Cinderella Innocent and Boss Charming - Chapter 84

Chapter 84 Where Did You Get the Picture?
Sleeping until midnight, Du Xiaoxian suddenly woke up. It was as if she had missed her step and fell from a high cliff. She screamed out in fright and sat up in shock. Her back was probably covered in sweat and was very sticky, as well as her forehead, which was cold and wet. She took two breaths, regained her composure, and pulled the napkin from the bedside table to wipe the sweat. Then she took a sip of water from her glass.

She was dreaming, but she couldn’t remember the scene in her dream. She only remembered the fear when she fell off the cliff in the end, with such panic and despair. It seemed someone was standing on the opposite cliff, whose clothes were flying in the wind. She could not see the person’s appearance clearly, only felt that the person’s cold gaze was like ice.

She always slept well and seldom had dreams. Before meeting Gu Nianbin, her mind was very simple: earn money to feed herself. As long as she had food to eat, she was not afraid. After staying with Gu Nianbin, she slept peacefully in his warm embrace every night. She still didn’t need to think too much, because Gu Nianbin had considered everything for her.

Du Xiaoxian put on her slippers and got out of bed. She walked to the window by the blurry light outside. Gu Nianbin was not around, so she did not even want to turn on the small night lamp. When she was sad and didn’t know what she could do, she liked to hide in the darkness, so that no one could see her, and no one would hurt her. She could hide in the shadows and silently wait her wounds to heal.

Sometimes, she would feel that she was a rootless duckweed. She floated everywhere, but nowhere was her home and nowhere could allow her to stay for long. Even if she could be happy, it was only temporary. Only darkness was there with her, and darkness would always be there and never abandon her.

She lifted the curtains and looked out. It was already late at night. The road stretched far away like a grey belt, without a single car passing by. But there was a car that parked by the side of the road. Before she went to bed, she saw this car. It was forbidden to park in this area, so she had thought it was just a temporary stop. She didn’t expect that the car still parked where it was when she woke up. She thought that if the car didn’t leave in the morning, the car owner would definitely be fined. She had seen the police record the license plate when Shao Boqing was fined by the traffic police for parking his car on the bus stop platform. Afterwards, she even specially apologized to Shao Boqing because she had caused that for him.

She put her face against the window. The window glass was actually warmer than her face. It felt a little warm and moist. She looked at the tall building beside her. There was not a single window with lights on, and the building was as gray as a large rectangular box.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed. Du Xiaoxian lowered her head and saw that the car parked on the roadside had turned on its car lights at some unknown time. The dazzling headlights illuminated the road in front of the car as daylight. Du Xiaoxian blinked her eyes, feeling a little shocked. She did not see anyone in the car, but the car lights suddenly lit up. Besides, it was silent when that happened as if someone had cast a spell.

She narrowed her eyes and looked carefully. Because of the reflected light, she was completely unable to see the person in the driver’s seat. She was not even sure if there was anyone in the car. The light was on all of sudden! She got a nerve and gently pushed open the window with a crack. As the cold wind poured in, she heard a faint sound of engine being started, which, though so far away, could be heard clearly in the silent night.

The car moved, and the headlights turned from high beam to low beam, then she could vaguely see that there was someone in the car. There was indeed someone in the car, but when did that person get into the car? Or had he been in the car all this time? Was it because he was asleep then he parked his car by the roadside? She remembered that Shao Boqing once had such an experience. He said that he was drunk, so he parked his car by the side of the road and fell asleep. Then he went home after sobering up from his drunkenness. In that case, this person should also be like that!

The car didn’t move fast and slowly moved along the side of the road. But no matter how slow it was, it still moved out of her sight. On this quiet night, it was as if everything had fallen asleep. Only the person in the car and she, who was standing by the window, were awake!

In the second half of the night, Du Xiaoxian still didn’t have a good sleep. She felt dazed and half-awake until she saw the dawn outside the window.

She jumped out of bed and opened the curtains. The sky was light grayish blue, and the morning light seemed colder than the night breeze. She sneezed twice in a row and put on a coat that belonged to Gu Nianbin conveniently. The coat was very warm, just like his embrace. She smelled a faint scent of mint, which was his unique aura.

When she was young, she saw her mother stand in the wind and wipe her eyes. She asked her mother why she cried, but her mother said the tears were caused by the wind.

Now, her tears should also be caused by the wind. It was actually very uncomfortable to shed when facing the wind. The wind blew her tears cold and it felt like a layer of paste was applied to her face. It was so tense that it hurt a little.

Du Xiaoxian didn’t know what was wrong with her. She was not a sentimental person, nor did she like to think about complicated things. She had been muddled for so many years, and there were very few sad days she had lived. What was going on now?

She wiped away her tears. Then she steamed some food for breakfast in the kitchen and went to the bathroom to wash up. Gu Nianbin was not around, so everything had to be done by herself. She selected the clothes in the cloakroom and put them on. She sat in front of the dressing table and combed her hair. And she tried to braid her hair twice but failed, so she gave up and tied a ponytail behind her head like before. Gu Nianbin used to say that her hair was tied too loosely and would fall easily. So she tied her hair tightly this time, even her scalp hurt due to the tightness. The tall ponytail swayed behind her head, making her look very lively. She nodded in satisfaction at herself in the mirror.

After breakfast, she went downstairs and suddenly saw Gu Nianbin’s car parked by the roadside. She stopped and her heart beat violently as if it was about to jump out of her throat.

The car door opened, but it was Little Ding who came out. He had no expression on his face. He took her schoolbag and said, “Young Master told me to send you to school.”

“He…” Du Xiaoxian suddenly bit her lips. She couldn’t mention Gu Nianbin. She would cry even when mentioning his name. But she didn’t want to cry in front of Little Ding, so she bit her lips tightly.

Seeing her like that, Little Ding felt upset in his heart as well. He said, “Young Master has gone to the company.”

When she got into the car, Little Ding said earnestly, “Xiaoxian, you are always a sensible person. Young Master works hard and has a lot of pressure. Sometimes, you should stop messing around and live a good life with Young Master. It’s your fortune to be with Young Master.”

Du Xiaoxian still bit her lips tightly and did not speak. Little Ding was right. It was her fortune to be with Young Master. However, she really didn’t cause trouble, she really didn’t! If she could know what she had done wrong, she would definitely change, but no one told her what she was wrong about. She felt sad for her own dullness and stupidity. She never noticed what she said, so she must have done something wrong. That’s why Young Master did this. It must be!

Gu Nianbin’s mood did not improve. Instead, he became gloomier. However, he was after all a person who undertook great responsibility. No matter how terrible he felt in his heart, his expression on the surface was still calm and composed.

So when Shao Boqing met him in the elevator, he smiled and punched him lightly. “What happened to you yesterday? It felt like you got collapsed.”

Gu Nianbin said indifferently, “I said nothing happened.”

“It couldn’t be that you had a quarrel with Du Xiaoxian, right?” Shao Boqing was really curious. Something that could make Gu Nianbin look like that would definitely not be a tiny matter. Furthermore, he was certain that it had something to do with Du Xiaoxian.

Gu Nianbin glanced at him and said, “Mind your own business.”

“It’s about you, so I want to know about it. If it’s about anyone else, I’ll be too lazy to care about.” Shao Boqing hit him on the shoulder. “Can’t you tell me?”

“It’s nothing.” “Do you have Manager Gu’s tender? Show it to me later.”

Shao Boqing said, “I guess it’s useless for you to read them. I heard that the conditions for bidding are going to change.”

“Where did you get the news? Are you sure?”

“The news shouldn’t be wrong.” Shao Boqing frowned slightly. “It seems that there will be some changes in the investment quota and proportion. Our company doesn’t have much capital flow. If the investment quota and proportion increase substantially, I’m afraid we’ll have difficulty in winning.”

Gu Nianbin said, “We’ll talk about it when we get the definite news. But now, we need to be prepared to comb through the remaining funds of the subsidiary and see how much we can get.”

“Alright, I’ll have the Finance Department sort it out immediately later.”

As they spoke, the elevator arrived. Gu Nianbin and Shao Boqing parted ways and returned to their respective offices.

Seeing Gu Nianbin enter the room, Zhou Ting quickly stood up and greeted him, “Boss, Mr. Gu Niannan is here.”

Gu Nianbin frowned. “Where is he?”

“I told him to wait in the reception room.”

“Did he say what he came for? If he wants money, tell him to leave.”

“It’s about the Gu family’s ancestral property. He said that he had found something and wanted to report to you.”

Gu Nianbin sneered. “He wants to sell fake information for money again!”

“Oh, right,” Zhou Ting picked up the picture on the table and gave it to him, “Mr. Gu said after I showed this to you, you would know.”

Gu Nianbin looked at the picture with a serious expression and said, “Bring him to me.”

Gu Nianbin entered his office and sat on the large office chair, pressing between his eyebrows. This photo was indeed an interior photograph of the Gu Building. Although he hadn’t been there for many years, the layout inside was engraved in his mind like a mold, and it couldn’t be wrong. Could it be that Gu Niannan really found the owner of the building?

Very quickly, the sound of knocking on the door rang out and he responded to it in a low voice, “Come in.”

Gu Niannan leaned his neck and looked around at the door before slowly walking in. He smiled and called, “Brother!”

Gu Nianbin raised his eyelids to look at him and pointed at the chair in front of the desk. Under his gaze, Gu Niannan was a little flustered, but he pretended to be calm. However, when Zhou Ting came in to deliver tea, Gu Niannan’s trembling hands betrayed the nervousness in his heart.

“Where did you get the picture?”

“This picture is really a hard-won…” Gu Niannan began to talk endlessly, “I asked a lot of people and used quite a few connections to get it. The owner refused to show his face. I got the picture from his client.”

“Is the owner willing to sell it?”

“Well,” Gu Niannan smiled, “as long as the price is high, how can he not sell it? Since the client has given me this picture, it should be that the owner intends to sell, right?”

“Did he offer an intentional price?”

“Brother, you need to show up in person to talk about the price. You are an expert in negotiation! They can’t ask for as much as they want, can they? You have to lower the price!” Gu Niannan said to Gu Nianbin in a praising tone.

Gu Nianbin asked again, “Do you know nothing about who the owner might be?”

“I don’t know, the other party is very mysterious,” Gu Niannan said, “I heard that he is a very wealthy owner.”

Gu Nianbin sneered. “You can’t even figure out who the owner of the house is, so whom do you plan to buy it from? Besides, what can a picture prove? It’s not impossible for someone to sneak in and take this picture.”

“No,” Gu Niannan said anxiously, “how would I do that? I really got this picture from the client. Not only did it cost me money, I even owed him a big favor.”

“So I have to compensate you for the money you spent?” Gu Nianbin knocked his fingers on the table.

Gu Niannan smiled flatteringly. “Well, recently, I’ve been really short of money… Brother, can you…”

Gu Nianbin’s lowered eyes suddenly lifted. “Why don’t you go to Jiang Kaiwei? I heard that you two had been getting quite close recently!”

The sudden words made Gu Niannan’s face turn pale and he was speechless.

A hint of disgust flashed across Gu Nianbin’s face. If he were in a good mood, he might give him some pennies as charity. But now, he should just get lost as far away as he could. Otherwise… Gu Nianbin would make Gu Niannan never want to appear in front of him.

Of course, Gu Niannan could read Gu Nianbin’s expression. He regretted not having come at the right time. According to the usual practice, if he continued to pester Gu Nianbin, he would definitely not come to a good end. Therefore, he had no choice but to leave resentfully.

Gu Nianbin looked at his back and sneered. Did the current him look weak and easy to bully? Even Gu Niannan dared to treat him as a fool!