Chapter 2: Mr. He Wants to Snatch Her Away
Zhong Zhaoqing scolded Zhong Shuning a few more times.
She lowered her voice. “Dad, I’ll be there soon.”
The car was too quiet. Their conversation drifted intermittently into the ears of He Wenli and Chen Zui.
Neither of them said anything, but Zhong Shuning still felt extremely embarrassed.
“Mr. He, I really don’t need to go to the hospital. I already have an appointment. If possible, please let me off up ahead. Don’t worry, my leg is an old injury—it really has nothing to do with you.”
“Where are you going?” He Wenli turned his head to look at her. “I’ll take you there.”
“That would be too much trouble.”
“It’s no trouble. We’re also heading into the city,” Chen Zui said with a smile.
Since taxis were hard to get, Zhong Shuning didn’t insist further and said she was going to the Shangri-La Hotel.
After that, no one spoke much.
When they arrived, Zhong Shuning thanked them and got out of the car. The cold wind mixed with rain brushed against her, making her shiver. As soon as she entered the hotel, she sneezed twice in a row.
“Miss Zhong.”
Chen Zui had somehow followed her inside.
Zhong Shuning immediately put on a polite smile, wondering what he needed.
But Chen Zui handed her a black coat.
This…?
Was it He Wenli’s coat?
“Our boss said it’s cold on rainy days. Miss Zhong should take care of herself,” he said.
“That’s not appropriate.”
“It’s brand new. He hasn’t worn it yet.”
With that, Chen Zui shoved the coat into her hands and left.
“I didn’t mean that…” Zhong Shuning tried to call after him, but he had already run off. Her ankle still hurt—she couldn’t catch up.
They say the He family’s young master is difficult to deal with, but he didn’t seem so bad after all.
It looked like rumors weren’t always true.
Zhong Shuning had not even entered the private room yet when she heard laughter and clinking glasses. The banquet had clearly already started. Besides the Zhong family, Zhou Boyu was also there.
As soon as she arrived, the laughter stopped.
She felt like an outsider who had suddenly broken into a warm, harmonious scene.
“You’re finally here,” her adoptive father Zhong Zhaoqing frowned. “What kind of job is that? You should quit it already. Just a training center teacher—people might think you’re handling billion-yuan deals and making everyone wait for you.”
“Alright, stop it,” her adoptive mother Liu Hui’an said with a frown.
“Dad, sister didn’t do it on purpose,” said the girl.
It was Zhong Mingyue—the biological daughter the Zhong family had recovered half a month ago after a DNA match.
When she was found, she had been working as a sales clerk in a mall. She hadn’t gone to university and had started working right after high school.
Zhong Mingyue looked at Zhong Shuning.
“Sis, sorry. We waited a long time, but you didn’t arrive, so we started eating first. You don’t mind, right?”
Zhong Shuning shook her head.
“I really envy you,” Zhong Mingyue continued. “You’re beautiful and can dance. Unlike me—I can’t do anything…”
Her tone was full of admiration, but in truth, her appearance, figure, and temperament all fell short compared to Zhong Shuning.
Her parents immediately felt more sympathy for her.
Studying the arts costs money, and given Zhong Mingyue’s previous environment, she had never had the chance.
Now that their biological daughter had returned after a life of hardship, they naturally wanted to give her the best of everything.
The family reunion made them genuinely happy.
And Zhong Shuning sincerely felt happy for them too.
At the same time, she also had to give up everything she had once enjoyed…
She had no resentment about it, because it had never truly belonged to her in the first place.
Since being adopted at age four, without blood ties, her adoptive parents had never truly been close to her no matter how well she behaved. The following year, they had a son of their own, and after another incident, her situation worsened.
They were respectable people with status. They didn’t want to send her back to the orphanage and be criticized, so although they were cold to her, they still maintained her basic living conditions.
To preserve their public image and gain a good reputation, the Zhong family also donated large sums of money to orphanages every year.
“Sis,” Zhong Mingyue smiled, “Brother Boyu originally wanted to pick you up from work, but I happened to be shopping, so he gave me a ride instead. You don’t mind, right?”
“I don’t,” Zhong Shuning replied.
“You don’t look well. I thought you might be angry.”
“I’ve never lived in Qingzhou before, so everything is unfamiliar to me. Brother Boyu was just being kind.”
“He said I can call him anytime. I don’t know many people here, so I’m closer to him. I was even worried I’d be bothering him.”
“It’s not a bother,” Zhou Boyu said, sitting beside Zhong Mingyue while carefully serving her food.
Anyone watching would think she was his fiancee instead.
Zhong Shuning’s face turned slightly pale. She hung the coat from He Wenli to the side, which immediately caught Zhong Mingyue’s attention.
“Sis, that coat isn’t yours, right?”
It was clearly a man’s coat.
Zhou Boyu’s expression instantly darkened as he stared at her.
He was the one who had been picking up and dropping off Zhong Mingyue every day.
Yet now, his expression made it look like he was the one involved with another woman…
Not her!
On the other side:
After catching up to He Wenli, Chen Zui smiled ingratiatingly.
“Boss, the coat was delivered.”
“She accepted it?”
“I forced it on her and ran right after,” Chen Zui said, clearly proud.
“…”
“Miss Zhong really has it rough. The Zhong family too—they know she has a bad leg and still don’t even send a driver on rainy days. And that Zhou Boyu is trash—doesn’t pick up his fiancee in the rain but runs off to pick up someone else. Ridiculous.”
Chen Zui glanced at his boss.
“It’s a pity you didn’t get to talk much after getting her into the car.”
“Zhong Zhaoqing also talks too harshly. She’s lived with them for years and called him ‘dad’ for so long, and he doesn’t care about her at all. She works honestly and isn’t stealing or cheating—what’s wrong with that…”
He Wenli lifted his eyes. “I’m thinking about something.”
“Are you thinking about seizing the opportunity and stealing her away?”
From the moment he got his driver’s license, Chen Zui had only learned safe driving. Who would’ve thought his boss would ask him to “stage a collision” to meet a woman?
To get close to Miss Zhong, his boss really was…
He Wenli glanced at him.
“I’m thinking why you’re not mute.”
Chen Zui immediately shut up.
He Wenli stood by the window, expression unreadable.
The storm outside was fierce, reflected in his eyes like a battlefield of thousands of soldiers.
The cigarette in his hand was not lit, already crushed beyond recognition.
(End of Chapter 2)
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