On her way back from the Zhang family, Cheng Anya’s heart was extremely heavy and she remained silent throughout. Zhang Bo’s ashes disrupted the joyous atmosphere in the family. The cries of Old Madam Zhang, Zhang Bo’s grandmother, and the others resonated around her ear. The younger members of the Zhang family were in a deep-seated rage and wanted to seek justice for Zhang Bo.
Everybody was embroiled in grief and hatred. Cheng Anya’s gaze was deep and she slightly sighed.
Commander Zhang did not blame her. Instead, he thanked her for bringing Zhang Bo’s ashes back so that his soul could return to the Zhang family. While everybody in the Zhang family was thankful, their thankfulness made her heart sink even more.
Although the blame for the incident could not be clearly pinned on a person, a life was still lost and she could not help but take responsibility for it.
Third Young Master Ye was extremely silent and did not say a word along the way. When they reached home, both of them had no appetite and thus did not have dinner. They decided they would rather skip dinner.
After Cheng Anya had a shower, she felt slightly better. Third Young Master Ye was still busy in the study room. Cheng Anya was tired to the bone. She rested on the bed called Li Yun. During the middle of the night, she felt the bed around her slightly sink in and herself being warmly embraced by somebody. The familiar scent, strength of the hug, and the forceful kiss on her lips assured her.
When she woke up in the morning, she woke up hungry.
As Third Young Master Ye had long awoken, the bed next to her had long cooled down. When she turned around to see the time, she was shocked and quickly scrambled out of bed and rushed down after she quickly washed and changed up. Third Young Master Ye was reading the newspapers by the table, which had two sets of breakfast on it.
“Finally awake, huh?” Third Young Master Ye looked up and laughed. Under the morning sun, his delicate features carried laziness and his beauty was charming. Cheng Anya was, for a moment, dazed and forgot the time.
‘This man is really alluring.’
“How could you not wake me up? We’re already late for work.” Cheng Anya rushed over. As he had prepared breakfast not too long ago, its warmth could be felt. While the breakfast prepared could not be compared to what the young kid prepared, it still tasted good.
“What’s with being late? Nobody has an opinion about you not turning up at work.” Third Young Master Ye smiled domineeringly. He was Third Young Master Ye. He was the one who ran the company and had the last word.
Cheng Anya rolled her eyes at him and could not be bothered about him. She suddenly said, “Are we hiring a part-timer?”
“For?”
“To clean and prepare meals.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Third Young Master Ye closed the newspapers he finished reading and put them on the table. He took a mouthful of coffee and said, “I’ll make the dishes. You clean the floor and tidy the rooms.”
As he never liked others intruding into his private space, he would have someone clean up the rooms once a week when he was staying by himself. Since he did not need to prepare the dishes at home, he would handle the rest of the chores himself since he felt uneasy whenever somebody overstayed even for the slightest moment.
Cheng Anya looked up and down the stairs. Cleaning everything up would take a lot of effort.
Forget it. She knew that Third Young Master Ye was an extremely anal person. She suddenly recalled her small apartment and her all-capable son. She said, “I only learn how important Ning Ning is after he is not by my side.”
Third Young Master Ye’s lips twitched. He did not comment at his wife who managed to turn their son into an all-able nanny.
“Oh, yes, let’s head to the civil administration office when you have the time,” Third Young Master Ye casually said. His expressions seemed to say, ‘It’s going to rain today, so prepare your umbrella.’
As he said that, he looked downward, sipping his coffee. The gesture obscured the smile in his gaze.
“So you want to get married, hmmm…” Cheng Anya dragged her reply. A month ago, she said that they would get married once Louis’ debacle ended. When she was imprisoned by Louis on the island, she was thinking about it. Had she knew that she would end up being imprisoned, she should not have remained duplicitous and married Third Young Master Ye even earlier.
She did not want to marry Third Young Master Ye in the past because she was uneasy. She did not know whether he really loved her or loved her because of Ning Ning. Knowing that Third Young Master Ye was even more desperate than any of them to have a family, there was nothing strange about him feigning his love for a person.
Following this incident, she completely dispelled the idea.
She recalled how the two of them looked up at the sea of stars as they sat on the rock that night. Cheng Anya then was thinking of immediately marrying him once they were free. She badly wanted to be Mrs. Ye.
Now that they were safe—at least for now—getting married or not made no difference. As she carried a child in her, to not want to marry Third Young Master Ye was too duplicitous of her, and clearly not how Miss Cheng would carry herself.
“You don’t want to marry me?” Third Young Master Ye raised his eyebrows as he looked up, his slender fingers rubbing against the cup. The atmosphere became slightly cold.
Cheng Anya smiled and said, “I was thinking about whether I will look bad when I wear a wedding gown with a huge bulge at my belly.”
This was an extremely serious question.
She did not want to get married with a huge belly. It was clumsy and bad-looking.
Third Young Master Ye was satisfied. His face lit up and he said, “We’ll get married before Chinese New Year.”
“Whatever works for you.”
He gently smiled and had a mouthful of coffee. He then tilted his head to the side and looked at Cheng Anya, who was in deep thought. She was not making things difficult for him this time? Not stopping him from proposing to her? Who had once said that proposing without 9999 roses was insincere?
As long as she liked it, he would give her exactly what she wanted.
Third Young Master Ye tapped his fingers on the table and said with a hint of unhappiness, “Miss Cheng, we are talking about marriage here. Could you at least show me that you are happy about it? How could you give me this feeling that I am goading you into something unwholesome?”
Miss Cheng was aghast!
Goading her into something undesirable? She was aghast. Third Young Master Ye, what kind of damn saying was that?
Miss Cheng pouted to show her happiness. Third Young Master Ye rolled his eyes and immediately embraced her, forcefully kissing the back of her head.
“Call me hubby.” Third Young Master Ye rubbed the reddened area from her kiss as their noses touched each other. His black and bright eyes were as deep as the sea and seemed ready to devour anybody.
This feeling made her feel extremely flustered.
“Fat hope.” Cheng Anya pushed him away and scooted away. “Time for work.”
As he followed her out of the door, he shook his head and smiled.
Getting married, huh…
He was starting to anticipate it little by little, anticipating her in a white wedding gown. After all those years of being apart from each other, they would count on each other for their survival. He loved her and would for his entire life.
They finally stood in front of An Ning International. Cheng Anya saw the two words and a slight smile appeared on her face.
An Ning…
Third Young Master Ye said that all his accomplishments lay in the name itself. The name was a double entendre.
“Ah Chen, say what you said back then again.” Cheng Anya grabbed his sleeve and pleaded. As she did not personally hear them but instead read about them, she felt that those words felt so duplicitous to the point it was almost impossible for Third Young Master Ye to say them.
When the lives of both mother and son were in the balance, he might have really hoped that she would hear them and hang on for his sake to eventually return to him to see his heart and his An Ning.
“I forgot,” Third Young Master Ye said as he walked in with a poker face. His ears were slightly red.
“Please don’t forget. Say it. Say it, okay? I do not know what you initially said.” Cheng Anya slightly sprinted behind him as she laughed. She said, “I know you have said it, but nothing bad will happen if you say it again, no?”
He suddenly turned around with a deep gaze and a twisted smile and said, “Miss Cheng, please do not push your luck. If you do, you will not enjoy tonight.”
Cheng Anya, “…”
She was hugely embarrassed and her face became flushed. F***! Could he be that bit more normal? How could any man say that in broad daylight? Even if he did not care about his face, she still wanted her face.
She was extremely thankful that it was past the start of working hours and there were extremely few people. If it were the opposite, she would die of embarrassment.
Third Young Master Ye, with arms akimbo, smiled gorgeously and said, “Miss Cheng, I was about to say that I will have you prepare dinner as punishment. What kind of unwholesome things are you thinking about?”
As she said that, he leisurely strolled into An Ning International.
She gritted her teeth and wished she could stomp on Third Young Master the same way she stomped on a cockroach.
The receptionist lady respectfully greeted them. After the international press conference at An Ning International, Cheng Anya and Third Young Master Ye’s relationship was an open secret in An Ning International. Everybody knew she was Third Young Master Ye’s lover and looked at her with admiration and envy.
She could not be bothered.
In the secretariat, the same few people stood up in a row to welcome Third Young Master Ye’s return. They were all smiles and Cheng Anya felt a familiar kick as she returned to her workplace.
It felt good.
“Liu Xiaotian, please help Miss Cheng with her work. She is slightly inconvenienced, so do help so that she does not become too tired. Without troubling her, I’ll leave it to you to sort out who brings documents up and down the floor.” Third Young Master Ye instructed as he stepped into the office.
The four of them acknowledged in unison.
Their gazes slowly turned to Cheng Anya. Liu Xiaotian scooted up to her and looked slightly sneaky. “President Ye sure treats you well.”
Cheng Anya pushed the gossiping head aside and said, “Scram.”
Everybody laughed and returned to their workplaces.
Cheng Anya had been away for a month, so she was not familiar with the progress made. As An Ning International was effectively MBS International renamed, its three main pillars still laid in the media, real estate, and jewelry sectors.
An Ning International had been making extremely good headway this month. Despite Third Young Master Ye’s absence, they did not slacken and developed steadily. With Yao Hua not exerting pressure along with Fourth Young Master Tang and First Young Master Lin pouring in immense funding, An Ning International reached MBS International’s level in just half a month.
To have such an outcome despite his absence was nothing short of astonishing.
In the afternoon, Third Young Master Ye had an appointment with Fourth Young Master Tang and First Young Master Lin to discuss affairs about the Dragon Gate. He had Black Eagle and Number Six protect Cheng Anya before leaving with a peace of mind. After he left, the ladies went to the staff cafeteria for lunch.
They all asked where they had been for the past month.
Since Third Young Master Ye had a solemn look during the press conference, Cheng Anya’s disappearance during that very crucial moment left them suspecting whether Cheng Anya had met with a mishap. Cheng Anya claimed that she was kidnapped but was quickly saved. However, the two of them were not in a rush to return home, and they had a holiday in Rome.
Her words made sense, so all the ladies believed her.
“You two look really happy together and were able to have fun for such a long time. On the contrary, we are working our asses off in the company,” Lin Yali said with a crying face, claiming that Cheng Anya did not stand up for them. “Next time, please nicely remind Third Young Master Ye that we are working our asses off.”
Cheng Anya smiled but did not reply.
“Oh, yes, do show us the son you had with President Ye.” Liu Xiaotian was especially excited about this. “I bought a tabloid sometime back. He looks like President Ye. So cute! Kawaii! Do bring him along so that we can play with him.”
All the ladies agreed.
Cheng Anya smiled and said, “He isn’t in City A. He has gone overseas for studies.”
All the ladies were disappointed. Cheng Anya smiled. Her young kid was indeed a lady-killer and was clearly sought-after.
“Anya, I am sure there’s something you don’t know about. The old president—no, Old Master Ye was hospitalized and Yao Hua’s old president went to visit him. God knows what argument they had. A fire broke out in the ward Old Master Ye was in. Both of them were almost burned to death in it, and boy was it scary,” Guan Rutong said. “President Ye does not know about this, right? We are still pondering whether to tell him, and you may be the better person to decide whether he should know.”
Cheng Anya was taken aback. Old Master Ye and Old Master Yang were almost burned to death?
Having feuded for the whole of their lives to the point of dying on the same day would mean utter chaos for Hades.
“Did they say what actually happened?”
“Nope, there was not even a report about it. Old Master Yang claimed that it was Old Master Ye who deliberately wanted to burn him to death,” Chen Juan said. “God knows what’s real and what’s not, but this incident blew over very quickly and he is still hospitalized.”
Cheng Anya nodded. If Third Young Master Ye knew about this incident, it was afraid that he would coldly reply with ‘Is it my business?’
“Any developments from Yun Enterprise?” Cheng Anya asked.
The ladies looked at each other and Liu Xiaotian said, “There doesn’t seem to be any new developments. Yun Ruoxi is in charge now and she is very often spotted with Yao Hua’s GM. One wonders if they will really enter an alliance through marriage.”
Senior and Yun Ruoxi were… what?!
Cheng Anya slightly frowned as she secretly sighed.
When she was engrossed in her thoughts, the telephone rang. Cheng Anya saw an unfamiliar telephone number. She raised her eyebrows and picked up the call. “Hi, this is Cheng Anya.” She identified herself.
There was silence on the other end. Cheng Anya was puzzled and checked the number again. Nobody spoke even after half a minute. Her heart jolted and she flatly said, “If you are not speaking, I am hanging up the phone.”
Cold laughter, which sent chills through Cheng Anya’s heart, rang out from the cold machine.
“Anya, how have you been!” His voice carried his typical melancholy and Cheng Anya could imagine that he must be looking like the charming melancholic prince on the other end of the call.
Her face turned slightly pale. Memories of her ten-over days of terrible experiences and Zhang Bo’s death surged into her mind and were repeatedly amplified. Her heart ached. She hated him.
Her hands slightly trembled…
