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An Chi still lingered on the question, "So you think I have feelings for you?" He felt lost, not disappointed, not sad, but helplessly lost, like running without a goal, like shooting an arrow without a target.
Su was a man of his word; he understood that his choice meant the two of them would become strangers, yet now things were as calm and uneventful as they had been.
Lying on his back in bed, silent and still, he looked at the quality of life he had never experienced in the past ten years. All of this was brought about by Su Yao, not something he could have achieved on his own, at least not now. Even the increasingly prosperous lives of An Lan and his mother were a gift from Su Yao.
Yes, it is a gift, a gift that can be taken back at any time. The gift he "stole" is never worthy of his position.
The doorbell rang the moment I closed my eyes; it was my IELTS tutor.
The teacher was British and always spoke in a formal tone. She told him that her ancestors were British nobles, but Anchi was never interested in such things. He preferred her to tell stories about how she met Su Yao.
That was her during her university years, a period he had never seen before and had never been a part of.
On days like these, Bai Lutong inevitably appears. An Chi used to disregard him, but now he has realized that he was too confident.
"Hey, An, what do you want to talk about today?" the teacher asked him in fluent English. This was a way to practice An Chi's speaking and listening skills, using conversation as a training method.
An Chi was prepared, and he responded in English, "Can we talk about Bai Lutong?"
"sure."
"He is a very gentlemanly man. He and Su hit it off immediately, and I have always been amazed by the soul connection between them."
"They broke up in the end, didn't they?"
“Indeed, I wasn’t in City A at the time, so I didn’t know about their grudges. But I know Su’s character. If there wasn’t a major problem, she wouldn’t have made such a drastic move. She’s someone who knows exactly what she needs.”
"Really? Does the teacher think their breakup was a white issue?"
"Of course, I only have a nodding acquaintance with Bai. I don't really know what kind of person he is."
"Okay, teacher, can you tell me more about Su?"
"After all these days, you know everything about Su that I've come to know. I think I'm speechless. Oh, right, Su once said something that left a deep impression on me."
"What did you say?"
“At the time, I thought Su was a very outstanding girl. She was more suited to further her studies and enrich herself. But after graduation, she chose to work directly. I was surprised and asked her why she didn’t continue her studies. You can guess what she said.”
"Does she need to inherit the company?"
“No, she said that a degree is the key to a job, and since she’s already at home, why should she go out and compete with others for that key?”
"She is a very intelligent woman."
"She's not just smart, she's ambitious, and she's also kind-hearted."
Why did the teacher say that?
"She understands her position and what she needs, but she doesn't compete with others for empty titles, even though she is a woman with the ability to achieve them."
"Perhaps it's because she disdains to steal."
"Haha, An, you have to understand that people in high positions like to control everything. They want everything, fame and fortune. Who wouldn't like that?"
"I don't understand her."
"Me too, but I know Sue is a good person."
"Yes, he's a very good person."
"Please, Shang Jiuqi, do you think I'm too nice?" Su Yao said, hands on her hips, phone in hand. "You want me to actually get engaged to him so the whole world knows?"
“Miss Su is not willing? Bai Lutong is a good option.”
"I don't care if it's good or bad. If I do this, who will dare to marry me in the future?"
"Tsk, President Su still wants to get married, huh?" Shang Jiuqi was a smart man to switch from addressing her as "Miss Su" to "President Su".
Su said, "What if I don't want to? What if I do want to? Isn't a private engagement enough? Can you handle it? If not, I'll find someone... I can do it all by myself."
After careful consideration, the only one who dared to get involved in this mess was Shang Jiuqi. Su Yao wasn't without options, but she couldn't let Bai Lutong hate her. The Su family had three children, including that illegitimate child, which was too easy to deal with. Dealing with one of them would mean taking down a third of the Su family. She had to be smart and shifted her target.
The Shang family has nine children; abandoning one of them wouldn't be a big deal, but only Shang Jiuqi probably has the ability and courage to do so.
Even if Bai Lutong eventually harbors resentment towards Shang Jiuqi, he cannot shake the foundation of the Shang family; there is no useless person in the Shang family.
"This is the only time. There won't be more than three times. Mr. Shang, remember that location in the east of Haicheng?"
"Here you go, but it's not bad to see President Su suffer losses by using a factory." His nonchalant attitude was even more infuriating than Su Wenxie's usual carefree travels.
"You still dare to say you didn't do it on purpose?"
"It was intentional. You should try to appease your little one. I heard he doesn't want to go abroad."
"You've planted spies around me?"
"Heh, I don't know anything about informants or anything, but you forgot that Miya is also my friend." Miya is Anchi's IELTS teacher.
Su snorted, "President Shang is good friends with everyone."
As soon as he finished speaking, Shang Jiuqi heard the phone hang up. He looked at the phone screen and tapped the table. "This young lady has more airs than anyone else."
Su Yao simply couldn't stand Shang Jiuqi knowing too much about her family, but she hadn't forgotten that there was another reason why she sought to cooperate with Shang Jiuqi in the first place: that Shang Jiuqi knew a lot of people, including Miya.
Miya first met Su Yao. Later, when Miya wanted to develop her career in City A, Su Yao introduced her to his friends. Unexpectedly, they started chatting with Shang Jiuqi. He introduced Miya to a job and helped her rent an apartment.
Su Yao jokingly said he had his eye on Miya, but Shang Jiu retorted angrily, "It's all about connections."
I really didn't expect that he could learn so much from the way he made his connections.
People of higher status are humble, but not modest. Very few can be like Shang Jiuqi, who can take advantage of anyone.
That's right, this is the capital city, gold is everywhere.
A knock came at the door. "Come in."
"President Su, the Su family wants you to come back." Tang Pai said, placing a black folder on the table.
"Okay." Su Yao knew in his heart that Bai Lutong was just in a hurry to tell the Su family that he and Bai Lutong were together.
That's incredibly arrogant, Bai Lutong.
Su signed the document and instructed, "I'll go myself this time; there's no need for Ge Jin to prepare."
"Okay, Mr. Su." Tang Pai left the office.
As dusk settles, the lights of City A remain ever bright, and the nights ever seem ever long, like a curtain, mysterious and magnificent.
When they arrived at the Su family's house, they could hear laughter and chatter from inside. Su changed into slippers and slowly walked to the dining table.
He greeted her, then pretended not to know anything, "Even Grandma got involved? What important matter is it?"
Su Qingye gestured to the seat next to Bai Lutong, indicating that Su should sit down. "Why didn't you tell your family about dating Lutong?"
Su Yao did the opposite, sitting opposite Bai Lutong, showing a surprised expression to Su Qingye, and then acting like a shy little woman, "We're not at the point of discussing marriage yet, why bother Grandma?"
She glanced at Su Qingye and realized she wasn't as easy to fool as she'd thought. She sized up Su Yao, while Su Wensheng and Bai Lutong both had that confident, manly air about them, smug yet ridiculously foolish.
"Now that you're in a relationship, you should settle down on marriage as soon as possible. You're not getting any younger, and you know Lu Tong well." Su Qingye seemed to be trying to find a flaw in Su Yao's statement.
But Su frowned and said worriedly, "But I still have to manage the Su family business, Grandma."
If she were to appear infatuated and head over heels in love, Su Qingye might become suspicious. But her current state is just right.
Su Qingye understood her, and she understood her own grandmother just as well.
"We'll take things slowly with the company. Besides, Wenxie is old enough to join the Su family business."
No matter what she said, the path paved for Su Wenxie could not be neglected, but Su Qingye forgot that she was also a woman, the woman who supported the Su family after her grandfather married into the family.
"Okay, Grandma, I'll let Wenxie know."
"Yes, the company still needs you. Let's set the engagement date first." It was just a matter of Su Qingye's words; she didn't even need to consult Bai Lutong and Su Yao.
"Okay, Grandma." Bai Lutong was quite enthusiastic about this kind of thing, but he didn't want to offend Su Qingye at all during their earlier confrontation.
"I'll listen to Grandma," Su replied with a smile.
Su Wensheng quickly added, "The fifth of next month would be an auspicious day."
It's already late June, and July 5th won't be long. It seems the Su family is even more anxious than she is.
"Isn't it too rushed?" Su Yao's acting skills were top-notch.
"No, I will do everything I can. I've been waiting for this day for a long time, Xiao Yao." Bai Lutong's eyes were full of love, but Su Yao only felt a sense of mockery when she met them.
With Su Yao's "restraint," Su Wensheng's "fueling the flames," Su Qingye's "monitoring," and Bai Lutong's "tender gaze," the engagement date was finally set for July 5th.
"I'll take you, Xiao Yao," Bai Lutong said solicitously as he approached after finishing his meal.
Su couldn't refuse in front of her family, so she said, "I drove myself here." It was clear that choosing to drive herself had its advantages.
However, Su Yao was taken aback for a moment. "I'll have my assistant come and drive you. Let me give you a ride, Yao. Let's catch up. How have you been these past few years?"
As he spoke, Bai Lutong took Su Yao's hand. Su Yao's heart skipped a beat, and she could only agree, but then immediately pulled her hand away to open the car door. "Okay."
Sitting in the passenger seat of Bai Lutong's car, Su Yao felt exhausted and closed her eyes as soon as she got in, pretending to be asleep.
Seeing this, Bai Lutong dared not disturb them.
But something even more troubling happened to Su Yao: Bai Lutong didn't take her to her place, but instead went to the city center, to An Chi's place.
After she got out of the car, he asked, "Why did you come here?"
“The house I picked out for us before, I want to come and see it, to find our most beautiful memories, isn’t that good, Xiao Yao?” He clasped her hands together again.
Su Yao sometimes felt that it was because she had a good temper, but she didn't feel that way anymore, because she really did have a good temper, and she could even hold back from shaking off Bai Lutong's hand. "But now the owner of this house is no longer me. I gave it to my adopted son."
To annoy Bai Lutong, Su Yao even emphasized the words "adopted son" and continued, "You must have heard that I have an adopted son. Do you want to go up and see him? Never mind, the child is sleeping at this hour."
"Really? Then let's go up. It's also a good time for me to meet our first child."
Bai Lutong actually wanted to see An Chi. Su thought about it for a moment and figured that since the two of them could annoy each other, he might as well let him go up.
"Okay, let's go, but don't disturb the child if he's asleep." Su replied earnestly to Bai Lutong's gaze.
Unexpectedly, Bai Lutong gave up, saying, "Then let's forget it. Let's come during the day next time, so it'll be more formal."
Bai Lutong avoided Su Yao's gaze and released his grip. Su Yao then looked him over, wondering if he had ulterior motives or was genuinely sincere. It seemed that sending An Chi abroad should be put on the agenda.
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