Chapter 297: Meet
Upon arriving at the airport, Secretary Huang went to check them in. Lin Xianzi was pleased with their progress and happy to see it come to fruition. Three out of five topics of conversation revolved around Feng Shien.
Bai Ying fidgeted, shifting her posture. “Aunt Lin, I woke up early and I’m a bit tired. I’m going to buy a cup of coffee. Would you like one?”
Lin Xianzi broke away from her pleased observation and noticed the slight blue tinge under Bai Ying’s eyes. She couldn’t help but apologize, “It’s my fault for sleeping so soundly this morning. Liancheng was afraid of waking me. What would you like to drink? Let Secretary Huang get it.”
“No need,” Bai Ying said, getting up first. “I have peculiar tastes and a lot of demands. It would be too much trouble for Secretary Huang to write them all down. I won’t bother him.”
The moment she left, Lin Xianzi started talking about Singapore as a romantic getaway destination. “That resort hotel is halfway up the mountain, with an all-wood structure and Southeast Asian charm. Liancheng can’t soak in hot springs, but there are tea houses behind the mountain, small, individual tea rooms. They’re famous for their atmosphere.”
Feng Shien glanced at Liancheng with interest. “I heard from a friend in Nan Province that Liancheng used to practice tea ceremony and enjoyed flower arranging. Her aesthetic taste was very well-known in social circles.”
Lin Xianzi smiled and patted Liancheng’s hand meaningfully. “Not only your mother knows your preferences; someone with intentions values them immensely.”
Liancheng shyly lowered her head.
Lin Xianzi was about to speak again when Liancheng suddenly stood up. “I was wrong this morning. I’ll go with her to buy coffee.”
Her retreating figure flashed out of the VIP lounge, like she was fleeing in panic.
“Like a little duck, so shy.” Lin Xianzi laughed heartily and looked at Feng Shien. “Isn’t she cute?”
Feng Shien’s throat held a chuckle. “Cute, but perhaps you shouldn’t tease her so much.”
Lin Xianzi denied it. “Was I teasing her?”
“You were,” Feng Shien stated clearly, taking a side. “The progress today has been too rapid. You’ve been saying one thing after another, just wanting to see her blush.”
Liancheng found Bai Ying at the coffee shop counter. She was earnestly queuing up, as if it were a serious matter.
Liancheng walked over. Bai Ying, feeling guilty as if she’d been caught, tugged her arm. “I wasn’t looking at Xiao Da. Are you sure Liang Chaosu will come to the airport?”
Liancheng couldn’t cut in line. She glanced at the time and pulled Bai Ying to the back of the queue to start over.
“I’m not sure,” she said, tilting her head and leaning on Bai Ying’s shoulder. “The message I wanted to convey has been conveyed. If he comes, I’ll respond to him face-to-face, and if he doesn’t, there’s not much he can do. That’s it.”
Liancheng understood. If the recording fell into Liang Zheng’s hands, even if Liang Chaosu came to Europe, the two of them would at best be at a stalemate, keeping each other in check. He couldn’t mobilize the Liang family, nor could he influence Lin Xianzi. While he appeared powerful and prosperous, his position was precarious, hanging by a thread.
Her acceptance of Feng Shien and moving forward, his letting go—it was a happy ending for everyone. If he persisted, his approach from four years ago, when he separated from Shen Lichuan, was now beyond his means.
Other than obediently returning to the country to resolve the crisis, there was no other choice. Once he had a resolution with the Liang family, the Mo family would also be settled. Lin Xianzi, uniting the two families, would have the upper hand, leaving him no recourse for the rest of his life.
Compared to the dry persuasion last time, there would never be a more opportune moment than now, nor more powerful words than these.
Bai Ying fumbled for her phone. She unblocked Xiao Da but hadn’t received any messages yet. She looked up, scanning the crowds for any suspicious figures.
After searching for a long time, she didn’t find Xiao Da, but she saw Lin Xianzi and Feng Shien.
She anxiously tugged Liancheng. “Aunt Lin and Feng Shien are here.”
Before her words were out, a man suddenly appeared in the crowd, sweating profusely, and blocked Lin Xianzi.
Liancheng recognized him as the main official for the EU’s Far East Pharmaceuticals project. She wasn’t without anxiety and concern, but her arm was suddenly pinned.
Her back pressed tightly against a chest that surged with heat. The broad, firm muscle barrier was like an overheated iron, scorching her skin through her clothes.
Liancheng was worried about Lin Xianzi, fearing something might happen to her.
That arm was like steel and iron, a solid wall. She was suffocated by the grip, enveloped by a dense, aggressive aura.
“It’s a small matter, advantageous for her.”
Liancheng stopped struggling and obediently exited the coffee shop. The airport corridor led towards the VIP lounge.
Unsure how Liang Chaosu had arranged it, they were guided by staff into a vacant small compartment next to the VIP lounge.
As soon as they entered, Liancheng, already on guard, covered her mouth, resisting his obvious loss of control and encroachment.
“I’ve decided to accept Feng Shien.”
The man’s palm, holding the back of her head, was also noticeably hot. As she spoke each word, his grip tightened, his rough calluses like a thorny net, his index finger pressing against her skin, causing an inexplicable pain.
“The words I told you that day weren’t a lie. I’ve made a new start, and I hope you can find release too.”
The small compartment was likely an employee lounge. Two single beds were placed near the window, covered with dust cloths. Sunlight filtered through the window, and the dust cloths had turned a yellowish hue.
Like discarded objects, long forgotten here.
Liang Chaosu’s breath was charged with the smoke of an impending explosion. “The reason?”
One of his hands moved from the back of her head down to her chest, his fingertip pointing and pressing down. “Are you genuinely willing to develop a relationship with him?”
Liancheng held his index finger. Those scars lay across her palm lines. She felt the heat, her voice as cold as ice. “Why not.”
Liang Chaosu’s eyebrows twitched. He leaned down, looking into her eyes. “When you mention him, there’s no affection in your eyes.”
Liancheng insisted, “I won’t be reckless with my feelings.”
Liang Chaosu’s lips moved, bloodless, pressed into a straight, almost breaking line.
After a long while, “Then what do you like about him?”
Liancheng knew that when Liang Chaosu was busy consolidating power, her preferences could be hidden and misled. After returning to the country, she became a top priority, like an ant under a magnifying glass, and everything was clear.
Now, citing his personality and character were standard answers that could prove the issue.
But she wanted to be more ruthless, more vicious, to tear herself apart and tear Liang Chaosu apart, eliminating any possibility of missing this opportunity.
“I like him like Shen Lichuan.”
Liang Chaosu’s expression drastically changed. He gritted his teeth, and Liancheng felt his hand tremble subtly. The sharp prick that lodged itself in his throat, which he finally stopped dwelling on, was now brought out by her, ripped open from end to end, reaching his heart.
“Bai Ying said I don’t seem to have loved anyone, and I haven’t been moved since then.”
She met his gaze. “So, after I saw you at the hospital, they were particularly afraid I would soften my heart and turn back, thinking I had developed feelings for you unknowingly. You’re perceptive and understand people’s hearts, do you think so too?”
Liang Chaosu stared at her.
Liancheng didn’t deny it. “You didn’t notice incorrectly.”
Liang Chaosu’s chest heaved, his voice hoarse after a moment of relaxation. “Feng Shien is not Shen Lichuan. Their styles are similar, but their essence is different.”
Liancheng shook her head. “I don’t see him as a substitute for Shen Lichuan, just as I don’t mistake my feelings for you as love, brother.”
At this moment, Liang Chaosu was at a loss. He didn’t know how he felt.
It was as if all his blood had been drained, his heart stopped beating, as if he were in a vast maze, wandering around, searching everywhere, a glimmer of light appearing.
He thought it was hope, but it turned out to be the starting point.
“You said you would never treat me as a brother again.”
Liancheng’s eyes were clear, black and white, just like every day for the past four years.
She had feared his persistence, his annoyance, his helplessness, his loss of control, and his anger. She had been afraid, cowered, but never confused.
“I also believe that in this life, there is no solution between us.”
