Chapter 58 Chapter 58
59.
The meeting lasted until late evening. As the molten golden dusk sank into the sea, the night stained the glass windows of the high-rise buildings. An Jiyue sat quietly by the light inside the window and announced the adjournment of the meeting in a hoarse voice.
A familiar colleague invited me: "Director An, would you like to have dinner together?"
An Jiyue waved her hand weakly in refusal. She'd filled several screens with the ideas and details he'd thrown out. In the past, she'd probably skipped meals and worked through the night to compile the new script. But now, An Jiyue's first reaction was to pull out her phone to check for new messages.
[Lu Ye: I have something urgent to do. I am returning to City S.]
【Lu Ye: The car is left in your company's basement.】
During the ten or so seconds she spent checking the message, she didn't realize that her expression was changing involuntarily in public, from expectation to loneliness, all seen by others.
The writers, all with their own unique and imaginative minds, exchanged ideas silently. The exhausted atmosphere of the meeting vanished. Editor Tang put his arm around An Jiyue's shoulder and asked excitedly, "Did Chief Lu send a message?"
An Jiyue looked up, caught off guard, to see everyone winking at her enthusiastically, looking like a group of onlookers. Tang Bian gave her a meaningful, teasing look, and An Jiyue shuddered. With his quick mind, he must have figured it out long ago.
She was fully prepared for a showdown, but kept it a secret for now: "Come on, let's have dinner together tonight. It's my treat."
Everyone cheered, and someone unceremoniously requested to go to Deyue Restaurant. An Jiyue nodded generously, "No problem."
Silencing the screenwriters would be equivalent to blocking 80% of the sources of information. An Jiyue firmly believed this.
Dishes for the business banquet were served one after another. An Jiyue remained calm and continued to add twelve servings of expensive and nourishing pigeon soup.
Some colleagues were worried: "Director An is really generous. This meal must be expensive. There's no need to spend so much..."
Someone immediately tried to smooth things over: "That's a mean thing to say. What's Director An's worth now? He wouldn't care about such a small amount of money, right, Director An?"
Editor Tang's eyes rolled around, and he nudged An Jiuyue with his elbow: "Is this meal Chief Lu's treat, or Director An's?"
Tang Bian, true to his name, got straight to the point. An Jiyue had no choice but to explain clearly, "Even if it is, I'll treat him."
This sentence made everyone in the room cheer up. An Jiyue blinked a little embarrassedly and heard that everyone was no longer speculating in whispers, but was talking about it in a buzzing voice.
"Director An is treating Chief Lu to a meal. Does that mean Director An is the one who's paying, and Chief Lu is the one who's paying?"
"——In that case, I won't be polite to Chief Lu."
"Of course we can't be polite. We've spent so much time and energy on his storyline! And just when we were starting to make some progress, he backed out. Consider it mental damages."
"Then Chief Lu, this meal alone is definitely not enough, right? After all, we've caught up with the face of the Interactive Entertainment Group, and you're sending us off with just one meal?"
"No, no, Director An can't just be kidnapped by him like this. Three meals a day is enough!"
“Second!”
An Jiyue listened to the writers' speeches, smiling silently. She felt as if she were surrounded by her family, meticulously calculating the bride price under a lamp.
Somehow, after listening to so many jokes, her cheeks turned rosy, and a sharp-eyed sister from the screenwriter team caught her looking "shy and timid like a newly married girl."
Another screenwriter defended her, saying with a chuckle, "Director An is so absorbed in his work that he finally fell in love! Lu Ye is the lucky guy."
An Jiyue thought, no way.
She has also had a serious relationship, and it was with the same person.
This person hadn't changed at all, still sporting the same aloof and self-respecting demeanor, his mind filled with ambition and his features filled with mountains and rivers. While his inherent arrogance had subsided somewhat, at the slightest provocation, his bottom line was still clear, like a fortress of steel, a fortress of iron, and a resolute defense.
Even in the elite financial world, he still commands attention with his impeccable skills and unique style. In just a few years, Lu Ye has become a highly sought-after figure, surrounded by a halo, yet he remains calm and unpretentious.
No one knew when Lu Ye grew into such an outlier, but An Jiyue knew.
Long ago, in that intoxicating night breeze, she had heard Lu Ye whisper about his scholarly idealism. None of her classmates paid him any attention that night, but perhaps she was the only one who truly listened and remembered it to this day.
The cups clink together and the night deepens.
The gossip on the table no longer revolved around teasing Director An and Chief Lu, but began to turn to news of unsuccessful attempts by other Huayi teams. Everyone listened intently, some talking, some listening, and she was left alone, silently recalling fragments of old memories.
As she recalled the past, she felt her cheeks getting hot. She touched her face lightly with her fingers and found that the temperature was indeed suspicious.
An Jiyue, show some self-confidence! This isn't your first time with him, nor is it your first time making your relationship public. Why are you blushing so much?
She left the table on the pretext of paying the bill, went to the bathroom and splashed some water on her face, barely able to suppress her surging emotions.
The gathering soon ended, and An Jiyue went to the basement with a few colleagues and climbed into the silver-gray car alone. Inside, the driver's seat had been adjusted to the desired distance and covered with cool cushions. A faint scent of sage hung from the air-conditioning vent.
An Jiyue's ears suddenly echoed with his words that he had vowed a while ago: "I can coax you for as long as it takes this time."
She couldn't help but fiddle with the aromatherapy pendant, her eyes soft.
Are these...considered as coaxing her?
She tapped the accelerator lightly, and the Volvo drove smoothly into the night breeze. However, the direction was not the route she took home every day, but a detour, heading directly to Lu Ye's rented apartment.
Although she hadn't drunk any alcohol, she seemed to be drunk, dizzy and confused.
When people are in power, they always do things that make no sense.
For example, An Jiyue knew that he had flown back to City S, but she still wanted to drive to the downstairs of his apartment and look at the dark window with tenderness in her eyes.
For example, at this time she should be wearing silk pajamas and sitting in front of the dressing table applying a facial mask, but she pushed open the door of the empty apartment and curled up on the clean white bed for some unknown reason.
Lu Ye never used perfume, but An Jiyue always felt that he carried a cool, cool fragrance, like thick snow between pines. It was so light, so subtle, yet it could penetrate her nostrils from the crook of his neck and chest, settling into her memory.
The moonlight was hazy, half her face bathed in the halo, the other half pressed against the soft cotton cup. The smell of the sheets was the same as it had been back then.
An Jiyue closed her eyes, nostalgically inhaling the old scent. Her restless and stuffy mood gradually calmed, and she fell asleep until midnight.
It was already four in the morning when I woke up again.
The moment she opened her eyes, her entire body felt sore, her eyelids heavy, and every breath dry and aching. Sweat suddenly broke out on her thin back. The wind from the half-open window didn't wake her, but instead made her shiver.
Something wasn't right. An Jiyue, straining to maintain her senses, reached out and touched her forehead.
After a moment, she calmly and desperately struggled to take out her cell phone, and sent a message to Xu Mu in her blurred vision.
[Director An: I have a fever. Please take a leave.]
As she typed, she thought intermittently: Calm down, calm down. There's no medicine in my new apartment, and I can't get takeout in the middle of the night. I'll take a long day off, sleep until 7 a.m., get up, order a thermometer and some fever-reducing medicine, take it, and rest for the morning before going back to work. No problem, then I need to set an alarm...
After holding on to this point, she called her mobile phone assistant, muttered the instructions for setting the alarm, and then fell asleep again.
The next second after falling asleep, many faces flashed before An Jiuyue's eyes like a kaleidoscope.
The defense line collapsed as her consciousness became scattered, and the long and divided day once again showed its might in her mind.
In the refreshing summer morning breeze, Lu Ye looked so elegant even in a simple T-shirt and casual pants. He stood by the car waiting for her, her calves brushing against the trembling dewdrops on the tips of the morning grass.
In the quiet and peaceful teahouse box, she raised her hand with great joy, giving the elder who had loved her since childhood a slap in the face for his disobedience, and directly and directly stopped the absurd rumors. She told the silent and cautious Liang Sinan that she would help him take back the Liang Group.
At the cheerful and bright dinner table, jokes and blessings were heard one after another. The emotions that had been hidden for a long time were suddenly revealed to others. She no longer had to hide behind the dimly lit monitor to suppress the waves in her heart.
Finally, it was the same sculpted face. The difference was that, unlike before, he was not calm and emotionless. Instead, his brows were furrowed, his dark eyes filled with anxiety, and his thin lips moved, as if he was shouting something. But his voice was deep, as if he was speaking from the surface to the people underwater.
An Jiuyue struggled to float up from the deep sea and stretched out a hand towards him, but her half-raised arm fell limply down.
"Jiyue."
The phantom Lu Ye suddenly became real. He knelt in front of the bed, grabbed her hand, and whispered her name anxiously.
An Jiyue responded and put her hand into his again. The ice-cold jade-like hand pressed against her hot palm, which was cool and particularly comfortable.
Seeing her slowly waking up, Lu Ye turned sideways and sat on the edge of the bed. With a big hand, he grabbed her soft and weak body and pulled it into his arms.
He picked up the water glass from the bedside table and put it to her dry lips: "Drink the medicine."
He spoke softly, almost as if coaxing a child, and even patted her hands soothingly. An Jiyue drank the medicine obediently and finally opened her eyes blearily.
The window had been closed at some point, and the blazing sun was moving westward, its glaring light gradually softening. The redness on her cheeks faded slightly, and her eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings before finally fading and she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Lu Ye's embrace was still refreshing, like towering pines and thick snow, giving a sense of security that could accommodate everything without being tainted in the slightest.
She pressed her hot cheek against his chest and listened quietly to his steady and strong heartbeat for a long time. Unconsciously, her mind became clear.
She rubbed Lu Ye's elastic and plump chest muscles greedily, raised her head and asked hoarsely: "Why are you back? What time is it?"
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