"Good morning." Shi Zhiwen patted An Qi on her right shoulder, then hid to her left side. He was playfully teasing An Qi.
An Qi quickly returned to her sense and looked at Shi Zhiwen, who was currently gnawing on some steamed buns. She had the feeling that something was off with him today.
"I heard that those people who beat Auntie Sun last night were caught. Is that right?" she asked.
"Yes." Shi Zhiwen nodded, but clearly did not intend to elaborate.
"When did you get so close to Boss Leng, or did he arrange for you to be by my side from the very beginning?" An Qi asked.
Even though the answer was pretty clear, and even though she could run to Leng Yuchen and get the answer from him, she still wanted to hear the truth from Shi Zhiwen's own lips. After all, she'd really regarded Shi Zhiwen as a friend up until now.
Shi Zhiwen scratched his head and attempt to put a smile on his face as he said, "I wanted to hide it from you longer, but I didn't expect you to become aware of it so soon, An Qi. Did Boss Leng tell you about it?"
An Qi shook her head. "Since you've been working under him for so long, you should know him better than even I do. Boss Leng's not a talkative person, so it was just my personal assumption."
Shi Zhiwen quickly thought about Leng Yuchen's personality and temperament after An Qi had said this. Before he'd gotten to know An Qi, although he and Leng Yuchen had grown up together, that ice cube of a man had always been really reluctant to express himself.
But, when he'd returned this time, he was surprised to find that Leng Yuchen's facial expressions were much more demonstrative. His face was no longer that of someone with a emotionless stare, like a facial paralysis patient's.
Instead, he would show subtle changes on his face, especially when he was with An Qi. These changes included smiling unconsciously, gazing with eyes full of adoration and expectation, and revealing looks that clearly revealed a manly desire for conquest.
This new and improved version of Leng Yuchen made Shi Zhiwen feel that he was finally behaving like a real human being for once! Similarly, this also caused Shi Zhiwen to realize that An Qi was not as simple as he had first thought!
Unexpectedly, he had also been unconsciously touched by An Qi's loveliness as they'd interacted with each other. But, he could only silently look on as An Qi and Leng Yuchen received their marriage certificates, while silently giving them his blessings.
Shi Zhiwen kept his memories tucked away and maintained his usual cheerful demeanor as he said, "Gee, I didn't expect you to have studied criminal investigation, An Qi! You're finding out about my connection with Boss Leng so quickly is really impressive."
An Qi smiled after hearing his words of praise. Shi Zhiwen then continued in a serious tone, "But, since you've already found out, it is no longer necessary for me to hide so many things from you! I've heard that you found out that Hairui's accounts were wrong these last few days. Have there been any further updates regarding this?"
He'd cleverly switched the topic back to work in order to hide his fascination with An Qi. He thought that, perhaps at this time, only work could suppress the foolish desires of his heart.
"Oh, I've already given all of the data to Sheng Jie. He'll let me know if he finds anything." An Qi had told him the truth.
At the moment, she also felt that Shi Zhiwen had returned to his normal self again. Butm just when she wanted to tell Shi Zhiwen to pay careful attention to his safety when he was working at night...
Ring Ring Ring...
Auntie Sun's desktop phone rang. And An Qi ran over to answer it.
"Okay... We'll clean up and go," An Qi said politely into the phone after listening to the voice on the other end of the line for a few moments.
Even Shi Zhiwen did not expect An Qi, who was now the president's wife, to be so polite to the secretary, who had just called. To be honest, non-materialistic and philistine girls such as her were almost extinct nowadays, and Boss Leng was indeed lucky to have found such prehistoric living fossils!
Shi Zhiwen grumbled of his loss, while defaming her in his mind... If I hadn't let An Qi slip past me... If An Qi had rejected Boss Leng… Would that have meant that I would be qualified to pursue An Qi?
However, there was no such thing as ifs in this situation. Someone once said that a person's life situation was the result of his accumulated actions and choices over the years. So, Shi Zhiwen had to wonder… Who does that make me now?
He'd left the position of the big master of the Shi family and had come to serve An Qi as a bodyguard. Moreover, he couldn't even express his feelings! As such, his situation was more than a bit bleak.
As An Qi grabbed her jacket, she did not notice Shi Zhiwen's strange behavior. So, she carried on as usual and explained to him as they walked, "Come with me. The higher-ups have notified us that they'll be holding a partners' congress on the 43rd floor. All of the partners related to Leng will attend. We have to go to the meeting in Auntie Sun's place."
"Partners' congress? An Qi, let's not rush into things recklessly. Although I have been away for some time, I haven't heard about any partners' congress before. Wouldn't you like to confirm this with Sheng Jie first?" After calming down, Shi Zhiwen's keen intuition told him that if An Qi were not representing Hairui, this congress would not be necessary at all.
This was because, with the Leng Group's strength, all of the partners came to them voluntarily. If any one of them was not qualified, they'd just change to another one. Thus, there was really no need to waste time by holding any collective meetings.
In other words, the real purpose of this meeting was most likely to go after An Qi! Although she had just entered the Leng Group a few days ago, An Qi could already perceive the superiority of the Leng Group's employees, as well as their collective disdain for the other companies.
Moreover, if the employees were already behaving in such a way, the higher ups would naturally not take them seriously either. So, An Qi had understood everything almost instantly after Shi Zhiwen had reminded her.
She immediately took out her cell phone and called Sheng Jie. However, even after the phone kept ringing for a long time, Sheng Jie still hadn't answered her call.
Just when An Qi was about to hang up, she finally heard Sheng Jie's voice answer the phone with a blunt question, "An Qi, let's cut to the chase. What's the matter?"
She could tell that Sheng Jie was keeping his voice down deliberately, as if he was hiding from someone. An Qi frowned, as she couldn't figure out why Sheng Jie was talking like this.
They'd only left each other's presence less than an hour ago, so she couldn't help but wonder... What has happened during this small period of time? What has made his voice sound as if he is avoiding vicious people?
"Ah... I'd like to ask you about the partners' congress." Since Sheng Jie's harsh tone had really bothered her, An Qi's attempted to counter it by using an extremely polite tone in her reply. She was also warning herself to be clear about her identity, so that he would know she was sincere.
"Well, about that... You'll still been informed about that in the end, An Qi. So, you'd better think it through. You must ask yourself whether you want to att..." Sheng Jie started to sound increasingly nervous, and before he could utter the complete word "attend," An Qi heard Leng Yuchen's impatient voice interrupt him.
"Sheng Jie! What are you doing? Why are you sneaking around?" An Qi heard Leng Yuchen ask in the background from the other side of the line.
"Oh... Boss Leng, I'm checking the information for the meeting later," he replied. As she was listening to their discourse, An Qi held up her cell phone and tried to imagine Sheng Jie's frightened expression.
"Don't worry about such useless matters. I asked you to investigate Hairui! How is it going?" Leng Yuchen asked, somewhat annoyed.
When she heard him mention Hairui, An Qi's face changed slightly. An Qi knew that she should be happy to hear that Leng Yuchen cared so much about her. However, from his cold inquiry to Sheng Jie just now, An Qi felt that things were not as simple as she'd first thought.
Beep!
At that moment, the call was abruptly ended by Sheng Jie. An Qi was startled by this.
She figured that Sheng Jie must be reporting inside details to Leng Yuchen. And... Since the information was clearly about Hairui, An Qi had to wonder… Why are they hiding it from me?
"An Qi, are you okay?" Shi Zhiwen asked her suddenly, while looking at An Qi's tense facial expression.
"Yeah... I'm okay," An Qi answered mechanically, but her heart was pounding furiously in her chest.