Chapter 29: Seeing Her Like Trash
Liang Chaosu saw that Lian Cheng was dejected, her expression unclear, her back slumped, and she was clearly unhappy.
He glanced at Lian Cheng a few more times. She remained motionless, lacking the spirited resilience she displayed when debating officials.
A breath of stale air was trapped in his chest, churning restlessly.
Liang Chaosu narrowed his eyes and looked at Shen Lichuan, his voice icy, aggression leaking out, “You understand me well?”
“I dare not,” Shen Lichuan replied with a relaxed smile on his face.
Inside, his heart was pounding.
He knew that Liang Wenfei had become suspicious of the relationship between Liang Chaosu and Lian Cheng.
He had narrowly escaped explaining himself just now.
Looking at Liang Chaosu at this moment, he didn’t seem relieved of suspicion, but rather displayed an inexplicable resentment.
Could it be that he truly intended to champion Lian Cheng?
But if he felt the slightest bit of pity for Lian Cheng, he wouldn’t have deliberately revealed their situation knowing Liang Wenfei was suspicious.
He completely disregarded what kind of consequences Lian Cheng might face.
Shen Lichuan tightened his grip on the armrest and reminded him with hidden meaning, “After all, Vice Chairman Liang has always been one to hide his intentions. Take the Gu family in the southwest, for example. The stepdaughter brought by the third wife of the Gu family’s successor climbed into bed with the successor’s younger uncle. When such a taboo and immoral act was exposed, the Gu family’s stock plummeted, and the younger uncle’s status became precarious.”
“Vice Chairman Liang unexpectedly stepped in, fully supporting the younger uncle, showing understanding and backing him in every way. Hearing this, perhaps everyone would misunderstand and think Vice Chairman Liang is broad-minded and can tolerate such disgraceful affairs.”
“But in reality, Vice Chairman Liang invested a large sum of funds to facilitate the marriage between the younger uncle and the stepdaughter. After the marriage, the younger uncle, due to his stubbornness, became alienated from the Gu family. To maintain his status, he could only rely closely on Vice Chairman Liang. In my opinion, it’s only a matter of time before the Gu family is named Liang.”
Everyone experienced a sudden enlightenment, their gazes towards Liang Chaosu showing seven parts admiration and three parts fear.
Liang Wenfei, however, relaxed completely. Having such a cunning and skilled elder brother made her proud. “My brother detests dirty dealings between men and women the most. The Gu family is his—”
“I do not detest it,” Liang Chaosu denied directly.
He, who was usually calm and composed in public, was now sharp and stern. His hands, hanging by his sides, clenched uncontrollably into fists, his knuckles turning white, veins nearly bursting through his skin.
The second-generation heirs present all felt a jolt in their hearts, exchanging glances. They had been educated by their families since childhood, and their minds and perceptiveness had been honed.
Currently, Lian Cheng and Liang Chaosu had a surface relationship of “siblings,” but they were not blood relatives after all, and fundamentally, they were a man and a woman.
And now, Liang Chaosu’s angry expression and his instant denial seemed almost too eager.
Could there be something fishy going on?
Seeing many eyes fixated on Lian Cheng, Shen Lichuan’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably. “Vice Chairman Liang truly does not detest it.”
He deliberately raised his voice to draw attention back. “I was too talkative today. It wasn’t confidential or prudent enough and involved Vice Chairman Liang’s strategic plans for the Gu family. Please do not speak of this outside.”
The crowd was struck as if by a thunderclap.
Their petty, gossipy suspicions vanished in an instant.
That was right.
The Gu family had dominated the southwest for decades, with assets valued at nearly ten billion. If Liang Chaosu hadn’t immediately denied it, and it spread that he detested forbidden relationships, it would have startled the Gu family’s younger uncle, and the cake in his grasp would have flown away.
The atmosphere became serious, and everyone was taciturn.
Lian Cheng couldn’t stop shivering. An overwhelming, empathetic terror and fear solidified into ice in her veins, freezing her limbs and bones.
If Liang Chaosu was so cold-blooded and ruthless towards the Gu family’s forbidden relationship, what about her, who was also in a forbidden relationship?
Wouldn’t it be a hundred times worse than the outcomes Bai Ying had analyzed?
She couldn’t bear to stay any longer. While everyone was still in shock, she quickly opened the door and left.
………………
Lian Cheng returned to the private room downstairs.
After such a long time, everyone’s voices were hoarse from singing, they had drunk their fill, and were slumped haphazardly on the sofas and the floor, chatting about their lives.
Seeing her arrive, Maitreya Buddha took the lead in scolding her for missing the team-building event.
Lian Cheng saw that he wasn’t genuinely angry but was joking, and replied without much formality, “Didn’t you say this was my welcome party?”
“Such a disgrace,” Maitreya Buddha pointed at her with a delicate, feminine gesture. “How many dishes are there? You’re still talking back to your leader like this.”
Maitreya Buddha’s arms were short, round and fair, and he made a feminine gesture with his fingers, his plump frame tied with two small braids.
Lian Cheng was amused, and her tense nerves from upstairs relaxed a little. “No choice, Tu Xingsun used her earth-escaping divine power, and it’s a physical side effect to get on people’s nerves.”
Maitreya Buddha felt that her reply was fitting and was about to respond further when Tai Duoduo next to him couldn’t stand it any longer and pushed him.
“My Buddha, can you move over there and squeeze with Huang Jiao Daxian? The moon doesn’t need to be planted, and there’s no need to flatten it.”
Maitreya Buddha obediently moved over. “Alright, considering you’re being indiscreet due to drinking, I won’t hold it against you. Be respectful to your leader at work.”
Lian Cheng relaxed a bit more.
After chatting nonsense in the private room for a while, people started leaving one after another to go home. Lian Cheng intentionally waited for Tai Duoduo.
After what happened upstairs, her desire to escape had become as firm as a scale’s fulcrum, not only firm but also urgent.
As soon as Tai Duoduo proposed to leave, Lian Cheng immediately followed.
On the way downstairs, she pretended to ask casually, “Is there a Yutong Academy in Cui County? Do they charge admission now?”
Tai Duoduo turned and stared at Lian Cheng for a few seconds, then sighed.
They had all privately speculated that Lian Cheng, an intern, was exceptionally promoted to a full-time position in the special project team because she had a powerful backing.
But seeing the young lady always trying to make small talk and build rapport with the senior employees, she didn’t seem like someone with a strong backing at all; she seemed quite pitiful.
“No, you just need to get through the main gate.”
Lian Cheng looked pleasantly surprised. “Then do they check identification? I lost my ID card, can I go visit for a few days?”
Tai Duoduo knew she was trying to get closer and wouldn’t actually go.
But she didn’t expose her or brush her off, only patted her shoulder. “Yes, find a short-distance bus to our county town. They don’t check IDs, and the small inns for accommodation don’t check either. However, you don’t have time, our project team is working overtime until it disbands.”
Lian Cheng was excited. She had already checked online that the bus didn’t require identification, and this time she wanted to know if she could live without identification.
If she could live, she could hide.
When they reached the bottom floor, Lian Cheng solicitously helped Tai Duoduo into a taxi, took the initiative to note down the license plate number, and told Tai Duoduo to inform her once she got home.
The driver heard this and looked at them from the rearview mirror. “Young lady, you’re telling me this, right? Don’t worry, uncle’s is a legitimate company. My daughter is about your age, I wouldn’t be a beast.”
Tai Duoduo felt a bit awkward but understood Lian Cheng’s thoughtfulness and kindness. “Got it.”
She decided to take better care of Lian Cheng at the company when she had time.
Lian Cheng watched with a smiling face as the tail of her car disappeared.
As she walked back, her steps were almost light and cheerful.
She had tried to escape before, and subconsciously believed she couldn’t go anywhere without identification, so she always had to go to great lengths to get her ID before running away.
And often, when she didn’t have her ID, things were fine, but the moment she used it, Liang Chaosu would smell her out and catch her.
This time, she had learned from her experience.
The initiative was hers.
Passing a roadside trash can, she saw a discarded water bottle. Lian Cheng picked it up in her good mood.
Helping the trash find its home, trash, don’t destroy my home, Mother Earth…
She mumbled to herself and suddenly stopped.
A car glided over, and the rear window rolled down.
From her angle, as she bent down and looked up, the gray-silver trash can lid was superimposed with Liang Chaosu’s face.
Solemn, intimidating, and filled with oppression.
But it didn’t look like trash at all; it looked like a knife, a gun, like a deadly poison that choked the throat, like anything fatal.
Lian Cheng took a few steps back, her perspective shifting.
The colorful lights of White Jade Capital’s exterior illuminated him, looking down from above.
Even though they were at the same level, it felt like he was looking down on her, like looking down on a trash can.
Looking down on trash.
