The photographers clicked rapidly on their shutters.
It must be a sensational news to capture the image of Lu Boyan being hit!
Yet—
Just as the recorder was about to hit Lu Boyan, Su Jianan rushed up, hugging onto Lu Boyan tightly—
The shutters had gone off even more intensely than before.
The family member of a worker attacked Lu Boyan furiously, Su Jianan shielding her husband with her body—how touching would that news article be?
Seeing that the recorder was about to hit Su Jianan’s back, Lu Boyan suddenly carried Su Jianan and made a turn, and ended up shielding a Su Jianan who was trying to shield him. The recorder hit his spine, and there was a heavy “thud” sound.
“Snap—Snap—”
The cameras were searching for a variety of angles to record that dramatic moment. Security had reacted immediately, taking the family member out of the conference hall.
At the moment, Su Jianan finally reacted, she lifted her head and looked at Lu Boyan, stunned.
“Why did you charge over?” Lu Boyan frowned, looking upset, yet he used his remaining energy to hug Su Jianan tightly, completely revealing his state of panic.
Su Jianan looked lost, “I… I don’t know…”
Everyone was ready to watch the show, waiting to record his moment of humiliation. But for her, she only wanted to protect Lu Boyan.
That moment, her body had acted before her mind did; her actions were completely by instinct.
She had never considered whether she would get hurt herself, whether it would be painful. She only knew that she could not allow Lu Boyan to get attacked in front of the media.
Her lost yet firm look softened Lu Boyan, “It was just a recorder. If it really had hit me, it might not have injured me. But it would be different for you.”
Su Jianan was dainty and delicate. If the recorder had hit her, the bruises would probably persist for more than a mere few days.
He rubbed Su Jianan’s head and said, “Don’t do this again.”
Su Jianan nodded and asked, “Are you hurt?”
Lu Boyan smiled. “Mrs. Lu, I’m not that fragile.”
Su Jianan brushed the tip of her nose. “Oh.”
Just then, she noticed the cameras snapping at them in the corner of her eye. Su Jianan’s face reddened, and ran out frantically.
Due to that accident, the press conference had ended earlier than planned. Lu Boyan brought Su Jianan back to the office.
Lu Boyan retrieved some documents, and held Su Jianan’s hand. “Let’s go home.”
“It’s only six,” Su Jianan looked at Lu Boyan in astonishment. “I had already forgotten when was the last time you had returned home before 10 p.m. Can you really… return so early today?”
Lu Boyan was going to joke with Su Jianan, but upon hearing that, he restrained his smile. Caressing Su Jianan’s small hand in his palm, he asked, “Have I neglected you lately?”
Su Jianan pouted, showing her disagreement. “I’m not a three year-old. Why do I need your company?” She said half-jokingly. “You can just focus all on what you need to. I’m still waiting to see you win this battle!”
“Wait until I’m done with this, I’ll take you to France,” Lu Boysan said.
“Eh?” Su Jianan was really surprised that time, grinning from ear to ear. “You still remember?”
Lu Boyan did not agree or disagree. His brows were expressing a sort of pleasantness.
He remembered everything he had told Su Jianan.
Including the promises he had made to her.
From Su Jianan’s angle, the joy in Lu Boyan’s eyes and the shape of his face were extremely clear, making her heart flutter.
She did not know why exactly, but she found Lu Boyan more attractive than ever.
When the two of them reached home, news about the press conference at Lu Enterprises had been released on the net.
To their surprise, the news of Su Jianan rushing up the stage to protect her husband, ending up with Lu Boyan shielding her instead, had ended up as the headline.
In comparison, Lu Boyan’s responses to the Fanting Garden collapse incident had received less attention.
And so, it was inevitable that some people had gone to Han Ruoxi’s Weibo to make sarcastic remarks, sneering at her for making a big deal out of dining with Lu Boyan in the past. They urged her to look clearly, since that was true love.
Han Ruoxi’s image was incredibly aloof and cold, and would never care about her Weibo comments. But in reality, she would pay attention in secret.
Seeing such comments among a sea of praises naturally made her mad. She called Kang Ruicheng, “When do you want me to start doing something?”
“Why the rush?” Kang Ruicheng said calmly, “Didn’t you say you want Su Jianan to initiate leaving Lu Boyan, and also to ruin her reputation? I’ve already said I will satisfy you, and so I will do it. As for you, you only need to cooperate with me, and just watch the show.”
“Kang Ruicheng,” Han Ruoxi asked coldly. “Could it be that you like Su Jianan and you have qualms about harming her?”
“…”
“…”
“So what if I do like her?” After a moment of silence, Kang Ruicheng’s attitude changed drastically; every word he uttered was stinging and cold. “You have no right to intrude into my business.”
Han Ruoxi was so angry she slammed the phone—she was used to being dominating and in control, but with Kang Ruicheng, she had no choice but to submit.
Han Ruoxi had only managed to calm down after some time.
That was right. As long as she could see Su Jianan become the target of hate and humilitation. What would this little bit of indignation mean to her?
…
After the press conference, Lu Boyan had resumed the busy life of returning home at midnight.
Su Jianan had slowly gotten used to it, and devoted all of herself to work. Only then could she stop herself from overthinking.
That day, the police station received a report that a resident in the west of the city had discovered a female corpse. She followed Captain Yan to the scene.
After performing the autopsy at the scene and having the corpse being taken away, Su Jianan took off her gloves, carrying her tool box, preparing to return to the police station to continue with work.
But she had not gone far before Kang Ruicheng suddenly appeared.
When she saw a glimpse of his black coat, she did not know why but her uneasiness of late suddenly intensified. Su Jianan almost thought of throwing her box and running away.
Kang Ruicheng seemed to have seen through her fear. Cigarette in his hand, with a creepy smirk, he closed in on her.
Su Jianan receded, and her fists were clenched. With the greatest degree of rationality she could keep in her head, “Kang Ruicheng, what do you want? The police are in the next street.”
Kang Ruicheng smiled. “Don’t worry, I have no plans to kidnap you yet. I just want to tell you… a few things.”
Su Jianan refused to listen, “I don’t want to know.”
“What if I said, these things could send Lu Boyan to jail?” Kang Ruicheng said as if he were on the cusp of victory.
Su Jianan was in shock, but she calmed down very quickly, and sneered. “Kang Ruicheng, the person who should be going to jail—is you!”
“Where’s the proof?” Kang Ruicheng was not afraid at all. He shrugged as he casually approached. “You’re half a police. You should know best that sending someone to jail would require evidence. Do you have any evidence to prove that I murdered Lu Boyan’s father?”
“Nobody can commit crimes without leaving a trace,” Su Jianan said with composure and certainty. “Kang Ruicheng, I will find evidence to prove your crime sooner or later.”
“Oh really?” Kang Ruicheng was completely unfazed by Su Jianan’s threat, and said smilingly, “It is still unknown whether you can find the proof for my crimes. But—” He waved the document bag in his hand, “I’ve found proof for Lu Boyan’s crimes for you.”
Su Jianan was not a naive little lamb; she knew that many things could be falsified. She was disdainful as she said, “Do you think I would believe you?”
Kang Ruicheng walked to Su Jianan, and put the documents in her hand. “You can decide whether to believe me or not after looking at this stuff.” He looked down on Su Jianan at a dangerously intimate distance. “Believe me, you will contact me.”
He threw a puff of smoke at Su Jianan’s face like an impish teenager, and then strolled away leisurely.
Su Jianan saw that there was a rubbish bin nearby, and so she walked directly right to it, and was about to throw the entire bag of documents into the bin.
But just as she raised her hand, the papers fell out of the unsealed bag. A photograph came into her sight.
It was a photograph from about eight, nine years ago, a secret candid shot taken at a poor angle, but it was clear that it was Mu Sijue and Lu Boyan standing next to each other, opposite to someone…
It was the leader of a certain foreign smuggler group who was arrested years ago!
Su Jianan knew about the people of that smuggler group, only because her professor had explained the criminal methods of the group to them as part of the lesson during her studies overseas.
Lu Boyan and Mu Sijue… what did they have to do with those people?
And from the photograph, it looked as if they were in the midst of… a transaction.
Su Jianan felt like something had hit her. Her face turned pale all of a sudden, and when she had regained her senses, she dumped the box in her hand, and collected the dispersed documents, making sure that nothing was left behind, before she placed them back into the bag.
She had forgotten how she had returned to the police station. She dumped the autopsy work to Jiang Shaokai and hid in the lounge to look at the documents carefully one by one.
Until she read the last one, her hands were trembling uncontrollably.
Mu Sijue, a mysterious ruling figure who seemed to have risen from the darkness. She finally knew who he was.
There was a legendary family in City G—the Mu family, and Mu Sijue was the Mu family’s heir for the current generation.
Decades ago, Mu Sijue’s grandfather was a commanding figure of City G. The old man was very smart and wise. He was a firm Buddhist, so he was not in favor of killing. Even though his businesses were grey in nature, they were developed with his exceptional guts and means.
Those among the loyal followers of the old man, who had some accomplishments, had become Mu Sijue’s uncles of recent days.
When it had reached Mu Sijue’s generation, the old man no longer wanted his grandson to be exposed to the darkness of the world, and thus sent Mu Sijue overseas to study. Yet, Mu Sijue had inherited his wits and guts, and returned home to take over the family business. He possessed a calibre which could even surpass his grandfather.
However, the grey area was still grey. Mu Sijue had always been watched by the police, but Mu Sijue was smarter than his grandfather. He operated a tech company to gradually whitewash the family business.
On the surface, Mu Sijue and his company were very clean, but his identity as a Mu family heir was sensitive after all.
The documents Kang Ruicheng had given to Su Jianan were proving that Lu Boyan and Mu Sijue had some involvement. It even had a very subtle hint: Lu Boyan was funded by Mu Sijue in his early days of entrepreneurship.
If those documents were given to the police, Lu Boyan… would be suspected for aiding in Mu Sijue’s money laundering trade. Until then, it would not just be him, but Mu Sijue would be involved as well.
Lu Enterprises was already on the brink. If any more news of Lu Boyan were to be released, leading to more police investigations… Su Jianan could not imagine…
She covered her face; her temples were throbbing, her head was hurting increasingly.
When Lu Enterprises was reported for tax evasion, she had already asked Lu Boyan.
That time Lu Boyan had only answered ambiguously, “You may not understand some things even if I told you.”
Lu Boyan did not clearly tell her whether Lu Enterprises was involved in any illegal activity, but had only reassured that he had his ways.
So, it was like that.
So, that was the “method” Lu Boyan had referred to. It was that connection with Mu Sijue—he wanted to “work” with Mu Sijue like in his early days of entrepreneurship.
Yet, if he went with that method, Kang Ruicheng… would have his eyes on him.
In the end, Su Jianan could already predict what Kang Ruicheng would do.
