Chapter 68

Qiao Sitian and Yin Le were so shocked that they even uttered a few expletives. When they just opened it, they couldn’t believe that this was written by Zhou Sujin himself, especially the last sentence.

They have all had dealings with Zhou Sujin, and it’s hard to imagine him making such a passionate declaration as “I will love you forever.”

[Your Mr. Zhou!!]

Jealousy rendered them speechless.

Qiao Sitan wanted to post this love letter to the group chat with her girlfriends. She couldn’t be sour alone; she wanted everyone to be sour together.

[Baby, can I send it to another group?]

“You reply yourself,” Zhou Sujin said to the person in his arms.

Wei Lai shook her head in his neck.

Zhou Sujin replied: [You can.]

After sending it out, it felt inappropriate. Wei Lai couldn’t be so direct. Even when she showed off, she always beat around the bush.

Then it was retracted.

[Today is my birthday, I promise to fulfill any requests you have.]

After editing, it was sent out.

“I replied for you.”

Wei Lai asked for his phone and glanced at it. After reading his reply, it was as if she was the one who replied.

She chuckled dumbly, burying her face deeper into his neck.

Her vanity was completely satisfied by him today.

Zhou Sujin put down her phone and continued to deal with work emails.

Wei Lai realized he was still working overtime. She lifted her head from his neck, intending to get up.

“It’s okay, it doesn’t affect me,” Zhou Sujin said.

Wei Lai wanted to stay in his arms for a while longer, but worried about disturbing his work. She still stood up. “I’m tired, I’ll go take a bath and sleep.”

Taking the two love letters and her phone, she left the study.

Qiao Sitian turned around and sent the love letter to the group chat. The group exploded; several people who usually lurked came out, and within a few minutes, the messages in the group exceeded a hundred.

[Tian Tian, where did the love letter come from?]

[Zhou Sujin can write such neat words?]

[Lai Lai, come quickly! Tian Tian is playing a prank!]

Many people @Wei Lai. [Was it really written by Zhou Sujin? Then this time, the dream of marrying into a wealthy family has finally come true!]

Wei Lai saw the plastic messages but didn’t reply. Not just them, most people in Jiangcheng still believed that her marriage was just a deal. Even if Zhou Sujin gave her shares of Kunchen, it was still part of some transaction.

Regarding the transaction, the most speculation was that after Wei Lai went public, Zhou Sujin used it as a pawn to deal with Zhao Lianshen, and the end result for Wei Lai was delisting and ultimately bankruptcy. Giving her Kunchen shares was a compensation.

Marriages based on mutual benefit would dissolve whenever they said so.

As for Zhou Sujin’s deep involvement in various industries in Jiangcheng, they thought it was Kunchen’s strategic plan. After all, before meeting her, Zhou Sujin had already laid out the semiconductor materials industry in Jiangcheng.

Both love letters were stored in the watch safe. The second one was equally precious, as it was written together with him.

Originally, she wanted to make a copy and put it in her bag, so that when she had dinner with Qiao Sitian and Yin Le, she could pretend to casually find something in her bag and let them see the love letter.

Now it wasn’t necessary anymore.

Zhou Sujin was willing to make his own love letters public, not caring about what others said behind his back, which she hadn’t expected.

The group gossiped all night.

In the following days, she was busy with the opening of the new store, and no one in the group mentioned it again. She considered the matter closed.

The next day, a designer came to Jiangcheng on a business trip, and she invited him to dinner at that old-fashioned restaurant.

They had been cooperating for more than two years, and because of their shared interests, they talked about everything.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect you to stick with the free bookstore.” With that, he clinked glasses with her.

Wei Lai smiled. “You know me, I’m vulgar and greedy. Sticking with it prevents me from drifting.”

As the designer raised his glass to drink, he unintentionally glanced at the table diagonally in front of them. A man with a unique temperament was staring at their table, but it couldn’t be for him.

“Maybe it’s your friend,” he reminded Wei Lai.

Wei Lai turned her head, unexpectedly meeting the gaze of Zhang Yanxin. He used to accompany her to eat here often, so it wasn’t surprising to see him again. Opposite him was Mu Di, with his back to her.

She nodded slightly and withdrew her gaze.

“My ex-boyfriend and my former boss, they’re a couple,” she joked about herself, “If it weren’t for them, there might not be Wei Lai today.”

“…”

“It’s all in the past.”

The designer thought for a long time about what to say but ended up speechless.

Suddenly, he thought of her special attachment to the seventeenth store.

“Is the seventeenth of Jiang’an Yunchen related to him?”

“It doesn’t matter.” There seemed to be a smile in Wei Lai’s eyebrows. “It’s related to my husband.”

The designer raised his glass to her again, saying, “Congratulations, for finally meeting the person you’ve been waiting for.”

As they left the restaurant, the dishes at the table where Zhang Yanxin and Mu Di were just being served.

Zhang Yanxin’s gaze followed Wei Lai as she left, while Mu Di kept staring at him.

Even when they had gone far down the stairs, he still absentmindedly looked in their direction.

Unable to bear it any longer, Mu Di exploded in anger, not mincing her words, “If you can’t let go, I’ll help you. Let’s get divorced when we get back, and then you can go after her!”

Zhang Yanxin looked at her calmly and said, “I won’t go after her, but divorce is fine. Do you want the divorce agreement to come from your side or should I have my lawyer draft it?”

“You!” Mu Di, enraged and embarrassed, didn’t touch her food, grabbed her bag, and left.

Zhang Yanxin picked up his chopsticks, but his appetite was gone, and the food tasted like wax.

If he hadn’t compromised when his father arranged his marriage, he and Wei Lai might have been married by now.

That night, Mu Di received the electronic version of the divorce agreement from Zhang Yanxin’s private legal advisor, with instructions to point out any necessary modifications.

After feeling mentally off-balance, everything seemed surreal. Unable to return to the past, the future seemed uncertain. He suddenly felt that his marriage was utterly meaningless.

—

[Darling, did you hear about so-and-so and so-and-so? They’re apparently getting a divorce. I’ll treat you to hot pot tonight!]

Qiao Sitan @Wei Lai and also asked Yin Le if she was free.

Wei Lai felt no emotional fluctuations internally; whether they got divorced or not didn’t concern her. That day at the restaurant, she had already greeted Zhang Yanxin with a nod, not caring about anything anymore.

Replying to the group message: [I’m busiest at the end and beginning of the month, no time.]

Putting down her phone, she prepared for a meeting.

Zhao Lianshen also participated in today’s video conference. He rarely attended meetings, maybe two or three times a year, mostly as an observer. Today, he spoke a few more words. According to authoritative statistics, as of now, Wei Lai’s total sales rank thirty-eighth among national chain supermarkets.

Pausing for a moment, he continued, “Although it’s thirty-eighth, compared to the top dozen, we’re not even close.”

Wei Lai was already content. Last year, her wish was to break into the top forty. Now, it was early December, and in just a month’s time, she might be able to push forward a bit more. Even if she maintained her current ranking, her wish had already been fulfilled.

Yu Younian chimed in, “Our doorstep delivery service will become increasingly prominent. This is something our competitors don’t have. Mr. Zhao, rest assured, breaking into the top dozen is only a matter of time.”

Regarding the self-built logistics, he self-critiqued, saying that he had opposed it at the beginning, “Chairman Chen and our President Lai had foresight. At that time, there were very few people in the company who supported it, but you two were resolute and didn’t give up on building our own logistics.”

Tang Yi recalled the big argument she had with Chen Qi about this matter during the meeting and couldn’t help feeling ashamed.

Before the meeting ended, Zhao Lianshen asked Yu Younian, “The New Year is coming soon, are there any plans for a New Year’s team-building activity?”

When a leader actively asks such questions, it means the leader himself wants a New Year’s team-building activity.

Yu Younian went along with it, “I plan to organize one, but our President Lai won’t be able to attend. Those days, President Lai will be on vacation abroad to relax.”

Zhao Lianshen said, “Yu can attend. Participation is the most important, the format doesn’t matter.”

Everyone: “…”

Wei Lai didn’t want Yu Younian to be stuck in the middle, so she said, “No problem, the more the merrier. Mr. Yu can video call me that day, and I’ll also experience the atmosphere on-site.”

After the meeting dispersed, she started planning where to be during the video call that day.

There was a knock on the office door, and Yu Younian was allowed in. He came specifically to inform her that Zhao Lianshen had reconsidered and decided to cancel the New Year’s team-building activity.

Yu Younian couldn’t help but sarcastically comment, “Maybe Mr. Zhao’s conscience kicked in.”

Wei Lai just smiled without saying a word.

It wasn’t Zhao Lianshen’s conscience; he had calmly predicted that she might give Zhou Sujin a chance to appear on camera during the video call, and he couldn’t allow Zhou Sujin to show his face in front of so many employees of Wei Lai. That’s why he canceled it.

The news of Zhang Yanxin and Mu Di’s divorce spread in the plastic group chat as well.

Whenever there was a stir in their marriage, someone would mention her.

After contemplating for a long time, Wei Lai left the group.

The era of showing off came to an end today.

[Darling, why did you leave the group?] Qiao Sitian was astonished.

Wei Lai: [I’m tired from work now. You can find Zhou Sujin.]

No need to rely on that plastic group to regulate anymore.

She left the office early today, leaving at six o’clock. Zhou Sujin had gone back to Beijing this month and would come back on the twentieth. After Christmas, they would fly to Australia.

After leaving the company, she went back to her apartment first, and took a few thick clothes she often wore to Jiang’an Yuncheng’s house. Even if Zhou Sujin wasn’t in Jiangcheng, she had grown accustomed to staying there.

She took out a suitcase neatly folded the clothes, and placed them inside.

Gradually, almost everything from the apartment had been moved. Her parents’ wedding photos and family portraits were still there.

Standing in front of the desk, she hesitated for a moment, then bent down to open the drawer of the low cabinet, took out all the family portrait frames, and packed them into the suitcase. There was no space left for the wedding photos, so she would have to wait until next time.

Jiang’an Yuncheng had her own study, adjacent to Zhou Sujin’s study.

Back home, she took all the family portraits to the study, picked out a few interesting ones, and placed them on the bookshelf.

She took a photo of herself at the age of two from the family portraits and sent it to Zhou Sujin.

Zhou Sujin: [If we have a daughter in the future, I hope she’s like you.]

“Are you sure you won’t invest? If not, I’ll give the project to Lu Yu,” Zhou Jiaye extinguished his cigarette.

Zhou Sujin looked up and said, “Not investing.”

Zhou Jiaye didn’t say more. There was a project he thought was good. In the afternoon, Min Ting called him, saying that the family of Zhou Sujin’s previous blind date partner was also interested in investing and asked if they would consider it.

Zhou Sujin had already made it clear that all his investments were separated from the family of his previous blind date partner to avoid any criticism towards Wei Lai.

Not seeing the pen on his desk this time he came to Zhou Sujin’s office, Zhou Jiaye didn’t think much about it. “I’ll have dinner at home tonight, will you come?”

Zhou Sujin closed the file, saying, “I’ll come back. I won’t have time to be home on New Year’s Day.”

“Business trip?”

“Going to Australia with Wei Lai.”

Zhou Jiaye: “You can stay a few more days. I’ll handle the project. It’ll save you from Aunt Xiao complaining every day that you’re a workaholic.”

The car came out of the company’s underground garage and turned onto the road, immediately encountering traffic. It had been snowing all day and hadn’t stopped.

What usually took twenty minutes to drive today took nearly an hour.

The car finally passed by S.Z. Restaurant, and ahead was a pedestrian bridge. Zhou Sujin looked out the window and glanced at the pedestrian bridge once more.

This year’s snow in Jiangcheng came more than twenty days later than in Beijing. On the day it snowed, Wei Lai missed it as she was on a flight to Australia.

After landing, Wei Lai saw the photos in the three-person group chat. Qiao Sitian had gone to the lake early in the morning with her husband to take photos, creating an atmosphere comparable to the ones Zhou Sujin had taken for her last Chinese New Year.

She regretted, “If I had known it would snow so heavily, I would have postponed coming to Australia for two more days.”

Zhou Sujin had previously asked her if she wanted to go skiing, and she had refused at the time. Today, he asked again, “Do you want to go skiing?”

Wei Lai didn’t hesitate, “Let’s go after Chinese New Year.”

There was a new expectation.

The last time she was in Australia, Zhou Sujin wanted to take her for a drive along the coastal road, but they couldn’t make it due to her tight work schedule.

This time, the first stop of the holiday was to go to the coastal road for sightseeing.

Zhou Sujin drove himself and played a jazz music.

In the evening, with the sea breeze on their faces and the sound of waves crashing against the rocks, the azure coastline seemed endless.

Wei Lai had been here with her classmates during her school days, but this time the person beside her was him, giving her a completely different feeling.

She glanced at him sideways and asked, “Have you been here before?”

“Yeah, I came a few times during my school days.”

Zhou Sujin added, “With Lu Yu and the others.”

Wei Lai joked, “If I had known back then that you would be my husband in a few years, I would have come to find you earlier.”

“You never pursued anyone back then,” Zhou Sujin said.

Wei Lai laughed, “I would have come to find you to make you pursue me.” The only downside was, “But there were too many changes in emotions during our school days, and we basically couldn’t make it to the end.”

Zhou Sujin said, “I would have married you.”

Wei Lai’s heartbeat quickened for a moment, but it was drowned out by the jazz music in the car.

She sat up straight, and looked ahead, as if she were in the clouds, with the cloud clusters just a short distance away, within reach.

Enjoying the summer and sunlight, she put her phone on silent and rarely looked at it anymore.

Since she left the large plastic group chat, she was unaware of the subsequent developments regarding that love letter.

On the evening of the thirty-first, Yuan Hengrui met Qiao Sitian’s husband at a dinner party. During the conversation, someone mentioned the divorce of Zhang Yanxin and Mu Di, inevitably leading to the topic of Wei Lai’s marriage to Zhou Sujin. Qiao Sitian’s husband clarified for them, saying that Zhou Sujin had written the love letter; where else could they have gotten it?

And so, the love letter was once again passed around.

Lu Yu saw the love letter and, regardless of its authenticity, forwarded it to their childhood friend group chat.

The boss of Lemon was the first to see it and directly @ Zhou Sujin: [Zhao Lianshen is pretending to be you to write love letters!]

Seeing the name “Zhao Lianshen,” LuYu finally understood what was wrong. If it were really written by Zhou Sujin, how could it have been leaked? It seemed like an attempt to cover up the truth by intentionally shedding crocodile tears.

[It’s probably Zhao Lianshen! The handwriting doesn’t look like Zhou Sujin’s.]

Others might not be familiar with Zhou Sujin’s handwriting, but he was. He often needed Zhou Sujin’s signature on project documents, and he had seen Zhou Sujin’s handwriting in his records.

Someone else commented, [The last sentence, even if Zhou Sujin were beaten to death, he wouldn’t say it.]

Lu Yu rubbed his forehead. Zhao Lianshen was capable of buying an advertising company to secure exclusive advertising space for Wei Lai. He could do something like write a love letter.

With this love letter, Zhou Sujin was put in a difficult position. Even if the love letter was fake, it made Zhou Sujin look bad. This move was more ruthless than that advertising slogan.

Another son-in-law from Jiangcheng spoke up. It was he who had brought a group of childhood friends to invest in Jiangcheng and had given each of them KPIs.

[Where is Zhou Sujin?]

Lu Yu replied, [He’s in Australia. It’s almost midnight there; he might not have time to check his phone.]

He then mentioned Zhou Sujin again, [Your house has been robbed!]

Zhou Sujin’s phone screen had been lighting up continuously. Wei Lai reminded him, “You have messages, take a look.”

Zhou Sujin turned his head and picked up his phone from the sofa. There were seven or eight people trying to reach him.

He was mentally prepared for the love letter to reach their group.

He replied, [No one is impersonating me. I wrote it.]

Only then did Zhou Jiaye see the group message, [You started practicing penmanship six months ago just to write love letters?]

Zhou Sujin replied, [Yes.]

Everyone was shocked.

Lu Yu was especially speechless: [!!]

It was normal to write love letters, but he had practiced penmanship for half a year in advance!

Lu Yu suddenly felt that the content of the love letter was no longer important, but rather the six months behind it.

With three minutes left until midnight, Zhou Sujin left the group chat.

Wei Lai leaned on his shoulder. “I’m going to make a wish later. Do you have any wishes? I’ll make them for you too.”

Zhou Sujin hugged her. “No need. I make my wishes on my birthday every year.”

“I thought you never made wishes.” Wei Lai was curious. “What kind of wishes do you usually make? Can you give me an example from before?”

Zhou Sujin looked at her. “I’ve told you, they won’t come true. They’re all related to you.”

All his wishes were made for her.

The biggest wish of his life was for her happiness, peace, and everything to go smoothly.

(The end)