--------------------
Author's Note:
The second volume may be revised to improve the plot and fix bugs. Fortunately, these are all non-VIP parts, so please don't panic when you see updates.
Wishing everyone a happy, safe, and healthy Chinese New Year. May you all see the people you want to see, do the things you love to do, have all your wishes fulfilled, and enjoy happiness with your families.
Chapter 32
===================
Wang Anjing had a conference call, so she left Xu Yan and Zhou Luming in the living room and went to her room to make the call herself.
Xu Yan and Zhou Luming were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't realize for quite some time that Wang Anjing had been gone for a while. Xu Yan stood up and looked out at the scenery through the bright, transparent floor-to-ceiling windows. The city's development and planning were excellent. The coastal city had a spacious feel, and its economy was booming thanks to its harbor and extensive road and high-speed rail network.
Not far away, there are intersecting high-speed railways and viaducts, as well as light rail passing by.
"Are you not leaving this time you're back in China?" Zhou Luming asked suddenly, watching Xu Yan's retreating figure. A thought suddenly flashed through her mind, and she felt that Xu Yan at this moment was like a fleeting phantom, as if she might disappear at any moment, vanishing forever the day she woke up.
Zhou Luming had discussed her plan to seduce Xu Yan with Q, and she was putting it into practice, gradually getting closer to Xu Yan. Several times, she could clearly feel herself slowly opening Xu Yan's heart, but whenever she thought she had a chance, Xu Yan would suddenly throw cold water on her, making her feel that she had lost her chance again.
“I’ll leave once I’ve finished taking care of your business; that’s what I promised your grandfather,” Xu Yan said.
Zhou Luming quietly walked to her side and looked at the towering buildings with her. "And what about you? What are your own thoughts? Is it possible for you to stay for me?"
Xu Yan glanced sideways, "Why should I stay for you?"
Zhou Luming pursed his lips. "Because I like you, and you like me too, right?"
Xu Yan turned around and looked at her seriously, "Are you sure you like me?"
"What's the meaning?"
Xu Yan gave a cold laugh, "I understand that Miss Zhou has lived abroad for a long time, and her views on relationships are different from those in China. Perhaps you find it normal abroad, without having to face gossip and criticism from those around you. You can turn around and leave without leaving any ties, your enthusiasm can vanish in an instant, and if you meet again in the future, you can smile and say you can still be friends..."
"But didn't you grow up living abroad too? Aren't you the same?"
Xu Yan lowered his gaze and said clearly, word by word, "No, I'm different."
The smile that had been playing on Zhou Luming's lips gradually faded. She had heard every word Xu Yan said, but she didn't understand what she was trying to say.
Xu Yan said, “I am not someone you can play with or a toy for a moment, Miss Zhou. I have been entrusted by your grandfather to return to China to handle your estate. After I have completed his instructions, I will return, and you will stay here as your heir to the billions. From now on, we should never cross paths again. You go your way, and I will continue my studies as my estate administrator.”
It took Zhou Luming a while to process what was happening; his head was throbbing with a buzzing pain.
Xu Yan saw through her intentions and definitively blocked her path. Xu Yan spoke with such certainty, as if she knew her own plan...
Facing Xu Yan's clear gaze, Zhou Luming felt a momentary panic and guilt, but she managed to control herself. Xu Yan gave off an impression of being upright and honest, seemingly the kind of person who was born to set rules and judge right from wrong.
“Xu Yan, I will make you change your mind,” she said. “I will prove myself, and I will find a way to make you stay, to stay by my side.”
Xu Yan frowned, a puzzled expression on his face. Hadn't he made himself clear enough? Hadn't he managed to dissuade her?
"You must be hungry, have something to eat." Wang Anjing knocked on the door and came in, reminding the two people inside that there were other people there. She had sensed something was off between the two of them from the outside, and after thinking for a moment, she decided to come in to break the strange atmosphere and ease the tension.
Xu Yan and Zhou Luming both looked rather embarrassed. Wang Anjing smiled and said, "I didn't know what you liked to eat, so I just ordered some takeout. I hope you can handle spicy food. Don't worry, it's not very spicy, just slightly spicy."
But when Wang Anjing's so-called "slightly spicy" dish was served, Xu Yan and Zhou Luming both looked troubled. They had eaten Sichuan cuisine abroad and had avoided it ever since; they could still feel the tingling sensation on their tongues, a taste they never wanted to experience again.
Wang Anjing was incredibly enthusiastic. She picked up a red pepper and ate it dry, a satisfied expression on her face. While eating, she encouraged the other two to share this delicious food.
Xu Yan reached for the scrambled eggs with tomatoes on the table, thinking this dish shouldn't be spicy. Unexpectedly, her chopsticks met Zhou Luming's. Their eyes met, and they both understood—this was probably the only dish on the table that they could handle.
Zhou Luming asked, "Is Sister Anjing from Sichuan?"
Wang Anjing said, "No, I didn't eat spicy food before, but after I tried it, I couldn't stop. Now I can't live without spicy food. Don't discriminate based on region. Even people from other places can eat spicy food. If you stay a little longer, you can eat spicy food too."
Xu Yan choked and coughed violently a few times. He never expected that even scrambled eggs with tomatoes would have a spicy and numbing taste.
Zhou Luming hurriedly handed over a tissue, looking at Xu Yan, whose face was flushed with concern, "Have some water, are you alright?" Turning his head to look at the plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, he said, "No way, why is even this dish spicy?"
Wang Anjing said in surprise, "No, it's not spicy at all."
Xu Yan's tears welled up in her eyes.
Zhou Luming also felt that Wang Anjing's tongue was strange, but this plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes was even stranger. "I guess the pots at this restaurant are all spicy, so everything they cook is spicy. Sister Anjing, let's talk about something, let's not order from this restaurant again."
Wang Anjing said helplessly, "I would never dare to order from this place again. But Xu Yan's complexion is better than before, it's rosy and tender, like a porcelain doll."
Zhou Luming looked back at Xu Yan, and just as Wang Anjing had said, Miss Xu Yan, who was choked by the chili peppers and had tears in her eyes, showed a rare pitiful expression that would soften anyone's heart.
Xu Yan took a sip of water and felt much better. Then she looked at the cup in her hand and saw a faint lipstick mark on it. Realizing her cup was right next to her, the cup with the lipstick mark belonged to—Zhou Luming?
Xu Yan suddenly looked at Zhou Luming, who blinked rapidly at her. Needless to say, she did it on purpose. Xu Yan felt her face flush. She remembered the time Zhou Luming pounced on her and kissed her; his lips were soft and sweet.
Zhou Luming looked at Xu Yan with sparkling eyes. She had already stopped eating, rested her chin on her hand, and stared at Xu Yan with a smile, as if she wanted to devour Xu Yan in one bite.
"Ahem—" Wang Anjing said under pressure, "I've detected two strange auction links. Do you want to stop and listen to my latest news?"
Xu Yan and Zhou Luming both looked at her at the same time.
Wang Anjing said, "The idea of auctioning online has indeed worked. As the news that the USB drive contained Bitcoin and secrets spread, it attracted the attention of millions of netizens. The auction house just notified us that the number of registered buyers who signed up to participate in the offline auction has exceeded three thousand. We may have to rent a larger venue or limit the number of people in the offline auction to control the situation."
“Tell me the link,” Xu Yan pointed out.
“I identified two suspicious buyers from today’s auction data, both of whom were online. One of them, although he didn’t bid high each time, quietly accumulated his bids to almost reach the highest price of today’s auction. He was very sneaky, using multiple layers of encrypted IP to hide his real address, but I caught him and ultimately concluded that it was the same person operating the system,” Wang Anjing said. “Because the first letter of his identity was Q, we will temporarily call him Q.”
Zhou Luming's mind wavered for a moment, then he smiled and asked, "So what's the situation with the other buyer?"
“The other person also used a lot of encryption methods, but his skills were obviously not as good as Q’s. I quickly found his real identity. He should be your fiancé, Luke.” Wang Anjing paused, and seeing that Zhou Luming did not make any obvious moves, she continued, “Luke participated in the auction halfway through. Everything was very rushed and temporary, which is why I was able to break through his encryption and find him so quickly.”
"At what specific time will Luke participate in the auction?" Xu Yan asked.
"At 10:20, which was when rumors first appeared online that a secret was hidden in the USB drive."
Xu Yan nodded. "He's taken the bait."
Zhou Luming looked at the two of them suspiciously, his clever little eyes scanning their faces. "What have you been doing behind my back?"
Xu Yan was about to say, "You'll find out when the time comes," but Zhou Luming interrupted, "No need to be mysterious, let me guess."
Xu Yan spread his hands, indicating that he didn't care.
Wang Anjing crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, smiling as she waited for Zhou Luming's analysis. She glanced at Xu Yan, noticing that Xu Yan was staring intently at Zhou Luming, not even blinking.
Wang Anjing pressed her temples and gently shook her head. These two...
At this point, Zhou Luming analyzed in a serious tone, "You two conspired to set a trap, releasing the news that the USB drive contained the private key to Bitcoin, causing a huge uproar on the internet and attracting attention throughout Shanghai and even the whole country. That wasn't enough. To achieve your goal, you also released the news that there was a huge secret inside—of course, the so-called secret was fake. What you wanted was to make Luke anxious, to make him stop at nothing to get the USB drive. The more flustered he was, the more guilty he felt, and the more he would prove that what happened back then wasn't a lie... The 'back then' I'm referring to is the matter between Luke and Lu Qi. He's afraid that there really is a clue hidden in the USB drive, so he will stop at nothing to get it."
With a shift in his gaze, Zhou Luming walked behind Xu Yan's chair, leaned down and whispered in Xu Yan's ear, "But how could there really be evidence on that USB drive? If Lu Gang really had concrete evidence, he wouldn't have been so desperate as to jump off the Lu's Building after being released from prison, and you wouldn't have chosen to auction off such an important USB drive... So there's nothing on it at all. You just used online public opinion to lure the fish into the trap and make the murderer unable to hold back and jump out."
“You’re right, there’s no evidence on the USB drive,” Xu Yan said. She couldn’t ignore the gentle breeze blowing past her ears and the faint fragrance emanating from Zhou Luming, but trapped here by Zhou Luming, she couldn’t move.
Zhou Luming leaned close to Xu Yan's temple and asked, "What's the deal with the Bitcoin private key?"
“There is indeed a private key, but it was put in by Sister Anjing as a reward for the person who provided the clues from back then,” Xu Yan said.
--------------------
Author's Note:
Sorry for the long wait.
Happy Year of the Tiger.
Chapter 33
===================
Xu Yan and Zhou Luming returned to the auction venue, where there were even more people. They were both wearing headphones, with Wang Anjing, who was in charge of the technology, on the other end. Several computer monitors were lit up in front of Wang Anjing, and she was operating a laptop, her fingers nimbly typing on the keyboard, while also praising Zhou Luming's dress and outfit for the day.
Zhou Luming was wearing a leather jacket over a floral knee-length skirt, looking both retro and beautiful. He sat comfortably in a chair with his long, straight legs crossed, with a cane beside him. On the other side was Xu Yan, who was wearing a double-breasted suit with a cotton-linen shirt and a skirt. Xu Yan was Zhou Luming's other cane at that moment.
Sitting next to Xu Yan, Zhou Luming had a smile on his face the whole time.
Xu Yan wondered why she kept smiling foolishly, but she also had a feeling that if she asked, she would only ask some irrelevant questions, so she didn't ask.
Because the two of them were so strikingly good-looking, many men and women passing by couldn't help but glance at them a few times. Zhou Luming had a sunny and outgoing personality and looked very gentle and kind, so some of the bolder boys went up to her and asked for her WeChat. Zhou Luming still answered with a smile and deliberately gave the wrong WeChat ID to get rid of the boys who came one after another.
Xu Yan said, "Why lie to people?"
Zhou Luming replied, "I was afraid you'd be jealous." Her eyes sparkled, like the stars in the sky.
Wang Anjing's voice came in, "Ahem—Luke has also arrived."
Zhou Luming exclaimed, "Huh? Why is he here?"
Xu Yan said, "It might be for the USB drive, or it might be for you."
After all, Zhou Luming was still nominally his fiancée. Luke had received news of Zhou Luming's return to China, but had never met her in person. Now, he had probably heard from somewhere that Zhou Luming was also there, so he came to the venue in person mainly to see her.
Zhou Luming had just frowned, trying to glean something from Xu Yan's words, when someone patted her shoulder from behind. Zhou Luming instinctively grabbed the person's hand, about to throw them over her shoulder, but then she suddenly stopped. Glancing at Xu Yan, who was still sitting beside her with a bright look in her eyes, she instantly calmed down, smiled, grabbed the person's hand and put it aside, turning her head with a bright smile and saying, "Who are you?"
"Hi, my name is Luke, and I'm your fiancé." Luke was handsome, dressed in a tailored suit with gleaming leather shoes. He had neat, tidy black hair and looked like an actor. When he smiled, a dimple appeared at the corner of his mouth, making him look harmless yet very handsome.
If one hadn't investigated his womanizing background, they would probably have been fooled by his appearance.
Zhou Luming gave a forced smile and said, "I don't have a fiancé."
Luke looked past Zhou Luming and at Xu Yan. "Miss Xu, could you move over to the side?" He wanted to sit next to Zhou Luming.
Xu Yan, however, showed no respect and coldly replied, "No."
Luke: ...
He gestured to his assistant to put a chair next to Zhou Luming, and just as he was about to sit down, Xu Yan reminded him, "You're blocking the way."
Luke laughed awkwardly, "It's just a chair, it's not that serious..."
Xu Yan raised his hand high and beckoned to the staff in the venue. When the staff member wearing the name tag ran over, Xu Yan said, "This gentleman's seat is blocking the necessary safety passage. If an accident occurs, it will hinder evacuation. Please clear the passage according to safety rules."
Luke was speechless and unable to refute.
The staff politely asked Luke to move it.
Out of respect for Zhou Luming, Luke couldn't make a scene, so he gritted his teeth and moved his seat. He then devised a plan to get the people in the back to give up their seats, and Luke was able to sit down behind Zhou Luming as he wished.
Zhou Luming had a smile playing on her lips the whole time; she couldn't contain her joy. In truth, Xu Yan had been protecting her all along, even though he hadn't said a word.
Xu Yan felt the intense gaze of the person beside her. She was about to ask what was wrong, but hesitated for a moment and swallowed her question. Knowing Zhou Luming's personality, he would definitely say something strange, and Xu Yan didn't want to cause that kind of trouble.