Chapter 54

When he forbade her to touch, she leaned towards the tiger mountain.

Now that he’s allowed, Wei Lai is hesitating.

Afraid it’s a trap, she cautiously probes, “Will there be any consequences?”

Zhou Sujin casually places the water glass on the vanity, lowering his head to meet her gaze. “Regarding your matters, I won’t let you down.”

That means there won’t be any consequences.

Wei Lai’s fingers move up, the tips of her index and middle fingers lightly pressing against his Adam’s apple, rubbing gently at the sharpest and most sensitive part, as light as a feather passing by.

Zhou Sujin holds his breath for a few seconds, allowing her every move, his eyes always deep and calm.

Wei Lai’s fingertips don’t feel his Adam’s apple moving, but her own breathing becomes erratic.

Zhou Sujin lowers his head to kiss her. “That’s enough.”

Wei Lai responds with a hum, kissing him back with his lips, her fingertips slowly leaving his neck, clutching the collar of his black robe.

Zhou Sujin adjusts his breath only during the deep kiss, no longer feeling any tug at his heart.

As Wei Lai kisses him back, her thumb instinctively presses lightly against his Adam’s apple again.

As the kiss ends, Zhou Sujin asks her, “Do you have an obsession?”

It’s not really an obsession, just the psychology of wanting what one can’t have. Wei Lai speaks her mind, “When you didn’t let me touch you before, I thought maybe you didn’t love me yet.”

Zhou Sujin doesn’t respond, lowering his head to kiss her lips again.

Touching the Adam’s apple, yet wanting more.

Knowing he has no bottom line when it comes to her, she still wants to continue testing.

In bed, with no height difference, she wraps her arms around his neck, her lips against his Adam’s apple.

In the dim room, nothing is visible.

Her breath is filled with his chilly scent, which she gently licks.

Zhou Sujin’s breath pauses for a moment, his elbow resting on her pillow, neither avoiding nor stopping her.

Their fingers intertwined, her hand squeezed too tightly by him, the wedding ring on his ring finger slightly hurting hers.

“Zhou Sujin.”

She holds onto his neck with one hand, still kissing, not responding to him.

Zhou Sujin tries to make her happy, “Half a minute, can’t be longer.”

Wei Lai, accustomed to taking liberties, and indulged by him, kisses for more than a minute and a half.

While kissing him, she feels his strength restraint, and pure desire that he can control and endure.

Now she completely believes that nothing in this life can make him lose control.

“Husband, where’s my water glass?”

Zhou Sujin replies, “It’s on the vanity.”

She had eaten quite a bit of cherry jam that night, and he knew it, so he got up to get her glass.

Wei Lai also gets out of bed, and just as she reaches the sofa, Zhou Sujin comes out with the glass.

Drinking the remaining half glass of water, she feels a bit better in her throat.

Zhou Sujin simply places the glass on the side table next to the sofa, and before Wei Lai can speak, he silences her with a kiss.

She had never sat on the sofa by the French window before, and tonight she’s stuck in it.

After soaking in the bathtub for a long time, her body carries the scent of jasmine essential oil.

Zhou Sujin buries his head, his lips touching hers, his nose picking up the faint smell of jasmine. As he tries to explore the kiss, he frees up one hand to hold hers, wrapping it around her fingertips.

Wei Lai’s other hand passes through his slightly damp hair, her voice trembling as she sets a condition, “Zhou Sujin, I’ll give you half a minute at most.”

Zhou Sujin doesn’t respond.

He returns to her many times the length of the kiss.

Wei Lai loses herself in his lips.

Zhou Sujin lifts her from the sofa, knocking over the water glass on the side table, and they roll onto the wool carpet in front of the sofa.

The shower in the bathroom turns on.

Steam rises.

Wei Lai leans against the wall.

He said there would be no consequences to touching his Adam’s apple, but there weren’t any then.

Afterward, she bore all the consequences herself.

—

The next morning, Zhou Sujin went to the company as usual.

Yang Ze, seeing the boss, couldn’t hide his surprise, revealing it on his face.

He thought Wei Lai came all this way, doesn’t she need company?

Zhou Sujin instructed Assistant Yang to submit everything that needed signing or reviewing to him, saying he would rest in the afternoon, and then ordered, “Make another cup of coffee.”

He had only slept for three or four hours, and needed coffee to wake up.

“Sure, Mr. Zhou.” Yang Ze arranged for someone to make coffee.

Zhou Sujin sat at his desk, his hand reaching for the top button of his shirt out of habit, but he remembered the intentional love marks left by Wei Lai and stopped.

As the coffee was just being brought in, an unexpected guest arrived.

Lu Yu laughed and said, “Did you anticipate my arrival and even prepare the coffee for me?”

Zhou Sujin drinks coffee only when he needs to stay awake; he usually drinks soda water. Early in the morning, there’s definitely no need to stay awake, which is what Lu’an thinks.

Zhou Sujin hands the coffee to Lu’an and instructs someone to make another cup.

“What’s the matter?” he asks, opening his computer casually.

Lu Yu, also sleep-deprived, yawns and says, “Zhang Yanxin went to see Zhao Lianshen yesterday. Zhao Lianshen gave him a face and went to dinner.”

As for how the conversation went, there’s no way of knowing.

These messages were sent by a friend of his in the morning, and since he happened to have project documents to deliver to Zhou Sujin, he decided to forgo sleeping in and came straight over.

After all, Zhou Sujin had caused Zhao Lianshen to lose three companies before; Lu Yu wasn’t sure what to expect: “Will Zhao Lianshen help Zhang Yanxin come after you?”

Zhou Sujin replies, “He wouldn’t dare.”

Openly, he wouldn’t.

As for behind the scenes, maybe.

Zhang Yanxin’s matter was already out in the open; Zhao Lianshen wouldn’t want to get involved in that mess.

He raises his head. “What friend told you this?”

“A friend I often hang out with. Everyone knows about your conflict with Zhang Yanxin and the battle with Zhao Lianshen a few years ago. Seeing those two having dinner together naturally makes people think of that.”

Lu Yu picks up the coffee and drinks; he had already instructed his friend to inform him promptly if Zhao Lianshen made any moves.

“I didn’t expect Xiao Donghan to give you so much face. Zhang Yanxin went to London to see him, and I heard he refused to see anyone.” Zhang Yanxin was unwilling to be just a fish on Zhou Sujin’s chopping block, so he went to see Zhao Lianshen.

—

Zhou Sujin returned home at eleven thirty, not long after Wei Lai had gotten up and was blow-drying her hair after showering.

Her nightgown was dirty from the previous day, so she couldn’t wear it again. She didn’t feel like finding a new one in the closet, so she just put on Zhou Sujin’s bathrobe.

Zhou Sujin followed the sound to the bathroom, glanced at the bathrobe on her body a few times, then looked back at the mirror. “Just got up?”

“Yeah.” Their eyes meet in the mirror.

Wei Lai is annoyed. “I should have gotten up earlier. I didn’t hear the alarm.” She had slept through the morning.

Zhou Sujin says, “It didn’t ring. I turned it off.”

Wei Lai doesn’t blame him; he wants her to sleep more.

The ticket back to Jiangcheng was for the evening, and he still had to go to the company in the afternoon. She regretted, “We only have the noon time to be together.”

“I’ll be at home in the afternoon.” Zhou Sujin takes off his watch and goes to the closet to put it in the watch cabinet.

Wei Lai watches his back in the mirror. “You don’t need to go to the company?”

“I just got back.”

“…” How early did he have to get up then?

She hadn’t seen him when she woke up, thinking he was busy working in the study.

After blow-drying her hair, Wei Lai changes into a dress, grabs a white suit, and goes downstairs. Zhou Sujin is waiting for her in the dining room, where there’s a copper hotpot for today’s meal, filled with dishes and meat she likes.

Zhou Sujin looks at her dress and the white suit in her hand. “The one I bought?”

“Yeah.” Wei Lai smiles and asks, “With so many dresses, you still remember?”

Zhou Sujin says, “You chose it yourself, so I remember.”

He gestures for her to put away the suit. The hotpot is ready, and they can start cooking the meat.

Today, the housekeeper had prepared the copper hotpot for her, without registering her information for the security system, feeling negligent in his duty.

Zhou Sujin doesn’t eat hotpot; the housekeeper has prepared separate dishes for him.

Wei Lai sits down at the table. “Husband.” She hands him the ladle and long chopsticks, telling him which plate of meat to cook first and which to cook next.

The copper pot is closer to her side, and Zhou Sujin stands up, sitting in the empty chair next to her.

Wei Lai prepares dipping sauces, two plates of them, and the lamb is cooked and placed on a plate.

As she eats, she tells Zhou Sujin, “It’s good that you don’t like hotpot; this way, you can focus on cooking the meat for me.”

Zhou Sujin says, “I’ll accompany you for hotpot once a month from now on.”

Wei Lai puts down her chopsticks and sits conveniently on the same side as Zhou Sujin, reaching out to hug him.

Having felt his love for her last night, though not much, she wants more.

While eating, she brings up work with him, “I still have paranoid delusions.”

Zhou Sujin understands what she’s saying. “Keep investigating if you have them.”

The next day, after returning to Jiangcheng, Wei Lai decides to visit the headquarters of Fumanyuan. She always feels that Mu Di wouldn’t go easy on her and wouldn’t let her off easily.

If Mu Di dared to plant someone beside her under Zhou Sujin’s nose, it must be extremely secretive and difficult to detect. She wouldn’t be able to find out by herself.

Before coming, she didn’t inform Lu Manyi and directly asked the receptionist to find his office.

The receptionist treated her like a supplier and didn’t stop her.

Lu Manyi was looking at reports from various stores, his brows furrowed. One of the stores, which had been doing fine, had seen a sharp decline in revenue over the past two months, and if this continued, it would soon be operating at a loss.

Just as he was about to call the store manager, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

Wei Lai pushed the door open, and Lu Manyi doubted if he was seeing things.

“Manager Lu, sorry to disturb you.” Wei Lai was dressed in a dark suit today, different from her usual attire, exuding a powerful and imposing aura.

Lu Manyi smiled and said, “I almost didn’t recognize you. Please, have a seat. How can I help you?” He was always adept at handling such situations.

As they spoke, he began brewing tea.

Wei Lai told him not to bother, “I have something to say, and then I’ll leave.”

“It’s rare for you to come, let’s have a cup of tea.” Lu Manyi inwardly muttered to himself; people never visit without a reason, and Wei Lai’s imposing manner hinted at trouble.

The tea was ready, and Wei Lai sat down on the sofa.

Lu Manyi hadn’t brewed tea for himself; he took a thermos from his desk and sat down on the sofa next to Wei Lai. Since Wei Lai didn’t speak first, he also refrained from bringing up the topic.

“Manager Lu, try this tea. A friend gave it to me, and it’s the first time I’ve brewed it today.”

Wei Lai didn’t beat around the bush and went straight to the point, “Manager Lu, you’ve inserted someone into the management of our supermarket. By now, this person should have completely distanced themselves from you, right?”

Without giving him any psychological preparation, it was like a bolt from the blue.

Despite Lu Manyi’s years of experience in the business world, his face changed dramatically at this moment.

“Ms. Wei, you must be joking.”

“I don’t have time for jokes. Manager Lu, let’s drop the false politeness between us.” Wei Lai smiled without smiling. “I can give you a chance to redeem yourself, Manager Lu. Would you consider it?”

Then she changed the subject, “If you don’t consider it, there’s no other way out for you.”

Lu Manyi had never been afraid of anyone’s threats. Today, he was provoked when someone came to his door. Despite Zhou Sujin’s backing, she was so audacious that she didn’t regard anyone in her eyes.

Wei Lai continued, “Your niece, Mu Di, also inserted someone into my company, and I can’t figure out who it is. She didn’t tell you about this.”

Lu Manyi was incredulous, but then he thought that it was something his niece could do. After all, she harbored resentment against Wei Lai.

Since it wouldn’t harm his interests, he didn’t care if his niece inserted someone or who she inserted.

Wei Lai continued, “Your chance is to help me find out who Mu Di’s mole is. I’ll let you off the hook, and I won’t tell Zhou Sujin about the despicable things you’ve done before. Otherwise, you can consider the fate of Zhang Yanxin and Zhao Lianshen.”

The last sentence was the most lethal.

Lu Manyi’s face turned pale, and he had to swallow his anger several times before he could speak. Zhang Yanxin’s father was now in a difficult situation, and he knew the situation at Xinming Group the best.

As for Zhao Lianshen, he had heard from his niece that because he had offended Zhou Sujin, three of his companies went bankrupt.

Before April, although he feared Zhou Sujin, he wasn’t afraid of Wei Lai. Wei Lai didn’t have the power to command Zhou Sujin. However, things were different now.

With 36 million shares, Zhou Sujin could give them away as he pleased, and yesterday’s closing price was close to 260.

Wei Lai didn’t drink the tea and stood up. “Manager Lu, you have three months. If you can’t find out or if Mu Di finds out, Fumanyuan might not be yours anymore. I happen to be interested in all your stores.”

Lu Manyi wanted to point to the door and ask her to leave.

Wei Lai stopped at the door and turned around. “Remember to report to me regularly on the progress.”

Without looking at Lu Manyi’s expression, she closed the door and left.

Coming out of Fumanyuan’s office building, she felt refreshed.

When the sixteenth store entered the Yunhui complex, because she terminated the contract with Zhou Sujin, they were harassed for a month. Today, she paid Lu Manyi back in full.

In mid-May, Qi Linsheng, the regional manager of Lemon Food, came to Jiangcheng to visit the market. He never contacted any dealers when visiting the market before, but because he got along well with Wei Lai, he called her on the last day of his trip and said he wanted to visit their supermarket to check out the product displays.

Wei Lai received him with surprise, took Qi Linsheng to the headquarters first, then to the Yunhui store in Jiang’an, and finally to the 20th store that opened earlier this month.

Qi Linsheng remembered that the last time they met, she said there were 17 stores, “Did you open three new ones in the first half of the year?”

“Exactly. The plan is three stores in the first half of the year and four in the second half.”

They sat in the free book bar area, and Wei Lai got a coffee for Qi Linsheng.

Qi Linsheng looked around and remarked, “This store doesn’t have a coffee corner.”

Wei Lai smiled, “The coffee corner is only available at the seventeenth store.”

Qi Linsheng took a sip of coffee. “The Jiang’an Yunhui store is huge.”

Wei Lai didn’t elaborate on the size of the store, leaving it to Qi Linsheng’s imagination.

Qi Linsheng suggested inviting Chen Qi to dinner together.

Wei Lai apologized, “Chen Qi can’t make it. He’s on a business trip to Beijing, and we’ve just reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Baiduo Industry. He’s handling related matters.”

Qi Linsheng mentioned Chen Qi a bit more, “With someone like Chen Qi as your capable assistant, breaking into the top thirty is just a matter of time. He’s a person with ambition, and his abilities match his ambitions.”

Wei Lai smiled, saying she was lucky to have encountered someone who dared to dream and act.

As it was getting late, they left the twentieth store.

Qi Linsheng suggested they didn’t need to go to a high-end restaurant since he spent 300 days a year traveling and had grown tired of everything. He wanted to eat some home-cooked dishes.

Wei Lai said, “Then let me take you to taste the characteristic home-cooked dishes of Jiangcheng.”

Before going to the restaurant, she sent a message to Zhou Sujin: [Honey, I’m having dinner with Mr. Qi tonight, it’s Qi Linsheng, the regional manager of Lemon Food’s East China region. I might call you later than usual.]

She had some risk management questions to ask him and promised to call him after work.

Zhou Sujin replied: [I’m free tonight. You can ask me anytime.]

He had just arrived at the courtyard and came to see his aunt.

Ning Rujiang told the chef which dishes to prepare and brought warm water to the living room.

“Aren’t you busy today? Have you been to see Lai Lai recently?”

Zhou Sujin put down his phone and took a cup of water. “I’ll go see her tomorrow.”

He had just seen her last week, and although she didn’t say anything, he could tell she was looking forward to his visit.

While chatting with his aunt, he received a call from Lu Yu.

An anxious voice came from the other end of the phone, “Wei Lai Supermarket has reached a cooperation agreement with Baiduo Industry and Lemon Food. Do you know who the actual controller of Baiduo is now?”

Zhou Sujin put down the cup of water and went to the yard to answer the call. “I haven’t been following. What’s going on?”

Lu Yu sounded flustered, “It’s troublesome. I just heard that the major shareholder of Baiduo Industry is Zhao Lianshen. Didn’t he go bankrupt with three companies before and then invest in several others? But Zhao Lianshen has never cared about the operation of Baiduo. He probably doesn’t know about the cooperation between Baiduo and Wei Lai Supermarket…”

Zhou Sujin said confidently, “He knows.”

Lu Yu was taken aback, “Are you sure?”

“There are no such coincidences.”

Lu Yu was at a loss for a moment, “What should we do next?”

Zhou Sujin said, “Wait for Zhao Lianshen to come to me.”