CH 1.2

Luo Qi didn’t go back to the matrimonial house, but took the subway back to her home.

Unlike Pei Shixiao’s high-end community, her family lived in an alley in the old town.

The house in the alley was an old house left by her grandparents, which had been vacant for several years. Seven years ago, the family villa was seized, and her parents moved there—where they have been living until now.

Lou Qi walked across the stone bridge, then into the cramped alley. Their old house was not in a single family courtyard; there were three other families living within the same courtyard.

Their neighbor, Grandma Qian, was sitting on the patio to enjoy the shade. When she saw Lou Qi come back, she went back inside her house and brought her two slices of watermelon.

“Your mother said you’re coming back this weekend, but unfortunately they’re busy and can’t see you.” Grandma Qian had watched Luo Qi grow up. Luo Qi was not polite, took the watermelon, sat down on the low stool next to Grandma Qian and ate it, chatting for a while.

“Your mother said you’re coming back to check out banquet halls for the wedding. Have you booked it?”

“Yeah.” Luo Qi nodded and told Grandma Qian which hotel it was.

When people get old, they can’t help nagging, and so Grandma Qian said earnestly, “Your grandma is gone, I have to say something in her stead. When you get married, it’s better not to go back to work. Young couples can’t live in two places forever. It’s easy for something to go wrong.”

Luo Qi replied seriously, “I will go to Shanghai next year.”

“I heard from your mother that your boss is a good person, and she treats you well.” It’s a pity to resign, but it’s really not easy for the young couple to meet each other the way they are now. Grandma Qian sighed, at a loss.

“It’s not resignation— it’s a transfer to another branch.” She was the assistant of Vice-Chairman Jiang Yueru, and she mentioned to Director Jiang1 before that she planned to transfer to another city after marriage.

After five years of working by Director Jiang’s side, she was ready to stand alone. Director Jiang promised her that she would transfer her to Shanghai to be in charge of Yuanwei Group Shanghai Branch.

Director Jiang was the aunt of their big boss, Jiang Shenghe. Jiang Shenghe was mostly brought up by Director Jiang. They were not mother and son, but their relationship was stronger than that of mother and son. Director Jiang’s promise to her was basically a certainty.

After eating two slices of watermelon, Luo Qi went back to the house to clean up.

The old house had two compact bedrooms. Her bedroom has been unoccupied for a long time, and the room was stuffy, so Luo Qi opened the window to ventilate it.

The mobile phone on the table rang. Luo Qi thought it was Pei Shixiao calling, so she hurried over to pick it up and looked at the number. It was someone in charge of one of Yuanwei Group’s business partners.

After answering the phone, the two of them exchanged some polite words, and the other party asked her, “Assistant Luo, how is Director Jiang Dong’s surgery? Are things okay? I want to visit Director Jiang in the hospital tomorrow, and I need to trouble you to arrange it.” 

“….”

Lou Qi was confused.

Director Jiang was hospitalized?

She was Jiang Yueru’s assistant, but she didn’t know that her boss had undergone an operation. It was a huge dereliction of duty.

Even if she didn’t know what was going on with Jiang Yueru, she wouldn’t show a trace of surprise in front of outsiders. Luo Qi said calmly, “You don’t need to trouble yourself. I will arrange things and call you back.” 

After hanging up the phone, Luo Qi called Jiang Yueru’s driver and asked. She found out that Jiang Yueru was hospitalized on Friday and had a cholecystectomy2. She was now in a stable condition and all indicators were normal.

As for why he kept it from her, the driver explained, “It wasn’t my intention not to tell you, but Director Jiang expressed that this shouldn’t affect your going back to Sucheng to try on your wedding dress and booking the wedding banquet.”

Luo Qi couldn’t express the feeling in her heart, “I’ll go back early tomorrow morning.”

She cut off the call and immediately rebooked the return ticket.

At noon the next day, Luo Qi returned to Beijing.

Jiang Yueru’s room was on the top floor of the VIP ward, and there were bodyguards at the entrance. Luo Qi recognized them as the bodyguards of their big boss, Jiang Shenghe.

Thinking that Jiang Shenghe was also in the ward at the moment, Luo Qi felt apprehensive.

In the entire Yuanwei Group, except for Jiang Yueru, no one can not be nervous when they are in front of Jiang Shenghe, especially when he stares at you without saying a word.

In Jiang Shenghe’s work team, everyone was at risk. Everyone in the President’s office never dares to be distracted during work, let alone catch fish3.

The advantage of being highly efficient was that there was no need to work overtime. The people in the President’s office could have two or three weekends off in a month, and they could basically leave work at a normal time.

She once even thought about whether to work in Jiang Shenghe’s office.

The bodyguard knew Luo Qi and let her go in directly.

Lou Qi held the flowers and nodded her thanks.

Not knowing if Jiang Yueru was asleep or not, she walked lightly to silence steps.

The door of the ward was ajar and there was a weak complaint from inside, “The good thing about being sick is that my ears are pure and peaceful. Your parents, especially your father, don’t dare to talk to me these days. You don’t even know that the day before my operation, your dad called me and asked me to urge you to settle down. It’s annoying.” 

“Next time he urges you, say that I haven’t played enough, and I have to play for another two years.” There was a cynical smile clearly heard in his voice.

“You just want to piss him off,” she quipped. Then Jiang Yueru said meaningfully, “You, what can you do if you continue to stay in this trap?” 

Luo Qi was confused about what to do: it was about the boss’s privacy, and she couldn’t continue to listen. She turned around and went back out for a while, then walked towards the door of the ward again with normal footsteps.

Just as the chat in the room came to an end, Jiang Shenghe heard a voice outside the door.

Lou Qi knocked lightly on the door.

Jiang Shenghe saw Luo Qi’s silhouette through the crack of the door, “Come in.”

Luo Qi pushed the door open, and the first thing she saw was Jiang Shenghe, who was sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed.

Jiang Yueru turned her head slowly, “It’s a minor operation for me, it’s not a problem. Tell me, you finally went home and now came back in a hurry, did you even have time to pick out the wedding dress?” 

Luo Qi smiled and lied, “The wedding dress has been picked out, and the hotel is also booked.”

After Jiang Yueru accepted her explanation, she was free to greet Jiang Shenghe, “Chief Jiang.” Her eyes flickered past his face, his aura was overwhelming, and she didn’t dare to look at him.

Jiang Shenghe nodded. His gaze lingered between her eyebrows for two or three seconds, calmly, his eyes not moving away.

____________

FOOTNOTES:

1Vice-Chairman Jiang Yueru—the FL’s current boss and ML’s aunt—is mostly referred throughout the text as ‘Director Jiang’ 

2 Cholecystectomy: surgery to remove the gallbladder. 

3 Short for the idiom “浑水摸鱼” (literally: catching fish in muddy water), this term originally refers to the situation where people make profits out of chaotic conditions. Nowadays, the term is also used to refer to situations where people don’t do their work well and loaf on the job. 

T/N: Would you rather I keep the idiom in and put an explanation in the footnotes—like this, or directly replace it an equivalent English phrase in the text?