At Silk Empire International, Leng Xiyao began to stride purposefully towards the pub.
Ceng Hanyu grabbed her by the arm. She struggled but couldnât free herself from the much stronger man.
Leng Xiyao glared at him and demanded, âWhat are you doing? I want to drink! Drink! Do you not understand English?â
Ceng Hanyu didnât get angry. He just pulled her into a private room and told the waiter to bring them what he usually had. Then, he forced Leng Xiyao to sit down.
âI can drink with you until tomorrow if you wish, after?we have something to eat. Remember, no matter what happens, no matter how much you want to vent your emotions, you mustnât jeopardize your health. Letâs eat something first before we drink. Otherwise, youâll only ruin your body!â
Leng Xiyao sat there sullenly, obviously in a foul mood. She said coldly, âSo what if Iâm ruining my body? Itâs my body! You canât stop me. You are nothing to me.â
Ceng Hanyu looked stricken. Her words jabbed him in his heart like a knife. Yeah, I am nothing to her! I shouldnât have any reasons to stop her.
Before today, even though he did feel differently towards her, he could control himself and stop himself from getting closer. But he could no longer suppress his feelings now that he knew she was likely to be Anne.
To her, he had no right to interfere?with?her affairs. However, he couldnât watch her harm herself like this.
After a while, he replied unhappily, âYes, Iâm nothing to you. I just hate to see anyone harm themselves because they are broken-hearted. There are numerous other men. Why do you have to make yourself so miserable for him? However sad you are, thereâs a stop-loss point you need to define. Why torture yourself like this when he canât even see you?â
Leng Xiyao didnât say anything. Ceng Hanyuâs words tugged at her heartstrings. Maybe, he was right.
When the dishes were here, Leng Xiyao picked up the chopsticks and said, âThank you, but no other men can replace him in my heartâ¦â
Then, she began to eat quietly. She looked neither sad nor happy, a wooden puppet devoid of feelings.
Ceng Hanyuâs hands clenched into fists under the table.
In the end, I am too late.
Afterwards, Ceng Hanyu took her to the pub. There were few drinkers, it being daytime. The isolated atmosphere and the dim light seemed to better match a broken heart.
Leng Xiyao sat in a corner. Ceng Hanyu waved over the bartender and asked her what she would like to drink.
Leng Xiyao chuckled a little and named more than a dozen wines in one breath: red wine, white wine, beer, etc.
Then, she glanced at Ceng Hanyu and added, âI want a dozen bottles for each one of these!â
Ceng Hanyuâs face darkened. Is she going to drink to death?
Leng Xiyao sneered, âWhat? Are you afraid?â
Ceng Hanyu looked her in the eye and then looked at the jaw-dropped bartender.
âDo as she said. If we canât finish everything, keep the remaining bottles under my name.â
The bartender nodded and left the room. Shortly afterwards, the wines were being brought in.
However, the table wasnât big enough for all the bottles. Therefore, the bartender had brought only two for each kind when Ceng Hanyu gave him a signal and he took leave.
Leng Xiyao hung her head low and reached for a bottle of red. She opened it with elegant and leisure movements, as if she was creating art.
However, the following scene fidgeted Ceng Hanyu.
Leng Xiyao started to drink from the bottle. Red wine poured from the container and into her mouth. Some of the liquid streamed down from the corner of her mouth, so it soon formed a little puddle of a stain on her white dress.
Ceng Hanyu frowned but didnât say anything. He knew she needed this.
In the past, he used to imagine what kind of woman Anne would turn out to be. Was she a gentle and quiet soul? Elegant and charming? Or cheerful and lively?
Never had he expected she would have grown up into a woman who was spoiled but rather cute; willful yet not annoyingly so; bright with a fierceness; stubborn and not afraid of expressing her emotions.
However, this kind of woman also easily got hurt in relationships.
They had met each other four times only, but each time her distinct character had left an impression in his heart. He could see how headstrong and stubborn she was.
Ceng Hanyu took a bottle and began to drink himself, keeping her company.
They stayed in the pub for two hours, so it was four oâclock in the afternoon when they left.
Although Leng Xiyao was drinking like mad, her tolerance for alcohol was actually quite low. Leng Haoyun was very protective of her and normally didnât allow her to drink even a little.
When she went to the bathroom and didnât come back for a long time, Ceng Hanyu decided to look for her.
She had collapsed by the sink when he entered the bathroom. It looked like she had been vomiting.
Ceng Hanyu frowned. He picked her up and walked out of Silk Empire International.
Ceng Hanyu took her to his villa in A City. It was close to the Shallow Sea Area, so he could easily find Ye Zhongjue when needed.
Leng Xiyao vomited twice on the way. Each time, Ceng Hanyu had patiently taken care of the mess.
He had never thought that he, a person who cared about cleanliness so much, would be able to take care of a drunken woman like this. Of course, he knew it was because she was Anne.
Finding her had become an obsession for him over the years.
When he arrived at the villa, someone he had not expected was standing in front of it.
It was a woman with chestnut, wavy hair in a tight black blouse, a pair of black leather pants, a pair of knee-length black boots and a black leather jacket. The blouse showed all the curves of her perfect body. It was very sexy.
She had a stunning look with azure eyes, a high-bridged nose, and a small mouth. She was slender but, compared with a broad-shouldered Westerner, was rather petite.
Selina stood there and watched Ceng Hanyu carry Leng Xiyao out of the car, her usual bold and forthright self gone.
âWho is she?â she asked.
Ceng Hanyu didnât want to answer the question. Instead, he asked her in a toneless voice, âWhy are you in A City?â
Selina wasnât annoyed that he didnât answer her question. She replied, âLuo Qiqi and Xia Zi arrived today before I did. I donât know what they are planning to do and am worried about you and Ye, so I hurried over here.â
Ceng Hanyu put on a poker face and carried Leng Xiyao inside.
âJue and I donât need your concern. Instead of bringing us trouble, you should just stay at the headquarters.â
Selina looked humiliated. She was a brilliant woman and one of the most outstanding agents in their organization. She might well be an equal to the Two Roses.
But Ceng Hanyu just had to say she was bringing trouble! Exasperated, she followed Ceng Hanyu inside.
Ceng Hanyu did not heed her and continued to go upstairs. Selina hissed in a low voice, âHan, I wonât bring any troubles to you. You have to trust me!â
Ceng Hanyu turned around and looked at her. âAs difficult as Luo Qiqi and Xia Zi are, they are not going to hurt us. Your worry is unnecessary.â
Selina felt insulted, but she bravely looked Ceng Hanyu in the eye. âFine, you are right. I am not that worried actually. I know how good you are. I came here because I missed you. Is that wrong?â
Selina looked at him piteously.
Ceng Hanyu didnât know what to say. To be honest, he was afraid of her. Selina wasnât like any other women. She was also the kind that wasnât afraid of expressing her feelings. If she loved someone, she would say it. He admitted that he?had once been tempted by?her, although he had been controlling himself.
He hadnât wanted to accept her love before he found Anne.
Now that he was almost sure Leng Xiyao was her, seeing her like this, he was even more unlikely to accept any other woman. He must help her forget about Leng Haoyun.
The woman in his arms moaned a little. Ceng Hanyu tensed.
Selina chuckled.
âSo you found her. Your Anne?â she asked soberly.
Ceng Hanyu pressed his lips together and looked at the woman in his arms. Then, he looked up at Selina and said, âWill you bathe her and change her into clean clothes?â
Selina blinked her pretty blue eyes and answered. âSure. No problem!â
She took Leng Xiyao from him, then walked towards the bathroom in the master bedroom.
Ceng Hanyu rubbed his temple and headed to the one in the other bedroom.
â¦â¦
Mo Suqing did not wake up until well after five oâclock in the afternoon when her phone rang.
Mo Suqing answered the phone without looking at the caller ID, sounding sleepy, âWho is it?â
Ye Zhongjue could see his wife hadnât got up yet. He said tenderly, âHoney, my little lazy one, are you still sleeping?â
Mo Suqing smiled and sat up. âI feel rather tired recently, probably because Iâm pregnant.â
She gently rubbed her forehead, feeling groggy.