Chapter 22 - Xi Chen's Call

After taking a shower, Xi Ana went down to the dining hall only to find a table full of different variants of dishes.

"Yi Sheng, this is wasting money." she said seriously as she sat on her seat.

"Don't worry, I'll send the leftovers to Mother, she mentioned a few days ago that she was craving their food so I purposely ordered a lot." his explanation makes sense so she didn't press on further.

Once they started to eat, Lim Yi Sheng can't help but remember the pictures again. Xi Ana noticed that her husband wasn't being himself, while still casually eating she finally asked, "What's the matter?"

Lim Yi Sheng's thoughts were disrupted at the question his wife suddenly threw, he shrugged "I just remembered something in the company but it's not very important."

"Uhm." she continued eating, it's been a while since they've had dinner together.

"Ana." he's still contemplating but he asked anyway.

She glanced at her husband while chewing on a dimsum she had picked, "Uhm?"

"You studied abroad as well, right?" he asked as casually as possible.

Though Xi Ana was confused with the question she still answered, "Yeah, well to be exact I lived outside the country since I was 14 years old until I need to be officially part of the company when I turned 22."

"I heard from Grandfather Xi that you turned away all your servants and bodyguards. Is that true?" Well, the old man also mentioned that she didn't live as Xi Ana during that time but they never knew what name she used.

She felt like being interrogated but not in a way that it makes her feel uncomfortable, it's like the person only wanted to know her better so she had no reason not to answer, "I had actually one nanny, the school has a lot of things they wanted to consider first with parents or guardians so I only have one for that reason."

"You really did live independently, huh." he smiled at her.

"Well, I had to."

"You lived there for so long, didn't you manage to gain friends?" Xi Ana thought for a while. She did live outside the country for a long time but she really didn't manage to gain friends, more like she gained a lot of connections all over the world.

"I managed to gain connections, well, except for one." she smiled at the thought. They've been really together for a long time now, An Qi Lu and her.

The smile she unconsciously showed really sent jealousy all over Lim Yi Sheng, just how deep could their relationship be for her to smile at the thought of him. "So you were very close with this person?"

"I really don't understand the concept of being close but I am comfortable around him. Well, I was with him for eight years, he patiently waited for me to accept him when I refused the whole world. he was the only one that stayed beside me." her casual answer almost break his heart. He never thought he'd come to a point where he would want to be in someone else's place.

Not wanting to answer anymore questions she diverted the conversation to him. "You also studied abroad, right?"

"Yeah, but it was quite different from yours, I had Nai He and Chuxia with me so I really didn't need to adjust to a lot of things." what they did abroad was to study and nothing more, unlike her who seemed to have put her life into living there.

She didn't pry on his relationship with Mo Chuxia anymore since he already explained it couple of days ago. Suddenly, Xi Ana remembered something she'd been wanting to ask, "I have a question but I don't know if I should really ask this."

Upon hearing this Lim Yi Sheng's body tensed, his muscles tightened, and his face became very stiff. This is a question he's not yet ready to face. Xi Ana immediately noticed this and quickly withdrew her question.

"It seems like this is not yet the right time for me to ask that question." she looked at her husband and smiled.

He returned the smile with an apologetic one, she's right. Maybe this is not yet the right time. "I'm sorry."

"What's there to be sorry about, all people has something they wanted to keep to themselves." just as how you had a lot of things you're keeping, he thought.

- - -

After few days of investigating, Xi Chen really found nothing about the man called Xander Albeit even after exhausting all means he could possibly come up with. Just as he was about to try a different method, he was dead?! What kind of nonsense is that?

"Ana Jie! What happened with Xander Albeit? Just as I started investigating him he suddenly died? Isn't that too much of a coincidence?"

In his sister's mind, she can't help but feel apologetic towards her little brother. As much as she wanted him to fully grow on his own this is not the thing would help him with that, he happen to stumble upon something he shouldn't have.

Just this morning he had a car accident, according to the investigation there was something wrong with the car's break. There was a lot of witnesses who saw the whole scene, they also saw the man being pulled out of the wrecked car. When Xi Chen checked with the hospital, he found out that he was dead on arrival.

"Don't stress yourself over that, I had investigated it and there seems to be no foul play regarding it. I ȧssume you also checked the hospital's morgue to see if it really was him. I will have the body sent to America where his foster parents are living."

To be able to do something so perfect they needed to exhaust everything to do so, which means they also spent so much money on concealing everything. Before An Qi Lu started working in Xi Corporation they already arranged the foster family, they found a very suitable family that meets the criteria of having a child studying outside the country which eventually died but no one else knew but the family, so Xander Albeit is not entirely fake.

They arranged with the family to have him borrow the identity of their son which they accepted through certain conditions which is to help them financially, which they happily obliged. An Qi Lu also visited a few times to make it real.

To make the long story short, any possible loopholes with this plan has already been dealt with years ago.

"But.." his sister glanced at him.

"Chen, there is still a lot of chance. It's not like this is the only thing you can do to grow, right? One more thing, we have to respect the family of the dead." with this simple remark he can't help but sigh in defeat. His sister is right, after all dead men tell no tales.

He sat tiredly at the sofa when his sister suddenly stood and sat in front of him, leaving her work on her desk. This surprised Xi Chen so he straightened up himself.

"Xi Chen, I want you to officially start at the company already. You've made a lot of progress with your training, I know you will do well. I want to properly train you as the next successor in line. You will officially take part in every meeting that requires my appearance, they should know as early as now who will be the next ruler of Xi Empire." her serious tone made it impossible for him not to feel a tinge of nervousness.

"I don't like how this conversation is going. You've been hinting about death a few times already, do you have an illness that cannot be cured?" the gravity of the conversation is worrying him. Once or twice can be considered a joke but more than that is something you cannot easily ignore.

"I started at the company at the age of 22, don't you think it makes sense for you to do so?" it's true but he also knows that she didn't start in the company as someone who would soon take over, though she eventually did.

"You're scaring me, why do I feel like you're about to disappear again?" it's a feeling he can't shake off.

Xi Ana smiled reassuringly at him, "Don't think about unnecessary things."

After some more time of talking about her plans about him, Xi Chen already left his sister's office. And because he can't shake the feeling he has, he decided to give his brother-in-law a call when he's already at his car.

Lim Yi Sheng who is preparing for his next meeting in an hour suddenly received a call from his brother-in-law which really surprised him, so he immediately answered it.

"Xiao Chen, I didn't expect to receive a call from you."

"Brother-in-law do you have some spare time?" Lim Yi Sheng was a bit confused, is there something he wanted to talk about with him? Is it perhaps about that executive he was talking about last time?

"I do have an hour before my next meeting, why?" he can't really leave his office right now because he might not make it in time for his next meeting if he leave now.

"Is it alright for me to come over at your office then? I have something important I wanna ask you." this is something beyond his imagination.

"It's okay. I'll have someone fetch you from the company lobby then so that you can use the private elevator." he offered.

"No, it's alright brother-in-law I'll just use the normal elevator, just tell the front desk that I have an appointment with you so I can get an access card. Thank you."

"Alright, I'll see you later then." and he ended the call. It must have been very important for him to go here personally. It's not a secret that he dislikes the idea that his sister was married to him but the fact that he's willing to see him personally shows that what he was about to talk to is a serious matter.

After about 20 minutes he managed to reach Lim Corporation, upon entering the building he immediately went to the front desk and asked for an access card.

All the female employees, especially the younger ones can't help but giggle inside upon recognizing the man who just entered the building.

That exuding aura of nobility, jet-blacked hair that perfectly suits his pair of deep obsidian black eyes that's the same with his sister, his nose that's the same as those of the western models, his perfectly defined jawline, and his pinkish lips that's slightly wet. Even the way he walks is oozing with handsomeness, who would not recognize the one and only young master of Xi Family, right?

"Excuse me? Are you alright?" he's been calling out to the woman for three times but she didn't seem to have heard him.

The woman on the front desk came back to her senses almost instantly, she became red as the embarrassment takes in.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Xi Chen. We were already informed of your arrival, here's your access card." she nervously handed him the card which he took immediately.

"Thank you."

When he finally entered the elevator, the young female employees looked at each other and squealed inwardly. Who would have thought that they would be able to see the one and only Xi Chen while they were working. They are even silently thanking their CEO for marrying President Xi Ana, because that is the only logical reason why her brother would be present here now.