Chapter 62: You Can Always Use Me To Death

The moment the man’s voice fell, the entire room went silent for two seconds.

Jiang Se turned her head to look at him. “Why would I settle old scores between you and Zhu Mingli? Do you have any history with her?”

Lu Huaiyan stopped playing with her fingers at her words. He raised a hand to pinch her jaw, chuckling. “Weren’t you the one who inexplicably brought her up? I’m not close to her, nor do I have any impression of her. What history could I possibly have with her?”

Jiang Se said, “Even I heard about how she chased you back then. You didn’t know?”

There were quite a few rumors at the time, saying the Zhu family wanted to form a marriage alliance with the Lu family, pushing their daughter to pursue Lu Huaiyan. Jiang Se hadn’t paid much attention back then; it was mostly Guo Qian talking, and she’d caught bits and pieces.

She didn’t know the specifics of how Zhu Mingli pursued him, but at the very least, everyone in their circle knew Zhu Mingli liked Lu Huaiyan.

Lu Huaiyan frowned, thinking for a moment before saying, “There was a period when I kept running into her at various events. Privately, she invited me out a few times, but I never paid her any mind. After I turned her down the first time, Li Rui basically blocked all her invitations for me. Oh, and there was one other time—”

His voice cut off abruptly, his gaze settling lightly on her face with a hint of ambiguous depth.

“There was one time she invited me to dance with her. Guess what kind of occasion it was?”

Jiang Se felt his smile was oddly unsettling, like the time he asked her if Fu Yun had ever kissed her.

Fu Yun?

Her eyes flickered slightly. “My engagement party with Fu Yun?”

Lu Huaiyan glanced at her, his smile half-mocking. “You remember it pretty clearly.”

At her engagement party with Fu Yun, the two of them didn’t dance. Jiang Se’s first formal dance in Beicheng’s social circle was the waltz she danced with Fu Jun at her eighteenth birthday celebration.

She had trained in dance since childhood, and that waltz was, of course, breathtakingly beautiful.

Lu Huaiyan wasn’t interested in ballroom dancing. When Cen Li and Guo Song were learning the waltz and tried to drag him along, they got the cold shoulder a few times. They even teased him, asking if he refused to learn because he wasn’t any good at it.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t learn; he simply didn’t like the overly intimate contact with others.

But… if this girl ever wanted to dance, he wouldn’t mind learning for her sake.

It’d be better than watching her dance with someone else.

“Did you dance with her?” Jiang Se asked. “Brother said you don’t dance.”

“Even if I knew how, I wouldn’t dance with her,” Lu Huaiyan said. “A lot of people know I don’t dance, yet she still invited me. Know what that means?”

Jiang Se thought for a moment, her tone subtle. “She doesn’t like you.”

Lu Huaiyan hummed in agreement. “I’m not so clueless that I can’t tell if someone likes me or not.”

At those words, he suddenly glanced at Jiang Se, as if something occurred to him.

When Cen Li had said this girl used to like him… Lu Huaiyan had said something similar to him.

Those two years, from when she was sixteen to eighteen, she had never liked him.

The way she looked at him back then wasn’t the look of someone in love. Later, when Lu Huaiyan overheard her conversation with Zhang Yue in the hospital, it hit him like a bolt of clarity.

Her gaze back then was more like a patient looking at medicine.

With that thought, Lu Huaiyan gripped her waist with both hands, turning her to face him as she sat on his lap.

He looked down at her, his gaze deep.

That silent, probing look again.

Jiang Se narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing?”

“Kissing you.”

His eyes locked on hers as his lips slowly descended.

In their current position, one deep kiss could spark a fire that wouldn’t be quenched without rolling in the sheets.

Jiang Se pressed her hands against his chest, pushing him back. “I don’t want to shower a third time.”

For some reason, her words made him laugh, his chest vibrating slightly. His lips changed course mid-way, landing gently on her eyelid. “Your eyes got it right. This is a reward for the young miss.”

“…” How bizarre.

His lips were soft and warm, like a ray of summer light focused on her eyelid, warm and scalding.

After kissing her, Lu Huaiyan leaned back against the pillow, his eyes half-closed, his voice still husky and languid from their earlier intimacy. “Anything else you want to ask?”

Jiang Se touched the eyelid he’d kissed. “When Zhu Mingli invited you to dance, did you say anything to her?”

Zhu Mingli had started pursuing Lu Huaiyan openly after that night. With her proud and haughty personality, such a bold move suggested she’d been provoked somehow.

“Why are we talking about her again?” Lu Huaiyan looked thoroughly uninterested. “I told her if she wanted to provoke someone, sleeping with a few waiters would be more effective than asking me to dance.”

“…How did you know she asked you to dance to provoke someone?”

“The anger and jealousy in her eyes were impossible to hide,” Lu Huaiyan said flatly, “even with that fake smile plastered on her face.”

Anger and jealousy…

Because of Fu Yun?

Was asking Lu Huaiyan to dance meant to provoke Fu Yun, or her?

Jiang Se lowered her eyes slightly. That night, Zhu Mingli had indeed left early.

After high school, she and Zhu Mingli were no longer in the same class—one in the science stream, the other in humanities. The kidnapping happened right after the college entrance exams. If that painting at school was really connected to Zhu Mingli, had she already gotten involved with Fu Yun by then?

Zhu Mingli was a year older than her, only seventeen during her senior year.

Seeing her fall silent with her eyes downcast, Lu Huaiyan lifted her chin, studying her expression. “You’ve been talking about her all night. What’s up? Did she upset you? Or did she do something to you?”

Jiang Se said, “I just don’t like her. I heard Wanming Group nearly had a cash flow crisis last year?”

“Yeah, a resort project got halted halfway due to policy issues, and the money invested was a total loss. A few overseas investments also went south. Early this year, the Fu family stepped in as guarantors to help Wanming weather the storm.”

Jiang Se nodded thoughtfully.

The Fu family helped the Zhu family because they were planning a marriage alliance. Given Old Master Fu’s profit-driven nature, he wouldn’t have bothered with a nearly bankrupt Zhu family unless Fu Yun specifically wanted Zhu Mingli.

Lu Huaiyan’s hands rested loosely on her waist. “The Fu family can play guarantor for the Zhu family, but the Lu family can also cut off their partnership.”

His fingers tapped lightly at the curve of her waist as he continued, “Did Zhu Mingli ever bully you?”

Jiang Se paused.

His touch was gentle, yet it sent a shiver up her spine, like tiny currents racing through her, making even her heart tingle.

Her gaze slowly lifted, her expression calm. “No. If she did, I’d handle it myself.”

Lu Huaiyan smiled. “Don’t just keep tabs on my wrongs. Keep track of anyone who wrongs you, too. Who bullied you, how they did it—write it all down clearly.”

He tightened his hold, pulling her closer, his chin resting against her neck as he said slowly, “What I told you will always hold, Jiang Se. You can always use me to death.”

—

The next day was a bright, sunny spring morning.

Jiang Se arranged to meet Xu Zhou at a coffee shop beneath Hongsheng Tower.

It had been over half a year since they last saw each other, and Xu Zhou’s sharp, elite aura had only grown stronger. But the moment she saw Jiang Se, she greeted her the same way as always: “Director.”

Jiang Se smiled. “Call me Director again, and next time I’m back in Beicheng, I won’t meet you for coffee.”

Xu Zhou relented. “Se Se.”

When Jiang Se took over Hongsheng, her clearest decision was choosing Xu Zhou as her special assistant. Hongsheng’s revival was still a textbook miracle, one that wouldn’t have been possible without Xu Zhou.

“I saw the news. Hongsheng’s new smart robot led sales by a wide margin in the first quarter,” Jiang Se said, raising her coffee cup to clink with Xu Zhou’s. “Our vision back then was right.”

Xu Zhou’s nose stung. The product proposal had been crafted through countless sleepless nights with Jiang Se, the design team, and the marketing team. But by the time the product launched, Jiang Se had already resigned.

“When you left Hongsheng to me, I couldn’t let anyone question your judgment in people.” Xu Zhou pulled out a key and handed it to Jiang Se. “I’ve been keeping an eye on this place. As long as I’m here, no one will touch it.”

Jiang Se took the key, glancing at it for a moment before smiling. “Thank you. Once I’m done with my business, I’ll return it.”

Slipping the key into her coat pocket, she pulled out a document. “One more thing. I need you to hold onto this proposal for me.”

Xu Zhou looked puzzled. “Hold onto it?”

“Yes,” Jiang Se nodded, smiling faintly. “I’ll come back for it later. If I don’t, I’ll let you know who to give it to.”

The proposal had four words written on it: Fuchun Riverside.

Xu Zhou’s gaze lingered on the name. “Alright. When will you come back for it?”

Jiang Se shook her head lightly. “I don’t know, but I’ll do it as soon as I can.”

Xu Zhou was now Hongsheng’s head, and with the new product just launched, they parted ways at the coffee shop’s entrance after one cup.

Hongsheng’s logo was on the sixty-seventh floor of the commercial building. Jiang Se glanced up at it under the sunlight, then turned and walked toward the parking lot.

It was morning tea time, and the area was bustling with people buying coffee. As she turned onto a tree-lined path shaded by French sycamores, a familiar voice called from behind—

“Se Se.”

The man’s voice was warm and gentle, like water. Without turning, she knew he was smiling as he spoke.

Jiang Se paused, her hand in her coat pocket slowly tightening around the key.

She turned slowly, raising a brow with a smile. “Fu Yun.”

The girl before him wore a light aqua spring skirt suit with a beige coat, standing under the sycamores like the most radiant flower blooming on an early spring branch.

Fu Yun’s gaze swept over her face. He said a few words to the assistant beside him, then walked toward her, his handsome face still beaming.

He smiled and asked, “When did you get back to Beicheng? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Just a couple of days ago,” Jiang Se said. “I was going to reach out after I settled some things, but I didn’t expect to run into you today.”

Fu Yun chuckled, his tone as warm as a spring breeze. “Free tonight? Do me the honor of having dinner?”

Jiang Se blinked, nodding casually. “Sure. How about that hotel by Shuangyue Lake? It’s been a while.”

Her tone was so offhand, as if she’d picked the place on a whim.

That hotel was one Fu Yun always visited whenever he returned to Beicheng, especially on snowy nights. Glancing at the bright spring sky, she felt a twinge of regret that it wasn’t snowing.

“Deal. I’ll have someone book a private room now.” His refined features softened, his tailored suit accentuating his elegant charm. “You pick the time. I’m free after six.”

His assistants kept checking their watches, clearly in a rush.

Jiang Se nodded lightly. “Seven, then.”

“Great.” Fu Yun’s lips curved, his voice gentle. “See you tonight, Se Se.”

“See you.”

Jiang Se turned and continued down the tree-lined path. The gaze lingering on her back didn’t shift until she was far off.

She loosened her grip on the key, her palm stinging from its edges.

Was this how he’d always been?

Watching her from places she couldn’t see, quietly waiting for the moment to strike.

At the parking lot, Jiang Se started her car and drove to the outskirts. After over an hour, she reached her destination.

Rolling down the window, she sat in the car, staring at the dilapidated factory.

All these years, and this factory hadn’t changed.

Dust-covered walls, broken windows, and a tightly shut iron gate.

The wind in the outskirts was harsher than in the city, as if it roared in from a distant wilderness, rattling the half-broken windows with a mournful hum.

She slowly raised the window and drove off.

The car continued along the suburban road. Half an hour later, the bright red vehicle pulled over.

Not far off was an upscale club, its sign reading “Huaqing Pool” in elegant, traditional script.

Old Master Fu’s favorite calligraphy style was this very script.

Fu Yun, who’d won the old man’s trust to take over the entire Fu empire, must have mastered this script as well.

Jiang Se raised her phone, snapping a photo of the sign.

Her phone screen lit up with a WeChat message.

Lu Huaiyan: 

[I’ll come back tonight to have dinner with you.]

Jiang Se stared at the message. After a moment, she tapped the screen lightly and replied: 

[I have plans tonight.]

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