Chapter 61 The coffee shop was his ex.
Xing Lan should have reported to the new company much earlier, but because Li Baidong suddenly had an accident, it was delayed by a few days.
After Li Baidong was discharged from the hospital, he started his job as usual.
The new company is just starting out. Although it is not as well-known and influential in the industry as Xing Lan's former company, it has the advantage of broad development prospects. The atmosphere among colleagues is also good, and everyone is easy to get along with, with no backstabbing or infighting.
After working for a while, Xing Lan is generally quite satisfied with this job.
Returning to the advertising industry, he rallied and his newly designed advertisements received a very good response in the market and were widely disseminated.
One of the advertisements made for a beverage company went viral overnight. Many clients, including some very well-known large enterprises, came to them specifically to seek cooperation after seeing the advertisement.
Things progressed much more smoothly than we could have imagined.
It was at this time that the company received its first crucial project: a technology company called "Blue Universe" was interested in collaborating with them.
Although this technology company was founded not long ago, it has the industry's top R&D team and has developed rapidly in just one year, taking the lead in the highly competitive market.
This company is known for its expertise in online marketing; every new product they launch instantly becomes a social media sensation, generating its own viral buzz. If this collaboration goes smoothly, it will greatly benefit the company's reputation on social media, leading to immense future growth.
Xing Lan was the most capable employee in the company, and senior management trusted him greatly, so they naturally entrusted him with the main responsibility for this project.
After taking on the project, Xing Lan, as usual, added the WeChat account of the person in charge of the other company to facilitate future communication.
When he added the other person on WeChat, he thought the other person was just an ordinary employee. After exchanging a few words, he realized that the person he was dealing with was actually the president himself.
I heard that the current president of Blue Universe, like their boss, has just returned from studying abroad. He is very young and about the same age as Xing Lan.
When the news of the collaboration first came out, several young women in the company were whispering about him. They said that the new president of the tech company was not only young and successful, but also handsome and from a very wealthy family. He was a super-rich second-generation heir with both background and ability.
No matter how much they praised him, Xing Lan didn't have any special feelings for these seemingly outstanding and wealthy people.
His ex was also a rich second-generation, but he was spoiled by his family since childhood. He was immature, impulsive, and prone to throwing tantrums and alternating between hot and cold violence during arguments. Although he was only a few months younger than Xing Lan, he was like a child who never grew up.
Because his goodwill towards his volatile ex-boyfriend had been exhausted, Xing Lan had stopped considering being with someone younger than himself, until Li Baidong suddenly appeared and became his exception.
When contacted via WeChat, the other party said that there were some parts of the plan that he was not clear about, and suggested that he wanted to communicate and make revisions in person, and asked to meet in person to discuss the details.
Xing Lan expressed her understanding, and the two arranged to meet on the weekend.
On Saturday noon, Xing Lan arrived at the coffee shop designated by the client as agreed.
He didn't see the client, but he did see someone he never expected to see again.
-
For some reason, the once bustling coffee shop was completely empty today, with only a corner lit up with dim yellow light.
A young man in a suit was sitting with his legs crossed, casually playing with an expensive lighter in his hand.
Xing Lan recognized him at a glance; it was Jiang Mingyu, his ex-girlfriend whom he had briefly dated during college.
"Lanlan?"
As soon as Jiang Mingyu saw him, he put down the lighter in his hand and smiled with great joy.
The two met eyes, and Xing Lan paused for a moment, her expression cold, before turning to leave.
"Don't go!" Jiang Mingyu rushed over and grabbed his arm. "I've been waiting for you for so long!"
Xing Lan stared down at the hand gripping her arm and said coldly, "Let go."
Jiang Mingyu glanced at Xing Lan and reluctantly let go of her hand.
Xing Lan didn't want to get entangled with Jiang Mingyu any longer. She originally wanted to just push open the door and leave the coffee shop, but after thinking about it for a while, she stopped and glanced at him with a frown.
"You said you've been waiting for me for a long time, what do you mean?"
“The literal meaning,” Jiang Mingyu said, staring at him. “Didn’t you see the WeChat message I sent you?”
Xing Lan paused, glanced down at the lit-up phone screen, and immediately realized what was happening.
The latest message in my notification bar was just sent by our partner: "I've arrived, waiting for you."
He looked at Jiang Mingyu.
"So you're the CEO of Blue Universe?"
Xing Lan desperately hoped it was just a misunderstanding and that he had misunderstood. But the next second, Jiang Mingyu nodded at him.
“That’s right, Blue Universe is the first company I founded after returning to China.” Jiang Mingyu said, unable to resist raising his hand to touch Xing Lan’s face, but Xing Lan dodged it without making a sound.
“It means a lot to me, like my first child.” Jiang Mingyu reached out halfway, only to find nothing. He could only lean his hand against the door frame and continue as if nothing had happened. “I thought about naming it for a whole week, and finally managed to combine my name with yours.”
"So, Lanlan, the blue universe is actually a gift I gave you, a universe that belongs only to you and me."
Jiang Mingyu thought he was being very romantic, speaking with deep affection, but Xing Lan remained unmoved.
“We’ve already broken up,” Xing Lan coldly reminded him. “You can name your company whatever you want; it has nothing to do with me.”
"How can it not be related?" Jiang Mingyu said anxiously. "I even named the company after us. Can't you see how I feel?"
“All these years have passed, but I’ve never forgotten you.” Jiang Mingyu sniffed, turned his head to one side, and gazed intently out the window. “These past few years, I’ve been studying abroad and met many people, not just Chinese. But none of them are as good as you. In my heart, no one can replace you.”
“I had wanted to come back to China to find you for a long time, but I knew you didn’t like people who didn’t do anything productive, so I studied like crazy abroad, staying up until the early hours of the morning every day… Have you ever seen Los Angeles at four in the morning?” He suddenly raised his voice, his face turning slightly red, “I see it every day!”
Xing Lan: "..."
He couldn't understand why Jiang Mingyu was suddenly so excited; he wondered what was driving him so passionately.
To be honest, Jiang Mingyu has changed a lot in the past few years.
He traded in his old ripped jeans for a well-tailored, expensive suit, every piece of fabric perfectly pressed and without a single wrinkle.
Not only has her clothing style changed significantly, but she has also started to take great care of her hair.
He used to love dyeing his hair, changing the color every day. When he was dating Xing Lan, he always had a dashing long red hair, making him the most rebellious and eye-catching person wherever he went. Now, however, he has neatly combed his hair into a slightly old-fashioned slicked-back style, exuding a faint scent of hairspray.
He tried hard to act like a mature adult, but through their few exchanges today, Xing Lan could still sense that deep down he was still that arrogant and self-centered teenager who didn't take anyone seriously.
When Xing Lan first got into Ningda University, she was eager to escape Xing Yi's suffocating and perverse control. At university, she was attracted by Jiang Mingyu's wild and passionate sense of freedom. After being with him, she also learned to dye her hair and get her ears pierced. Jiang Mingyu took her to his friend's bar to drink and support him, and the cost of just one night was astonishingly high.
But he soon discovered that this kind of extravagant and decadent life was not what he wanted. He didn't find this kind of reckless spending fun, and he and Jiang Mingyu were ultimately not on the same path.
Once they realized this, the rift between them deepened, and as they spent more time together, conflicts multiplied. Like water and fire, they were fundamentally incompatible and should never have been together in the first place.
"Believe it or not, I didn't rely on any help from my family to start Blue Universe. I built the company to its current status entirely through my own hard work." Jiang Mingyu saw Xing Lan lower her head and remain silent, as if she was thinking about something. Thinking that he had a chance, he quickly continued to speak.
"Lanlan, I've done all of this for you. All my changes are for being with you. I don't want to break up with you. Let's start over, okay?"
Jiang Mingyu tried to pull Xing Lan's hand a second time, but Xing Lan shook him off again.
Seeing the hurt expression on Jiang Mingyu's face, Xing Lan remained unmoved, telling him firmly, "I will not reunite with you."
Before Jiang Mingyu could even try to stop her, Xing Lan coldly added, "All your efforts should be for your own benefit, and in the end, you'll be the one who reaps the rewards. It has nothing to do with me."
"If you want to talk about business, our cooperation with your company is a project I value highly, and I will still do my best to be responsible. But if you want to talk about something else, my attitude has already been made clear, and no matter what you say, it will not change."
After Xing Lan finished speaking, she glanced at Jiang Mingyu expressionlessly, waiting for him to make a decision.
However, Jiang Mingyu didn't choose anything. Instead, he looked to the side in frustration, put his hands on his hips, and muttered, "Damn it, it's all my mom's fault!"
His behavior was so utterly baffling that Xing Lan couldn't help but frown slightly: "...What?"
"It was all my mom's fault that we broke up!" Jiang Mingyu was furious, grabbing his hair in frustration. "My mom lied to me, saying you took her money and broke up with me willingly. She said you were a gold digger and didn't deserve to be with me..."
At this point, he realized he had spoken too quickly and immediately stopped talking.
But Xing Lan still heard it.
His expression surprisingly remained unchanged. He merely glanced briefly at the remorseful Jiang Mingyu before him, and said calmly, "Your mother and I only met once before you left the country. And you, Jiang Mingyu, is this the first time you've met me?"
Jiang Mingyu panicked and quickly explained, "I...I didn't mean that..."
"It's alright," Xing Lan said calmly. "I don't care anymore."
"All I want to know now is whether you want to sit down, not mention the past again, and let's talk business normally, or continue this unreasonable harassment until I call the police?"
Xing Lan's tone and expression clearly showed no emotional attachment to Jiang Mingyu, treating him like a complete stranger. Her demeanor was purely businesslike, polite yet distant.
Jiang Mingyu looked at Xing Lan in disbelief, his heart aching as if it had been shattered.
He never expected that Xing Lan would actually forget him so completely. Faced with this young master's humble and uncharacteristic plea for reconciliation, Xing Lan rejected him without a second thought, so directly and ruthlessly.
He took a deep breath and clenched his fists in silent resentment.
When he looked up again, he pretended to be nonchalant.
"Alright, let's talk business then."
"Director Xing, I have so many questions I want to ask you about the draft proposal you sent me yesterday," Jiang Mingyu said through gritted teeth, deliberately lowering his voice. "Please sit down. I've ordered you some drinks."
Xing Lan noticed his strange, affected tone, but ignored it and sat down alone in a window seat.
Shortly after the two sat down, the waiter brought them drinks: a cup of coffee and a cup of milk.
This coffee shop had clearly been booked by Jiang Mingyu. The large coffee shop was quiet and deserted, with only a not-so-good English song constantly echoing in the coffee-bean-scented air. The singer's voice was hoarse and shrill, like the noise of a broken violin.
"Lanlan, this is your favorite drink." Jiang Mingyu deliberately pushed the vanilla steamed milk towards Xing Lan, wanting to show off that he still remembered her preferences after all these years.
Xing Lan has never liked drinking milk. She used to only drink milk and never coffee in coffee shops because she had trouble sleeping.
"Thank you." Xing Lan glanced at him casually, then pushed the cup of hot milk back towards him, picked up the mocha next to her, and took a small sip.
Seeing the strange and puzzled expression on Jiang Mingyu's face, Xing Lan put down her coffee cup and said casually in a nonchalant tone.
"But I no longer have insomnia, so I prefer coffee."
-
There was clearly nothing wrong with the plan, but Jiang Mingyu pretended to be stupid, asking all sorts of questions. He chatted with Xing Lan for a long time in the coffee shop, dragging his feet and making Xing Lan revise it again and again. Then he stroked his chin and said that he felt the original first version was the best.
Considering that this was their company's first major project, Xing Lan could only try to be patient with his troublemaking behavior, enduring until the long, thin veins on the back of his hand slowly bulged out.
Xing Lan has always been a person who clearly distinguishes between public and private matters. Unlike Jiang Mingyu, he doesn't act impulsively or let personal emotions affect his work.
By the time Jiang Mingyu finally had nothing more to say and had to let him go, it was already dark outside.
Li Baidong had sent him a photo an hour earlier of the dinner he had prepared at home; the table was full and very sumptuous.
While Jiang Mingyu wasn't looking, Xing Lan took the opportunity to type a message, telling Li Baidong to rest more recently, and that he could have the cleaning lady cook dinner, or order whatever he wanted to eat, and he would pay for it.
Li Baidong sent two cute emojis, saying that he just wanted to cook for him, and that he knew Xing Lan's tastes best than the aunties who had only visited a few times. Then he asked him in a coquettish tone when he could come back.
Xing Lan hesitated for a moment, then said soon.
Finally free, Xing Lan put his phone back in his pocket, let out a slow sigh of relief, and walked out of the coffee shop alone without looking back at Jiang Mingyu or saying "goodbye," because he really didn't want to see this person again.
However, Jiang Mingyu still grabbed his coat and relentlessly chased after him, saying, "It's so late, let me take you home?"
"No need," Xing Lan coldly refused.
As if he had just thought of something, he stopped and looked at Jiang Mingyu.
Jiang Mingyu thought he was going to back out, so he immediately moved closer and instinctively tried to put his arm around his waist.
However, Xing Lan dodged his hand again, frowning as she warned him, "I recognize your car. If you don't want us to lose even the last bit of dignity, don't even think about secretly following me."
Jiang Mingyu lowered his eyes dejectedly, his voice hoarse: "Okay."
Hearing his agreement, Xing Lan turned around with peace of mind, but after taking only two steps, she suddenly stopped.
He looked at Jiang Mingyu standing there and said indifferently, "There's one more thing I forgot to tell you."
"I already have a boyfriend, and we have a great relationship."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com