Shen Suiwan was startled. She had not expected at all that Huo Yanxiu would say something like this to her.
What was more, he really did look a little displeased.
But… why?
Just because she was ill and still wanted to go back and continue the dinner?
They were not close enough for that.
“It’s not that…”
In fact, she only wanted to go back and let her colleagues know that she was leaving first.
But thinking of Gu Xirou surrounded like the moon among the stars, she felt there was no need.
She was not today’s main character, and no one would care whether she had left early.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
The door of the private room was suddenly knocked on a few times, and a man who looked like an assistant stood in the doorway.
“President Huo, everyone is waiting for you.”
No matter what business he, Huo Yanxiu, was discussing, he was the center of it. Without him, this drinking party could not go ahead.
“Sorry, President Huo, I’ve taken up your time.” Shen Suiwan said quickly.
“It’s nothing.” Huo Yanxiu had returned to that emotionless manner from before, as though his displeasure a moment ago had only been her imagination.
He strode away, and as he passed the assistant he gave him a look.
The assistant immediately nodded in understanding.
After Huo Yanxiu left, Shen Suiwan rested a little while longer, then left the restaurant. She was standing at the roadside about to hail a taxi when a black car stopped in front of her.
The driver’s door opened, and the person who got out was precisely that assistant from before.
“Miss Shen.” The assistant walked up to her and smiled. “President Huo has instructed me to see you home.”
“There’s no need.” Shen Suiwan said quickly. “I’ve already troubled President Huo a great deal today.”
“It’s no trouble at all, just a small effort,” the assistant said. “Besides, over the past two years the Huo Group and the Shen Group have cooperated a great deal, and they are about to enter into even deeper cooperation.”
He paused, then added, “So looking after you is the least President Huo could do.”
Shen Suiwan thought that since the two companies cooperated so much, she would most likely have dealings with Huo Yanxiu after she went home.
It would not look good to keep refusing now.
“Then I’ll trouble you.”
“Not at all. Please.”
The assistant attentively pulled the car door open for her.
At the same time, in the high-end VIP private room on the top floor of the restaurant, Huo Yanxiu sat by the window.
He looked down at the ground below and saw Shen Suiwan get into the car, and the assistant drive it away.
Someone made bold enough to joke with him. “What exactly is out that window that draws President Huo’s gaze so?”
Huo Yanxiu withdrew his gaze and responded coldly, “Nothing.”
Since he would not say, no one else dared ask further.
Huo Yanxiu took out his phone and opened WeChat. His eyes first swept over the chat window with Shen Suiwan, then came to rest on the message his mother had sent the night before.
“The Shen family has already agreed to the marriage alliance.
Aren’t you in Hai City right now? I hear Suiwan is in Hai City too. Go and see her. You really should put more heart into it.”
He had replied with only the single word “Mm.”
Now, thinking of something or other, he sent another message.
“Mom, where is Doctor Cui now?”
Madam Huo replied quickly. “Her? She went abroad again last month. She left in a hurry and didn’t tell me where she was going, and I can’t reach her now either. What do you want her for?”
Huo Yanxiu’s eyes darkened slightly.
“It’s nothing. If you can get in touch with her, let me know.”
…
Huo Yanxiu’s assistant drove Shen Suiwan all the way back to her residence.
Standing at the door, Shen Suiwan took several deep breaths.
This place had once been what she had thought of as her “home,” but now it was nothing more than a temporary lodging, and one that disgusted her at that.
If it were not for investigating the car accident, and for fear of tipping them off, she would not have come back here.
While Gu Tingshen and Gu Xirou had not returned yet, she searched the place from top to bottom.
Especially Gu Tingshen’s study.
But she did not find any useful clues.
That figured. Since Gu Tingshen was covering things up for Gu Xirou, he could not possibly have left any evidence behind, much less kept it at home.
She had only been holding on to that sliver of hope.
She had just come out of the study when she heard the sound of the door opening in the entryway.
Right after that, Gu Tingshen and Gu Xirou walked in.
The two of them were even holding hands.