Chapter 34
Because I like you
Xu stared at them with displeasure. The two young women were dressed in business suits, and the slight bulges under their clothes revealed the muscle lines that were prominent due to long-term exercise.
She asked again, "Who are you?"
"General Jiang has sent two of us to protect your personal safety."
Upon hearing Jiang Fengyi's name, Xu's expression softened considerably: "I won't wander around; I'm going to see Jiang Fengyi."
The two exchanged a glance, but remained blocking the doorway.
"I'm sorry, Miss Xu, please don't make things difficult for us."
Xu stood at the door, estimating the chances of her forcing her way through. Even if the chances were slim, she was going to give it a try.
The person outside the door said stiffly, "President Jiang asked you to wait for her at home."
“But now Jiang Fengyi has been in a car accident,” she said anxiously, “I can’t feel at ease unless I see her.”
No matter how much Xu Que talked, the two large statues in front of the door remained unmoved, dutifully guarding Xu Que.
Jiang Fengyi sent the two of you to protect my safety, not to guard prisoners!
One of the bodyguards scratched his head: "How can you say we're guarding prisoners? We're just following President Jiang's orders."
"She made it clear that I can't go out?"
The bodyguard kept repeating the same thing: "President Jiang told you to wait for her at home."
Kitchen corner
Xu's phone, which he had tossed aside, was vibrating incessantly. The screen lit up, and Jiang Fengyi's name appeared prominently in the center of the image.
The phone rang for a long time, but no one answered, and the screen slowly went dark.
The phone's owner was busy arguing with the bodyguard at the door, trying to rush to the hospital to see Jiang Fengyi.
Seeing that he couldn't reason with her, Xu simply gave up and, holding his anger, prepared to rush out.
"bite--"
When the elevator arrived at this floor, Xu's attention was drawn to it, and he subconsciously looked over.
"You even called for backup?"
The bodyguard in front of her categorically denied it.
The elevator doors slowly opened to both sides. The incandescent lights inside the elevator were different from the warm yellow lights in the corridor. The overhead light poured down without any warmth, illuminating the figure standing in the middle.
Jiang Fengyi stepped out of the elevator and immediately saw the three people at the door. Her gaze naturally fell on Xu Que.
She asked with a smile, "What's wrong?"
Xu, who was about to charge forward, suddenly stopped, his eyes widening: "You're alright!"
Ignoring the bodyguards' attempts to stop her, she rushed straight towards Jiang Fengyi, shouting, "Thank goodness! You're alright!" Her voice was so loud that it made Jiang Fengyi's eardrums ring.
The bodyguard standing nearby muttered under his breath, "I already told you that President Jiang told you to wait for her at home."
Another bodyguard tugged at her sleeve and whispered, "Let's go, there's nothing more for us to do here. Let's go downstairs and meet up with the captain."
The two left without making a sound.
Xu held Jiang Fengyi tightly with both hands, fearing that this was just a beautiful illusion created by her unstable emotions.
She didn't even dare to blink, staring intently at the other person, as if afraid that the person in front of her would disappear in the next instant.
After looking at everyone and confirming that Jiang Fengyi wouldn't suddenly disappear, she finally couldn't control her emotions and pulled him into her arms with such force that it felt like she wanted to embed him into her body.
Xu's arms were wrapped tightly around her, making it hard for her to breathe. She gently patted the head buried in the side of her neck and said, "I can't breathe."
Upon hearing this, the person in front of him immediately raised his head, his eyes reddening and brimming with tears as he looked at Jiang Fengyi, seemingly blaming her for interrupting him.
Jiang Fengyi gently brushed the corner of Xu Que's eye with her fingertip: "Did you see the news push?"
“Hmm…” Xu, as if addicted, rested her head on the other’s neck again, “I thought, I thought you were really in a car accident.”
She held Jiang Fengyi, whom she had "lost and found again," and was reluctant to let go for even a moment.
Jiang Fengyi coaxed gently, "Let's go inside first, okay?"
"I'll go in and explain."
The door closed.
The living room was brightly lit, but Xu's eyes were even redder, and Jiang Fengyi stared at them, unable to look away.
Xu spoke first in a hoarse voice: "Why, why does the news say you were in a car accident?"
Jiang Fengyi suddenly leaned closer, ignoring Xu Que's opening and closing mouth, and said to herself, "Should we put some ice on it?"
The other person's sudden approach almost made Xu's mind stop working. She turned her head away, silently chanting, "Don't be tempted by beauty!"
"No need, it'll be ready in a bit." Xu blushed and pushed her away. "Answer me first."
Jiang Fengyi: "Wen Qing found out that the person who followed and secretly photographed me this morning was instructed by the Zhao family, so I thought I might as well turn the tables on them."
“They contacted the media to fabricate fake news about my car accident and hospitalization. Now I'm in the dark, and they're in the light. I want to know what they're really after about Jingjiang.”
Xu's eyes were filled with accusation: "Then why didn't you tell me beforehand?"
"It happened so suddenly, there wasn't enough time."
"Then...then you can't do this again, not telling me anything."
What does it taste like?
Jiang Fengyi suddenly stood up and sniffed carefully.
"Oh no!"
"I still have soup simmering in the pot!"
She couldn't care less about anything else and rushed into the kitchen. When she lifted the lid of the clay pot, she saw that the pot of soup was almost boiled dry.
Xu had no choice but to pour in another half pot of boiling water.
Jiang Fengyi was good at defusing the situation: "Simmer it a little longer, I love to drink chicken soup that's been simmered until it's soft and tender."
She turned around and looked at Jiang Fengyi guiltily: "When I saw the fake news pushed to my phone, all I could think about was how you got into a car accident, and I didn't remember turning off the engine at all."
Jiang Fengyi bent down and picked up Xu Que's phone that had fallen to the ground.
Xu stopped her, saying, "Be careful of the broken pieces on the ground, don't cut your hand."
Jiang Fengyi handed the phone back to Xu Que; the screen still showed her missed calls.
"So I left my phone in the kitchen. That explains why I wasn't answering the phone."
"I'm sorry, I was too impatient." Xu stared at Jiang Fengyi's name on the phone screen. "She's stupid and doesn't think things through."
"I know you're just overly concerned."
Jiang Fengyi grabbed a broom and swept up the mess on the ground. Xu Que followed closely behind her, never leaving her side.
Just as the other person was about to throw the broken spoon into the trash can, Xu reached out and snatched it away, saying, "I can do this. Be careful not to cut your hand."
Jiang Fengyi smiled and looked at her: "You should be careful too."
She continued, "Sometimes, you need to trust me a little more."
"Don't carry everything on your shoulders alone. We are allies who have signed an agreement. I can share the burden with you."
She gazed intently into Xu Que's eyes, her gaze deep and unfathomable, as if she could see through his thoughts and understand whether he truly cared for her.
"I promised you I would keep my word, but you don't seem to trust me."
"Give me more trust, okay?"
The soup in the pot was still simmering over low heat, bubbling and releasing fragrant white steam that slowly filled the air around the two of them.
Xu looked into Jiang Fengyi's eyes as well, but unlike the other's pure gaze, Xu's pupils held a mixture of entanglement, struggle, and unspoken words.
She wanted to pour out her heart all at once, but she was also worried that Jiang Fengyi would avoid her once she knew her feelings.
"I...it's not that I don't trust you."
The emotions in her heart were too turbulent, and she could no longer hide them. Her feelings poured out like a flood, and once it started, it could not be stopped.
"Because I like you!"
"It's precisely because I like you that I want to shoulder everything in front of you. It's not that I don't trust you, it's that I care too much."
"I care too much, so I want to show you my best side."
"If that agreement hadn't been signed, I could have pursued you openly and honestly. If you acquiesced, I would have continued; if you minded, I would have buried these feelings deep in my heart."
“There was an agreement between us before, and I was afraid that if I said I liked you, you would think I was after your money, the power you wield, and the Jiang family behind you…”
Xu smiled bitterly: "I can't prove that it's not because of that. I just like you."
"I like you as Jiang Fengyi."
She looked sad: "But it's all thanks to this agreement that we were able to meet. Otherwise, how could an intern have the opportunity to spend so much time with their supervisor?"
Because of the agreement, Xu found someone she fell in love with at first sight.
Also because of the agreement, Xu was now under an additional layer of shackles.
After Xu finished speaking, she seemed to deflate completely. She turned her head away, deliberately avoiding Jiang Fengyi, subconsciously fearing to see the indifferent expression on the other's face.
Therefore, he missed the emotion in Jiang Fengyi's eyes.
Nothing is luckier than the person you have a crush on also having a crush on you.
Jiang Fengyi stared at Xu Que's bright red ear tips, her lips curving upwards. Only when she moved her face did she realize that her own cheeks were also burning hot.
She listened to the pounding of her heart, each beat feeling like it was about to burst out of her chest, and then, without a second thought, she rushed to Xu Que and reciprocated his affection.
Jiang Fengyi, as the master, could only follow her own heart.
She reached out and gently took the other person's wrist, and Xu looked over as she did so.
Jiang Fengyi met the eyes that reflected her image and said earnestly and gently, "I..."
It was the first time she had expressed her love, her voice trembling slightly: "I...I like you too!"
The sound wasn't loud, but it was just enough for Xu on the other side to hear clearly.
"I don't know when it started, but I would consciously or unconsciously pay attention to you and ponder a casual remark you made."
"I feel inexplicably happy when you appear in front of me, and I feel secretly lost when you are not around. This is not the kind of feeling a boss should have for a subordinate. I want to stop it, but feelings are not like work, and you can't control them at all."
The more time we spend together, the more my feelings for you grow wildly like weeds, spreading to every corner.
"I tried several times to amend the agreement, to extend the three-year term to ten, twenty, one hundred years..."
Xu's hand, which was being held, spun around in Jiang Fengyi's grasp, then flipped upwards, her fingertips tracing the lines of the other's palm before their fingers intertwined.
With his other hand, he naturally put his arm around Jiang Fengyi, pulling her closer.
The distance suddenly became ambiguous.
The sorrow in Xu's eyes vanished, replaced by a glimmer of hope as the clouds parted and the fog cleared. The light shining in his eyes was even more intense than the flames burning in the stove.
The raging fire left Jiang Fengyi, nestled in his arms, with nowhere to escape.
"One hundred years or ten thousand years, it's up to you." She stared intently at Jiang Fengyi, as if she couldn't get enough of looking at him. "But, if you said you liked me, you can't just abandon me like that."
Xu lowered her head and gently covered the red lips she had longed for.
The kiss landed, like a stamp, imprinted deep within the soul.
"Now, I am yours."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
