Love Me Harder, Mr. Fu - Chapter 100

His personal phone rings in his pocket and reaches to take it out. Seeing the name of her mother, he slid the answer icon. “Mother, that isn’t true. I’ll handle it.” he knows for what reasons his mother has called because the news must have circulated all over the city. It then hits him that Shi Lian must have seen the news as well.

“Son….the media are standing in from the company, they are on TV. I know there’s nothing between but..” she says from the other end.

“It’s complicated. I’ll tell you later about this. Take care.” He says to her.

“Alright, son. Please take care of yourself and tell Junjie to take care as well,” she says and ends the call. He immediately dials Shi Lia’s number but the line appears busy. He dials again but her phone is unreachable. He continues dialing her number again and again but every time the line appears busy or unreachable. He throws the phone to the desk in frustration, shoving his hand in his hair, tugging its roots.

He is sure she must have seen the news and she must be angry about it. He reaches to grabs his phone and dials Junjie’s number. He answers in the first ring. “Man….what the heck!” he grunts.

“Fuck you dammit. Look what mess you have done!” Zichen barks. So done with this guy.

“I know I know. The media is gathered around my house, I can’t even get out of my room. Shit, I didn’t think the media will cook stories like this” he expresses, being the dramatic he is.

“Good for you or else you would be dead if you were in front of me” Zichen threatens. “Anyway, how did your parents take this?”

“They were shocked, of course. Dad is currently trying to shoo them away. Mom is kind of still in shock” he sighs. Zichen can understand that. Junjie’s mother is fragile like glass and hearing this kind of news will definitely shock her.

“I’ll try to stop the news. You also try to stop it as well” Zichen says. Junjie agrees and ending the call, Zichen rises from his seat and goes to the IP department to clear the mess.

**

While Shi Lian and Ruxi are at the Grandiose Hotel, she told JJ to manage the company in her absence. If she had a secretary with her, she would have told Ruxi to manage it but Shi Lian hasn’t decided whom to choose and whom to not. The five candidates, she selected at the interview day are the best of the best out of more than fifty applicants. Making her heart steel, she eliminated the three. Now remains two and she is more confused than before. The first one is diligent, hard-working, and amiable but she is clumsy too. She is around the same age as Shi Lian. She comes from a middle-class family but Shi Lian cannot offer her the job just because she needs money to feed her family.

The other one is hard-working, organized, and headstrong. He is two years older than she is but that’s not bothering her, it’s the way he carries himself. His eyes appear to be dull and have dark circles. He rarely smiled at the interview and Shi Lian needed to push him a little to speak more about him. both that cons as well as pros. She asked Ruxi about it but she too appeared confused.

“This is more stressful than I thought” Shi Lian groans, her hand resting on the desk and her palm supporting her head as she watches both the candidates resume again.

“It is and sometimes it takes more than a week to decide,” Ruxi says, giving her an apologetic smile.

They have been in the Hotel from the morning and had been practicing since ever. She decided to commence the launching program in a hotel rather than in the company because she thought that might be something and reporters would be more freer than there. on top of that, the situation inside the company is not very well so it is a wise decision to set it up here. The hotel is located few distances from the company and she is glad that the owner gleefully accessed her entry.

Shi Lian’s mood is now somewhat calm. She was barking at almost everyone like an hour ago because of the stupid news she has seen. All the members were scared of her and were surprised to see her this angry. Shi Lian always showcased a calm and mature persona and people believed that she never gets angry but today they are proven wrong.

“Tell them to start their practice,” she says gesturing to the models. She gave them fifteen minutes break and now that it is twenty minutes, they have to get back to their work.

“I’ll tell them,” Ruxi says, and turning on her heels, she march to where the models are resting.

Shi Lian is checking her phone. She got numerous missed calls from Zichen but she accepted none. She is mad at him and she wants him to know about it. When she didn’t pick his calls, he barged into his company but she cannot do the same. If the barges again, she will have to throw him out.

Her phone rings again and the name of the devil, Zichen is calling her. She is debating to pick the call or not. She had ignored the past calls and she thinks she should ignore this as well but….she picks up anyway. “Hello?” she says, pretending like she doesn’t know who the person is on the other line.

“Why weren’t you picking my calls?” he bellows, anger hinting in his voice. Shi Lian is expecting an explanation but what he is doing? He is angry because she doesn’t pick his calls? And he does not bother to even find why that is?

“Busy,” she says nonchalantly. She does not want to show any emotions and the way he just asked, angers her more. “If you do not have anything important, then I’ll hang up.”

“You did see the news then” he sighs and Shi Lian imagines him shoving his hand in his hair.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” she says sternly.

“Shi Lian, I know you have seen the news and you are angry about it,” says he, “The news is fake. The media is stupid.”

Shi Lian sighs in annoyance, “I’ll hang up then.” She thought maybe her anger will subdue by now, but she is wrong and this man proves her wrong again and again.

“Shi Lian, if you are angry just say but ignore me like this” he demands. Is he actually serious? Instead of being gentle, he is now being angry? God, he is such a jerk!

“I am busy and you are pissing me off for no reason!” she snarls and ends the call. God, she thought he will explain everything and tell why he didn’t pick her call and instead went to get photographed with his ‘lover’. She shouldn’t have picked his call, it only makes her angry.

Shaking her head, she takes in a deep breath and tries to calm herself. There’s already so much problem on her plate and she does not want to get bothered by another one. Returning to where the models are practicing, she notices, her cousin is not in her position. She scans the room, but she is nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Cai Li?” she asks the model in front.

“She told me she had an important call and went to the back area” informs the model. Shi Lian nods. Shi Lian is suspicious that her cousin must be plotting something. She goes to find her and see what she is been up to. She does not trust her at all and even after giving her a warning, if she still does anything, she has to face the wrath hers.

Reaching closer to the back area, she hears muffling voices and she pauses at the corner. The voice appears familiar to her and she is itching to see who is it. inching more closer, she pops her head, just a little to not be seen by them, and finds her cousin and her cousin standing at a distance.

“Yes, I know!” Cai Li hisses. Shi Lian listens to them intently. Her uncle being here is a sign that these two are planning something for sure. “She isn’t that easy to deal with, Dad! You know that” she argues but Zheng Yi waves his hand. He breaths out the smoke, without caring about the rules and regulations.

Shi Lian guesses that the ‘she’ she mention is herself and now she is more curious to know what they are up to. “Be careful. She is smart.” Her uncle warns Cai Li. Shi Lian is at a distance and she cannot hear every line and conversation between them and she cannot go there as well.

She turns on her phone and dials Cai Li’s number. Inching back so that they cannot hear her, she waits for her to pick up the call. To her surprise, she picks the call. “Where are you?” Shi Lian asks, pretending that she doesn’t know about her existence.

She clears her throat and answers, “I-I was out here to get fresh air.” Shi Lian wants to laughs but controls herself.

“Who allowed you that? Without my permission, you aren’t supposed to go anywhere, get that? Now bring your ass so that we can work!” Shi Lian orders impatiently.

Shi Lian hears her fuming and saying something, probably to her father. She replies, “I am coming!” With that Shi, Lian hangs the phone and goes inside before Cai Li finds that she is out here hearing their conversation.