Chapter 24: Not tomorrow, I have a date.

These truths, Assistant Lin knew, and Lu Chengze naturally knew as well.

The cigarette in his fingertips finally burned to the end, and just before it could burn his skin, he reached out and pressed the cigarette butt into the ashtray.

“Still can’t get in touch with Jian Yao?”

Assistant Lin hesitated for a moment, “Well, I guess we have.”

Lu Chengze turned around and looked at him when he heard this, “What do you mean ‘we have’?” 

Assistant Lin carefully chose his words, “You didn’t want to tell Miss Jian about Liu Yaozong, so she said she would handle it when she got back from her vacation.”

Lu Chengze gave Assistant Lin a cold look, “Send her a message, tell her to come to the company.”

Assistant Lin opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Lu Chengze interrupted him.

“Right now, immediately!”

Assistant Lin: “…But she’s not replying to messages now, and she didn’t answer when I called.”

Lu Chengze felt like he was punching cotton, unable to vent his anger, he glared at Assistant Lin and took out his phone to call Jian Yao.

It was still the same “beep beep beep” of a blind tone, neither hanging up nor being answered.

Lu Chengze’s face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

“What the hell is she doing all day?”

He frowned at Assistant Lin, “Is her phone always so hard to get through?”

Although they grew up together, it was always Jian Yao who was clingy to him and took the initiative to call him.

He rarely contacted Jian Yao on his own initiative, and this was the first time he had been given the cold shoulder by her.

Of course not.

Miss Jian was the general manager of the business department after all, and her phone had many clients’ numbers, so normally, her phone was kept open 24 hours a day.

It was always easy to get in touch with her before.

But at this moment, facing Lu Chengze’s questioning, Assistant Lin lowered his head and dared not speak.

His patience ran out, he picked up the suit jacket on the sofa and walked out.

Assistant Lin quickly followed, “Mr. Lu, where are you going?”

There was still a pile of messes to clean up at the company, and they were still hiding it from the company’s shareholders and chairman. At this critical juncture, where was this ancestor going?

Lu Chengze said coldly, “Go see what Jian Yao is up to.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the phone in Lu Chengze’s hand suddenly rang.

Assistant Lin’s eyes lit up, “It must be Miss Jian’s call.”

Miss Jian might be sulking at him, but she liked Mr. Lu so much, she would definitely answer his call immediately.

She didn’t answer before, maybe she was busy.

After all, today was the day Mr. Lu and Miss Jian got engaged, there were so many relatives and friends, some of them might have to get together after the banquet.

Lu Chengze’s footsteps also paused, he lowered his head and looked at the phone in his hand.

The always steady Assistant Lin quickly caught up with Lu Chengze, a hopeful look on his face, “Is it Miss Jian?”

Lu’s troubles seemed quite big, but if Miss Jian was willing to step forward and speak to Mr. Li, all the problems would be solved.

As soon as he finished speaking, he noticed that Lu Chengze’s aura became even colder and more terrifying, his hand holding the phone was so tight that it almost crushed the phone.

Assistant Lin looked down and saw that Lu Chengze’s phone was still vibrating, but the caller ID on the lit screen clearly showed the name Liu Yiyi.

The joy on Assistant Lin’s face faded, his body froze, he took a step back unconsciously, trying to minimize his presence.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mr. Lu staring at the screen for a long time, until it was about to hang up automatically, he pressed the answer button.

He didn’t know what was said on the other side, but his face turned cold to the extreme.

“I know, I’m on my way.”

•  

Jian Yao originally just wanted to air dry her hair, but she ended up falling asleep in the lounge chair.

When she woke up, the sky was completely dark, and the only light on the balcony was the faint glow of the neon lights in the distance.

She bent down to pick up the book that had been pushed aside, grabbed her phone and checked the time.

It was already past ten o’clock at night.

There were several missed calls on her phone, most of them from Assistant Lin, and the last one was from Lu Chengze.

The most recent one was also a few hours ago.

It was probably about the Li family matter. The fact that Lu Chengze had taken the initiative to call her meant she had messed up pretty badly.

Jian Yao chuckled wryly, turned off her phone, and walked towards the kitchen.

She hadn’t had time to eat breakfast that morning, and she had only eaten a few bites at lunch while toasting with relatives and friends. Now, she was starving.

Lu Chengze had a bad stomach and often skipped breakfast, so she often prepared lunchboxes for him to take to work. There were plenty of ingredients in the refrigerator.

Unfortunately, she had been busy these past few days and hadn’t cooked at home. Several vegetables in the fridge were no longer fresh.

She saw a package of snail noodles she had bought earlier on the shelf next to it and decided to make some for dinner.

As she watched the water boil, she picked up her phone to set a timer. Suddenly, a call popped up.

It was Lu Chengze.

Jian Yao was about to hang up, but then she remembered she was still working at Lu Corporation. Hesitating for two seconds, she answered the call.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line.

Jian Yao could hear the sound of someone smoking through the phone.

“Jian Yao?”

Lu Chengze’s voice was hoarse.

Jian Yao replied coldly, “Hmm.”

Sensing her cold attitude, Lu Chengze paused for a moment.

Jian Yao was a little impatient. “Is there something? If not, I’m going to hang up.”

“Why don’t you answer my calls?”

Why hadn’t she sent him any messages these past few days?

Why didn’t she wait for him at the engagement ceremony, knowing he was coming back?

Why didn’t she answer his calls or reply to his messages even though he had lowered himself to call her?

The moment the call was answered, Lu Chengze had so many questions he wanted to ask.

But when it came time to actually say them, he could only squeeze out this one question.

Why?

Jian Yao lowered her eyes. “I was busy, my phone was on silent, I didn’t see it.”

This was the excuse Lu Chengze always used to brush her off.

Today, she finally gave it back to him.

Lu Chengze took another drag of his cigarette and casually put it out. “I know you’re still angry. It was my fault. I can apologize.”

“But our personal feelings shouldn’t be brought into work. You’ve always been in charge of the Li family project. The engagement ceremony is over, your remaining vacation is cancelled. Come to my office tomorrow.”

Jian Yao looked at the boiling water in the pot, picked up her chopsticks, and stirred the noodles to prevent them from sticking together.

“I can’t tomorrow. I have a date.”

She had a date?

With who?

What else could she possibly do besides go shopping with Xu Si?

Lu Chengze took a deep breath. His voice was faintly impatient. “Jian Yao, I’m talking to you about serious business. You need to have some limits when you’re throwing a tantrum. Can you stop being unreasonable?”

Jian Yao was about to laugh in anger.

She was being unreasonable?

Just as she was about to retort, she heard a woman’s voice on the other end of the line, soft and delicate, calling out, “Brother Lu…”

Then, Lu Chengze’s undisguised impatience followed.

“Jian Yao, eight o’clock tomorrow morning. If I don’t see you at the company, you don’t need to come to the company anymore.”