Chapter Fifteen: Only the Relationship Between Party A and Party B Remains

As before, Wei Ming's mother still showed no warmth toward Wen Ganan. She was the type who spent her days squatting at the village entrance, gossiping about others, and she certainly didn’t believe in treating someone with kindness if they weren’t on her good side. But Wen Ganan didn’t care about her attitude.

After a brief greeting, Wen Ganan and Wei Ming went downstairs to talk. Wen Ganan was direct in questioning Wei Ming.

Wei Ming was taken aback. “Who told you that?”

“Just rumors,” Wen Ganan responded with a sense of moral superiority, not betraying anyone.

Wei Ming shook his head helplessly and said, “Manager Zhang did mention to me that he wanted to take on the project, but I didn’t agree.”

How despicable!

Wen Ganan cursed silently. From the very beginning, Manager Zhang had been snide and sarcastic toward her, even predicting failure. Now that the project was secured, he wanted to swoop in and snatch it? Truly without morals!

Fortunately, it wasn’t Wei Ming’s intention.

Wen Ganan suppressed her anger. She had been ready for a confrontation with Wei Ming, but now she had no choice but to back down.

“Then, President Wei, you said last night you wanted to talk to me. What did you want to discuss?”

Now it was Wei Ming’s turn to be sheepish.

“Yesterday’s matter was thoughtless on my part. I made a mistake and hope you won’t be angry.”

Back in school, Wen Ganan had known Wei Ming to be very smooth-talking. Working with him later reinforced that he was skilled at applying both soft and hard tactics, capable of twisting black into white. It was no exaggeration to say that Feidu’s success owed much to his and Wen Ganan’s persuasive words.

So most of the time, Wen Ganan didn’t trust a word he said—and this time was no different.

“If you knew I would be upset, why did you still do it?”

Wei Ming’s expression was apologetic. “You secured the Quantum project, and you’ll definitely lead the team to Yancheng. I was worried… if you saw Liang Yuxiu again, old feelings might resurface, and in a moment of weakness…”

“I really hope you’ll give me a chance. After all, I’ve waited for you all these years. I also hope you can completely let go of your past with Liang Yuxiu.”

Wen Ganan found this reason laughable. “You’re not me. How do you know I haven’t let go?”

“Even if I didn’t, I still wouldn’t choose you. Senior, I never kept you waiting.”

That whole episode yesterday completely ignited her resistance.

Wen Ganan hated being forced into anything.

“I really don’t want you to make the same mistake again,” Wei Ming said, appearing concerned.

But Wen Ganan was unmoved. She was resolute. “I won’t.”

Wei Ming tried to say more, but Wen Ganan didn’t want to listen. No matter what, she had decided to resign after the project was completed.

This whole misunderstanding left Wen Ganan mentally exhausted. Coupled with her hangover from last night, her migraine flared up again.

She planned to rush home quickly, take some ibuprofen, and go to sleep. Unexpectedly, outside the outpatient building, she ran into Liang Yuxiu.

He seemed to be waiting for someone, frowning deeply, busy with his phone, looking unwell.

Wen Ganan wasn’t in a good mood and instinctively tried to avoid him, but Liang Yuxiu was faster, looked up, and saw her clearly.

Wen Ganan forced a smile and tried to appear concerned for the client: “President Liang, what brings you to the hospital?”

Liang Yuxiu put away his phone but didn’t speak. The driver who had fetched medicine for him came out of the clinic.

It was the same driver who had picked him up last time when he got lost.

“Oh, Miss Wen,” the driver greeted.

Wen Ganan nodded, catching sight of the medicines and puzzled, “President Liang, do you have a cold?”

Liang Yuxiu remained silent, and the driver answered for him, “Yes, he caught a chill last night.”

“How could that be?” Wen Ganan blurted out, then remembered that last night he had taken over someone’s room.

She suddenly felt guilty and glanced at Liang Yuxiu, who was staring intently at her with a cool, detached look, as if silently accusing her.

Wen Ganan awkwardly smiled. “President Liang, please take care of yourself.”

Liang Yuxiu didn’t like her current attitude toward him; it felt like she was hiding behind a mask, insincere.

It was unlike her drunken demeanor last night, or the way she treated Cheng He.

This made him uncomfortable.

But he said nothing. Wen Ganan said goodbye and left without a word from him.

She couldn’t figure out what was wrong but didn’t bother to ponder. After leaving, she took some ibuprofen and went to sleep.

The weekend passed quietly.

One minor awkwardness was that on Friday night at the bar, Wen Ganan followed Liang Yuxiu in full view of everyone. Later, Chen Ling, Yu Xinran, and Xiao Jiang led the gossip session in their chat group.

“Clients are like gods; you have to pamper and worship them,” Wen Ganan offered as the universal excuse.

After all, she had done plenty of that herself.

“But you two seem quite familiar?” Chen Ling, who usually didn’t pry into others’ private lives, remarked.

“Pretending,” Wen Ganan explained.

The others just laughed and dropped the subject.

Monday was a normal workday, except for the tense atmosphere between Manager Zhang and Wen Ganan.

Wen Ganan paid no attention and carried on with her duties.

After the Quantum project was awarded, there was a one-week public announcement period before signing the contract. Since this was an out-of-town project, Wen Ganan contacted the project leader, Liang Yuxiu, who requested Feidu send a team to Yancheng for on-site work.

This was just as Wen Ganan and Wei Ming had anticipated. Wen Ganan consulted Wei Ming, who agreed.

She relayed the exact message to Liang Yuxiu and then exited the chat. Suddenly, she remembered Cheng He hadn’t messaged her for two days; he was apparently on a business trip abroad.

He had told her on the day he left for Germany, joking that when he returned, Wen Ganan might already be in Yancheng, and he’d bring her some chocolate.

“Then you might as well bring me some wine,” Wen Ganan teased.

Her tolerance for alcohol was decent, thanks to years of practice.

But drinking often led to trouble—like that night. If she hadn’t drunk, she wouldn’t have followed Liang Yuxiu. Fortunately, it hadn’t caused any serious problems.

He was still the same as ever—ascetic and reserved.

Of course, it might also be because he was now committed to someone else and thus kept himself pure.

Wen Ganan hadn’t forgotten that his divorce years ago was because he was going abroad with his childhood sweetheart. Three years had passed, and by now they probably had made their relationship official.

The one-week announcement period passed quickly. Wen Ganan and Xiao Jiang flew to Yancheng again to finalize the contract with Quantum.

Liang Yuxiu attended the signing as well.

Between the two of them, only the client-contractor relationship remained, with little exchange beyond that.

Quite satisfactory, Wen Ganan thought.

After signing, Wen Ganan and Xiao Jiang left. This time, she held her head high, smiling brightly, though with greater pressure on her shoulders.

They hailed a taxi downstairs at the Quantum building. Nearby, an Audi slowly drove by, brushing past their taxi before stopping near the building.