Chapter 96 Chapter 96 Of course not
How ridiculous! They were so close before, and he just wanted to be with her, but he could only use this method to force her to submit to him.
Ji Siyun felt ironic and bitter.
No matter how sad she looked, he would only feel twice as much pain as her.
His heart ached to the point of numbness, and he wanted to frantically question her about her sincerity, but Ji Siyun swallowed the pain and said in a cold voice, "I never said you had any other choice about getting engaged."
Song Youning opened her eyes, her red eyes rippling with tears, her voice trembling: "So what do you want from me?"
Her answer was a drawing suddenly stuffed into her hand.
Ji Siyun took out the bottom sheet of the stack that she had thrown on the coffee table and handed it to her. Song Youning tried to push it away uncooperatively, but his rough big hand put it into her palm without any refusal and held her hand tightly.
"Be good and don't try to run away." Ji Siyun lowered his head and said to her, "I promise they will be fine."
The always disobedient person finally stopped resisting. Ji Siyun smiled and said to her, "Aunt's birthday is coming soon. Customizing jewelry takes time, so let's decide on this pair of rings."
His tone was calm, but it was the first time he made a decision without asking her opinion.
Song Youning looked at the ring on the drawing. It had no concrete carvings, but it accurately captured the charm of a jasmine blossom. After a long silence, he replied, "Okay."
Ji Siyun deliberately postponed his work today to accompany her to choose a ring. Now that Song Youning has compromised, he still has to go back to the company to deal with the unfinished work.
Before leaving, he remembered something and took out a black card, handed it to Song Youning, and said, "Girls probably have a lot to prepare for their engagement. Aunt Wang will accompany you to buy whatever you want. The password is our... your birthday."
His pause was barely noticeable, and Song Youning was still staring at the drawing, seemingly not noticing at all.
The card held in the air was picked up slowly after dozens of seconds. Ji Siyun didn't want to see her frustrated expression anymore, so he turned around and was about to leave. The hand holding the black card grabbed the corner of his suit again.
Song Youning lowered her head, her long black hair hanging down to cover most of her delicate little face. Her eyes were still red, and her white teeth were gently biting her lips. She looked a little nervous, as if she had something to say but didn't dare to speak.
Even though he knew that this pitiful expression could not possibly come from his proud eldest daughter sincerely, Ji Siyun's heart still softened instantly.
"I've never been engaged, so I don't know what to prepare."
Song Youning tugged at his clothes and lowered his head even more: "Can I ask other experienced people?"
Ji Siyun's eyelids twitched, his hands clenched into fists, and he asked calmly, "Who does the young lady want to ask?"
The person who had his head down raised his head in surprise and delight when he heard that he was not angry.
He hid his suspicions very well, but Song Youning knew that Ji Siyun was too suspicious to believe her.
So she said to him frankly, "Look for someone who has been engaged and ask her to share her experience with me."
To show she had no other ideas, she took the initiative to say, "If you're worried, you can go and ask for it yourself and then come back and tell me."
The dark eyes stared at her for a while, Ji Siyun pursed his lips and compromised: "Okay, I will arrange someone to meet you then."
"Yeah." The hand that was pinching the corner of his clothes loosened, Song Youning took a step back, and said to him tactfully, "Go and get busy."
Ji Siyun didn't say anything else. After looking at Song Youning deeply, he turned and left without hesitation.
Until the sound of the door closing was heard, Song Youning was still standing there looking in the direction he left. The redness around her eyes had not faded yet. She had clearly looked lonely and fragile before, but at this moment her temperament suddenly changed, and her eyes were firm and sharp.
"Host, will Ji Siyun believe you?"
Song Youning raised the manuscript paper in his hand, lowered his eyes nonchalantly, and a slightly cold arc appeared at the corners of his slightly raised mouth.
Her fingers brushed across the jasmine flower surrounded by diamonds on the paper, and she suddenly let go.
The manuscript paper floated down from mid-air, making an almost inaudible sound when it landed on the ground.
Song Youning said in his heart: Of course he won’t believe it.
Assistant Fang was standing by the car waiting for Ji Siyun. When he saw him coming out from a distance, he opened the car door and waited for him.
Ji Siyun walked to the front of the car, paused for a moment, then turned around and stood still, his deep eyes looking somewhere unknown.
His usually stern face rarely showed a lonely look, and Assistant Fang even heard a sigh floating in the air.
The only person who could make President Ji, who always remained rational and calm like a robot, show such an expression was the capricious Miss Song.
Assistant Director Fang sighed silently. Director Ji’s love-sickness was as terrible as his career ambition.
Ji Siyun was staring into the distance, as if he was looking at something important. Assistant Fang waited quietly by the side for several minutes before he heard Ji Siyun speak.
"Find out which girls of the same age as the young lady have been engaged recently, and compile their information for me."
Assistant Fang had no doubts: "Okay."
Ji Siyun took one last look in the direction of Song Youning, then turned around and got into the car and said to the general assistant, "Arrange someone to keep an eye on her parents. Report anything wrong to me immediately."
The deep voice carried a thousand-year-old chill. Assistant Fang raised his eyes to look at his face. The desolation he had just seen on his face seemed like an illusion. The person in front of him was still Ji Siyun, who had everything under control.
"Okay, Mr. Ji."
Lu Tingshuang got out of the car sent by Ji Siyun nervously. Her tense mood reached its peak when she saw Song Youning standing in the yard, ordering the bodyguards to move a pile of shopping bags for her.
Before the outburst, she looked around and made sure that Ji Siyun was not there before Lu Tingshuang walked over angrily.
"Song Youning! What are you trying to do?"
Song Youning, who was checking her spoils to see if she had missed anything, was so frightened by her roar that she almost dropped the bag in her hand. She looked up in confusion and saw Lu Tingshuang staring at her with eyes that were about to spit fire.
The bodyguard Ji Siyun arranged took the bag from her hand and stood beside her. Song Youning blinked and asked a little later, "What?"
Lu Tingshuang hated her feigned innocence the most. She pointed at Song Youning and said sharply, "Hasn't Ji Siyun's revenge on you and me been enough? My company has been maliciously competed with by him for the past few years. Our capital chain has been almost broken, and our assets have shrunk to only one-tenth of what they were before. Even my boyfriend of several years broke up with me. I'm already in such a miserable state, what else do you want?"
"Ms. Lu, please watch your words." The bodyguard standing next to Song Youning interrupted: "This is Mr. Ji's home, not a place where you can speak loudly."
Lu Tingshuang was like a duck with its throat cut, and she was instantly speechless, with only a pair of wide-open eyes staring at Song Youning, as if she was trying to stare two holes in her body with this method.
"What does it have to do with me if you break up with your boyfriend?" Song Youning rolled her eyes. "It's not like I forced you to break up."
Lu Tingshuang opened her mouth, but due to the presence of a tall and strong bodyguard beside her, she forced herself to suppress her voice: "If Ji Siyun hadn't been targeting me on purpose, how could I have married into the Zhou family just to attract investment, and how could I have broken up with my boyfriend!"
Song Youning folded his arms across his chest and looked at her with a strange expression. Seeing her angry and resentful face, he tilted his head and said puzzledly: "You can choose not to break up or get married."
As soon as she said this, Lu Tingshuang subconsciously wanted to refute her.
Growing up being doted on by her parents, and now having a feared "flower protector", she can say these stupid things without any shame.
Of course they have to form an alliance through marriage. The Zhou family can provide help to the Lu family. Although her ex-boyfriend treats her very well, his family background is far inferior to that of the Zhou family. Does Song Youning think that everyone is as powerful as Ji Siyun?
Lu Tingshuang was about to ridicule her, but her words got stuck in her throat when she saw Song Youning's eyes.
Those clear eyes that Lu Tingshuang should have hated stared at her coldly and mercilessly without a trace of emotion.
She has an outstanding appearance. When she tilts her head and looks at people with wide eyes, she looks innocent, but the coldness revealed in her eyes makes people feel chilled.
"Gudong."
Lu Tingshuang heard the sound of her swallowing saliva. She didn't want to show her weakness in front of Song Youning, so she said stiffly, "Don't talk without standing."
Before Lu Tingshuang arrived, Song Youning went on a shopping spree. Two bodyguards and Aunt Wang went back and forth several times, and a large pile of goods were placed in front of the door.
Song Youning glanced at the expressionless bodyguard beside her and pretended to remind her, "I think there's still a lot of stuff left. Go help Aunt Wang and the others first."
The bodyguard remained unmoved and refused directly: "They can, I'm here."
Song Youning was silent for a moment and turned away angrily.
Lu Tingshuang looked at the bodyguard who seemed to be helping her carry things but was actually monitoring her and guarding Song Youning every step of the way, and suddenly sneered: "Song Youning, you have come to this day."
Song Youning's eyelids drooped slightly and he said nothing.
This attitude made Lu Tingshuang misunderstand even more. Looking at the current situation of the person she hated, she forgot her fear and began to feel proud. A sarcastic smile soon appeared on her face.
"The Song family had such a huge mess. If it weren't for Ji Siyun's efforts to save the situation, you would probably be living on the streets now." Lu Tingshuang's tone was filled with gloating. "But... should it be called Ji family now? From the eldest daughter of the Song family to being a canary in someone else's captivity, what a huge difference, wow."
Her sarcasm did not cause any emotional fluctuations in Song Youning. He glanced at her calmly, then looked at the pile of shopping bags that had not been moved at the door.
Lu Tingshuang's smile froze.
With so many things, she wouldn't dare buy them like this for free, even when her family was at its peak.
Even though Song Youning was down and out, he was still living a better life than her.
Lu Tingshuang was furious for a moment, as she couldn't bear to see Song Youning so proud. Her eyes rolled, as if she had thought of something, and she smiled again.
"I didn't expect that he would let bygones be bygones even though you treated Ji Siyun like that before. Look at you now, you live a more luxurious life than when you were in the Song family. Come to think of it, Uncle Song is so old now, he should have let go and handed the company over to the younger generation long ago."
Lu Tingshuang raised an eyebrow, a malicious look in her eyes: "Why bother with all this drama? It wouldn't be so bad if I just gave up my position earlier... I heard from my dad that I met Uncle Song a while ago and he has lost a lot of weight. Sigh, I guess he suffered a lot in the detention center."
She deliberately spoke at a slow pace, and was satisfied to see Song Youning frozen in place in astonishment. Then she pretended to be concerned and continued, "How is Uncle Song's health recently?"
Song Youning's face turned pale, and he stood there motionless like a puppet with its strings cut.
Only then did Lu Tingshuang feel relieved of the pent-up anger in her heart. She was so proud that she wanted to say something that would touch her heart, but Aunt Wang, who had been busy, was always paying attention to their movements. When she heard Lu Tingshuang mention Song's father, she immediately put down the things in her hands and came over.
"Miss Lu, don't forget why Mr. Ji asked you to come here." She walked past Lu Tingshuang and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "Miss Lu, you'd better think clearly about what to say and what not to say."
Song Youning stared at Lu Tingshuang in a daze, his lips moving as if he wanted to speak, but Aunt Wang interrupted him by holding his shoulders.
"Miss, it will take a while to finish cleaning up here. Please go in and sit down and chat with Miss Lu slowly."
Aunt Wang half-forced her into the room, and did not forget to look back at Lu Tingshuang as a warning.
The smiling face and eyes were frighteningly cold. Lu Tingshuang shuddered and finally followed after hesitating.
Aunt Wang helped Song Youning sit down, and her kind face became cold and distant when she turned to face Lu Tingshuang.
"Miss Lu, please sit down." Aunt Wang smiled wryly, "What would you like to drink?"
Lu Tingshuang's back felt numb from being stared at by a nanny, and she spoke with some hesitation: "Lemonade will be fine."
It wasn't until Aunt Wang left that Lu Tingshuang felt as if a huge rock pressing on her heart had been removed, and even her breathing became lighter.
The people around Ji Siyun are as terrible as he is, Lu Tingshuang complained in his heart and turned to Song Youning.
The annoying people don't look like they're having a good time.
After the Song family incident, Song Youning never showed up again. Lu Tingshuang thought that she was protected by her parents who were said to love her very much... It turned out that she was being used as a bargaining chip to be exchanged for Ji Siyun.
She seems to still be living a wealthy life, living in a luxurious villa, with someone to take care of her daily life, but the servants and bodyguards who are responsible for taking care of her daily life are actually spies arranged by Ji Siyun to monitor her. Now she doesn't even have the right to ask them to leave and give her some private space.
Lu Tingshuang felt a little gloating, but also a little reluctant.
Song Youning seemed to have not recovered yet. His face had lost its former glow. He sat on the sofa motionless, like a withered tree.
"You don't need to worry." Lu Tingshuang didn't want Song Youning to think she was comforting her, so she turned her head away uncomfortably and said sarcastically, "You only remembered to care about me after I got out. What were you doing before?"
Lu Tingshuang tilted her head and whispered to herself, "Instead of thinking about those unnecessary things, it's better to worry about what I'm going to do in the future."
Song Youning blinked and looked at Lu Tingshuang with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
I always thought she was bad and stupid, but it turns out she wasn't bad enough.
With his fingertips lightly tapping the leather surface of the sofa, Song Youning recalled the plot in the novel where "Song Youning" was offline.
Ji Si allowed him to retaliate and kill himself.
The Song family's parents loved "Song Youning" so much, how could they watch Ji Siyun take revenge on "Song Youning" until she died without showing up, unless -
Unless they went offline earlier than "Song Youning".
In order to verify her guess, she asked the system for the original text of the novel, read it carefully many times, and found a piece of information that might be related to the Song family.
On July 24th, a piece of news was published in the financial news: an entrepreneur in this city celebrated his wife's birthday on the top of a mountain the night before. On his way back down the mountain, he did not see the road conditions clearly due to heavy rain, and the vehicle he was driving collided seriously with the mountain. Two people in the car died on the spot.
The rhythmic tapping of his fingers stopped, and Song Youning suddenly asked, "What day is it today?"
They were the only ones left in the hall, along with the silent bodyguard standing to the side. Lu Tingshuang realized that Song Youning was asking her a question, and subconsciously replied with a sarcastic tone, "You're such a forgetful person! You can't even remember what day it is that you've been here? Why don't you check your phone..."
As she spoke, she turned her head, and Song Youning smiled at her, spread out his empty hands, and shrugged.
Lu Tingshuang's throat choked, and she turned away and said, "It's July 13th."
Number 13?
Song Youning nodded and fell silent again.
In silence, tea was served. Aunt Wang saw that Song Youning looked unhappy, and her eyes like a knife cut at him. Lu Tingshuang sat upright, with a sad face, and swore with her eyes that she had not said anything.
Afraid that she would ask about her father again, Lu Tingshuang was thinking about how to change the subject when she finally heard Song Youning's voice.
"Yes, I understand." Her tone was remarkably calm as she picked up the tea on the coffee table. Curls of white smoke rose, making her face unclear. Song Youning lowered her eyes, looking at the slightly swaying water in the cup, and said, "You were invited by Ji Siyun, right? Now we can start."
The turn of events caught Lu Tingshuang off guard. Looking at Song Youning's expression, there was no trace of uneasiness at all. He looked so calm as if nothing had happened.
"Oh..." Her expression changed so quickly that Lu Tingshuang was a little slow to react, but it was better than asking her about Song's father. She sat up and was about to get down to business, but her mouth was stuck again.
Scratching his head, Lu Tingshuang asked awkwardly, "What do you want to say?"
When Assistant Fang contacted her, she thought she had done something to offend that killer again, and went to see Ji Siyun anxiously, but he actually asked her to share her engagement experience with Song Youning.
Engagement experience? Anything to share?
Although he was secretly complaining, Lu Tingshuang said in a very cowardly but tactful manner that he would tell her everything he knew.
Sitting here and letting her talk, Lu Tingshuang really didn't know what to say. After all, matters like engagement were arranged by the elders in the family. Apart from caring about whether her makeup and dress looked beautiful that day, she didn't care about anything else.
Song Youning stared at her briefly, raised an eyebrow and asked, "Didn't Ji Siyun ask you to come and tell me what to prepare for the engagement?"
"That's right." Lu Tingshuang muttered, "But how would I know what to do? It's all done by my mom and his mom. Don't you know how to ask your own parents if you want to get engaged?"
As she finished speaking, she felt a burning gaze piercing her. The bodyguard who had been standing quietly by the side without saying a word now had his eyes wide open and his face as black as the bottom of a pot. His expression looked as if he wanted to skin her alive.
Song Youning replied calmly: "As you can see, my parents probably can't come, and as for Ji Siyun——"
She glanced at Lu Tingshuang lightly and said in a very calm tone: "He has no parents."
Damn! How could I forget about this?
Lu Tingshuang felt that the bodyguard's eyes on her were even more terrifying.
She didn't even dare to look at the other person's face after she slipped her words. She quietly moved her butt towards Song Youning, avoiding the bodyguard's murderous gaze, and laughed dryly to cover up her embarrassment: "Haha, I have a good memory. Now that I think about it, I remember it all at once."
Song Youning held the steaming cup of tea in his hand for a long time without drinking it. Lu Tingshuang racked her brains to organize her words, but was interrupted by Song Youning as soon as she opened her mouth.
"The tea is too hot, change it."
The voice was not loud, and no one knew who it was addressed to. The bodyguard guarding her stood there diligently without moving. After a while, Aunt Wang appeared and took her tea away.
Lu Tingshuang looked around the living room with doubt and uncertainty for several times. Seeing Song Youning's expression of being used to it, she swallowed her doubts with the attitude of "less trouble is more". She just wanted to complete the task assigned by Ji Siyun as soon as possible and leave this place.
But Song Youning was not so cooperative.
In the next half hour, Lu Tingshuang saw how much she acted.
She complained that the tea was too hot, so she replaced it with new one and only smelled it. Then she complained that the water was too cold and the tea was not fragrant enough. After going back and forth several times, she finally said with a look of disgust that it was barely what she wanted.
However, she only took a sip of this cup of tea, which had been changed several times, and then started to act up again, making Aunt Wang and the other bodyguard run around in circles.
Lu Tingshuang felt a headache just sitting there listening to Song Youning's endless requests, but Aunt Wang and the others seemed to be used to it and didn't show any impatience.
"Even if the deal has already been made, the formalities of proposing marriage still need to be gone through." Lu Tingshuang just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. Recalling her previous experience, she said, "Generally speaking, the man's elders come to the house with generous gifts to prove their sincerity and show their sincerity."
Song Youning fiddled with the tassel of the pillow in his arms without even raising his eyelids. "Did you hear that? Remember to tell your boss."
Lu Tingshuang glanced cautiously at the stern bodyguard, swallowed, and continued, "Usually at this point, both parties begin discussing a prenuptial agreement, and the terms must carefully consider every possible future scenario."
She almost reminded Song Youning to try her best to gain benefits before marriage, but she rubbed her arms nonchalantly and said to the bodyguard: "It's a bit cold, go get me a blanket."
Aunt Wang was preparing afternoon tea for her in the kitchen at this moment. She called another bodyguard to pick up the key chain that might have fallen in the car, leaving him alone to watch over her and Lu Tingshuang.
The bodyguard frowned in embarrassment, hesitated for a moment, and did not move a step.
Seeing this, Song Youning lowered his head in disappointment and didn't force it anymore.
The bodyguard kept his boss's request in mind. Even though she looked weak and posed no threat, he still did not dare to let his guard down and was determined to stay here and not leave for a moment.
"A-choo."
The loud sneeze came without warning. Song Youning rubbed his shoulders, raised his head, sniffed his nose, and said to the bodyguard, "I'm fine."
After she finished speaking, she sneezed again, and her eyes and nose turned slightly red. The beautiful woman looked pitiful, which made people feel pity for her.
This is the boss's most precious treasure, he can't afford to have it get sick.
The bodyguard was in a dilemma, thinking that the guest who came today didn't seem to have a good relationship with Miss Song. He would only be there and back in two or three minutes, so nothing should happen in such a short time.
"I'll be back soon." The bodyguard said in a deep voice, glanced at Lu Tingshuang quickly, and then hurried upstairs.
The moment his figure disappeared around the corner, Song Youning's expression froze and he quickly leaned over to Lu Tingshuang's ear and said something to her.
After she sat back down, Lu Tingshuang's eyes almost popped out of her head. Before she could speak, she subconsciously looked towards the direction where the bodyguard disappeared, covered her mouth and whispered, "Do you think I'm stupid? I dare not help you..."
"Ji Siyun cares about me a lot." Song Youning blurted out this sentence without any hesitation.
Lu Tingshuang showed a disgusted expression: "What time is it, and you are still showing off in front of me."
Song Youning chuckled and looked at her with a calm expression, "I'm threatening you."
"If he knew, you would spread bad things about me everywhere." Song Youning raised her eyebrows slightly, and her smile made Lu Tingshuang's heart skip a beat, "And make up dirty rumors about me..."
"You, you're talking nonsense!" Lu Tingshuang almost yelled. She was so uncomfortable that she looked towards the stairs with a guilty conscience. She turned her head and said to Song Youning in a low voice, "If Ji Siyun knew that I was helping you, I'd be finished too!"
Song Youning leaned back, arms outstretched, head tilted slightly, his smile unchanged, as he said something that made Lu Tingshuang want to vomit blood: "It depends on whether you want to be finished right away, or want to take the risk and try to have nothing happen in the end."
She spread out her hands, looking kind and letting Lu Tingshuang make her choice.
Lu Tingshuang's eyes were filled with anger, and her temples were throbbing.
Song Youning ignored her glare that seemed to want to bite her, and said indifferently, "It's just a word. Besides, our relationship has never been good, so he can't suspect you."
Song Youning specifically sent people away just to let her say a simple sentence. Lu Tingshuang's mouth twitched - did Song Youning really think she was stupid?
But don't do what she says...
Lu Tingshuang clenched his fists in hatred, and now he just wanted to slap his past self.
I've let you gossip about me, now you feel relieved!
After a few words, the bodyguard came back. Song Youning had returned to his pitiful and sickly appearance and politely thanked the bodyguard for the towel he handed him.
Lu Tingshuang cursed her in her heart for being pretentious, but nodded at her calmly.
Then Song Youning began to cooperate. When Lu Tingshuang talked about the preparations for the engagement party, she took notes seriously. She didn't cause any more trouble until Lu Tingshuang told her everything she knew.
As soon as they finished, Lu Tingshuang, whose throat was almost smoking, didn't even have time to drink a glass of water before Aunt Wang politely told her to leave.
It took more than an hour's drive to get home. Lu Tingshuang had something on her mind. After perfunctorily paying homage to her mother who was waiting for her to come home, she hurried back to her room. After a long ideological struggle, she decided to take a gamble as Song Youning said.
Lu Tingshuang secretly borrowed the maid's cell phone and found Song's mother's phone number and dialed it.
After the call was connected, even though she was clearly in her own room, she still lowered her voice and said to the other end with a guilty conscience: "Song Youning asked me to tell you that the day before the engagement party, remind your uncle to wear that gray suit with dark patterns. It looks best on him."
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