The birthday dinner ended at two o'clock as everyone had their own things to do. This dinner was arranged by Fu Yanzhou in the morning. They pushed aside other social engagements and rushed over.
When I came out of the hotel, it had been raining for the whole morning and noon, and the wind hadn't stopped yet.
The typhoon temporarily took away the sultry heat, and there was a hint of coolness in the humid air.
Before the car got on the main road, the driver looked at Secretary Bai in the passenger seat for help, asking where to go next.
Bai Shan turned her head to ask the people in the back seat. Fu Yanzhou supported his chin with his thumb, two fingers on his temple, his eyes closed, and his whole body looked cold.
The original plan was for the boss to celebrate Min Xi’s birthday at noon, then spend an hour or two with Min Xi before going to the airport, and then return to Jiangcheng in the evening to continue discussing the project.
Now the plan is cancelled.
"Mr. Fu?" She lowered her voice and asked, "What are your plans for the afternoon?"
A moment of silence.
"go home."
Since it’s home, it must be the house where Min Xi lives. But the couple has more than one house in Shanghai, and she doesn’t know which one Min Xi lives in.
Bai Shan understood her boss's habits. He would not tell her only half of the complete information. Since he didn't tell her which home to return to, it meant that even he himself didn't know where Min Xi lived.
In other words, Min Xi never told him at all.
Bai Shan turned around and sat up straight, and arranged for someone to confirm which house the boss's wife had lived in during her visit to Shanghai.
She had just made the arrangements when her cell phone suddenly vibrated in the car.
The phone kept vibrating, and even the leather seat felt trembling.
There was a call coming in on the boss's cell phone, but the boss seemed to have no intention of answering it.
Bai Shan turned around again and saw her boss's personal cell phone thrown on the seat next to her.
Fu Yanzhou was still sitting in the same position, resting with his eyes closed.
As a secretary, no matter whether it was a work call or a personal call, she would answer it when the boss didn't want to answer it. The reason was always that Mr. Fu was in a meeting and couldn't get away.
"Boss Fu, can I take the call?"
What if there's something important?
There can't be any delay.
Fu Yanzhou was feeling very tired and his eyelids were so heavy that he couldn't open them. He landed at around two in the morning last night and arrived at the hotel at nearly four o'clock. He had only slept for a few hours before he got up to attend a meeting.
He said "hmm", reached out for the phone, and handed it over without even looking at it.
Bai Shan looked at the caller ID and saw Yan Heyu, the prince of the Yan family and also a friend of the boss. She held her breath and swiped the answer button, smiling professionally: "Hello, Mr. Yan, Mr. Fu..."
Before he could finish his words, Yan Heyu interrupted him: "Did you fail to celebrate your birthday when you flew there? You didn't even answer the phone."
Bai Shan: "...Mr. Fu is in a video conference."
Yan Heyu didn't want to make things difficult for a secretary, so he asked her to give the phone to Fu Yanzhou.
"Give me your phone." Just when Secretary Bai was in a dilemma, Fu Yanzhou opened his eyes and stretched out his long arm.
Bai Shan returned the phone to her boss, feeling relieved.
"The flight route we applied for was cancelled, and the evening meeting was also cancelled. So, are you planning to live in Shanghai permanently?" Yan Heyu asked.
Yan Heyu is in Jiangcheng right now. He was the one who introduced Fu Yanzhou to him. He is interested in investing in a new material production line in Jiangcheng. There will be three phases in total, with a total investment of about 23 billion yuan and an annual production capacity of 6.5 million tons.
Yan Heyu is so keen on attracting investment for Jiangcheng because his future father-in-law is from Jiangcheng. He claims to be half a Jiangcheng native, and he cares as much about the economic development of Jiangcheng as Min Lu does about Min Xi.
Others would give diamonds and jewelry to their wives when they pursue them, but Yan Heyu was obsessed with developing Jiangcheng's economy.
Fu Yanzhou rubbed his temples and spoke only after he sobered up a bit: "You still don't allow me to have a good birthday? I will fly to Jiangcheng tomorrow morning, and you can arrange the meeting in the evening."
Yan Heyu asked: "What time will you arrive? I'll go pick you up in person."
"It's hard to say what time I'll land. I'll see what time I can get up tomorrow morning. No need to pick me up at the airport, thank you."
"Well, you're richer than me, it's an honor to pick you up."
Fu Yanzhou mocked him: "When I beg people, I just say I am richer than you. I don't see you being so humble at other times."
Yan Heyu laughed and said, "Remember to send me the time when you take off." Then he hung up the phone.
After the boss's call, Secretary Bai had already determined which apartment Min Xi lived in. The driver turned around at the next intersection and drove to the boss's home.
Each apartment was equipped with the clothes and daily necessities that he and Min Xi needed. When Fu Yanzhou got off the car, he only carried his suit. It was hot, so he didn't need to wear it. He put it on his arm and looked at his phone while walking.
The property lobby manager came forward and greeted him: "Mr. Fu, good afternoon," and swiped the elevator card for him.
Fu Yanzhou nodded, then suddenly looked up and asked, "Have you cleaned the house?"
The property manager pressed the elevator door open button: "No." He didn't know what the relationship was between Min Xi and Fu Yanzhou who had been staying here during this period, so he called her Ms. Min.
"Ms. Min told us that she doesn't like strangers coming in when she's not at home." This stranger includes the cleaning staff at their property.
Fu Yanzhou only recently learned about Min Xi's habits, so he asked the property management.
"I'm at home, someone will go up and clean it up in half an hour."
Property manager: “Okay.”
Fu Yanzhou stepped into the elevator and looked at his phone. There were no unread messages on WeChat.
After video chatting with her at noon, she sent him a private message: [I have a meeting with Party A in the afternoon. Happy birthday. 】There was no contact after that.
When he got home, Fu Yanzhou put his suit on the sofa and went to the master bedroom to take a shower and change clothes.
He often stays in this flat when he is on business trips, and it is the flat he stays in most frequently among all the houses.
Lying on the bed in the master bedroom, one can enjoy a 180-degree night view, but the bedding in front of him is neat and tidy, with no signs of having been slept in. He guessed that the decoration of the master bedroom was not in the style that Min Xi liked.
Without stopping, he turned and walked out.
Pushing open the door of another suite, a faint fragrance filled the room. One corner of the quilt on the bed was folded in, and a light blue suspender nightgown was piled on the stool at the end of the bed.
Fu Yanzhou went in, closed the door, took off his watch and put it down, then went straight to the bathroom.
After taking a shower, the property management arranged someone to come and clean up.
A total of four people came and it took them two hours to clean the house of several hundred square meters.
After the cleaning staff left, Fu Yanzhou was about to catch up on an hour's sleep when he heard the door of his house open, followed by a click and someone came in.
Min Xi has been so busy that he hasn't had lunch yet. It took him more than three hours to get back to Shengshi's headquarters from Shengshi's R&D center. He then had a project team meeting, and in the middle of that time he managed to drink a cup of yogurt given by a colleague.
Thinking about what to eat for dinner.
She opened the shoe cabinet to change her shoes and was stunned to see a pair of men's leather shoes in the cabinet.
Didn’t he fly to Jiangcheng in the evening?
You should be at the airport at this time, why are you still at home?
In the video at noon, she said that she would cook for him to celebrate his birthday. He immediately told Secretary Bai that he would not return to Jiangcheng at night. She thought he was cooperating with her in front of his friends to act as a pair of harmonious newlyweds.
After all, he is a man who values work more than his married life, so how could he delay business negotiations for a birthday dinner?
I didn't expect that he really didn't return to Jiangcheng.
Min Xi slowly put on her slippers, her mind full of thoughts: she hadn't prepared any birthday present for Fu Yanzhou, nor had she bought anything worth a penny. The promise in the video to cook for him on his birthday was just an illusion, fake.
I originally planned to wait until I returned to Beijing to carefully choose a gift for him, but plans cannot keep up with changes.
It's been a while since I last saw her. "Min Xi?"
A magnetic voice came from the living room.
"It's me."
Min Xi closed the shoe cabinet door and walked through the entrance.
He was leaning against the sofa with his long legs crossed, the same sitting position as he was in today's video. The difference was that he had changed his noon clothes into his current white shirt and black trousers, looking dignified and aloof, and there was no longer that sense of relaxation on his body.
Fu Yanzhou glanced at the time and said, "I got off work early today."
As he spoke, Min Xi looked around and saw that the house had been cleaned.
Just as she was looking around, she caught sight of the photo display on the coffee table in front of Fu Yanzhou, the one she had placed in the study to cover him with a silk scarf.
Who would have thought that he would come to celebrate his birthday on a typhoon day.
The other scarf in the photo was not removed in time.
The look of annoyance only stayed on her face for a second or two before she regained her composure.
Fu Yanzhou pointed his chin at the photo and looked at her, waiting for her to explain something.
Min Xi put down her bag, leaned against the bar and looked back at him silently. He looked at her with a dark look. A photo wasn't enough to anger him, but his mood wasn't much better.
Fu Yanzhou sat up straight on the sofa, leaned forward slightly, took the display table and leaned back on the sofa, slowly untied the scarf, and wrapped it around and around.
He put the display table back to its original place and unconsciously wrapped the scarf around his bony fingers.
Before getting married, he asked her more than once if she was willing to be trapped in a marriage with only interests and no feelings?
What did she say at the beginning?
She asked if she was sleepy or not, it wasn't as serious as he said.
He looked at her again: "Xixi, before we got married, I told you that life is longer than you think. I asked you to think carefully about whether you can spend your life with me. We have only been married for a month and a half, and now you think my photo is an eyesore?"
It's not that I find the photo annoying, but I feel that the moods of the two people in the photo form a tragic contrast, so I don't want to look at it any longer.
But how to explain it?
Explain that she didn't take off the scarf in time because she was unhappy that he didn't have any joy in his eyes when taking wedding photos?
She knew from the beginning that he didn't love her. He had clearly confessed to her before the marriage that this was a loveless marriage and asked her to think twice.
Using the scarf to temporarily block him was just an act of self-deception when she was mentally unbalanced. But in a one-way relationship, the person who is loved will never understand how the person who loves him feels.
So how do you explain this?
The spacious living room fell into silence.
For Fu Yanzhou, silence meant consent.
After a while, Min Xi turned his head to look at him.
As expected, Fu Yanzhou looked at her expressionlessly.
But today is his birthday, and she can't let the atmosphere become too awkward, so she decides to ease the situation.
Min Xi prepared to go back to the bedroom to change clothes and think about how to prepare his birthday dinner.
She took off her slippers and walked barefoot onto the carpet in front of the sofa.
The space between the coffee table and the sofa was spacious enough for her to walk through, but she walked along the edge of the sofa, with her way forward blocked by his long legs.
She lifted her instep and touched his calf, then took the initiative to speak in a soft voice: "Make way, I'll go over."
Show your affection by talking to him first and then making physical contact.
Fu Yanzhou didn't move, didn't say anything, and didn't express anything.
Men and women think differently, and in his eyes, her advances were just nitpicking.
One was determined to get through, and the other had no intention of moving aside.
Min Xi gently nudged his leg with his knee again: "You're blocking my way."
Fu Yanzhou raised his eyes and said, "Isn't the living room that wide enough for you to walk in?"
"Not enough." Min Xi raised his foot to step over his legs.
Fu Yanzhou threw down the scarf in his hand and grabbed her wrist, preventing her from crossing: "You were the one who covered the photo, and now you're picking on me because you did something wrong?"
"Let go, I'm going to change and cook."
Fu Yanzhou didn't let go. Min Xi's wrists were slender, and he was afraid of hurting her, so he loosened his grip and said, "If you don't like cooking, don't force yourself."
It gave her a way out and a good excuse, saying that she didn't like cooking instead of not being able to cook.
He said, "You don't have to do it. I arranged for the chef to come at half past six."
Min Xi was surprised.
Fu Yanzhou pointed at the table and said, "Please explain again why you used a scarf to cover the photo."
He met her eyes and said, "Xixi, think it over first. Don't be angry or resentful."
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