Chapter 92: President Huo and President Song—an ideal match of talent and beauty, a powerful alliance between equals.

It was Feng Jue.

He answered, and Feng Jue’s voice came quickly through the phone. “A Li, guess who I just ran into at the hospital?”

He said nothing.

“The father of Wen Yunlan. Wen Zemin!” After a pause, Feng Jue went on. “He was there to see my aunt.”

Still, Wen Yanli did not respond.

Nor did Feng Jue.

Thus the two brothers remained silent, separated by a phone line and by fifteen hundred kilometers.

In the end, Feng Jue was the first to break. “That... A Li, I’ve always wanted to ask you. Seven years ago, what exactly did the father and son of the Wen family say to you?”

The more direct, the more crucial question that followed, he could not bring himself to ask.

But in his heart he knew it must have something to do with his old man’s case.

Back then, he had already suspected that with the charges and the amount involved in his father’s case, thirteen years was an unprecedentedly light sentence.

After time off for holidays and good conduct during imprisonment, his old man would be out in three years.

All these years, he had been avoiding that question on instinct, like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.

But today, having unexpectedly run into someone from the Wen family outside the hospital ward, he was seized at once by a very bad premonition.

Or rather, by urgency.

Because that premonition had in fact always been there; for the most part, he had merely been deceiving himself.

Still hearing nothing from the other end, not even a word of hello, Feng Jue instinctively took the phone from his ear and glanced at it.

The number was correct, and the call was indeed still connected.

“A Li?” Feng Jue’s eyelid began to twitch. “Say something to your brother!”

“A Li?”

After a moment, Wen Yanli’s throat tightened. “Brother, it hurts.”

Feng Jue shot up from the sofa at once. “What’s wrong with you? Where does it hurt?”

“What happened?” Thinking of what he had said on the phone last time, Feng Jue immediately linked it to Qiao Yudong. “Where are you now? Did Qiao Yudong send someone to make trouble for you?”

“Damn it, I—”

“No.” Wen Yanli held the phone in one hand and the steering wheel in the other. Even he himself did not know how those words had just come out of him.

They were from the heart, yet completely unconscious.

He hurt.

To have Song Mi stripped from his heart—it hurt him.

It hurt too much.

From the other end, Feng Jue’s agitation was impossible to miss. “...Then where does it hurt, and how does it hurt?”

How could he possibly remain calm?

He had said it hurt.

From childhood to now, when had he ever cried out in pain?

Even ten years ago, when he had taken on ten men alone and ended up bloodied and battered, too injured to even rise from the ground, Feng Jue had never heard him make a sound.

And yet now, in broad daylight, he said it hurt.

Feng Jue’s heart was in complete disarray.

Then the man on the other end fell silent again.

Was this going to drive him mad? “A Li, speak!”

Given Feng Jue’s straight-laced, blunt temperament, he could never have linked that “it hurts” to a breakup with Song Mi.

Or rather, he could not even imagine that they would break up.

By the time Feng Jue was so anxious that he was nearly tearing at his own hair, Wen Yanli finally said, “It’s nothing. My hand bumped just now.”

Feng Jue was half-convinced, half-doubtful. “Who are you trying to fool?”

“Listen, what exactly is going on?”

“Really, nothing. I’ve got another call coming in, talk later!”

With that, he ignored whatever else Feng Jue was saying and hung up directly.

Outside the window, the streets were crowded with traffic. At some point the sun had slipped behind the clouds, and the sky had grown sullen, as if rain were coming.

Just then, his phone gave a brief ping. It was a WeChat message from Rong Xinan.

She asked which floor and which room in the hospital his mother was staying in.

She had returned to the capital that morning and wanted to visit his mother.

His phone was still on the lock screen, and the notification popped up. He only skimmed it.

Soon after, he tossed the phone aside, looked up at a road sign, turned on his signal, and prepared to make a U-turn at the intersection ahead and head back to the law firm.

...

Two months later, Song Mi went to the capital on a business trip, and Qiao Weiwei took the chance to return to the Qiao family home.

They were flying first class, with priority access through both boarding and disembarkation VIP lanes, so they should not have run into Rong Xinan.

But Qiao Weiwei suddenly rushed to the restroom, and after coming out she felt like vomiting. That delay meant that when they emerged from the bathroom, Rong Xinan had just happened to come over.

And Rong Xinan greeted her first. “President Song.”

Graceful and natural, she smiled. “What a coincidence. You’re on this flight too?”

Song Mi met her gaze. “Miss Rong.”

Rong Xinan’s eyes naturally fell on Qiao Weiwei beside her. The two of them were, after all, somewhat acquainted; in middle school they had attended the same school, same grade, different classes.

Seeing that Qiao Weiwei looked unwell, she asked, “Weiwei, are you airsick?”

Qiao Weiwei had just thrown up and was feeling miserable. “No. The airplane food was awful, and my stomach feels a little off.”

Song Mi and Rong Xinan had only one prior point of contact: the day Song Mi had invited her to Four Seas Tower to attend the preparatory meeting and sign the letter of intent for cooperation on the old city renovation project in the western suburbs.

At that time, Rong Xinan had even politely shaken her hand.

She had always been cool by nature, so after that greeting there was nothing more to say.

Qiao Weiwei was not feeling well, and besides, even back when they were students, she and Rong Xinan had not been particularly close. So she quickly said, “Go ahead and head in. We’ll be leaving first.”

Just as Qiao Weiwei had only said half of her sentence, Rong Xinan’s phone rang. She said goodbye to them while taking out her phone to look at it.

Yet it was such a coincidence that, as she turned, Song Mi’s gaze, neither偏 nor askew, caught the three words “Wen Yanli” on Rong Xinan’s phone screen.

Soon, she heard Rong Xinan answer with a smile, “Hello, I just got off the plane...”

In truth, Song Mi knew a little of it in her heart.

Once before, when Huo Qingjue had invited her to dinner, the restaurant he chose happened to be the very one where that man had first, and only once, treated her to a meal.

She still remembered that he had reserved the entire place.

That day, after she and Huo Qingjue finished dinner and came out of the private room, they passed through the main hall, and she accidentally caught sight of him with Rong Xinan.

They were seated across from each other at a table by the window.

When Song Mi looked again a second time, the man was still bent over his phone, occupied with something, and then Rong Xinan’s slender, jade-like hand extended forward, offering a piece of steak to his lips.

Seeing this, Song Mi quickly drew her eyes back and lowered her lashes.

But what happened that day was not merely her inadvertent glance, followed by one more look at them.

When she and Huo Qingjue were leaving the restaurant, Huo Qingjue discovered someone was secretly photographing them.

He stepped forward and stopped the person. “Which company are you with? How are you planning to write this up?”

The other man grinned and answered smoothly, “President Huo and President Song—talented man, beautiful woman, a strong alliance. However you write it, it’s still a perfect story.”

Huo Qingjue glanced at her, then told the other man to hand over the photos.

Just as the man was showing Huo Qingjue the shots he had taken, Song Mi’s gaze shifted, and with another casual glance she met the man behind the floor-to-ceiling glass from afar.

He was looking sideways out the window.

He must have seen her and Huo Qingjue.

More than likely, it was their lingering at the restaurant entrance that had drawn his attention.

Separated by several meters, by the greenery decorating the restaurant exterior, by a pane of floor-to-ceiling glass, the two of them simply faced each other from afar.

Song Mi could not see his expression clearly.

But he did not hurry to look away.

His gaze remained fixed outside the window.

Perhaps fixed on her.

And the seat opposite him was empty; Rong Xinan was not there, perhaps having gone to the restroom.

For reasons she herself could not explain, as Song Mi lowered her eyes, she called out softly to Huo Qingjue, “Huo Qingjue.”

Huo Qingjue had just sent the偷拍者 away and hurriedly turned to look at her. “Hm?”

Song Mi stepped forward and smiled. “I need to trouble you to fulfill the duties of a dating partner.”

“Help me smooth my hair.”

Then Huo Qingjue did as she asked.

Not only that, but after arranging her hair, he simply took her hand, and she did not refuse.

Thus, what she ultimately left him with that day was the sight of her and Huo Qingjue walking away hand in hand.

The next day, at her instruction, several major new-media accounts made the gossip story about her and Huo Qingjue’s strong alliance the lead headline.

If one thought about it carefully, that must have been more than half a month ago.

After the rumor of her supposed relationship with Huo Qingjue had circulated for a few days, it had gradually died down.

As for this matter, in private, it was Huo Qingjue fulfilling the role of her nominal dating partner.

In public, Four Seas was basking in the glow of the Wan family.

Ever since being kicked out of the western suburbs old city renovation project, the stock price of Four Seas Group had remained depressed for nearly two months because of the continuous negative news surrounding the Shen family.

Meanwhile, the Wan family had been surging in every respect lately, with signs of climbing to an even higher level.

Huo Qingjue was now the general manager of Wan Family Group, so in both public and private terms, it was Song Mi who was riding on Huo Qingjue’s coattails.

And she had never liked owing favors.

So after this matter, she also formally gave her reply regarding the Yun City oilfield project Huo Qingjue had long wanted to discuss with her.

Both sides entered a period of cooperation assessment.

By next month at the latest, she would need to make a trip back to Yun City.

Over these two months, she had been busy from morning till night almost every day, with an inhuman workload.

At the capital branch office, after Xu Yu led a group of core staff in a collective resignation, she immediately transferred Yu Pingsheng over.

Shen Yanfeng had lost the powerful assistance of that brother-in-law, and the shares under Lin Shuxiang’s name still had not reached his hands. Add to that Old Man Guo and Old Man Cheng, those two old foxes, who had never been moved by him in the slightest. So even though he had been hopping about in the shadows and in the open for nearly four months, to this day he was still only an executive director at Four Seas Group, unable to interfere with any of her decisions.

Tang Lishi and Shen Yanlie had already emigrated abroad. Because of the marital rape case that Weng Yuying insisted on pursuing to the bitter end, Shen Yanye had long since been too overwhelmed to care for himself.

As for Shen Yanan, that cannoncracker, he had already fallen step by step into the trap she had hollowed out long ago because of off-book gambling debts, waiting only for the final moment when the net would be drawn tight.

And as for the other young ladies of the Shen family, aside from one Shen Ruming who imagined herself to be well hidden and steady enough to hold out, the others, under her series of thunderous methods, also chose to hand over their shares and leave with their money.

As a tool should, she pushed every task forward, one by one.

For two months, apart from that day in the restaurant, she had not seen the man even once under any circumstances.

As if nothing between them had ever happened, as if they had never known each other at all.

How many times, in the moments before sleep when she was exhausted beyond measure, did Song Mi warn herself in her heart that this was for the best.

The best for him.

Yet she still thought of him.

And whenever she thought of him, her heart still ached.

Just now outside the restroom, hearing Rong Xinan answer his call, she had certainly not been unmoved.

Would he treat Rong Xinan as he had treated her?

Considerate to the utmost, attentive in every detail.

Would he do all the things for Rong Xinan that he had once done for her?

Whenever such thoughts surfaced, Song Mi would instinctively force herself to stay busy, instinctively prevent her mind from going any further down those paths, because she knew that if she thought too deeply, she might well do something that would ruin everything at the last moment.

She would not allow it.

So after getting into the car, she quickly glanced at Qiao Weiwei. “Did you arrange to meet your sister-in-law?”

Before Qiao Weiwei could say anything, her own phone rang first.