Shi Nuan bumped into Lin Yu as she was returning to her office. He waved at her. “Shi Nuan, I need to tell you something.”
Shi Nuan put down the things in her hands before heading over to Lin Yu. “Yes, Mr. Lin?”
Lin Yu nodded. “You need to concentrate more on your work. Keep your emotions to yourself.”
Shi Nuan could instantly understand what Lin Yu meant. She smiled at once. “Mr. Lin, you know what kind of person I am. I will never bring my personal affairs to work.”
“That’s good!” Lin Yu nodded. “I don’t wish to see any of my subordinates slowdown in their progress due to their personal matters.” Lin Yu walked into the office with Shi Nuan. “This is the latest proposal we have. It is already finalized since Mr. Fu has already approved it.”
Shi Nuan nodded. “Yes!” Shi Nuan actually knew about it since it was brought up in her conversation with Fu Chengyan yesterday night. “Right now, we just have to prepare the documentation, right? After that, we will be heading to the Prosperous Group to discuss with them the terms of this project. Since Li Heng isn’t around, Mr. Fu asked us to approach Li Xufan or Li Heng’s assistant, Liang Lin instead.”
Lin Yu hummed in agreement. “After everything is settled, the construction will start around March to April. The first phase of the construction will take around half a year.”
“Yep. What did Mr. George say though?”
“Oh, he’s fine with the current arrangement. Right now, we are just waiting for an answer from the Prosperous Group.”
Shi Nuan nodded her head. “Give me a few days’ time. I have some loose ends to tie up.”
“Okay!” Lin Yu nodded. “I think you can leave now.”
“Alright!” Shi Nuan closed the folder containing the documents. “I shall return to my work now.”
“Shi Nuan!” Before Shi Nuan could leave, Lin Yu halted her at the doorstep. Lin Yu cast a puzzled gaze at Lin Yu, “Mr. Lin, is there anything else?”
Lin Yu quirked his lips. “Don’t believe in everything you see.”
Shi Nuan was slightly muddled. She froze in her spot for quite some time before reacting. “I think someone told me that just not long ago. Mr. Lin, please be assured that I will be more mindful.”
Shi Nuan left Lin Yu’s office and took a deep breath before she dove into her work.
Even though Shi Nuan sounded as if she was managing her relationship pretty well, the truth was that there were a lot of questions she needed answers to. Shen Qianan was a big mystery herself Shi Nuan could not wrap her head around. In any case, Shi Nuan could only trust Fu Chengyan’s words and not anyone else’s.
Shi Nuan’s eyes were glued to the documents in front of her but she could not process any of them. There was a messy storm brewing in her mind. After a few minutes of trying to focus, Shi Nuan decided to just rest for a while. She put down her pen and closed her eyes while she lay down on her seat.
Suddenly, she could sense someone approaching her. She opened her eyes and Yuan Jia entered her sight. The latter sized Shi Nuan up before answering, “Shi Nuan, what’s wrong? You look off today.”
Shi Nuan shook her head lightly. “Ah, it’s nothing. I think I slept too late yesterday and I didn’t rest well.” Shi Nuan pinched her forehead. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Oh, Mr. Lin wanted me to hand this to you. It’s some data from our most recent calculations. Perhaps you might find it useful!” Yuan Jia dragged a chair over and sat next to Shi Nuan. “You really look like something is wrong with you today. Oh! When I was at the publicity department just now, I overheard some hot gossip!”
“What gossip?” Shi Nuan asked half-heartedly. However, Yuan Jia was still as excited. “Okay, I’m just going to shoot my question point-blank. What is your relationship with Mr. Fu?”
Shi Nuan was stumped. Looking at the anticipation gleaming in Yuan Jia’s eyes, she could only laugh helplessly. “It’s whatever you think it is.”
“Hmm… I think your relationship with Mr. Fu should be… Wait, you are Mr. Fu’s relative, right? Also, how are you related to Shen Qianan?”
Shi Nuan raised an arm in an abrupt move. “Stop right there! Let me tell you something. Shen Qianan has nothing to do with me at all,” Shi Nuan answered with a sigh. “As for what relationship I have with Mr. Fu, I’ll leave it for you to guess.” She gave Yuan Jia a meaningful smile. “Okay, I think it’s time we get to our work. Are you sure you want to talk to me all day and let your work pile up?”
“Ugh, I forgot all about it already.” Yuan Jia got up in a hurry. “I still a bunch of data analysis to make. Shi Nuan, I am not going to let you evade my question. I’m coming back for you later!”
Yuan Jia’s plan to look for Shi Nuan after work to get her answers fell through. Right after work, Shi Nuan gave Fu Chengyan a phone call to discuss whether would they go out to eat that night or prepare dinner at home. But before their discussion was done, Shi Nuan was blocked by someone.
She was on her phone as she tapped out of the company with her employee pass. The moment she stepped out of the building, she was greeted by the sight of Shen Qianan. Shi Nuan smiled at her. “You’re looking for me?”
Shen Qianan nodded. Shi Nuan writhed her lips and told the person on the other end of the call, “I’m afraid I may not be able to have dinner with you later. My friend just asked me out for dinner. You just have your dinner by yourself.”
Shi Nuan hung up her call and smiled politely at Shen Qianan. “Ms. Shen, right? What are we talking about?”
Shen Qianan also beamed in response. “The call is from Yan?”
Shi Nuan’s beautiful eyes were full of smiles, but when she heard Shen Qianan calling her husband so affectionately, there was an additional hint of animosity in them.
Shi Nuan pointed at her phone with her employee pass. She chuckled, “Yeah, it’s from my husband!”
As Shi Nuan expected, Shen Qianan winced a bit but the smile on her face was soon restored. “I can’t believe he didn’t tell me about his marriage! It’s such a big life occasion! Grandpa was also ranting to me about how Yan didn’t tell him about it too!”
Shi Nuan’s face sunk into itself at Shen Qianan’s words, but she quickly squeezed out a smile. “Yan said the marriage between a man and a woman is sacred. Thus, we will have to get our blessings from both the bride’s and the bridegroom’s families. Yan plans to inform our parents once we have set up the wedding banquet. Oh right, Ms. Shen. Are you my husband’s sister? Because you said you were talking to Grandpa, and it sounded like you were talking about Yan’s grandfather.”
She thinks that I am Yan’s sister?
Shen Qianan’s face stiffened a bit. “My family name is Shen.”
“Yeah, which is why I asked. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you were referring to Yan’s grandfather just now, right? Haha, I am so confused right now! So you also call Yan’s grandfather Grandpa too?”
Shen Qianan didn’t want to continue the conversation anymore, as she didn’t want to risk revealing the fact that she used to be Fu Chengyan’s fiancée, especially since Shi Nuan was now Fu Chengyan’s legally wedded wife.
Disquiet was scrambled all over Shen Qianan’s face. However, she still appeared calm and collected. “Perhaps Ms. Shi does not know this, but the Shen family and the Fu family have been friends forever. I grew up with Yan. Because I see his grandpa quite a lot, I have gotten used to calling him Grandpa too. It’s not too inappropriate, right?”
“Oh, I see. Yeah, it’s not a big deal.” Shi Nuan felt like there wasn’t anything wrong with it now that she heard Shen Qianan’s explanation. However, she added, “With that said, I also think it doesn’t matter whether you call me by Ms. Shi or Mrs. Fu.”
Shen Qianan froze. She didn’t expect Shi Nuan to be so good at this. “Oh, so you would prefer me to address you by Mrs. Fu instead? Sorry if I upset you by calling you Ms. Shi! I figured it’s better if I call you Ms. Shi since you and Yan haven’t announced your engagement to everyone.”
Shi Nuan pushed the edge of her lips up and replied, “Bah, it’s nothing. I’m actually fine with it if you accidentally spill it to everyone. Oh right, Ms. Shen. Are we going to have dinner or just a drink?”
Right now, Shen Qianan felt like Shi Nuan was having the upper hand in this conversation, which was not what she had expected at all. In fact, Shi Nuan was so composed as if Shen Qianan was invisible.
Shen Qianan remained quiet for almost an entire minute. Shi Nuan took the initiative to continue the conversation. “How about this? Since you haven’t been back for such a long time, you probably find many places in Jiang City not familiar anymore. Let me bring you around the city instead! I was born and raised in Jiang City after all.”
Shen Qianan was overcome by awkwardness. “That sounds good! Sorry for troubling you, Ms. Shi.”
“You’re not troubling me at all! Anyway, since I am Yan’s wife, I need to know you better too. Yan has been pretty busy these days. Please don’t take it personally if he’s been distant lately. If you don’t mind, you can come and look for me instead!” Shi Nuan gave off the vibe that she was a supportive wife to Fu Chengyan, which made Shen Qianan rather uncomfortable in her place.
Nonetheless, Shi Nuan didn’t feel like there was anything wrong with her gesture, “My car is in the parking lot. Wait here for a second, Ms. Shen.”
Shi Nuan left and soon returned in an eye-catching red Ferrari.
She parked the car skillfully in front of Shen Qianan and rolled down the window, “Hop on, Ms. Shen!”
Tsk, how flashy you are!
Shen Qianan looked at the woman in the driver seat of the red Ferrari who could pass as her twin. She resembled Shen Qianan herself a lot, but they were two very different people.
Shi Nuan was unaware of the impression Shen Qianan had of her. Once the latter boarded the car, Shi Nuan reminded her to put on the seatbelt. “Do you have any place you’d like to go, Ms. Shen?”
Shen Qianan pondered for a while before replying, “St. Ann Road. Have you heard of it before, Ms. Shi?”
“Yeah,” Shi Nuan answered as she stepped on the accelerator. “There’s something you like to eat there?”
Shen Qianan hesitated before she replied with a trace of melancholy in her voice, “I used to go there a lot with Ya… with my friend. I want to see how it looks like now.”
She added, “I grew up with Yan. We’ve been to many places before. I remember he used to love…” Every now and then, Shen Qianan would glance at Shi Nuan suggestively. Nonetheless, it didn’t affect Shi Nuan’s driving at all. The car was moving at a steady speed.
Shi Nuan was puzzled at Shen Qianan’s sudden silence. “Ms. Shen, are you feeling okay? Why didn’t you continue speaking?”
“Y-You actually don’t mind?” Shen Qianan turned a doubtful gaze at Shi Nuan.
Shi Nuan guffawed. “Why would I mind?”
“Oh, what I mean is that…”
“To be honest, I do mind it quite a bit. Even though I am very involved in his life right now, I wish that I were also present in his past too. Oh, how I wish I already know him since the day I was born! In that case, those who have an eye on my man won’t steal him away from me. He will belong to me once and for all.”
