The host…
Jiang Die was momentarily dazed and slowly closed her eyes.
This had always been her dream.
She had actually been selected once, too, but when it came time to sign the contract, someone who had pulled strings had taken her place.
She had grown up relying on her grandfather, but during that period, he had fallen seriously ill. With their circumstances forcing her to make a living, she no longer had the time or energy to fight over it, so she could only find a job that would make her some money and get them through the days.
Although her grandfather ultimately lost his battle with illness and passed away, she had inexplicably transmigrated into a novel a month later. Thinking about it now, she could not help feeling a little emotional.
Jiang Die opened the search page and typed in the three characters “Ji Zhouzhou.” Information related to her immediately appeared.
She saw that Ji Zhouzhou’s former company was the Rongxing Company.
The last time she had searched for Lu Liyan and browsed through the trending results, this company had also appeared in one corner. However, unlike the Lu family, which was in the middle of a “major uproar,” Rongxing Company was clearly on a downward spiral.
Seeing that Rongxing Company was still hiring, Jiang Die inexplicably clicked on the email address they had posted publicly and sent over her résumé. Just then, a voice came from outside the door.
“Miss Jiang, Miss Jiang!”
Jiang Die opened the door and called down the stairs, “What is it?”
“Miss Jiang, someone who claimed to be Mr. Lu just delivered a lot of things to our house. I don’t think these are things the Old Madam would buy. Are they yours?”
Hearing that, especially the word “Lu” at this particular moment, Jiang Die’s heart inexplicably skipped a beat. She quickly ran downstairs, only to see numerous boxes on the table behind the middle-aged woman, each one clearly containing high-end jewelry. She glanced toward the wide-open front door, but there was not even a trace of the car left.
“Miss Jiang, they gave your name and said this was definitely the right address, but before I could call the Old Madam, they had already left these things at the door and walked away…” The middle-aged woman hurriedly explained.
Jiang Die felt a headache coming on.
It was obvious who had sent them.
She casually opened a few of the boxes and immediately saw that everything inside was extremely expensive, almost dazzling her with their value.
Although she liked them very much, what exactly was he trying to pull this time?
So this was the big shot’s style?
Fortunately, Feng Youmei was not there. If she had seen all this, she would definitely have suspected Lu Liyan.
Seeing that the woman beside her had not attended yesterday’s engagement banquet and was clearly afraid of making a mistake, Jiang Die thought for a moment before asking, “Aunt Liu, did you open any of these and look inside?”
The girl’s half-serious expression frightened Aunt Liu, who immediately shook her head. “No, I only carried them inside. I didn’t touch anything else…”
“Aunt Liu, you don’t need to be nervous.” Jiang Die secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She smiled before casually making up an explanation. “I bought all of these this morning. I figured I’ll have to attend all kinds of gatherings in the future, so I wanted to prepare some gifts in advance for the wives of a few friends. There were too many things, though, so I had them delivered today.”
She paused before adding, “As for Mr. Lu, that was just a delivery code I happened to arrange with them.”
“Oh, so that’s what it was.” Seeing the girl explain everything without changing her expression, Aunt Liu finally relaxed and did not ask any further questions. “Miss Jiang, go wash your hands. Dinner is ready.”
“…”
Jiang Die glanced at the figure bustling around in the kitchen, carried all the boxes upstairs, and returned to her room. She found the number Lu Liyan had called her from yesterday and dialed it back.
After a long series of rings, the call was finally answered.
The other party seemed to have known it was her from the beginning, or more precisely, he had probably known all along that she would call. He did not say a word.
Suppressing her irritation, Jiang Die did not dare say anything too harsh out of consideration for his status. She could only force the corners of her lips into a stiff smile and speak as calmly as possible.
“Why did you send me so much jewelry?”
She did not want Feng Youmei to know Lu Liyan’s true identity. Fortunately, Feng Youmei was not home at this hour, so she had neither seen those things nor heard the words “Mr. Lu.” Otherwise, once she found out, she would definitely investigate him, and by then Lu Liyan would not even need to say anything. Feng Youmei might personally send her straight into the Lu family.
Yet when Lu Liyan heard her question, he was completely baffled.
“?”
As though he had thought of something, he covered the receiver with one hand. His eyes were as black as a bottomless abyss as he looked toward the person in the driver’s seat and asked coldly, “What exactly did Grandpa say to you today?”
Nothing much… right?
Xiang Yan was just as confused, but under the oppressive atmosphere, he still swallowed nervously. He racked his brain for a moment before beginning to recount everything to the man point by point.
Only at the very end did he finally remember the old man’s vague remark, and his heart sank.
Oh no, oh no.
“President Lu, I think the Old Master also said that he would help…”
Lu Liyan felt a splitting headache coming on.
“…”
On the other end of the call, Jiang Die had no idea why the phone had suddenly gone silent. She could not even hear his breathing, yet when she checked, the call had not been disconnected.
If it was not a signal problem, could Lu Liyan have become embarrassed after she asked him about it?
Otherwise, if he wanted to give her something, why had he not given it to her in person and instead sent it secretly?
He must have figured out that she liked money and was now increasing his offer, deliberately sending all these expensive things to tempt her.
Jiang Die did not think about romance at all. There was no such thing between them in the first place.
She was just about to tease him a little when the man’s icy voice finally came through.
“If you think they’re inappropriate, throw them away.”
Jiang Die: “?”
Was that what she meant?
Sensing that he was about to hang up, she hurriedly spoke.
“Wait! That’s not actually why I called.”
“Are you free later? Let’s meet. There are some things I want to talk to you about.”
Lu Liyan did not respond for a moment.
Through the rearview mirror, he caught Xiang Yan’s eyes burning with curiosity, even though he could not hear the conversation. His gaze instantly turned as cold and sharp as an icy wind, making Xiang Yan shiver and immediately look away.
“I’m in Z City right now. I won’t be back in S City until at least ten tonight.”
“Sure! Then let’s meet at ten thirty tonight.” Jiang Die agreed immediately, completely forgetting that there was a curfew at the Jiang family home.
In the darkness, she opened her bedroom door and looked downstairs. The lights had finally gone out, plunging the entire house into darkness.
Remembering that Feng Youmei had gone out of town that morning and would not return until the day after tomorrow, Jiang Die quietly made her way downstairs so she would not wake Aunt Liu, who had been assigned to “look after” her.
Standing in the front courtyard, Jiang Die looked at the locked metal gate. Since it was an old residence, opening it always made a loud noise, so she decided to climb over the wall instead.
Stepping onto the wooden rack where the watering cans were kept, Jiang Die used it for just a little leverage and climbed to the top. She then successfully climbed over and dropped down outside.
The grass beneath her feet was soft. As she brushed the dust from her hands and prepared to stand up, a dark shadow suddenly descended in front of her, blocking the nearby light.
Jiang Die followed the polished leather shoes that had fallen into her line of sight, slowly raising her head until she met a pair of deep, wolf-like eyes.
She was startled.
“Miss Jiang is quite versatile. I didn’t know you could climb walls too.”
The man stood above her, looking down condescendingly. His entire body seemed to be covered in frost, radiating the oppressive presence of someone accustomed to being in power.
From this angle, Jiang Die could only look up at him. His sharply defined features were half-hidden in the darkness, and he was dressed in a custom-tailored suit, every button fastened meticulously to just beneath his Adam’s apple, accentuating his restrained and austere air.
With those broad shoulders and narrow waist, he looked exactly like the kind of man who belonged in a picture-perfect suit.