Chapter 37 Only He Was Kept in the Dark
At 6 p.m., Shen Huai'an finished get off work as usual and took a taxi directly to Cuihu Bay Villa.
Bai Zhenzhen only made a few phone calls today and didn't go out. She slept until she naturally woke up in the morning, and when she got tired of staying indoors in the afternoon, she went to the yard to cut a few roses and rose bushes to put in a vase in the living room.
The villa that Bai Chuxiong gave her as part of her dowry had front and back yards. The small garden in front was designed by a professional landscape architect and is maintained by someone every quarter, so there are flowers blooming in almost all four seasons.
The backyard has a lawn, a pavilion, and a fish pond. The swing set against the wall is Bai Zhenzhen's favorite spot in winter. There is also a bougainvillea in the corner that is almost climbing to the roof of the villa, with particularly lush flowers and leaves.
Bai Chuxiong took great care when decorating this villa, even having someone specially design the placement of the furniture. Last time, Bai Zhenzhen moved some of her favorite furniture out, and then gradually replaced it with new pieces.
A new record player had been added to the living room. When Shen Huai'an came in, Bai Zhenzhen had just put on a Cantonese song and was humming along softly.
"...I can't hide this love, it's as deep as the sea..."
A bunch of pink and white roses sat on the coffee table in the living room. She was fiddling with a bright red rose in her hand when she heard Shen Huai'an's footsteps and turned around to look.
"You're back. You're back quite early today." Bai Zhenzhen's expression was as relaxed as ever.
Shen Huai'an glanced at her again before continuing to walk towards the sofa. He casually placed his uniform jacket on the back of the sofa, sat down, and asked, "What's the name of this song?"
Bai Zhenzhen hummed a tune and told him, "Hmm, my favorite, sung by a singer from Hong Kong, isn't it nice?"
"Yes, it sounds good," she sang very well, and Shen Huai'an could tell that she was in a good mood, so he held back for now.
Aunt Wang prepared dinner for the two of them that evening. Bai Zhenzhen hadn't exercised much that day, so her appetite was so-so. Shen Huai'an watched as she put down her chopsticks after only a few bites, and finally ladled out half a bowl of soup and placed it beside her.
After dinner, Bai Zhenzhen continued to sit on the sofa and watch TV. It was a Hong Kong comedy. Pengcheng is close to Hong Kong and has been greatly influenced by it in terms of film and opera. In the past, some people even made a fortune by reselling pirated Hong Kong movie DVDs.
Shen Huai'an sat with her on the sofa. Although his eyes were on the TV, his expression was calm until Bai Zhenzhen was amused by a funny scene in the movie and leaned against his shoulder.
He reached out to support her, and when he turned his head to look at her, his brows relaxed. He saw that she was laughing so hard her body was shaking, and she didn't look like she had encountered anything wrong at all.
Didn't she know what happened at the company? Shen Huai'an considered for a moment, then asked, "Have you resolved your cousin's matter from last time?"
He didn't directly ask about the company, so Bai Zhenzhen didn't think about it that way. She was taken aback when he asked about Li Zhiqiang. "Why are you asking him? I don't care whether he solves it or not."
"I heard your cousin also works at the company. Will what he did have any impact?" Shen Huai'an gently tightened his grip on her shoulder, holding her even closer.
Bai Zhenzhen didn't object to his actions. She nuzzled her head and found a comfortable spot to rest it on, saying casually, "What impact could it have? If he does something that affects the company, we'll just fire him."
Shen Huai'an pursed his lips. He didn't want to ask too much about the Bai family's company. He couldn't tell whether Bai Zhenzhen wanted to hide it from him or really didn't know about the company. So he just said, "Okay, if there's anything you need me to do, just tell me."
He had already said that. Bai Zhenzhen already had a solution for those people in the Li family, so she didn't need to ask Shen Huai'an for help. She stared at the TV and gave a perfunctory "uh-huh" sound.
After the movie ended, it was almost bedtime. Bai Zhenzhen was feeling lazy and stayed on Shen Huai'an without moving.
"It's time to sleep." Shen Huai'an picked her up by the waist and carried her upstairs.
Bai Zhenzhen laughed and put her arm around his shoulder, her dangling legs swinging gently, revealing her fair feet. "Oh, my slippers..."
"I'll come down and get it in a bit. I'll take you up first." The man strode up the stairs, seemingly unaffected by the person in his arms, his back still straight.
Shen Huai'an may look thin, but he actually has a lot of hard muscles hidden under his shirt, a fact that only Bai Zhenzhen knows.
Bai Zhenzhen didn't tell Shen Huai'an about the Li family's affairs. Firstly, she could handle it herself. Secondly, although they were husband and wife, they had only just begun to develop their relationship and didn't think to discuss many things with each other. Besides, it was her own family's business, and she felt there was no need to tell him. However, she didn't intend to hide it from Shen Huai'an.
After returning from Bai Zhenzhen's place that day, Liu Lihua and the others had been raising money and borrowing a lot from others, using the excuse that they wanted to use their connections to get Li Tiejun out of trouble.
Zhao Xiuying had two sons and three daughters. Besides her deceased biological mother, Bai Zhenzhen, she also had two younger daughters who worked at the Bai family company. However, compared to the ambition of the brothers Li Tiejun and Li Tiemin, the two daughters were much more honest. At most, they would take advantage of their kinship to commit minor offenses such as being late or leaving early, or being lazy.
The two were called to their mother's house and, under pressure, each took out 100,000 yuan. That was all they could give her. They worked at the Bai family's company and received a fixed salary. They had no opportunity to earn extra money, so this amount of money was already quite a lot for them.
After much calculation, Liu Lihua realized that she still had to sell the house to cover the debt. Li Tiemin was also pressured by his mother to contribute money. Annoyed, he suggested to his sister-in-law that she take out a mortgage loan from the bank using the house as collateral. Finally, they managed to raise enough money.
Bai Zhenzhen didn't let them put the money directly into the company account; instead, she transferred it to her own card. Liu Lihua still thought of her as the easy-going girl she used to be and never expected that she would cheat them.
Little did they know that Bai Zhenzhen had never intended to let Li Tiejun and his son off the hook from the start. If they were to actually pay back the money to the company, their legal charges would be much lighter, and she was not happy to see that outcome.
But after receiving the money from Liu Lihua, Bai Zhenzhen pretended to tell her that she had already hired a lawyer and that she could go to the detention center to apply for a visitation in a couple of days.
"Really? When will your uncle and cousin be able to come out? Can I go with them to see them?" Liu Lihua couldn't help but ask.
Bai Zhenzhen thought to herself, how could they possibly still be able to come out? But she told her, "You can't go. There are other procedures to go through after the lawyer's meeting. It won't be that quick. Aunt, just go home and wait for news."
Liu Lihua herself only had an elementary school education. Although she had gained some knowledge thanks to the Bai family over the years, there were still many things she didn't know. So, she could only listen to her and go back to wait for news. Before leaving, she took a reluctant look at the bank card placed next to Bai Zhenzhen.
This incident has wiped out all their savings. Fortunately, as long as Zhiqiang can get out safely, once he becomes the boss of the Bai family company, the family will have no worries about a good life.
While she was still indulging in her grand, unrealistic dreams, Bai Zhenzhen took out her phone and called Zhu Jie, telling him that Zhou Minghui could begin taking action.
She was determined to be a ruthless person who would turn her own family against her for the greater good; she had no intention of letting go of either Li Tiejun and his son or her second uncle, Li Tiemin.
When Zhou Minghui first received the call from Bai Zhenzhen's assistant, he immediately began preparing the materials. The recent events at Bai's company had caused quite a stir, even making it into the Pengcheng newspapers. He knew that his newly established small law firm was able to secure this case entirely thanks to Bai Zhenzhen's connections, so he had put in extra effort in the preparations beforehand.
But to his surprise, when Zhu Jie contacted him again, he made an unexpected request. Well, it wasn't to get him out of trouble or to get him convicted quickly. Instead, he wanted him to sow discord.
Zhou Minghui wasn't stupid; he quickly guessed Bai Zhenzhen's purpose in asking him to do this based on the information provided by Zhu Jie.
What a brilliant plan to kill two birds with one stone! Zhou Minghui thought that his sister-in-law, such a beautiful and radiant woman, would never come up with such a despicable trick. It was probably his junior brother who came up with the idea behind the scenes, but Shen Huai'an's status made it inconvenient for him to show his face, so he specifically asked him for help.
The more Zhou Minghui thought about it, the more he realized it was true. While preparing the meeting materials, he couldn't help but sigh to himself that his junior brother's style of doing things hadn't changed after graduation. He was all smiles and no action. He couldn't even imagine how many people this guy would have offended if he hadn't gone to the procuratorate and become a lawyer.
Meanwhile, the person he had described as having a pale face but a black heart was indeed secretly inquiring about the Bai family company. Although Bai Zhenzhen did not intend to ask him for help, Shen Huai'an could not simply pretend not to know about it. Now that he knew a little about it, he would not be completely unaware if she needed help.
With his years of experience and keen insight in investigating cases, Shen Huai'an quickly discerned the influence of the Li family father and son on the Jinxiu Garden incident in the newspaper. A brief investigation revealed that Bai Zhenzhen had indeed kept this from him. The Li family father and son should have been taken away for investigation, and it was definitely not as simple as she claimed that they had made a mistake and been kicked out of the company.
When he found this, Shen Huai'an sat behind his desk in silence for a long time, his mind filled with images of the two of them spending time together.
From the very beginning, when Bai Zhenzhen moved to the family compound, she would wait for him to get off work, complain that he was only focused on working overtime and didn't spend time with her, accompany him back to his hometown to meet his relatives, specially prepare gifts, get along well with everyone, and have those extra-hot nights when they cuddled and slept together.
He now doesn't know whether Bai Zhenzhen truly doesn't know about the company's affairs, or whether she's deliberately keeping it from him.
Shen Huai'an returned home later than usual that night, arriving at almost nine o'clock. Aunt Wang and Uncle Liu had already gone back to their rooms to rest, and Bai Zhenzhen had also turned off the TV and gone upstairs to wash up.
The downstairs living room was pitch black. Shen Huai'an silently took off his coat, changed into slippers, and went upstairs.
Turning past the second-floor stairwell, a sliver of light shone from the bathroom on the left. Shen Huai'an stopped and waited by the door, leaning against the wall.
Bai Zhenzhen opened the bathroom door and immediately saw a man standing opposite her, half of his face hidden in the darkness. She was almost startled. "When did you get back? Why are you standing here without saying a word?"
Shen Huai'an straightened up, his brows furrowing slightly as he looked at her. After a long while, he still didn't ask anything. "I just got back. You go back to your room first, and I'll go tidy up."
"Have you eaten? If not, Aunt Wang has left some food for you in the kitchen." Bai Zhenzhen asked casually. She wasn't sleepy yet, so she dried her hair and was about to go downstairs with him.
Shen Huai'an stopped her, saying, "No need, I'm not hungry. If you're sleepy, go back to your room first."
After saying that, he went to get a change of clothes first, and then went into the bathroom to wash up.
He always had this aloof demeanor, so Bai Zhenzhen didn't think much of it and turned around to go back to her room.
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Author's Note: [Let me see][Let me see]
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