First Marriage Then Love 《先婚厚爱》Chapter 110 Translation

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110 Resign

Because she has decided, An Ran now knows what to do. She went to the  company early the next morning, typed her resignation letter in the office,  and then got up and went directly to Huang Dexing's office.

Standing at the door of Huang Dexing's office, out of courtesy and respect,  she raised her hand and knocked on the door. "knock knock knock..."

Waiting for him to acknowledge and asking her to enter, An Ran stepped into  the office.

Huang Dexing looked up from the computer and saw that the person who came  in was An Ran. His lips curl in a smile. He leaned back and waited. It  seemed that he already knows the reason why she is here.

"An Ran, sit down." He pointed to the seat in front of him.

An Ran also smiled plainly, and sat on the chair in front of his desk.

"Have you an answer?" Huang Dexing probed, if it goes according to his  calculations, she should be giving him the answer that would satisfy him.  In fact, he was just careful to ensure that everything goes according to  plan.

An Ran nodded and only said,"Well, I have thought about it for the past few  days and have given it much thought."

Hearing this, Huang Dexing was happy, looked at her, and slowly asked: "Are  you agreeable?" If she agreed to it, then Jing Cheng will have a greater  chance of winning in this round of competition, and with the increased  winning odds of getting the projects for the Ke Ji City, then him being  promoted to the position of general manager at the end of the year is only a formality.

An Ran did not speak. She reached out and handed the resignation letter she  had just typed before to him. The paper still had the residual heat from the  printing.

Huang Dexing took it with joy and looked down. The smile on his face  stiffened, and then he couldn’t smile again. He looked up at her fiercely  and his tone became harsh. He yelled, “What is the meaning of this?!" He  thought that he would wait for a few days to wait for a satisfactory  answer, but after the wait the result was for this piece of paper! He had  thought she would refuse to cooperate, but he had never thought that she  would give him a resignation letter directly stating her intentions to quit  ‘the game’!

An Ran looked at his gaze without fear, only faintly said, "I have been  thinking for a few days now, and although I came to Jing Cheng when I  graduated, and to leave behind 7 years is not without reluctance, but there  are some things I think is still very difficult to ask of me, and it’s  because of me that such a big mess was created this time, so take it that  I'm resigning to take responsibility for what happen.”

"You..." Huang Dexing looked at her, and the hand grasping the resignation  letter tightened. After a while, he asked questioning: "An Ran, the fault  you created this time is not small, you think just by resigning the  responsibility can be offset? What about the loss of the company, you have  to know how much effort has been put into the project of the 'Activity  Manor', who is responsible for the tens of millions of losses?"

An Ran smiled plainly, shook her head and said: "Whether or not I have  responsibility for that, the director is clearer than anyone else, isn't  it?"

Hearing this, Huang Dexing look at her eyes steadily before looking  away hastily, said: "You lost the blueprints, even if it was Chen Cheng who  stole it, but the blueprints were in your office without a doubt, and who  was the one that defended her at the beginning when I wanted to dismiss her? Who is to be blamed if not you?"

An Ran's response was slow and extremely soft, " What if I said that I have  seen Chen Cheng, do the director still feels that this is really my  responsibility?"

Huang Dexing was stunned, staring at her at a loss, has the plan that he  had secretly planned for a long time, so easily solved by her?

Still staring at her, he seems dubious at her words. He probed, "You, have  you really met with Chen Cheng?" Chen Cheng had urgently needed money,  hasn't she already left that day?

An Ran nodded and looked at him with a smile that was unlike a smile,"She  told me the reason for stealing the drawings, even confessed to me the people  who are involved in stealing them. Director can you guess who was it  that gave Chen Cheng money and asked her to take the drawings from the  office?"

Huang Dexing’s expression stiffened. The expression in his eyes became one  with guilt and he turned his head away. After a while, he thought of  something else. He suddenly looked at her and said, “Even if the loss of  the blueprints are not of your doing do you think that the company will not  hold you responsible for the sudden collapse of the sample room?"

An Ran sighed and said,"I think you are very clear if I have responsibility  with regards to the sudden collapse of the sample room as well as if there  were issues with the blueprints."

Huang Dexing said coldly, "If I insist that it is your design that caused  the problem, do you think the company will believe me or you?"

An Ran chuckled, looked at him and said: "I admit that I am not smart, but  I am not stupid enough to be trampled on my head and still have no idea  what's going on."

Huang Dexing looked at her, maybe he had really underestimated her. He  thought she had a gift for design, but was very slow with regards to  everything else. Even after being backstabbed by Xiao Xiao several times  she did not seem to be able to retaliate. Who knew that she who wore her  heart on her sleeves has already seen through everything.

"Director, if my guess is correct, you are undoubtedly trying to force me  to comply with you and ask Yi Cheng for help. Yi Cheng is in charge of the  construction of the Ke Ji City. All the big and small projects must pass  through him. I am his wife, if I asked him for the project. He wouldn’t  ignore me. At that time Jing Cheng's bidding can be said to be a sure win.  I don’t know with regards to the 'activity manor’ project, whether you had  intended to use it as a bait from the beginning,  or had decided upon it  after seeing the design, and didn’t have hope for my design and decided to  give up, but I want to say that using such a project, as an investment to  manipulate me, is a wrong decision."

Huang Dexing did not listen and said directly: "An Ran, you must think  clearly, if you really want to resign, then the company will definitely  pursue the accident. In addition, you feel that with something like this,  even if you leave 'Jing Cheng', do you think there will be people who will  accept you In the construction industry?" A designer who has committed such  a major accident is basically impossible to survive in the construction  industry.

An Ran shook her head, chuckled and said: "You just want to use me to get  the project of Ke Ji City, because you know that I am the wife of Su Yi  Cheng, if I ask he will definitely help." The voice suddenly turned cold  and she asked him back "Then what do you think will happen if Su Yi Cheng  knows that I received such unfair treatment in the company, do you think he  will give any project to Jing Cheng?"

Huang Dexing was stunned, he had not thought about this.

An Ran speaks coldly, "since you think I can get Su Yi Cheng to promise to  take the project for Jing Cheng, can't I also complain to him and ensure  that the company can't get a single project as well? You want to use my  influence to get the projects in Ke Ji City, can't I also make use of Su Yi  Cheng's authority to ensure you get nothing too?” He can threaten her, and  that in turn she is able to threaten him as well.

Huang Dexing stared at her. He had never thought about this.

An Ran looked at Huang Dexing’s speechless expression. She knew that she  had successfully frightened him. She stood up looked at him and said,  “Thank you Director for your care for nearly 7 years. I have learned a lot  in Jing Cheng’, whether it is about handling people or for handling  things."

Huang Dexing looked at her and did not talk, but his face has long gone  pale, and colored with shades of green.

An Ran ignored the ugly expression on his face and said only: "I think  there is absolutely no problem with the design of the manor project. In  addition, with regards to the whereabouts of the stolen blueprints, and how  the showroom collapses. I think the director knows a lot more than me. For  those, I don't think I have the responsibility to pay, or to take on the  responsibility of things going wrong. As for the resignation, I can pay the  amount for my breach of contract according to the terms. I have basically  completed the work on hand. Of course, I will find someone to handover the  other necessaries." Finally, looking at Huang Dexing’s enraged eyes she  finally said: "If there is nothing else I will go out first." After that,  she turned and left his office.

In the office, Huang Dexing grabbed her resignation letter and crushed it  into a lump. An Ran was right, he had made an extremely bad move this time.  He thought he could force her to comply, but unexpectedly he was checkmated  by her instead, this time he has really suffered a disastrous loss!

An Ran is serious about leaving. Almost from the time she left the office  of Huang Dexing, she gathered the colleagues in the hall outside and  started reassigning the work she is currently in charge of.

Actually there are not many jobs to be handed over, but most are only to handover  some of the files for some previous projects, and the current cases that are on  her hands have almost all been completed, so there is not much problem.  Everything about the handover was going very smoothly.

When An Ran packed up her things and took the paper box to leave, she  walked over to the elevator at the entrance of the office, and then looked  back once more. An unknown feeling arose within her.

The young girl assistant in the office had a good relationship with her.  She sent her to the elevator. She looked at her with slightly red eyes.  Inwardly she feels injustice for her, An Ran smiled at her, asking  her to read more books and it is best and more useful to her if she can  pass and get an architecture certificate.

Carrying the carton and waiting for the elevator, the moment the elevator  doors opened Xiao Xiao was there waiting. Xiao Xiao saw her and was  slightly shocked. After a while, she walked over and asked probing," "You  really resigned?"

An Ran smiled at her faintly. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

Xiao Xiao shrugged her shoulders and said: "Indeed it is." If she leaves,  then there would be no one to vie with her at Jing Cheng again, how could  it be a bad thing!

An Ran only took a glimpse at her, did not say anything, holding the  cardboard box and walked past her, leaving.

When she got home again, it's not even noon yet. The resignation was a  little sudden and she had not planned on what to do next. The fact is she  is able to immediately tendered her resignation to Huang Dexing is mainly  due to Su Yi Cheng, because of what he said last night, that he will  support her forever, with his words in her heart there does not seem to be  anymore things to be afraid of. 

Taking the things to the study room she made a phone call to Lin Xiaofen.  She originally planned to go home to see her in the afternoon but did not  expect her to act so fast and had already went to work early today. An Ran  sighs helplessly. She is aware of her mother's temper, even if she is to  resign, she will follow the procedure step by step.

Only nagging her to take good care of her body and not to be too tired,  only then does she hung up. She didn't want to tell her about her  resignation because she didn't want her to worry needlessly.

As a result, there seems to be really nothing to do. Sitting on the sofa  and looking up at the ceiling for a long time, An Ran finally decided that  she had better polish up her really bad cooking skills. If she really have  to depend on Su Yi Cheng later, she can't  be reliant on him to do everything.  Even if Su Yi Cheng is willing to do so she will be embarrassed to accept  it.

So thinking this way, An Ran made up her mind to take advantage of the time  when she did not have to work, to practice her cooking skills. Even if she  is not able to make it sumptuous looking and appetite inducing but at least  it must be able to satisfy the stomach. 

So deciding to do this. she took the wallet and the key and went straight  out to buy the dishes for today.

Pushing the shopping cart and walking in the fresh produce area of ​​the  supermarket, An Ran picks food that is easy and simple to cook. This time  her aim is very clear. She does not wish to be able to make delicious food  or food that make you salivate. She only wishes for the food not to be  charred, gooey or raw, simple goals.

Placing the fresh cabbage into the shopping cart, it is almost noon now. At  this time, there are very few people in the supermarket. This makes the  place to be a little empty, so some of the slightly louder conversations  can be heard clearly.

Therefore, from behind her, when a woman smiled and acted coyly towards the  man by her side, An Ran could clearly hear the conversation between them.

"brother Xiang, I want to eat this, you will cook it for me later won't  you?" The woman said with a smile, her voice very sweet and melodious.

The man’s answer is a bit slow and simple, “En”

Seeming to see something more suitable for her appetite, the woman ran  forward and pointed to the food on the counter and said to the man behind  her: "Oh, yes! Yes! I also want this."

An Ran did not hear the man's reply. In fact, it was unintentional that she  heard them. She did not have any intention of eavesdropping, although she was  somewhat envious of the couple behind her.

Continuing to push the cart forward and picking the suitable ingredients.  Suddenly, her shoulder was hit and a figure running fast past her towards  the seafood area not far in front of her, pointing to the packaged fish in  the cabinet, said, "brother Xiang Let's cook braised fish later, I love the  braised fish you prepared the most."

Only now did An Ran saw the woman in front of her eyes, she squinted and  widened her eyes, then turned around, at the man who is pushing the  shopping cart behind, he is Cheng Xiang!

Cheng Xiang also saw her, first he was stunned, and then delightedly came  over to her, "An Ran."

An Ran gave a cold smile, to think that she had really felt that he really realized he loved Lin Li, and she had even probed about Lin Li’s attitude  towards him. If Lin Li could not forget about him, then she could help by  being the middle-person. But it was all an act after all, hey, isn't he with this woman, accompanying her shopping and cooking for her later? She  will not believe him this time if he still insists that the two of them are not together!

Cheng Xiang pushed the cart and came over to her. "An Ran, it's such a  coincidence."

An Ran gave a frosty smile, looked at him, turned and looked at xiaoxiao  over at the far side. "Yeah, it’s a coincidence indeed."

Cheng Xiang did not discern her cold attitude. He only wanted to ask her  about Lin Li. "Lin Li, has Lin Li contacted you recently? She, how is she?"  He had loitered at Lin Li's old home for over a month but there wasn't any  news at all. He knew that he had hurt her too much. And her avoiding him is  understandable. During this period of time he always thought, if all this  is what she wanted, if all this is good for her, then he will retreat far  away, it's enough to just let him know that she is alright.

An Ran looked at him and said with a bit of sarcasm: "What has any of that  got to do with you?" Can he be more of a hypocrite? Here he is saying how  much he loves Lin Li, but on the other hand he is still with this woman. Is  he really that Cheng Xiang whom they first met? How can a person change so  much, so much so that she can't recognize him at all!

"I, I just want to know if she is alright." he was not able to get any news  about Lin Li at all, the only person that may have some news is An Ran.

"brother Xiang." xiaoxiao returned, took Cheng Xiang's hand, and looked at  An Ran with some reservation. She remembered An Ran as the woman who poured  red wine on Cheng Xiang in the restaurant.

Looking at them coldly and there really isn't anything to talk about to  such people any more. She turned and walked straight ahead.

"An Ran!" Cheng Xiang wants to stop her, but his hand is pulled by xiaoxiao  besides him, and he looks at her. Only then does he understand the reason  for the look on An Ran's face when she looked at him. He gave a bitter  smile, reach out and pulled xiaoxiao's hand off. 

An Ran only care about moving  and did not notice whether there was anyone  in front, and then when she directly hit the shopping cart parked in front  of her, An Ran looked up and noticed a man pushing the shopping cart in  front of her. At his side is a child, the child looking at her with his big  doeful eyes.

An Ran did not expect to meet so many acquaintances visiting a supermarket,  looking at Zhou Han, she gave a slightly awkward smile for knocking into him,  "It's such a coincidence."

Zhou Han took a look at her. and without much expression on his face, said  faintly: "Yeah, it's such a coincidence." Actually, he didn't notice her,  but Xiaobin, who was there, did and pulled his cloak, pointing to her who  was talking to someone in front, he noticed that her expression didn't seem  right, so he stopped there.

An Ran greeted the child besides him. "Hello, Xiaobin, how are you?"

Xiaobin was a little embarrassed and pressed his lips slightly. She was no  stranger to him. She was in the hospital last time, and she was even the  one accompanying him when he left the hospital. He still remembers.

An Ran also smile back at him, reached out and touched his head. Then she  looked up and looked at the things in their shopping cart. She asked  casually: "You also came to buy food." In her heart she feels that this  father and son is somewhat weird, sometimes she feels that Zhou Han was too  cold towards this child, like what happen last time, to even let him sit  alone on the sofa of the reception, and was not aware of the child missing  when she and Su Yi Cheng took the child to the hospital. And the last time  at the hospital, he was irresponsible enough to leave the child at the  hospital alone, and he didn’t look for him for a few days. Even when the  child has recovered he didn’t pick him up. It made her feel that he is the  most irresponsible father in the entire world. But then look at them now,  it seems that he is not as bad to the child as she imagine him to be, he does take  him to the supermarket, buy the food that the child likes to eat, such a  father does not seem to be a person who does not adore the child.

Zhou Han nodded and pushed the cart to go ahead. He said casually, "It seems  to be working time now." The implication is that how is she so free,  to come out to buy food during working hours.

"Oh, I resigned." An Ran said without hesitation. Reach out and take the  box of eggs and put them in the shopping cart.

Zhou Han looked at her with amazement, but did not ask further.

The two strolled around like this, then after getting everything they wanted to buy, they pushed the cart to check out. Who do they meet but  Cheng Xiang and xiaoxiao who was in front of them in the line to checkout  as well. Seeing her approaching, Cheng Xiang looked at her with a bitter  expression, and his mouth opened and close as if he wanted to say  something, but he couldn’t say it even after a few times. Finally, he said  with a bitter smile: "It’s not what you think."

"I don't have to think about it, because I have eyes to see, but can you  please from now on, don't ask me about Lin Li, because then you will make  me feel that you are a hypocrite." An Ran stated coldly and does not leave  him any way to back down.

xiaoxiao at the side got angry and wanted to argue back for Cheng Xiang,  she said to An Ran: "Hey, what is going on with this woman, do you have to  talk this way? Do you know how brother Xiang has been during this  period? How can you say this to him!?"

An Ran looked at her coldly and didn't want to respond to what she said.

xiaoxiao seems to still want to say something, but was scolded by Cheng  Xiang, "xiaoxiao, enough!"

Looking at him with a look of grievances, pouting, the expression looked a  little wronged.

Finally, until she walked out of the supermarket, there was still some  faint anger in An Ran’s heart. she really ache for Lin Li!

"I didn't know that you have such a fierce side." Zhou Han said with a  smile on his mouth.

An Ran glanced at him, the anger in her heart slowly subsiding, in fact,  everyone has a temper, but everyone has a bottom line, as long as you do  not violate that bottom line, everything can be handled peaceably.

Turning and looking at the front, An Ran speaks softly. "Do you remember  the pearl necklace that you sold to me?"

Zhou Han looked at her inexplicably and did not speak.

She doesn't seem to wait for his answer anyway. An Ran continues,"The  necklace is the gift I bought for my best friend's wedding. The groom is  the man just now. All three of us were classmates. We had known each other  for 10 years, but did you know, the 10 years of feelings he had with my friend, was abandoned at the wedding, for the woman just now."

Zhou Han was a little dumbstruck, thinking back to the man just now.  Seemingly surprise that he would do such a thing.

An Ran looked at him and smiled faintly and didn't say anything more about  it. She noticed the bag in his hand and said: "It seems that every time we  meet I will take advantage of you,  thank you this time as well."

Zhou Han faintly nodded. "If there is a similar situation next time I don't  mind you paying for it then."

-----End of Chapter------

This is Joe. First I want to apologize to Anna because despite my attempts to get her approval(via email) to translate this chapter I did not get a reply and so this chapter translation was without her consent or knowledge. So she may have spend effort on the same chapter as well.  If so this chapter may be taken down and replaced with her version instead. In the meantime please enjoy the translation everyone.

Next chapter

First Marriage Then Love 《先婚厚爱》Chapter 109 Translation

109. I will take care of you/ support you forever


She repeated Dr. Zhang’s speech to her parents, and as a family talked it over. Ultimately they decided to continue with the treatment, and first continue with the medications. After all craniotomy is a huge risk, even if the hospital said that there’s a 100% success rate, An Ran and Gu Heng Wen were still worried. After all it is the head that is being cut open, not like the others.

Dr. Zhang was understanding in their decision, since they chose not to do the operation, then it wasn’t necessary to be further hospitalized. The necessary examinations were already complete, so that afternoon they requested for Lin Xiao Fen to be discharged.

Since they wanted to celebrate Lin Xiao Fen’s discharge, father Gu specially went to Nong Fu market to buy food. That evening he wanted to personally make a good meal, and An Ran helped her mother to the house. She puts away the things brought from the hospital, and turns her head, only to see Lin Xiao Fen on the sofa, staring blankly at her. Her expression was quite concentrated, quite serious, so serious that she did not notice that An Ran had turned around to look at her.

An Ran walks over to her, and cautiously calls out, “Mom?”

Lin Xiao Fen then responds, looks at An Ran and smiles awkwardly, concealing her awkwardness, “W-what?”

An Ran shakes her head, and smiles at her, “Nothing. Are you thirsty, I can get you some water.”

“Alright.” Lin Xiao Fen nods at her.

An Ran goes into the kitchen and pours 2 cups of water, one for her mother and one for herself.

Then she sits beside her. Lin Xiao Fen was really odd today, seeming to be watching her constantly, that expression, as if she were afraid, afraid to lose something. An Ran evades her gaze, but doesn’t dare to ask her what was wrong. Recalling what she had heard at the hospital earlier, she didn’t dare ask, because she was afraid that the answer was something she didn’t want.

She sighed silently, and holds onto her mother’s hand. She can see that her face has become thin these past few days, and in distress says, “Mom, don’t work anymore. See this time, how you’ve made us worry.” It was fortunate this time, that day when she received the call, truly frightened her. If something truly did happen… She didn’t want to think about it.

“This time was a mishap, mother is still healthy.” Lin Xiao Fen smiles, and squeezes back. Actually work was not tiring, it only gets busy towards the end of the year. She didn’t want to retire not because of the pay. She had reached retirement age already, and the reason why she did not leave her job, is only because she did not want to be at home all day long doing nothing.

“Besides, what will it do by keeping me at home, your dad will still do his lessons, you are also married, normally no one is at home. I might as well go to work, at least there are friends there to talk with and pass the time with.”

“If you retire you can grow flowers or raise fish and what not at home. But also I wanted to tell dad, that he is also getting old, he should also retire soon. At that time you two can go out together and roam around. Didn’t you guys always say that you wanted to travel, before the circumstances didn’t allow it, both of you had to work, but after you guys retire you can go out, that’s not too bad.” An Ran persuaded.

Lin Xiao Fen chuckles. She knew her daughter can be very stubborn at times, if she doesn’t respond positively then there will definitely be some friction until she agrees. She goes along with her and says, “Alright, I’ll talk to your father about it. We will consider it.” Actually there was nothing wrong with retiring, like An Ran had said, she might actually think about traveling.

An Ran only then nods. Seeing her softly pull in her lips, she then realized that her mother has truly grown old. The wrinkles on the corner of her eyes were visible, and even the hair on her head has some white hair.

Looking at it, she couldn’t help but reach out and stroke her mother’s head, An Ran softly whispers, “White hair….”

Lin Xiao Fen smiles, and just sighs, “Mother truly is old ha, who wouldn’t grow white hair when they get old!”

An Ran doesn’t say anything, her hands gently stroke her mother’s hair.

Lin Xiao Fen also looks at her, looking and looking, a bit absent-minded, suddenly mumbling, “Ran Ran, if in the future you find out that mother was deceiving you, will you hate me?”

The hand stroking her mother’s hair suddenly pauses. She felt slightly uneasy, and just softly asks, “Mom, what have you been lying to me about?”

Lin Xiao Fen seemed as if she suddenly returned to her senses, and quickly averts her gaze. She doesn’t look at her, and stiffly shakes her head, “Nothing, nothing, I was just saying nonsense, nonsense.”

An Ran doesn’t probe further, and grabs the cup of water from the coffee table and takes a sip from it. The other hand that was resting on her leg turns cold, she was even having cold sweats. At that moment, she truly was afraid, afraid that she would let it out.

She doesn’t wait for father Gu to return, An Ran excuses herself saying that she had some urgent matters at work that had to be attended to and that she needed to leave first. Hearing her say that, Lin Xiao Fen doesn’t keep her back. She had no idea of the situation at An Ran’s company, only knows that because of her matter these past few days, An Ran has been going back and forth to the hospital, while she had warned repeatedly that she should focus on work, and did not need to worry about this side.

At the neighbourhood gate she happened to bump into father Gu. Seeing that she was about to leave, although father Gu was slightly disappointed, but he was like Lin Xiao Fen, letting her focus on work, additionally when they have time she should come home with Su Yi Cheng to have dinner.

As she was walking down the streets An Ran was walking aimlessly, somewhat vacant. In reality there was nothing at work, she just did not want to stay in the house anymore. She wasn’t afraid that Lin Xiao Fen would let it out, but afraid that she herself would ask.

She’s constantly had a bad feeling, her mind in disarray. She can’t help but guess around, can’t help but think about it.

Standing on the streets as the cars and people came and went, An Ran suddenly did not know where to go, doesn’t know which direction, and became quite frantic. She really wanted to find someone to speak to, but there wasn’t anyone.

Right now she really wanted to find someone to talk to, she thought and thought about it. Only Lin Li came to mind, so she grabs her cell from her bag, and punched in Lin Li’s number.

The phone rings, but it continued to ring for a while and no one seemed to pick up. She hangs up, and looks at her cell but can’t find another person to call.

She was a mess, and flagged down a passing taxi. When the driver asked for the address she was unable to say a word. She doesn’t want to go home, but even more she doesn’t want to go to work. She just asked the driver to drive the car around the streets for a while, when she finally faintly recited an address.

The sun was setting, and left behind beautiful dazzling red clouds, lighting up the sky. It was truly the height of summer, the daytime was getting longer. It was already 6 o’clock, and before it would have been already dark, but now the sky was this bright, it felt as if the night was not coming.

Su Yi Cheng drove his car when he got out of City Hall. When he passed through the gate, he was just carelessly passing a glance at the figure in front of Hua Tan gate, and stops his car to the side. He gets out of his car, he wrinkles his brows as he frowns.

The gate security guard saw that he got out of the car and was walking towards the woman in front of Hua Tan gate, so he quickly steps out to greet him, “Official Su, that person, I don’t know what’s going on. She has been sitting there for half an hour already but she’s not going in, I asked her if she was looking for someone but she just shook her head.”

Su Yi Cheng doesn’t look at him, and just walks directly towards the figure by the gate.

The sun light hitting on An Ran’s face made her look somewhat misty. The temperature today wasn’t too high, but it wasn’t considered low either. Sitting there for half an hour, her forehead had already formed a thin layer of sweat. An Ran’s eyes were fixed straight ahead, apparently thinking about something. She hadn’t noticed that Su Yi Cheng was slowly making his way towards her.

Su Yi Cheng stops in front of her, obstructing light of the setting sun in front of her. He gently calls out to her, “An Ran.”

An Ran was out of it, then finally reacts. He was against the light, her raising her head to look at him, his face seemed somewhat hazy, and it took a while for her to finally recognize him. The corner of her mouth faintly rises into a smile, “You’re off work.”

Su Yi Cheng nods, looks at her smile, and says, “Why didn’t you call me.” He did not ask her why she was here, only why she didn’t call.

An Ran shakes her head, and just says, “I didn’t want to interrupt your work.” Actually when the taxi stopped here, she then became aware that the address that was on her mind was here. She originally wanted to give him a call, but she decided that since it won’t be too long until he knocked off, she could just sit here and wait, wait until he appeared with his car. Since her emotions were calm now, she needed to think things through again.

Su Yi Cheng reaches out towards her. An Ran watches him, and puts her hand into his large ones. She let him lead her, pull her up on her legs. An Ran gets up, and in passing pats the dust off of herself.

Su Yi Cheng reaches out and tidies up her hair that had been messed up by the wind. He smooths out her bangs, then pulls on her hand and leads her towards the parked car.

Meanwhile the gate security guard who was standing on the side was blankly watching the scene. Although Su Yi Cheng was known to be a refined gentleman, but that made him to be somewhat alienated, made people be unable to approach him easily. Even with the madams he was polite, nothing too excessive, even shaking hands, was just a light touch, then he would immediately withdraw his hand. While, with this woman it seemed to be different. The news about Su Yi Cheng’s marriage had spread, but those who had seen Mrs. Su were few, because they did not have a wedding, and Mrs. Su very rarely participated in the social activities of the municipal committee.

Sitting in the car, Su Yi Cheng faintly looks at her, and haphazardly asks, “Did mother’s health report come out yet, there aren’t any issues are there?” Today, due to the whole tendering deal he had been busy all day. He did remember to call, but ended up in vain. He was planning to call An Ran after work to ask about the situation, but before he could call, he caught sight of her sitting beside Hua Tan all alone.

“Everything is good. Dr. Zhang said that she has a pituitary tumor, but it is benign. Only its position is a bit complicated, afraid that later on it may compress the optic nerve. But I’ve discussed it with dad, and we ultimately decided to keep on with the treatment, as the risk with craniotomy was a bit too high.” An Ran stated.

“Will that have an effect?” Su Yi Cheng asks worriedly. He was still quite concerned about Lin Xiao Fen’s health.

“Doesn’t seem like it would, it’s just benign, and wouldn’t grow.” However whether or not it will shift position, no one can say. However compared to opening the skull, they decided to be conservative.

Su Yi Cheng nods, and asks, “Do you want to go home and see?”

An Ran freezes. She understood that the ‘home’ that Su Yi Cheng meant was her home. She shakes her head, and just says, “No, I’m a bit tired.”

Su Yi Cheng doesn’t say much more, and concentrates on driving. He looks ahead earnestly, but in between gaps, he reaches out to hold her hand.

An Ran turns to look at him. Then she says, “Yi Cheng, if you knew that someone was hiding something from you, and that something is closely related to you, what would you do?”

Su Yi Cheng turns to look at her, but doesn’t say anything. He turns his head forward and continues to concentrate on driving the car.

An Ran waits for a while. When she thought that he wouldn’t answer, the cars stops at a red light, then she hears Su Yi Cheng say, “If it was for my own good, then I would rather go on feigning ignorance.” He turns to look at her and smiles.

An Ran was taken aback, and asks, “But you obviously already know, how can you go pretend?” She also wants to pretend, pretend to not know, but at the back of her mind she could always recall those words at the hospital that afternoon, and can’t help but surmise the meaning behind those words.

Su Yi Cheng doesn’t answer. The light had turned green and he drove the car forward.

An Ran doesn’t say anything else either, just turns her head and looks out the window. The expression on her face was the same expression she had sitting at Hua Tan, obviously looking far away, but without focus at all.

The car slowly stops at the underground garage. An Ran opens the door and was about to leave, but in an instant her hand was captured by Su Yi Cheng. He stares at her, and lets out a soft sigh. He softly asks, “What happened, tell me, okay?”

An Ran looks at him, looks at him determinedly, then she suddenly felt this inexplicable injustice. Thinking of it, her eyes turned red, heating up, the tears stream down uncontrollably.

Su Yi Cheng lets her cry, and patiently wipes the tears that were falling down.

After a while, An Ran’s tears stop. She looks at him and tells him what she had heard that afternoon at the hospital, word for word. She was in disorder, even now her heart was beating rapidly. She wanted to find someone to talk to, if she doesn’t say it out loud how could she ease the tension and uneasiness in her heart.

“Yi Cheng, what do you say, do you think I’m really not my father’s daughter?” An Ran looks at Su Yi Cheng determinedly and waits for an answer. Her eyes were red, and still had moisture in it, as if one touch, would make the tears fall down.

Su Yi Cheng returns her look, and looks at her determinedly, and faintly asks, “Is familial love strictly based on bloodline?”

An Ran turns blank. Her eyes were still hanging onto the tears. She stares at him, a little confused about what he had meant.

“Will you not recognize your dad because you have no blood relation?” Su Yi Cheng asks again, this time seeming to be more understanding.

An Ran shakes her head, her tone extremely assured as she says, “He will always be my father!” He had been before, he is now, and even after he definitely will be. No matter if they have blood relation or not, no matter if they do not have the same blood flowing through them.

Su Yi Cheng smiles, reaches out to wipe the anxious tears that had just fallen. This time he did not withdraw his hand, but gently strokes her cheek, faintly says, “Then what’s the problem?”

An Ran turns blank. She thinks about what he had said, then appears to come to an understanding. That’s right, even if they have no blood relation, even if he isn’t her biological father, she only recognizes Gu Heng Wen as her father, there is no one else!

Looking at him, she seemed to understand. She suddenly breaks out into a laugh, “Hehe.” She nods then shakes her head at him, and says, “En, there’s no problem.”

She was the one who was splitting hairs, trapping herself into a dead end. In reality it won’t affect her past at all, who her biological father was, there will only ever be one person who is her father, and that is Gu Heng Wen. He had given her a lively childhood, accompanying her during her rebellious youth. Back then for her he worried about her schooling and work, even now, he still dotes on her, worries about her, he had done everything for her, more than that the blood relationship can’t be denied. So even if he isn’t, he will always be Gu An Ran’s father.

Su Yi Cheng pinches her refined nose, and says, “Let’s go up. I remember we bought beef last night, I’ll make you beef curry tonight.”

An Ran looks at him, and nods heavily. But when he was about to get off the car she grabs his hand like he had before, then when he turned his head, puzzled, she plants a kiss on his lips. The lilac tongue pries his lips open and enters his mouth. He was still in confusion as their tongues met contact. She clings to his lips, and on his lips she lets out a low voice, saying, “Thank you!” Thanking him for raising that point, thanking him for showing the way out of that dead end.

Su Yi Cheng was never the passive kind of person, and always loved to take the initiative to attack, like this kiss.

He held back her head, and skillfully lifts up her jaw, opening her lips a bit, letting himself fall deep into her kiss.

Sucking, hooking, stirring, today Su Yi Cheng’s kiss was not tender, slightly eager and overbearing, his hold on her was also heavy. Being kissed by him, An Ran moans. His kiss was very hurried, not that only his hold very tight. When An Ran thought that she was going to die from breathlessness, Su Yi Cheng finally releases her, allowing her to lean against his chest to catch her breath. He himself was also panting heavily, as he held her he also slowly calms down.

The two of them held each other for a while in the car. When their breathing was finally steady, they then opened the door to go up.

Upon arriving home, An Ran naturally takes Su Yi Cheng and her bags into the studio together, while SU Yi Cheng removed his suit jacket. He rolls up his sleeves and enters the kitchen to make their meal.

Even if An Ran doesn't make it, but every day it was him to made dinner, she at least felt embarrassed about it, so recently she had been feeling very conscious about it. She volunteered to be his helper. At the beginning SU Yi Cheng would refuse, but he was unable to resist her insistence, so in the end he allowed her to do it.

Only, it seemed like she didn’t know much, so every time she helped this kind of situation always appeared.

“Yi Cheng, how do I deal with this beef?”

“Yi Cheng, why is the shrimp still moving!”

“Yi Cheng, do I cut the carrot this way or that way?”

And so on and so forth, she with her never-ending questions. It seems like whenever she helped out he was more flustered, but he still liked it, this kind of faint happiness, this faint warmth.

Su Yi Cheng’s culinary skills really weren’t too bad, Chinese meal or Western meals, he was good with both of them.

The couple sit on either side of the counter, each with a bowl of beef curry. In order to match the Western-style mood, An Ran specially dims the light above the counter, while Su Yi Cheng pours each of them a bit of red wine.

An Ran stares at him, “Not allowed to drink!” The doctor had already said so, his stomach cannot handle much alcohol. Usually when he was out he had no choice, and needs to be polite, but at home she still hopes to take care of him. Besides, this person’s alcohol tolerance wasn’t too good to begin with, last time he was shamelessly drunk!

“Just a little.” Su Yi Cheng looks at her, consulting for her opinion.

“Can’t drink!” An Ran was firm, not allowing any leeway. She reaches out and takes the wine bottle from him, muttering, “Ye Zi Wen was right, you are a black belly wolf, who would have known that you’d be a shameless drunk, I won’t give you the chance to have your way again!”

“Haha.” Su Yi Cheng laughs out loud. There was only the two of them in the house, and they were sitting face to face. Although she was muttering, who wouldn’t hear it clearly. He allows her to take away the wine, not stopping her.

The two chatted and ate, idly. After eating dinner, An Ran still offered to wash the dishes. Recently because of the matters with Ke Ji City, Su Yi Cheng actually is a little burnt out. He didn’t come home too late today, and that is because he originally wanted to go and ask about mother and father’s health report. There actually is still a lot of work, and he had brought the work home, so after eating Su Yi Cheng went into the studio.

After washing the dishes An Ran pours a cup of tea for Su Yi Cheng and goes in. The reason why she brought tea was because Su Yi Cheng said that he wasn’t used to drinking coffee. At home he was used to drinking tea with his father and grandfather. But the real reason, which he hadn’t told An Ran, was that she had been putting way too much sugar into his coffee.

She knocks before coming in, and places the tea on the desk. Su Yi Cheng raises his head from the documents, and gives her a warm smile, “Thanks.”

An Ran returns the smile, “No problem.”

Su Yi Cheng reaches out to knead her small hand, and says, “I think I’ll have to stay up late tonight. If you’re tired you can go ahead and sleep first, don’t wait up for me.”

An Ran nods, and just says, “Don’t stay up too late.” She retreats from the studio.

After leaving the room An Ran doesn’t immediately go to the room, but sits in the living room silently watching TV. Actually she wanted to talk to him some more, but he was too busy, or maybe she should wait until he was done, then they can chat better.

She doesn’t know how much time had passed, and An Ran felt that she really was in no mood to watch TV. Obviously the movie playing was an extremely disturbing one, but she fell asleep to it.

When Su Yi Cheng appeared from the studio, he was planning to get himself a cup of tea, when he took a glimpse of the show on TV. He walked closer and then saw the sleeping figure on the sofa.

Su Yi Cheng shakes his head, and puts the cup in his hand aside. He turns off the TV with the remote, and bends down to lift her up. But the moment he made contact with her she woke up from her slumber. She looks at him dazedly, rubbing her eyes, and asks, “Are you done.”

Su Yi Cheng doesn’t reply to her, and just says, “Why didn’t you go to the room and sleep if you’re tired, didn’t I say to go sleep first?”

“I still have something to say to you.”

Su Yi Cheng asks, “What do want to say?”

An Ran stares at him, a good while later does she say, “Yi Cheng, If I can’t work anymore in the future, even if I do want to work but no company would hire me, what will you do?”

Not even thinking about it, Su Yi Cheng immediately blurts out, “Then I will support you for a lifetime.”

An Ran stares at him blankly for a while. Then a good looking smile appears on her face.


---END OF CHAPTER---



Next Chapter

First Marriage Then Love 《先婚厚爱》Chapter 108 Translation

108. Calculation



Regarding the issue of Ke Ji City project, An Ran had never directly replied to Huang De Xing. And about the collapse of the sample room and the missing blueprint, she actually wanted a thorough investigation, and even forward it to the police, but it was rejected by Huang De Xing as he did not want to break out the negative side of the company during this sensitive period of time with the opening of Ke Ji City.

Although An Ran was doubtful regarding his irrational approach, she did not press the issue any further.

Because of the exercise manor case, work had been extremely busy, but because the sample room had collapsed and the blueprint was lost, it immediately gave An Ran some free time, and she had absolutely nothing to do.

From time to time she would hear Ling Lin and Xiao Xiao’s gossip, but as long as the mouth is on another body, listening to it or not is the other person’s privilege, to listen to it or not is the other person’s choice. In fact these past two days she had been thinking a lot, whether or not she should listen to the faint answer in her heart or not. Although it has almost been 7 years, when she thinks back on Jing Cheng, unexpectedly she isn’t that reluctant to leave the place, whether it was the people, or the work.

At this time, the cellphone on her desk starts to ring. It was an unfamiliar number. An Ran frowns. Due to her mood at the moment she didn’t feel like picking it up, but it seemed like the other person was very persistent, so they ended up sending her a text.

An Ran sighs, and reaches out to grab the phone. She opens the text, and her eyes widen. The text was very simple, including the punctuation there were only eight characters.

The text had said, “Gu jie, I am Chen Cheng.”

After her shock, An Ran quickly memorizes her number and calls back. It seemed like Chen Cheng was on the other side waiting for her call, as she picked up the call after one ring.

“Chen Cheng?” An Ran was still unsure, her tone carried a hint of doubt. There is no such person who would steal something and take the initiative to go back to the person who they had stolen from, that would be unreasonable.

The other line stayed silent for a while, when Chen Cheng finally makes a faint sobbing sound, as if she were struggling for a long time. Then she finally starts to say, “Gu jie…..”

An Ran tightens her hold on the phone, and asks, “Did you take the blueprint?”

Chen Cheng doesn’t say anything for a while, but An Ran can faintly hear her sob. She doesn’t say anything, and just clenches the cell phone, calmly waiting, waiting for her to give her reply.

A while later, Chen Cheng finally opens her mouth, and just says, “Gu jie, can we meet up and talk.”

“Huh.” An Ran sneers. She has no intention of meeting. “Is there something we need to talk about? Talk about how you took the blueprint from my office?” Her tone was angry with sarcasm.

“Sorry.” Chen Cheng seemed to be remorseful, but was insistent on meeting her. “Gu jie, let’s meet and talk. I have some things I want to tell you.”



When An Ran had arrived at the coffee shop that Chen Cheng had chosen, Chen Cheng was already there. She was sitting by the windows, in front of her a cup of coffee, and she had her head turned towards the window as she watched the cars and passer-bys. Her gaze seemed to be fleeting, as if she wasn't focusing.

An Ran walks over to her, and finally pulls out a chair opposite to her to sit. She places her bag on her seat, looks at Chen Cheng, and faintly starts to say, “Hand me the blueprint.” Her tone was very flat, she was not angry or indignant, but very cold, ice cold.

Chen Cheng then turns her head, stares at An Ran, and bows her head with guilt, “Sorry!”

An Ran hadn't replied yet. The waitress approaches them promptly, carrying the menu and a smile and says, “Excuse me, may I take your order?”

An Ran glances at Chen Cheng, turns to the waitress and says, “Give me a cup of water, thanks.”

“Sure. Just a moment please.” The waitress smiles and nods.

An Ran then turns her line of sight to Chen Cheng, fixes her gaze at her, and asks, “Why? Can you give me an explanation?”

Chen Cheng lowers her gaze, and tightens her grasp on the coffee cup. Only after a while does she faintly open her mouth, and says, “I needed money. Someone gave me a price, said that I only needed to take away the blueprint of the exercise manor, and he will give me 100 000 dollars. I, I really did need money, so I accepted.”

She knew that doing this was incredibly wrong, but she really had no other way. Her family had given her the news that her mother’s illness had worsened, and she needed surgery. However they had no money, last year because of mother’s illness, they completely emptied out their banks. They thought that her mother’s illness was gone for good, at the least the next few years her life would be no problem, but suddenly she received a call saying that her illness has worsened, and every day the hospital urged for surgery. Ultimately her dad and brother had no other way, and called her, thus making her pressed for money. At the time when she was unable to find a solution, that person told her that so long as she was willing to take the blueprint to the Exercise Manor, then disappear for a few days, then he would give her one payment of 100 000. She truly needed the money, if she had this 100 000, her mother could operate. Although she wasn’t sure how long her mother would live after the surgery, perhaps a few years, or perhaps a few months, but if she had looked on helplessly as her mother suffered while she did not think of another way, then being her child, how could she repay her. For her mother, she had harmed An Ran.

An Ran doesn’t speak, and just stares at her, seeming to wait for her to continue.

“I went back to my hometown for the past few days. I came back to Jiang City today, and also learned today that something happened to the template room the day that I left.” Chen Cheng said quietly, facing her shame made her feel uncomfortable. She knew that in this situation An Ran was the most innocent, and those people undoubtedly wanted to leave no leeway for An Ran. She felt that she must tell An Ran what she knew, so at least she could be on guard.

“Who told you to take away the blueprint?” An Ran faintly asked. Actually, in her mind she had a vague idea.

Chen Cheng looks at her for a while, then finally starts to say, “It was Director.”

One day Huang De Xing had called her into his office. Apparently he had gotten someone to investigate into her family situation, and said that he was willing to give her 100 000, as long as she took An Ran’s blueprint and give it to him, he would give her the cash on the spot. Additionally even if the incident was exposed he could protect her, and would not permit officials to perform an investigation into the matter. So, as she received one urging call after another from home, she truly had no other way. That evening her older brother called her once again to say that if they delayed the surgery again then the hospital will have to give them a critically ill notice. She could only painfully hide at the staircase and cry. That evening she waited for An Ran to leave and called Huang De Xing, telling him that she could steal the blueprint for him however he must give her the 100 000 that evening, because she really could not wait any longer.

Huang De Xing very readily agreed. That night at 9 o’clock they met at the coffee shop in front of the firm. She handed over the blueprint to Huang De Xing while he handed over the money that was promised. That same evening she gave him a verbal resignation, and the next day she took the train and hurried home. Over the past two days her mother’s condition had improved, and the more she thought about the situation the more she felt that it was fishy, thus she returned to Jiang City, and first thing she did was call the office assistant Xiao Li, to ask about the state of the company. Then she found out that the day that she left, the template room had collapsed, and they had lost the project. She did not understand what was Huang De Xing’s aim in doing this. The exercise manor was such a huge project, if they succeeded not only would they have reached their target for the second half of the year, they could even have expanded their market overseas. However he had personally plotted to ruin the project! It truly was baffling, outrageous.

“Heheh.” An Ran laughs coldly. She just faintly says, “Really.” She was only guessing that Huang De Xing might have known, but she really did not expect that he was the mastermind behind it. It truly was ridiculous.

“Gu jie?” Chen Cheng looks at her, and asks worriedly, “You… Are you okay?”

An Ran turns her head, and just slightly looks at her. She steadily says, “The blueprint is in Huang De Xing’s hands now, right?” Her tone was very flat, so flat that one could not detect any emotion in it.

“I’m not sure, but when I took the blueprint I did give it to Director.” As to who he had given the blueprint to after that, she has not a clue.

An Ran did not speak again. The waitress brought over the glass of water to their table, and she raises her head to take a sip. Then she stands up, and faintly looks at her, just saying, “Thanks for telling me today. However, may I offer a bit of advice. From now on, please do not go against your conscience for money’s sake.” After speaking, she turns her head and does not look back.

When she returned to the company, as she entered the hall, she bumped into Huang De Xing who was on his way out.

Before An Ran had said anything, Huang De Xing started to smile at her and greets her, “Just coming back after rushing out?”

An Ran nods, and does not say much. Her expression towards him immediately turns cold.

He seemed to be in a hurry to leave, and just reminds her to think it over and hope that she will give him a reply soon.

Returning to her office, An Ran sat in front of her desk, dazed as she thought about many things.

About Huang De Xing’s proposition, she did not have to think much about it. She hated these dishonest and shady businesses, she always felt that things should be fair and realistic, your strength will win, as long as you have strength, there is no need to be worried about not winning. Doing things behind people’s back by using back-door relationships is simply violating the principle of fairness and impartiality. Of course she knew that there are many people who do things that way, but other people are other people, and she was unwilling to become them. Call her old-fashioned, not understanding on how to be flexible, she admits that she has always been an awkward person.

She began to think about leaving, but if she had left this way, she reckons Jing Cheng will investigate and find blame for the accident and the loss of the blueprint.

Huang De Xing’s move was very despicable, but at the same time it was quite brilliant. At the moment she was trapped, if she doesn’t leave, then she will have to listen to him and get Su Yi Cheng’s Ke Ji City project. If she was determined to leave, then all these years in the construction business have been in vain. And even after that her reputation in the industry would be tainted because of this incident, because if her guess was correct, Huang De Xing was not willing to make the incident public now, but if she left, then all the blame would be on her. At that time the collapse was not due to human intervention, and the blueprint was not stolen, but rather it was a design failure, and then they would purposely destroy the blueprint to shirk responsibility!

She pinches her sore brows. She really hated this kind of calculation and speculation. She had said that she was not dumb. The things that she doesn’t seem to understand, it’s only because she does not want to understand or get to know them. She only wanted to design quietly and peacefully, regarding the business side of the company, she doesn’t want to hang out with unnecessary people, on account of gaining more favors for herself. That is not the life that she wants, but obviously, she is not interested because of the unnecessary troubles those relationships will bring. Yet there are people who will do all sorts of calculations to pressure her for those relationships, she truly, truly hated that!

“Ai!”

With a sigh, she really did not want to think about those annoying things. At the moment she was an unnecessary idler in the company, rather than doing work, might as well say that she came to sit in the office and be lost in thought.

Since she was in her office in idle, she might as well go to the hospital and see if the report of the examination was out. So she planned just to do that, An Ran takes her briefcase from the desk, and was planning to leave directly, but when she raised her hand she caught sight of the ring on her finger. The corner of her mouth faintly raises.


When she reached the hospital An Ran did not go to the 8th floor where Lin Xiao Fens' ward was, but instead went to the 7th floor where the office of the doctor in charge was, and came to inquire to see if her mother’s health was normal before seeing Lin Xiao Fen.

Because Su Yi Cheng had called the president of the hospital, the president had specially made it clear that Lin Xiao Fen’s case was very important, thus, each and every examination were in-depth, so the original plan of allowing Lin Xiao Fen to stay for 2 days for observation turned into 5 days of examinations. During that period her company was not at ease, and had specially came to see her. After visiting her they found out that it was because her husband, daughter and son-in-law would not let her leave and insisted on having her stay for a full physical examination.

“Knock knock knock.” An Ran knocks on the door, only to see Lin Xiao Fen’s doctor, Doctor Zhang, standing in front of the fluorescent board, looking earnestly at the CT scan images. His brows were wrinkled.

“Doctor Zhang.” An Ran softly calls out. She enters.

Hearing something, Doctor Zhang then turns his head, and sees her entering. He says, “You came right on time. Please take a seat, regarding your mother’s health, I would like to speak to you about it.” As he spoke he takes down the two images of the CT head scans, and places it down onto his desk.

An Ran sits in front of him. This time she has a bad feeling. She cautiously asks, “Doctor Zhang, is there an issue with my mother’s health?”

Doctor Zhang nods, and says, “Indeed there is an issue.” As he spoke he hands her the CT scans, and points at it to let her see, “Your mother has a pituitary adenoma.”

Hearing that, An Ran was taken aback. Even a while later, she could not respond. She stares at him, her voice trembling, “D-doctor, what did you say? Pituitary adenoma?”

Seeing her nervous manner Doctor Zhang knew that she had misunderstood. He explained, “Do not be nervous. Your mother’s adenoma is not big, and it is a benign tumor. Even if not removed it will not cause a harmful threat to your mother’s body.”

She shakes her head. Everything that he had said did not make sense to her.

“I will explain it more simply.” Doctor Zhang sits down again, and explains once more, “The tumor that your mother has is a benign one, in other words it will not grow or worsen. Some in the medical field even say, over time it may be gone, disappear, so basically it is not life threatening.”

Hearing him say that, An Ran was then relieved, “Then what does Doctor Zhang want to discuss?” It’s a benign tumor, it isn’t necessary to have an operation. Then that doesn’t need a discussion, and also doesn’t need to let the patient and their family be worried and afraid.

“It’s like this. Your mother’s pituitary tumor is in this position, and this position is quite close to the optic nerve. If the tumor was slightly displaced, then it will most likely compress the optic nerve, thus it will easily cause blindness.” Dr. Zhang said truthfully.

“Then, then what about it?” An Ran asks. Her tone was anxious and uneasy.

“In the case that it compresses the optic nerve, then we can only excise the tumor. But when the time comes, with your mother’s age, I’m afraid she won’t be able to withstand the operation.” Dr. Zhang confesses, “Of course, there is a possibility that the tumor will never grow or be displaced, then naturally everything that I had talked about would not occur.”

An Ran frowns. She looks at him and asks, “Then you’re leaning towards surgery?”

Dr. Zhang nods, and says, “Right now is the best time, your mother’s health is good, performing this kind of operation is not something to worry about, the success rate of such surgery also very high. Of course, as with any craniotomy operation, there are some risks. You should carefully discuss this with your family, whether to go through with the operation or not.”

An Ran frowns, nodding in understanding. She asks once more relevant question about the operation, and if there was anything else about Lin Xiao Fen’s health. Once she understood more clearly, she then turned about to leave the doctor’s office. Because of Su Yi Cheng’s connection, Lin Xiao Fen’s hospital room was moved from an ordinary one to a luxurious VIP ward. Compared to the ordinary room, the VIP room was pretty good, what was more important was that it was quiet, it wasn’t noisy like before, and made a wonderful place for a patient to recover in.

When An Ran arrived at Lin Xiao Fen’s room the door was ajar. She pushes the door to go in, and at the entrance, she hears Gu Heng Wen speaking with her mother, the pair talking about something. An Ran was about to call out to them, when she heard one of them say her name. An Ran pauses, and thinly listens to the dialogue between the two people.

“Heng Wen, what do I do. He came to see me, and already knows about An Ran’s past.” On the bed, Lin Xiao Fen’s tone was frantic. She grabs onto Gu Heng Wen’s hand and holds it firmly.

Gu Heng Wen pats her hand, and with a soft voice consoles her, “Don’t worry, nothing will happen.”

“I don’t want to let An Ran know, even more I don’t want An Ran to have any relation with him, I’m scared if An Ran knows she will blame me.” Lin Xiao Fen said in a depressed tone.

“He will not take the initiative to find An Ran, rest assured.” Gu Heng Wen consoles her as he pats her hand, “Right now he has his own family, he will not take the initiative to find An Ran and talk to her. This will threaten his family, with his status right now, it’s unlikely that he will do that.”

“Really?” Lin Xiao Fen was still unsure. She knew that he was right, just wanted to get confirmation from him. She was truly afraid, this was a secret that she had guarded intensely for 20, almost 30 years!

“Really.” Gu Heng Wen nods confidently.

Lin Xiao Fen pulls in her lips, but wasn’t able to pull up a smile. Even though he was certain, she after all was still afraid, “Heng Wen, tell me, if An Ran finds out, what should we do?”

“An Ran will always be my daughter!” Gu Heng Wen looks at her in a tone that certainly had no doubt in the slightest.

An Ran clutched onto the CT bag. She came at the wrong time, listening to things she should not have heard. She doesn’t know what they are talking about, but she can faintly surmise what it was. Carrying the bag she quietly withdrew from the room, her movement was very light, so light that no one had heard a sound, as if she hadn’t been there at all.

She sits down on the bench outside beside the door. She was still clutching onto the plastic bag, her father’s confident words still ringing in her ears.

“An Ran will always be my daughter!”

Wasn’t she always his daughter?

When did that change? In addition to mother’s anxiousness, who will know what? Why is her mother so worried that she will know something? Was she afraid that she will find out that she wasn’t her father’s daughter?

An Ran was afraid of her thoughts, and was unresponsive for a while. She quietly talked to herself, “How, how could that be. That’s just absurd.” The more she thought about it the more afraid she became. She pats her face, and attempts to stop her thoughts, incessantly comforting herself, “If I am not dad’s daughter then who is, do not scare yourself, do not scare yourself.”

She sat outside for a while, and tried her best to pacify herself. Then she gets up to go to the ward. She was about to open the door, when at this time, the door was opened. From inside Gu Heng Wen was surprised to see her, his expression was somewhat panicked, “Ran, Ran Ran, you, when did you get here.”

Although Gu Heng Wen’s reaction made the uneasiness in An Ran’s heart grow, but An Ran still tried to make her expression as natural as possible. She pulls on her lips, and faintly smiles as she says, “I just came back from Dr. Zhang’s office, I brought over the examination report.” As she spoke she hands over the report and the CT scans to her father, “Dad, are you going out?”

Gu Heng Wen quickly shakes his head, and explains, “N-no, I was about to go see Dr. Zhang to ask about the results of the examination. Since you’ve brought it over, I don’t need to go there. Oh, that’s right, what did Dr. Zhang say, are there any issues with mother’s health?” Saying that, An Ran’s expression gets heavy. Her brows were also slightly wrinkled. She looks at her father and says, “Dad, let’s go in and talk.”



---END OF CHAPTER---


Next Chapter

First Marriage Then Love 《先婚厚爱》Chapter 107 Translation

107. Ring


Lin An Jie was surprised to see An Ran at the hospital. Actually, before and after meeting An Ran, he had continued to go on dates, with girls younger than An Ran, some were prettier than An Ran, some were not. Those who were younger and prettier than An Ran, their job wasn’t good, they were only a small office worker. The others, who had better jobs than An Ran, were more stable, but were not as pretty as An Ran. In any case, after a few dates, he could not find anyone suitable. In the end, An Ran had the most advantageous conditions.

He did not expect that they would run into each other here. Recently his family had been urging him, so perhaps Gu An Ran is the best marriage partner. Although her character is a bit old-fashioned, and her age is a little old, but she has a respectable job, and she is quite pretty.

An Ran was also surprised to run into Lin An Jie here, but after that unpleasant event, regarding this man, An Ran doesn’t have a favorable impression. She just slightly nods at him.

Making a note, Lin An Jie goes over to her, and says sleazily, “What a coincidence. Are you here to see someone?”

An Ran does not intend to stay and chat with him, so she excuses herself, “Sorry, I still have matters, will have to go first.”

“Hey, An Ran, wait.” Seeing that she wanted to leave, Lin An Jie quickly calls out.

“Excuse me, is there anything else?” An Ran said impatiently, her tone indifferent, her expression aloof. Anyone within sight, could see from her face that at this moment she was annoyed.

However Lin An Jie was not an average person, he was more outrageous, even narcissistic, his ego was large.

He smiles at An Ran and says, “I think everyone had a small misunderstanding last time, I was too impulsive last time, please do not worry.”

Hearing that, An Ran faintly looks at him, her face expressionless as she says, “What happened last time, I had already forgotten about it.” If he hadn’t called out to her, she wouldn’t have recognized him. Some things are senseless, thus she wouldn’t spend a great deal of effort making sense of it.

Contrarily, her reply made Lin An Jie misunderstand, thinking that she agreed with him. So he quickly laughs and says, “You are still single right. Actually during this period I have been seeing people, but they were basically not good enough. I think that perhaps we could try to get along.”

An Ran was taken aback. She finally understood his intention after a minute. This man is just hilarious, where does he have the confidence to think that after such a thing, anyone would accept him?

“Sorry, I’m married, I think you have the wrong person.” An Ran glances at him, and turns to leave.

Lin An Jie was taken aback. He looks at her empty ring finger, and laughs, “I know that at your age you are in a rush to get married, that is not a problem. I don’t mind dating with marriage in mind.”

Her back facing him, An Ran helplessly rolls her eyes. This man really can’t help but just see himself, huh.

Seeing her not speak, Lin An Jie thought once again of himself, and continues, “Although your work is not bad, you are also considered pretty, but your age is a bit high. Perhaps if you were younger you would be able to find someone better, but right now, after all, you are almost 30, and women age faster than men, and men the older the more attractive they become. Thus, those who are wealthy will look for the young and the beautiful, at an age such as your’s, would be awkward.” As he spoke he continued to walk over to her, “Although my conditions aren’t extremely well, but I have a house, a car in Jiang City and I am not considered lacking. I don’t care that your age is a little old, because what I care more about is the personality. After all in ten years won’t we all be the same. If you want to get married as soon as possible, that is no problem either, as we are dating with the intention of getting married. Sooner or later will be the same, don’t you think?”

An Ran was truly defeated by his formidable confidence, “I’m really sorry Mr. Lin, you must not have heard that I am already married?”

“You don’t even have a ring on your finger.” Lin An Jie stares at her as he spoke, confident that she wasn’t married.

An Ran was taken aback. She looks down at her own hands. It really does not have a wedding ring. As their marriage was rushed, she and Su Yi Cheng did not prepare a ring. Over time, they forgot about it, and had not even thought about going to buy or try out a wedding ring.

“But she has a husband.” When An Ran was still out of it, a magnetic voice appears from behind.

Hearing that, Lin An Jie raises his head, only to see Su Yi Cheng come over from behind An Ran. He naturally draws in An Ran’s shoulder, and faintly looks at him. He lowers his head and looks at An Ran sweetly, asking, “Why are you at the hospital?”

An Ran stares at him blankly. It was such a surprise that he appeared here. “Why are you here?”

“Secretary Zhang hasn’t been so well these days so I told him to see a hospital. I took advantage of my break to come and bring him here.” Su Yi Cheng said faintly. He reaches out to her and pushes aside some stray hair.

Lin An Jie at the side, was shocked and speechless. His eyes were wide as he looked at Su Yi Cheng. He recognized Su Yi Cheng, because Su Yi Cheng would occasionally come down to do some investigations, and he had once received a warning from him! He never would have thought that he would be Gu An Ran’s husband!

It took a while for Lin An jie to return to his senses. He looks at Su Yi Cheng embarrassed and laughs, “Sp-special assistant Su…..”

Su Yi Cheng looks at him briefly but doesn’t speak. Secretary Zheng had already come up and was beside him. He looks at Lin An jie and sneers, then kindly reminds him, “That’s Deputy Mayor Su now actually.”

Lin An Jie turns cold. The corner of his mouth twitches into a smile, that smile was unsightlier than crying.

Su Yi Cheng did not even glance at him, even more does not have the time to discuss it with him. He looks at An Ran and asks, “Why are you at the hospital? Are you not feeling well?”

An Ran shakes her head, and says, “It’s mom. She suddenly fainted at work.”

Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng frowns, and asks, “How’s mom?”

An Ran smiles at him, “The doctor says it’s just fatigue, there’s nothing hindering. But just to be safe, she has to stay in the hospital for a few days, and do a physical examination.”

Upon hearing that, Su Yi Cheng then relaxes his frown, and says, “I’ll come with you to see mom.”

“I was planning on going to the market to buy some healthy food for mom.” At the least she has to buy towels or washbowls etc.

Su Yi Cheng nods, and says, “I’ll come with you.” He turns around, and instructs Secretary Zheng, “If there’s anything give me a call, I won’t be returning to the office today. Also keep an eye on the tenders, inform them, that tomorrow morning at 10 we will have a group conference.”

Secretary Zheng nods, replies seriously, “Alright, I understand.”

Su Yi Cheng looks at him, doesn’t say much more, and turns to take An Ran by the hand out the hospital and towards the supermarket.

By the time they got back to the hospital, Gu Heng Wen was sitting in front of the bed and was speaking to Lin Xiao Fen about something. When he saw them come in, he quickly shuts his mouth, as if he were afraid that An Ran had heard.

He then sees Su Yi Cheng beside her, and the both them looked shocked. Lin Xiao Fen glares at An Ran, and says, “Why did you bring Ah Cheng, I’m fine. Ah Cheng must be busy with work, it’s not good to leave like that.”

“That’s right, An Ran, you didn’t need to interrupt Yi Cheng’s work.” Father Gu also agreed. Ever since the two families had dinner, they knew from the start that Su Yi Cheng was not working at some international corporation, but was the young leader of the municipal committee, an official. This had shocked them, as they had never thought of their daughter to be so great. No matter the status, as long as he treated An Ran well, that is enough, but they never expected that she would have relations with such big wigs. It felt like a mirage, made them feel like it wasn’t true.

Fortunately, apart from Su Yi Cheng’s extraordinary job, there was nothing else unusual about him. There was no general dandyism, towards An Ran and towards them he spoke well and did not speak badly of them, thus they were relieved.

An Ran glances at Su Yi Cheng, looking pleased, as if she was saying, ‘See, I knew it.’

In fact, while they were on their way back, An Ran had made a bet with him. She said that Lin Xiao Fen wouldn’t be happy to see him, while Su Yi Cheng did not agree, and countered, saying that Lin Xiao Fen would definitely be laughing and smiling from ear to ear upon seeing him.

“Mom, dad, don’t blame An Ran. I just happened to be here at the hospital to see the director, and bumped into An Ran at the lounge.” Su Yi Cheng places the stuff in his hands onto a table, then walks over to Lin Xiao Fen and says, “Mom, even if I didn’t run into An Ran today, you and dad shouldn’t hide these from me, after all I am also your son. How could you conceal the news that your health isn’t well.”

Lin Xiao Fen sighs, “Your work is special, and anyways I’m fine. Not only is it bad that I am wasting your time to work, you are serving the people, of course, the interest of everyone is important.”

Su Yi Cheng chuckles. He advances and takes Lin Xiao Fen’s hand, smiles and looks at her in a serious manner, “Mom, I am the people’s servant, but I am also An Ran’s husband, and your son-in-law. In old times they call the son-in-law the half-son. I don’t just see you and father as just my half-parents, as far as I’m concerned, you and father are like my own parents, I just need to know that you and dad are healthy and great, only then can I do my work well for everyone’s benefit. You guys are my strong backing, ah.”

Hearing that, Lin Xiao Fen stares at him, and was almost touched to tears by his words. She suddenly felt like Heaven had treated her and An Ran too well, giving them such great men.

“Ai, I was just worried that I was inconveniencing you.” Lin Xiao Fen pats his hand as she spoke.

Su Yi Cheng chuckles, and says, “What kind of child would think that their parents are troubling.”

Hearing that, Lin Xiao Fen and Gu Heng Wen look at each other, then smile gratefully.

In the afternoon Su Yi Cheng called the president of the hospital, and asked him to get the best doctor in the hospital and do a comprehensive examination for Lin Xiao Fen. Finally the hospital agreed, and they will begin the examination tomorrow, and arranged for the best doctors and nurses for her.

An Ran and Su Yi cheng returned home at night. Originally An Ran wanted to stay overnight, but Lin Xiao Fen and Gu Heng Wen did not approve, said that they still have to work tomorrow, so they must go home early and rest. An Ran was helpless, and could only follow Su Yi Cheng home. Before leaving she incessantly reminded, that Lin Xiao Fen has to rest a lot, and if anything comes up Gu Heng Wen must call her first.

The two did not drive here, and the night was late. It wasn’t yet 7pm, but the sun had already set, and now the sky was completely dark.

They did not call a taxi immediately. The two held hands as they slowly walked down the street. An Ran turns to look at him, and suddenly laughs.

Su Yi Cheng looks back at her, and smiles as he asks, “What? Why so happy?”

An Ran laughs, the smile on her face was even more joyous. She looks straight ahead, and doesn’t say anything.

“En?” Su Yi Cheng deliberately scratches the palm of her hand, stares at her, as if he absolutely had to know the reason.

An Ran stops her steps, looks at him and laughs, “I realized that you truly are suitable to be a leader. You always know how to make your words beautiful, know what to say to touch people’s heart and pull their strings.” Clearly they were not sweet words, but the more ordinary and warm they were, the more they touched people, making others unable to oppose him.

Su Yi Cheng pinches her nose, and leads her hand and continues forward. “What I said was truth, and the truth is always the most pleasant to hear.”

An Ran pouts, “You are a man with extensive experience. One look and you can already see through people, say the right things depending on the person, without thinking you can just open your mouth and speak.”

Su Yi Cheng laughs, but doesn’t deny it, because it was exactly as she had said. He can already tell what a person is like, what to say to each person, however there aren’t a lot of people who he speaks well to. He does not need to win other’s favour, but he does want to win the favour of her and her parents.

There is no more in-depth explanation of the issue, so Su Yi Cheng diverts the topic by asking, “How did things go at the company? Is it really thorny?”

Speaking of that, An Ran’s smile slowly gathers up, and she turns quiet.

Su Yi Cheng turns to look at her, and can naturally see the difference in her. He just faintly says, “Do you want to talk to me about it? Even though I may not be able to help you, but at least I can be a good listener.”

An Ran raises her head to look at him, and forces a small smile. A while later, she says, “The exercise manor case, was thrashed.”

Su Yi Cheng was shocked. He heard her say that this project, was the one that she had been busy working on for this period of time.

“The sample room suddenly collapsed, and the blueprint disappeared. Even the intern student that I was working with suddenly disappeared.” An Ran continues, “I suddenly feel really tired.” She stops her steps and stares at him, “Yi Cheng, do you think I’m a failure? Aside from Lin Li, it seems like I don’t have any other friend. My relations with people seem to be really bad.”

Su Yi Cheng laughs, and reaches out to rub her head, “It is they who don’t have the foresight. And not everyone has the talented acumen that I have.”

“Pfft—” An Ran guffawed at his narcissism. She asks in jest, “Leader Su, may I ask are you praising me or praising yourself?”

“Of course I am praising my own foresight!” Su Yi Cheng’s face was serious, that earnest expression made An Ran laugh, no longer did she have that gloomy, powerless look.

Su Yi Cheng looks at the An Ran who is laughing happily. He likes this kind of An Ran, the large smile spread across her face is very pretty, the smiling her is more beautiful than the unsmiling her. She is more suited to smile, the sad and gloomy expression does not suit her face.

After laughing, An Ran’s mood seemed to be a lot better than before. She looks ahead, and while walking, says, “Huang De Xing wants me to look for you, and wants me to capture the Ke Ji City project. That would make up for my mistake, my penance.”

Su Yi Cheng understands clearly. So that was what she was talking about from her call earlier.

An Ran continues, “It’s funny don’t you think, the theft, the collapse, unexpectedly the company didn’t respond, didn’t make a report, and don’t even talk about investigation, apparently this incident wasn’t an accident to them, as if it was prepared.” Right now, thinking back, Huang De Xing’s reaction was too dull, so dull that it made people feel suspicious.

Su Yi Cheng doesn’t speak, just listens to her, and doesn’t give her his opinion. But his hold on her slowly strengthens, as if he were giving her strength.

“I’m not bright, but I am not foolish either. Not saying it’s incontestable but it’s just a thought, but it seems like everyone’s taking me as a fool.” An Ran laughs at herself.

Suddenly Su Yi Cheng stops his steps, turns his body to face her and pulls her in. He looks at her and says, “An Ran, do you want to stay at home and let me work?”

An Ran also looks back at him. She understood his meaning, but after all, she has been with Jing Cheng for almost 7 years, ever since she graduated she had foolishly stayed there, even through the bad times she has some attachments. If she said she really wanted to leave, she really would hate to do so.

Su Yi Cheng does not push her to make a decision immediately. He reaches out to stroke her face, and takes her hand again. “Come, let me bring you to this place.”

Not waiting for An Ran to reply, he pulls her hand and takes her towards the city center.

“Where are we going?” An Ran asks puzzled.

Su Yi Cheng doesn’t turn his head, and just faintly laughs as he says, “You’ll know when we get there.”

The night market had already started, and there were a lot of people on the streets, so she allowed Su Yi Cheng to shuttle her around the crowd.

An Ran looks at the side of his face. His side profile was just as good-looking as his front, his strong outline, his deep eyebrows, how is it that he gets more charming the more you look at him. Actually, not thinking of anything, letting him lead her the way felt quite good. It felt as if they had been long-time lovers. His hands were large, his palm could completely wrap around her hands, it felt fantastic.

When An Ran was completely dazed and in her thoughts, Su Yi Cheng stopped his steps. An Ran did not notice, and nearly bumped into him. Luckily, Su Yi Cheng was swift and caught her. He laughs and mocks her, “You are like a child, don’t you look while you’re walking?”

An Ran spit out her tongue, and asks, “Are we here?” As she asked she looked around, only to see that they were in front of a jewellery shop. Confused, she turns to look at him, “Why did you bring me here?”

Su Yi Cheng lifts her hand up, looks at her bare finger, and says, “I feel like I should buy a ring for you and at the same time warn other men that you are already taken, they better not have any reckless plans.”

An Ran was taken aback. She finally gets a reaction from the meaning behind his words, and recalled their encounter with Lin An Jie at the hospital, “Can I assume that you got jealous?”

Su Yi Cheng noncommittedly nods, “of course!”

An Ran laughs as a result of his earnesty. She takes his hand, and does the same thing by looking at his bare ring finger, “Then don’t you think I should buy you a ring to safely harness you, otherwise I’m afraid there would be someone coveting my beloved husband.”

“I’d be extremely honoured.” Su Yi Cheng laughs, and stares at her eyes. His face was tender, and the two enter the jewellery shop with their fingers entangled. The jewellery shop had a lot of rings, pure gold, diamonds, gems, everything that should be there was there. The styles were very comprehensive, but ultimately the pair decided on a very average silver ring. It looked very simple, not at all gaudy, but it was something that the both of them liked very much.

The buying and choosing of the ring went smoothly, only when it was time to pay, there was a little drama.

“Let’s split it, both of us pay our own part.” She looked at the staff as she was preparing to package the rings.

Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng raises his brows, and looks at her funnily.

“Uh.” An Ran’s request baffled the attendant. She forces and smile and laughs awkwardly, “Sorry, miss, these rings, have always been bought together, it’s never been sold separately.”

An Ran frowns, and compromises, “Then use two cards.”

The corner of the jeweler’s mouth twitches. They were both buying the same thing, using two cards, it’s not like taking off your butt and farting, so much more!

An Ran, don’t make it hard for others. "I’ll pay first, you can return the money to me when we get home alright?” Su Yi Cheng reasons with her.

An Ran looks at him in the eyes, and sternly refuses, “No. When we get home you will definitely say that we are husband and wife, will not split it. What’s your’s is mine, and I can’t counter. In any case today I will definitely pay for the ring today, otherwise you will pay for the ring, so how can I use this ring to harness you.”

Su Yi Cheng laughs heartily. He reaches out and strokes her head, then turns to the jeweler and says, “My wife insists, then I can only bother you.”

The client was so insistent, after all they are a business, they still need to sell things. The jeweler gives them a professional smile and nods at them, “No worries.” Saying that she grabs two paper bags from under the counter, and puts the two rings in each of the bag respectively, and pushes the bag to both of them.

An Ran straightforwardly fishes her credit card from her bag, and Su Yi Cheng chuckles as he shakes his head. He does the same thing and uses his credit card to pay. From the paper bag she takes out the case, opens it up and takes the ring inside. In front of everyone, in front of the store, her face slightly flushes. She pulls his hand, and gently slips the ring on him. From now she only has this man, this time it seemed to become very sacred. An Ran’s expression, although it was bashful, was extremely sincere.

After putting the ring on him, An Ran then raises her head to look at him. Her small face was flushed, “Are you going to put it on me?”

“Very happy to do so.” Su Yi Cheng smiles, and likewise takes the ring out. He gently puts the ring on her, a very simple movement, but he was very gentle, and slow, so much that it looks like it was a very important moment to him.

When An Ran was staring at her ring, seemingly out of it, the quiet store suddenly bursts out an enthusiastic applause, people were even starting to heckle.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss…!”

The group applauds, the entire store seemed to have become lively, even attracting unknowing passerbys to stand in a circle and watch.

An Ran turns extremely red, and embarrassingly buries her head into Su Yi Cheng chest.

After all being seen by such a crowd, regarding this spectacle, he had a smile on his face that he was unable to hide. He wasn’t at all uneasy or uncomfortable, and raises his hand to calm everyone down. Then he lifts up An Ran’s head, looks at her in the eye, and says, “Although I’m also not used to having this many people watch our intimate action, right now I really want to kiss you.” Saying that, he does not give An Ran a chance to retort or reject, and picks up her chin, lowers his head and covers her pink lips.

Then the crowd bursts out an enthusiastic applause and cheer, right now, everyone was their witness!


---END OF CHAPTER---



Next Chapter

First Marriage Then Love 《先婚厚爱》Chapter 106 Translation

106. Accidents ensue




The call earlier was from Worker Chen, he had said, “The sample room, collapsed!”

After An Ran had washed up and changed, she saw a mess of a scene. The room’s ceiling was completely collapsed, and had smashed a lot of things. The entire scene looked tragic. The only good thing that came out of this was that there wasn’t any one in the room so no one was injured. It was said that the collapse had happened early morning. Two workers had come by in the morning, they hadn’t even left the building yet, when they heard a loud ‘bang’. Then they turned back, opened the door and went in, and the scene was already like this.

“Architect Gu, what do you think should be done now, next week is the inspection deadline. Now that it’s like this, renovating is impossible. If we construct everything according to the blueprint again, we won’t finish on time!” Looking at this mess, worker Chen did not want for the deadline to come.

An Ran stared at the large chunk of the fallen ceiling, as well as the desks, chairs, buckets, etc that were smashed by it. An Ran’s heart was still beating wildly. She advances, reaches out to feel the pieces of chair and desk, and faintly says, “How could this be?”

“I don’t know either. Everything was done according to the blueprint, if there was a problem with the blueprint, then my construction—” As he said that, worker Chen felt that he had said too much, and shut his mouth, looking slightly embarrassed.

An Ran faintly looked at him, doesn’t say anything.

The so-called happy occasion did not come so misfortune would spread a thousand miles. When she returned to the company, nearly everyone in the company knew about the issue with the sample room. Seeing her come in, the receptionist, worried, asks, “Gu jie, are you okay?”

An Ran looks at her, and powerlessly shakes her head. “I’m okay.”

As she entered the hall, she sees Ling Lin looking quite pleased as she gets up from her seat and walks over to her, smiling as she says, “Heh, surprisingly your blueprint’s design collapsed. And you are considered our top architect?”

An Ran stares at her, and just says, “We haven’t found the cause of it, so I would have to trouble you to please speak carefully.”

“Heh.” Ling Lin sneers and glares. “Then I wish you good luck, hope that the result of the investigation ends up with a problem with your design.” After speaking, she turns around and returns to her seat.

An Ran was beaten as she drags her body back to her office. However, right before she opened the door she happened to bump into Xiao xiao who was leaving her own office. Seeing her unsmiling smile, looking at her, she fiddles around as she leaves.

An Ran takes a seat on her chair, and looks up as she leans back on her chair. Right now she was especially tired, this inexplicable tiredness.

She doesn’t understand at all why the model had collapsed! She does not believe that there was a problem with her design, but she also doesn’t doubt Worker Chen’s construction. After all these past few days they have been investigating together, and she had spent more time in the template room than in her office.

She suddenly sits up, and was about to open her drawer to take a good look at her blueprint, but when she opened it up she discovered, that the blueprint that was supposed to be in there had disappeared without a trace, she could not find it at all!

As An Ran was turning tables to find the blueprint, somebody had knocked on the door. It was the receptionist, telling her that Huang De Xing would like to see her.

An Ran nods. He doesn’t want to look for her, but wants her to go to him. This incident, certainly needs an explanation. For the company, for the project, for herself, all of them need it.

Suddenly she remembered something, and called out to the receptionist that was about to leave, “Wait, is Chen Cheng outside?” When she returned she did not see her at all, and the model was such a big matter. She was at the scene for more than an hour, but did not see her come over.

“Uh.” The receptionist blanked out, and tried her best to recall. She shakes her head, “I don’t think I saw her today. She can’t be late could she?”

An Ran turns quiet. She has a bad feeling. In fact, she has always admired Chen Cheng. She has a talent in designing, her ideas were very special, she was even thinking that if she trained her well, no more than two years, after she had accumulated enough experience, she expects that Chen Cheng would surpass even herself. Only, did she believe wrongly?

She gets up and in large strides leaves the office, and stops in front of Chen Cheng’s seat.

She reaches out to knock, “Knock knock knock.”

From inside, Huang De Xing raises his voice and answers, “Come in.”

An Ran pushes the door and enters. Huang De Xing was seated behind his desk, raises his head to see her enter. He frowns slightly, and faintly says, “Sit.”

She pulls out a chair and takes a seat. Huang De Xing leans back against the chair, stares at An Ran and says, “When I arrived I dropped by the scene of the accident. How could things turn into this, could you give me an explanation?”

An Ran lowers her head, then raises it to look up at Huang De Xing again. She somewhat forces a smile and says, “I will take full responsibility for this matter.”

Huang De Xing frowns and asks, “So, are you saying that there was a problem with the design?”

“No.” An Ran shakes her head, “Regarding the blueprint, I have absolute confidence that there isn’t a problem.” The scale of the blueprint when it was drawn, is able to tolerate any pressure etc, she had calculated everything accurately. There absolutely isn’t a problem. After all the foundation is the construction, later for people to live and move about the place, if you were inattentive and an accident occurs, the accuracy of the blueprint is the main responsibility and bearing.

“Well, if it isn’t a problem with the design, how can you say that the responsibility is your’s?” Huang De Xing asks.

An Ran forces a smile, and faintly says, “Even if there wasn’t an accident, I still have to account for this project, because the blueprint, is gone.” An architect who has lost their blueprint, is there anything more ridiculous than that?

She doesn’t know if it was Chen Cheng who had taken the blueprint, because when she gave Chen Cheng a call, she did not pick up at all.

“What!” Huang De Xing looks at her shocked, “The blueprint, isn’t the blueprint with you, how could it be gone!”

An Ran shakes her head, and helplessly says, “I don’t know. I left it in a drawer in my office, but when I went to look for it, it was gone.”

“Did someone steal it?” Huang De Xing asks.

She raises her head to look at him, and says, “Chen Cheng is gone.”

Huang De Xing frowns. This was very unexpected, “Are you suspecting that Chen Cheng has something to do with the model collapsing and the missing blueprint?”

“I don’t know. I don’t have evidence, and I can’t find Chen Cheng. I’m unable to confirm whether or not she really has something to do with it.” An Ran states. She will not talk carelessly about false things. Even if she had some doubts, in the end she had no evidence.

Huang De Xing turns silent. A while later he starts to speak, “An Ran, you must know how important this project is to us. I had to stand up to the resistance and fight in order to give this project to you. I know that you have a way of designing and are talented, and your work is also good. But those are not the important points, the main point is that we must seize this case, because that is our target for the second half of the year. But now that something like this has happened, how should I explain this to the board of directors?”

An Ran looks at him, and asks, “What does Director want me to do?”

Huang De Xing looks at her. A while later he starts to say, “You also know, it doesn’t matter why this had happened, the outcome is already here. Even if it really was Chen Cheng who had stolen the blueprint, we had already started on the template room, none of those are the main point. The main point is that this case is certainly no longer our’s, all our efforts have been wasted.”

An Ran doesn’t say anything. She just listens silently.

Huang De Xing continues, “The company will find somebody to investigate the true cause of the accident. Regarding who takes responsibility for it will be determined after the investigation. The main thing we have to do is determine how to redeem the situation.” As he says that, he looks at her again, and continues, “This exercise manor has been the central goal of the company for the second half of the year. Now that it’s like this, the template was destroyed, the blueprint is lost, ruminating over these will be useless. This project, even though we are unwilling, there is no choice but to renounce it. So on one hand, the board members will not be able to hand it over, but if we had to hand it over, then it’s not impossible. Perhaps there is another way.” In between speaking, Huang De Xing fixes his gaze on An Ran, his expression indicated a deeper meaning.

An Ran follows up with a question, “What other way is the Director pointing to?”

Huang De Xing smiles, looks at her and says, “An Ran, you know what I am saying. If you could ask Special Assistant Su, uh, no, right now he is Deputy Mayor Su, represent the company and capture some major projects for Ke Ji City, then I believe the board of directors will have no complaints.”

An Ran doesn’t say anything, just stares at him. This is the first time that she felt that there was such a huge gain in marrying Su Yi Cheng. She had made such a huge mistake, yet she could use this method to remedy it. She truly does not know if she should laugh or cry.

Huang De Xing could see her hesitation. Regarding this matter, An Ran had never forthright responded to him. Always evading it, had no intention of helping. He doesn’t force her, and just faintly says, “Think it over. You must be clear of it, that if this were a true tender, our company has the ability to capture it. Doing it this way is just to ensure it.”

An Ran does not reply, and just nods her head. She gets up and retreats from Huang De Xing’s office.

Returning to her own office, An Ran helplessly looks up as she leaned back against the chair. At this time, Su Yi Cheng’s call came in. She grabs her phone and answers the call, “Hello.”

Su Yi Cheng seemed to hear the difference in her voice, and asks, “Did something go wrong at work?”

An Ran faintly nods, and only responds a while later. Suddenly she had regret, and couldn’t help but ask, “Su Yi Cheng, you told me that if I wanted to go back and let you support, how would it sound?”

Su Yi Cheng chuckles. He doesn’t ask for the origin, and just chuckles as he says, “Sounds good.”

An Ran also laughs. That was the best thing that she had heard today. After laughing, An Ran suddenly went serious, “Su Yi Cheng.”

“Have I told you that I like to hear you call me Yi Cheng?” Su Yi Cheng says earnestly.

An Ran found his serious tone funny. She nods and replies, “You’ve told me.”

“Then why are you still calling your husband by his last name?” Su Yi Cheng counters.

An Ran chuckles. Faintly, but it came from the heart. A while later, she then calls out, “Yi Cheng.” Her voice was soft, unlike the manner before as with strangers, awkward, even shy.

Su Yi Cheng chuckles through the phone. He answers, “En.” From his voice one could tell that he wasn’t in a bad mood. No, it should be that he was in a very good mood.

After chuckling, An Ran returned to the subject of her question, restraining her smile, she just says, “If I asked you to use your authority for private interests, would you do it?”

On the other line, Su Yi Cheng went silent. A while later, he asks, “You would do that?”

An Ran chuckles, and shakes her head, “No.” Even though she’s reached that step, she still would not involve Su Yi Cheng’s power to make a tender. Doing things fair and square has always been one of her principles, otherwise she wouldn’t have repeatedly declined Huang De Xing’s invitation.

Su Yi Cheng also laughs. He faintly starts to say, “Since it’s unlikely, why would you ask. Isn’t this superfluous.”

“I thought you would say yes.” An Ran jokes.

Su Yi Cheng turns silent for a while, then starts to say, “An Ran, if there’s anything you can tell me, alright?”

An Ran was taken aback. Then she starts to talk, and lowers her voice, “A problem popped up at work, making me feel powerless.” She suddenly felt like she had been knocked down. She only had one friend Lin Li, and did not have any other good friends. She actually quite admired Chen Cheng, but did not expect things to end this way. She does not understand why she would do something like this. Arguably, as a newcomer, others would not let them draw for half a year, or even let her participate in such a huge project. This was equivalent to giving her a stage to show herself off, but everything was a little different from how she had imagined it.

“If you are tired, I don’t mind having you stay home and I work. My savings is enough to cover you for the rest of your life, of course, if we’re not extravagant.” Su Yi Cheng replies, his tone confident.

As An Ran was listening her heart warmed up. Apparently knowing that she has such a man behind her to support her she felt no fear. She smiles and states, “I already knew that, I’m not trying to politely ask.”

“Good.” Su Yi Cheng laughs in reply. The couple continued to chat for a while, until Secretary Zheng entered and told him that the meeting would start soon, the two then ended the call. Sometimes things would be like that, things would come all at once, following one after another, not giving you a break, making people feel unprepared.

It was noon when she received another call saying that Lin Xiao Fen was admitted to the hospital. The person who had called was her colleague Auntie Zhang. She said when Lin Xiao Fen started working, she suddenly started to feel dizzy, and now she is being brought to the hospital by another colleague.

An Ran immediately felt her heart drop, then slowly started to recover. She hangs up the call and grabs her bag and hurries to the hospital, not even hearing Huang De Xing call out to her as she went out the door.

When she reached the hospital Lin Xiao Fen was still in the emergency room, the doctor was still examining her. Lin Xiao Fen’s colleagues had already left and went back to work, only Auntie Zhang had stayed behind with her. An Ran slowly escaped the outside and went in, catching sight of Auntie Zhang on the plastic chair. She quickly asks, “Auntie Zhang, how’s my mom? What happened? Why did she suddenly faint?” The series of questions revealed her nervousness and concern.

Auntie Zhang pulls on her hand, and pacifies her, “An Ran, calm down a bit. The doctor hasn’t come out yet, your mom will be alright. Don’t worry.”

“She, why did she faintly so suddenly. Her health has always been good.” An Ran quickly started to feel tears coming up.

Autnie Zhang patted and comforted her. She pulls An Ran towards her side and has her sit down on the plastic chair. She can only gently console her, “It will be nothing, don’t worry.”

An Ran buries her face into her palms, and only lifts her head up a while later, asking Auntie Zhang, “Auntie Zhang, what about my dad?”

“Oh, the first thing I did when Xiao Fen fainted was call him, but he was in the middle of a class. When he was returning I already told him, right now he should be on his way to the hospital.” Auntie Zhang stated.

An Ran nods, frowning. She turns and looks on worriedly at the curtain pulled up on the emergency room.

“Swish---”

At this time, the curtain to the emergency room was pulled open. The white-coated doctor comes out, looking at An Ran and speaking as he pulls off his mask, “Are you patient Lin Xiao Fen’s family member?”

An Ran quickly nods, and quickly asks, “Yes yes yes, I am her daughter. Doctor, how’s my mother?”

“Rest assured, your mother is fine. This time I think she is tired which is why she had fainted.” The doctor states. He turns to look at the emergency room, and continues, “However, I suggest that you guys stay in the hospital a few more days for further observation. Then we will do a physical examination, after all the patient is not young."

Hearing the doctor say her mother was fine, An Ran can finally let out a relaxed sigh. She quickly nods, “Okay, I will follow the doctor’s suggestion.” Her mother’s age was quite up there, doing a physical examination is a necessity. Otherwise if she faints out of nowhere again, it would frighten people.

In emergency room, Lin Xiao Fen at this time had woken up. However she was still disorganized. She turns her head for a while, then asks, “Where is this?”

The young nurse beside her smiles and answers her, “Auntie, this is the hospital. You fainted, that’s why you were brought to the hospital.”

Lin Xiao Fen frowns, and tried her best to think back. She could only remember that she was occupied with verifying accounting records, but suddenly her head felt dizzy, then she can only remember everything going black, and nothing else after that.

“Mom.” An Ran comes in, looks at Lin Xiao Fen, fear still perhaps lingering, her nose starts to feel sour, her eyes starts to burn.

“An Ran!” Lin Xiao Fen was surprised, looking at her, she asks, “Why are you here?”

“You tell me, you scared me to death.” As she said that, the tears in her eyes couldn’t help but come down. She truly scared her to death, when she got Auntie Zhang’s call, she can’t recall how she got herself here.

“Ai, Xiao Fen ah, it’s good that you’re okay. You gave everyone in the office a scare, even now my heart is still leaping.” Auntie Zhang also enters, seeing that she was awake, she was also relieved.

Lin Xiao Fen, embarrassed, says, “Sorry, I troubled you guys.”

“What are you even saying, it’s fine as long as you’re okay.” Saying that, she raised her arm to take a look at her watch, “Alright, since you’re okay, An Ran is also here, I will take my leave first, I should go back and tell everyone the good news, I believe they should still be worried.”

Lin Xiao Fen nods, “Please thank everyone for me.”

Auntie Zhang waves her hand, and just says, “Take care of yourself and rest well, don’t worry about anything else, I will do your work for you.” As she said that she turned to An Ran and says, “An Ran, take good care of your mother.”

An Ran nods, and gets up to send her off, “Auntie Zhang, I will accompany you out.

“That’s okay, you don’t need to send me off. It’s not like I don’t know the way.” Auntie Zhang said frankly, “Stay behind and keep your mom company.” When she was done she turned around and left the emergency room. When the emergency room only had An Ran and Lin Xiao Fen left behind, An Ran was still worried and asks, “Mom, do you still feel unwell?”

Lin Xiao Fen smiles at her, pats her hand, and says, “No, I’m fine, don’t worry.”

“Then—” An Ran still wanted to say something, when suddenly she heard Gu Heng Wen call from outside the emergency room, “—Xiao Fen, Xiao Fen?”

“It’s dad.” An Ran gets up and leaves, and sees that Gu Heng Wen was anxiously standing outside, his face was filled with worry and uneasiness.

“Dad.” An Ran calls out, and walks over to him.

Gu Heng Wen turns around, and finally sees An Ran behind him, “Your mother? What did the doctor say, why did she suddenly faint?”

“The doctor said it might be fatigue, which is why she suddenly fainted. Everything's okay. However, he suggested that we stay in the hospital for 2 days for further observation, and to do a physical examination.” An Ran stated.

Hearing that, Gu Heng Wen finally felt relief, and asks, “Your mom? Where is she?”

An Ran brings her over to Lin Xiao Fen’s side. She sees him look at her mother for a while, but was unable to say anything. Finally, he sits down by the bedside, and reaches out to hold her hand, and in a low voice he says, “It’s good that you’re okay.” These words to her, was also to himself.

The three did not stay in the emergency room for long, as the nurse had already arranged a ward for them, and lead them to the ward.

As Gu Heng Wen was there to go with Lin Xiao Fen, An Ran footed the bill and did the paperwork, and she also wanted to go to the market beside the hospital and buy some health products and what not.

When An Ran was done with the hospital preparations and was about to leave the hospital, she walked out the door, when suddenly someone called out from behind.

“Gu An Ran?”

An Ran was confused as she turned around, only to see a medium height man behind her. He was dressed in an full-black suit, his hair combed neatly. Now as he was looking at her, he seemed to be very surprised.

An Ran stares at him, and had to think for a while until she could finally remember who this man was. As a matter of fact, this was the ‘high-quality man’ that she had gone on a blind date with – Lin An Jie!


---END OF CHAPTER---



Next Chapter



Gah, sorry guys, the days went by faster than I thought! And what is this, why are they making Lin An Jie appear again =.=