Chapter 8: Mr. Lu, Your Phone Is Unreachable

Jian Yao choked, hurriedly turning her head away. Her gaze happened to pass through the rearview mirror and land on Assistant Xu in the driver’s seat, who was stifling a laugh. Her face flushed.

Jian Yao: “It’s not necessary…”

After this little episode, all thoughts of Lu Chengze were instantly forgotten. Her whole being felt more lively.

Gu Zhiyan saw her emerge from her emotional state and calmly withdrew his hand, a smile playing on his lips. “Just kidding.”

Jian Yao knew, of course, that Gu Zhiyan was joking. To be able to build a company to this position in such a short time, it was not only a matter of ability, but also of extremely high emotional intelligence and control over people’s emotions.

He was trying to cheer her up.

Jian Yao turned to look at Gu Zhiyan’s flawless profile, his long eyelashes fluttering, his eyes clear. “Thank you for today. Don’t worry about the prenuptial agreement, I won’t take it seriously.”

Yao Guang was founded by Gu Zhiyan himself, and its development had nothing to do with her. This agreement was clearly unfair and didn’t count.

Gu Zhiyan sat there, his expression unchanged, but Jian Yao inexplicably felt that the atmosphere around him seemed to have become silent for a moment.

Before she could explore the fleeting emotion in his eyes, his cold, low voice, like ripples spreading out, fell into her ears.

“The Gu family always keeps their word. Marriage is inherently more likely to harm women’s rights. Providing a partner with financial security and a sense of safety is the most basic responsibility of a man.”

He paused for a second, then continued, “Besides, Yao Guang is just a company I founded for my own hobby. You don’t have to feel any pressure.”

His nonchalant attitude was as if Yao Guang was just an unknown small company, but Jian Yao knew how much Yao Guang was actually worth.

Even though Gu Zhiyan’s main assets were shares in the Gu Group, it didn’t mean that Jian Yao could have the nerve to accept a listed company.

However, there was no point in arguing with Gu Zhiyan about this now. It would be time to talk about it when the day of divorce arrived.

It wasn’t rush hour, so the roads were relatively clear.

The car stopped at the entrance of the residential area, and Jian Yao realized that she had forgotten to tell Gu Zhiyan where she lived.

She looked at the familiar entrance to the community, her eyes widening. “You know I live here?”

Although they had been classmates for many years, they didn’t interact much because of Lu Chengze. She didn’t expect him to know where she lived.

Gu Zhiyan pushed open the car door and got out with her.

He leaned lazily against the car, tall and handsome. Hearing her question, he chuckled lightly. “I told you, I don’t get along with Lu Chengze. Knowing your enemy and yourself is essential for a hundred battles, a hundred victories.”

Jian Yao suddenly remembered that she and Lu Chengze lived in the same community, and felt a little embarrassed. She touched her nose, it seemed she was getting a free ride from Lu Chengze.

She clutched her bag tightly. “Then I’ll go up first. Contact me if you need anything.”

“Wait.”

“Hmm?” Jian Yao turned her head.

“Shouldn’t we exchange contact information first?” Gu Zhiyan shook his phone in his hand, the bright screen displaying a black and white QR code.

Jian Yao “oh”ed and took out her phone to scan the code and add him.

When she added his name, she hesitated for a moment before carefully typing in his full name, Gu Zhiyan.

“I’m going then?”

Jian Yao pressed the screen and said goodbye to Gu Zhiyan.

Gu Zhiyan nodded slightly and watched Jian Yao’s figure disappear into the community before getting into the car.

Jian Yao’s apartment and Lu Chengze’s were not only in the same community, but also on the same floor of the same building.

The apartment layout was one elevator and two units, with a floor area of 180 square meters.

When they bought the apartment, they had already assumed they would be together. They had deliberately chosen this place because it was close to Lu’s company, so they could merge their homes after marriage.

But now, Jian Yao looked at the closed door opposite her and felt a sense of irony.

She hadn’t slept all night and had been running around all day. After returning to her room, she took her change of clothes and went to take a hot bath.

She was tired and sleepy, completely oblivious to the phone on her desk lighting up, displaying over a dozen missed calls.

After coming out of the bathroom, she dried her hair, didn’t even bother with skincare, and went straight to sleep.

•  

Shanghai Hospital Corridor.

Lu Chengze stood by the window at the end of the corridor, slowly exhaling a smoke ring.

Lin, his assistant, stood behind him, holding his phone, looking exhausted. “Mr. Lu, the phone is unreachable.”

Lu Chengze paused, his hand holding the cigarette, his brow furrowed, revealing a look of impatience.

Fearing his anger, Lin tried dialing again.

The “beep beep” of the busy tone echoed in the empty corridor, until the familiar announcement, then it automatically hung up.

The expensive cigarette he had just taken two puffs of was abruptly extinguished, thrown to the ground. Through the lingering smoke, Lin could clearly see the faint gray under Lu Chengze’s eyes.

Since Miss Liu’s incident, they hadn’t rested for a moment.

Even he, accustomed to overtime, felt his eyelids dry and heavy, his head foggy, let alone Mr. Lu.

Lin, clutching his phone, tentatively offered, “Why don’t you go and rest for a while, Mr. Lu? I’ll keep contacting Miss Jian.”

Anyway, Miss Jian had a soft temper, and when he went back, he could just pick out a gift to coax her.

They had been through this many times, he was used to it.

She always seemed to be calm and gentle, even when angry, she was soft-spoken and reasonable, easy to appease.

Although Mr. Lu had gone too far this time, Miss Liu had cut her wrists after all, Miss Jian should understand.

“No need.”

Lu Chengze lowered his head to look at his phone, there were no messages or calls apart from miscellaneous push notifications.

The last call was before he boarded the plane, they had planned to go choose engagement rings that day.

She had been looking forward to it since the night before, even sending him the clothes and jewelry she was going to wear, asking him if they looked good.

When she called, he was already about to board the plane, he was preoccupied with Liu Yiyi, and didn’t answer the call…

Then, there were no more calls from Jian Yao.

This was the first time she hadn’t contacted him for so long.

She should be jealous, she should complain about him leaving her behind, missing her long-awaited engagement party, she should explain what happened to Wu Yue being humiliated at the Jian family’s yesterday.

But there was nothing.

Nothing at all.

Lu Chengze felt a sudden panic, his tightly pressed lips were bloodless, his fingertips hesitated over the two characters “Yaoyao” for a long time, unable to press them down.

He knew he had wronged her this time, but Liu Yiyi had saved him, he couldn’t just stand by and watch.

After all, it was a life, Jian Yao would understand.

It had always been like this, she had never competed with Liu Yiyi for anything, hadn’t she?

Lu Chengze was lost in thought.

Lin flipped through the notes on his phone, “The old house said that the Madam is going on a trip abroad, the whole family is going, she might not be able to attend the engagement party…”

Lin’s voice trailed off.

Lu Chengze’s face instantly turned terrifyingly dark, “What did the old man say?”