ember
As the car pulled into the venue, the doorman jogged to greet it, but his expression changed the moment he saw the car. He cautiously asked the man who got out of the car if he needed any further assistance.
After being ignored by Du Pianjian, the doorman carefully drove the car, which had huge scratches on the side, into the underground parking garage and disappeared into the darkness. The brightly lit hall also gradually fell into silence as the dark figure appeared.
She wore a black robe embroidered with gold, a string of plum blossoms hanging loosely from her left shoulder, the fluttering petals swaying on her long, slit skirt. Her short top revealed glimpses of her white shirt at the back as she walked away. Her long hair was tied up with a black hairpin. She casually picked up a glass of champagne in her right hand, walked to the end of the hall, and splashed it all over Chi Hengxun's face.
With a sharp crack, the champagne glass shattered luxuriously, leaving tiny bloodstains on his sharply defined face. Chi Hengxun smiled, unperturbed, wiped his face with his sleeve, and said in his usual gentle tone, "President Du, you look beautiful today too. Did you come all this way just to hit me like this? Don't be angry. If you can't find what you're looking for, it's not my fault."
Everyone present held their breath to watch the show, but Chi Hengxun looked at Du Pianjian's angry face as if no one else was there. The more he looked, the more he liked it. His gaze then fell on Du Pianjian's empty left ring finger, and he said in a low voice, "Luo Zangrui is here too. Are you sure you want to discuss that list here?"
Du Pianjian glanced at the others out of the corner of his eye before turning back to his own, his cold aura as if he were in the dead of winter: "It doesn't matter, so what if I heard it?"
Chi Hengxun glanced at the crowd, and the gazes that had been frequently directed at them quickly turned away, no longer daring to look. After scanning the group once more, he said in a low voice, "Pianjian! Isn't it enough that you know who the investors behind this are? Who else do you want to drag out?"
"So you do know about the rest of the people." Du Pianjian sneered, turning to leave. "I can just pry Luo Zangrui's mouth open."
"You dare!" Chi Hengxun's expression changed. He grabbed Du Pianjian's arm, knowing he wasn't joking. And beside Luo Zangrui, he was only his lover. He forcefully pulled the man in front of him, leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Do you really have to do it yourself? Can't you wait for me? Let me do it."
"Who do you think you are?" Du Pianjian pulled her arm back.
"You're a calculator!" Chi Hengxun's anger finally broke. "You're a calculator! All you're doing is giving yourself away for nothing!"
"All you're saying is that you want me to give myself to you for free."
"I love you," Chi Hengxun roared, suppressing his emotions. "That's why I wanted to do it for you! I didn't want you to put yourself in danger!"
Du Pianjian simply looked at him indifferently. If he had never experienced true love, he would have genuinely believed that everything Chi Hengxun said was love, no different from the expressions he had previously felt called "like" or "love." These desires, hidden between the words, were not easily detected; these selfish desires concealed behind the words, hoping the other person would satisfy them.
Chi Hengxun couldn't stand this indifference, as if he were talking nonsense. His burning love, his uncontrollable love, made him endure the other person's torment and belittlement time and time again, and he couldn't allow the other person to be indifferent to it.
Just as the rage was about to erupt, Du Pianjian smiled, even the mole under her lip seemed to lighten, and said softly, "Really? How are you going to do it for me?"
That laugh was like the wind, instantly blowing away all the dissatisfaction in his heart, leaving only the scent of wood. Chi Hengxun replied, "Seize the leverage, and wipe them all out. Believe me, none of the people you want to get rid of will escape."
"Also includes..."
Du Pianjian was speaking when a woman's voice suddenly called his name. The person who came was in a hurry, dressed casually as if she had just returned from a morning run in a park, if one ignored the large paint stains on her clothes. Zhao Junxi walked up to the two of them, looking anxious: "Brother Hengxun, Brother Li Kuo asked me to pass on a few words to Du Pianjian privately."
"Can't I listen?" Chi Hengxun pursed his lips. His relationship with Li Kuo had become lukewarm, and he hadn't seen him recently.
"Brother Hengxun, don't make things difficult for me. If I don't say these words separately, I'll get beaten up again when I get home."
"Anyway, that's it... Senior, are you listening?"
Zhao Junxi waved to Du Pianjian, who was leaning against the wall, completely unaware of her gesture. Zhao Junxi followed her gaze and saw an Alpha embracing an Omega. The Alpha wasn't particularly outstanding, but the Omega was dressed extravagantly, her back slender and delicate in a high-slit silver dress. Her slender fingers occasionally rested on the sapphire necklace around her neck, then she glanced casually in Du Pianjian's direction, picked up a plate of tiramisu from the table, and began to mash the cake with a fork, the cream cascading over the coffee layer like an avalanche until it was completely chaotic. Only then did she playfully scoop up a spoonful and eat it.
Zhao Junxi asked curiously, "Senior, do you know him?"
Du Pianjian was certain he didn't recognize the person in front of him, but he felt a strange familiarity with him and a subtle sense of victory over him in his every move. Before he could figure out where this strange feeling came from, the person had already left the venue through the side door with Alpha.
"Senior?"
"Tell Li Kuo to mind his own business." Du Pianjian knew that everything Li Kuo had done over the past year was for Yu Zou's sake.
Before Zhao Junxi could say anything more, Du Pianjian had already left the banquet through the side door.
The hallway was quiet, the carpet absorbing all the sound of footsteps, when suddenly a sticky, panting breath came from the fire escape.
Du Pianjian stopped abruptly, listening to the faint sound, barely audible.
"Your taste has improved after just a few months? That makes me think so."
"He picked it out for me."
After a moment of suppressed emotion, the voice rang out again: "Don't go back."
"I have to go back."
"Why go back? Just break up with him. Can he afford to buy you this?"
"It should be fine in two more years. His injury hasn't fully healed yet, so he can't work for the time being."
"You dare to say good things about him while I'm in your arms?"
Sharp laughter and noises mingled, then subsided into low moans, like two snakes.
"Let's break up, I'll marry you."
"Hehe, I'm not breaking up with him. I went through a lot of trouble to win him over. And he's planning to propose to me."
"What, tell me? Hmm?"
"I secretly saw him preparing a ring. Besides, breaking up with you and then being with you, it's not as fun as having an affair now."
"You're such a slut, you can't stand being someone's wife, only being a mistress is comfortable."
“He didn’t want to go any further, and I couldn’t stand it.”
"You were all set to propose, and still nothing? Looks like you're no good." A loud slap of meat was followed by the man's suppressed laughter. "How could you end up with someone like this?"
"Of course someone told me. Besides, he's much more handsome than you. With a face and a body like that, I won't give up until I get him."
"Is there one for me?"
"Of course, I'll steal his technology and give it to you..."
A vulgar affair and betrayal made Du Pianjian unable to listen anymore. She scoffed at her own inexplicable feelings that had made her listen to so many unbearable things for nothing, and she hated how such a rotten person could have the opportunity to stay together.
He walked toward the restroom, the stairwells on either side blurring at the edges of his vision, the rising temperature making his heart burn. His pace quickened, until he almost ran to the restroom, the skin on his arms burning, the pores bursting like erupting volcanoes, emitting unbearable heat.
It wasn't until the tap was turned on and the icy water washed away the blurred boundaries that Du Pianjian watched the water flow away from her arm, trying to recall that day in the Climate Garden, the day she first met Yu Zou, and anchoring her thoughts on reason, that she heard her phone ringing.
The moment the call connected, an excited voice on the other end rattled off: "Flash! I've discovered that the explosion time is off by one minute from the actual data."
The other person seemed to be waiting for Du Pianjian to give a corresponding joyful response, but became uncertain in the silence, and asked weakly, "Pianjian, are you listening?"
“Xu Bo. You believe what he says?” Du Pianjian leaned against the wall, the water valve closed, the rising water level submerging the back of his hand. A rustling sound came from the other end of the phone, the voice now belonging to a different person, “Hey! You can doubt anything about me, but you’re not allowed to question my expertise in chemistry.”
"so what?"
"Your husband was abducted by Saint Herrera in that one minute!"
"Try saying it again."
After Du Pianjian finished speaking, there was a few seconds of silence on the other end. When Xu Bo spoke again, he said, "What he said makes sense. Maybe Yu Zou is still alive. Don't think too much about it."
"Are you worried I'll kill myself?" Before the water overflowed the pool, the plug was opened, the switch was pressed shut, and fingers, damp with sweat, pulled out a silver necklace. Hyacinths and blank bookmarks glistened with water droplets on their fingertips. Du Pianjian looked down at it as it was clutched in her hand: "I won't walk away on my own."
After leaving the restroom, Chi Hengxun, who was leaning against the opposite wall, immediately caught up with Du Pianjian and asked, "What did Zhao Junxi say to you?"
"unimportant."
"If it's not important, can't you tell me?"
"Give me the surveillance footage here."
"Tell me first, what did she say to you?"
Du Pianjian stopped, turned around and looked directly at Chi Hengxun, her words piercing his heart: "Li Kuo asked her to tell me that, based on his friendship with Yu Zou, he is willing to make concessions on the Xiyanba project."
Seeing that Chi Hengxun was speechless, Du Pianjian continued, "I want the surveillance footage here. If you can't do that, get out."
In the bustling metropolis of the capital, built of steel and concrete, tens of thousands of new lives are born every day, and tens of thousands are destroyed. There is never a predetermined fate that indicates tomorrow will be a peaceful day.
The sudden collapse of a company is merely the extinguishing of one light out of a thousand windows.
Soon, new light will shine from it.
Unless explicitly assigned, Du Pianjian's orders were generally carried out by Xu Bo himself. The moment the photo arrived, he didn't consider the relationship between the person and Du Pianjian; he was only thinking about how to complete the task without affecting this one.
It's surveillance again.
This time, however, the person did not usually reside in the capital. The day after the photo was sent, he went to Lingwan, which is more than 300 kilometers away from the capital.
He had no choice but to ask his advisor for leave.
Therefore, if the target was not alone in his sight, simply informing Du Pianjian of what he saw and heard via phone would likely only lead to the same outcome as the previous call. A one-minute and three-second video and eighteen photos were sent to Du Pianjian.
Xu Bo only had two words to say: Come quickly!
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