DLWAV CH117

Director Wang had originally thought that asking Ao Ruize for help meant inviting him to her house so that he could personally deal with those people.

But to her surprise, Ao Ruize only planned to give her a string of court beads.

And he had even casually taken them off the shelf in Boss Li’s antique shop.

Could this really be reliable?

Director Wang suddenly felt a little regretful for believing Boss Li’s words.

Yet Boss Li and the others all wore envious expressions instead.

“Director Wang, what are you still standing there for? Hurry up and take it.”

“Please don’t worry, Director Wang. Since Mr. Zhang says this string of court beads can deal with Gao Second’s parents, then even if all eighteen generations of Gao Second’s ancestors showed up, they wouldn’t be able to harm a single hair on your head.”

What else could Director Wang do?

She could only suppress the doubt in her heart and accept the string of court beads. “Th-then thank you very much, Mr. Zhang.”

The next morning, Ao Ruize had only just arrived at Qibao Pavilion when Boss Li came in right behind him, bringing Director Wang’s eldest son along.

They brought him the follow-up news.

“At first, Director Wang didn’t really believe that string of beads could actually help her deal with Gao Second’s parents… ghosts.”

“So the first thing she did after going home was ask her secretary to contact the Special Affairs Bureau for her again.”

“But most of the people from the Special Affairs Bureau are still laid up in the hospital right now. Even the ones who can get out of bed have to go inspect those devil dens, ghost realms, and corpse-raising grounds first, to keep those demons and monsters from causing trouble while things are in chaos.”

“So last night, she still had to sleep alone. But maybe because she still held onto a bit of hope, she ended up wearing the string of court beads after all.”

“She originally thought the beads were supposed to protect her from evil spirits invading her dreams, but after she fell asleep, Gao Second’s parents still appeared in her dream.”

“She panicked immediately, but what she didn’t expect was that the string of court beads also appeared in her dream.”

“She instinctively grabbed the string and swung it at Gao Second’s parents.”

“And it turned out the string could actually extend on its own. Gao Second’s parents were sent flying on the spot.”

“Gao Second’s parents were dumbfounded, and so was she.”

“Because before that, she had already hired seven or eight masters to deal with Gao Second’s parents, and none of them had managed to hurt them in the slightest.”

“Luckily, she reacted first. In no time at all, she used the beads to tie them up.”

“And then she beat them nonstop for the entire night and well into the morning.”

“If her second son hadn’t noticed she still hadn’t come downstairs and gone up to check on her, she probably would’ve already collapsed from exhaustion.”

“Her second son has already taken her to the hospital.”

Director Wang’s eldest son immediately took out an invitation card and respectfully offered it to Ao Ruize with both hands. “Mr. Zhang’s great kindness is something our Wang family can never repay. So our family has booked two tables tonight at Fenghua Hotel. We sincerely hope Mr. Zhang and all the uncles here will honor us with your presence.”

Naturally, Ao Ruize had no reason to refuse. “Alright.”

What followed was naturally another round of polite formalities, which need not be repeated.

By the time Ao Ruize got home, it was already midnight.

The key point was that Zhang Qingyan was still awake.

Hearing the noise, Zhang Qingyan, who had been sitting on the sofa spacing out, immediately turned her head. Only when she saw it was Ao Ruize did she come back to herself. “You’re back?”

She lowered her numb legs to the floor and started rubbing them.

Seeing this, Ao Ruize walked straight over, placed the box in his hand on the table, and sat down across from her. “Why are you still awake so late? Is something on your mind?”

At those words, Zhang Qingyan paused in the middle of rubbing her legs.

Normally, she didn’t really like talking to people about what was on her mind.

But this time, she couldn’t quite hold it in.

She took a breath, then said honestly, “All this time, I thought Yan Qi was just an ordinary salaried worker like me. But today I found out that he’s actually the heir to the Yan Group.”

That afternoon, when she had gone with her manager to the Yan Group to discuss a partnership, she had happened to see Yan Qi coming out of the building, and her manager had addressed him as General Manager Yan.

Zhang Qingyan said, “This afternoon, I had a fight with him…”

Ao Ruize asked, “So what are you thinking?”

Zhang Qingyan fell silent for a moment. “From his perspective, I can understand what he was thinking.”

“But from my perspective…”

“I always thought we had fallen in love freely, that we were a match made in heaven. But now he’s telling me that everything he did in this relationship was the result of weighing pros and cons.”

“It even makes me wonder whether, on the occasions when I showed that I cared a little about power and money, he was secretly judging my character too, labeling me as worldly and vain.”

“And most importantly, in my original life plan, he and I were well matched. After we got married, we could buy another apartment and a car together. That apartment could be for you to live in, and if you didn’t want to live there, we could rent it out, and the rent would just about cover part of the mortgage…”

“But now he’s telling me that he’s the only son of the Yan family, the heir to the Yan Group, and that his family is one of the most prominent wealthy families in Qianshi.”

“And that makes me start worrying—can his parents accept me? And what if I can’t fit into his family in the future?”

Ao Ruize only asked, “Do you still like him?”

Zhang Qingyan fell silent again.

Then she said坦然ly, “I do.”

“When I was sick, he put aside work to take care of me. When I was upset, he was willing to do everything he could to cheer me up. If I brought him breakfast, he would get so happy he’d post five updates to his friend circle in a row. And if I accidentally touched his hand, he’d stay distracted for the whole morning…”

“And this time too, he was the one who helped settle the Zhao family matter. He also used his connections to transfer me to the head office.”

Ao Ruize paused. “Hm?”

Zhang Qingyan had been transferred to the head office?

He genuinely hadn’t known about that.

At dinner just now, Director Wang and the others hadn’t mentioned it either.

“Did Yan Qi admit it?”

“No. He said it wasn’t him.”

Zhang Qingyan said that.

But if it wasn’t him, who else could it be?

Ao Ruize smiled. “Then give it another try.”

Zhang Qingyan blinked. “What?”

Ao Ruize said seriously, “If you break up with him now, you might regret it in the future. But if you give it another try, then no matter whether you two make it to the end or not, at least you definitely won’t regret it later.”

Zhang Qingyan fell completely silent.

It was only after quite a while that she finally said again, “Alright.”

Then she stood up directly. “Then I’ll head back to my room first.”

She needed to talk to Yan Qi again.

“Oh, right.”

As if he had just remembered something, Ao Ruize picked up a box from the pile of things he had brought back and handed it to her.

“This is from one of my… clients. It’s for you.”

The client was Director Wang.

Zhang Qingyan froze for a moment, then understood. It was probably because Ao Ruize’s client had been very satisfied with their transaction, so they had conveniently prepared a thank-you gift for his family member—namely her.

Because Ao Ruize had been bringing things home fairly often lately, she didn’t think much of it and simply accepted the box.

It was a very upscale-looking box, with a few English letters set into it in crystal—that should have been the brand name of whatever was inside.

She opened it, and her eyes lit up immediately.

Inside was a necklace, shaped like an exquisite little swan, gleaming with the kind of metallic sheen that would absolutely make any woman fall in love at first sight.

Zhang Qingyan simply said, “Thank you. I really like it.”

Then, as if she had thought of something, she added, “Let’s go eat grilled fish at noon tomorrow. To celebrate getting rid of those Zhao-family pests—and also because you’ve worked hard lately, keeping the house this clean.”

More importantly, judging by the fact that Ao Ruize had been bringing things home so often lately, his work must have been going pretty smoothly too, which was also something worth celebrating.

Ao Ruize: “…”

He turned his head and took a look, only then realizing that the house really was unbelievably clean today.

Even the cracks between the floorboards were spotless.

But of course, that wasn’t his handiwork.

Ao Ruize raised a brow.

He turned his head directly toward the wolfberry tree in the flowerpot by the window.

The little wolfberry tree swayed its branches just a bit.

So the identity of this “field-snail girl” was now obvious without needing to be said.

Ao Ruize smiled.

It had only been nourished with spiritual energy a few times, and yet it had already developed intelligence.

Quite a lucky little thing.

“Alright,” Ao Ruize said.

Once Zhang Qingyan went back to her room, Ao Ruize walked straight over to the wolfberry tree and stuffed a spirit stone into its pot.

The wolfberry tree’s branches immediately began swaying even more cheerfully.

Seeing this, the little milk dumpling crawled out from Ao Ruize’s sea of consciousness.

It went straight up to the wolfberry tree and poked it with a finger.

Mainly because this was the first time it had ever seen a spirit plant even smaller than itself.

The wolfberry tree also lifted a branch and poked its big chubby face.

A bit soft.

Very pettable.

Then, as if thinking of something, several of its branches suddenly grew a little longer, wrapping one end around the nearby table.

And just like that, a completely natural swing had been made.

The little milk dumpling’s eyes immediately shone even brighter.

It flew right over, plopped onto the swing, and started swaying back and forth.

What it didn’t realize was that the wolfberry tree’s branches had also buried themselves into its fluffy fur.

“Hee hee hee hee!”

Seeing how delighted the little milk dumpling and the wolfberry tree were, what else could Ao Ruize say? He just went straight back to his room.

…

Zhang Qingyan and Yan Qi made up.

Ao Ruize went to Haishi.

Because Sun Jianhong’s birthday had arrived, and he had set up several banquet tables at his home, inviting all his friends from the antiques circle over.

Sun Xiuji truly hadn’t expected that he would actually get to see Ao Ruize again.

So much so that the irritation he’d been feeling from just being nagged by Sun Jianhong about marriage instantly disappeared.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, it was time for entertainment.

Sun Jianhong immediately called out, “Cards or mahjong?”

Boss Li said, “Mahjong, I haven’t played in ages.”

Naturally, no one else objected.

Sun Xiuji couldn’t help frowning.

He didn’t like playing mahjong, mainly because Sun Jianhong and the others always liked to smoke while they played, and once they got worked up, they also liked to shout loudly. It gave him a grimy, smoky feeling.

So in the past, whenever this point in the gathering came, he would always be the first to head back to his room.

But this time—

Seeing that Ao Ruize had also sat down at the mahjong table, Sun Xiuji tapped his foot on the floor again and again, but in the end, he still didn’t leave.

And then he realized that, actually, he had misunderstood mahjong.

The game itself didn’t really have any inherent quality.

It all depended on the sort of person playing it.

Some people had poor skills, moved sluggishly, and were overly emotional, which gave the whole thing a noisy, unpleasant atmosphere.

Some people had excellent skills, moved with smooth, flowing ease, stayed quiet, didn’t make a fuss, and also happened to have a handsome face…

Who would still have the mood to watch the tiles?

Sun Xiuji glanced at Ao Ruize’s sharply defined profile, then at his excessively sexy Adam’s apple, then at those long-fingered hands with distinct veins showing on the back.

Unable to help himself, he loosened a button on his shirt collar.

Sun Xiuji knew that something seemed just a tiny bit very wrong with him.

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