TSMLI CHAPTER 16

Lin Chu felt a chill run down her spine, but her wrists felt as hot as if hot oil had been poured on them. She lowered her center of gravity and kept her feet firmly planted: “Manager Shen, no need, no need, the bus is coming soon!”

Shen Zhongxun frowned: “I have something to say to you, or I can talk to you tonight?”

For a moment, Lin Chu was hysterical. She was extremely unwilling to listen to Shen Zhongxun’s so-called “words.” Her gaze fell on the driver in the car, and she was relieved to think that it was probably not what she thought. Shen Zhongxun pulled her forward, and Lin Chu hesitated for a moment before taking a step.

The difference between inside and outside the car was like night and day. Lin Chu suddenly felt alive again, her back covered in sticky sweat, which took her two minutes to dry in the air conditioning. She secretly scratched the two mosquito bites on her thighs and glanced sideways at Shen Zhongxun, who was flipping through documents.

A moment later, Shen Zhongxun took out his phone to make another call. Since he hadn’t said anything before, Lin Chu could only stare intently at the front window, occasionally exchanging glances with the curious driver in the rearview mirror.

Halfway through the drive, Shen Zhongxun hung up the phone and continued to look at the documents. Lin Chu thought he had ignored her, but then he spoke up: “I’m a bit busy today and won’t be back in Chuqian until very late. I’ll talk to you when I have some free time.”

Lin Chu hesitated, impulsively wanting to tell Shen Zhongxun not to come looking for her, but she swallowed the words back. After all, he was a leader of a subordinate unit of the city investment company, and she couldn’t let things become awkward between them.

They arrived in the city in silence. Shen Zhongxun had important business to attend to, so he didn’t take Lin Chu to Guanjin Garden. Instead, he stopped the car at a fork in the road, where there was a bus that went directly to Guanjin Garden.

Lin Chu thanked him and walked around the car to the other side of the road. Shen Zhongxun called out to her again: “Lin Chu, save my phone number. You can call me if you need anything.”

Lin Chu gave a dry reply and jogged towards the approaching bus.

As the bus moved forward, Shen Zhongxun twisted his neck to look out the window, watching Lin Chu jump onto the bus.

After the bus disappeared from sight completely after turning a corner, Shen Zhongxun turned his neck back and frowned as he began to ponder.

He couldn’t pinpoint when he had developed feelings for Lin Chu, but he was certain that Lin Chu had already sensed it, which was why she fabricated a fake boyfriend, thus proving that Lin Chu didn’t like him. Shen Zhongxun felt inexplicably lost. After decades of smooth sailing, he had never experienced failure, and now, for the first time, he was tasting this kind of feeling, which was not pleasant.

After a long wait, he arrived at the company, perked up, and followed the others into the conference room.

A group of people arrived one after another. Today was the first meeting before the project’s investment promotion, with many interested companies participating, and the entire meeting room was packed. The assistant handed the documents to Shen Zhongxun and whispered, “This time, Nanhu Hotel Group and Nangui Catering Group are among them.”

He rattled off seven or eight names in a row, but Shen Zhongxun had already finished reading the first page. He interrupted him, saying, “Nanhu Hotel, the hotel under construction near Chuqian Scenic Area, does it belong to their group?”

The assistant nodded: “Yes, Hengguang Construction acquired that batch of land last year, including this commercial and service land.”

Shen Zhongxun then pointed to Nangui Catering Group and asked, “Who did Nangui send this time?”

The assistant replied, “The marketing manager and the deputy manager.” After thinking for a moment, he added, “The deputy manager, Cheng Qiaoan, is the chairman’s son-in-law.” He continued to provide details for a while, and then the meeting officially began.

Shen Zhongxun was fully focused on his work, gathering detailed information about the participants, and before he knew it, most of the time had passed.

Lin Chu finally found a nice hotel near Guanjin Garden. They offered a 20% discount on private rooms for a week, so she booked a room, called Ye Jing to inform her, and then asked her about Shen Zhongxun.

Ye Jing replied, “You know all this? He came right after you left at noon. He thought you had a boyfriend, so I just casually mentioned it. I’ve been thinking about it all afternoon. Is he really pursuing you? Did you reject him?”

Lin Chu couldn’t help but recount the situation from a few hours ago, and Ye Jing laughed, “Isn’t that great? You’ve always disliked dragging things out, haven’t you? If you really didn’t like it, you could have just refused!”

Lin Chu frowned and said, “Who said I don’t like things to be done in a roundabout way?” She whispered, “Besides, he didn’t say anything, how can I refuse? What if I’m just imagining things?”

If the other party were to be direct with her, Lin Chu would immediately clarify without hesitation. However, being a girl, she was shy and couldn’t bring herself to speak in such ambiguous situations.

Lin Chu thought it over and over, but still couldn’t be 100% sure of Shen Zhongxun’s meaning, so she simply stopped overthinking and took the bus back to Chuqian.

When she was changing buses, she waited at the next bus stop. There weren’t many people waiting with her. Everyone seemed to be suffering from the sweltering heat, constantly checking their phones for the time and fanning themselves. Lin Chu felt so stuffy she could hardly breathe and thought she was being tortured.

The bus was late, and someone asked someone nearby, “What’s going on? Did they change the last bus’s schedule?”

“Who knows? We’ve been waiting for twenty minutes already, let’s wait a little longer.”

Lin Chu jumped around and kept patting her arms, slowly hiding in the shade behind the bus stop, rubbing against the bushes behind her while constantly observing the direction from which the bus was coming.

She didn’t know how much time had passed when she suddenly heard rustling sounds coming from the bushes.

This area is sparsely populated, with roads leading to mountains and forests on both sides, and only a residential area under construction in the middle. It gets dark early in winter, and Lin Chu used to feel uneasy waiting for the bus after work. Hearing such a sound now, she felt a chill run down her spine and left the shady spot to walk towards the bus stop.

No sooner had she taken a few steps than a commotion erupted behind her, as if an explosion had occurred. A row of bushes stirred and trembled slightly. People on the platform heard the noise and turned to look. Lin Chu peered into the woods and vaguely saw a massive, fleshy creature moving. A moment later, a huge head emerged from the dense foliage, huffing and puffing as it tried to squeeze its way out. Lin Chu gasped and ran towards the platform. The next second, the enormous creature suddenly burst out, its massive body swaying as it aimed at the moving Lin Chu and charged straight at her. People on the platform screamed.

Lin Chu’s feet were not as strong as four legs. The panting sounds came from behind her in the blink of an eye. Amid the screams and panicked escape of the crowd, she suddenly felt a tightness around her waist. A hot breath shot out and a warm touch pressed against her waist. Lin Chu’s scalp tingled, and she immediately screamed. In the instant she screamed, she was knocked to the ground. The huge creature leaped over her and immediately fled forward. The crowd screamed and made way for her. The whole scene was chaotic.

Five minutes later, traffic police and reporters arrived. Everyone was still in shock and rushed to describe what had happened.

Lin Chu hid in a corner, facing the billboard, her entire neck flushed red. Someone pointed at her and said to the traffic police, “She’s the one who got hit just now.”

The cameraman immediately aimed his lens at Lin Chu, who dodged again, looking as if she were burning up, as if she were being scorched by the blazing sun.

The bus finally approached from afar. Lin Chu heard the traffic police say, “The road ahead has just been cleared, so the bus is a little late.” Footsteps followed closely behind. Lin Chu’s back stiffened, and she immediately jumped onto the bus. The reporters behind her shouted twice and blocked the door. Lin Chu covered her face with her hands and shrank into a corner. Then she heard someone shout, “Found it! It’s up ahead!” The group of reporters were pulled off the bus by the driver. Seeing that Lin Chu seemed unwilling to cooperate, they simply shifted their news focus and ran to the front.

Lin Chu’s face was flushed red, and her face and neck seemed to be dripping blood. The people who had been waiting for the bus with her seemed to have survived a disaster and chatted about what had happened. Some of them were comforting Lin Chu and asking her if she was hurt. Lin Chu shook her head, leaned against the window, closed her eyes, and pretended to be dead.

Finally back in Chuqian, she let out a long sigh of relief. When she returned to the hotel, Ye Jing exclaimed in surprise, “You fell? Your legs are all dirty and scraped!”

After Lin Chu finished speaking with a mournful face, Ye Jing’s face twitched. After enduring it for a long time, she couldn’t hold back anymore and fell onto the bed, bursting into laughter. Her pale complexion immediately improved.

Shen Zhongxun finally finished the meeting and went to a dinner party with everyone.

Inside the hotel’s private room, the lights were flashing and the hot dishes were served one after another. Some people complained about the noise and turned off the TV. Cheng Qiaoan raised his glass to toast, offering a series of polite compliments. Shen Zhongxun stood up to accept, and only sat down again after drinking three glasses.

He hadn’t expected Cheng Qiaoan to be so young, yet his demeanor and speech were mature and sophisticated, showing no signs of immaturity. He must have put in a lot of effort to understand all the details of this project’s investment promotion before coming, as the conversation was effortless. Shen Zhongxun had a very good impression of him.

After a few rounds of drinks, he got up to go to the restroom. When he came out, he passed by the front desk and glanced at the television hanging next to the liquor cabinet. When he saw the news, he frowned and slowed down.

That road was the only way for Lin Chu to get home. During the interview, the reporter actually filmed the bus stop. The scene flashed by, and suddenly a small, thin figure appeared, hiding in the corner of the billboard. The reporter said, “…No one was injured, just a little girl was hit…” After a long string of words, the scene switched again and returned to the highway where the first incident occurred.

Shen Zhongxun, impatient to continue watching, hurriedly took out his phone and immediately dialed Lin Chu’s number.

Lin Chu had just taken a shower and was curled up on the bed, touching the scrapes on her legs. She set her phone alarm and told Ye Jing to get up early tomorrow. Her hand trembled when her phone rang; the alarm was interrupted before she could save it. Lin Chu stared at an unfamiliar number, slowly answered, and the first thing she heard was, “You’ve been taken advantage of by a pig?”

Lin Chu suddenly kicked her leg, scraping her skin and feeling a burning pain. Her face turned red, and she stammered, “You… what did you say!”

Shen Zhongxun simply said, “I’ll be back in three hours. Don’t go to sleep yet, let me check on you!” With that, he immediately hung up the phone.

Shen Zhongxun was already somewhat drunk. After entering the private room, he drank for a while longer, then pretended to be unable to continue, repeatedly begging for mercy and saying goodbye. Although everyone had planned activities for the next event, they had also inquired about his temperament, so they did not force him. After the event, he only went to the bathhouse with the person in charge of Chuqian Travel Investment Company.

As soon as Shen Zhongxun got into the car, he ordered the driver, “Drive faster, to the hotel we visited at noon today.”

The driver immediately sped away, disappearing into the deep darkness of the night.

Shen Zhongxun rolled down the car window, letting the warm air dissipate most of the alcohol’s effects. He forced himself to stay awake, and after a long while, they finally arrived at the hotel. He eagerly got out of the car, looked up at the third floor—as expected, it was pitch black. After a moment’s thought, he took out his phone and dialed. It took a while before he heard a soft, slurred voice answer: “Hello…”

Shen Zhongxun smiled and said, “Asleep? It’s me.”