“Grandpa told me something earlier today, do you want to hear about it?” he said as he folded his legs. He would tell Yan Huan if she was interested. Should she say no, he would make no further mention of it.
“Yeah,” Yan Huan said, nodding like an obedient baby.
Of course she wanted to hear what grandfather had to say. Elderly wisdom was invaluable and incomparable. She was only about 30 years old when added together with her past life. Ye Jianguo had been fighting the war of life and murdered many long before she was born, he was in his golden years already. Their principles and mentality were unfathomable and unattainable for her.
Lu Yi gently took a sip of his milk, slowly savoring its smooth, milky sweetness in his mouth, which reminded him of the scent of his wife.
“Grandpa requested me to let her go, what do you think?”
Yan Huan was not very angry upon hearing that, as she never intended to destroy Su Muran in one single swoop. She knew that the Su family still had a considerable amount of influence and would not topple that easily. If anything were to happen, the Miao family would be the first to collapse.
She could easily befoul the Miao family’s reputation, but what about the Su family?
“Will there be any compensation?” Yan Huan enquired. The idea of letting them go that easily did not sit well with her. They defamed her for such an extended period of time, but they wanted to get away by simply scapegoating the assistant? This was too light of a punishment, and too insignificant of a retribution. She needed to let them know the pain so that they could never forget about it. She would not let them get away so easily.
“Of course,” Lu Yi assured her, lightly caressing the cup he was holding, which was still slightly lukewarm. “Tell me. What do you wish for?”
“About this…” Yan Huan uttered as she touched her chin. “The Su family has a plot of land in the east city, I want it.”
“Do you have any use for it?” Lu Yi asked with his eyebrows raised. He knew Yan Huan was reborn, thus naturally she would know about certain things. She would not pointlessly asked for a plot of land. The land was merely a barren one, just like its surroundings, and perhaps would be left undesired for another decade. But as desolate as it was, it was still within the boundaries of the Sea City, and he was positive that it would be developed in about 20 years. But he did not know why Yan Huan wanted that piece of property.
“I will tell you after you get the plot of land,” Yan Huan mumbled, hugging her blanket as she rolled herself on the wooden bed. But she felt slightly uncomfortable. She always did the same when she was at home. She would roll right onto Lu Yi’s lap and they would ramble about everything. But she could not do that now since she was here. All she wanted was to end the filming for Zhu Xiaoye as soon as possible so that she could return home earlier and celebrate new year with Lu Yi. She could witness the birth of Yi Ling’s baby too. She was unsure whether the baby was a boy or a girl, but with all that amazing food Yi Ling had been pampered by the Lei family, she wondered if Yi Ling would give birth to a little chubby one.
She hugged her blanket, lifted her head, and saw that Lu Yi was sitting in front of his desk. He was typing something on his laptop silently and he looked serious. She went under the sheets and soon dozed off.
It was as though Lu Yi was next to her, accompanying her, which was why she could sleep soundly and peacefully every day.
Without fail, every time after she fell asleep, Luo Lin would come over and switched off her phone in case she had it on for the whole night.
Luo Lin adjusted her blankets and let out a small sneeze, before lying down in another small bed. Taking out her phone, she scrolled through Yan Huan’s weibo page. The undesirable rumors and comments had all but disappeared off her page. The defamation incident was not exactly a bad thing, she supposed. At least they got some benefits from the incident too. With her surge of fame this time, it seemed that she would be getting more offers to be on screen.
Fortunately, it was not too devastating. She was a victim after all.
As for the identity of the culprit, it was clear as day for them.
After using the phone for a while, her fatigue got the better of her and her eyes slowly closed. She would surely be sound asleep in no time, considering how drowsy she was. Unsurprisingly, she was deep in her dreamland shortly after. Yan Huan was already awake when she woke up, jogging as usual in her front yard. The routine persisted in the recent months, no matter wind or rain, and she would run for about an hour. However, the number of people joining her for the daily jog had dwindled gradually.
As the filming of Zhu Xiaoye had reached the final stages, all the actors who had already finished their parts had gone home, including Zhou Zizhe and Fang Ying. There were only a handful of people here, leaving only the main cast, and the number of people at the filming set had obviously decreased.
Meeting and parting was the way of life. However, it did feel bittersweet to say goodbye.
However, a fresh beginning might come after the sadness.
Lu Yi had found himself at the house of the Su family again. Only Su Qingdong was there to welcome him, Su Muran had kept herself away immediately, harboring no intention of meeting him.
“This is what you wanted,” Su Qingdong handed over some documents to Lu Yi. “This is the contract of transfer of ownership of that plot of land. I have no idea why you wanted it, but I would give it to you all the same. I hope this seals the deal. Of course,” he paused, reaching out a hand, “I am also grateful that Prosecutor Lu is willing to let bygones be bygones.”
“You are welcome,” Lu Yi replied as he shook Su Qingdong’s outstretched hand. He then stood up with an air of impatience, holding onto the documents. Su Qingdong felt deeply ashamed.
Yet he could only watch helplessly as Lu Yi left, the empty smile melting off his face.
As Lu Yi was leaving, he met the young lady that he saw before.
She stared doggedly at him, thus he wondered if she had some unspeakable misery, but her constant gawking was making him quite uncomfortable.
He walked past the woman.
“Lu Yi.”
The woman turned back all of a sudden, calling his name.
Lu Yi stopped, and then he turned around.
“Pardon me, do we know each other?”
Zhu Meina felt like she was doused with a bucket of cold water, soaking her completely from head to feet. She could neither laugh nor speak upon hearing his reply.
She had always blocked him at the door and shamelessly gone after him for all this while, and yet he had totally forgotten about her. There was no greater insult to her than this.
“Miss, if there is nothing else, I shall be on my way.”
Having said that, Lu Yi turned around and promptly departed.
