Chapter 4
He turned to the bar, poured himself a glass of whiskey, and left me with a cold back.
"Have your people get out."
"Ah? Oh, oh! No problem!"
Manager Wang answered repeatedly, turning to drive out the staff. "Everyone off early tonight. Get out! Now!"
The others reluctantly scattered. Xiao Cui glanced at me uneasily.
She seemed worried I'd seek revenge after gaining power, but in the end bit her lip and left with the crowd.
I also turned to blend into the crowd and leave.
Manager Wang nearly died of fright and quickly stopped me. "Hey! Where are you going?"
I craned my neck. "Home."
Manager Wang smiled without warmth. "Home? I say little sister, Mr. Lu clearly likes you. A little restraint is fine for flirting, but this chase is going too far. Once you run him off, where will you cry when you get upset?"
"It's fine."
I said expressionlessly, "I just want to take the deposit and go to school. Manager Wang, you said it yourself. Tonight I'm just a vase, nothing else."
With that, I lifted my leg again to walk.
This time Manager Wang panicked and pulled out a thick stack of cash, shoving it into my hands.
"Wait! It's five thousand. Little sister...
no, sis! Aunty! Grandma! You can't fight money over this.
Piss off this guy and the whole Hui Huang Ren Jian goes bankrupt. Please? For the sake of friendship?"
Lu Congzheng turned around just as he saw Manager Wang pulling at me.
His brows furrowed. He set down his glass and walked over with long strides.
Manager Wang immediately released his grip and shrank his neck to stand aside.
"Gu Yan."
Lu Congzheng looked at me. His whole demeanor suddenly became distant and remote. The warmth in his voice was gone.
"Don't prove your importance to me this way."
"It will only make you look very pathetic."
"I'll ask you one last time. You truly don't recognize me? In the past life... you don't remember anything either?"
I met those bottomless black eyes. The warmth and doting from before vanished.
Manager Wang didn't dare breathe nearby.
And I calmly shook my head. "I don't remember, Mr. I really don't understand what you're saying."
At that moment, I almost heard Manager Wang clench his teeth.
But unexpectedly, Lu Congzheng showed no anger or disappointment.
He simply stared at me for several seconds, then looked away.
"It seems I've mistaken you. My apologies."
He said this and stepped slightly to the side, no longer looking at me.
Thinking Lu Congzheng was leaving, Manager Wang quickly leaned in flatteringly. "Mr. Lu! You should take a look at the other girls. There are plenty like her..."
But Lu Congzheng didn't take even one step.
He didn't move at all.
"You're too noisy."
He simply spat out three words flatly.
This instantly choked off the rest of Manager Wang's sentence, making his face turn pig-liver red.
Then Lu Congzheng turned back to me. "I heard you were supposed to be studying, but your parents are gone, and there's a younger brother. Is that right?"
I nodded hesitantly.
"My company is collaborating with a charity foundation on a scholarship project for poor students. I think you fit the criteria perfectly."
Lu Congzheng said suddenly, "Starting now, I will cover all your tuition and living expenses until university graduation."
"Of course, if your younger brother needs schooling, I can include him in the plan."
"Additionally, to let you focus on your studies, I'll arrange housing for both of you and hire a nanny to take care of your daily needs."
This arrangement that fell from the sky left Manager Wang stunned.
He stared blankly at me, seemingly re-evaluating how charming I really was.
It was like a soul-trapping soup. Just breathing made one dizzy.
But only I knew that until this moment, I had finally cleared the hurdle.
Lu Congzheng had once said, "How could a karaoke girl become a wife."
So what about me, a girl who was clean from the very beginning, saved by his own hands?
A girl who was never a karaoke girl in the first place—perhaps she could become his wife.
In other words, only I who hadn't been reborn was the cleanest to him.
So everything he said before was testing me.
That's why I had to pretend not to know him, pretend not to know anything.
To make Lu Congzheng believe I hadn't been reborn.
And now, after saying all this, Lu Congzheng quietly looked at me.
"How do you feel now? Gu Yan, do you still want to refuse?"