Cinderella Innocent and Boss Charming - Chapter 182

Chapter 182 I Just Don’t Want to See Him
Zhou Ting nodded in satisfaction at what she had seen from upstairs. Just as she had expected, her boss was indeed a kind and honest person who wouldn’t abandon his “new love” for the “old one!”

Seeing they went upstairs, Zhou Ting immediately delivered them two cups of hot tea she had just made. Du Xiaoxian feared that Gu Nianbin might catch a chill in such a short while. So, she took one cup directly to the corner of his mouth and said, “Have a drink of hot tea and get warmed up.”

“There is central heating in the house, it doesn’t feel cold now.” Gu Nianbin put down the cup. Then, he pulled her to sit on his lap and said, “You are no longer angry, right?”

“I’m not angry,” Du Xiaoxian said. She eventually felt a bit embarrassed at such a scene she had made so that she lowered her head and rubbed her fingers.

“Then show me a smile.” Gu Nianbin said warmly while putting his cheek against hers. “If you are really not angry anymore, show me a smile.”

Du Xiaoxian couldn’t do anything about what he requested and could only curl her lips into a smile. But Gu Nianbin was not satisfied with that. He reached out his hands to tickle her. The little girl couldn’t bear his tickling and started giggling and dodging. Only then did Gu Nianbin stop tickling her. However, before she could have time to breathe, he held the back of her head and started to kiss her.

The kiss was so aggressive and affectionate that Du Xiaoxian’s strong sense of grievance vanished into thin air. She hugged his neck and enthusiastically kissed him back.

Zhou Ting was feeling happy for them hearing the laughter they made inside. Then suddenly they became quiet again, which made her wonder what happened. So she quietly walked over and peeked through the crack of the door. Being surprised at what she had seen, she immediately covered her mouth. Then, she held her breath and returned to her seat. Now that her boss treated Du Xiaoxian as well as before, she had nothing to worry about.

The chamber of commerce always held a traditional ball on the tenth day of the lunar New Year, which was a good occasion for business barons to exchange greetings with each other. Naturally, the occasion would be full of luxurious cars, fine wine, and beautiful girls. The ball was different from the one made at the end of the year. Few barons would attend it with their families. The ones whom most of them usually took along were charming and attractive beauties.

Originally, Gu Nianbin wanted Du Xiaoxian to go to the ball with him. But his proposal was turned down by her who was still unable to get over the failure of her last party and especially afraid of attending such an occasion. Despite Gu Nianbin’s repeated persuasion, she wouldn’t relent. Every time the track-minded little girl became stubborn, President Gu didn’t know what to do with her. So he had to leave for the ball alone.

Zhou Ting tentatively mentioned Xia Xiaowan and asked if he could take her along. Gu Nianbin shook his head resolutely. He thought that he had already acted somewhat ostentatiously at Shao Boqing’s wedding. He’d better not deepen such a misunderstanding further. Now that he had been in love with Du Xiaoxian, he would not give any other girls an any tiny little bit of chance, even if that person were to be Xia Xiaowan!

Someone familiar with Gu Nianbin saw that he had come alone and teased him, “Oh, President Gu, why are you here alone? Where’s Miss Xia?”

Gu Nianbin smiled gently and said, “Miss Xia is naturally at the place where she is supposed to be. But what do you mean by asking this, Boss Huang?”

Boss Huang laughed loudly. He said to a man beside him while pointing at Gu Nianbin, “See, I told you he wouldn’t admit his relationship with her.”

Gu Nianbin said, “How could I admit a relationship which doesn’t exist at all?”

The person beside Boss Huang was Chairman Xue of Chenguang Group. Chenguang Group had benefited a lot from its joint projects with Gu Group, which had good prospects. Naturally, Chairman Xue would speak up for Gu Nianbin. He said, “Boss Huang, don’t make fun of President Gu. If he says there is no such a relationship, it must be true.”

“Miss Xia is the one who has the final say on it.” Boss Huang looked up at the door and said, “She has arrived.”

Gu Nianbin looked over. It was indeed Xia Xiaowan. She came with Xia Nanze who also had another beauty in his arm. Gu Nianbin didn’t know the girl. Xia Xiaowan saw Gu Nianbin and waved her hand at him from afar, smiling brightly.

Gu Nianbin also greeted her with a smile and nodded at her. Boss Huang saw their interaction and said to Chairman Xue, “Do you still doubt what I said since the female protagonist has come?”

Chairman Xue didn’t say anything. However, his smile became meaningful. Gu Nianbin didn’t want to explain. He had never had the habit of explaining his personal affairs to outsiders.

Xia Xiaowan walked over and looked at Gu Nianbin with a smile, “I had wanted to ask you to pick me up, but my elder brother said he would bring me along. So I decided not to trouble you.”

Boss Huang smiled and said, “I see. We were just asking about you.”

Xia Xiaowan raised her eyebrows and said, “Oh, how come Boss Huang asked about me?”

“I just feel strange.” Boss Huang looked at Xia Xiaowan and then looked at Gu Nianbin. He continued, “Now that Miss Xia has come back, why did President Gu come here alone? This is abnormal!”

Xia Xiaowan covered her mouth and chuckled. “Boss Huang, you’re really humorous. Does it have anything to do with President Gu if I am back or not?”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with him?” Boss Huang said, “It seems you two have agreed with the same speech. Even your tones are exactly the same.”

“No, it doesn’t. If Boss Huang doesn’t believe me, forget what I have said.” Xia Xiaowan held Gu Nianbin’s arm and said half-seriously and half-jokingly, “Brother Nianbin, Boss Huang likes talking nonsense. Ignore him. Let’s go over there.” She then took him away before he could utter anything.

Boss Huang shouted from behind, “Hey, you guys must think we outsiders have disturbed you!”

Everyone knew that Boss Huang liked joking. Even if Xia Xiaowan didn’t take him away, Gu Nianbin was prepared to find an excuse to leave. However, in this way…

He smiled helplessly and said, “We were originally not what he thought of us, but what you did just made him believe in what he suspected.”

Xia Xiaowan pursed her lips and said unhappily, “Brother Nianbin, you’re so ungrateful. I have taken you away with good intentions. But you’re blaming me now.”

Gu Nianbin had said that thoughtlessly and didn’t expect she would be angry. So he could only explain, “I didn’t mean that. Alright, you can go and have fun by yourself. I’ll go over there and meet some friends.”

“What? Do you think it’s okay to leave me alone immediately after I helped you out of your trouble?” Xia Xiaowan held his arm and smiled playfully, “I can let you go, but you must dance with me later.”

Gu Nianbin thought that he’d better not get entangled with her too long on such a public occasion. So he nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll dance with you later.”

However, Xia Xiaowan didn’t release her grip and only turned sideways. Gu Nianbin noticed her strange expression, so he turned to look at the door and saw Jiang Kaiwei had arrived. There was a petite girl in his arms. Gu Nianbin recognized it was Lei Yajing, Lei Luo’s younger sister.

Seeing Xia Xiaowan showing such an expression, Gu Nianbin felt it hard to shake her off. He took her to the sofa by the side of the wall and said, “It can’t help that you’re always afraid of him like this. I told you last time that the brave triumphs in a head-on battle on a narrow path. You’re not a coward, show some courage.”

She had plenty of courage. After suffering such a tragic thing, there was nothing she didn’t dare to do. She was just afraid that she couldn’t control herself and would rush up to slap him.

Xia Xiaowan lowered her head and remained silent. Gu Nianbin looked at her and asked tentatively, “Are you still…”

“No,” Xia Xiaowan quickly interrupted him in mid-sentence. “I just don’t want to see him.”

Gu Nianbin actually didn’t understand why Xia Xiaowan was so afraid to see Jiang Kaiwei. He thought that no matter how painful she was, five years should be enough for her to get over with him. Xia Xiaowan was not a weak person, so why did she always throw herself into confusion whenever she encountered Jiang Kaiwei?

He thought for a moment and said, “Stay here and I’ll get you something to eat.”

“Thank you, Brother Nianbin,” said Xia Xiaowan softly. Her eyes were lowered and her long eyelashes were slightly trembling, showing a somewhat pitiful look. In Gu Nianbin’s impression, Xia Xiaowan was beautiful and tender and rarely looked so weak. He patted her shoulder with some pity and went to the other end of the long table to fetch food for her.

As the richest man in G City, Jiang Kaiwei received a warm welcome as soon as he entered the door. There was an endless stream of people who came forward to greet him. But Jiang Kaiwei was a person who was difficult to get along with. He was even not willing to give a smile to whom he was not familiar. Luckily, everyone knew what kind of a man he was and didn’t mind it even they were coldly ignored by him. For better or worse, they greeted him and expressed their respect, so that they wouldn’t leave any chance for Jiang Kaiwei to scold them for being disrespectful to him.

In fact, these people were worried unnecessarily. Jiang Kaiwei didn’t care if irrelevant people greeted him or not. Even they did greet him, he might not remember who they were. He swept his gaze across the crowd to look for Shen Li.

Jiang Kaiwei knew that everywhere there was Shao Boqing or Shen Li, it must be bustling with noise and excitement. So it wasn’t hard for him to find Shen Li. He only glanced around and then saw Shen Li who was chatting and laughing with several beautiful girls.

He was about to lift his feet to walk away. However, Lei Yajing didn’t move. She was smiling brightly and dealing with those people who greeted him. Jiang Kaiwei didn’t even raise his eyelids. He pulled away from her arm and left. He thought that she was the same as her brother on socializing. They both wouldn’t miss any opportunities that they could take advantage of. Now that Lei Yajing liked this kind of boring social engagements, he would like to let her enjoy it alone.

As soon as Jiang Kaiwei left, the crowd around him immediately dispersed. The person they cared about had already left, so there was no need for them to circle about his female partner.

Lei Yajing hurriedly chased after him, wanting to hold Jiang Kaiwei’s arm again. Jiang Kaiwei looked sideways at her and said, “Stop following me. Go and have fun by yourself.”

Lei Yajing smiled coquettishly and said, “I am your female partner tonight, Brother Kaiwei, I must always stay with you!”

Jiang Kaiwei snorted and ignored her. He walked straight to Shen Li. Seeing that Young Master Jiang had arrived, the beautiful girls who were talking with Shen Li immediately surrounded him. These few girls were used to attending to big shots. They were all worldly-wise and knew how to read people. With just a few words, they made Jiang Kaiwei laugh loudly. Lei Yajing received a cold shoulder aside. She clenched her teeth with her face flushing red and pale with anger.

“Kaiwei, why don’t you introduce Miss Lei to everyone?” Shen Li said in a flat tone.

Then Jiang Kaiwei looked as if he didn’t notice Lei Yajing until now. He impatiently frowned, “I have told you to have fun by yourself, why are you still here?”

Lei Yajing was angry, but that was all. She was not a simple girl who didn’t have any plans. Seeing that Jiang Kaiwei had finally noticed her, she pretended to be surprised and said, “Ah! Isn’t that Xia Xiaowan? When did she come back?”

Xia Xiaowan was sitting in a corner. Jiang Kaiwei hadn’t noticed her until Lei Yajing reminded him.

Shen Li looked at Gu Nianbin who was walking towards Xia Xiaowan with a plate of food and said with a smile, “President Gu is really so considerate!”

After reading what the newspapers published yesterday morning, anyone with a bit of foresight got to know about Gu Nianbin’s relationship with Xia Xiaowan. So the beauties present weren’t surprised at what Gu Nianbin did. Only Lei Yajing said, “Has she been with Gu Nianbin again? Well, it’s not unexpected. Other than that idiot Gu Nianbin, who else wants her?”

Shen Li didn’t like what she said. He looked at her with a faint smile and said, “At least there is someone who wants Xia Xiaowan, but you, Miss Lei…”

He deliberately stopped in mid-sentence, which made the other beauties all look at Lei Yajing with meaningful eyes. Lei Yajing never took Shen Li seriously. She thought that he was just like her elder brother who worked for Jiang Kaiwei.

Hearing this, she stared at Shen Li with her amorous eyes and sneered. “Young Master Shen is really interesting. You started to defend Xia Xiaowan as soon as I only criticized her with one sentence. Don’t you know that she is a very annoying person?”

Shen Li spread out his hands and shrugged, “I really don’t know that.”

“If you don’t know, you can ask Brother Kaiwei.” Lei Yajing smiled like a flower as she looked at Jiang Kaiwei. “Brother Kaiwei, what do you think?”

Jiang Kaiwei smiled faintly. He hugged Lei Yajing and said, “Yes, I know that woman is really annoying!”