Chapter 53 I still want you. ...
Jiang Nuanyu lives in a house in Paris. The landlord is Mathieu, the owner of a small local football team, who is a longtime friend of Eric.
The house is on the second floor, a studio apartment of about 50 square meters, which is enough for Jiang Nuanyu to live in alone.
The apartment has a nearly square layout, with one side protruding outwards on the south side, forming a heptagon shape, interspersed with floor-to-ceiling windows. Therefore, the apartment has excellent natural light. No matter what time of day it is, as long as it's sunny, sunlight always streams in.
The entrance door is on the north side. As soon as you enter, there is a long walk-in closet and a bathroom on the right. The bathroom is located at the back, with the door opening to the south, connecting to a platform where a large bed is placed.
The kitchen is on the left side of the entrance, and it is semi-open, separated from the entryway by a wall.
That's where the problem lies—
Except for the bathroom, which has a door, almost the entire apartment is interconnected. Even with a range hood, the smell of food inevitably wafts into every corner of the apartment when cooking at home.
Not long after arriving in Paris, Jiang Nuanyu planned to braise some beef for herself, just like she did back in China, and keep it in the refrigerator so she could quickly eat when she got hungry.
She ordered the pots, pans, and tableware she needed online in advance, and the day before, she went to a Chinese supermarket to buy ingredients and various seasonings.
That day, she enthusiastically braised beef, portioned it out and froze it, and also cooked noodles, enjoying her first meal cooked by herself in Paris.
However, when she took a shower that evening, applied some fragrant body lotion, and got into bed to sleep, she noticed that the surrounding smell was a bit off.
She grabbed a corner of the blanket and brought it to her nose, then turned her head to sniff the pillow, confirming that the unpleasant smell was the aroma of beef stewed with several spices!
She quickly got out of bed. Despite the cold weather, she wrapped herself in a blanket, opened the window to let in some fresh air, and lit most of a candle by the bedside.
She has a naturally keen sense of smell, and afterward, she sniffed around the bed like a police dog. Whether it was psychological or not, she felt a lingering smell of braised meat on the bed. Finally, she had to change all four sheets that night before she could finally sleep peacefully.
The smell of food in her sleeping space was quite annoying, but apart from that, the house was almost flawless.
The neighborhood is upscale and safe; transportation is convenient, with public transport almost allowing you to reach anywhere in the main city of Paris; although the rent is not low, Eric's friendly discount makes it hard to find a similarly good place at the same price.
After careful consideration, Jiang Nuanyu decided not to change apartments and had to compromise for the time being.
She simply stopped cooking at home and ate only simple, ready-to-eat cold meals.
She needs to adapt to her new life, and probably her stomach does too.
For Jiang Nuanyu, there is another problem that is not really a problem.
It wasn't a daunting challenge like a language barrier, nor was it as dire as a lack of professional skills that made survival impossible. Instead, it was like a soft, yielding thorn, constantly and abruptly reminding her each day that she was in a place completely different from the capital—
You have to get used to having to talk a lot every day.
One morning, she took the elevator downstairs and ran into the woman who lived upstairs from her, someone she had met once before.
The other person casually mentioned that they saw her carrying a large bag of things back yesterday, and asked if she had gone shopping, and were quite interested in hearing the shopping list.
Jiang Nuanyu was startled, realizing that she had unknowingly been under the gaze of others. As a woman living alone in a foreign country, she felt somewhat uncomfortable about it.
But the other person didn't seem to have any ill intentions; they were smiling and very friendly, and the question didn't involve any privacy issues, so she smiled and casually replied with a couple of sentences.
After all, she lived on the second floor, and the elevator would arrive in just a few seconds. The two of them would only exchange a few words before parting ways—that's how it should be.
To Jiang Nuanyu's surprise, even after the elevator reached the first floor, the woman continued to press for details. After she answered, the old woman went on to describe how her dog had developed a skin disease...
Jiang Nuanyu had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue the conversation. When they finally said goodbye, she glanced at her phone and realized that the conversation had lasted for at least three minutes.
In mid-March, after several days of light rain, the weather seemed to be showing signs of warming up.
When Jiang Nuanyu came to Paris last month, she only brought a few sets of winter clothes, not a single spring outfit. Now that the weather is gradually getting warmer, she went out one weekend to buy some spring clothes in advance.
Whether it was a coincidence or not, the brand store had an event that day, and customers lined up in long queues outside the store.
Bored while waiting, Jiang Nuanyu aimlessly looked around in the queue, holding a half-empty cup of iced coffee in her hand, sipping it intermittently. The coffee felt cool on her lips and throat, but the sunlight felt warm and comforting on her skin.
She was wearing a dark green wool coat, a black turtleneck underneath, a burgundy wool beanie, and a pair of narrow rectangular sunglasses.
The girl in front of her in line turned around and glanced at her, saying, "The sun is shining so brightly today."
Jiang Nuanyu sipped her coffee, looked up at the sky, and nodded: "Indeed."
"Your outfit is also very nice," the girl said again.
"Thank you." Jiang Nuanyu politely looked the other person up and down and said, "You too. Your scarf is very beautiful."
And so, a simple greeting started a conversation between the two girls.
During the second half of the queue, the two strangers chatted about everything from the recent weather to their coffee preferences, and then to clothing matching and fashion trends. The whole conversation went surprisingly smoothly and naturally.
After entering the store, the two separated and each picked out clothes.
Jiang Nuanyu strolled around alone and picked out a square-neck knit sweater. The neckline was wide, and a strap connected the two ends of the shoulders near the neck. The overall style was basic, but it had a lot of design details, which was exactly what she liked.
She intends to buy it.
"Do you think this color suits me?" the girl asked suddenly, picking up a light blue top.
Jiang Nuanyu didn't expect the conversation to continue, and she didn't react for a moment as she looked at the clothes in her hand.
A second later, she came to her senses and looked in the direction of the voice. The girl pointed to the clothes she had chosen and said, "You'll definitely look good in this."
Jiang Nuanyu smiled, and then gave a positive response as to whether the top suited the other person, as if they were not strangers meeting for the first time.
While she can be flexible in these small social situations in daily life and allow herself to adapt gradually, even if she doesn't handle them perfectly for a while, it's not a big deal. However, when she gets to the company, it becomes a little more difficult to maintain the right balance in her interactions with colleagues.
Words must be spoken at the right time; one cannot remain silent, nor can one say too much. One must show sufficient friendliness and attention, while being careful not to infringe upon the boundaries of each person's unique perspective; one must appropriately express thoughts and opinions and demonstrate sincerity, without appearing overly familiar and interfering with the work process.
Finding the right balance was a significant challenge for Jiang Nuanyu at the beginning.
But she tried her best to adapt to local customs, regardless of how much of it was genuine or just for show.
Trying to integrate seems to be an essential lesson in any workplace.
*
Beijing, Tianqi headquarters.
It's already May, more than four months since the public opinion storm at the end of last year.
Everything seemed to have settled down, and Jingyao completely ceased his activities within the Yunjing Group. He even relinquished control of sub-projects and almost completely stopped getting involved with the Yunjing business.
Liang Qi, who had always seemed "soft-hearted" towards Jingyao's people, later used the pretext of officially taking over Yun Jing for a year to purge those within the group who were wavering in their stance or who were too deeply involved with Jingyao's interests and could not be used again, using various high-sounding reasons to remove or transfer those who needed to be removed.
He can forgive a single, short-term misjudgment. But what use is someone who can't see the situation clearly for over a year?
Even some people who had kicked him while he was down and made irresponsible remarks during his public relations crisis were dismissed by him, but he didn't even give them a letter of recommendation.
He cut off the enemy's escape route, drove them to the brink of extinction, and even killed them to such an extent that he earned a lot of infamy.
Some say he uses his position to settle personal scores and is narrow-minded. On the surface, he is easygoing, polite, tolerant, and generous, but behind the scenes, he is patient and vengeful.
Amidst all the overt and covert voices, Liang Qi's attitude remained the same as before: indifferent.
Or, he can settle scores later when he feels it's necessary to care.
However, he did not completely abandon Jingyao's sub-projects.
He took on the entire project, stripped away all the high-risk gray areas, and incorporated it into the cooperation framework with the Conti Group.
Given Conti's strength in the high-end business, it was a natural progression to transfer all of its sub-projects to Cloudview Europe. This also allowed Cloudview's existing resort projects in Europe to undergo comprehensive upgrades.
On the 53rd floor, in the president's office, Peng Ze was reporting on recent work progress.
"The Renitar Resort in Venice, as a pilot project for the integration of sub-projects, has seen its booking rate double by the beginning of the month, one month into its official operation, meeting expectations. There is still room for future growth."
Several other projects will also be completed in the next two weeks. Based on the current progress, the last one should be in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and completed by the end of this month.
Liang Qi hummed in agreement.
While listening to the report, he was also multitasking, looking down at other documents.
Peng Ze continued, "The one-year sponsorship agreement with Florian magazine, which we signed at the end of next month, will expire. The legal department said that the magazine has sent a letter asking if we can start renewal negotiations."
After Peng Ze finished speaking, he took another look at Liang Qi.
Such a minor matter wouldn't normally need to be submitted to Liang Qi; it could be handled directly by the legal and marketing teams, who would then evaluate and make a decision.
However, given Liang Qi's previous "emphasis" on "Florian," it was probably not unnecessary for him to specifically ask Liang Qi about this plan.
Sure enough, upon hearing "Florian," Liang Qi's fingers, which were flipping through documents, stopped.
He glanced up slightly, but only briefly at the table before quickly looking back at the documents and saying, "Okay."
Peng Ze said, "They also asked if I would be willing to give another exclusive interview if I were to renew the contract."
"No, thank you." This time, Liang Qi answered quickly.
Peng Ze was slightly surprised, but he still nodded: "Okay."
Just as he was about to report on other matters, Liang Qi suddenly said, "After the contract renewal is signed, just like last year, the resort site will be provided free of charge once, and a special sponsorship will be approved in addition."
Peng Ze: "..."
Well, let's seize the opportunity presented by those collaborations last year and go all out to pay them off.
But... since you've already extended your influence to other things, and you need an excuse, why not stop giving interviews?
Peng Ze was unaware that the person who had been providing the venue and repeatedly giving bonuses to the boss had already left Florian.
After pondering for a couple of seconds, he ultimately didn't say anything more, only saying, "Okay."
After reporting on the basic matters, Peng Ze concluded by saying, "The formal launch meeting after project integration is scheduled for one month from now. I anticipate your schedule will be very full then. Would it be better if Vice President Liu attended the meeting on your behalf?"
"Okay." Liang Qi had no objections. After a few seconds, he casually asked, "Still Milan?"
Peng Ze nodded: "Yes. The main event will be in Milan. In addition, Miss Conti will also host a salon in Paris as a warm-up for the subsequent cultural activities of the project. With the connections that Vice President Liu has built in Europe in the past two years, he should have no problem handling such social occasions."
Liang Qi listened without saying a word.
This time, Peng Ze didn't know why.
He was unaware of the resignation and had no idea that the person was in Paris.
The office was quiet for a while.
No one spoke for a while, then Liang Qi said, "It's alright. Go out."
"Yes." Peng Ze nodded and left.
*
After arriving in Paris, Jiang Nuanyu still had trouble falling asleep at night for a while, often waking up at three or four in the morning.
If this continues, her time zone will eventually switch to the United States.
Prolonged sleep deprivation will definitely affect her performance at work during the day, but she doesn't want to rely on medication for fear of becoming dependent on it, so she has to settle for second best—alcohol.
Although Jiang Nuanyu enjoys drinking, she almost never drinks alone when she is in China.
In Paris, every night before bed, she would take a glass and a bottle of wine, curl up on the carpet by the window, and quietly drink alone under the moonlight.
She doesn't drink to the point of getting drunk. A hangover leaves her with a headache and a throbbing head the next day. It's not worth it just to be able to sleep.
She stopped drinking when she felt her cheeks and ears getting warm and her head becoming a little dizzy, and then went straight to bed.
This method is indeed effective; at least she can fall asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow.
However, while alcohol may help you fall asleep quickly, the quality of your sleep is seriously lacking. You'll wake up frequently during the night and have vivid dreams.
That day, she had another dream.
She wasn't sure where she was; she only felt someone kissing her. The person's lips were soft, enveloping hers, moist and warm.
She was happy to be kissed by him and couldn't help but respond. She must really like him.
Through her hazy vision, she peeked out. She saw his jawline was sharp, a clean, yet not rugged angle; his shoulders were broad and strong, held high in his dark gray shirt. In the dim light, the gray appeared even more intense.
She couldn't see him clearly, but the touch he gave her was so vivid, like a flashback of a memory. She recklessly perceived it all.
He was sucking on the corner of her lips, his tongue hooking out to hold and lick a certain spot on her lips, sometimes gently licking and rubbing, sometimes lightly brushing with his teeth, biting and pulling, it didn't hurt, but it felt numb.
Ears, neck, chest—she searched for every spot his lips touched in her memories, as if she had fallen into a dream within a dream.
Gradually, those landing points stopped here as well.
This also includes all parts of her body.
It wasn't just kissing.
Like hot, electrified stamps, they were imprinted on her skin and inside her body.
Her heart trembled, and every muscle from her torso to her fingertips tensed up. The stimulation was so intense that it almost woke her up.
That fleeting glimpse of clarity briefly intruded, and a thought suddenly flashed through my mind—she was in Paris.
Yes, she's in Paris.
My heart felt empty instantly.
Before long, her instinctive desire made her fall back in, and as she plunged in, the empty space in her heart was instantly filled.
She accepted it wholeheartedly, feeling secure, comforted, and content. She clung to that perhaps ethereal yet seemingly real existence, unwilling to let go, unwilling to part.
She sank into despair, venting her emotions, unable to distinguish between love and lust. All she knew was that, though she was far away in Paris, she still longed to be close to him. She still wanted him.
She was thinking so hard she felt like she was going crazy. She was so preoccupied that she couldn't tell whether she was truly lucid or insane.
But she didn't want to face either of them.
Driven by a love she dared not acknowledge and was too ashamed to touch, she felt a surge of heat and swelling throughout her body. Reason and instinct tore at each other, screamed, and resisted, while her blood surged restlessly, on the verge of collapse.
A surge of heat coursed through my body, a stinging sensation mixed with bitter tears welling up from my chest.
It was a June morning, and the sky was already just beginning to lighten. The white curtains weren't blocking out much light, and the morning light streamed in through the gaps.
"Liang Qi—"
Jiang Nuanyu's body twitched and curled up, then she suddenly opened her eyes.
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