Chapter 64

Wei Lai held him for a long time, not saying a word, just feeling his warmth and breath.

Until her calves began to ache from tiptoeing, she let go of him.

Zhou Sujin arranged for two cars, with him and Wei Lai in one car, and Yu Younian and the assistant in the other.

It wasn’t until they got into the car that Wei Lai calmed down from the surprise.

Zhou Sujin told her that Qiao Sitian had left and then asked her, “Have you been busy these past few days?”

“Not really.”

Of the seven days she would be here, two were free.

“Then take a day off and invite Qiao Sitian and your colleagues to my grandfather’s fruit farm for picking.”

The fruit farm was over 200 kilometers from Melbourne, and it wouldn’t take long to drive there.

Wei Lai fastened her seatbelt. “Your grandparents are here too?”

“Yes, they’ve been here for almost half a month.”

“Then I’ll go see them the day after tomorrow.”

During their initial contract meeting with families, her favorite people were her aunt and grandfather.

Wei Lai leaned back in her seat and glanced at him. When she saw him at the exit earlier, she thought she was still dreaming on the plane.

“Did you also book a room at the hotel I’m staying at?”

“No, I booked one nearby.” Zhou Sujin instructed the driver to start the car and continued, “You’re here on a business trip, and since you’re the boss, it’s not convenient for you and your colleagues to stay together.”

Wei Lai understood. He was considering her professional image.

Even if she were an employee, she wouldn’t like it if her boss brought their significant other along on a business trip.

They first sent their luggage to the hotel the assistant had booked, and then Wei Lai and Yu Younian had a short meeting.

They would only discuss cooperation the next day, so today was free time. Zhou Sujin arranged for cars and drivers to accompany Yu Younian and the assistant for the whole day.

Wei Lai went back to her room to change into a dress and then went downstairs to find Zhou Sujin.

Zhou Sujin was on the phone by the car, informing his grandfather in advance that he and Wei Lai would bring a few friends over to pick cherries the day after tomorrow and have lunch at the orchard.

“You said Wei Lai was too busy with work to play during the New Year?”

“She was indeed busy. She’s here this time to discuss cooperation. Knowing that you and Grandma are here, she wanted to come and see you.”

Grandfather was delighted to hear this and asked how many people were coming, what food needed to be prepared, and if there were any dietary restrictions, telling him to make a list and send it over.

Before hanging up, Grandfather mentioned that Aunt was also at the orchard and had just arrived yesterday.

Wei Lai stood at a distance, waiting for him to finish the call before walking over.

In the streets of a foreign country, he was right by her side, a feeling no one else could understand.

Zhou Sujin opened the car door and took her to the hotel where he was staying.

“Go back and take a nap. In the afternoon, I’ll take you for a drive along the coastal road.”

Wei Lai’s phone vibrated, and Qiao Sitian bombarded her with messages in their plastic sister’s group chat.

“Baby!!!”

“Tell me, how did you manage to catch Zhou Sujin from your family? He even ran so far just to pick you up at the airport!”

Yin Le was confused: “What’s going on?”

Qiao Sitian: “I went to pick up Darl at the airport, and I ran into Zhou Sujin!”

Wei Lai silently went offline.

They soon arrived at the hotel where Zhou Sujin was staying, and they took the elevator directly to the presidential suite.

Wei Lai inexplicably remembered the night they first met, when she went to return his watch, and he told her to leave it at the front desk. He had said she had a lot of things going on.

“Mr. Zhou.”

“Yeah?” Zhou Sujin turned his head to look at her while unbuttoning his shirt.

“What’s wrong?”

“Do you remember saying I had a lot of things going on?”

“I do.” Zhou Sujin recalled, “Two or three times? Which time are you referring to?”

“The first night we met.”

Zhou Sujin lifted her and placed her on the edge of the coffee table by the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, where he could gaze out at the sea.

He kissed her. “Didn’t I ask Uncle Yan to give you the key to the Kilinan villa? You’re still feeling wronged after all this time?”

“It’s not about feeling wronged, I just suddenly thought of it.”

She hugged his shoulders. “How many days are you accompanying me this time?”

“Originally, I planned for ten days.”

“And then you changed it again?”

Zhou Sujin nodded. “Yes. I’ll accompany you for seven days first, then go to Europe with you for another four or five days when your schedule is ending.”

“Mr. Zhou, four or five days won’t do.”

Just as Zhou Sujin was about to kiss her again, he suddenly paused. It had been a long time since she had acted so spoiled toward him. He skillfully captured her lips and, lifting her up in a princess carry, headed straight for the bathroom.

The water from the shower flowed down his well-proportioned muscles and onto her skin. He couldn’t tell if it was water or sweat mingling together as they dripped onto her face.

Zhou Sujin: “Still calling me Mr. Zhou?”

“Wei Lai,” she called out in his arms.

The sound was drowned out by the flowing water.

Wei Lai’s face was covered in water, her fingertips gently pressing against Adam’s apple, tracing lightly.

Zhou Sujin pulled her into his embrace, and her legs went weak, almost unable to stand.

They had planned to go for a drive along the coastal road in the afternoon, but Wei Lai woke up to darkness, so the drive had to be postponed.

The next day, they went to the orchard as planned.

Zhou Sujin went ahead first, leaving a car for Wei Lai.

Qiao Sitian finally saw her and smirked, “You’ve been well taken care of.”

Wei Lai: “…”

“Where’s your Mr. Zhou?”

“He went ahead.”

“Zhou Sujin is quite considerate. I went to the airport to pick you up, and today he has given all his time to me.” Qiao Sitian closed the car door. “Please thank you Mr. Zhou for me. Thanks for his attention to our project.”

Father said that Kunchen would increase investment in their project.

After more than two hours, the car arrived at the orchard.

Wei Lai had video-called her grandparents the night before, so seeing them again today wasn’t as awkward.

After saying hello, she accompanied Qiao Sitian and Yu Younian to pick cherries first.

“His grandfather doesn’t seem very approachable,” Qiao Sitian said with a sharp gaze and an intimidating aura. She hooked her arm around Wei Lai’s and walked deeper into the orchard.

Wei Lai felt it was alright, perhaps because she had met him once before.

She was most worried about how to handle Zhou Sujin’s father when she met him later.

Zhou Sujin walked behind, chatting with Yu Younian for a while.

During the picking, the voices were very low, and there was no laughter.

Zhou Sujin handed the cherries he picked to Wei Lai. “I’m going to see what Auntie is doing. You stay here and pick with them.”

Wei Lai also felt the restraint among the three of them. “Okay, after picking, I’ll come find you.”

Walking through the orchard, there was a large open space of grass near the exit, a leisure garden created by Grandma herself, with flowers planted along the wooden fence, swaying in the wind.

Ning Rujiang was making chilled cherry juice under the umbrella. When she saw her nephew coming over, she handed him a cup.

The eldest nephew heard she was also in Australia and asked her to talk to Zhou Sujin.

Zhou Sujin sat down on a nearby chair. “Where are Grandpa and Grandma?”

“They’re working in the orchard and can’t spare any time.” Ning Rujiang added a few more ice cubes to her own cup, watching as the cherry juice was about to spill out.

“Do you want Auntie to help? Although I’m not very experienced, I can still give you some ideas.”

Zhou Sujin picked up the juice cup. “Did my brother or my mother tell you?”

“Your brother.”

“No need, I’ll handle it myself.” He returned to the previous question.

Ning Rujiang was worried that he wouldn’t resolve it in time, and their relationship would cool down easily.

Now both of them were busy, and they still had to go on long business trips during the New Year.

“Auntie is an outsider, sometimes able to see things more clearly.”

Zhou Sujin: “There’s more than one issue between Wei Lai and me, and not all of them can be resolved by talking. I have to rely on my own feelings.”

Ning Rujiang respected her nephew’s intentions and didn’t interfere randomly.

She asked with concern, “Why the conflict? Can you tell Auntie? Is it convenient?”

“Long-distance, personal space, and many other factors.”

Ning Rujiang worriedly pondered, “How do you plan to solve the personal space issue, compromise?”

“No need to compromise, it’s just that I didn’t handle it well before.” In fact, Wei Lai had always respected his habits and preferences. The issue of personal space was not the root cause of their conflict.

If it weren’t for the long-distance problem, and if she felt secure and loved enough by him, she wouldn’t disturb him when he was busy with work. She would only stick to him when he wasn’t busy.

But being involved, he only realized the essence of some conflicts these past two days.

Ning Rujiang smiled, “It’s not easy, but it’s good that you’ve learned to reflect.”

“It’s not called reflection. When there’s a problem in a marriage, I have to solve it.”

At this time, Grandpa Ning came over, and the two stopped talking.

Zhou Sujin put down the chilled fruit juice and got up to move a chair from afar under the shade.

Grandpa Ning glanced at his daughter and grandson and asked, “Why is it that every time I come, you two stop talking?”

Ning Rujiang teased her father, “That’s your problem, Dad. Why do we stop talking every time you come?”

Grandpa Ning took off his work gloves and said, “I see you don’t want to eat anymore.”

Ning Rujiang laughed and handed the water to his father.

The first thing Mr. Ning said to Zhou Sujin was, “Have you recently made your mom angry?”

Ning Rujiang replied on behalf of his nephew, “He’s busy with work, dealing with long-distance issues, not like before.”

Mr. Ning was somewhat satisfied and asked him why he had started paying attention to auctions again, as his grandson hadn’t been bidding on watches for a long time.

Zhou Sujin said, “It’s for ladies’ watches.”

He collected some star-related watches for Wei Lai and also had a wristwatch safe installed at Jiang Anyun’s home, preparing to give it to her as a birthday present this year.

—

In mid-May, Wei Lai reached a strategic cooperation agreement with three overseas purchasing platforms, and the opening of the new stores in the North China region progressed smoothly.

On Friday afternoon, Zhou Sujin received a call from Lu Yu, asking him to stand by the office window and look across.

“Just tell me what’s going on,” he said without bothering to chat.

Lu Yu was currently in Zhou Jiaye’s office, leisurely sipping coffee. “It’s better for you to see for yourself.”

Before Zhou Sujin reached the window, he saw an advertisement for Wei Lai Baidu playing on several huge screens diagonally opposite the building.

There was a long silence on the phone.

Lu Yu cautiously asked, “Did you see it?”

He didn’t dare to tell Zhou Sujin that Wei Lai had laid out five stores on Zhou Sujin’s route to and from work. It was hard to pretend not to see them all.

Zhou Sujin said into the phone, “Don’t you know the owner of that building? Get them to give Zhao Lianshen a discount.”

Lu Yu: “…”

Zhou Sujin hung up the phone and sat back at his desk.

There was a knock on the door, and Zhou Jiaye walked in.

He came to check on Zhou Sujin. At this point, he could only digest it himself.

“Zhao Lianshen is like that. It’s not like you’ve just met him today.”

Zhou Sujin picked up his pen. “It’s nothing.”

Zhou Jiaye’s attention was drawn to the pen. He had one just like it, which their grandfather had given them when they were kids. It was specifically for practicing penmanship, as it was a traditional ink-absorbing pen, which was troublesome to refill each time. He rarely uses it now.

“Why the sudden urge to use the old pen again?”

Zhou Sujin just said, “Practice writing.”

Zhou Jiaye interpreted it as Zhao Lianshen bothering him every day, and now he needed to practice penmanship to calm down.

“As for the Xinming Group, you… just let it go like this?” He wasn’t very sure and asked directly.

“All of Zhang Yanxin’s matters are past tense for me.” Zhou Sujin focused on writing on the back of the scrapped project proposal. After getting used to the lively work, it was hard to find the feeling when writing stroke by stroke.

Meanwhile, in the president’s office of Jiangcheng Xinming Group, you could hear a pin drop.

Just ten minutes ago, Zhang Yanxin received a call from Xiao Donghan, with only one sentence: “Your way out is given by Zhou Sujin out of consideration for Wei Lai’s face. You should take care of yourself.”

After hanging up the phone, he stared at the stack of documents on the table.

Mu Di came to his office today to invite him to dinner. She asked him what was going on, but he remained silent.

Originally, she was quite happy that the Xiao Ning Group didn’t make things difficult for them. Since Zhang Yanxin offended Zhou Sujin, the circle in Jiangcheng had been waiting to see their jokes for more than a year. After all, no one wanted the other party to be stronger than themselves. Everyone wished for the bankruptcy of the Xinming Group.

Now, although it wasn’t as glorious as before, they had managed to get through the crisis relatively peacefully, without being laughed at too much.

“What’s really going on?” She couldn’t help but worry.

Zhang Yanxin finally spoke up, “It’s nothing. You go eat; I still have things to do.” He grabbed his car keys, leaving his phone behind, and walked out of the office in large strides.

Now, no one wanted to see anything. They just wanted to find a quiet place to stay.

“Zhang Yanxin, where are you going?”

He didn’t respond.

Mu Di picked up his phone and chased after him, burning with anger but also afraid that something had happened. She could only comfort herself and endure it for now.

When they reached the ground floor, Zhang Yanxin had already driven away.

He didn’t take his phone, so she couldn’t make any calls. For the first time, she felt powerless.

Curiosity got the better of her. She unlocked his phone and tried Wei Lai’s birthday, and it actually opened.

Wei Lai was still at the top of WeChat, and only she was at the top. The chat records stopped on the night they broke up. It turned out he could also speak sweet words.

Every word was like a knife stabbing at her. Unable to bear it, she exited WeChat.

The phone vibrated, and she thought it was Zhang Yanxin’s, but when she looked, it was her own, her uncle calling.

Lu Manyi questioned her niece, “How could you do this to my supermarket?”

Mu Di’s head buzzed, and Wei Lai, after using her, ended the transaction and directly told her uncle the truth.

“You’ve ruined my supermarket mercilessly. Who picked you up from school every day when you were a child? Who attended parent-teacher meetings for your parents? Who took you to the hospital in the middle of the night when you were sick? Have you forgotten all of that?”

Mu Di’s eyes stung, but what could she do?

Later, her uncle said something else, but her ears buzzed, and she couldn’t make out what he said.

Just as the call ended, another message came in from Wei Lai: “Chen Qi was your arrangement.”

Mu Di sighed. She couldn’t admit it at this moment. Anyway, Chen Qi couldn’t confess on his own, or his career would be over.

Seeing Wei Lai’s expansion, Wei Lai and Zhao Lianshen should reconcile and reach a cooperative consensus.

She replied to Wei Lai: “If you say so, I’ll accept it.”

Wei Lai replied: “It’s not me saying it; it’s the evidence saying it’s you.”

Then another message came: “Guess who provided the evidence?”

Mu Di’s heart skipped a beat, the answer was on the tip of her tongue, but she didn’t want to believe it.

Wei Lai: “Lu Manyi.”

Mu Di bit her lip hard. She shouldn’t care so much, but somewhere in her heart felt like something was missing, that unnameable sadness.

Wei Lai: “There won’t be a next time. Take care of yourself.”

She deleted both Mu Di and Lu Manyi, not telling Mu Di that Chen Qi had already turned against them.

“Did I prevent New Ming from going bankrupt because of me?” She sent a message to Zhou Sujin.

Soon, Zhou Sujin replied: “Yes. It’s a memory of yours. I can’t let it be too unbearable. Didn’t you say I’m a good person?”

Wei Lai suddenly felt emotional and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

“You’re busy, I’ve made an appointment with someone.” 

As soon as the message was sent, Yuan Hengrui’s call came in, saying he was already downstairs.

“How can I let you come here? Didn’t we agree that I’d go to your office?”

“I had something to do on this side.” Yuan Hengrui asked, “Are you free now?”

“Yes, come up directly.” Wei Lai hung up the phone and started brewing coffee.

Yuan Hengrui looked at his own office building, lost in thought.

He still remembered the first time he saw Wei Lai. He came to the office building to find someone, ran out of cigarettes, went to Wei Lai’s supermarket to buy cigarettes, and met her buying snacks while lining up at the checkout.

It was love at first sight.

Taking back his gaze, he walked to the window and looked down at Jiangcheng. “My New Year’s greeting was quite effective, wasn’t it? I wish you prosperity, and within half a year, you’ve had enough money to buy the storefront of Jiang’an Yunchen.”

Wei Lai smiled. “It’s all thanks to your auspicious words.”

Yuan Hengrui asked, “Does Zhou Sujin know that you’re planning to give him a storefront for rent?”

Wei Lai replied, “He doesn’t know yet. Keep it confidential for now.”