inner thoughts, so she waited for his answer. But it seemed he had silently accepted her apology. She took the mouse and closed the page.
" We have a marriage certificate, you think I will believe a reporter"s imagination?"
She looked at his expression, then his eyes and felt that she could breathe easy now.
He turned behind her and with his hand on her shoulder he said, " But.."
Jiang Yu Nan wrapped his arms around her and felt her shoulders stiffen. He bent his body forward so that they were facing each other , their eyes, lips and nose very close to each other. Even when he spoke, she could see the vapour from his lips, " …as compensation, will you spend the rest of the day with me with no distractions?"
(Miumiu : Aww so sweet!)
There was only a centimetre of distance between them. As soon as he stopped talking, he quietly moved forward, as if he wanted to kiss her. At this point, especially after the phone call with Aunt Liang, Yan Liang was in no mood for a kiss, and she wondered whether this would lead to a quickie..
At the last moment, Jiang Yu Nan stopped. Surprisingly he said , " I"m hungry. Cook me something."
Yan Liang was surprised for a moment.
Jiang Yu Nan"s hand slid down from her shoulder to her waist, lifted her up from the chair and then he sat there himself. Then he looked up at her and said, " I haven"t had time to eat in the whole day."
"……" “…”
"……" “…”
She looked at this man, as if to judge if he was really tired. It occurred to her that he was much busier than her, having to cope with a variety of unexpected situations and would naturally be more tired than her.
“Ok.”
Yan Liang went around the table and walked towards the door when she heard him say , " Don"t be lazy like last time and order takeaway."
Yan Liang stopped, but unfortunately, this man was really out for revenge..
She could not help but raise her voice and dragged the words a little to express her determination, " I shall obey your orders.."
Jiang Yu Nan smiled as he watched her go . As soon as she disappeared, the smile dropped from his face. Although the page had been closed in the computer, the stock tracker was still running. Jiang Yu Nan maximised the tracker, red and green lines immediately appeared on the screen. After a crash, Xu"s stock had rebounded and stabilised at a modest price. This time, Jiang Yu Nan closed the tracker and turned off the computer. Soon the darkened screen of the computer only reflected the man"s face.
The cold face reflecting on the screen smiled again. But this was different from the last time.. there was a trace of something else in the smile..ridicule.
*** ***
One hour spent on cooking dinner by Mrs Jiang ended in utter failure. Jiang sat at the table and witnessed the whole process. Long before, he had dispelled the idea of getting anything cooked by her. He softly asked, " Should we order take away instead?"
Yan Liang, while dumping the mysterious contents of the pot with a spatula looked back at Jiang Yu Nan leisurely lounging at the table and said , " I have already made two dishes and now you tell me to get takeaway?"
Her tone and teeth -gnashing was always a good strategy to silence Jiang. He obediently sat quietly and looked down at the two so -called "dishes" - a vegetable salad and a fruit salad.
Jiang Yu Nan hesitated for her sake, but also thought about his own stomach and finally got up.
Before she tried to do sweet and sour fish for the third time, he took the ladle from her hand, " Let me do it."
She raised her eyebrows at him .A smile broke her serious expression when she realised he really did want to cook for her. Finally liberated, Yan Liang took off her ap.r.o.n and gave way to Jiang Yu Nan. She sat down with huge relief and commanded, " I am hungry. You make two dishes as well."
She looked back at Jiang Yu Nan who silently shook his head with a helpless look. Yan Liang did not blame herself, she started eating the salad.
Soon the wonderful scent of fried fish had filled the kitchen.
At the window, it had long since turned dark.
Yan Liang was hungry and so did not notice that this apartment had been enveloped by darkness, one layer on another, a long time ago..
…… …
And not far from the apartment building, Xu Jin Fu was sitting alone in a cabin in a restaurant.
This was already the sixth time that he glanced at his wrist watch after coming to the meeting.
Suddenly, the door to the cabin was pushed from outside. Xu Jin Fu heard the movement and looked up, "What took you so long?"
His tone was strident, in the manner he had always used to reprimand his daughter, when he abruptly stopped. Xu Jin Fu was puzzled, he thought for two seconds, then frowned. " Why are you here ?"
"Why are you not welcoming me ?"
Xu Jin Fu did not speak. His face turned cold; this was obviously the best answer. But without any hesitation on facing Xu Jin Fu"s obvious contempt, the interloper casually pulled out a chair and sat down. "I came here to tell you some good news."
Jin Fu did not take the bait. He took out his phone and dialled a number but got a network announcement saying that the phone was switched off. He tried to think, and stiffly smiled, " Li Bo has always been my rival. How can I get good news from the mouth of Jiang Shi Jun?"
He uttered the words in a very reasonable tone, but Jiang Shi Jun threw back his head and laughed.
Seeing him, Xu Jin Fu did not make any more remarks. He leisurely sat back in the chair, a sharp contrast to the nervous tension that Xu Jin Fu was feeling. He did not speak, but his a.s.sistant at his side very respectfully said, " Mr Xu, we came to specifically inform you in advance. Li Bo intends to buy Xu."
Xu Jin Fu finally laughed at the joke.Shi Jun did not look directly at Xu Jin Fu. He bowed his head, and then raised his eyebrows slightly to look at his a.s.sistant and give him an order. The a.s.sistant put a file in front of Xu Jin Fu.
"This is our current situation. Several shareholders of Xu have transferred their non trade-able shares to us and we have also bought Xu Shares from the stock market."
Xi Jin Fu"s smile stiffened on his face. Jiang Shi Jun slowly raised his head and looked at the dismay on Xu Jin Fu"s face. Xu Jin Fu"s face was growing stiffer. He looked at the doc.u.ments and flicked through the pages. Although his emotions were restrained, his eyes were vigilant. Jiang Shi Jun did not miss this and slowly smiled as Xi Jin Hu picked up the file.
He read the pages one by one, looked at the list of names that had transferred the shares and seemed to smell a protracted, well thought out conspiracy The more he went through the details, the calmer he became and finally said, "These shares only add up to less than majority. You are too naive if you think you can wrest control from me basis these alone."
Jiang Shi Jun shook his head, "It seems you are really old and confused, how did your memory become so bad?"
Xi Jin Fu angrily frowned at Jiang Shi Jun"s ridicule, but his eyes revealed that he was trying to remember if he had missed a trick. Unfortunately before Xi Jin Fu could get a clue, Jiang Shi Jin smiled coldly and reminded him, "Did you really forget that when you appointed the CEO then you agreed to hitherto unprecedented demands including…. giving him a part of your shares?"
He had hit the bull"s eye. Xu Jin Fu"s face paled. After a long silence , he said , " So you are the master behind Jiang Yu Nan?"
This time, Jiang Shi Jun really could not help but laugh. He shook his head, as if in pity, and said, " You think too little of these young people.."
"……" “…”
"Your daughter sent you a message to come here for a discussion and I turned up, " Jiang Shi Jun went off on a bit of a tangent, " why do you think that is , Xu?"
Only now Xu Jin Fu could fathom the complicated web Jiang Shi Jun had spent so long weaving. Xu Jin Fu"s face became paler, and his heart was struck with a severe ache.
Jiang Shi Jun watched Xu Jin Fu"s face change little by little and wanted to laugh. Seeing him stand up, the a.s.sistant automatically got up and moved out of the way. Jiang Shi Jun came and stood by Xu Jin Fu"s side, Watching the look of utter defeat in his face, Jiang Shi Jun did not hesitate to give him the last blow. He slowly took the pages from Xu Jin fu that he hadn"t yet seen.
" But , I"m really sorry to tell you, your beloved daughter has also mortgaged the shares she owned to me."
Xu Jin Fu could no longer control the trembling in his hands. He saw the signature on the last page, it was a familiar writing.. His whole body spasmed and the file flew off the table.
Jiang Shi Jun bowed down to look at the doc.u.ment where the three words , Xu Zi Qing were signed and then looked up, " Mr Xu, you are smart, but how did you have such a stupid daughter? Because her investments failed, she only thought of embezzling the public"s money. I just helped her to put back the public money. Whatever I said, she believed it. Poor Zhou Cheng that boy, he did so much to cover up for her.."
Xu Jin Fu"s eyes had become bloodshot. He angrily tried to interrupt him, but his breathing was strained, and he was unable to utter a word.
Jiang Shi Jun"s voice was relaxed , his words were malicious but elegantly enunciated, " My evidence can only send one person to jail. Are you going to make your eldest daughter do a stint in prison? Or should I just let Zhou Cheng help till the end and make him take all the blame ?"
Jiang Shi Jun"s speech was finally over. Now he stood with crossed arms, watching Xi Jin Fu trying to pull out the cap of the small bottle with trembling hands. He finally managed to pull out the lid, but his hand was trembling so badly that the bottle shook and all the pills fell to the floor.
The white pills were scattered all over the ground, a sharp contrast to the scarlet colour of the carpet.
Xu Jin Fu"s face was paler than the pills, his lips were puce as he struggled to bend over and pick up the bottle. But instead, he fell heavily on the floor, his back bent, and his knees on the carpet.
From Jiang Shi Jun"s point of view it looked like he was begging for forgiveness for the sins he had committed.
Xu Jin Fu realised the pills were not within his reach. Jiang Shi Jun then squatted and picked up one of the tablets. But he didn"t give it to Xu Jin Fu; rather he looked at the tablet against the light.
Xu Jin Fu raised his hands towards him as of begging.
Begging for mercy.
In exchange, Jiang Shi Jun just smiled.
Xu Jin Fu was delirious with pain and missed his words. Jiang Shi Jun deliberately leaned close to Xu Jin Fu"s ear , and very clearly said, " I can"t compete with your shares held today, but tomorrow , who knows? Just like whether or not you will live till tomorrow depends on your luck."
After he finished, he patted Xu Jin Fu"s shoulder as if to say: Mr Xu, please take care of your body.
He kept the smile on his face, adjusted his collar and said ," I am sorry. My dinner companions are next door, I will not bother you anymore."
He left; his decisive footsteps crunched the last few pills on the floor.
…… …
…… …
Sweet and sour fish, King pao Chicken , oil rapeseed, two salads - as she picked these up and loaded her plate she looked up to see the chef at home. She extended her hand to take a bowl of rice and dug into the food.
Jiang Yu Nan was quietly sitting on the other side, waiting for her to compliment him on his skills. But unfortunately, she was really hungry and did not seem to have the slightest intention to talk.
Helplessly, he finally took the initiative to ask, "How does it taste?"
Yan Liang put down the bowl, stuck up her thumb but did not speak. With her other hand , she caught a piece of fish with her chopsticks and brought it to her mouth when suddenly her hand paused..
Jiang Yu Nan was just getting ready to pick up his chopsticks. When he heard her sharp intake of air, he was surprised for a moment and looked up to see Yan Liang clutching her chest.
" What happened?"
" I felt a sudden pain in my heart."
" Are you okay?"
Yan Liang frowned, her palm was pressed to her chest but she no longer felt any pain. She nodded at Jiang Yu Nan
Later, as Yan Liang sat on the sofa watching TV, Jiang Yu Nan cleared the table and also sat beside her.
This seemed to be the first time they had spent a long time together by themselves since they were married. There were no overtime issue or reporter worries, but obviously they were not suited to such leisure. Jiang Yu Nan"s arms were around her as they watched TV. They were not speaking and they had no idea what to talk about. She looked at the clock, it was not yet nine. She turned around and asked him , " What do you intend to do now?"
"Watch TV and then sleep. I have a busy schedule tomorrow." Jiang Yu Nan said
Obviously they were not good at romance. Yan Liang did not have the least bit of interest in the dull TV program , she wondered about the things that they hadn"t done as a couple.
"We haven"t watched a movie together"
Jiang Yu Nan agreed , and changed the channel to the news as he said, " Yes."
" We haven"t travelled together."
" New York."
Yan Liang instantly piped up , " Not a business trip."
“Ok.”
“We have not met each other"s parents and have not had a wedding.”
“I have seen your parents.” Jiang Yu Nan immediately refuted.
Yan Liang seemed to not hear his answer, she seemed to be talking to herself, "Don"t know when we will get over all this so we can have a honeymoon in the true sense of the term"
Jiang Yu Nan was watching the TV and did not seem to be listening to her, but he suddenly switched the TV off. Yan Liang reacted , " Huh?" and looked at him questioningly. He said, " First lets watch a movie."
Jiang Yu Nan stood up and pulled her up from the sofa as well . " I don"t want to move. Look at the window. Its dark and I can"t see anything. Plus i"ts cold outside. I don"t want to go."
" We will watch it at home.
She was dragged with him towards the unused home theatre and heard him say, " A friend sent me a movie. I haven"t seen it before."
The interior designer had built a mini theatre. They opened up the s.p.a.ce. Jiang Yu Nan looked at the installation manual while Yan Liang went to fetch a bottle of wine and two gla.s.ses. When she came back, he had already installed the equipment, but it was debugging.
"So fast?" Yan Liang had thought she could enjoy seeing Jiang Yu Nan fumbling with the equipment for once.
Although he had set up the stuff quickly, Jiang Yu Nan was already at the end of his patience and shrugged helplessly, " This is so c.u.mbersome, it is better to just go to the cinema hall."
Yan Liang put the wine to the side and said, " Its called atmosphere." She seemed to really appreciate the design of the home theatre.
Jiang Yu Nan also did not know which movie was getting installed till the subt.i.tles. .h.i.t the screen
This was a very famous story about a father"s love.
It was about an Italian father and son who were sent to a n.a.z.i concentration camp. The father could not bear to see the five year old son panic so he used his rich imagination to lie to him that they were actually in a game, and that they must accept the various challenges in the concentration camp to score marks and win the final prize.
As she watched, Yan Liang sighed. The paternal love being shown on screen was not something she had ever experienced.
Watching him, Yan Liang did not hold back, "What about your parents?"
Jiang Yu Nan looked at the screen. Yan Liang could not understand if he was thinking about what she said or was caught up in the story. For a long time, when she didn"t hear anything , she could not help but ask again.
He suddenly stood up and said, "This bottle tastes strange. I am going to get another bottle, What do you want to drink?"
Yan Liang did not expect him to say this. She took his gla.s.s and couldn"t see anything strange. She asked him " La Fayette?"
Jiang Yu Nan had already walked past Yan Liang. As he opened the door of the screening room he said, "Ok".
The film was now going into the second act. Yan Liang sat alone in the room, listening to the original Italian language, She had seen the film long ago but now when she saw it again now, she found it more stunning.
She wasn"t aware when Jiang Yu Nan entered the room again until he spoke , " Yan Liang."
Yan Liang looked up and saw Jiang Yu Nan standing at the door. His back was bright, his face dark, standing in the confluence of light and dark, he had a strange look on his face. " There"s a call for you."
Yan Liang went back to the living room to answer the phone.
"Miss.." it was the voice of Aunt Liang.
"Aunt Liang.." before Yan Liang could say a word, Aunt Liang suddenly choked up on the other side of the phone. Yan Liang froze, then recovered, and with a slightly trembling voice she asked , "What happened?"
Aunt liang did not answer her, Yan Liang"s heart started beating chaotically and this time someone else took over the phone from Aunt Liang"s hand. Yan Liang heard her mother"s voice. " Your father..he.."
The silence almost drowned Yan Liang. She stood with the phone in her hand, her fingers stiff, but it seemed like she hadn"t listened to a single word. When another hand gently took the handset from her hand, Yan Liang suddenly recovered. She realised her hands were cold when his hand touched hers.
Seeing her stunned look, Jiang Yu Nan was worried, " What happened?"
Yan Liang opened her mouth but could not speak. Jiang Yu Nan put his face closer to hers and asked, " Hey ?"
The sound Hey seemed to have a sharp edge. It mercilessly split the trance that Yan Liang had fallen in and awakened her. Her hearing seemed to have been restored to normal , but she just kept hearing the same word, " hospital.. hospital.."
She did not want to think, she wanted her mind to be completely blank. She tore off the keys from the key holder and rushed out of the door. She drove maniacally to the hospital her mother had named. They were all standing outside the ward. She could hear them from the corridor and started running in panic. Yan Liang was in thin indoor clothes, a pair of slippers on her feet but she was still sweating. She could see the others now.
Aunt Liang, Zhou Shushu, Zhou Cheng, Xu Ziqing and her mother..Yan Liang looked at their eyes and suddenly after all the intense feelings she had, she felt calm.
No one was speaking. Yan Liang stood quietly as her heartbeat calmed down. Then she saw her mother coming out of the ward. Her mother was always careful of her appearance. Now it seemed overnight her hair ad turned gray. Yan Liang was not sure if this was just her illusion. She walked towards her mother and heard her mother say " Make arrangements for the funeral."
Her mother"s tone was very low, she did not choke. Aunt Liang nodded and her mother turned around to her, " You go with Xiao Qing to see your father for the last time."
Yan Liang and Xu Ziqing went into the ward together. This was probably the first time in their lives that there was no contest between the two, no compet.i.tion. Yes. Just emptiness lay over them.
Looking at the bed covered by a white cloth, Yan Liang had no courage to proceed further. She looked at Xu Ziqing , who immediately walked to the bedside and then lost her balance and fell to the ground. She looked sightless, immersed in grief. After a long time, Yan Liang walked to the bedside as well. Xu Ziqing looked up at her. Yan Liang did not know what to do and squatted down to help her up.
Xu Ziqing finally got the support to stand up and immediately burst into tears, Yan Liang stood there, feeling the tears of Xu Ziqing in her collar and wondered..
Should she cry?
Who would she cry for?
The news of the death of Xu Jin Fu was soon public.
The stocks fell for three consecutive days.
Yan Liang stayed in the mansion for three consecutive days while Jiang Yu Nan stayed at the company. Everyone guessed that the Xu ship was about to sink. In the aftermath of Xu"s death, even Jiang Yu Nan was powerless.
When Jiang Yu Nan saw Yan Liang again, her face was plain with no expression. " I am here, you go home and sleep.”
She waved , refusing his offer, " Its nothing. This is just the custom."
Jiang Yu Nan followed Yan Liang outdoors. There were two gardens in the mansion with rattan chairs placed on them. The outdoor chairs were covered by a white cloth. Yan Liang could not stand the sight of the white cloth. She pulled it off and threw it on the gra.s.s and then sat on the chair.
Jiang Yu Nan did not sit on the other side, but stood beside her and she tilted her head so she was leaning on him. This was one of the most difficult winters she had encountered, not only because of the cold..
She didn"t know how to ask him so she only said, " What is happening at the company?"
“It’s a bit bad.”
Yan Liang had guessed this answer. How could the situation be good? But she did not expect what he said next, "We are the target for a hostile takeover."
Her body stiffened.
"Your mother told me not to tell you, but I think you have the right to know." Jiang Yu Nan placed his hand on her shoulder and hesitated before he continued, "You can also plan."