Chapter 32: The Ex-Boyfriend

"You flew all the way from New York just to interfere in someone else's relationship and play the homewrecker."

Hearing the statement delivered with such certainty, Lu Zhixi gritted his teeth and said, "I am not interfering."

Chen Shuhuai let out a short, mocking laugh.

The two men sat on opposite ends of the apartment sofa, but because both were tall and broad-shouldered, the sofa seemed smaller than usual. Two bodyguards stood guard at the door, blocking Lu Zhixi’s path out.

Lu Zhixi glanced irritably at the bodyguards at the door, then turned his head to look at the gray, overcast sky and the falling snow outside the window. He asked sullenly, "Why are you here?"

Chen Shuhuai cast a glance at him.

"You think I wanted to come? Your sister-in-law and I just got back to Hong Kong yesterday. I hadn't even finished feeding my daughter this morning when I got two consecutive calls from the States saying you’d been missing for days, not answering calls or messages, and asking me to come to Beijing to drag you back."

"I don't need you to handle my affairs. Go back and spend time with your wife."

Chen Shuhuai sneered, "You didn't say that when you were taking my red envelopes."

"...Brother, I’m an adult. Can you let me handle this myself?"

"Hmm, an adult. The way you were pulling that young lady around downstairs just now? I've only seen that kind of behavior in kindergarten."

Having been insulted both overtly and covertly, a rare, childish expression of suppressed frustration appeared on Lu Zhixi's face.

Chen Shuhuai couldn't be bothered to argue further. He picked up his phone and sent a message to the family group chat saying he had caught the runaway.

Although they were cousins, their blood relation was two generations removed; Lu Zhixi’s maternal grandfather and Chen Shuhuai’s maternal grandmother were siblings, making them distant relatives in reality.

Perhaps because the family had immigrated to North America early in the last century, the Chen family placed great emphasis on clan unity. Chen Shuhuai was the eldest of their generation and had been born and raised in Manhattan. Since Lu Zhixi had grown up under his watchful eye, he naturally fell under Chen Shuhuai’s jurisdiction.

Given the unique atmosphere of the Williams family, Chen Shuhuai was the only one who would step in for matters like this. The farce Lu Zhixi had caused in New York last year with his illegitimate brother only ended after Chen Shuhuai arranged for him to return to China to recuperate.

However, Chen Shuhuai had just become a father to a daughter, and his youngest sister, Shaoxi, had only just come of age. Having seen Lu Zhixi frighten that young girl until she was teary-eyed downstairs, if he had a belt in his hand, he truly would have whipped him.

Lu Zhixi rubbed his forehead, sat in silence for a moment, and asked, "Are my sister-in-law and Mingyin and Mingzhen doing well?"

Hearing that the boy finally remembered to ask about his family, Chen Shuhuai’s tone softened.

"They're fine. Your sister-in-law asked about you just the other day. The two little ones are already talking, and they’ll be heading to Beijing in a couple of days to visit their grandparents. You won't get a chance to see them, though—we’ll find a time to have you over for dinner when we’re back in New York."

Lu Zhixi turned his head to look at him. "What does that mean?"

Chen Shuhuai informed him:

"I’ve booked you on the next flight back to New York. Pack your things tonight. Tomorrow, you will go back and attend your classes at Yale like a sensible person, clear up the mess you’ve made at home, and stop thinking about bullying young girls."

He had already gotten to the bottom of Lu Zhixi’s situation before arriving. He had nothing more to say; it was, in a word, speechless.

At nineteen, instead of studying hard or preparing for his own future, he was getting involved in such nonsense. His family wasn't supervising him, and his elders weren't acting like elders...

"I'm not going back."

"That’s not up to you. I’ll arrange for people to escort you to the plane, and there will be someone waiting for you at the airport in New York."

Lu Zhixi took a deep breath and asked instead, "Where is Jiang Ying?"

He had been forcibly escorted back to the apartment by Chen Shuhuai’s bodyguards downstairs and hadn't seen where Jiang Ying went.

Chen Shuhuai said, "She’s with your mother in the café downstairs."

Lu Zhixi’s expression changed abruptly. "Why did she come here?"

"It’s a family banquet in Hong Kong. Your mother is attending, and she insisted on tagging along."

Thinking of Lu Xiu and Jiang Ying sitting together, Lu Zhixi’s face turned ghastly.

"I have to go find her."

Chen Shuhuai didn't even lift his eyelids. "No."

He had pushed aside a full day of meetings to be here and was currently using his phone to handle several urgent emails that required his sign-off. He wasn't in the mood to entertain Lu Zhixi.

As the chairman of a massive conglomerate with a thousand things to attend to, Chen Shuhuai was stuck here, keeping watch over a cousin who was usually quiet but, when he did act out, did so in spectacular fashion. He would stay until Lu Zhixi was safely on that plane.

Lu Zhixi stood up, and the bodyguards at the door immediately tensed.

He locked eyes with the two men in black. After a few seconds, he said expressionlessly, "...Brother, I punched her boyfriend. I want to go apologize."

That finally caught Chen Shuhuai’s attention. He put away his phone and warned, "Don't try to play games with me."

*

The café on the second floor of the apartment building served the residents of the complex and was elegantly decorated. Smooth jazz played over the speakers, and the faint aroma of coffee filled every corner.

The warmth and peaceful environment finally brought the color back to Jiang Ying’s face.

She held her coffee silently, took a small sip, and then quietly glanced at the woman across from her.

This was her third time stealing a look.

The woman sitting opposite her was even more beautiful than in her photos. To put it elegantly, her skin was like congealed fat and her eyebrows like moths' antennae. Just the simple act of her quietly stirring her black coffee with a spoon looked like a painting.

As a woman herself, Jiang Ying couldn't help but be drawn to her; she felt that no one could fail to like Lu Xiu’s face.

However, this oriental beauty did not speak Chinese, and her English carried a slight French accent.

"When will your boyfriend arrive?"

Lu Xiu didn't particularly want to see Lu Zhixi. Having seen Jiang Ying standing downstairs looking anxious, she had simply brought her to the nearest café to wait for her boyfriend and grab a coffee.

Jiang Ying said, "The snow is heavy, and there’s a traffic jam. Probably another half hour."

"New York is also very congested. I think we should send someone back to 1844 to assassinate Karl Benz," Lu Xiu said.

Jiang Ying’s English was quite good, but she still didn't understand what she was talking about. A look of confusion appeared on her face.

Lu Xiu added, "He is the man who invented the automobile."

"Oh—" Jiang Ying raised her voice instinctively to avoid an awkward silence.

But the atmosphere remained cold nonetheless.

It seemed that neither of them was good at making conversation. They sat in silence for a full five minutes, each quietly sipping their coffee.

Lu Xiu held her cup and suddenly said to Jiang Ying, "You are quite cute. It’s no wonder Alex likes you. Are you studying psychology at Hua University?"

She set her cup down on the table. "I have heard about your situation, but I hadn't met you then. I must admit I had some prejudices against you. Boys like Alex are prone to attracting women with ulterior motives, just like his father."

This touched on Lu Zhixi’s family business, and Jiang Ying felt she shouldn't say too much. She replied dryly, "I don't have a relationship with him anymore."

"That’s good. Alex is not right for you."

Perhaps because this wasn't the high-pressure social setting of Manhattan, or perhaps because she was facing a gentle young girl, Lu Xiu spoke with a French-style nonchalance.

"You remind me of myself when I was young. For a girl who is self-reliant like you, it is much wiser to find an ordinary man. Though, if I could choose again, I wouldn't even choose to get married."

Hearing her speak so bluntly, Jiang Ying couldn't help but ask, "Then why don't you get a divorce?"

"Because I have walked too far down the wrong path, and I am no longer young."

"I think you are still very young and very beautiful, and you have a very accomplished child," Jiang Ying said.

*Only academically accomplished,* she added silently to herself.

Lu Xiu smiled at her. "Thank you. But you don't have to praise him out of politeness just because I am Alex’s mother. I think we both know he is quite terrible."

Jiang Ying choked slightly. She didn't refute her words but said with some hesitation, "After all, you are his mother..."

Before she could finish, Lu Xiu was amused by her.

"I thought we were chatting as two women, not as a child from another family discussing my son. Men and children will ruin our lives; that is the truth."

Having said that, she pointed to the young man walking into the café: "Is that your boyfriend? He looks decent. I wish you both happiness."

Yu Siyan stood at the entrance, scanning the room for Jiang Ying.

After quickly saying goodbye to Lu Xiu, Jiang Ying grabbed her bag and ran to his side, immediately feeling the intense chill he had brought in from the outside.

"I'm sorry..." she said in a low voice, keeping her head down, not daring to look at him.

Yu Siyan cupped her face; his hands were icy, too. He whispered, "Did he bully you?"

His voice was strained and his words restrained, but Jiang Ying knew what he meant.

"He used..."

She paused for a second. "He tricked me into going to the apartment to eat. I realized something was wrong and ran out, and that’s when I ran into his family waiting downstairs. Nothing else happened—I’m just sorry for troubling you again."

Thinking of what just happened, Jiang Ying still felt a lingering fear.

When those two black-clad bodyguards rushed up, they truly had the fierce air seen in movies. The stranger who stepped out of the car was just as handsome as Lu Zhixi, and just by standing there, it was obvious he was someone of high status.

That man had an even more intimidating presence than Lu Zhixi. He simply said, "Hold him," and "Take him back," and Lu Zhixi was forcibly dragged back to the apartment like a stray dog on a leash.

"It's fine. How could your affairs ever be a trouble? I was just worried about you."

Yu Siyan didn't ask more. He took her hand and led her toward the elevators.

Just then, the elevator descended from above and stopped at their floor.

Jiang Ying and Yu Siyan were still a few steps away. Watching the elevator doors open and a person walk out, both of them stopped in their tracks simultaneously.