“I will miss you!” Li Shanshan pulled Lily into a hug. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
“You will see me next week?” Lily laughed as she returned the hug. She eyed Fernando who only shook his head at his wife’s dramatics.
“We should do it again. The vacation. ” Lily added. In response, Li Shanshan let her go and smiled at her.
“I know… it was so fun. I would love to do it again with you and everyone else.”
“Maybe we could do it every Christmas and New Year? Every year?” Lily beamed.
“Good Idea! All right… I don’t want to become dramatic. I will see you next week.” Li Shanshan wiped the tears and then gave both Zhuo Jingren and Yang Mi a hug. “Eliza already left?” Li Shanshan asked.
“Hmmm… they had an early flight.” Lily nodded. “But she is planning to visit me in Hong Kong then join us next week.”
“Is that safe?”
“Of course!” Lily said. “All right. We need to go. I will see you soon.” She gave her best friend a kiss on the cheeks and went with Zhuo Jingren to their private plane. It was already the sixth of January, and Lily needed to go back to Hong Kong as scheduled.
After they said their goodbyes, Lily and Zhuo Jingren together with Bei Tian, Yang Mi and Secretary Go went to their private plane while Li Shanshan and Fernando stayed in London.
……………..
After reaching Hong Kong, everyone immediately went to get some sleep. The trip was worth it but it undeniably made everyone exhausted.
“The Zhou Family had been really silent lately.” Bei Tian noted. This was the first thing that he reported the moment Zhuo Jingren woke up. “Zhou Lanying had been seen around Hong Kong. We are expecting her to approach Lily soon.” He took a sip of his coffee, his gaze darkened as he looked at Zhuo Jingren who was reading a newspaper across him. “Do you want me to do something so she won’t be able to see Lily?”
In response, Zhuo Jingren gave him a meaningful look. “She is your sister.” He stated.
“Stupidity is deadly. I don’t want her to associate herself with us.”
“She is not stupid.” Zhuo Jingren responded. “She is planning something. All we can do is wait for now. Besides, Lily would not want us to touch her.”
“Wait? I thought… you want to get rid of them as fast as possible?”
“Hmmm… Lily will see Zhuo Jingtao soon. After that… we will take over.”
Bei Tian nodded and continued drinking his coffee as silence blanketed Zhuo Jingren’s office.
Just as they expected, Zhuo Lanying showed up in Lily’s office the very day that she came back. Since Lily was already informed about the matter in advance, she already expected her visit and instructed her people to let her in.
“I am busy,” Lily said her eyes were glued to her laptop. Going on vacation was akin to burying herself with paperwork in advance. She knew that her workload will double because of the holidays, however, seeing all the reports immediately made her sullen. “State your business, then leave.”
“I—”Zhuo Lanying stared at the woman wearing an all-white pantsuit in front of her. She cleared her throat. “You look really good. I would assume that you have a great holiday?” Her attempt to talk was only met with silence. “I — I mean… What I mean to say is that… I wanted to thank you for helping me… I mean… thank you for bringing me to the hospital.” She watched as Lily lifted her head and stared at her.
“And?” Lily asked.
“And… I —” Zhuo Lanying frowned. She was here to establish her stance about the matter with the Zhou Family. She wanted to tell Lily that she is against the Zhou Family and she wanted to help Lily bring them down. However, this was all inside her mind. On the outside, it was as if something was stuck in her throat, enabling her from saying something. “If you need anything, please let me know. As long as it is within my capability, I will definitely give it to you.” She managed to say after a long pause.
“Hmmm.” Lily nodded and stared at her, her gaze stern. “I suppose… this was not the reason why you came here?”
Zhou Lanying pursed her lips and lowered her head. “Funny how you can read me like a book.” She snorted. “This made me wonder if I am really that easy to read or… you are just good at reading people. I suppose it was the latter.”
“Probably.” Lily’s answer made Zhou Lanying chuckle. Lily was smart and for some reason, half of her was hoping that she would be smart enough to read her.
“I am here to thank you. And talk about important matters. However, I would like to do it over lunch.” She met Lily’s blank gaze. “It’s almost eleven and I am hungry. So maybe… maybe we could talk about it as we eat?” For some reason, waiting for Lily’s answer made her heart beat faster. Determination flashed in her eyes.
“I am busy today,” Lily answered.
“Please hear me out… It’s just lunch. I will be quick. Maybe an hour. No! Less than an hour. I have a proposition to make.”
Lily leaned against her chair. “A proposition,” Slowly her lips lifted into a smile. “I am all for a business proposition. However… why wait for lunch? We can talk about it now.”
“The things that I am planning to tell you… they are all sensitive information. Talking about it over food is the only thing that will make me a little bit comfortable.” This was a fact. “I… I don’t want to… I am really nervous. And I…”
“All right.” Lily interrupted her. “I have thirty minutes,” she rose from her seat and grabbed her phone and her handbag. “I will book a private room for us.”
Zhou Lanying’s eyes widened as she stared at the woman in front of her. “You-“
“Miss Zhou should stop acting clueless. You came waltzing in here, risking your life in the process. Did you think I would let you go without listening to whatever it is that you want to tell me?” Lily smiled. “Coming in here in broad daylight was a declaration of war against your uncle.” Without waiting for Zhou Lanying to say something, Lily strutted out of her office.
“Your secretary is not joining us?” Zhou Lanying was half running, half walking as she tried to catch up to Lily. “I mean… ” she stuttered. For some reason, Lily’s demeanor is making her nervous.
“As I said… I am busy. She will run some errands for me.”
Zhou Lanying nodded and shifted her gaze outside of the car. She let out a sigh. While she does not hate Lily or Zhou Jingren, she cannot say that she is a big fan of them either. She was not afraid of them… But, there was something about the couple that put her on edge. It was something that she could not explain.
“What is happening?” Lily’s voice brought her out of her thoughts.
“I think —” the voice of the man whom Lily called Daohu was interrupted with a loud explosion.
Zhou Lanying felt glasses pricked her skin. She heard Lily gasp beside her.
Then everything went black.
