Chapter 42: Another Conspiracy Against Her
The next day, Liancheng did not wake up early.
Liang Chaosu was busy with the Family-oriented’s affairs and did not return last night. Mother Liang’s blind date had also concluded, so she could relax a little.
Descending the stairs and walking to the kitchen, the house was filled with the aroma of corn. She walked behind Aunt Wang and saw that the pot was indeed boiling with a tender yellow hue.
“Why are you boiling so much?” Liancheng took a plate for Aunt Wang, “Is it for something?”
Aunt Wang scooped out corn cobs, glanced at the doorway, and then whispered to her, “I don’t know. The Eldest Young Master instructed me to boil it, husk the kernels, and put them in bags in the refrigerator.”
Liancheng’s heart skipped a beat, “Is he home?”
“Yes,” Aunt Wang’s voice grew even quieter, “According to the gatekeeper Xiao Zhang, he returned at three in the morning.”
Liancheng frowned, “He usually doesn’t stay out past midnight, so he wouldn’t have come back?”
Aunt Wang was unguarded with her, and was quite close, “Who’s to say he wouldn’t? Last night Xiao Zhang was dozing off on duty and was woken up by Zhang An’s loudspeaker. When he opened his eyes, he saw the Eldest Young Master’s car and was so scared.”
Liancheng didn’t say a word. She stood in place and thought for a few seconds, then said goodbye to Aunt Wang, “I suddenly have something to do. I won’t have breakfast, I’m leaving.”
She walked out of the restaurant, preparing to slip away.
However, she didn’t expect to run into Liang Chaosu coming downstairs.
The cold air had moved south these past few days. He wasn’t wearing a shirt under his suit, but a gray-blue sweater with a semi-high collar. He looked noble yet mature, with a gloomy sharpness in his eyes, quite imposing.
Liancheng pretended not to see him and quickly turned to walk outside.
“Stop,” Liang Chaosu stood on the third step from the bottom of the stairs, his gaze sweeping over her from head to toe.
The alluring attire from yesterday was nowhere to be seen. As usual, she wore a long black overcoat, a black high-necked cashmere inner layer, and black wide-leg pants. Not only was not an inch of skin exposed, but her curves were also thoroughly hidden.
At first glance, she looked like a thin, long black barrel that had come to life. If not for her long hair hanging down, one could hardly tell she was a woman.
Liang Chaosu descended another step, about to move again, but stopped, “Where’s your bag?”
Liancheng put her hands in her pockets. Her mobile phone was on the left, and the charger on the right, making her fist bulge in her pocket. “I don’t have many things, so I don’t need to carry a bag.”
“You needed one for that old bag before?”
Liancheng pretended not to understand his meaning, “That wasn’t an old bag, it was a CK crossbody bag.”
“Liancheng,” Liang Chaosu had no patience to play word games with her. His tone was flat but undeniable, “Go get it.”
Liancheng lowered her head obediently, “I’ll go now.”
She took a step towards the door and ran out.
Liang Chaosu’s expression darkened, “Where are you going to get it?”
Liancheng’s steps didn’t stop, “To the company.”
Before her words were out, she had disappeared from the doorway.
Liang Chaosu’s face darkened another degree. He slowly walked downstairs and into the kitchen.
After he tidied himself up and came out of the villa, he calmly got into the car.
Liancheng stood by the main gate, the cold morning wind making her face turn pale, her hair disheveled.
As Liang Chaosu’s car approached the gate, she couldn’t get the door to open behind him. A soft electronic lock sound was heard.
The two main gates slowly opened. Liancheng wrapped her overcoat tighter and squeezed through the gap, which was only wide enough for one person, with an expressionless face.
Without looking back, she disappeared down the winding road.
Zhang An turned back to ask for Liang Chaosu’s instructions.
The man’s lips were pressed into a thin line. He stared at the empty stretch of road by the gate, his face deep and sinister.
“Go.”
Zhang An stepped on the accelerator. Unsure of how to proceed, should he go directly to the company? Or chase after Liancheng?
His other foot remained on the brake.
Fortunately, the time from opening the door to their departure was not long, just enough for Liancheng to turn the corner near the gate.
The moment the main gate disappeared from the rearview mirror, Liancheng’s back appeared ahead.
Zhang An kept stealing glances at the rearview mirror, paying attention to the man’s expression and actions.
Liancheng heard the car sound coming up behind her. She paused, moved to the side of the road, and waited for them to go first.
Zhang An immediately slowed down, unable to hide his surprise, “Miss Liancheng is waiting for you.”
Liang Chaosu’s gaze fixed on the thin figure by the roadside.
The fog on the winter morning was thick. Occasionally, a gust of wind would blow, scattering the white mist like silk, enveloping her, making her vague and indistinct, impossible to grasp.
Liang Chaosu’s heart, unable to bear the anxiety, straightened his back and prepared to get out of the car. She suddenly turned around, facing him directly.
White mist puffed from her mouth and nose. Her eyelashes were covered in water droplets, her cheekbones and nose tip were red from the cold, making them stand out against her fair skin.
Liang Chaosu couldn’t tell if she was crying or freezing.
Zhang An’s car hadn’t stopped steadily when he pushed the door open and got out.
Seeing the car stop, Liancheng wanted to run. But Liang Chaosu, with his height and long legs, strode forward like a gust of wind, reaching her in an instant.
He unbuttoned his overcoat and pulled her into his embrace.
He was like a furnace, and she was like a ice sculpture.
The furnace had always been there, but the ice sculpture stubbornly refused to approach.
Liang Chaosu’s chest heaved as if about to erupt. After he put Liancheng into the back seat and she looked up, his face turned cold again, like the bitter winter outside the car.
“Why aren’t you wearing a down jacket?”
The temperature inside the car was high. The contrasting temperatures made Liancheng sneeze, “There’s heating in the car and underfloor heating at the company, so I don’t need-“
She sneezed again unexpectedly, and the sparse end of her sneeze landed right on Liang Chaosu’s face.
Liancheng instinctively held her breath, her body stiffening, watching his pupils constrict.
Liang Chaosu’s chest churned. He leaned down and softly called her name, “Liancheng.”
Seeing that he didn’t seem angry, Liancheng calmed down, “Mm.”
Her voice was not the soft, sweet kind. This sound was muffled in her throat, soft and gentle.
Liang Chaosu’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He stared at her for a moment, then called her name again, his voice no longer deep and cold, but slightly hoarse and indistinct, “Liancheng.”
Liancheng had already recovered and, impatient, turned her head away.
Liang Chaosu was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly cupped the back of her head and kissed her.
Unexpectedly, the kiss was not fierce. His lips and tongue lacked the brute force of conquest, but were like meticulous comfort during reconstruction after a war.
He sensed she was short of breath and let go, kissing her eyelids, nose tip, earlobe, and the artery in her neck with light pecks, almost with a sense of lingering intimacy.
Liancheng couldn’t fathom his thoughts. She trembled with ticklishness but didn’t dodge.
Her mind raced, thinking about the ugly scene in the car yesterday and how Mother Liang had pushed back the blind date with the Liu family.
Although she didn’t understand why Mother Liang had backed out, Liang Chaosu was not a man to give up easily, so his current attitude seemed particularly strange.
“You don’t like the bag I bought you?” His lips brushed her cheek, and he kissed the small mole on her nose tip again.
Liancheng tensed up. Just as her thoughts were getting serious, she became extremely vigilant, “I like it, it’s just too expensive.”
Thinking about the comfort gift for her earnest blind date with Liu Qingsong made Liancheng want to vomit now.
“Since it’s so expensive, why did you leave it at the company?”
Liancheng lowered her thick eyelashes, her voice betraying no guilt, “Mother was in a hurry yesterday, I forgot.”
Liang Chaosu let out a muffled chuckle, “A lie.”
Liancheng’s scalp tingled, and she stiffened involuntarily again.
He reached out and gently caressed her hair, his eyes capturing her gaze, “It’s fine if you lie to me this time, but don’t wear the bag if you don’t like it.”
Liancheng remained silent, staring at the expression on his face, not daring to relax.
“Are you hungry?” Liang Chaosu let her examine him and took out a bento box from the central armrest compartment in the back seat, “Eat.”
Liancheng hesitated for a second, took it, and opened it. It was still a corn and ham sandwich.
She couldn’t help but glance at Liang Chaosu. How much did he like corn to eat it for four years without getting tired of it?
Liancheng, as the companion eating it, was already sick of it and now felt nauseous at the sight of corn.
She forced herself to swallow it bite by bite, her stomach cramping, but her face remained calm, her movements gentle and refined.
Liang Chaosu’s gaze deepened, with surging waves she couldn’t understand, “You’re not going back tonight. I have an apartment near your company that’s just been renovated.”
Liancheng’s pupils contracted in surprise.
She knew it. All this unusually gentle attitude must have a premeditated purpose in the end.
