Having said that, Yan Yunning got out of the car and walked into the hotel without looking back.
——
The night was pitch-black, the sky so heavy and dark not a single star could be seen. Yan Yunning lay half-reclined on a lounge chair on the rooftop terrace, her heart weighed down, gazing at the pine trees outside the villa that glowed under the streetlamps.
“Little Ningning, have some fruit.” President Wu — Wu Cheng — carried a fruit platter over and set it in Yan Yunning’s hands.
Yan Yunning turned to him, smiling. “Thank you, brother-in-law.”
She hadn’t expected that the President Wu who had partnered with Xuan Yanyu and dined with him would turn out to be her sister’s boyfriend of six months.
“Tell us what’s going on.” Yan Yuran followed behind Wu Cheng, a glass of red wine in hand, and leaned against the wall with a cool exhale. “Why are your eyes all red from crying?”
Yan Yunning pursed her lips. “Sister, do you remember Li Li from university — the one who was always inexplicably making snide remarks at me and Xiaxia? I ran into her, and it put me in a terrible mood.”
“Li Li?” Yan Yuran took a sip of red wine, and a look of exasperated amusement crossed her face. “Yan Yunning, you really do have a talent for things — you can actually make Li Li cry from irritation too.”
Yan Yunning pressed her lips together without arguing.
“It’s too late tonight, but tomorrow your sister will help you make her cry too.” Yan Yuran drifted forward and sat down beside Yan Yunning, draping her slender pale arm around her shoulders with a languid, soft laugh. “Little Ningning, follow your sister to the company tomorrow. Your sister will get justice for you.”
“I guarantee every grievance you’ve suffered will be paid back.”
Wu Cheng gave a quiet cough. He had been wondering why Yuran kept turning up at the company every few days to give Li Li a hard time, and had assumed at first that Yuran was worried he might have something going on with Li Li.
He had already planned that once the collaboration with the Xuan Group was properly underway, he would transfer Li Li to another department.
Now it was clear — Yuran had been doing it for Little Ningning’s sake.
Yan Yuran glanced over lazily at Wu Cheng. “What are you coughing about? Feeling sorry for your employee?”
“I’m not — I’m just curious, curious about how Li Li managed to make Little Ningning angry.” Wu Cheng raised a finger to his temple, his expression sincere. “Yuran, I absolutely have no sympathetic feelings toward her whatsoever.”
Yan Yuran narrowed her eyes at him.
Wu Cheng blinked earnestly.
Yan Yuran: “……”
Seeing that Wu Cheng genuinely wanted to know, Yan Yunning opened her phone, found Li Li’s video account, and pulled up the two most recent videos she had posted. She asked with genuine puzzlement, “Is she trying to insert herself into someone else’s relationship?”
Wu Cheng frowned deeply and said nothing.
Yan Yuran, upon seeing the photos, went incensed. She stood up and confronted Wu Cheng: “What is the story behind this photo? You took Li Li with you to have dinner with Xuan Yanyu, and then left the two of them alone in a private room?? What were you thinking?? Did you not know that Xuan Yanyu is Ningning’s fiancé?”
“No, no, no.” Wu Cheng pulled Yan Yuran into his arms to calm her. “This photo is a cropped screenshot. At the time, Little President Xuan was at that angle because he was clinking glasses with me, and Li Li happened to be raising her glass toward Little President Xuan. Little President Xuan ignored her entirely. I have the full, unedited photos — Li Li just cropped me out of them. And why would I have gone off on my own and left Little President Xuan behind?”
Wu Cheng took out his phone and showed the complete photos to Yan Yuran, then to Yan Yunning. “Everything she posted is fabricated. During the dinner, Little President Xuan didn’t say a single word to her — none of that ‘chatting with Little President Xuan and learning so much’ nonsense.”
“Think about it — Li Li is just a secretary. Why would Little President Xuan bother speaking with her? Why would he clink glasses with her??”
Wu Cheng’s brow furrowed with displeasure. “Li Li behaving like this toward the company’s partner is already a violation of company policy. If Little President Xuan were to see it, he might think I was the one who put her up to it. We’re an entertainment company — if people assume we’re deliberately manufacturing rumors, the partnership would fall apart.”
“I’ll let Li Li go tomorrow.”
Yan Yunning’s eyes shifted. “Yesterday, outside Xuan Yanyu’s office building, I saw Xuan Yanyu and Li Li get into the same car. What was that about?”
“The same car?” Wu Cheng pressed his fingers to his forehead. “That was just me sending my driver and Li Li to pick up Little President Xuan. It wasn’t just the two of them in the car — Ye An and Ye Chen and the rest of Little President Xuan’s team were there too.”
“On top of that, Li Li was sitting in the front passenger seat, while Little President Xuan and his subordinates sat in the back.”
Something occurred to him, and Wu Cheng’s voice went up a notch. “Little Ningning, you didn’t get into an argument with Little President Xuan over this, did you?”
Yan Yunning shook her head. “No.”
The biggest misunderstanding between them was the matter of the child.
Wu Cheng let out a sigh of relief. “Then that’s fine.”
Yan Yuran squeezed her fist. “That is utterly revolting.”
Wu Cheng touched the tip of his nose and wisely kept his mouth shut.
——
The following noon.
After handling the matter with Li Li, Yan Yuran and Wu Cheng took Yan Yunning with them to a restaurant for lunch. Midway through, Yan Yuran stepped away to the restroom to touch up her makeup.
Yan Yunning, seized by curiosity, turned to Wu Cheng with sparkling eyes. “Brother-in-law, when are you and my sister going public? Do you have any plans to get married this year?”
Wu Cheng smiled and topped up her water. “The moment your sister says yes, I could hold the wedding tomorrow.”
Yan Yunning: “……”
Wu Cheng gave a quiet, wistful sigh. “I’m hoping your sister will let me come home to meet the family before your wedding — otherwise, just like with the engagement party, I won’t be able to attend again.”
Yan Yunning giggled. “You could always attend in your capacity as Xuan Yanyu’s business partner.”
Wu Cheng rolled his eyes. “I’d much rather attend as your brother-in-law.”
Yan Yunning popped a pan-fried dumpling into her mouth. “Then work for it.”
Wu Cheng eagerly piled a piece of spare rib onto Yan Yunning’s plate with the serving chopsticks. “Little Ningning, your sister mentions you constantly. Help me out — help me, and we’ll be family.”
“Sister-in-law, what a coincidence.” An abrupt male voice rang out beside her. Yan Yunning swallowed her dumpling and turned to find Xuan Yanyu and Xie Yan standing about a meter away.
“Family? What family?” Xie Yan walked to the table with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes and grinned at Wu Cheng. “President Wu, shall we join you? You don’t mind, I hope?”
“President Xie, you flatter me — of course not, please sit.” Wu Cheng smiled and looked over at Xuan Yanyu as well. “Little President Xuan, please, sit with us.”
Seeing Xuan Yanyu come and sit down beside Yan Yunning, Wu Cheng waved over a server to have a few more dishes and another set of utensils brought out.
Xie Yan poured Xuan Yanyu a cup of tea, set down the teapot, and turned his gaze sideways toward Wu Cheng. “So President Wu wants to become family with my sister-in-law.”
“I’ve been dreaming about it.”
Xie Yan was amused — it was his first time meeting someone who was so utterly unabashed about trying to wedge his way into someone else’s relationship.
“Little Ningning, think about what I said just now.” Wu Cheng winked at Yan Yunning.
“Think about what?” Xuan Yanyu asked, his displeasure evident.
Yan Yunning said nothing, taking small bites of a roasted sweet potato.
Xuan Yanyu half-narrowed his eyes. His cool fingertip poked lightly at Yan Yunning’s fair leg where it showed below her short skirt, and he asked in a low, husky voice, “What was he asking you to think about?”
Yan Yunning turned to look at him. “What — are you going to help too?”
The man pushed aside the stray locks of hair that had fallen against the girl’s cheek, and said with unmistakable displeasure, “I’m not helping. And you can’t help either. Who wants to be family with him?”
Yan Yunning: “……”