Chapter 20

***

On the top floor of the Su Group building, Fang Yu was hesitating to open the thick folder he had just received. Usually, documents sent to the president’s office, as long as they weren’t specially marked, needed to be checked by Fang Yu first. Only after he has read through and understood the content will he be able to take them to the Boss for review. This was to improve the efficiency of their Boss.

But the folder in his hands was sent by the Shen company. Fang Yu hadn’t received any instructions from Su Hang on how to handle things like this, so he didn’t dare open it.

While Fang Yu was hesitating, Su Hang happened to walk in. Although Su Hang’s expression was calm, there was a dense cloud of irritability all over his body. Seeing this, Fang Yu became even more uncertain.

“Boss!” Zhu Lin and Lilith stood up and bowed down towards Su Hang in a respectful greeting. Usually, Su Hang would at least nod in their direction, but today, he walked straight past them without a single glance.

“What’s the matter with the Boss? It’s like he ate something disgusting, or was forced to drink bitter medicine.” Seeing the President’s office door close, Zhu Lin couldn’t help but whisper this question towards Fang Yu.

“How would I know? I was with you all afternoon.” Fang Yu looked at the folder he was still holding and silently prayed in his heart. “I hope the Boss will be in a better mood once he sees the picture frame in his office.”

When Su Hang went into his office, he went straight to his desk and slumped onto his chair. The words Shang HeXu had said to him were still echoing in his mind.

Brought along 3 billion? Only a month late? During Shen Xi’s childhood, she and Shang HeXu were considered the golden couple. He was the default son-in-law before the Shen Family’s sudden accident. Shang HeXu’s words made him sound like some sort of bandit who had robbed him half-way through his journey.

Ah…..

Su Hang grimly laughed out loud. He didn’t know whether he was laughing at himself or at Shang HeXu. What he did know, was that no matter what, he was with Shen Xi. As long as they were together, no one could separate them.

After a long silence, Su Hang gradually calmed down and started his afternoon work. He extended his right hand to get the documents needed to be approved, but then inadvertently noticed the picture frame on his desk. A picture frame that wasn’t on his desk when he went out at noon. His right hand involuntarily moved from the documents and shifted towards the beautiful photo that he couldn’t take his eyes off of.

The moment frozen in the picture was the happiest moment Su Hang had ever experienced in his life. As he looked at the photo, Su Hang could remember the sparkling lake and the colorful flowers in crystal-clear clarity.

“No one can separate us, as long as you’re willing to stay with me.” As if finally appeased, Su Hang’s expression gradually softened.

In the meantime, Fang Yu was still standing outside. He had waited half an hour to make sure that his Boss would see the photo on his desk. Finally, he took the documents sent by the Shen Group and carefully knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

This cool tone that Su Hang had just used was his usual tone of voice. It seems that the picture had successfully done its job. With a sigh of relief, Fang Yu walked into the office.

“Boss, some documents the Shen Group just sent.” Fang Yu handed the folder to Su Hang.

“The Shen Family?” Su Hang’s expression was visibly confused. He looked at Fang Yu and waited for an explanation.

“I didn’t open it.” Fang Yu replied.

“…” After some thought, Su Hang understood why Fang Yu didn’t read the documents. “Go ahead and put it down.”

“Yes.” Fang Yu carefully put to the folder on his Boss’ desk, then delicately withdrew.

Su Hang didn’t immediately open the folder but instead went back to dealing with the document he had been holding. It wasn’t until he had finished reviewing this that he finally opened the folder.

Su Hang opened the folder, pulled out the thick documents inside. His gaze lingered on the title cover in front of him.

Shen Group’s financial statements and analysis from September to November 2017.

Su Hang stayed stiff and upright for a long while, then finally moved. He pursed his lips and mechanically flipped through the contents of the document. The statements printed on the paper were unambiguous and straightforward. It illustrated the problem in figures and graphs. The Shen Group’s losses were the most prominent during the beginning of October, and during November, they gained back their profitability. The Shen Group shares also began to rise back up. As of this morning, it had risen up to 13 yuan. According to this current increase, Su Hang can predict that in less than half a year, Shen Group’s stock would return to its previous market value.

When Su Hang injected capital into Shen Group, it was to purely to save the Shen family. But now, even when he hadn’t asked for it, the Shen Group took the initiative to send this report to him. What was the purpose of this? Was it to reassure themselves that they were fine now? Were they trying to say that they had the ability to repay the 3 billion yuan they had borrowed from him? Su Hang couldn’t help but have his thoughts go off into a tangent…

Almost instinctively, Su Hang looked back to the picture frame on the side of his desk. He knew. He knew from the very beginning that Shen Xi’s parents despised him. If not for Mrs. Shen’s physical condition, Shen father would never have agreed to his proposal. And what’s more, Shang HeXu had just come back with 3 billion yuan. They all feel that he had used despicable means to marry Shen Xi, and what were they now doing? One by one they were telling him, they all now had the ability to break him and Shen Xi up.

Shang HeXu, the Shen family…but what about you? Su Hang gently touched Shen Xi’s silhouette in the photo on his desk. Do you also want to leave me? If you really want to leave, then I…

“Get out!”

With Su Hang’s angry roar, the marketing director immediately ‘escaped’ from the office, tail between his legs. The director gave Secretary Fang a betrayed expression as he left, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

This was already the fifth consecutive time the Boss had yelled at any staff member that entered his office. His anger hadn’t subsided one bit, causing Fang Yu to feel like he had to do something. Otherwise, nobody would be able to do anything today.

“Secretary Fang?” The sales manager looked at Fang Yu, his face clearly asking for help.

“Manager Jing, you go on ahead, I’ll think of a way.” Fang Yu tried his best to reassure the man.

“Well…you’re the only one we can depend on.” Manager Jing wiped the sweat off his forehead and went into Su Hang’s office like a man being led to the gallows.

Fang Yu huffed, then took out his phone. He dialed the Boss’ home phone.

“Hello, this is the Su residence.” Mrs. Zhang answered the phone.

“Mrs. Zhang, it’s me, Fang Yu.”

“Secretary Fang, ah, what do you need?” Mrs. Zhang asked.

“Is the Madam home?” Fang Yu asked.

“She’s here.” Mrs. Zhang replied. “She just came back home.”

“Then, can you please call the Boss and tell him that the Madame came back home and asked when he’ll be back?” Fang Yu requested.

“You got scolded again?” Mrs. Zhang immediately knew what he was trying to do.

“Please help, Mrs. Zhang.” Fang Yu said miserably.

“Alright, I’ll go call him in a bit.” Mrs. Zhang couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her.

“No, no, please call immediately after I hang up. Please.” After Fang Yu hung up the phone, he pricked up his ears and began listening in for any sounds in the President’s office.

Sure enough, after a moment of silence, Manager Jing came out of the office with an expression of liberation. He deeply bowed towards Fang Yu and said: “I owe you a drink.”

Then he ran out of the room like his ass was on fire.

Zhu Lin and Lilith couldn’t help but smile when they saw this funny scene.

Then with a ‘creak,’ the office door was opened again. Su Hang walked out of his office and looked at Fang Yu. “If you find any unfinished documents, just send it home later.”

“Yes.” Of course, Fang Yu intended to do it after 8:00 p.m. If he went early and disturbed the Boss and the Madam’s dinner, he will die a miserable death.

Su Hang nodded with satisfaction, turned around, and went home.

Soon, Su Hang’s car drove through the gates of his home. An excited Chu Wu was already waiting outside the door. Su Hang got out of the car and rubbed Chu Wu’s head. Then the man opened the front door, and the two entered the living room.

“Sir, you’re back.” Mrs. Zhang came out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of washed grapes and set it on the living room coffee table.

“Where’s the Madam?” Su Hang looked around and didn’t see Shen Xi.

“Madam is in the yard.” Mrs. Zhang explained. “She’s making an insulated shed.”

“Insulated shed?” Su Hang didn’t understand.

“I’m not sure about the name, it’s the shed that protects plants from the winter weather.” Mrs. Zhang replied.

“Ah, yes.” Su Hang placed his car keys on the coffee table, then went straight to the backyard.

Chu Wu ran past him but was stopped by Mrs. Zhang’s shout. “Chu Wu, come here, I’ll give you some meat stew.”

“Bark!” As soon as Chu Wu heard the word ‘meat,’ he immediately backtracked and followed Mrs. Zhang into the kitchen with his tail wagging fast.

When Su Hang walked out into the backyard, he saw a red-clothed figure crouching not far away. As he approached her, Su Hang saw that Shen Xi was laboriously assembling something with a thin metal tube.

“What are you doing?” Su Hang crouched down next to Shen Xi and asked.

Shen Xi looked up, surprised. But when she saw that it was Su Hang, she smiled. “You’re back?”

“Yeah.” Seeing Shen Xi smile at him, Su Hang’s uneasy heart calmed down in an instant.

“I was just building this small plastic greenhouse, so the plants don’t freeze to death.” Shen Xi explained. “The weather forecast said it was going to be cooling down in a few days.”

“I’ll do it.” Su Hang took the greenhouse frame from her inexperienced hands. He then took a few steps sideways, afraid that he might accidentally hit Shen Xi while he was building the small greenhouse.

Su Hang started building the simple greenhouse, with Shen Xi handing him tools at his side.

“Wow, you don’t even have the instruction manual, yet you’ve built it so quickly.” Shen Xi commented in surprise.

“…” Feeling Shen Xi’s worshipful eyes on him, Su Hang felt his ears go red. He bowed his head and concentrated on finishing the greenhouse quickly. He accepted the steel bars Shen Xi handed to him, and soon, the skeleton of a small shed was formed.

“Then, we just need to cover it with the plastic film.” Shen Xi held up the film and then handed Su Hang the other end of the film. Su Hang silently took it, and the two worked together to cover the skeletal shed.

Su Hang quickly finished affixing the film on his side of the shed. Looking over towards Shen Xi, he saw that she was still struggling, so he crouched beside Shen Xi to help.

“It’s done!” After Su Hang finished tying the last knot, Shen Xi couldn’t help but clap her hands happily.

Seeing Shen Xi’s delighted expression, Su Hang couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from lifting.

“Oh, by the way, I’ve found something for the auction.” Shen Xi suddenly said to him. “I have an antique vase I bought five years ago at a foreign auction. We can reauction it at the Star River Charity Banquet.”

Shang HeXu would definitely attend the Star River Charity Banquet. As this thought crossed Su Hang’s mind, the smile on his lips gradually disappeared.

“Is that alright?” Shen Xi asked again when Su Hang didn’t reply.

“We’ll do what you decide.” Su Hang replied.

“Good.” Shen Xi replied with a smile.

“Shen Xi…” Su Hang started to say.

“Hm?” Shen Xi nonchalantly replied as she started putting pots in the small plastic greenhouse.

“If…if you had better options…” Would you leave me? Su Hang hesitated for a while, but ultimately decided not to say the latter half of his question.

“Better options?” What options? Shen Xi was puzzled.

“It’s just…compared to how things are now.” Su Hang stiffly said.

“A better option implies that one can have a better outcome or future.” Shen Xi thought for a moment.

The crouched Su Hang started pulling off tufts of yellow weeds from the lawn.

“But things are good right now. There’s no need to think of such vague, far-off things.” Shen Xi finished.

“You think things are good right now?” Su Hang asked, somewhat incredulous.

“Yes, it’s good.” Shen Xi replied briskly and casually.

Enough…that’s enough for me. As long as you feel content with what you have right now, I won’t give you the opportunity to choose those so-called better options. As long as you’re content with us, I can have the courage to be selfish about you just this once.

“Do you know what these plants are? I don’t even know what flowers I’ll see bloom next year.” Shen Xi looked at the plants inside the greenhouse and smiled. “I just found out that while our yard is large, there aren’t any ornamental plants. So next spring, why don’t we plant some flowers?”

“Un.” Whatever you want.

“What flowers do you like?” Shen Xi asked.

“Roses.” Su Hang replied.

“Roses? You like roses?” Shen Xi was somewhat surprised.

“I want to plant roses in the yard.” Su Hang’s tone was gentle as he looked at Shen Xi. “So you can see them.”

Shen Xi couldn’t stop her face from turning red.

The distance between the two was actually quite small right now. Su Hang only needed to lean down a little to be able to kiss Shen Xi. So he did.

Shen Xi felt Su Hang lean towards her, and while she nervously clutched at the grass by her feet, she didn’t evade his approach.

The two got closer and closer, until there was only a hair’s width of distance between them. Then all of a sudden, a dog slotted itself between the two, effectively destroying the beautiful atmosphere.

“Woof, woof, woof!” Chu Wu stood between his mom and dad, wagging his tail and asking for attention.

“Pfft…” Shen Xi laughed as she straightened and stood up. “I’ll go back first.”

Alone with the dog, Su Hang could only vigorously rub Chu Wu’s head to vent. Chu Wu, who thought that his dad was playing with him, happily barked even more.

The author has something to say:

One day, the roses in their yard started to bloom.

So every morning, when Shen Xi opened her eyes, the first thing she would see was a beautiful rose, dewdrops still on its petals.

And every morning, Su Hang would see a smile more beautiful than any rose.

***

Goddam, that author’s notes made me swoon.