147 Silence

Xia Yuwei returned home and collapsed onto her bed. Her entire body felt as though it were falling apart, and she had zero desire to get back up, wishing only to instantly fall into a deep sleep and regret her usual lack of physical exercise. Still, she intended to get up and wash up...

At that moment, someone knocked on the door. Opening it, she saw Lin Jinxi.

"Jinxi," Xia Yuwei greeted her.

"Yuwei, how does it feel going to work for the first time today?" Lin Jinxi asked, holding a thermal lunch box as she stepped inside. "Look, here is some soup I simmered and some homemade side dishes—you haven't had dinner yet, right? Let's eat together."

"Oh, Jinxi, you are so thoughtful. Thank you." Xia Yuwei took the thermal lunch box, and the two walked over to the dining area together. "My first day? Just that my legs feel sore and a bit unaccustomed to it, but everything else is fine. I'll definitely get used to it after a while."

"Mm-hmm. I know all about that problem. I just went through it myself not long ago. Hehe. I didn't work before either, but now I'm standing all day long too. The nature of our work is so similar. Indeed, you get used to it after a few days." Lin Jinxi proactively went to the kitchen to fetch two small bowls and a few small plates, and the two began to eat dinner.

"Jinxi." Mid-meal, Xia Yuwei suddenly stopped her chopsticks and called out to her.

Lin Jinxi looked up with an inquiring "Mm?" and asked, "What is it?"

"In a couple of days, I'd like to make an appointment to see your CEO. Could you help me schedule it?" Xia Yuwei said, letting out an involuntary sigh. Now she was an office worker and couldn't just wait around for him all afternoon like she used to. Since he was a busy man, she would follow his rules and make an appointment.

"President Lu?" Lin Jinxi suddenly recalled that the last time they met, Xia Yuwei had gone to find President Lu. "You two..."

"He is my ex-husband," Xia Yuwei said in a flat tone.

"...Oh..." Lin Jinxi bit down on her chopsticks, struggling to process this piece of information. Xia Yuwei turned out to be President Lu's ex-wife... "Then, Yufan is his child..." Thinking about it this way, the father and son really did look quite a bit alike. However, considering how young President Lu was, the fact that he already had a seven-year-old son felt truly incredible...

"Yes. But he doesn't know about Yufan's existence," Xia Yuwei said. She didn't want to hide anything from Lin Jinxi; her intuition told her that the two of them were cut from the same cloth.

"Ah?" Lin Jinxi was startled. Yufan was already seven years old, and his daddy didn't know he existed? Then... "You... divorced seven years ago?"

That's right, you could say that." Xia Yuwei watched Lin Jinxi's flabbergasted reaction and couldn't help laughing. "I was only twenty years old back then, and as for him, he was seventeen."

"Ah? Then when did you get married?"

"That same year too." Anticipating the expression that would soon appear on Lin Jinxi's face, Xia Yuwei laughed in advance.

Sure enough, Lin Jinxi's face was covered with metaphorical exclamation points.

Every single thing Xia Yuwei had said today seemed utterly explosive. She was President Lu's ex-wife, it was a relationship where the woman was older, President Lu had gotten married and divorced at seventeen, and he even had a son... She simply needed some time to digest all of this...

"Hey, Jinxi!" Xia Yuwei had finished eating. Seeing that Lin Jinxi had also put down her bowl and chopsticks, she began to clean up. "Didn't we just discuss the main point? Help me schedule an appointment with President Lu?"

"Do you guys even need an appointment? Why don't you just call him directly? Could he possibly refuse to see you?" Lin Jinxi also stood up to help tidy up.

"I don't know his number. And he doesn't know mine either. To be honest, we haven't seen each other in many years—we've only recently had some contact."

"Why did you start contacting each other recently? Yuwei, you don't still have lingering feelings for him, do you? You can't do that, you know; the man has a fiancée now..." Lin Jinxi reminded her.

"I most certainly do not have lingering feelings..." Xia Yuwei retorted. If he hadn't been bothering her, did she think she wanted to see him? "Anyway, I have a matter that I absolutely must see him about."

"It seems the CEO hasn't come to the company at all these past few days. I heard he went to the company's European branch to handle some affairs. How about this: tomorrow I'll help you make an appointment with Secretary Song first. The moment he returns, he should give you a call."

By the time they finished speaking, the two of them had already tidied everything up. Knowing that Xia Yuwei was tired, Lin Jinxi didn't say anything more and went straight back to her own apartment next door.

Xia Yuwei filled the bathtub with hot water, intending to take a soak for some skincare maintenance. This had been a habit of hers for many years. Today she was especially tired, so a bath was even more necessary to wash away the fatigue.

Lying in the bathtub filled with bubbles and the fragrance of lavender essential oil, with a non-woven moisturizing facial mask covering her face, her body and mind truly felt relaxed...

She thought of that inexplicable ten million.

Lu Yichen, do you think money is omnipotent, which is why you've only learned to use money to solve problems? You were like that with Xin Xin, and now you're like this with me... When will you ever grow up a little... and become someone people can worry less about...

Vaguely, she recalled a dream from many years ago in a bathtub, where someone gently and aggressively touched every inch of her skin, finally rinsing her clean, wrapping her in a bath towel, and placing her on the bed...

Was it a dream? Yet it felt so vivid, making her recall it countless times...

Heh, Xia Yuwei, what on earth are you thinking about...

After rinsing off, putting on her bathrobe, and lying down on the bed, she quickly fell asleep.

Her cell phone rang. Xia Yuwei grabbed the phone and answered it without opening her eyes. "Hello..."

Silence stretched from the other end of the line. Only the sound of breathing could be heard.

However, Xia Yuwei suddenly snapped wide awake. She knew it was him. She discovered that she was still so familiar with him that she could tell it was him just from his breathing. No one else.