Love Me Harder, Mr. Fu - Chapter 160

With the passing of each second, she gets more nervous each time. She had only one and a half days left with her and she hasn’t yet found the ring.

She couldn’t ask her mother the other day because surprisingly, her father returned just when they were having dinner. Now that when her father is there, it’s not very convenient for her to go ask her mother that freely.

Sitting on the movable leather chair of her office, she looks at the photos Xu Duan sent her yesterday night. She has been staring at them for almost more than twenty minutes.

The photos show the man with a snake tattoo living in an isolated house in the countryside. Xu Duan managed to take good pictures with angles perfectly showing what that man is up to. In one of them, he is talking to someone on the phone, the other he throws the phone on the ground; his face etched with fury.

She shuffles the pictures, looking at the one in which it can be seen how much he has garnered from her uncle. There are two bags and because they are opened, the cash is seen clearly.

She is now sure that the sudden decline in resources is a must due to her uncle. Seeing the amount of money that man has, it’s not likely that her uncle has provided him all of them through his own savings. Her uncle is greedy and even if he had a sufficient amount of resources, he never is satisfied.

So far there isn’t any sign of that man fleeing. She told Xu Duan to keep going with his work. She was going to ask him if he has any tricks to know where the key must be or where a person can keep an heirloom but she stopped herself. Telling more people is equal to inviting more predators.

Upon hearing the doorknob clicking, she hurries to hide the photos. Panicking, she hides them inside the middle drawer of her desk. She can take it later onwards.

Shuhua, the head of the Design department enters in, and with a confident smile, she walks up to where Shi Lian.

Standing in front of her desk, she greets. “Good morning, Chairwoman.”

“Good Morning.”

“Miss Shi Lian, the designs are ready” she informs with a bright smile.

Hearing that, Shi Lian smiles. “That’s a piece of good news to hear. Have you checked them carefully?”

The last time she went to check, she found few mistakes and for that, she lightly scolded Shuhua to not be in such haste. Check before you present.

Shuhua nods confidently. “Rest assured, Miss Shi Lian. The designs are checked five times by me and also I sent you the copy of the blueprint through email as you told.”

Shi Lian gives a satisfied nod. “Well then, let’s go and see the results.”

The August collection is risky because still few shareholders are not agreeing with the idea. She has done whatever she can to convince them but their narrow is still blocked.

The both of them make their way outside of her office and goes to the design department which is on the lower floor. Shi Lian asks Fang Xiao to join her as well because her ideas are interesting and it may require when she needs.

“You proceed. I’ll be joining you in a while. I had to send the emails and there’s only three left” she tells her. Shi Lian tells her to not hurry and come after she is done with her work.

Leaving Fang Xiao to do her work, she goes to the design room taking the elevator.

**

After coming from the design room with must satisfaction to see her designs made so great, she meets JJ on her way. Noticing her, his expression changes and he gets alert. He bows to her when they are at a close distance.

“How are you doing?” she asks in a worrying sense.

He escapes her gaze and looks anywhere but at her. Why is he avoiding her so much? In meetings too, he sits absently and when she asked questions, he is unable to reply. She can’t help but get worried because his behavior is not normal.

When he said to her about being cautious, she does not know if what his actually meaning yet, and even if she asks him, he won’t tell her. She guesses he is suffering from something but is reluctant to tell anyone.

“I’m good. Thank you” he replies, too politely and strangely. He appears as if he wants to get away from her and that sure irks her.

“About what you said” she blurts, trying to get any sort of answer, “the other day, I know what you meant.”

She glances at him seeing if he have any chance of expression and he does. He snaps his head up and looks at her as if he has seen a ghost. Well, she wasn’t expecting that look.

“You do?” he asks for confirmation and with desperation. Shi Lian nods, continuing with her plan. She might get the required answer from him without even putting much of her brain into it.

“Did…he forced you to do anything?” she randomly asks questions which she thinks is true looking at how reserved he has become.

He cautiously looks to his left and right, afraid he might hear them. “I don’t think it’s a right place to talk,” he says, his voice low.

He does have a point. They can’t discuss something big standing near the foyer. Since he appears to be telling something to her, she does not want to lose this opportunity. “We can talk to my office then?” she offers, not sure if he will agree.

He is hesitant. His face appears to have lost its charm. She remembers how she almost lost her breath when she first met him.

“I have a meeting in two minutes. I’ll be going then. Thank you” he says in haste and walks past her in a hurry.

Shi Lian calls his name but he does not stop walking. She sighs and bites the skin of her inner cheek in disappointment. She thought she will get what she wants for sure but then again, it does not happens what she plans originally.

Turning around, she too moves her feet and goes to her office. As soon as she reaches the door of her office, her phone rings. Closing the door, she takes her phone out and sees a text from Xu Duan.

Her eyebrows knit together and it’s not like him to message her in daylight. There must be something important since he messaged her.

She opens the message wasting no time and when she scrolls down, she finds an image. She taps on the download icon and it starts downloading. Her heart starts beating snd she feels anxious for no reason. When the image gets download, she opens it and when she sees the picture, her eyes widen.

It’s that man but what is he doing? She can see him putting something inside a big bag. She then realizes. He is trying to escape.

She dials Xu Duan’s number with her anxious fingers. He picks up in the first ring. “You see the photo? What to do next?”

“Yes, I saw it. Are you sure he is trying to escape?”

“Yes. He is now putting his clothes in the bag. Also, money which he got” Duan tells her from the other line.

“Dammit. Okay, listen, keep eying him. I’ll be there in a while. If he leaves before I am there, try to stop him anyhow” she informs him about her plan. While talking, she goes to her desk, taking her purse, she walks out of the room.

“You need to come fast. He seemed to be done packing and I think he has sensed someone is spying on him. ”

That’s the only case that makes him flee. “I know. I will try to reach them sooner but the period, stop him. We cannot let him go” she orders, her movements fast and she is already outside the company building.

With that, he hangs up and Shi Lian goes to where her car is.

The driver notices her going to the car and leaving whatever stuff he was doing, he runs before Shi Lian gets frustrated looking for him.

“Young Miss! You are leaving early?” he asks, catching his breath.

She has no time for small talks. “Give me the keys” she demands, her face serious.

He hesitates, not knowing exactly if it’s okay to let her drive. “I am your driver. Please allow me to take where you want” he asserts, his head down.

Shi Lian is getting impatient and she does not care if she sounds rude. “Get me the key dammit” she grits out.

The driver flinches, a little is scared by her scary look. He meekly takes out the key from his pocket and gives it to her. He wants to ask where she is going but he knows where he stands. He has no right to question her boss but he cannot just stand there.

“Young Miss, when will you be back?” it takes him some courage to ask.

She is already inside the car and is starting the engine with the key inserted inside the key slot. “Don’t know. Tell Fang Xiao that I wasn’t feeling well so I went home early, you get that?” she says, looking at him with her eyes narrowed.

“Y-yes” he replies meekly.

The engine starts and the car takes off. She has already wasted her time bickering with her driver and God knows how much it will take her to reach there.