Chapter 34. You can contact me anytime...
Jiang Nuanyu's appearance was clearly unexpected by everyone. When everyone's eyes fell from Liang Qi to her, there was a moment of inquiry.
Fang Kechen, who was hosting, was the first to stand up and come over: "You've finally arrived. When I saw it was this late, I thought you had stood us up again."
Liang Qi smiled apologetically: "I had some things to take care of, so it's getting late."
"It's good that you're here. You've finally graced us with your presence. You've been busy these past few days, haven't you?" Fang Kechen said, patting Liang Qi's arm lightly.
Liang Qi joked, "It's alright, it's definitely not as dashing as you."
"Sigh." Fang Kechen shook his head and laughed.
The two seemed to have a close and familiar relationship. This was the first time Jiang Nuanyu had seen Liang Qi like this in front of his friends.
Just then, Fang Kechen looked at her, and without asking Liang Qi to introduce him, he smiled and extended his hand: "Hello, Fang Kechen."
Jiang Nuanyu smiled and shook his hand in return, saying, "Hello." After a second's pause, she added, "Jiang Nuanyu."
Fang Kechen nodded and turned slightly to the side: "Welcome."
Jiang Nuanyu glanced at Liang Qi, who happened to be looking at her as well. Their eyes met, and he nodded slightly to her.
The two of them and Fang Kechen sat down on the sofa in the middle. After sitting down, Jiang Nuanyu pursed her lips and nodded to the other three people in greeting.
On the coffee table in front of her were tea sets and exquisite snacks and fruits. Liang Qi calmly chatted with the others while pouring a cup of tea and placing it in front of her.
Jiang Nuanyu was slightly surprised and subconsciously leaned towards him, saying in a very soft voice, "Thank you."
Liang Qi glanced down at her but didn't respond further.
The crowd silently interpreted the meaning of his action. Although they did not directly ask about Jiang Nuanyu's identity, their glances at him from time to time revealed a subtle probing.
Jiang Nuanyu was sensitive enough to receive these seemingly hidden gazes. She felt somewhat uncomfortable, but she was also observing the other party.
As Liang Qi said, this was indeed more like a gathering of friends.
The people present were all around thirty years old. Zhou Manjin, who was sitting on the right, and Fang Kechen, who was hosting, were probably husband and wife; the other man and woman were probably their respective friends, and there seemed to be no special relationship between them.
The atmosphere among the group was relaxed and warm, familiar and at ease. However, regardless of gender, the topics of sharing and complaining always tended to revolve around their respective industry dynamics, investment trends, and business strategies.
Jiang Nuanyu didn't know if it was their way of getting along or if they just happened to have a natural interest in business, but she felt it was difficult to fit in with these second and third generation leaders and she felt powerless.
However, with Liang Qi sitting next to her, occasionally refilling her tea or handing her snacks, her embarrassment and restraint were somewhat alleviated.
During their conversation, Fang Kechen and Liang Qi discussed the progress of the Conti collaboration. Jiang Nuanyu listened, noting that the two seemed to be collaborating on derivative industries related to the project.
The two exchanged only a few words and didn't talk much. As the conversation ended, Fang Kechen suddenly leaned forward, looked at Jiang Nuanyu across Liang Qi, and asked, "What industry does Miss Jiang's family work in?"
Jiang Nuanyu turned her head, holding her teacup, and saw Fang Kechen's handsome face relaxed, looking at her with an honest expression. She quickly realized that, apart from Liang Qi, the other three people were also waiting for her answer.
Their reactions gave her the illusion that there was nothing wrong with discussing such topics, even on a first meeting.
Although she had heard before that certain circles in Beijing would subtly inquire about someone's background upon first meeting to determine whether they should develop a deeper relationship, she did not expect Fang Kechen to be so direct.
She had nothing to hide and was about to answer Fang Kechen when Liang Qi spoke first: "Don't tell him." He glanced at her with a faint smile.
Although he spoke in a half-joking tone, the people present were still taken aback when he said it. After all, in such a setting, introducing oneself is almost a default social ritual, the first step in getting to know each other.
But since Liang Qi's attitude was so clear that he didn't want her to be questioned too much, Fang Kechen was also very shrewd. He jokingly brushed the question off: "Okay, I'll listen to President Liang."
The group tacitly steered the conversation elsewhere, and they all knew in their hearts that Jiang Nuanyu was simply there as Liang Qi's "friend" for a one-time meeting.
A little while later, the waiter knocked on the door and came in to ask if we could begin our meal.
Everyone got up and went to the restroom. The men went outside to wash their hands, leaving the restroom inside the private room for the ladies.
When Jiang Nuanyu came out of the restroom, she ran into Zhou Manjin and her female friend.
She nodded to the two of them, and Zhou Manjin responded with a smile. However, her friend remained indifferent and showed no obvious reaction, only glancing back at her after they passed each other.
Jiang Nuanyu had only taken a few steps when she heard voices coming from the restroom behind her, which were not quiet.
"Liang Qi is bringing people again?" It was that female friend's voice. "Has he always done this?"
Jiang Nuanyu subconsciously stopped in her tracks, wanting to hear what Zhou Manjin would say.
"No, not really," Zhou Manjin's voice followed. "He's always been a low-key and sensible person."
"Trying to keep a low profile? Then why bring people out like this today? It's one thing to do it in private, but to be so blatant is just asking for trouble, isn't it?"
Zhou Manjin did not respond immediately.
That friend then said, "Isn't the old man of the Jing family very strict about the marriages of the younger generation? Didn't your brother-in-law break up with his previous girlfriend right before the wedding?"
Upon hearing "brother-in-law," Jiang Nuanyu suddenly realized something and said that Zhou Manjin seemed familiar. She remembered that at Song Lanxin's birthday party, she had met Liang Qi's sister-in-law, whose name seemed to be Manling. It seemed that Zhou Manjin's brother-in-law was Jing Mai.
Jing Mai and Zhou Manling, Fang Kechen and Zhou Manjin. No wonder Fang Kechen and Liang Qi had that familiar feeling; it turns out there was this connection.
There was a moment of silence inside. Just as Jiang Nuanyu was about to step back to her seat, her female friend spoke up again: "I had only heard that Jingyao was always surrounded by women, but I didn't expect Liang Qi... who seems quite abstinent, is actually quite a womanizer in private..." At the end, she smiled and lowered her voice, her tone ambiguous.
Zhou Manjin said coldly, "I haven't heard anything special about Liang Qi's affairs, so don't talk nonsense. If you have to say something, don't tell me. Don't offend someone and drag me down with you."
The friend seemed oblivious to the displeasure in Zhou Manjin's tone and continued gossiping: "You know, Old Master Jing is so old, yet he still meddles in everything. And your brother-in-law's family members are all such a handful."
"Why are you worrying about this?" Zhou Manjin scoffed. "This is nothing. My brother-in-law was with his ex-girlfriend for four or five years, and they broke up just like that. When it came time to get married, they were more clear-headed than anyone else."
Jiang Nuanyu thought of Jing Mai and Zhou Manling, whom she had met. They seemed so in sync, intimate, and full of love, a perfect couple.
But now, listening to Zhou Manjin's words, she only felt absurdity and irony. She didn't know whether true feelings were fickle or whether there was no true feeling at all.
She turned and left, no longer eavesdropping, even though the two people were speaking so loudly it seemed they didn't care at all about being heard.
The dining area is located towards the back of the reception room, with a round table by the floor-to-ceiling window, where the waiters have already served the dishes.
The table was set with Chinese food, including meat, vegetables, and soup. There were quite a few dishes, filling the table, but the portions were light and the presentation was exquisite.
As everyone took their seats, Jiang Nuanyu, who had already eaten, was not very hungry. The words she had overheard earlier had made her inexplicably depressed, further diminishing her appetite.
However, in order not to appear special, she would occasionally and continuously take a bite or two.
Fortunately, this meal wasn't really a business dinner. Once at the table, everyone became quieter and focused on eating, offering only a few comments about the taste of the dishes.
Perhaps considering that Jiang Nuanyu had already eaten a meal, or simply not wanting to make her feel awkward, Liang Qi did not urge her to eat during the meal, but only refilled her cup with water twice.
After dinner, it was already late, so the gathering naturally came to an end.
When she reached the door, Jiang Nuanyu recognized Liang Qi's car parked outside and subconsciously turned to look at him.
The porch was in a drafty spot, and the cold wind made him squint.
The instant their eyes met, she knew she didn't need to say anything.
As he always did after each meeting, he would drive her home, even if it was a completely roundabout route.
The driver and doorman opened the rear doors on either side. Liang Qi left the side closest to her to her and went around to the other side himself.
The roads were clear at night, and as usual, Liang Qi didn't speak in the car.
The car was quiet, with only the faint sound of the air conditioner. At one point, Jiang Nuanyu wondered if he had fallen asleep.
Once they were out of the ring road, she quietly turned her head to look at him. He wasn't asleep; his dark eyes, illuminated by the streetlights, were quietly gazing out the window.
Her movements were already very light, but he still turned his gaze the next second and met her eyes.
Jiang Nuanyu awkwardly tugged at her sleeve, and was about to turn her head back when Liang Qi asked, "What's wrong?"
Startled by his unusual reaction, she momentarily lost her composure and hastily told the truth: "I thought you were asleep..."
Perhaps not expecting her answer, Liang Qi remained silent for a moment, then chuckled softly: "You want me to talk more?"
Jiang Nuanyu was struck by his words; she did indeed want to talk to him more. But then she thought, she had already listened to Liang Qi talk quite a bit during the evening with Fang Kechen and the others. Now that it was just the two of them, and he was willing to be quiet, it actually felt... quite nice.
She shook her head: "No... This is fine."
"It's fine?" Liang Qi keenly caught the key words and repeated her words.
"……Um."
"What should I do?" he asked.
Jiang Nuanyu blinked at the air, lowered her head, and stopped talking.
Liang Qi looked at her for a while, then suddenly smiled and stopped teasing her.
As soon as Jiang Nuanyu got out of the car at the entrance of the residential area, she heard the sound of the car door closing behind her.
She was taken aback, closed the car door, and turned around to see Liang Qi had already gotten out of the car and walked around to her side, saying, "I'll take you home."
Jiang Nuanyu suddenly hesitated: "Isn't it unnecessary..."
Liang Qi paused for a second, then said, "I'll take you downstairs."
Jiang Nuanyu quickly explained, "I, I didn't mean that..."
As soon as she said it, she realized something was wrong.
Otherwise, what did she think he meant?
Fortunately, Liang Qi didn't dwell on it and tilted his head slightly in the direction of her neighborhood: "Let's go."
Jiang Nuanyu neither refused nor spoke again, acquiescing to his arrangement.
Entering the residential area, unlike the time he brought her back at the end of August, the trees on both sides of the path were lush, and the streetlights were shrouded in the shade of the green leaves, hazy and enveloping; but now it was the season of falling leaves, and the dim yellow light lines passed through the bare branches, reaching straight to the blue-gray sky, open, but somewhat desolate.
The shadows of the branches stretched out in a long line on the road. Jiang Nuanyu stepped on the dappled sunlight framed on the ground, feeling Liang Qi walking beside her. She found this moment exceptionally peaceful and beautiful.
But halfway there, she suddenly remembered the conversation she had overheard outside the restroom, and a sense of emptiness washed over her.
As they approached her building, she felt a surge of excitement and finally asked, "Liang Qi."
"Um."
"I hope my presence at the dinner party just now didn't cause you any trouble?"
She asked the question with a straight face, but her true feelings were not genuine. Deep down, she wasn't too worried about it.
She wouldn't say she fully understood Liang Qi's sense of propriety, but she knew a little about it; when he said not to worry, he really meant it. However, she did want to glean some insight into his true thoughts through his reaction to the question.
"Why?" Liang Qi asked instead of answering.
"What...why?"
Liang Qi glanced at her, as if to confirm whether she genuinely didn't understand or was pretending to be naive.
He asked directly, "What do you want to know?"
Jiang Nuanyu: "..."
She finally managed to pull off a clever trick, trying to be a "green tea" type, but as expected, she saw right through it. She should have known better than to ask.
She immediately became honest and said awkwardly, "No, I was just asking."
Liang Qi didn't speak, but that didn't mean he believed her "casual question."
He knew that bringing her to Fang Kechen's place today wasn't the right time. But perhaps it was that moment when he saw her at the door that made him instinctively not want to let her go so easily.
After walking around the dry bushes at the entrance of the building, they reached the glass door. Jiang Nuanyu stopped first, and Liang Qi stopped beside her.
There was a distance between the two of them that was neither too close nor too far.
The neighborhood was very quiet late at night. At this time of year, even the unknown insects had stopped chirping.
"We've arrived," Jiang Nuanyu said, uttering a meaningless statement.
Liang Qi didn't respond; of course he knew they had arrived.
He fell silent for a moment, and she remained silent as well.
In the few seconds that passed, her heart began to race, and the scene of Liang Qi taking her home last time flashed through her mind frame by frame, inappropriately.
A thought quietly rose in her mind; she couldn't tell if it was anticipation, but she didn't seem to be rejecting it either.
As she was lost in thought, Liang Qi took out his phone from his pocket, tapped a few times on the screen, and handed it to her: "Your phone number."
Jiang Nuanyu looked at the dial pad, hesitated, and then looked up, a little confused.
Liang Qi pointed at the phone and looked at her: "Don't want to give it to me?"
As if an electric current had struck Jiang Nuanyu's mind, she quickly shook her head, reached out, took the phone, entered her number, and handed it back to him.
Liang Qi dialed the number directly. A few seconds later, her phone vibrated in her bag.
He hung up the phone and put it away: "You can contact me directly if you need anything."
Jiang Nuanyu's almond-shaped eyes were full of surprise.
People like Liang Qi value their time and privacy highly. They usually communicate through their assistants or secretaries, and not many people have his private number and can contact him directly. Yet, he granted her this access.
She was probably overthinking things. Meeting his dark eyes, she asked, "Is it... about the news report?"
“It’s not just this one.” Liang Qi answered her before she could finish speaking.
Jiang Nuanyu was stunned. She had to admit that at this moment, she was happy. Very excited.
But she was also afraid; she didn't seem to be someone who was easily satisfied. The more hope Liang Qi gave her, the more afraid she would want more.
She still doesn't know how much difference there is between what he can give and what she wants.
Two completely different feelings were intertwined, and she was momentarily speechless.
A gentle evening breeze rustled the withered leaves on the branches. A few that had fallen to the ground were swept up by the wind before they could be swept away, drifting and falling again, swirling and rustling on the ground.
A few strands of hair behind Jiang Nuanyu's ears were blown away by the wind, bouncing and brushing against her face.
It was getting cold, and she was dressed in thin clothes; her nose and cheeks were red from the wind.
Liang Qi didn't explain much. He glanced at her for a moment, took a half step back, and said, "It's getting windy, let's go up."
Jiang Nuanyu's heart was still in turmoil. They were a couple who had been intimate, and his decision to escort her downstairs, besides gentlemanly conduct, could it be... that he had other intentions? Could he... also be leaving room for further developments?
Having him by her side felt so wonderful, something she longed for and yearned for. She didn't want to be separated from him like this, and almost did something foolish again. But this time, reason prevailed. At least tonight, she shouldn't let him stay.
She nodded, "Mm." Afraid of being reluctant, afraid of regretting it, afraid of impulsively changing her mind, she didn't even dare to look at him again before turning around and walking into the building.
But as soon as she entered and the door closed, she couldn't help but turn around.
She looked out through the glass. Liang Qigang had just turned around, his back blending into the night, appearing exceptionally tall and straight.
Long after the figure had completely disappeared from sight, she sighed and walked towards the elevator.
Halfway there, she glanced outside again, even though she knew it was deserted.
-----------------------
A note from the author:
Who leaves their phone number after sleeping with a nice person?
A critique of Liang Qi-·-
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
