Chapter 255: To Answer Or Not To Answer The Phone Call
Director Qin went downstairs and instructed the driver to drive.
The driver, seeing she was alone, asked with confusion, “Director, aren’t we waiting for Madam Liang?”
Director Qin lowered her head to look at the phone screen, replying to a message, “She left already because she had something to do.”
The driver was surprised, “But I’ve been waiting at the doorway and didn’t see Madam Liang.”
He was vigilant, “Director, the evidence that Liu Li Village framed the Liang family is conclusive. The village chief is the mastermind, and the Public Security Bureau has just filed a prosecution. I heard from some police brothers that their villagers were very emotional, but they suddenly stopped making trouble in the past two days. Anything unusual means the police are highly vigilant.”
“You also said, highly vigilant.” Director Qin’s expression was calm, “Our country emphasizes the rule of law. The Public Security Bureau is the cornerstone of maintaining long-term peace and stability. Focusing on preventative policing is the key point of the latest ideological guidance. If such a situation could still be exploited by criminals, it would only mean there’s a problem within us.”
Before she could finish speaking, her phone vibrated, and Director Qin answered it.
The driver said no more and drove away from the research institute.
Liang Chaosu stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, Director Qin’s voice came through the loudspeaker.
“She was preoccupied. Whatever style I recommended, she nodded. In total, she tried on three outfits. The research institute will send you the photos and videos.”
Outside the hotel, tall buildings stood in rows. The advertisements on the outdoor screens flashed with vibrant colors, suddenly switching to a black and white clock, the minute and second hands approaching each other step by step, overlapping.
Twelve o’clock noon.
“But how did you know she would leave without saying goodbye midway? You were fine this morning. What exactly are you fighting about?”
Although Liancheng called to apologize when she left, Director Qin was not foolish. From the banquet to last night’s dinner, and then Liang Chaosu’s advance notice today, everything was fishy, and the more she thought about it, the weirder it became.
She felt a sense of displeasure at being used and manipulated.
Liang Chaosu understood, “She found her biological mother, who is Lin Xianzi, the president of Far East Pharmaceutical, which has been having recent problems. We have major disagreements.”
Director Qin was stunned. Far East Pharmaceutical had a scandal in Europe, and the relevant departments overseeing imported food and drugs in the country had started self-inspections. The report was expected in three days, and it would cause quite a stir.
“This is what I concealed from you.”
Director Qin was worldly-wise. The officialdom was deep, and for many matters, once an attitude was taken, it was best to let them go. Moreover, Liang Chaosu was being forthright.
She teased, “You’ve admitted your responsibility, so I’ll blame you, not her.”
The call was hung up.
The large screen resumed playing an advertisement, a fashion show in a snowy landscape, reflected in Liang Chaosu’s eyes. He recognized it as the villa hotel in Iceland’s Christal Fjord.
Red brick and pointed roofs, with no obstruction.
Separated once more, as if returning to the beginning.
But Liang Chaosu knew it was not.
This time, he confessed his intentions.
Her use of the analogy “feeding oneself to the tiger” meant she had implicitly accepted his feelings.
For example, hoping a stone would bloom, the dividing point is whether the stone would turn into a seed.
If it did, nurturing and indulgence would lead to good, becoming dew and touch.
……………………………………
Xiao Da handled things meticulously. After the year, when the death declaration was revoked, all of Liancheng’s official documents were reissued and placed in a file bag, which was given to her.
She had not expected Lin Xianzi to come to Qingxi Valley this time.
Liancheng only brought one ID. To go abroad now, she would have to return to Nan Province to get it.
Although she had a bet with Liang Chaosu, she was unsure if he would go back on his word.
Coincidentally, there was a highway accident, and the road was completely jammed. Feng Shien occasionally observed the traffic flow from the rearview mirror and the front camera.
Liancheng was anxious, feeling like fire ants were ferociously biting within her blood vessels, “Is someone following us?”
Feng Shien glanced at the rearview mirror, saw her pale face, and turned to comfort her. “Don’t be afraid, I don’t see anyone.”
Liancheng clenched her fists, her body stiff.
“Are you blaming yourself for the passport?” Feng Shien asked with a smile, speaking gently and sincerely, “It’s not your fault. Ms. Lin originally didn’t plan to take you to Europe, so she didn’t remind you to prepare your documents. It was a sudden change of plans that led to the decision.”
Liancheng didn’t understand.
An ambulance siren wailed as it left, and traffic police cleared the congestion. Feng Shien took the nearest exit from the urban expressway, heading towards the highway to Nan Province.
“Ms. Lin is coming this time to take you away openly. Her agreeing to meet you privately was to avoid increasing your worry. She plans to appease you before negotiating with Liang Chaosu directly.”
Liancheng froze.
“You’re surprised?” Feng Shien asked, puzzled. “Surprised by what?”
“Far East Pharmaceutical is in trouble, she shouldn’t be—”
Liancheng thought of Lin Xianzi’s attitude in the conference room and couldn’t speak.
Feng Shien had already noticed, “In Hong Kong, Ms. Lin didn’t insist on acknowledging you. Did you think she gave up on you for revenge?”
Liancheng disliked Liang Chaosu as a person but subconsciously recognized his excellence.
When Liang Chaosu first arrived in Hong Kong, he had determined that Lin Xianzi was accustomed to weighing pros and cons. After the paternity test, she understood and believed it, which was why she agreed to marry him on the plane.
However, after the press conference, the moment Lin Xianzi arrived in Qi Province, it proved Liang Chaosu wrong.
It was precisely this mistake that made her suddenly discover the flaw in Liang Chaosu’s strategic planning.
His scheming was as deep as the sea and as unfathomable as an abyss, capable of accommodating all sorts of greed and desire in the world, and seeing through all schemes and traps.
He just couldn’t analyze women’s emotions.
He seemed to equate emotions with desire. Lin Xianzi had the most desire for revenge, so after weighing her options, she set her aside.
For Liancheng, it became a continuous layering of her desires.
Before, it was about food, clothing, housing, and transportation, giving her bags and houses, and the grand Liang family, promising her a share of it someday.
However much Liang Wenfei indulged, however much she was wronged, in the future, when she was infinitely glorious, she could take revenge in any way she pleased.
He couldn’t understand that women were like a grand summer, where continuous severe cold froze them, and the burning heat extinguished them. No matter how much fuel was added later to warm them up, it could never be that summer again.
It might not be precious, but it was unique.
Now the stakes were higher. Knowing her hatred, he wanted her to bring him down herself, to destroy the Liang family for her to see.
For every bit of pain she felt, he would return a thousand times the pain.
This mindset made him invincible and dominant in business, but unable to make any progress in relationships. The growth and spread of emotions were not sustained by desire.
Love or not might depend on a single moment, a piercing of the heart, the leakage of the soul through free will. Or perhaps, it was simply a compatibility of souls, a resonance, a mirror image; in loving, one hears the echo of their own personality.
Profound, dreamy, eternal.
He was not part of it.
Feng Shien called her, “Liancheng?”
Liancheng steadied herself, “What was the change of plans? My mother said she was fishing, was that Mo Shicheng’s people?”
Approaching the highway exit, the traffic jammed again. Feng Shien looked for a ramp to queue, leaving him no time to respond to Liancheng. The screen of the mobile phone beside her lit up, the caller ID showing Liang Chaosu.
Liancheng stared fixedly, a sense of foreboding hoisting her heart. The music chimed, like hammers heavily striking her, making her uneasy.
Feng Shien’s expression also changed, “Don’t answer.”
Liancheng looked at him, “Is it related to the change of plans?”
Lin Xianzi had told her not to answer the phone, and fishing required bait. If the fish referred to Mo Shicheng’s people, then their presence in Qi Province now had only two targets: Lin Xianzi and herself.
Lin Xianzi must have known this and made the same choice as during the Hong Kong identification, sending her away.
