Chapter 24, Section 024: "Why are you in such a hurry to use your daughter to tie her down?"...
Looking at the pearl bracelet in front of her, Meng Ran inevitably drifted into a brief reverie.
Her first real piece of jewelry was a pearl necklace, a gift from Zhao Yanzhou when she was twenty-two.
After they broke up, I don't know where that necklace went.
Seeing that Meng Ran didn't react, the store manager called out to her, "Miss Meng?"
Meng Ran snapped out of her daze and stared at the bracelet for a few seconds: "Is this really... a prize?"
She didn't know much about jewelry, but she could tell that the bracelet was from a big brand.
The store manager assumed she was doubting the authenticity: "Yes, Ms. Meng, please rest assured, it's absolutely genuine. We have a jewelry counter in our mall where you can verify it."
Meng Ran: "That's not what I meant. I meant, it's very valuable..."
The store manager smiled and replied, "After all, this is the only grand prize available. We're an old store, so the prize has to be decent. You're just lucky to have won the most expensive one right away."
Meng Ran nodded.
The store manager then asked, "Ms. Meng, would you like to try it on? I can help you."
Meng Ran raised her hand and looked at her left wrist.
For some reason, the scene of Chen Sulin lowering his eyes to put the bracelet on her flashed through her mind.
"No need for now," Meng Ran smiled. "Could you help me wrap up the prize too?"
Disappointment flashed in the store manager's eyes, but he quickly put on a bright smile again: "No problem, Miss Meng."
After seeing Meng Ran off at the store entrance, the store manager finally stopped smiling.
He turned and went to the store manager's office next to the VIP room, his expression respectful: "General Manager Zhao."
Mengzhao Tiandi is a shopping mall that opened at the beginning of this year and is one of the top investment projects in the emerging northern district in recent years.
During the initial preparation stage, both their brand and competitors wanted to set up shop in this mall. In the end, Zhao Yanzhou, as an investor, personally made the final decision and granted them the right to set up shop.
Although the brand and Zhao Yanzhou were not affiliated, even the senior management of the brand headquarters had to give him face, let alone her, who was just a small store manager in charge of store operations, she dared not be negligent in the slightest.
Since receiving Zhao Yanzhou's call the day before yesterday, the store manager has been doing his best to meet his requirements.
In the office, Zhao Yanzhou was leaning back on the sofa, casually toying with a silver fountain pen.
As the store manager pushed the door open and came in, Zhao Yanzhou tossed the pen into the air. The silvery pen body drew an arc under the light, and he caught it with his fingers.
The store manager stood quietly in place, not daring to say a word.
Today was her first official meeting with Zhao Yanzhou, but she had already heard rumors that the second young master of the Zhao family was unruly and, although he did not look as imposing as Chairman Zhao, he was just as difficult to deal with.
Zhao Yanzhou tightened his grip on the pen, holding it firmly in his palm: "The bracelet has been given away?"
Store Manager: "Yes, Mr. Zhao, Miss Meng accepted it."
Zhao Yanzhou: "Did you wear it?"
The store manager's voice softened slightly: "...No."
Fearing he might be displeased, the shop manager quickly added, "But Miss Meng seems to like it! I saw her stare at the bracelet for quite a while after she opened the box."
Zhao Yanzhou twitched the corner of his mouth, neither confirming nor denying: "Is that so?"
The shop manager forced a smile: "Yes, I suppose Miss Meng was already wearing her own bracelet when she came, and found it inconvenient, so—"
A crisp metallic clanging sound suddenly rang out, interrupting the shop manager's words.
Zhao Yanzhou raised his hand and placed the pen on the table.
"Alright," he said. "Your task is complete."
Store Manager: "...Okay, Mr. Zhao."
Zhao Yanzhou stood up, and turned back as he walked to the door: "You should know what to say when others ask, right?"
Store Manager: "Don't worry, this lucky draw is a marketing event for our store. The prizes were purchased by our staff and have nothing to do with you."
Zhao Yanzhou grunted in agreement and walked straight out of the store.
Watching Zhao Yanzhou's departing figure, the store manager finally breathed a sigh of relief.
A shop assistant nearby came up and asked, "Sister, has General Manager Zhao left?"
The store manager glanced at the employee and said, "Hmm."
Shop assistant: "Sister, do you think... Mr. Zhao is pursuing that Miss Meng?"
The store manager chuckled: "With so many customers in the store, you seem to be quite idle here. Are you giving up your performance bonus this month?"
The shop assistant stuck out her tongue: "Yes, I understand, I'll go serve the customer right away."
After the shop assistant left, the shop manager gently shook his head.
It's no wonder the young people in the shop were curious. She had worked for over a decade and had encountered countless strange and unusual requests from her superiors, but this was the first time she had ever seen someone like Zhao Yanzhou.
To say he wanted to pursue that lady, he bought jewelry but instead of giving it to her personally, he pretended to give it to her as a lottery prize, and he even kept his own identity a strict secret.
But if it wasn't a pursuit, then why did he put in so much effort, even personally supervising her delivery of the bracelet to the lady?
So what was the point of him going through all that trouble to give away that bracelet?
...
Inside the silver Maybach, Zhao Yanzhou held an unlit cigarette between his fingers, rubbing the cigarette between his fingertips.
He learned to smoke with his friends when he graduated from high school, but he quit because of Meng Ran, which made his friends laugh at him.
He laughed and retorted without a care, saying they didn't understand that this little sacrifice was nothing for the woman he loved.
After breaking up with Meng Ran, he never smoked again, even the night he learned that Meng Ran and Chen Sulin had registered their marriage.
He thought she would be unhappy if she found out.
He only started smoking again after Meng Ran disappeared.
After a long silence, Zhao Yanzhou still didn't light the cigarette in his hand. He crumpled it into a ball and casually threw it into the car ashtray next to him.
He bent down and took out a piece of cardboard from the storage compartment.
The handwritten characters on the cardstock were clean and crisp, with a resilient quality, which at first glance seemed completely unlike her appearance.
When Zhao Yanzhou first saw Meng Ran's handwriting, he was quite surprised: a girl with a gentle appearance could write such characters.
Only after the breakup did he finally understand that her handwriting reflected her personality; she appeared gentle, but when she hardened her heart, she was more resolute than anyone else.
Zhao Yanzhou read the words on the card in a low voice: "Peace and prosperity."
After reading it a few times, a smile appeared on the man's lips.
Meng Ran had also given him the four words "peace and prosperity" back then.
It's just that it wasn't written out, nor was it engraved inside a fountain pen.
Zhao Yanzhou took out his phone, and a moment later, a gentle yet firm female voice rang out in the car.
"Zhao Yanzhou, let's end things here. I will delete your contact information, and we should never appear in each other's lives again."
"What's the point? You lack nothing, why would you need the blessing of an ex-girlfriend like me?"
"……All right."
"Zhao Yanzhou, I wish you a peaceful and smooth life without me in the future."
Zhao Yanzhou gripped his phone tightly, repeatedly playing the last voice message.
Over the years, he has changed several phones, and the first thing he does each time is to migrate his chat history with her to the new device, especially this one sentence.
Peace and good fortune, which were originally her blessings for him, are now engraved on a gift she gave to another man.
Zhao Yanzhou's fingers tightened more and more, his knuckles turning white from the force, and his whole hand began to tremble.
Why would Chen Sulin, who already has everything, take away what he cherishes most?
Zhao Yanzhou let out a breath, his gaze lingering on the voice message for a long time.
After a while, he switched his phone to the camera and took a picture of the card.
He then found a contact on his phone and sent the photo.
...
Hengyue Building, CEO's Office.
Chen Sulin's assistant was holding a document and reporting the schedule for the next few days to his boss.
The screen of his personal cell phone on the desk suddenly lit up. Chen Sulin made a pause gesture and picked up the phone.
The assistant immediately fell silent.
Not many people have the boss's private phone number; only a few of his close friends and family members do.
Everyone in the industry is busy, so unless it's something important, they generally don't contact Chen Sulin using their personal number during work hours.
The assistant carefully observed the boss's expression and noticed that after seeing the message, the boss first slightly twitched his eyebrows, and then his brows furrowed even more noticeably after he opened the message.
Could something have happened to someone in the family?
Just as he was hesitating whether to ask permission to leave temporarily, Chen Sulin looked up.
"You can go out now, I'll call you later."
The assistant immediately responded and left, closing the office door behind him.
Chen Sulin then looked at his phone again.
The screen showed a WeChat message from Zhao Yanzhou.
The two hadn't contacted each other via WeChat for a long time, and their chat history was completely blank.
Now, on the once blank page, two messages lie there all alone: an image and a voice message.
Chen Sulin first clicked on the picture.
The photo showed a piece of cardstock, and he recognized the handwriting on it at a glance.
It is Meng Ran's courtesy name.
Chen Sulin stared at the photo in silence for a few seconds, then turned on the voice message.
A familiar female voice rang out in the large office.
"Zhao Yanzhou, I wish you a peaceful and smooth life without me in the future."
Chen Sulin: "..."
My finger hovered over the voice prompt for a few seconds, but I didn't press it a second time.
He moved his finger down half an inch and tapped to start a voice call.
The call was answered quickly.
"Mr. Chen, I didn't expect you to be so impatient. I thought it would take at least half a day before you, Mr. Chen, who is so busy, would have time to reply to me."
"Stop talking nonsense," Chen Sulin said calmly. "What's the meaning of sending me all this?"
The man on the other end of the phone laughed.
"What could I possibly mean? Mr. Chen, don't overthink it. It's just that as people get older, they can't help but reminisce about the past. I just happened to recall some fond memories from the past, so I wanted to share them with you, Mr. Chen."
Chen Sulin: "Really? I believe my wife also thinks that separating from you was the best decision she ever made in her life."
Zhao Yanzhou stopped laughing: "...Chen Sulin, you're just fooling yourself."
Chen Sulin did not respond.
Zhao Yanzhou: "Ranran and I were together because we loved each other. We broke up because we had no other choice."
"And marrying you was just a decision she had no other choice but to make, a decision she was forced to make." He chuckled.
"You lost from the very beginning. The only reason she hasn't left you is because you're lucky to have a daughter who can keep her tied down."
"Mr. Chen, I heard that since Ranran came back, you've been picking your daughter up from kindergarten more often, is that right? Can you honestly say you're not trying to use your daughter to appeal to her emotions, hoping she won't have the heart to ask you for a divorce?"
Chen Sulin interrupted in a deep voice: "Zhao Yanzhou, you should know my bottom line."
Zhao Yanzhou snorted: "Don't worry, I won't go near children. I'm not you, I still have a conscience, besides, that's her daughter."
"But then again, Mr. Chen, you're so eager to use your daughter to tie her down because you know that if it weren't for your daughter, she would have left you long ago, right?"
"Let me guess, is the reason you're so tight-lipped about the details of Ranran's disappearance because she was already thinking about divorcing you at that time?"
"By the way, there's something I don't know if Ranran has told you."
There was a rustling sound coming from the other end of the phone, as if Zhao Yanzhou was adjusting his posture.
"The place where Ranran disappeared was a suburban park, right?" Zhao Yanzhou said with a light laugh. "That's where I first met her. She had only given birth to her daughter less than six months ago. Why would she go to such a far-away park?"
Chen Sulin: "Zhao Yanzhou."
Zhao Yanzhou: "What, Mr. Chen, are you scared now that I hit the nail on the head?"
Chen Sulin: "First, you sent me a voice message from seven years ago, and now you're making up stories about something that happened five years ago. Who do you think is the one who refuses to accept reality and is just deceiving themselves?"
Zhao Yanzhou: "..."
Without giving him a chance to speak, Chen Sulin hung up the phone.
Five minutes later, the assistant re-entered the office.
Chen Sulin: "We'll be adjusting the schedule for this afternoon and evening."
The assistant perked up and took notes: "Yes, Mr. Chen, please go ahead."
Chen Sulin: "The afternoon meeting time remains unchanged. I will participate remotely. The dinner with Sheng Hui tonight is canceled."
The assistant was taken aback: "Cancel?"
Chen Sulin: "Yes, I will contact President Lu and tell him that I will personally visit Shenghui this afternoon."
Assistant: "Okay, Mr. Chen, shall I tell the driver to prepare the car now?"
Chen Sulin nodded: "Yes, thank you for your hard work."
...
After taking out the pen, Meng Ran planned to continue strolling around the neighborhood.
My phone vibrated a few times in my pocket.
Chen Sulin: [Did you go out today?]
Chen Sulin: [Tomorrow is the weekend. I'm free tonight. I'll pick Miaoying up from school and then come over to see you. Let's have dinner together.]
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