CH 26

Editor: Zoey0001

There was a knock on the door in the office, Ning You said “Come in”, and then continued to watch the documentary on his computer screen.“Chief Ning.” Xiao Zhao pushed the door open. The words were already on the tip of his tongue, but when she saw Ning You looking at the animal world again, she couldn’t help but ask, “Is the animal world that good?” 

Ning You pressed the pause button and requested from Xiao Zhao: “Go find some animal expertsfor me. I have some questions to ask.”

Xiao Zhao showed a puzzled expression: “Chief Ning, do you have a pet?”

“No.” Ning You said, “Just look for it.”

Xiao Zhao made an “OK” gesture and was about to turn around and leave when she suddenly remembered what she came for, and informed Ning You, “By the way, Chief Ning, President Li is here.” 

Ning You looked at the computer screen and asked, “Which President Li?”

Xiao Zhao replied, “Your fiance.”

“Why did he come here?” Ning You was a little surprised, because Li Zhao had never come to the company to find him.

But he immediately knew that he was making a fool of himself, Li Zhao did not come to the company for him.

“He went to Director Ning’s office, won’t you go up and have a look?” Xiao Zhao suggested.

Ning You had a slightly bad feeling in his heart. Two days after returning from Xinjiang, he hadn’t figured out how to discuss the marriage contract with his parents, but he didn’t expect Li Zhao to be one step ahead of him.

“Animal expert.” Ning You instructed Xiao Zhao again, and then hurried to the chairman’s office on a higher floor.

The Director Ning that Xiao Zhao talks about is Ning You’s mother, Ning Xin. 

Ning You’s father is also a “daochamento marry and live with the bride’s family]/tn]”, so the Ning family does not reject this method of marriage. It’s just that Ning’s right to speak is still in Ning Xin’s hands, and it will be in Ning You’s hands in the future——althoughit will take a long time.

When Ning You came to Ning Xin’s office, Li Zhao and Ning Xin had just finished greeting each other, and the secretary hadn’t had time to serve hot tea.

Ning Xin pushed down her gold-rimmed glasses, somewhat surprised by Ning You’s appearance, while Li Zhao stood up consciously, buttoned his suit jacket, and greeted Ning You: “You’re here.”

Ning You nodded politely and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me that you were coming?” 

“I didn’t want to disturb you.” Li Zhao said, “There are some things I wanted to discuss with Director Ning.”

“Don’t be so courteous.” The Secretary served three cups of tea at the right time. Ning Xin picked it up and blew it gently, and said to Li Zhao, “Just call me auntie.”

Li Zhao immediately responded: “Auntie.”

“Sit down.” Ning Xin raised her chin toward Ning You, indicating that he could also listen to the conversation. 

Ning You was a little confused about the situation, but still sat down and waited to see what would happen.

“Regarding the future development direction of the company,” Li Zhao said, “According to the previous meeting, it is artificial intelligence plus life sciences.”

“That’s right.” Ning Xin put down the teacup in her hand, leaving only a very light lipstick mark on the mouth of the cup, “Are there any problems?”

“No, I just have some new ideas.” 

Li Zhao began to talk about the development of the Li family, and Ning You suddenly realized one thing. It turned out that the Ning and Li families had already communicated about the future of the company, and he had no idea about it.

He didn’t feel offended, because it was he himself who took the initiative to give up his senior management position and just wanted to concentrate on the project in hand.

The reason why Ning Xin asked him to choose a fiance was also because he had no intention of managing and needed someone to take over the company affairs.

But it wasn’t until then that Ning You discovered that he and Li Zhao didn’t belong in the same level. 

Li Zhao is the head of Li family and a younger generation to the Ning family. Li Zhao can bypass him to discuss business matters directly with his parents, but if he has any opinions, he can only raise them with his parents. It does not mean that the Ning family can directly discuss with Li Zhao.

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“We donate to the Environmental Protection Foundation every year, which I think is enough.”

Ning Xin’s tone still carries the same amiability characteristic of an elder as earlier, but it’s clear that she doesn’t have patience for offers that don’t interest her.

“The donation may not be enough.”

Ning You couldn’t help but chime in. 

“Why,” Ning Xin asked amusedly, “You’re not even married yet, and you have already started to help your future husband?”

Ning You was suddenly embarrassed. The words “future husband” sounded extremely ironic in his ears. Who let him inadvertently sleep with his future brother-in-law?

However, Li Zhao behaved as decently as ever. He fought for a few more words with Ning Xin, and finally stopped in moderation, and found an excuse to leave and say goodbye.

Coming out of Ning Xin’s office, Ning You kept up with Li Zhao’s pace closely, wanting to ask him about his intentions of coming over today. But because there was a secretary by the door, he had to swallow his doubts back into his stomach. 

“Are you free this weekend?” Li Zhao took the initiative to talk to Ning You, “I’ll take you horseback riding.”

Ning You subconsciously felt a little resistant, because riding a horse has a special meaning to him.

Li Zhao could see that he didn’t want to go, adding, “My brother’s favorite sport.”

Well, precisely. 

Ning You pursed his lips and said, “Go.”

Fast forward to the weekend, Li Zhao took Ning You to a horse farm in the suburbs.

Ning You would naturally not rent a cavalryman’s uniform from the horse farm. He had already asked Xiao Zhao to purchase a complete set of equipment for him, including a black horsewhip.

Li Zhao on the other side also changed into a handsome cavalryman’s uniform. He looked at Ning You twice and said with a smile: “It’s quite professional.” 

Originally, Ning You didn’t understand why Li Zhao was laughing. It wasn’t until the staff of the horse farm brought him a pony that he realized that Li Zhao thought he couldn’t ride a horse.

To be precise, Li Mu is the only one in the world who knows that Ning You can ride a horse——riding a horse in every sense.

This also shows that Li Mu did not reveal too much about the two of them to Li Zhao.

Ning You asked someone to exchange for a medium-sized horse, and then recalled what Li Mu taught him, and ran a few laps in the venue. 

After the fast pace changed to a slow walk, Li Zhao caught up from the side. He walked side by side with Ning You and asked, “Did Li Mu teach you?”

Ning You nodded: “Hmm.”

“I knew it.” Li Zhao said, “It’s exactly the same as him. At first glance, it’s unorthodox.”

The antonym of unorthodox was academic. Li Zhao’s riding movements are obviously the standard academic, noble and gorgeous, not at all like Ning You and Li Mu. Be as comfortable as you like. 

If it were any other occasion, Ning You would have felt embarrassed.

It is as if he used the wrong way of using cutlery and was considered rough and unrefined, like a reckless man.

But the strange thing is that he unexpectedly enjoyed the feeling of being in a faction with Li Mu, as if he was addicted to the barbaric style.

This is not okay. 

Ning You warned himself.

“By the way,” Li Zhao started another topic, “The night we came back, Li Mu called me.”

“Hmm?” Ning You immediately pricked up his ears.

These days, Ning You has been afraid to contact Li Mu. One is because the two had previously agreed not to contact each other again, and he didn’t want to be the one who took the initiative; the other is because he didn’t think about how to deal with the marriage contract, even if he called, he didn’t know what to say. 

But not contacting doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss him.

He would wash his hands with Li Mu’s soap every night, without applying any hand cream, and just fall asleep smelling Li Mu’s scent.

“Do you want to know what he said to me?” Li Zhao can see Ning You’s nervousness.

Ning You suddenly discovered that since Li Zhao knew about his relationship with Li Mu, he spoke much more liberally, and he no longer paid attention to being polite as before, but seemed to regard him as a friend of his younger brother. 

“If you want to tell me.” Ning You said.

“He said he wants you.”

Ning You’s heart thumped, and a secret joy gushed out. He could express his emotions without hesitation in front of Li Mu, but he couldn’t when facing Li Zhao, so he put up a front and slightly raised his chin and said, “Really.”

“I thought about it and decided it was okay for you to marry me in name but be with him in reality.” 

“What?” Ning You frowned.

“His reaction is the same as yours.” Li Zhao smiled, “There is another option, I don’t mind him marrying you, but……”

“But?” Ning You couldn’t help urging.

“Do you have a way to get him back?” Li Zhao said. 

Ning You understood the meaning of Li Zhao’s words, and for a while didn’t know how to answer.

“At the beginning, I thought that with Ning as a backer, the company could increase its investment in environmental protection, so that he could come back and marry you, and I could just implement my singleness.”

“But you have seen auntie’s attitude, and other shareholders will be the same. They are not interested in what Li Mu wants to do. Do you think Li Mu would be willing to come back as a decoration?”

“Or at the very least, Ning and Li families will not be joined in marriage. Who are you willing to fall in love with and who are you willing to marry? That’s your freedom. But the premise is that you have to let Li Mu return to the city. I don’t think auntie will agree with you to live in the mountains.” 

“Since he called you,” Ning You said, “Isn’t it because he has the will to come back?”

“He does.” Li Zhao chuckled lightly, “He wants me to leave the Li family’s business to him to take care of, so that he has a meaning to come back.”

“But you don’t want to.” Ning You said.

“Yes.” Li Chao said, “He can marry you, and I will bless you. But he cannot marry you as the head of the Li family, because that is my seat and the shareholders of the company will not approve of his development strategy.” 

That’s where the contradiction lies.

If Li Mu couldn’t find the meaning of coming back, it would be impossible for him to put aside everything and return to the city.

Although the three of them have talked about getting married, that is where the premise of an union exists.

In fact, Ning You and Li Mu have only known each other for less than two weeks, and there is even a week without contact. Even Ning You himself is not sure if Li Mu returns to the city like this and becomes an ordinary person, will he still have that kind of feelings for Li Mu. 

“So what did he say?” Ning You asked.

“He didn’t tell me.” Li Zhao said, “You can go ask him.”

Ning You faintly felt bad, because Li Mu had already talked to Li Zhao so much, but he had never actively contacted him.

He came to the corner of the horse farm, took out his phone and called Li Mu, but the voice call prompted that the phone was turned off. 

This is very strange.

Li Mu’s phone often does not work due to poor signal, but he has never turned off the phone.

Ning You called two more times, and it was still turned off.

He came to the stable and wanted to borrow Li Zhao’s phone to try again, but when he came to the rest area, he saw that Li Zhao was actually smoking. 

“Li Zhao.” Ning You called out with a frown.

Li Zhao turned around, put out his cigarette unhurriedly, and said to Ning You, “Have you talked to him?”

“His phone is turned off.” Ning You said, “I remember you said you wouldn’t smoke.”

Li Zhao didn’t deny it: “You don’t care anyway, do you?” 

Ning You finally understood why Li Zhao’s attitude had changed, because he was the one who didn’t care anymore.

He doesn’t need to earn performance points in front of Ning You anymore. Anyway, Li Mu has already got a full score, and it doesn’t make sense for him to earn any more.

But that’s not even the main point.

Ning You looked at Li Zhao and asked, “Did you smoke in the forest too?” 

“I know about the fire, Ning You.” Li Zhao replied amusedly, “It wasn’t me, okay?”

Before seeing Li Zhao smoking, Ning You would believe 100% of what he said, because Li Zhao felt mature and stable, not like a person who will lie.

But now it seems that regardless of whether the cause of the fire was him or not, at least it is certain that maturity and stability are not the criteria for evaluating a person. Perhaps that was just the appearance of a deep and insightful person.

Returning home from the horse farm, Ning You made numerous phone calls to Li Mu. 

He had countless legitimate reasons to contact Li Mu——to ask him about his thoughts on the marriage contract, but apart from this high-sounding excuse, in fact, his most real motivation was that he missed Li Mu.

From the afternoon to the evening, the call prompt is still turned off.

After such a long time, it is impossible that the cable in the cabin has not been repaired. Even if Li Mu forgot to charge his phone during the day, he should have returned to the cabin by now.

As the time approached midnight, Ning You’s heart became more and more uneasy. He approached Xiao Zhao and asked her to contact the person in charge of the Hanas Lake Scenic Area to see if anyone had heard from Li Mu.“Chief Ning, do you know what time it is now?” 

“Sorry, I have something urgent.”

“It’s midnight.”

“It’s equal to ten o’clock in the evening on their side.”

Having said that, Ning You was indeed a little upset, and said, “I will add a bonus to you this month.” 

Sure enough, the bonus was still very powerful. Within ten minutes, Xiao Zhao had news and called Ning You back and said, “Chief Ning, I asked Chief Lin on their side. President Li’s younger brother was injured in the process of catching the poacher. He has been hospitalized for the past two days.”

“What?” The uneasiness in his heart was really not unreasonable, Ning You sat up from the bed with a whoosh, “Book a ticket to Hanas for me right away.”

“Now?” Xiao Zhao was dumbfounded, “Then are you still going to work on Monday?”

“Push off all my work.”