Chapter 18 - Iceberg

Xi Jian lead Ling Yue to his office. He let her sat on the sofa there.

"What do you want to talk about?" his cold voice doubted the anxious expression Ling Yue had seen before. She doubted herself as if that only her imagination.

Ling Yue took out her files and cellphone, showing photos of the situation in the Mrs. Wang district. Xi Jian shifts photo by photo on her cellphone. The color of the river in that area was almost red. Xi Jian didn't know how bad things were.

He kept shifting her gallery until the screen opened showing a girl while eating chicken feet. Her expression was a little surprised and her lips were covered in chilli oil. The next one was a her selfie photo with a man, in the aircraft cabin. They smiled broadly and made some silly poses. The woman in the photo shows her teeth in neat white lines. He looked at the cellphone screen and the woman in front of him alternately then threw her phone on the table.

Ling Yue found the action so absurd.

"What are you doing?!"

Xi Jian stood up and headed for his chair which was behind the table. "I'll examine it further." he said then took a file from the stack on his desk. "Do you have more to say?"

Ling Yue gaped. "That's it?"

Xi Jian only stared at her for a moment, then turned his attention back to the file in front of him. But not a single word could be registered into his brain at that moment.

Xi Jian couldn't forget what happened seven years ago. He couldn't find the person behind the scenes who orchestrating that incident.

Even after he mobilized all the resources he had, assisted by Ling Feng, they didn't get any clues. Since then, Xi Jian has limited his interactions with those around him. He did not want the same thing to happen. If the real target was him, he didn''t want to involve others. His open personality changed dramatically. He rarely played like he usually did. He busied himself with work. Unknowingly, seven years had passed and he successfully sat down on his throne, dominate all business in this country.

He was scared. His fear of hurting innocent people like Ling Yue haunted him as a nightmare, yet the girl involved lived happily out there. Without realizing, he became annoyed and irritated.

'Is that her boyfriend?'

Ling Yue looked at him without blinking. He felt that Xi Jian in this room was very different from the Xi Jian she knew before. There was no playful smile on his face. The expression that was always cheerful, replaced by an indifferent attitude as cold as an iceberg.

Back then, he was a carefree person. Always played to his heart's content. Never be so serious.

'Is he change because what happened that time?'

A sudden thought pop up in her head. "Did your leg and hands okay?" the question slid out of her mouth just like that. Deep inside her heart, she always want to knew about that.

Xi Jian's body turned rigid. He replied after a while, without lifted his face. "It's fine."

"Did you deliberately avoiding me because of what happened at that time?" Ling Yue aked again.

Xi Jian did not respond. Ling Yue got the answer. "Oh, I see." She said, somehow feeling sad. "I'm fine, don't worry about it. I'm used to being bullied like that." Ling Yue tided up her file and stood up.

Xi Jian raised his face, upset. "Bullying? Do you think **** is a normal?"

"You didn't do it, right? Why are you suddenly so angry? No wonder my brothers have never said anything so far."

Xi Jian felt his blood boiled. Since when the shy girl who rarely spoke now dared to talking back to him.

"Are you stupid? You didn't get the point?" He snapped.

"What?? You are the one who stupid! It's not like we really did it and made me pregnant!" She snapped back.

A loud thud rang behind Ling Yue's back. Ling Yue turned her body and found an old man, dropped his stick. Mr. Bai stood beside him while holding the knob. Both of them had an expressions which should be preserved.

The old man clear his throat. He sounded bashful and awkward, "Will I have a great-grandson soon?" he asked.