Chapter 32

When Cheng Jinlan returned home, she also noticed the movement next door. During the New Year when Uncle Hu and the others called to give New Year greetings, they also mentioned that they wouldn't sell the house here. In the future if they wanted to come back, this house was still the most comfortable to live in. Now someone has moved in, she didn't know if it was relatives and friends coming to stay temporarily, or if there were new neighbors.

The evening sky was burned red by the afterglow, the evening breeze blew the clouds away. Before long, the clouds gathered together again, dreamy as if entering a fairytale world. Cheng LiQi took out the Elsa kite her uncle had given her and asked her mother to help fly Elsa princess into the sky.

The wind wasn't too strong, but the yard was big enough. The kite slowly flew up in Cheng Jinlan's hand. Cheng LiQi took the kite handle from her mother's hand, running backwards on her little legs against the wind. Cheng Jinlan was afraid she would fall down, so she jogged along behind her to protect her.

Cheng LiQi looked at the kite and then at her mother. Her voice was excited, "Mom, Elsa princess flew into the sky!"

"Yes, Elsa princess is going to make friends with the clouds. Baby, watch the road ahead, running backwards like this you're likely to fall down."

Just as she was speaking, Cheng LiQi's little legs softened and she was about to fall left. Cheng Jinlan quickly reached out to support her back with one hand and scooped her waist with the other, catching her in her arms. She didn't fall to the ground, but Cheng LiQi's hand slipped and the kite handle fell from her hand. The kite slid down with the wind, slanted and tilted from the sky. Elsa princess ran to the other side of the wall, the handle hung on top of the wall, about to fall down but not quite.

"You're not hurt anywhere are you?" Cheng Jinlan looked her up and down.

Cheng LiQi shook her head and also looked at her mother, "Did you get hurt, Mom?"

"Mom didn't get hurt either." Cheng Jinlan held her and stood up, looking at the kite line. Next to Uncle Hu's house against the wall was a crape myrtle tree. It should have gotten caught in the crape myrtle tree.

"Mom, can Elsa princess come back?" Cheng LiQi was somewhat mournful.

Cheng Jinlan squatted down to look at her, "Wait for Mom to go inside and get some strawberries your grandmother just picked. The kite falling into someone else's house is considered an intrusion. We have to bring a gift to apologize before we can get your Elsa princess back."

Cheng LiQi nodded, "Mom, bring more. Bring the portion I want to eat too. It was me who carelessly let the kite go."

Mother and daughter had just walked to the gate with a basket of strawberries when the doorbell rang.

Cheng Jinlan opened the door. Outside stood a woman in her fifties with white hair and a simple smile. She held the kite in one hand and carried several boxes of pastries in the other. She introduced herself first, "Hello, I'm the auntie hired next door to clean and tidy up. Is this your kite, little girl?"

Cheng LiQi took it with both hands, with a sweet smile on her face, "Yes, thank you granny."

"You're welcome," the middle-aged woman's smile deepened. She picked up the pastries in her hand and handed them to Cheng Jinlan, "My employer said that the renovations and cleaning these days would be noisy and disturb your rest, so these are a small apology gift. You must accept them."

"It's okay, moving and cleaning up are unavoidable. It won't disturb us." Cheng Jinlan also handed over the strawberries as an apology gift for the kite. The neighborly relationship was thus established. Cheng LiQi looked at the things in her mother's hand, puzzled, "Mom, the things Granny gave, there's stuff I like to eat, stuff you like to eat, stuff Grandma likes to eat, and stuff Aunt Zhou likes to eat. How did the neighbor granny know what we all like to eat?"

Cheng Jinlan had a vague guess in her mind, but felt it was impossible. He had always been rational and prudent in his actions, thinking things through carefully before deciding. He wouldn't do something so crazy. Not to mention what would happen if the Shao Group's board of directors knew he was living in the small district developed by the Cheng family, even if her father knew, he definitely wouldn't let him off easy.

On Sunday, the Chnagyun Qingmiao Group's summit went relatively smoothly. There were sudden situations, but they were also dealt with safely. Overall it was considered successful. The banquet was set at a restaurant near Lanzhou. Cheng Jinlan planned to make an appearance and then leave, excuses were already prepared.

After arriving, Zhou An said Shao Chengze had something come up and couldn't make it. Since he broke the appointment, then today's meal would definitely go on his tab. Cheng Jinlan unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he wasn't here, she didn't care about eating this meal.

After the high-intensity project ended smoothly, everyone was in high spirits. There were mostly young people in the three project groups, and after three rounds of drinking, the boundary line between boss and employee faded somewhat. Zhou An and Cheng Jinlan were both coerced into drinking a few rounds.

While eating, Wu Tongtong observed the person at the head of the table.

The second and third generations of prestigious families generally wouldn't look too bad. Even if they didn't have good innate conditions, they could still use money to build it up afterwards. But even with rebuilding, some things like bone structure were still hard to change. Some people looked beautiful at first glance, but that beauty would always make people feel like something was missing or extra.

This second young lady of the Cheng family was different. Her beauty radiated from the inside out, her temperament flowing between gestures and steps. Her face was only the size of a palm, her makeup light, her skin fair and lustrous. Her eyes were cold but when she smiled, she naturally exuded a kind of bright charm, charming but not vulgar.

Her long hair was lightly pinned up, making her neck appear even more slender. She wore a sleeveless black dress of unknown brand. The simple yet well-fitted cut outlined her figure. Her only accessories were a pair of pearl earrings dangling from her earlobes, low-key and elegant. When listening to someone speak, her eyes would look at the other person attentively and earnestly, completely unlike the rumored arrogance.

Wu Tongtong regretted that President Shao didn't come. If President Shao had come, with her piercing eyes, she would definitely be able to discover some clues between the two if there really was something going on.

Halfway through the drinking, Cheng Jinlan made an excuse to go to the restroom and came out to the rooftop terrace outside the restaurant. She called Cheng LiQi, saying she would be home late tonight. Cheng LiQi obediently told her to be careful, to remember to eat, and if she drank alcohol to have the driver uncle come pick her up.

After ending the call with her daughter, Cheng Jinlan leaned her arms on the railing, gazing into the distance at the city lights for a while before coming back to her senses. She turned wanting to go back inside and found the person standing behind her. She didn't know how long he had been standing there. She had been so lost in thought that she hadn't noticed.

In the vast night, their eyes met.

This scene was extremely similar to their reunion at the Bai family wine event after he first returned to the country.

The difference was that at that time, she pretended to be calm on the surface but was full of indignation and resentment towards him inside. Though it would be more accurate to say that rather than resenting him, she resented the past her, resented how easily she had given her feelings in a relationship, only to receive deception and exploitation in return.

Now, it seemed like nothing was so important anymore. When people live to a certain point, they have to learn a very important skill - to reconcile with themselves.

Cheng Jinlan shifted her entangled gaze and turned to look at the lights of thousands of households in the distance.

"Shao Chengze," she called his name. Her tone was unusually calm for such a long time, with some ethereal vagueness in her voice, as if returning to the past times again, "I admit that I did like you before, otherwise why would I still allow you to approach me so blatantly even when I knew who you were. I wasn't bored enough to use someone for amusement."

Shao Chengze was led by her words to take a step forward. His leather shoes touched the tips of her high heels. The distance between them was only an inch apart.

Cheng Jinlan didn't back away or shift her high heel position, allowing the two shoes to lean against each other. Maybe it was the alcohol, some words came out involuntarily. She gave a self-deprecating laugh, "Thinking back now, I really was childish. I was spoiled by my family, always feeling that liking someone was just between two people. As long as I liked him, my parents would always indulge me. But liking someone was never just between two people, let alone now, no matter how much I liked you before, misunderstandings fade over time, time also fades, faded to today where it's all faded away. To me now, you're no different than an ordinary stranger. But between us there's Cheng LiQi. Being complete strangers isn't very realistic either. Maintaining an ordinary friendship is probably the best solution for the current situation."

The air fell into silence.

Shao Chengze looked at her tranquil side profile and spoke in a low voice, "Three times."

Cheng Jinlan didn't understand and turned to look at him, "What?" Shao Chengze looked into her eyes, "Kiss me three times. If after three times, you don't have any feelings for me and feel that kissing me is no different than kissing a wooden post, then from now on I will no longer harbor any delusions and will wholeheartedly be a good father to Cheng LiQi, not taking another step forward."

Cheng Jinlan was stunned for a moment, then glared at him with her beautiful eyes, "What are you thinking."

Kissing him three times, and in the middle of the night too. What a daydream.

The two were very close. Shao Chengze reached out his long arm and pulled. Cheng Jinlan's body stumbled forward a step and fell into his arms. She wanted to push him away but he had already grabbed her waist and leaned down to press his lips against hers.

Their lips touched, two different temperatures, with a second of silence between them.

Cheng Jinlan wanted to dodge but his hand pressed the back of her head down. His lips firmly sucked at the flesh inside her lips, from left to right, right to left, wanting to stop but unable to. His lips gently nibbled hers, his nose rubbing against hers. In a hoarse voice he asked, "No feeling?"

Cheng Jinlan suppressed the irritability and heat rising in her heart, replying coldly, "None."

Just as the words left her mouth, he pressed down again.

This time it was no longer a shallow tentative gentleness. His tongue directly pried open her lips with an unstoppable forward momentum. Cheng Jinlan's teeth were tightly closed but he was in no hurry to hook her tongue. His lips heavily wrapped around the flesh inside her lips.

There was the sound of wind in her ears, raucous laughter from the restaurant, the honking of cars from the street. Amidst all these noises was an intoxicating ambiguity that became more pronounced as the clamor grew louder.

Shao Chengze withdrew from her mouth, his voice changing from low to hoarse. "No feeling?"

Cheng Jinlan panted lightly as she turned her head away. "None."

The moment she spoke, Shao Chengze hooked her chin, plunging his lips and tongue together to delve deeply inside. Wherever her tongue hid, his followed, eagerly playing this game of cat and mouse with her.

Shao Chengze nibbled on the tip of her tongue, murmuring indistinctly, "No dislike of me?"

Cheng Jinlan's mind went blank from lack of oxygen. She still replied with two words, "No dislike."

Shao Chengze laughed hoarsely, "No dislike means liking."

Cheng Jinlan rested her head on his shoulder, catching her breath and calming her racing heartbeats. She had no energy left to refute him.

Shao Chengze brushed her disheveled hair behind her ear, bringing his lips close as he whispered, "You have to admit, the more you hate me now, the more it shows you can't let go of me in your heart. You say you feel nothing for me, but your body clearly feels a lot for me."

Cheng Jinlan inhaled sharply. "I think you're crazy."

Shao Chengze cradled her face, forcing her to look into his eyes. "I'm very sober. I know what I want. Jinlan, I'll resolve the issue between our families, even if it's a deadlock, there are always ways to unravel it. As for us, I don't ask for status, above or underground, it doesn't matter. I just want to devote the rest of my life to you, beckon and call, for you to do as you wish. If you don't need me, I'll lock myself away."

After all these wasted years, presented with even a sliver of chance, he would never let it slip by.

Cheng Jinlan: ......

She felt like she was either drunk or dreaming. What was she hearing...!