Chu Mu glanced at his white shirt with a puzzled look. The color? It's fine!
Returning to Berlin requires flying from Paris. After yesterday's commotion, the secretary only found out that Shu Yi'an was the "god's" wife. So, being extremely sensible, she prepared two cars: one for the "god" and his wife, and one for poor me.
This was Shu Yi'an's second time in France. As she watched the scenery rushing by on the highway, all the gloom from before vanished.
Chu Mu rested one hand on the car window, looking at Shu Yi'an's fluffy little head, and his mood improved considerably. Almost an hour into the drive, Chu Mu finally spoke the words he had been thinking about the whole way.
"Next month is my annual leave. Why don't you stay here with me for a while, and we can go back together in early June?"
Shu Yi'an remained silent for a moment, just as the atmosphere in the car was quiet. Suddenly, a bell rang.
Almost unsurprisingly, the caller was Shaw.
Yes, how could such a big thing be kept secret?
Seeing her hesitant expression, Chu Mu suddenly reached for the phone, but Shu Yi'an answered it first. Her voice was clear and bright.
"Hello, Mr. Xiao."
The person on the other end of the phone, Xiao Ke, sounded very downcast, and his tone wasn't good either. "I sent you to France to negotiate a contract, not to mess it up!"
Shu Yi'an lowered her eyes and remained silent for a moment. "I'm sorry, Mr. Xiao, it's my responsibility."
Xiao Ke softened his tone and changed his question. "Where are you? Come back right away. I've had my secretary book your plane ticket. I'll figure something out here."
Shu Yi'an turned to look at Chu Mu, who was focused on driving, and suddenly made a decision.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Xiao, but I think I need to resign. I'm not suitable to work for your company, but I will take full responsibility for all the consequences related to this project."
Xiao Ke was clearly surprised by this outcome, raising an eyebrow in astonishment. "Do you know what you're doing?! Mr. Brian has been taken to the police station. Can you bear the consequences? I hope you can calm down and think about this immediately. We need to go back to Beijing and have a proper talk."
Shu Yi'an is the kind of person who is hard to change once she makes a decision. She has a very strong personality. Although she is easy to persuade, her stubbornness is something that no one can talk to.
"I've made my decision. I'll submit my resignation and related paperwork to headquarters at the beginning of next month. Goodbye, Mr. Xiao."
After hanging up the phone, Shu Yi'an focused on that one sentence from the call: Brian was taken to the police station? She was the one who injured him; even if anyone should be in the police station, shouldn't it be her...?
Looking at the composed person on the other side, he cautiously asked, "Did you do this?"
Chu Mu didn't intend to hide it, but he hadn't expected her to be so clever. So he simply nodded, "Ah, I did it." Given Shu Meimei's righteous and resolute resignation earlier, Chu Mu was quite pleased, taking her hand and squeezing it gently. "Quitted it, fine, I'll support you." Anyway, I've disliked that job of yours for a long time!! Sensing Shu Yi'an's resistance, Chu Mu quickly added, "If you really want to work, just go back to Beijing and find another one."
“Chu Mu”.
Shu Yi'an sat up straight and became very serious. Her big eyes were full of determination in the sunlight. "I resigned not so that you would support me, but because this job brought a lot of unhappiness to my life and even caused you trouble... But I can support myself."
The boys in the compound were almost all somewhat chauvinistic. Especially Chu Mu, a sophisticated man who was used to being independent, so Shu Yi'an's words couldn't shake the concept that "men are born to earn money to support their families and wives" that had been ingrained in his mind since childhood. As a result, on the very day the two got their marriage certificate, Shu Yi'an received a black gold card with a huge sum of money.
So for a moment, Chu Mu didn't have the energy to refute, and could only agree. "Do whatever you like when you get back to Beijing."
Shu Yi'an gripped her phone, looking at Chu Mu's serious expression, and was thus tricked into boarding the plane to Berlin with a mixture of doubt and belief.
Chapter Thirteen
Far away in the heart of Beijing's CBD, Xiao Ke watched his phone screen gradually go dark and finally sighed inwardly.
The gamble was lost.
Xiao Ke thought Shu Yi'an was smart enough, so he specially sent her alone to France to discuss the case. In truth, how could someone who had risen step by step to the position of CEO of the Greater China region not understand Brian's intentions?
Starting from the annual meeting a few years ago, Shaw could read the intense longing in Brian's eyes, even though he had rejected him several times under pressure.
But this time, Xiao Ke wanted to see, or perhaps out of spite, whether this daughter-in-law of the Chu family was truly capable of adapting to the rules of the workplace without harming herself.
Having worked at the company for two years, Shu Yi'an was always placed too comfortably, always a proper and unremarkable translator. She had almost no chance to experience the horrors of so-called professional competition.
So Xiao Ke gambled his rights and her safety on this, but unfortunately, Shu Yi'an disappointed him. And the reason for his disappointment was something even Xiao Ke was unwilling to admit.
He had considered that Shu Yi'an would fail, he even hoped that she would fail, because that way he could openly enter her life as her boss and influence her direction. However, no matter how carefully he arranged it, there was still a loophole, and Shu Yi'an met Chu Mu on that predictable yet terrifying night.
The real source of Shaw's anger was a man far more powerful and profound than himself.
When he heard the soft, clear female voice on the phone resigning, word by word, his heart sank. The consequence of this crushing defeat was that he would lose her, even if only as an ordinary employee.
Looking at the gray sky, Xiao Ke closed his eyes resignedly. Perhaps some people are destined to be losers in certain places.
From a distance, the towering black figure of the 28th floor appeared incredibly lonely.
———————————————
Meanwhile, Ms. Shu, far away in Berlin, inexplicably sneezed.
Chu Mu glanced up at the temperature display on the indoor air conditioner, lazily grabbed the remote control, and raised the temperature by two degrees.
This is Chu Mu's house in Germany, a gift from Jiang Beichen and Ji Hengdong when he was first appointed. In Ji Hengdong's words, men are expected to give gifts whenever someone gets promoted, makes money, or loses their wife; Chu Mu undoubtedly experienced both.
The apartment wasn't large; the 160-square-meter space was decorated in a very high-end style. The gray-toned decor looked particularly luxurious and grand, and the huge floor-to-ceiling window in the living room made the space very bright. Ms. Shu, wearing a loose t-shirt, sat cross-legged on the floor, rummaging through her luggage rolls one by one.
"These are shirts. The dark blue and gray ones were bought at the beginning of the year, and the light pink one was brought to you by Yuan Yuan when she went to Rome. They fit you perfectly now."
In the sunlight, her clean, fair fingers deftly moved through the rolls of her clothes, carefully smoothing out the wrinkles. Her hair, which originally reached her shoulders, was loosely gathered at the back of her head. From Chu Mu's perspective, she appeared slender and beautiful in the sunlight.
"Light pink?" Chu Mu slowly walked over from the sofa and sat cross-legged next to Shu Yi'an. He picked up the pink shirt covered with small bow and arrow embroidery with one finger and shook his head in disgust. "I won't wear it."
"Hey!" Shu Yi'an slapped his hand away and took the clothes back. "It's Yuan Yuan's gift, after all. This color is really nice, you see, it really suits you." After saying that, she confidently held it up in front of someone to show off.
"These are your usual casual clothes, I put them on the bottom shelf of your closet."
"Oh, right." Shu Yi'an seemed to remember something and took a small box out of the inner pocket of the suitcase. "You left your watch at home when you left. Didn't you notice?"