Chapter 22: Events of the Past

I was stunned, struck dumb as a wooden chicken.

Liu Zhuyin... had... prepared...
Sexy lingerie for me!?

An apology!

He knew all these words, yet seeing them gathered together felt so incredibly alien.

"What, you don't believe me?"
"I really did!"
"Didn't you see how coy and bashful she was just now?"

Mrs. Liu, worried I wouldn't believe her, explained until her throat was parched. I offered a bitter smile; without seeing it with my own eyes, it was truly hard to believe.

"I believe you..."

Helpless, I could only feign belief.

"That's good, that's good..."
"As the saying goes, arguments at the head of the bed are resolved at the foot of the bed."
"If you both take a step back, your life together will be much better."

Mrs. Liu gave me a long list of instructions, and only after I nodded repeatedly did I finally leave the Liu Group.

Yet, no matter how I tried, I couldn't imagine Liu Zhuyin in that light. When it came to those matters, I had always been the one to take the initiative. I could sense that she was merely fulfilling the duties of a wife. She was never proactive, but she rarely refused.

Could it be that she truly didn't want to divorce me?

I didn't dwell on it. Whether it was true or false, it was all in the past. We were already divorced; what was the point of pondering such things?

At noon, I met up with Luo Mingzhu. As expected, I learned from her that it concerned a project.

"Such a massive project, and your parents are letting you handle it?" I looked at her with skepticism. This girl didn't look like she was cut out for business at all.

"What, looking down on me?"
"This young lady might not be as impressive as you, but I’m no pushover! Don't you dare think of me as some naive, sheltered girl!"

She waved her fist in protest, then took a pair of glasses from her bag and put them on. In an instant, her entire aura shifted. A moment ago, she had been a cute, bubbly girl. With the glasses on, she gained an air of intellectualism and steadiness.

Especially when she set aside her playful demeanor and began to discuss the project with me in all seriousness, she exuded the authority of someone in a position of power. While not as intense as the aura of a female CEO like Liu Zhuyin, she possessed a certain majesty born from the trials of the business world.

As we discussed the project, she offered many insights. She was mature! It completely blew my mind.

"My goodness, Mingzhu, I truly couldn't tell."

"You're usually so carefree, but you're actually quite the talent for business!" I couldn't help but praise her, finally understanding why the Luo family dared to let her get involved in such a significant project. She had the ability; she simply lacked experience.

"That's right, I did graduate from a world-renowned finance institution, so I couldn't be too bad." She looked at me expectantly. "Brother Chen, what are your thoughts?"

"This project is massive. I'm afraid it would be difficult for any one company to swallow it whole."
"We must cooperate!"

Seeing her gaze fixed on me, I couldn't help but smile. It seemed she had already made up her mind! She had been planning to cooperate with me all along.

"You've already thought it through, so why ask me?"

Luo Mingzhu giggled. "I still need to know your intentions. Naturally, I want to cooperate with you. If you aren't helping the Liu family, I'll hire you at a high salary. If you are helping the Liu family, then we shall be partners. In any case, I trust you."

Once I understood her meaning, I gave her my answer. Mrs. Liu had treated me well; if I could secure this project with Luo Mingzhu, why not?

In the afternoon, we went to the business conference. Many people had arrived; with foreign investment involved and it being a key project, everyone naturally wanted a piece of the pie. Today's conference was just a simple preliminary meeting to distribute the internal documentation for the project. The rest would be up to each company to devise a proposal that would satisfy the investors.

As soon as I sat down with Luo Mingzhu, I saw Liu Zhuyin. Our eyes met, her brows furrowed, and she walked straight toward me.

"You're going to help her?"

The question caught me off guard. She had always been indifferent to me; she never cared what I did. Why had she been so strange lately? But this also led me to a conclusion: Mrs. Liu hadn't told her that I was managing a branch company. Otherwise, she wouldn't have asked.

"We are divorced. As my ex-wife, you have no right to question my affairs."

After responding, I sat down and ignored her.

"Fine, I'll see how long you can keep this up!" Liu Zhuyin’s face flushed with anger, and she huffed, taking a seat a short distance away. Yet, her eyes still drifted toward Luo Mingzhu and me from time to time. She couldn't understand how I, a mature man, had suddenly become like a child, throwing tantrums all day long.

Her assistant, Sun Tao, sat beside her and also spotted me.

"President Gu is back!"
"That's great! With President Gu here, we're sure to land the project!"

Sun Tao sounded slightly excited, but Liu Zhuyin retorted angrily, "Didn't you see him helping the Luo family! You're still counting on him?"

Sun Tao froze, looking at the young lady with a strange expression, sensing that something wasn't right.

"Well... maybe President Gu just wants to cooperate with the Luo family."
"Cooperate?" Liu Zhuyin scoffed. "If it's just cooperation, why didn't he tell me? I think he just has his eyes on that young lady from the Luo family."

Sun Tao’s expression grew even more peculiar. "Young lady, I don't think President Gu would do that. Could it be... that you're jealous?"

"In the past, when President Gu worked with other women, I never saw you this agitated."

Liu Zhuyin blinked. "Worked with other women? How come I didn't know?"

Sun Tao gave a bitter smile. "You really didn't know? Two years ago, when the Liu family's capital chain snapped and we were in desperate need of a project to survive, a young lady from a prominent family in the capital approached President Gu to cooperate."

"That woman... ahem, was a bit of a flirt. At dinner, she even kissed President Gu right in front of you. Have you forgotten?"

Liu Zhuyin’s eyes widened. "What?" She didn't remember that at all.

"Back then, there were rumors that you and President Gu were having marital troubles. President Gu hurriedly terminated the partnership with that lady from the capital. He suffered quite a bit because of it. He went to apologize in person and stood in the rain in their courtyard for an entire day and night. Fortunately, the head of their family admired President Gu, and that's how the Liu family secured the order and survived that crisis. You didn't know any of this?"

Liu Zhuyin truly hadn't known. At that time, her heart had been entirely focused on Ning Yuanzhou, and she hadn't paid the slightest bit of attention to me. She didn't know that I had done so much for the Liu family. Of course, she knew that I had been the one to turn the tide during the Liu family's crisis, and that I had sacrificed a lot, but hearing the details caused ripples in her heart.

"He... actually did all that for me, for the Liu family..."
"And I... I didn't even know."

As she looked at me again, her gaze softened considerably.

"Sigh, that incident caused quite a stir back then. We were all worried about whether the Liu family would be targeted by the capital's elite, and we were worried that you and President Gu were really on bad terms—that he might abandon the Liu family and marry into a powerful clan. After all... that young lady seemed to have truly developed feelings for President Gu."

"But President Gu's heart was always with you. He never had eyes for any other woman."