Chapter 45 09.15/My fiancée is definitely not in the room.
The next morning, Fan Tingnian got up at around seven o'clock.
He has always had a good sleep schedule. The only time he gets up late is because she is too "tired" and he just sleeps with her.
When Fan Tingnian woke up, Chu Song also woke up, but she kept lying on her side with her eyes closed. Thinking that she would have to go downstairs to meet Nan Ling when he left, she was still a little nervous and her heart was pounding.
She placed her hands in front of her body, tugging at the corner of the quilt, motionless, and then she felt the man who had already stood up stop moving again.
He seemed to be staring at her. After a moment, he raised his hand to touch her head. Chu Song was caught off guard. The moment his hand touched her, she trembled.
The man touching her quickly realized: "Are you awake?"
Seeing she couldn't pretend any longer, Chu Song was still trying to figure out how to open her eyes and start the conversation. Fan Tingnian leaned over again, scratching the back of his finger against her cheek. He lowered his head closer to her, his voice low, as if slightly confused: "Why are you still pretending to be asleep when you're awake?"
Chu Song’s eyelids twitched slightly, and this time he really opened his eyes.
She supported herself on the bed and got out from under Fan Tingnian. "You did wake me up, but I wasn't fully awake... I still want to sleep a little longer."
The man sitting on the edge of the bed stared at her face. After a few seconds, it was unclear whether he believed her or not. He stood up from the bed and picked up the suit vest on the soft couch at the end of the bed. "Wake up later and ask the servant to bring you something light."
"Huh?" Chu Song hadn't realized why the topic suddenly jumped here.
Fan Tingnian's eyes dropped to her face: "Before going to bed last night, I heard you say that your throat hurt during the day."
“Hmm…” Chu Song had forgotten, “I understand.”
Chu Song didn't know why Fan Tingnian didn't leave. He put on his clothes gracefully and buttoned the front of his clothes, his eyes lingering on her.
Chu Song touched his face uncomfortably and asked guiltily, "What's wrong?"
"You're very nervous, like you're hiding something from me."
“No…” Chu Song subconsciously shook his head in denial.
"Really?" He sat down again and touched her face.
Chu Song firmly denied it and shook his head.
Fan Tingnian glanced at her face. He was sure she was lying, but he still let her go.
His right hand dropped from the side of her face and adjusted the cufflinks on his wrist: "Come to the garden this afternoon? There will be a band performance, and we will have dinner there tonight."
Chu Song thought of standing upstairs and looking down at the back garden with a lake.
Was it a performance? Perhaps a grand one? No wonder the servants at the manor have been so busy getting ready lately.
However, she is not Italian and is not familiar with foreign customs. She always feels that it is strange to invite a band to perform at home during an unusual festival.
Seeing Fan Tingnian looking at her again, as if he was determined to get a correct answer, she could only nod: "Hmm..."
Half an hour later, Fan Tingnian finally left.
When Fan Tingnian went to the bathroom to wash up, she kept her eyes closed and pretended to take a nap. Only when she heard the sound of the door closing did she open her eyes again.
It was just past eight o'clock when Nan Ling's messages came one after another.
Nan Ling: [I'll be downstairs where you are at 9:15.]
Nan Ling: [I’ll call you when the time comes.]
Because they were afraid that Fan Tingnian would be suspicious and find out the flight information, they did not book a direct return ticket for Chu Song. Instead, they asked her to fly to London on Nan Ling's private plane first, and then fly back to China from London.
Chu Song came out of the bathroom and went to the cloakroom to pack his things.
She hid the passport and ID card that Nan Ling had asked someone to give her in the cabinet in the cloakroom. She would occasionally come to take a look when Fan Tingnian was not around these past few days.
The things she brought with her when she came were all in the room she used to live in, not here, so she couldn't pack them even if she wanted to, so apart from her ID, it seemed like she had nothing to take with her.
I found a handbag from the closet, stuffed two pieces of clothes and necessary daily necessities into it, and then stood in the cloakroom, nervously picking up my phone to check the messages again.
Her uneasiness came half from the fear of being discovered and half from the guilt towards Fan Tingnian.
She placed her packed bag on the carpet and took two steps back to sit on the sofa.
It was still a while before nine o'clock. She took a deep breath, looked around the room, lowered her head and casually swiped the message on the screen, waiting for time to pass.
He clicked into the dialog box with Fan Tingnian twice, then exited it. Finally, he sighed softly and put the phone on his knees. He organized his thoughts and checked in his mind if there was anything he had forgotten to bring.
Finally, after nine o'clock, Nan Ling sent another message.
Nan Ling: [Sister, come down, we are leaving.]
Since the incident a few days ago, it seemed that all the surveillance in this building had been turned off, and the journey down was smooth. There were not many servants in this building, and she had been avoiding people and taking the fire escape, so when she came down from upstairs, she only met two gardeners at the door.
Nan Ling was wearing a white and blue windbreaker with a logo on the chest that she didn't recognize. It seemed to be his team uniform logo.
Nan Ling didn't try to avoid people, but just stood under a tree in front of the building. When he saw her come out, he even had the leisure to raise his hand and greet her.
Chu Song looked around, picked up his things and walked over quickly to stop him from shouting.
"My brother won't find out. His meeting won't last until at least noon." Nan Ling saw what she was carrying and reached out to take her bag very gentlemanly. "My mom threw more than half of the things in the house to him. Those stubborn old men disagreed, and the two factions quarreled fiercely."
Chu Song could hear the various disputes in this wealthy family from his words and followed him forward: "Aren't you worried about your brother?"
"What are you worried about?" Nan Ling raised his eyebrows.
"Aren't you talking about two factions... Never mind, it's nothing." Chu Song felt that he asked too many questions.
"What does he have to worry about?" Nan Ling put her bag on his back and gestured for her to move forward, with a look of disdain on his face. "Those old antiques can't compete with him. I'd rather worry about whether he'll give them a hard time."
Chu Song glanced back at him and felt that what he said did not seem to be a lie.
Chu Song and Nan Ling got into a car. Besides her and Nan Ling, there was also Nan Ling's personal coach sitting in the passenger seat. She was an Italian woman in her thirties, very friendly, and wanted to take Nan Ling back to the team for training.
There was another car following behind theirs, which contained Nan Ling's nutritionist and team assistant. It was precisely because there were so many people that they needed a private plane.
Nan Ling saw Chu Song greeting his coach in the passenger seat: "Don't worry, I won't kidnap people, nor will I lie to you. I'll let you go when we get to London."
Chu Song nodded: "I know."
"How do you know?"
Chu Song gestured to the car behind him and said, "I heard you ask your assistant to book a flight back home for me yesterday."
Moreover, although Nan Ling was a bad boy, he didn't seem to be as unreliable as she imagined.
As they were talking, Chu Song suddenly received a message on his phone. It was a message from Fan Tingnian.
Fan Tingnian: [What are you doing?]
Chu Song didn't know why he sent her a message at this time, and her heart was in her throat: [Just had breakfast and was reading the newspaper.]
Fan Tingnian: [Will you come with me to the back garden around 3pm?]
Fan Tingnian: [The performance starts at 3:30.]
Chu Song stared at the screen without typing any more words. Nan Ling, who was standing by, couldn't bear it, so he took her phone and helped her send a "OK" to her.
"If you hesitate for so long, my brother will find out."
"Give me my phone." Chu Song reached out to grab it.
Nan Ling dodged the question and replied for her, his brows furrowed. "Don't you see that my brother is testing you? You've been with him for so long, don't you feel that he's very perceptive? If you answer wrong, he'll find out and you won't be able to get away."
"I know." Chu Song frowned, but still held Nan Ling down and took his phone back.
Nan Ling was giving sincere advice this time, as he could see that Chu Song really wanted to return home.
Chu Song held her phone and looked at the message Nan Ling replied to for her on the screen.
Of course what Nan Ling said made sense, but she had been lying to him all along, so she couldn't help but feel guilty.
Fan Tingnian: [Yes, you must arrive on time in the evening.]
Fan Tingnian: [If there's anything else you'd like to eat, tell me.]
Chu Song: [Okay.]
This message was just sent by Nan Ling for her, and the messages below were still from Fan Tingnian.
Fan Tingnian: [What if you don’t come then?]
Chu Song took a deep breath, and after two seconds, he gave a delaying reply: [Wait for me, I'll go.]
Because of the tight time schedule and their distracted attention, Chu Song and Nan Ling didn't notice that Fan Tingnian's two sentences were a bit off topic.
His focus has always been on whether Chu Song will come back to attend the dinner tonight.
It was like he knew she was gone now.
Because it was Nan Ling's car, it did not encounter any obstacles along the way. It was only stopped briefly by the guards at the door when it was about to leave the manor.
But when the other party learned that it was Young Master Nan Ling's car going back to school, they immediately let it go.
As for the people in the car, they would not reveal the fact that Chu Song was also in the car. They were all Nan Ling’s teachers or friends.
It wasn't until the car drove out of the manor that Chu Song felt relieved a little. Because she was nervous, she had kept the bag she brought with her on her legs. Now she finally relaxed. Nan Ling glanced at her and asked her if it was uncomfortable to hold the bag all the time. Only then did she realize.
She put her bag on an empty seat on the side, tilted her head to the left, and looked out the window.
Although she had left the manor, she still felt a little unreal, as if everything had gone too smoothly.
Nan Ling opened the rear window halfway, rested her elbows on the window frame, wore a headband, and her hair was blown back.
While chewing gum, although he was also confused, he said comfortably: "My brother has been holding you for more than half a month. He may have let his guard down."
After the voice fell, he felt that his analysis was correct. He lowered his hand that was leaning against the window coffin and picked up the chewing gum box from the storage box. He even had the leisure to ask Chu Song if he wanted to eat it. "Besides, those stubborn old people at home have been making trouble recently, and he is very worried."
Chu Song waved away his chewing gum, leaned against the car window, and fell into deep thought.
......
This morning's meeting didn't officially start until after nine o'clock because not everyone was there.
And now, it’s not even ten o’clock yet, and Fan Tingnian has already looked at his watch for the third time.
His face was calm and his emotions were undetectable. He seemed to be just casually glancing at the time, waiting for something.
He has been away from Italy for a long time, and previously he managed the family affairs mostly through remote video. Now Nan Zhimei has delegated more investments and industries to him, but the elders who have long held positions in the family disagree, which is why there has been such a farce recently.
However, most of these elders do not have real power, and even if they do, their power will be basically sidelined by him in a short period of time. In a few days, all matters will be handled.
The people at the conference table were still arguing, but because of his presence, they kept their voices low.
He lowered his eyes again and looked at his watch, his eyes revealing a hint of impatience and boredom.
Two minutes later, the door of the conference room was opened and Manager Yang walked in.
He wore a neat black suit and walked quickly to Fan Tingnian's side. He leaned forward slightly and reported in a low voice the situation that Fan Tingnian had just asked him to investigate.
"It's definitely not in the room."
"Just as you thought, he left with Young Master Nan Ling."
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The author has something to say: Two more chapters tomorrow [scatter flowers]
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