Chapter 29

It was still snowing.

Lin Qian stared at the tiny snowflakes that had accumulated on the man’s head and shoulders; her heart beat so quickly she thought it might pop out of her chest.

What is he doing?

Crossing the ocean on New Year’s Eve, appearing in front of her, giving her a lantern, walking away with her without a word while holding hands—it was as though they were eloping. And as the person being blindlessly dragged along, she was a little confused about the situation.

Thinking it over, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to find her. She only had two emergency contacts listed on her employee personal profile: one was her best friend in the entire country, and the other was her brother. His address was included too.

As for a US Visa… Well, not long ago during a board meeting, Xue Mingtao had suggested for Li Zhicheng to visit Europe and the Americas for an educational trip; he would be able to gain experience from other excellent suitcase enterprises. Li Zhicheng had answered, “Let’s discuss this another day.” But after that Lin Qian had no longer been his assistant, so she was unfamiliar with his schedule—it was possible he had gotten his Visa after her departure.

Lin Qian turned her gaze to their hands again. His hand was coarse and strong, warmly clutching hers. Her pulse was racing even faster than his firm steps were.

“Mr. Li, please let go of my hand.”

At this time both of them had reached a fountain outside of the hotel. The surrounding area was quiet and cold. The pedestrians were few; a couple was kissing beside the sparkling waters of the fountain.

Li Zhicheng paused in his step; at the same time he let go of her hand, turned around and looked at her.

As soon as Lin Qian’s hand—which had been tightly held by him for a long time—regained its freedom, her heart felt relieved. She couldn’t make out her own feelings anymore. She quickly stuffed her hands into her pockets, but their soft warmth didn’t feel like anything. His tight grip and warmth were both still lingering on her skin.

Standing beneath the streetlights of Manhattan, Lin Qian dreamily stared at the surreal figure of Li Zhicheng. He was not in a suit today. His black collar was up. His figure was slender and cold as usual, his profile handsome and distinct. He was gazing at her with his deep, dark eyes, the same silent gaze that always made her heart jolt.

“Lin Qian,” he said, his voice slow and deep. “I just had the sudden urge to come and see you. You don’t have to feel pressured.”

Lin Qian lowered her gaze, staring at his feet, avoiding his eyes.

HOW. COULD. I. NOT. FEEL. PRESSURED?

Was it true that women were naturally vain creatures? Considering his feelings for her and that his mind was shrewd and deep, this trip of his was certainly a step to further conquer her heart. However, considering he was a CEO who had once been a restrained soldier, was someone who had apparently never left the country before, had just given up his new year to come all the way to the United States for her… She felt a surge of tenderness and sweetness in her heart. But beneath that sweetness, she vaguely sensed a hint of danger.

That dangerous scent belonged to this man.

As compared to Lin Qian’s thoughts whirling wildly, Li Zhicheng’s heart was much more calm and steady.

He stood under the light, carefully admiring the woman in front of him.

Contrasting with her usual neat and professional outfits at the office, she looked like the girl-next-door now in a light-colored hoodie layered with a down feather vest. She was also wearing a simple pair of dark blue jeans. The everyday attire couldn’t hide her elegance. She looked stylish.

Her delicate hands still held onto the red lantern. The light from the lantern hit her face, making her cheeks rosy and causing her eyes to sparkle.

Beautiful.

This was the woman he wanted. The woman he was determined to get.

Irreplaceable.

He wanted her from this moment onwards. He wanted her to only shine for him.

Of course, Lin Qian was unaware of his heavy thoughts. She contemplated the situation for a while, then acted as if nothing were on her mind. “Mr. Li, have you had dinner?”

Li Zhicheng gave her an intense look. “Not yet.”

Lin Qian was a bit surprised. It was past 8:00 pm after all. Was it possible that he’d come to see her right after getting off the plane?

Her heart softened again. “Let me treat you to dinner.”

Li Zhicheng cracked a smile. “No need. I will treat you.” He glanced at the hotel not far away. “Let’s go.”

Lin Qian glanced at the hotel too. Suddenly she came to her senses.

Oh crap! She had totally forgotten about her brother. If he noticed she was missing after his phone call, he would definitely look for her. Her cell phone was still on the dining table, so he wouldn’t be able to contact her. If he asked the attendants outside, he would find out that she had left holding hands with a man.

Lin Mochen’s face appeared in her mind, and his cold voice rang, Until there’s nothing left to them…

Lin Qian quickly glanced at the hotel entrance. Good, Lin Mochen hadn’t appeared yet. She immediately looked at Li Zhicheng. “Mr. Li, lend me your phone for a moment.”

Of course, she couldn’t dine with Li Zhicheng at the hotel right now, but she couldn’t leave him at the side of the street either. While dialing, she raised her hand to call for a cab, speaking to Li Zhicheng at the same time. “Mr. Li, I just ate here—the food was horrible. Let’s go somewhere else.”

Li Zhicheng looked at her flickering gaze—her expression was adorned with anticipation. She was unaware of the trace of a gentle plea in her tone. Her bright eyes twinkled; her hair flowed softly in the wind.

A cat.

This woman had always been like a sly and agile cat. There must have been something about him going into the hotel that made her nervous.

As he stared at her excited movements, his heart felt like it was being gently clawed at by a cat. It was ticklish. He desired more.

“Okay,” he responded flatly.

Lin Qian was glad to hear his simple reply. The cab arrived. Out of habit, she was about to get in the passenger’s side to allow Li Zhicheng to have the back all to himself. But he went ahead of her and opened the back door. “Get in.”

In the meantime, her call was connected. Lin Mochen’s attractive bass voice came through. “Hello?” Lin Qian immediately got into the back seat; covering the speaker, she quickly told the cab driver a location. Only then did she speak into the phone. “Brother, it’s me. I forgot my cell phone just now when I left. Are you done eating?”

Li Zhicheng sat beside her and listened quietly.

Her voice was extremely docile, even meeker than when she had been shamelessly buttering him up.

But Lin Qian’s luck was indeed good. Lin Mochen had just ended his call from work, so he hadn’t realized the “missing status” of his sister. His phone call had presumably gone well because he sounded pleased. “Yup. Where are you? Why aren’t you back yet?”

Lin Qian very briefly explained, “Brother, you can head home. I have a friend over. I’ll go home after I have dinner with him.”

Lin Mochen paused, moving the phone away from his ear to glance at the incoming phone number.

It was a mainland Chinese number.

Oh… roaming in the United States.

“Friend?” he deadpanned. “Is it him?”

Choking on his words, Lin Qian faked a laugh out of reflex. “Nope.” She was about to say it was a different friend. However, after peeking at Li Zhicheng sitting beside her as still as a mountain, she realized that saying so would get her into trouble on this end.

On the other end of the phone was… a wolf. Sitting right here was… another wolf.

Noticing her hesitation, Lin Mochen didn’t ask any more questions. He said lightly, “Pass the phone to him.”

“Huh? What for?”

“He took my sister away on New Year’s Eve. As your guardian, don’t you think I should say a few words to him?”

“Uh, there’s no need to.” Lin Qian inadvertently glanced at Li Zhicheng again. He was staring at her with his dark gaze. Considering his attentiveness, it would be surprising if he hadn’t figure out the situation by now.

She was starting to panic. There was no way she could say something like: Even though I rejected you, my brother has already marked you as an enemy that he has an ax to grind with. If he were any other man, he would for sure be ravaged by her brother. But he was Li Zhicheng. There was no certainty yet which of the two would be ravaged.

Lin Qian cut it short, telling Lin Mochen, “That’s it. Brother, happy new year. Bye bye.” She hung up on him and turned off the phone. She raised her head; only after noticing Li Zhicheng’s stare did she realize her actions had been a little inappropriate.

Luckily he didn’t say a thing. He took back his phone and slipped it into his pocket. He didn’t turn it on either. Lin Qian was touched by this. This was the benefit of being with a smart guy. You didn’t have to say anything; he would be considerate even when it came to the minor details.

While Lin Qian was still praising him in her mind, he looked at her calmly and said, “Tell the driver to turn around and go back to the hotel.”

Lin Qian was stunned. “Go back? For what?”

Li Zhicheng spoke slowly. “I didn’t think it through when I suddenly decided to come here. Today is New Year’s Eve, you should be with your family. I will send you back. Besides,” he paused, staring at her with his dark and deep eyes, “I think he and I will eventually meet to talk things through and get to know each other. You don’t need to be too nervous.”

Startled, Lin Qian felt her heart thump. Her face turned red.

What’s this… She’d always believed she was thick-skinned, but in reality her boss’s skin was much thicker than hers. She hadn’t accepted him—she’d even rejected him few times—but he was still extremely confident and self-assured. Wasn’t this a little too dominant and confident though?

“Well, we’ll see,” she muttered, avoiding his glare.

Without warning, he switched to say, “The Ming Sheng project—I have been looking for an opportunity to thank him in person.”

Lin Qian froze.

He was referring to this?

Raising her head, she stumbled upon his deep gaze. His expression was calm, but his eyes flickered with amusement. He stared at her thoughtfully.

Lin Qian suddenly realized something.

He wasn’t teasing her on purpose, was he?

This seemed to be the case.

Outside the car window were the long traffic jams of The City That Never Sleeps. Colorful neon lights, brilliant and vibrant, shined on their faces. The silent falling snow shrouded everything.

For some reason, under his cool, smiling gaze, Lin Qian’s face reddened like it had never before. Her pulse beat faster, stronger than it had ever been.

After being silently distilled by his gaze for a while, Lin Qian raised her head, calmly rejecting his suggestion. “There’s no need to go back. My brother has an interesting nightlife. Even if we go back, he might not entertain us. If you want to see him, maybe next time.”

In a condominium a few blocks away, Lin Mochen had just taken out his keys to open the door.

He stood at the entrance, looking at the empty, lavishly-furnished home; a refreshingly chill breeze swept past him into the condo. He couldn’t help but sneeze.

Ha… that girl. She had said she was here to celebrate New Year’s Eve with him, yet she ran away with that lad in a blink of an eye. She had even turned off the phone, worried that he might interrupt them.

It seemed that the lad was quite skilled at picking up women.

Since her “guardian” had been alerted, both of them knew the drill. Tomorrow, the lad would surely come over to meet him. Lin Qian, that silly girl, thought she could fool both sides.