Chapter Eleven: Luxury Cars and Beautiful Women

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The Dongshan Group cafeteria was much like any ordinary cafeteria, with long rows of rectangular tables fixed to the floor.

Although Ling Xuan was aloof, she never took advantage of her position. She had always eaten together with the employees.

As she served herself, she said coldly, “We’ll eat separately later. Stop following me.”

I smiled. “There’s no need for that. Today may be our first day, but we’ll be together every day from now on. Eventually, the entire company will know. There’s no point in hiding it.”

Ling Xuan said nothing. With a stiff expression, she carried her meal to an empty seat in the corner and sat down. Wherever she went, the employees greeted her one after another.

I sat down opposite her.

The employees nearby kept stealing glances at us, whispering among themselves.

Ling Xuan acted as though she heard nothing. She lowered her head and chewed slowly, eating with extreme grace.

Halfway through the meal, I suddenly remembered being blocked from contacting her and said, “President Ling, unblock my number later. It’ll make things more convenient when we need to contact each other.”

Ling Xuan ignored me.

What on earth was this woman’s heart made of?

I smiled helplessly. Her plate was filled almost entirely with vegetables, while mine contained mostly meat, so I picked up a piece and placed it in her bowl.

“Eat more meat. You need the energy.”

“Take it back!” Ling Xuan stopped her chopsticks, raised her eyes, and stared at me coldly.

“Come on, you don’t have to be so heartless.” I had no choice but to take it back.

An uproar broke out nearby, and the whispers grew louder.

As she continued eating, Ling Xuan said coldly, “Do you know how vulgar and annoying that kind of behavior is?”

“You think I’m showing off? Then you’re underestimating me. I simply wanted to do it, so I did. I don’t care what other people think.” I smiled faintly. “By the way, did you give your statement to the police this morning?”

Ling Xuan responded with a faint hum.

“Then who do you suspect was behind last night’s assassination attempt?”

Ling Xuan did not answer immediately. After a moment, she said calmly, “My family used to be in real estate. Later, the Dajin Land Group set a trap for us, driving us into bankruptcy. Now I’m starting over in e-commerce, but sooner or later I intend to return to the path my family once followed and reclaim everything we lost. The real estate company under my control happens to be a direct competitor of Dajin Land…”

“You suspect the Dajin Land Group?”

“Yes.”

“Excellent!” I slapped the table and laughed. “I ran into Liu Xiaofeng this morning and knocked out several of his teeth. It felt damn good! If I’d known this was related, I would’ve knocked out a few more.”

Ling Xuan stared at me in surprise. There was a trace of suspicion in her eyes, but she also seemed to believe that I was capable of such a thing. She said nothing.

I asked another question. “How long has Liu An, the head of the security team, worked here?”

“Three years.”

“Hmm.”

To be honest, I was somewhat suspicious of Liu An. His disappearance last night had been far too convenient. Still, it was only a suspicion for now. I had no evidence.

That afternoon.

While Ling Xuan busied herself with work, I sat on the sofa and once again entered my state of boredom.

Being a bodyguard really wasn’t as easy as it sounded. It was boring as hell.

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I had no idea what Qin Ruhua had gone off to do. She hadn’t replied to my messages.

Suddenly, my phone rang. An unfamiliar number was calling, and I answered curiously.

“Is this Chu Bufan?” It was a man’s urgent voice, and it sounded somewhat familiar.

“Yes. Are you Liu Tiedong?”

“It’s me. Come back quickly! Zhang Tianhu and the others are going to dig up your parents’ graves!”

“What?” I shot to my feet, my expression changing drastically. “Hold them off for me. I’m coming back right now!”

Those bastards had really grown bold enough to challenge heaven itself. At that instant, fury erupted from every cell in my body.

I put away my phone and said with a grim expression, “President Ling, something urgent has come up in my hometown. I need to go back for a while.”

“Mm.” Ling Xuan answered indifferently and glanced at me with a hint of curiosity.

…

I had never mentioned my family. In my heart, they represented a regret that could never be repaired.

When I was very young, my mother died of illness. Later, my father remarried, and my stepmother brought a younger daughter into the family.

Things had not been so bad at first. We had all gotten along fairly well. But for the past eight years, I had not contacted them even once. By the time I returned, I discovered that I would never see them again.

Because of the time difference, it was already night when I flew back from America to Tianhe City. I immediately returned to my hometown, Cangqing Village.

When I forced open the tightly locked wooden door and saw the dust and cobwebs covering everything inside, I froze.

Just then, Liu Tiedong, who had returned from the city, happened to pass by my house and told me the truth.

It turned out that after I left all those years ago, everyone had been bewildered. My father, Chu Qingshan, had been frantic with worry. He reported me missing and searched everywhere, wandering about like a madman for several months. He never found me. Instead, his health collapsed, and he became bedridden, relying on my stepmother and younger sister to care for him. Six months later, he followed my mother into death.

My stepmother observed mourning for a year. Life became unbearably difficult, and she endured endless contempt and bullying. Eventually, unable to bear it any longer, she disappeared with her daughter.

That night, I remained in front of my parents’ graves until dawn, smoking two full packs of the Soft China cigarettes I had originally intended to offer my father. Since the house in the village was no longer fit to sleep in, I drove back to Tianhe City through the night.

…

At that moment, I was driving my BMW at full speed toward the countryside, my expression terrifyingly grim.

I had no idea why Zhang Tianhu and the others wanted to dig up my parents’ graves, but I could guess. They probably thought no one remained in my family and that we would soon disappear from Cangqing Village altogether. That was why they dared to act so brazenly. Besides, the Zhang family was one of the wealthier families in the village and had always been arrogant and domineering.

Before long, I left the urban area and headed toward the countryside.

The road grew narrower, and the traffic thinned. Low, green hills and flat fields began to appear on either side.

The landscape was filled with rustic beauty.

Just then, I stepped on the accelerator, only to find that the car would barely pick up speed. I glanced at the fuel gauge.

Damn it—the tank was empty!

After taking over the car last night, I had not paid the slightest attention to the fuel gauge. I never imagined it would run out so quickly.

Hell!

I stomped on the accelerator several times. When the car grew weaker and weaker, I finally pulled over and stopped.

Bang!

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I climbed out angrily and slammed the door. Looking ahead and behind me, I saw not a single car.

I felt my pockets. Fortunately, the ten thousand yuan I had received that morning was still there. Once I saw another vehicle, I would flag it down. I refused to believe that throwing ten thousand yuan at the driver wouldn’t get me the twenty miles to Cangqing Village.

I lit a cigarette and stood by the roadside, waiting.

Before long, a black Honda Accord approached from the direction I had come.

I stood in the middle of the road and raised my hand to stop it.

The driver lowered his window. He was a middle-aged man in his thirties.

I walked up to the window and smiled. “Big brother, my car ran out of gas. Could you give me a ride to Cangqing Village? I’ll pay you extra when we get there.”

The driver looked at me, then at my BMW 750Li. His eyes filled with suspicion. Suddenly, he stepped on the accelerator and hurriedly said, “Sorry, I’m not going.”

Whoosh!

The car sped away like a rabid dog.

Damn it, did I really look like a bad person? Feeling irritated, I tossed away my cigarette and stamped it out.

A short while later, a red Porsche 911 sports car came into view.

Holy crap—a luxury car!

But I did not feel intimidated in the slightest. Once again, I raised my hand to stop it.

The window rolled down, and I suddenly froze slightly. Inside was an exceptionally beautiful woman. Her pale-yellow hair fell in a soft pear-blossom curl. She wore a black dress trimmed with lace, its neckline slightly low, revealing a generous expanse of snowy-white skin and the faintest hint of cleavage. Her breasts rose proudly, even fuller than Ling Xuan’s.

She was wearing light makeup. Accentuated by her eye shadow, her eyes were alluring and captivating. Her slightly thick lips were red, moist, and enticing, curling faintly upward. Although she still looked young, her bearing was unmistakably mature and elegant. She appeared to be a wealthy married woman.

The countryside, a luxury car, and a beautiful woman.

The scene was so lovely that it was almost intoxicating.

I put on a warm and friendly smile. “Miss, my car has run out of gas. Do you happen to have a fuel hose so you could siphon some gas for me?”

I had learned my lesson. Asking her to give me a ride directly might frighten her away.

“I don’t.” The beautiful woman looked me up and down, then gave me an elegant, composed smile. Her voice was soft and gentle, as soothing as a breeze brushing across my face.

“Then could I trouble you to take me to Cangqing Village?” This time, I did not mention money. Anyone could tell she was not short of it.

The beautiful woman shifted the car into neutral, engaged the electronic parking brake, and placed both hands on the steering wheel. Turning her head, she studied me with interest, then glanced at the BMW by the roadside.

“Do you think my car can make it into the village?”

I smiled. “The concrete road reaches the entrance of our village, and it’s fairly smooth. You can drop me at the entrance. If anything happens to your car, I’ll compensate you in full.”

The beautiful woman chuckled softly. Her lovely eyes roamed over me as she spoke in a coquettish voice, “Out here in the middle of nowhere, I’m just a delicate woman. What if you become tempted by my beauty—or by my money?”

She said it so bluntly that she was clearly completely confident in her own safety. Still, it was rather amusing.

I smiled. “You’re so beautiful. Who could bear to hurt you? One look from you might leave a man weak all over, without the strength to do anything bad.”

The beautiful woman giggled coquettishly, her breasts trembling with laughter. She unlocked the door and smiled.

“Get in.”