Chapter 72 - I've Been Looking For You For Seven Years
Chapter 72 – I’ve Been Looking For You For Seven Years
As he spoke, Qin Gengxin glanced at Jiang Ruolan's not-too-big bosom.
Jiang Ruolan almost stepped on his feet with her sharp heels while looked at him with her ashen face. "I'm like your sister! Don't think I didn't know you were playing with me! I warned you, this joke is enough!"
"I'm not joking." Because he was drunk last night, Qin Gengxin's lips had turned slightly pale. His eyes focused on the doubt in Jiang Ruolan's eyes, and he restrained the teasing expression on his face, saying indifferently, "I've been looking for you for seven years and found you with great difficulty. How can I have time to joke with you?"
Jian Ruolan was about to say something when she suddenly froze. She looked at the smile and seriousness in Qin Gengxin's eyes and immediately used all her strength to shake off his hand. She took two steps back and combed her untidy hair.
Without saying anything, she walked towards the elevator.
"Ruolan!"
Qin Gengxin called out to her, but she hastened her steps.
He strode toward her, and before she could get into the elevator, he wrapped his arms around her neck and pulled her back. "Jiang Ruolan, you coward! What's wrong with me liking you! Come, let's go out and have a chat!"
"Who wants to talk to you!? Let me go!" Jiang Ruolan hit Qin Gengxin's arm and leg in an attempt to escape.
"Save your strength." With a face full of joy, Qin Gengxin hugged Jiang Ruolan and walked out the door under the staff's stunned gaze.
"Qin Gengxin! Let me go! Even if you don't want a face with so many people watching, I still want it! Let go!"
Qin Gengxin dragged Jiang Ruolan down the stairs and was about to push her into his car when she suddenly turned and bit his shoulder.
"The fuck! Jiang Ruolan, are you a dog?!" He quickly let her go.
Jiang Ruolan immediately straightened up and refused to get into the car. She pushed the door shut, but Qin Gengxin stopped her and pushed her body against his car.
Jiang Ruolan frowned. "Qin Gengxin, you are the CEO of a multinational company. Do you have too much free time? I have to work and I wanted to earn money! Can you stop bothering just like when you were little?! No matter what you wanted to do, you always dragged me along with you. Would you stop? We are not children anymore!"
"Leave your job. I will support you!" Qin Gengxin grinned.
Jiang Ruolan's mouth twitched. "Support me? It's not your right to decide what I want to do."
"Isn't that my responsibility after you become my wife?"
"I have hands and feet and I don't need you to support me! A rich young master like you only knows how to spend time playing and I don't have a time to play with you!" Jiang Ruolan pushed Qin Gengxin impatiently.
"Get out of the way! I still have a job to do! If you continued to waste my time like this, I have to work overtime tonight!"
But he didn't move. Qin Gengxin kept blocking her path. Due to his height, he had almost blocked out all her vision.
Jiang Ruolan was displeased. "Qin Gengxin! As I said, we are no longer children! Let's forget what happened when we were young. We are all adults now! I'm begging you, stop making me angry."
"When did I anger you?" Qin Gengxin stared at her, puzzled.
Jiang Ruolan moved her lips and wanted to tell Qin Gengxin all about her resentment when they were young, but she restrained herself.
She clenched her fist with tears in her eyes and said with sadness and anger, "How can you ask me that question, you shameless bastard! You knew what happened when we were little. How dare you ask me back! Qin Gengxin, you are a shameless bastard among bastards!"
"I'm a bastard, so what? No matter how bastard I am, you are the only one in my heart!" Qin Gengxin made it clear that even if he died, he would be utterly shameless towards her.
Jiang Ruolan couldn't hold back her tears. "What exactly do you really want from me?"
"I missed you. I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to see you. I wanted to know if you were living a good life."
"That's it?" Jiang Ruolan was stunned.
"Right now, it is." Qin Gengxin nodded, not intending to say anything more. He suddenly realized that his woman was a bit timid. In order not to scare her, he could only say something simple.
"If it's like this, why didn't you say it earlier? Why do you have to behave like that?" Jiang Ruolan's tense mood immediately disappeared as she pushed Qin Gengxin away. "I'm fine. I ate and slept soundly, and everything was a thousand times better than when I was in the Jiang Family!"
Qin Gengxin looked disappointed. "I thought your life would be even more miserable without me. Tch!"
"Tch …" Jiang Ruolan scoffed. "You hope the situation changes otherwise."
Qin Gengxin looked at her with an injured face. "You woman, you're too heartless!"
Jiang Ruolan said nothing. She just turned her face away from him.
All the memories when she was young were unhappy, so she preferred to hide it all deep in her heart. Qin Gengxin was just an old friend that she had coincidentally reunited in her memories.
"I am so sad." Qin Gengxin sighed.
Jiang Ruolan ignored him.
"I am so sad!" He repeated again.
Jiang Ruolan was silent.
"Damn it! Jiang Ruolan, you have guts!" Qin Gengxin raised his hand in anger. When Jiang Ruolan turned her head to glare at his hand, thinking that he wanted to hit her, his hand suddenly circled her head.
Qin Gengxin pulled her neck, and kissed her lips hard.
"Ugh!" Jiang Ruolan's eyes widened in shock as she struggled with all her might.
"Mmm! Mmmm!"
"No! Ughh..Let..Me..Go!"
As she struggled desperately, Qin Gengxin held the back of her head tightly and bit her lip.
To retaliate, Jiang Ruolan bit his tongue. Qin Gengxin immediately released her because of the pain.
Jiang Ruolan raised her hand to cover her mouth and looked at Qin Gengxin with anger. She didn't even bother to slap his face. She wiped her mouth with her sleeve, glared at him fiercely, turned around, and walked towards the company's revolving door with quick steps.
Qin Gengxin felt a burning pain in his tongue. He noticed the smell of blood, and his face was completely dark.
Damn, he was bitten and bleeding!
Jiang Ruolan walked into the company without looking back. Qin Gengxin didn't chase after her and just looked at her with disbelief.
****
"Sister Jiang, what happened to you?"
Seeing Jiang Ruolan's gloomy face, Xiong Ruogang limped over her side. "Did that handsome Ferrari man offend you?"
Jiang Ruolan shot her a sidelong glance. "You haven't recovered from your ankle injury. Why are you here?"
"Ugh. I felt bored at home and my parents took me to their house for two nights, but in the end, I had to face their sad faces every day. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I came to work." Xiong Ruogang smiled as she pulled out the plastic stools and sat down at her desk.
Jiang Ruolan remembered Xiong Ruogang's request two days ago and started blaming herself. Damn it! She actually forgot about it.
"The house will be demolished tomorrow. My parents need to pack their things this afternoon." Xiong Ruogang bitterly put her face on her desk. "Sister Jiang, I am very depressed."
"It will be demolished tomorrow?"
"Yes, they will start the demolition tomorrow morning. When I leave at noon, I've seen some forklift trucks passing by. They say that the deadline for us to move is this afternoon. So that means they will start the demolition tomorrow morning."
"Wait a minute, I'll make a call." Jiang Ruolan got up from her desk. She took her phone with her and quickly walked out of the office.
She opened the call list to find Xian Zihao's number. After a moment's hesitation, she called him.
When the sound of a steady beep came from the phone, her heart was beating for no reason. This was the first time she had taken the initiative to call Xian Zihao. She didn't know if he would answer her call or if he had time to do so.
The dull beep sounded five to six times before it was finally picked up. A quiet voice came from the other end of the phone, "Is there a problem?"
"Are you busy?" Jiang Ruolan held the phone tightly by her ear.
After a short pause, he said lightly, "I'm in a meeting."
"Then I won't bother you any longer." Jiang Ruolan decided to end the call.
"What do you want?" His voice crackled on the undisconnected phone.
Jiang Ruolan immediately put the phone back to her ear. After a moment of hesitation, she said, "Things are a bit complicated. I can't explain it in two or three sentences. Since you are in a meeting, I won't bother you for now."
"The meeting will end in half an hour. If this is something important, come to my office and wait for me."
"All right." Thinking of Xiong Ruogang's impending doom, she agreed directly.
They both hung up the phone at the same time. Jiang Ruolan returned to the office, packed her things and took her bag. She saw Xiong Ruogang before she left, "Ruogang, I'm going out for a while. Help me ask for a leave from the chief editor, as well as from publishing news for this afternoon."
When she answered, Jiang Ruolan had already left in a hurry.
****
This time, the traffic was light, and Jiang Ruolan took exactly ten minutes to get to Xian Group. As she entered, security personnel did not detain her this time, nor did they check her work permit. They just raised their heads to look at her before quickly lowering their head down and busied themselves.
Jiang Ruolan took the elevator to the 18th floor.
When she walked out of the elevator, she noticed that the corridor was empty, but the lights were bright. There were two long, slender green pots outside each office, and the air was also very fresh.
Jiang Ruolan noticed that the staff behind the glass walls on both sides looked at her with a curious look.
She withdrew her gaze and quickly walked to the CEO's office.
Xian Group's building had thirty floors and the building was very spacious. After walking about a hundred meters, she finally arrived at the CEO's office located in the corridor's innermost part.
However, as she got closer, Jiang Ruolan suddenly saw two trembling assistants from across the CEO's office.
It was only then that she heard a loud voice coming from the office.
It sounded as if Xian Zihao was angry. His voice, which was usually soft and calm was now thunderous. Every rebuke was accompanied by a strong sense of anger and resentment.
Jiang Ruolan glanced at the few people in the assistant's office. Xian Zihao was a private and calm person, yet she can't help but wonder who had the ability to make him so angry?
"Are you Miss Jiang?" An assistant with a stiff white face came out of the office and asked softly.
"I am." Jiang Ruolan nodded. From her looks, this girl in front of her was probably just an assistant to the CEO. In a place like Xian Group, only a few graduates looked to be just over twenty could climb up to this position so quickly.
The little girl in front of her didn't have the temperament of a noble person. Her eyes were as red as a rabbit.
"The CEO had just finished his meeting with the Construction Bureau and is currently angry with the Vice Chairman of the Construction Bureau. Secretary Du says that President Xian is waiting for you, but it doesn't seem easy for you to see him now." the little girl said softly, "How about this? Miss Jiang, why don't you sit here for a moment. "
"Alright." Jiang Ruolan nodded and sat on the sofa next to her. After she sat down, she turned to look at the closed sandalwood doors. Vaguely, she could hear angry curses coming from them.
"Any project that I look forward will always interfere by you! For the sake of a mere ten million yuan, you didn't care about those people's life!! It's fine if the builder is treacherous, but if you can control it, you should control it. I helped you get in touch with them, and now you're making such a big mistake! How are we, the investors, going to deal with this?"
"The demolition hasn't begun and yet, there are already residents who wanted to commit suicide by hitting a forklift! Just what method are you using? Forcing a dead end?!"
"Until this matter is resolved, you are not allowed to touch a single brick in Bedford Street! Otherwise, don't blame me for firing you! All of the consequences will be on your shoulder! Deputy Chief Wang, you must be responsible for your mistakes!"
Jiang Ruolan raised her eyebrow.
Bedford Street?
Could it be that the thing that made Xian Zihao angry had something to do with Bedford Street?
Just as she was thinking about it, the thick and heavy sandalwood doors opened and the Vice Chief of the Construction Bureau, whom she had met in a previous interview, came out with a face as white as ghost.
Jiang Ruolan was sitting on the sofa in the corner and she could see from the door that was not tightly closed, the floor was covered with paper and A4 folders.
She hesitated for a moment, not knowing if she should go in at the moment or not, but when she thought that the things she wanted to discuss were related to Xian Zihao, she decided to strike the iron while it was hot.
Perhaps it was the right time to go in now.
Jiang Ruolan got up and walked closer. Even though the office door was open, she still knocked twice.
Xian Zihao's entire body was slumped in the large chair behind his desk. He held half a cigarette between the fingers of his left hand and rubbed the middle part of his eyebrow with the other hand. He looked exhausted, and he was in a terrible mood.
The open window blew the autumn wind and rolled up the papers on the floor.
Seeing that Xian Zihao not angry at her presence, Jiang Ruolan quickly bent down and picked the A4 papers one by one, and at the same time, she found out that these were all business projects related to Bedford Street.
When Jiang Ruolan lifted her eyes, she realized that Xian Zihao had opened his eyes at one point and looked at her.
She stood up slowly and put the paper in the blue folder in her hand. Then she walked over and put it on his desk. "It seems that I didn't come at the right time."
Xian Zihao didn't move, and his dark eyes were a little cold from the anger that had not yet disappeared. He watched indifferently as Jiang Ruolan walked over and put down the folder. He continuing to purse his lips without saying a word.
Jiang Ruolan slowly opened the folder in her hand and flipped it twice. She then looked into his thick black eyes and said, "I came to find you about the demolition of the alley at Bedford Street. From what I heard from outside, you seemed very angry with this project."
Xian Zihao stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray at the corner of his desk. The sound of cigarettes being extinguished apparently reverberated loudly in the large, clean office, causing Jiang Ruolan felt cold running down her spine.
Jiang Ruolan paused, then went on, "A friend of mine, the girl with glasses whom you had seen the last time outside the Italian restaurant, lived on that street. The demolition order was issued a week earlier and now, they want all the residences there to move. When she told me about this matter, I was confused. That street is an excellent place to build a national fifth-class scenery, and from the style and features of the buildings built at the end of the Qing Dynasty, as long as they are properly decorated, they will be comparable to the six ancient cities."
"Now, with the prosperity of H City, if we add tourism development, isn't it even better for H City? Your Xian family had extraordinary status in H City. Can't you develop it into a tourist area?"
"Even if they wanted to make money, why should they demolish the place? It offends the older generation who grew up there, and they were destroying the good place that was handed down from the late Qing Dynasty."
Xian Zihao took the folder next to him and then, turned the computer screen towards Jiang Ruolan.
Jiang Ruolan subconsciously glanced at the computer screen and her face changed while looking at the headline and photo.
"This report and all the photos taken by eyewitnesses was purchased by the Construction Bureau at a high price. No wonder even as media journalist, you haven't received any news about it." His face was impassive.