Using Marriage as Bait : Chapter 47
Chapter 47: I Think I Like You
Lu Junting’s hands on the table were clenched tightly and relaxed, going back and forth several times before slowing down a bit. At this time, he had to calm himself down. Now that everyone was getting along quite harmoniously, he couldn’t let his impulsiveness spoil things.
Regardless of whether she was listening seriously or not, he pointed to the design and continued to speak.
However, in Lin Xiyu’s opinion, Brother Junting always talked to her seriously, so seriously and politely. She somehow had a sense of loss, always feeling as if something was missing.
“That’s about it.”
After Lu Junting finished speaking, he looked at her and saw that the little girl was still staring at him. Lu Junting adjusted his breathing and called her in a deep voice, “Lin Xiyu.”
Lin Xiyu came back to her senses at this time, looked at him with a confused expression, and Lu Junting said again, “That’s probably all the suggestions.”
Lin Xiyu: “...”
She didn’t hear a word about it, but Lin Xiyu didn’t dare to ask. It would make her look stupid. She took the manuscript and said, “Thank you brother Junting, I’ll go change it first.”
After Lin Xiyu returned to her room, she looked at the manuscript but was at a loss. She didn’t hear what he was saying just now. Lin Xiyu began to wonder if there was something wrong with her. What on earth she was thinking?
In the study, it wasn’t until Lin Xiyu left that Lu Junting breathed a sigh of relief. Whether this little girl knew what her proximity meant to him and she was dressed up in a flamboyant way to run to him. If he didn’t know that this girl could not like him, he would have to wonder if she was here to seduce him.
Lu Junting also found that this little girl was not quite right during this time, and always gave him the feeling that she was taking the initiative to approach him, but he couldn’t understand why.
When Lu Junting went downstairs the next morning, he saw Lin Xiyu sitting on the sofa, and her son was obediently sitting aside for breakfast.
“Brother Junting, you’re up?” She greeted him with a smile.
Just by smiling at him, Lu Junting felt his breathing slow down by half a beat. Lu Junting slightly lowered his head and coughed lightly to make his face a bit more natural and responded, “En, I’m up already.”
“It seems that I’m going to change my medication today. Can brother Junting help me change it?”
“...”
She could have gotten a maid to help her change the medication. Why did she give him the impression that she was waiting for him to get up and help her change the medication?
But Lu Junting didn’t think so much, and said, “Follow me.”
Lin Xiyu followed Lu Junting to the storage room, and Lu Junting helped her change the medication.
“It’s done.”
Lu Junting didn’t wait for an answer after he said that. He looked toward her and realized that the little girl was still staring at his fingers.
Why don’t you look at his legs or his hands? What’s wrong with this little girl ah? However, Lu Junting knew how to alleviate his discomfort, so he pretended to be calm and asked her, “When will the design draft be handed in?”
Lin Xiyu came back to her senses and said, “I’ll go tomorrow afternoon.”
Seeing that she came back to her senses, Lu Junting pointed his finger at her, “Alright.”
Lin Xiyu hurriedly said, “Thank you, Brother Junting.”
“You’re welcome.”
The two came out of the storage room, and somehow, Lu Junting was inexplicably relieved.
Lin Xiyu took the final design draft to Changheng Group the next afternoon. After handing it in, she thought that since she was here anyway, she could simply go to Lu Junting’s office for a stroll.
Lu Junting went to a meeting, and the secretary asked her to wait there first, and also prepared coffee and snacks for her. It didn’t take long for Lu Junting to come back.
Lu Junting knew that she would come to Changheng today, but he didn’t expect her to come to his office. Lu Junting guessed that she probably stopped by to take a look, but whether she was stopping by or not, he was happy that she could come, anyway.
“How long have you been here?” Lu Junting asked her.
“Not for long.”
“Little Baby has been taken to Lu's house. Stay here for dinner later?
“Okay.” After simply responding, Lin Xiyu felt a little nonchalant again and added, “Will I be disturbing you here?”
“You won’t.”
“Then okay, you go ahead and do your thing first. Don’t worry about me.”
Lu Junting had quite a lot of things going on lately, and he started to get busy after he sat down. Not long after, the secretary knocked on the door and came in, saying, “Mr. Lu, Ms. Liu has already changed the plan you handed over to her.”
Lu Junting didn’t speak. He glanced at Lin Xiyu first. Lin Xiyu thought that the last time Liu Manqing came here to find Lu Junting, he went straight to the conference room to talk. She didn’t want these two people to be alone, so before Lu Junting spoke, she said, “It’s okay, let Vice President Liu come in and talk. You guys can just pretend I don’t exist.”
She didn’t mind, and Lu Junting didn’t have anything to say, so he said to the secretary, “Call Vice President Liu in.”
Liu Manqing was not surprised to see Lin Xiyu inside, and greeted her very politely, “Mrs. Lu, we meet again.”
Lin Xiyu also said politely, “Yes, we meet again.”
Liu Manqing handed the document to Lu Junting, who pointed at the chair placed in the corner at her. “Bring it over and sit down.”
Sliding the chair, Liu Manqing pulled over and sat down opposite him.
Liu Manqing’s plan for Lu Junting was related to foreign branches. The branch in East China was the largest foreign branch of Changheng. Liu Manqing had been in East China before she returned to the headquarters, so this time, Lu Junting handed over the affairs of East China to her to deal with, and she was more familiar with the business there.
The situation of the East China branch was probably more severe. Lu Junting began to discuss with Liu Manqing after reading the plan for a while. Lin Xiyu didn’t understand Changheng’s business, so she silently drank the coffee prepared for her by the secretary on the side.
Liu Manqing’s business ability was very good, and every problem could be analyzed to the point, and it could be seen that Lu Junting appreciated her very much.
Liu Manqing said, “In short, these are the current problems. Of course, the most important thing is to solve the problem of market sales. After all, the region is not developed, and the people’s consumption level is limited.”
Lu Junting was silent for a moment and said, “Don’t consider the sales volume in East China first. Don’t be afraid of investment in the early stage. I’m still very optimistic about that place, and there are rich rare earth resources there, so you can get the materials locally. You don’t have to use that side as the main market, and I aim to make that side the biggest OEM factory. With cheap labor and abundant resources, it’s perfect to be an OEM factory.”
Liu Manqing nodded. “There will be another meeting in the evening, and the person in charge over there will also participate online. I will explain the work adjustment to the person in charge over there.”
When the conversation between the two came to an end, Lu Junting glanced at Lin Xiyu and said, “I’m sorry, things have been a bit hectic lately.”
Lin Xiyu hurriedly said, “It’s okay, it’s okay.”
Liu Manqing sorted out the information and said with a smile, “Lu is always a workaholic, he doesn’t talk to us about anything other than work on weekdays. I don’t know if he usually brings work to his home, which makes you think he is very boring.”
How dare Liu Manqing be able to directly call Lu Junting boring in front of him? Moreover, Lu Junting didn’t react after hearing it, it seemed that it was no big deal to be called boring.
She remembered that Lu Yuan told him that the two were senior brother and sister, and they seemed to be familiar with each other if they could joke like this.
Lin Xiyu felt that she still had to give a face to her husband outside, and realizing that Lu Junting and Liu Manqing knew each other very well, so she subconsciously wanted to show that she was more familiar with Lu Junting than with her.
So she smiled at Liu Manqing and said, “No. My family Junting is a very interesting person.”
After Lu Junting and Liu Manqing finished their conversation, the secretary brought up coffee. Lu Junting picked up the coffee to drink, and almost spit out the coffee after hearing this. His upbringing and long-term training did not make him lose his temper, but he was still choked, half-clenched his fist, and covered his mouth to cough a few times.
He raised his eyes to look at her but saw that she had a smile on her face. Judging from her expression, there was nothing wrong with her, as if calling him ‘my family Junting’ was such a natural thing to do.
Liu Manqing seemed surprised. She smiled and said, “This is the first time I’ve heard from others that Mr. Lu is interesting. It seems that he is different to you than he is to us.”
Lin Xiyu said, “Maybe. He is very good at coaxing children at home.”
Lu Junting: “...”
Lu Junting turned his head, took a sip of coffee, and took another sip, covering up the smile on the corner of his mouth. My family Junting; she actually called him like this, in front of outsiders. It was… kinda makes him happy.
The meeting had already ended, and Liu Manqing also went out. There were only two people left in the room, and the atmosphere became a little subtle. Originally, they had not formally remarried, and they were stiff when they divorced before. Even if she was planning to live with him, she was very passive at the moment. To directly called ‘my family Junting’, she didn’t know whether he would be awkward or not.
“I’m going to have a meeting now. You can eat first.”
Lu Junting’s words brought Lin Xiyu back to her senses. Lin Xiyu was still embarrassed, and didn’t look at him, saying, “Okay.”
Lu Junting took the materials and prepared to go out for a meeting, but when he went out, he thought of something and asked her, “Are you busy later?”
Lin Xiyu answered, “Not busy.”
“If you are not busy, you can wait for me to finish the meeting and we’ll go back together.”
Lin Xiyu thought for a while and responded, “Okay.”
However, Lu Junting’s meeting this time was very long. Lin Xiyu waited for a long time after eating and didn’t see him come back. She couldn’t sit still and simply went out to find him. She had been to the conference room before, so she was familiar with it.
However, before she arrived at the conference room, she ran into Lu Junting’s assistant, Zhou Jin. Lin Xiyu asked him, “Assistant Zhou, where is your Mr. Lu?”
Zhou Jin said, “Mr. Lu is still discussing things with Vice President Liu in the conference room. Do you need me to take you there?”
Lin Xiyu said, “No need. I can find it. I’ll go there myself.”
Lin Xiyu came to the conference room. The door of the conference room was not closed. She stood at the door and saw Lu Junting at a glance with Liu Manqing standing beside him. She didn’t know what they were discussing. Just when the discussion was intense, Lu Junting pointed to the information, and Liu Manqing leaned over to look. Both of them, who were discussing the matter in full swing, didn’t realize that Lin Xiyu stood in the doorway.
Lin Xiyu looked at the two people who were on the verge of being next to each other at that end and finally decided not to go in. She took the elevator to the first floor. Changheng was well-equipped with facilities, and there was a swimming pool in the back. She walked around it for a while.
Lin Xiyu felt very strange. Why does seeing Lu Junting and Liu Manqing so close make her feel particularly uncomfortable? Especially thinking of the discussions she had heard. Those people said that Liu Manqing and Lu Junting were a couple. She was just standing at the door and saw that the two people who had a special tacit understanding resonated with the discussion she had heard. Although she didn’t want to admit it, she felt these two looked like a good match.
It was precisely because of this; that she felt uncomfortable in her heart. At this moment, the sky had darkened. There were deck chairs by the pool, Lin Xiyu walked over to sit down, and the infinity swimming pool that extended to the distance reflected the rising moon. A gust of wind blew, the water rippled, and the shadow of the bright moon was cut out one by one.
Lin Xiyu thought that when she and Lu Junting were husband and wife, she never asked him about his private affairs, but now, why did she feel uncomfortable just seeing him standing so close to other women?
During this time, she found that she had a feeling for Lu Junting that she had never felt before.
This time she returned to the father and son and wanted to continue to be husband and wife with him because of the child, because of the guilt of having hurt him, because he helped her pay back the 10 million.
She thought maybe it was something else.
That day after day of dreaming about him wasn’t just out of guilt. It was also out of longing for him, or even liking him.
She might like Lu Junting. She even suspected that she had liked him a long time ago. That was why she was so angry and wanted to divorce him in the beginning after she heard him admit that he was deceiving her, and misunderstood that he was using her as a stand-in.
That was why she tried her best to divorce him, but she felt very uncomfortable after the divorce.
She liked him for a long time, but she didn’t realize it at first. Because of the bastard things he did, she didn’t dare to like him seriously.
And this time coming back together with him, that liking slowly became stronger, hence the series of weird feelings.
Strangely, she was not startled by the realization of this thought. She had a pleasant feeling of being soothed, and even her heartbeat was beginning to accelerate. This feeling of a rapid heartbeat did not make her uncomfortable.
“What are you doing here alone?”
Lin Xiyu turned her head after hearing the voice. She saw Lu Junting standing in the corridor leading to the pool from Changheng’s back door. He had just come out from the meeting, wearing a shirt and suit pants, simple and capable clothes and pants modifying the broad shoulders and long legs of his body. The extremely beautiful body proportions were like a piece of glowing jade in the moonlight.
Seeing him, Lin Xiyu’s heart beat faster, and her cheeks became hot.
Lu Junting walked over with his long legs. She immediately felt nervous and at a loss, not the kind of nervousness when facing him with fear before, but the nervousness of facing her sweetheart. Her shyness made her feel like she was going to suffocate.
Lu Junting sat next to her. Under the pale white moonlight, he could still see her red cheeks.
“What’s wrong? Why is your face so red? Is there something uncomfortable?”
Lin Xiyu patted her chest and adjusted her breathing to calm her mood, otherwise she wouldn’t even be able to speak. How could this happen? Even she found it inexplicable.
Seeing this, Lu Junting’s brows furrowed slightly. He asked again, “Uncomfortable?”
“No.”
He was wearing a shirt, ironed and straightened. The sleeves of which were half pulled up, revealing his firm forearms. The belt was tied around the waist, making him look broad-shouldered and thin-waisted, with straight, slender legs.
He had a majestic temperament, was well-dressed, and with an icy face that gave people an unattainable feeling, but this reserved man had a special charm that made people hand on to him and never forget him.
She remembered that she had often dreamed of him in the past year. When she hadn’t known the things he had done for her, when she knew that he was a bastard but still thinking about him, who was unattainable but considerate to her, who was very scheming but bought the letter his father gave her to make her happy. And his confession to her, where he said he loved her. He gave off the impression that he was a stranger, but he whispered that he loved her and begged her not to leave him.
Since she was worried about this man in her heart. Since I have chosen to forget the past, why not like him generously, get to know him well, give him a chance, and give me a chance?
She understood that a man like Lu Junting was too attractive. If she didn’t hurry up, there would be many people queuing up to take advantage of the situation.
Lin Xiyu was clear that she was in love with Lu Junting, so she had to think, does Lu Junting still like her? She rejected him so heartlessly before and wondered if he would be disappointed in her.
Lin Xiyu calmed down. She did not care about how he felt for her before, but now, after knowing that she liked him, she cared about whether he still liked her or not.
Lin Xiyu finally couldn’t hold back the question and asked him, “Brother Junting, have you ever met the girl you liked during our divorce?”
Lu Junting: “...”
Lu Junting looked at Lin Xiyu, who was looking at him with a curious expression. Why did she suddenly ask about this? Thinking of what she said, something about stepmothers in front of Chengmao before, he felt angry, and the tone of his speech was a few degrees colder.
“I’m busy with work and the child every day. What time do I have to meet any girl I like?”
After Lu Junting finished, he felt that his tone was a little too much. After all, this girl was always afraid of him, but at this time, she didn’t have that timid expression on her face. She seemed to get some unexpected joy, and her eyes showed a little light, and asked him, “Really?”
Lu Junting was puzzled. How can it be such an expression?
However, at this moment, the girl was still waiting expectantly for him to answer, so he didn’t think much of it and said, “Of course.”
He saw that she suddenly lowered her head and thought about something. After a while, she raised her head, lowered her voice, and asked, “Then you… do you still like me?”
Do you still like me?
This was a completely unexpected question for him.
At this time, the moonlight shrouded her face. He could faintly see the flush on her face, like a ripe fruit.
Lin Xiyu also felt that it was a bit abrupt to ask him this question. After all, she hadn’t had much emotional interaction with him since the days of their marriage.
But she was genuinely curious as the whether he still liked her or not. Even after all this time, she still found it unbelievable every time she thought about this man’s confession to her.
The feeling he gave her had always been that kind of person who stood in a high place and strategized. He didn’t care about petty love, and this person was unfathomable. Others couldn’t guess what he was thinking.
Yet she heard from him that he liked her, that he loved her.
At that time, although she resented and hated him, when she heard his words, in addition to the shock, there was also a feeling that her heart was being hit. Even if she suddenly thought about it at this time, her heart was still thumping wildly.
She wanted to know if he still liked her.
She stared at him like that, and she was really… Aren’t you afraid of me? How dare you stare at me like this? This question stunned Lu Junting, but he liked to twist his words, so he said, “I don’t like someone so easily, and it’s not easy to like someone.”
Ah? Such a vague answer ah? Lin Xiyu simply asked directly, “Then you still like me?”
Lu Junting nodded.
He still likes her!
Lu Junting felt that he was still quite stable, but he felt a little embarrassed. It was really embarrassing to talk to the girl about whether he liked her or not.
This answer gave Lin Xiyu great joy, knowing that Lu Junting still liked her too when she realized she liked him. She felt like winning the lottery hadn’t made her this happy.
Since he still liked her, Lin Xiyu also wanted him to know she liked him.
A suffocating tension hit her. Before she could speak, her heartbeat was too fast for her to stand.
Lu Junting was also a little embarrassed after admitting that he still liked her. He looked sideways at the little girl and saw that she was covering her chest as if she was having a hard time.
Lu Junting’s face sank. What? What kind of expression is this? Knowing that he likes her makes her feel bad? If he knows, he won’t admit it so quickly.
Lu Junting was a little annoyed. At this moment, he felt anxious about his own IQ. Why did he answer whatever she asked? How could his composure and concealment not come in handy?
Just when Lu Junting was reflecting on himself. He suddenly heard the little girl call him in a soft voice.
“Brother Junting.”
“?”
Calling him ‘Brother Junting’ in this tone made Lu Junting feel like his heart was about to explode.
He looked back at her and met the way she looked at him. As calm as he was, he couldn’t help but be surprised. A pair of moist eyes, shining a luster when illuminated by the moonlight. It was a pair of innocent eyes, but looking at him so directly made him feel the heat in her eyes in an instant, scalding him.
"Brother Junting, there's something I need to tell you. I know it may sound shameless coming from me, considering the cruel things I've said to you in the past. But the truth is, I think I have feelings for you. It bothers me to see how well you and Vice President Liu get along, and I find myself dreaming about you when we're apart. Initially, I thought it was just guilt or gratitude after you helped me pay off my debts. But today, I realized it's something more. I've become possessive of you for no apparent reason, and my heart leaps whenever I see you. So, I believe I like you.”
She spoke incoherently because of nervousness.
“...”
The moonlight was like water. There was no light on by the pool. It was all illuminated by the moonlight, the infinity pool reflected a bright moon, a gust of wind blew, the water's surface was sparkling, and the hazy moonlight made everything around it unreal. So, when Lu Junting heard these words, he also had an unreal feeling.
What on earth had he heard? She likes him?
Lin Xiyu likes him?
----------
If you like my translation, please support me by buying me a coffee:
0 comments: