Chapter 13 Princess Carry
Wen Jia paused, surprised that Xu Shaoting already knew about Zhou Jingcheng taking her away, and even more surprised that he would ask so bluntly.
But she knew perfectly well that if Xu Shaoting really wanted to ask indirectly, he might have already gotten her to reveal her secrets without her even realizing it. The reason he was asking so directly was simply because he didn't want to hear her lie.
So she didn't hide it and nodded.
"Did he make things difficult for you?" The two looked at each other, and Xu Shaoting looked directly into her eyes.
Wen Jia's heart clenched. At that moment, two ropes were swaying in her heart. One swayed frequently but briefly, making her want to tell Xu Shaoting the truth immediately. The other swayed continuously and slowly, making her want to suppress the urge to tell the truth and let him guess slowly. The two ropes were tightly intertwined, and her hesitation made her unsure of how to answer.
She hesitated for a few seconds, then smiled and said, "Judging from what Chairman Xu is saying, you seem to think that Zhou Jingcheng will definitely make things difficult for me?"
Xu Shaoting avoided the topic and asked her instead, "Didn't you think you'd be put in a difficult position before you went with him?"
He inadvertently shifted his focus to Wen Jia, leaving her speechless once again.
Wen Jia answered haltingly, "Actually... it wasn't that difficult."
"It wasn't too difficult, but it was difficult."
Wen Jia crossed her legs, remained silent, and stopped talking.
Xu Shaoting didn't force her to speak, but just smiled at her and said, "I also bear responsibility for the trouble you were caused by Zhou Jingcheng because of my relationship with you."
"How do you plan to take responsibility?" Wen Jia smiled. She sat on the sofa, her bright eyes shining under the shadow of her hat brim as she looked up at him.
Xu Shaoting hesitated, looked away, and when he spoke again, he didn't answer her question. He didn't say whether he would take responsibility or how he planned to take responsibility. He simply asked her, "Miss Wen, how did you get here? Shall I take you back?"
"Why is Chairman Xu starting to turn away guests?"
"I have a meeting later." Xu Shaoting glanced down at his watch.
Upon hearing this, Wen Jia naturally couldn't linger any longer. She simply turned around and waved to him, saying, "I won't trouble you, Mr. Xu. If we get photographed again, the headlines won't look good."
Now, whenever the two of them talk, they inevitably circle back to the topic of "being photographed." Xu Shaoting felt that he couldn't avoid it either way, so he simply indulged her, listened quietly, and smiled faintly as he watched her graceful figure from behind.
Before Wen Jia could finish the sound of her high-heeled boots, she heard a deep voice from behind her: "I'll have Lin Youzhe take you." He then pressed the button on the landline on the table without giving her a chance to refuse.
So, the employees who had just stopped gossiping at their workstations outside saw their boss and the woman walk out of the office one after the other, only this time, their positions were reversed.
Xu Shaoting walked diagonally behind Wen Jia. He glanced at the workstation twice, then intentionally or unintentionally quickened his pace, subtly blocking her side and shielding her from several staring eyes.
"No need to trouble Chairman Xu to deliver it."
At the elevator door, Wen Jia tugged at her mask, looking very wary.
Xu Shaoting paused for two seconds: "I have something to do downstairs."
"..."
The elevator started running again, all the way to the basement level.
Wen Jia intended to take a new mask out of her bag for Xu Shaoting, but after getting out of the elevator, she realized she had worried too much. Lin Youzhe was already waiting in his car outside the elevator lobby.
The black car, flashing its glaring red headlights, waited patiently and quietly for the person to arrive.
The two walked side by side toward the Maybach.
Xu Shaoting, standing behind her, thoughtfully reminded her, "You don't need to be wary of Lin Youzhe. I told him it was you."
Wen Jia smiled slightly beneath her mask and nodded.
He opened the back door, and she got in. As soon as the door closed, the two of them instantly became people in two different spaces.
Wen Jia lowered the tinted car window, turned her head and smiled, "Thank you, Chairman Xu."
Xu Shaoting pursed his lips, nodded, and said nothing. He glanced at the people in the car one last time before turning and walking towards the elevator lobby.
She subconsciously turned her head to look at him. His back was straight, his steps were steady, and his clothes fluttered with his movements.
The motion-sensor lights in the elevator lobby, which had just gone out, turned on again after sensing his footsteps, but then went out again after only half a minute. She didn't roll up the car window until Xu Shaoting entered the elevator.
Inside the car, Lin Youzhe respectfully did not turn his head to look directly at Wen Jia, but instead tilted his head slightly and nodded to her as a gesture of acknowledgment.
Wen Jia took off her mask: "Thank you for your help, Secretary Lin."
"Miss Wen, you're too kind."
She gave Lin Youzhe the address, and then said, "Secretary Lin, please take that road, Yunji Avenue, later. That road is more secluded."
He naturally understood her concerns as a public figure and quickly agreed.
Lin Youzhe was a thoughtful man. He saw Wen Jia sitting down in the seat in the rearview mirror before shifting gears and preparing to leave. Just as he was about to step on the gas, the motion-sensor lights in the elevator lobby suddenly turned on, or rather, very inappropriately, because the light was particularly noticeable in the dimly lit underground parking lot.
Lin Youzhe eased off the accelerator.
Wen Jia caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye, turned her head, and saw the elevator doors slide open silently. That familiar, tall figure reappeared in her field of vision. The man who should have been standing in the elevator car was walking straight toward the car.
Apart from the only motion-sensor light, there were no other light sources in the elevator lobby. Xu Shaoting was backlit, so the people in the car could not see his face clearly, but could only see his outline, which was backlit and cast a long shadow on the ground.
He walked quickly but steadily. Wen Jia couldn't hear his footsteps while sitting in the car, but she always felt that the pounding in her heart matched the rhythm of his footsteps.
Before she could catch her breath, Xu Shaoting had already taken three steps at a time to the other side of the car door, calmly opened the door, lightly lifted the hem of his coat, and sat down.
The whole sequence of movements was so fluid and natural, it was as if they were meant to get on the bus in the first place, rather than turning back.
Wen Jia looked at the man who had suddenly appeared beside her, puzzled, but seemed more concerned about the company than he was: "Chairman Xu...aren't we having a meeting?"
Hsu Shao-ting said with a sanctimonious air, "I have something to say to Lin Yu-che."
Lin Youzhe: "..."
Wen Jia: "..."
The Maybach drove out of the parking lot. Wen Jia's villa was located in the suburbs of Linzhou City. While it was quiet, it inevitably meant sacrificing some conveniences, so the journey was not short.
Xu Shaoting had just made a grand statement that he had something to say to Lin Youzhe. At this moment, Lin Youzhe was using his mind in two: one part to concentrate on driving and the other to listen to Xu Shaoting's instructions. However, he waited for ten minutes but Xu Shaoting still didn't speak.
The two people in the back row had only exchanged a few words when they were interrupted by Xu Shaoting's routine meeting. He didn't speak or put it on speaker; he just listened quietly with his Bluetooth headphones on.
The employees on the other end continued talking amongst themselves, noticing that Xu Shaoting, unusually, hadn't said a word. They probably felt that they had never held such an illogical meeting before, and they all looked at each other in bewilderment.
No one was talking in the car at that moment, and the radio was playing soft, melodious music. Wen Jia leaned her head against the car window, and her head inevitably bobbed slightly. In this gentle swaying, she managed to fall asleep in someone else's car, which was quite rare for her.
It took an hour to drive this road. During that time, Xu Shaoting repeatedly told Lin Youzhe to slow down. The latter looked at the speedometer needle, which was just about to drop below 30 mph, and secretly rejoiced that it was not rush hour.
The faint fragrance from Xu Shaoting's car wafted into Wenjia's nostrils even in her sleep.
She had a dream in which she was swinging on a swing in the courtyard of a villa. The swing creaked and swayed, very unstable. As she swung more, the swing chain suddenly made a strange noise. Just as she thought she was about to fall, a pair of large hands appeared and steadily caught her.
Unbeknownst to her, at the moment she fell in her dream, Xu Shaoting, outside the dream, looked at her head swaying as she fell asleep, hesitated for two seconds, and then reached out a hand to hold her head, supporting it to make her feel secure.
There was a central partition between the two back seats, and Xu Shaoting couldn't lend her his shoulder, so he just propped her head up like that.
Wen Jia slept the whole way, while Xu Shaoting kept sleeping the entire time.
An hour later, the car stopped in front of the villa's courtyard.
Yu Kaiqing didn't know exactly when Wen Jia would return, so she didn't go out to greet her; the villa door remained tightly closed.
Lin Youzhe stopped the car, glanced at the rearview mirror, and asked Xu Shaoting for his opinion: "Chairman Xu, shall I go down and call her assistant?"
Xu Shaoting remained in the same position, pondering for a while before saying, "No need."
He placed a cushion behind Wen Jia's head, then got out of the car and walked to the other side of the car door.
"Go ring the doorbell first," he instructed Lin Youzhe, then opened the car door and carried the sleeping person out horizontally.
Xu Shaoting felt her weight and looked down at the person in his arms.
How can it be so light?
That was the only thought in his mind.
Wen Jia wasn't unaware, but it was only a very subtle and trivial movement. Before she was fully awake from her sleep, she felt herself fall into a safe and secure space.
She was too tired. Her consciousness was like a light that was about to go out. It was extinguished as soon as it flared up. So she just moved a little in Xu Shaoting's arms and continued to fall asleep.
Yu Kaiqing came out at just the right time. She opened the solid wood door, and a tall, slender figure stepped in. Before she could even see the person's face clearly, she first saw Wen Jia, who was fast asleep in the person's arms.
What's going on?!
The paper Yu Kaiqing was holding slipped silently from her hand. She remained standing by the door, with only her head still moving.
Her head followed Xu Shaoting's movements as he walked through the door. Her cheeks even flushed slightly, as if she were embarrassed for Wen Jia.
She only woke up as if from a dream and followed Xu Shaoting when he was almost at the top of the stairs.
"...No, Chairman Xu, what's going on?"
Yu Kaiqing naturally knew that Wen Jia was asleep, but she couldn't understand how Wen Jia could have gone to his company to return some clothes and then come back in his arms.
Xu Shaoting didn't explain to her, but just looked at her and asked, "Where's the bedroom?"
"Oh, go upstairs... the one on the left is it..."
Before Yu Kaiqing could finish speaking, Xu Shaoting started walking up the stairs.
She watched Xu Shaoting's steady figure go upstairs, then turned to look at Lin Youzhe who was still downstairs. She walked around Lin Youzhe twice, looking him over as she went: "What's going on?"
Lin Youzhe felt uneasy under her gaze, but he still smiled respectfully at her, shrugged, and said nothing.
I don't know if it's because they have no comment or it's inconvenient for them to say more.
Upstairs in the master bedroom, Xu Shaoting gently placed the person in his arms on the bed, took off her high-heeled boots, and seeing that she was wearing a thick knitted sweater, he picked up a thin blanket from the side and covered her with it.
Downstairs, Yu Kaiqing kept an eye on the situation. A few minutes later, she saw Xu Shaoting's figure reappear at the stairwell.
He stepped down, and Yu Kaiqing watched as his leather shoes, suit pants, coat hem, and tie gradually appeared. He walked with a calm and unhurried pace, adjusting his cuffs and collar as he went, slowly and deliberately.
Yu Kaiqing felt it was her responsibility to show hospitality on behalf of Wen Jia, so she stepped forward and asked, "Would Chairman Xu like to stay for dinner?"
Xu Shaoting smiled faintly, his smile very polite: "No need to trouble yourself."
His toes were pointing out of the door.
“Would you like to stay for a cup of tea? We have a lot of tea at home, including West Lake Longjing and Qimen black tea,” Yu Kaiqing said, looking at Xu Shaoting’s profile, “and Nilgiri black tea.”
Xu Shaoting wanted to politely decline, but then he suddenly remembered the cup of tea he hadn't been able to drink when he took Wen Jia home that night.
So he slowed down, and after standing completely still, he turned his toes around again without hesitation.
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