Chapter 23 After the Exit
As I left.
Bian Yi stayed right behind me.
I glanced back at him.
"Liao Lan..."
He said, "As long as I see you... doing well, that's enough."
"Fine enough."
My voice was calm. "At least I don't have to worry about someone taking my bracelet by mistake, or raising someone else's child."
He stood a meter away and gave a bitter smile.
"You don't have to hate me like this."
Of course I didn't have to.
Because there was no time.
"You've got me wrong," I pulled open the car door. "I just can't be bothered to humor you."
Back at the hotel, the young male secretary was already waiting in the suite.
He had a tall, straight build and a pair of clear eyes.
Mm.
Fang Qiming's former secretary.
"Tired?"
He took my handbag naturally.
Crouched down and massaged my calves and ankles with skilled hands.
The pressure was neither too light nor too heavy—just right.
Warmth passed through my skin, a vivid and vigorous vitality.
I closed my eyes.
A twenty-four-year-old young man.
Never been in a relationship.
Clean.
Strong.
A pity his bloom had only a year left.
Friends envied me.
"Rich, pretty, no husband—I'm so jealous of you."
"Too bad you're just missing an heir."
I smiled and didn't answer.
Bai Xiaofu, though, had given birth to a son.
When the news spread through our circle, I was in a South American rainforest.
My phone had signal only in fits and starts.
Every now and then I could see a few photos people sent.
In the photos, Bian Yi held the child, but there was no joy of becoming a father on his face.
He looked utterly exhausted.
People commented underneath.
"I heard Bian Yi's mother refuses to acknowledge the kid."
"His business took a nosedive too. That last project lost a lot—he barely recovered."
"That woman isn't easy either. She's after a title every day..."
I turned off my phone.
The secretary's strong arm wrapped around me as we kept walking forward.
The guide pointed to a stretch of huge broadleaf plants ahead.
He said their vitality was extremely strong—they could take root even in the poorest soil.
Yes.
Some things, once they rot in the mud, become nutrients instead.