Princess Syndrome - Chapter 129
Chapter 129: An Embrace
Su Lingyue, the mermaid, didn't get to enjoy her role for long. Ji Zhiyi had to go on a business trip again. Even though she’d been saying that she needed to rest and not work, the day before her trip, she’d already packed her luggage. Su Lingyue could see that she was happy. She was happy for the fresh start that was coming, and for the smooth progress of the Su Qi project. Su Lingyue naturally couldn't go overseas with her, so she clung to Ji Zhiyi the night before she left, insisting on keeping her still. Not only did she stop her from moving, she also dragged her around the room, changing places and positions.
Afterwards, Ji Zhiyi watched as Su Lingyue leaned into her arms, clutching her wrist. Helpless, Ji Zhiyi massaged her wrist. Su Lingyue mumbled in her embrace.
Ji Zhiyi lowered her head, comforting Su Lingyue, "I'm only going for half a month."
Su Lingyue said, "You said half a month last time too."
She was referring to when she went to Jiang Ya's place; that time was an accident.
Ji Zhiyi said, "I promise."
Su Lingyue held her hand. "Okay, if you come back a day late, I'll make you do it one more time!"
Those menacing words held no threat at all. Ji Zhiyi wanted to laugh, but if she did, Su Lingyue would surely bite her. Ji Zhiyi held back and said, "Okay."
Su Lingyue rolled over. "You said it."
Ji Zhiyi nodded.
Su Lingyue smiled. "Then I hope you come back late."
Ji Zhiyi was speechless.
She hugged Su Lingyue. The two of them didn’t sleep much the night before she left. They mumbled a few words to each other, but the next day, Su Lingyue couldn't remember what they’d said, just that they’d said a lot, and that they had talked about Chu Yi. Ji Zhiyi had told her that if she was out too late after a get-together, she should stay at Chu Yi's place and not drive back and forth.
After moving, Chu Yi had been inviting them over every weekend. Zhang Xian would also come and join, calling it a "lively gathering". Each time, there would be a chaotic commotion at Chu Yi’s place. Previously, Ji Zhiyi would come and go with her, but now that Ji Zhiyi was away, Ji Zhiyi was understandably worried if Su Lingyue had anything to drink.
Su Lingyue seemed to have heard something else from Ji Zhiyi, but she had been too tired at the time, listening in a daze.
Now that she was awake, she wondered if the late-night chat had been a dream.
Ji Zhiyi was still resting, so Su Lingyue didn't disturb her. Her flight was in the afternoon, so she didn't even wake Ji Zhiyi for breakfast. She got ready and went to the office by herself. She had thought it would take a few days to adjust to Ji Zhiyi's absence, but she hadn't even gotten a chance to adapt before a major event happened at the office.
Shen Yuan and Jiang Yunlu had returned to the country!
The two of them had returned together!
And they were, holding hands!
As soon as she got to the office, Su Lingyue saw Zhang Ting and the others discussing something, their faces flushed. "It's true, it's true! Haven’t you seen the trending topics? They’re all over the internet!"
Maybe no one knew about Jiang Yunlu, but Shen Yuan was always active in business circles. She was young, beautiful, and capable. Dingsheng was also an old brand. Put all the labels together, and that was the public’s impression of her. Knowledgeable and sophisticated, with an elegant demeanor. When there was internal strife for power within Dingsheng, Shen Yuan was frequently mentioned. Afterwards, Dingsheng became intrinsically linked with her name. Shen Yuan had also led the development direction of Dingsheng to new heights.
Not too long ago, her planned marriage to Baoshun was also a topic of discussion amongst many.
After that, Shen Yuan had disappeared. Many people speculated that she was busy preparing for her wedding. They even guessed that she would announce her marriage plans the next time she made an appearance.
No one had imagined that she would appear at the airport holding someone else's hand.
It was a woman.
Combined with some of her old gossip, there was suddenly a lot of topics to discuss.
Su Lingyue even added fuel to the fire with her gossip, saying that she had some relationship with Shen Yuan. Although no one had clarified it after the fact, it could now be used as evidence. [Shen Yuan? Isn't she the boss of Dingsheng? She likes women. Didn't she get together with that woman from the Su family not too long ago?!]
[Su family? Is it Su Lingyue, the eldest daughter of Su Qi? I heard about it. What's going on now? Did she dump Su Lingyue for a new one?]
[Who knows, it's so messy.]
[It couldn't be Su Lingyue, could it? With Su Lingyue’s personality, if she were dumped, wouldn’t she go to the Shen family and make a scene?]
[She doesn't have any power or influence now. Who would care about her?]
[Even if she doesn't have any power, she's still the eldest daughter of the Su family! How can she just let Shen Yuan bully her?!]
Su Lingyue saw these messages: ...
What was ridiculous was that the rumors seemed to be both true and false. Zhang Ting even asked Su Lingyue, "Was President Shen chasing after you before?"
Su Lingyue was slightly taken aback. "Do you think I have a relationship with Shen Yuan?"
They wouldn't believe that she was with Ji Zhiyi, but they would believe that she was with Shen Yuan?
Su Lingyue took two deep breaths. Zhang Ting, upon hearing this, felt there was nothing between them at first, but the fact that she directly called Shen Yuan by her name seemed to suggest that there was - a close relationship?
Of course, they didn't believe the online gossip that said that Su Lingyue had seduced her. That was ridiculous.
Seeing everyone looking at her, Su Lingyue said decisively, "There's no relationship!"
What relationship could she have with Shen Yuan?
They didn't even have a cooperative relationship.
She admired the people who spread rumors. They could make up stories with such detail and flair, they should have been screenwriters!
What a waste of talent! Simply a waste of talent!
Su Lingyue cursed inwardly but maintained a calm expression. After she spoke, the office was quiet for two seconds, then Secretary Li said, "Ha, I knew it. Assistant Su and President Shen have no relationship. You guys just wouldn't believe me!"
The others looked at her, knowing she was speaking with the benefit of hindsight: ...
She was the most eager to discuss it just now!
Secretary Li coughed and changed the topic. "Then, Assistant Su, do you know the person next to President Shen?"
It was Jiang Yunlu.
Su Lingyue didn’t know her. Ji Zhiyi had shown her a photo. She had never spoken or even met Jiang Yunlu in person, so she shook her head.
Secretary Li said, "So mysterious."
Zhang Ting said, "Yeah, so mysterious. There isn't any information about her online."
That was because it was being suppressed. Su Lingyue refreshed the page. The topics that had just been trending had suddenly disappeared. When she clicked into the marketing accounts, they had also been deleted. This action directly confirmed the suspicions of the already skeptical crowd: [Dingsheng has taken action!]
[Does Little President Shen like women? Then, I'm available! Sister, look at me!]
[Sister, look at me too, I eat less, and I'm hardworking!]
[Sister, I don't want to work hard anymore...]
All sorts of comments began to pour out. Su Lingyue skimmed them and closed the page. Soon, the topic was completely obscured by the new show of some celebrity and disappeared without a trace.
Clearly, Dingsheng's public relations team had been deployed.
What surprised Su Lingyue wasn't the fact that Dingsheng had only just deployed their PR team, but rather that Shen Yuan had returned so conspicuously, as if she was afraid that others wouldn't know she was in love, appearing with Jiang Yunlu and holding her hand. She had to know the consequences of this action.
But Ji Zhiyi had told her before that many of Dingsheng's projects were overseen by Shen Yuan and no one could replace her. Even if Ye Qiuyun was furious, she wouldn't dare do anything to Shen Yuan.
But Jiang Ya was different.
She was bound to do everything she could to entangle herself with Dingsheng.
Su Lingyue had seen Ji Zhiyi on a video call with Shen Yuan a few days before, talking about this matter, but at the time, Shen Yuan didn't mention wanting to return to the country. Besides, she and Shen Yuan weren't close enough to talk about relationship matters, so she wasn't very concerned or curious.
But while she wasn't curious, others were very curious about her.
After returning to the country, Jiang Yunlu received a call from Jiang Ya. Looking at the flashing screen, she seemed to see what Jiang Ya looked like on the other side of the phone. Shen Yuan asked, "Getting in the car?"
She hung up on Jiang Ya’s call and got into the car with Shen Yuan.
Shen Yuan asked her, "Where do you want to go?"
Jiang Yunlu said, "Where’s fun?"
Hearing this, Shen Yuan lowered her head and laughed. Her memories drifted back to a long time ago when she and Jiang Yunlu had found a part-time job at a store. In the first month, they didn't have much money, but Jiang Yunlu would always give her some unexpected surprises. For example, during their break, she would say, "I know where's fun, I'll take you."
It was a children's park. There were trampolines, water slides, and water guns. They stood out among the children. When they were paying, the owner stared at them for a long time, "Are you going to play?"
Jiang Yunlu smiled softly, "Is it okay, boss?"
Seeing how obedient she looked when she smiled, the owner softened his tone. "Yeah, sure..."
Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Yunlu grabbed Shen Yuan’s hand and ran towards the water pool.
The main reason they came here was because it was cheap.
Forty dollars for an entire afternoon.
When they were done, they were both soaked. Shen Yuan sneezed, and Jiang Yunlu immediately pulled out a set of clean clothes from her bag, letting her go to the changing room. When Shen Yuan came out, she saw that Jiang Yunlu was still wearing wet clothes. She asked, "Aren't you going to change?"
Jiang Yunlu shook her head. "I don't need to."
She sneezed all the way back home. Later, Shen Yuan found out that it wasn't that Jiang Yunlu didn't need to change. She hadn't packed another set of clothes, so she’d given her the only clean clothes she had.
Jiang Yunlu had always been like that, giving her the best care.
At the time, Shen Yuan thought that maybe it was because of her personality, which was always considerate of others, that allowed Jiang Ya to hurt her again and again. She had endured, until her emotions finally exploded.
Jiang Yunlu called out when she didn’t reply, "Shen Yuan?"
Shen Yuan came back to her senses.
After thinking for a few seconds, she said, "Should we go to the amusement park?"
They’d also agreed to go to the amusement park before, saying that they'd go once they got their paychecks. She had even said that she would buy clothes for Jiang Yunlu, and...
Jiang Yunlu seemed to have thought of something. "Not today. Take me somewhere else."
Shen Yuan asked, "Where?"
Jiang Yunlu said, "Yilin."
Shen Yuan understood. "You want to see Su Lingyue?"
Jiang Yunlu looked at her, her expression praising how smart she was. Shen Yuan's face showed no emotion, but her cheeks felt hot. She rolled down the window, letting the cool breeze calm her face. Shen Yuan asked the driver to go to Yilin's branch office.
Su Lingyue had just come out of the promotions department when she received a call from Zhang Ting, saying that someone was looking for her and asked her to return to the office.
On the way there, she tried hard to guess who it could be.
She was stunned when she reached the door. Shen Yuan was standing at the door, along with another person, Jiang Yunlu.
Su Lingyue stood rooted to the spot. The others held their breath, but their gazes were fixed on them. The people who had been discussing the matter earlier were now standing in front of them. Who wouldn't want to gossip about it? But with the parties concerned present, no one dared to. The office was filled with an eerie silence.
Seeing Su Lingyue, the secretary-general said, "Assistant Su, please bring Miss Jiang and President Shen inside to talk."
Although she wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, she knew who Jiang Yunlu was, so she was more composed than the others. Only then did Su Lingyue come back to her senses. "Oh, okay."
She looked at Jiang Yunlu and Shen Yuan. "Please come inside."
Although the office had been empty for a while, someone had been cleaning and changing the water every day. Su Lingyue led the two of them inside, and the others watched them. "Is that the person who was standing next to President Shen in the pictures?"
"It is! I just compared the photos!"
"No, what's their relationship? Why did they come to see Assistant Su?"
"Didn't Assistant Su have a rumor with President Shen not too long ago? Did they come to cause trouble for Assistant Su?"
"I don't know. Are they going to fight later?" Someone said, and the others looked at her. She held her breath and kept quiet. Through the closed blinds, the others watched as Jiang Yunlu moved and walked towards Su Lingyue.
The secretary who had just held her breath whispered, "Look, I told you they..."
Jiang Yunlu said to Su Lingyue, "Hello, I'm Jiang Yunlu."
Although Su Lingyue was confused, she still greeted her. "Hello, Su Lingyue."
"I know." Jiang Yunlu said, "Can I... hug you?"
Shen Yuan immediately looked at Su Lingyue.
Su Lingyue hesitated, then began, "Sure, I..."
Before she could finish speaking, Jiang Yunlu took the initiative to take a step forward and hug Su Lingyue.
The secretaries who were watching through the blinds were shocked: !!!
They gasped. "How did they end up hugging?"
Zhang Ting wondered. "Does she like Assistant Su?"
The others: ...
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