Confronting the Poison Lotus Chapter 06

 Ni Luo directly handed her the phone.

Lixia understood, but she looked at the screen with a cute baby avatar, feeling somewhat surprised. She entered the phone number, dialed, and after her own phone rang, she hung up.

Jumping to the dialed calls page, the first one was "Stupid Woman".

Lixia had heard about the grand wedding between the Yue family and the Ni family before the accident. She could guess what was going on. Thinking of the word "sister," she felt a strange sense of affinity towards Ni Luo.

She handed the phone back to him, but when she looked up, she saw Su Qiao's curious gaze.

Ni Luo and Su Qiao left first, leaving Lixia staring at them in silence for a long time.

Ni Luo, the grandson of the former vice chairman Ni Jin, was the only heir to the Huashi Group's power reserve. Before the age of 19, he was a prodigal son, but in the past two years, he suddenly changed and managed the Huashi Group, which was close to the national level, in an orderly manner. It was said that he had completely eradicated a series of problems within Huashi, such as hidden capital flows, personnel arrangements, production research, and development, and logistics sales.

In just two short years, it made people sigh that there really are times when prodigal sons turn their lives around.

As for Lixia, she needed to transform completely and as quickly as possible, just like him.

First, she needed to regain control of her mother's Lishi Yiren Emporium, but that was just the beginning. The most difficult part was the management that followed.

She had theoretical knowledge in the field of study, and her head was filled with her sister's practical experience. In theory, there shouldn't be too many problems. However, in the domestic business world, sometimes what was more valuable than theory and experience was connections.

Lixia didn't often socialize with people before, but negotiations, information sharing, and confidential investigations in the business world all involved networking. And now, she couldn't afford to miss any opportunities she could seize.

Ni Luo was one such opportunity for her. Moreover, her mother, Li Yiren, was a student of Ni Grandma in a management training class, and she was a favorite student at that.

As for Su Qiao, her family's Su Credit was a leader in the development of private lending in recent years. Although policies encouraged private lending, most companies did not develop on a large scale due to issues such as opaque administrative procedures, difficult fund recovery, and improper credit guarantees.

But Su Credit was flexible with lending and strict with recovery, having influence in both legitimate and illegitimate circles. They wouldn't be caught in a double bind like other companies, facing pressure from both the officialdom and fraudulent groups. It had been growing better and better in recent years.

Lixia had known Su Qiao for a long time. She had a brother who was involved in the underworld and quite famous. During junior and senior high school, Su Qiao was also rebellious. They had met a few times back then.

Su Qiao didn't particularly like Lixia because she liked Lang Xu.

As for Lang Xu, Lixia didn't want to think about him right now.

But there was a saying: Say Cao Cao, and Cao Cao arrives. Lixia turned to go inside, only to see, among the dispersing crowd, that young man who was as bright as the moon and refreshing as the wind, standing alone.

Lixia felt a sudden stab of pain in her heart without warning. When did he suddenly appear?

The second son of the Lang family, a boy as beautiful as the spring sky. Lixia's childhood sweetheart, perhaps the term "first love" should be used. But after the incident in high school, Lixia didn't want to like him anymore.

But he was very infatuated and had been waiting all along.

At the moment of the accident, Lixia had thought that if she woke up again, she would be good to this boy. But who would have known that the man who harmed her sister was Lang Xu's older brother, Lang Xiao.

Lixia's nephew Qiao Qiao was also his nephew.

She was destined not to have any relationship with anyone surnamed Lang, completely and utterly.

Lang Xu was supposed to work late today and wasn't planning to attend the Fu family's event. But halfway through, he heard that Lixia had regained consciousness and appeared at the banquet. He found it unbelievable. Someone was supposed to be watching over Lixia and reporting back at all times, but there was no news.

Regardless of whether it was true or false, he drove over as if mad, only to see her on the rough ground at the open-air party, competing in Guitar Hero with another dazzling young man.

She was radiant, but had nothing to do with him.

The crowd was enchanted, so easily bewitched by her, just like him, infatuated with her for so many years, still thinking about her.

He wanted to go to her, but she suddenly disappeared, just like she always did, anytime, anywhere, never under his control. When he finally saw her again, she was always chatting with that man, Ni Luo, whom he knew.

Only when Ni Luo left did she turn around and see him. Her gaze was very indifferent, even more indifferent than a year ago.

Lixia stared at him for a long time, recalling the way she used to follow behind him and call out "Brother Xu" when she was young, the sweetness of youth, the first love, so vivid. But now, his brother, Lang Xiao, was the one she wanted to retaliate against.

For the sake of pathetic love affairs, she sneered at the idea. Besides, she no longer had any romantic feelings.

She looked at him from a distance, said nothing, and turned to leave. Lang Xu saw this and hurried to catch up, pulling her arm. "A Xia!"

Lixia uncomfortably avoided his touch. "A Xia, are you okay?" His voice trembled, and Lixia could tell he was genuinely excited and worried. She calmly looked at him and said, "I'm fine. You don't need to worry."

"A Xia, I..." Lixia didn't want to entangle with him and interrupted, her tone sharp, "Right now, I just want to manage my mom's shop and take care of my sister's son. I don't want to think about anything else. Don't pressure me, okay? It's tiring."

Although Lang Xu felt sad, his eyes were warm, and he nodded with a smile. "I just want to see if you're okay. You know, it's the same as before. Whenever you need me, I'll be here."

He knew that some shadows were difficult for her to overcome, and he also knew that she was living a very tiring life now. But with her stubborn personality, he couldn't approach her for a hug; he could only watch from afar and wait for her to turn around.

No matter how calm Lixia seemed, seeing his enduring affection as always still made her heart ache. But besides keeping her distance from him and not asking for his help in anything, she had nothing else to do.

She said nothing and walked away on her own.

Her heart felt a trace of melancholy because of him.

When Lixia entered the house, she saw the entire Fu Xinren family of five sitting in the living room, the atmosphere as solemn as if someone had died.

Before she even settled, Fu Xinren's phone flew towards her. "Look at the trouble you've caused, you jinx!"

Lixia casually turned her head, and the phone flew past, smashing a Qinghua vase.

Fu Xinren jumped up from the sofa. "How dare you dodge? That was an expensive treasure!"

"Is this how you welcome me home? It would be great to let people outside see how loving Dad is to me." Lixia sarcastically remarked, leaving Fu Xinren speechless. In his memory, although Lixia was rebellious, she still respected him as her father and had never defied him.

Lixia continued with a cold smile, "Besides, don't be so agitated. I've just regained consciousness, and I'm very fragile. If you accidentally kill me with that phone, you'll go to jail. Today is your birthday; shouldn't it be more auspicious?"

For a moment, Fu Xinren couldn't come up with a comeback to her sarcastic tone, and it was evident that others hadn't recovered either. In their memory, Lixia was cold and aloof, but she had never been sharp-tongued.

Aunt Lan Xin speculated, Fu Silan didn't show any emotion, but Fu Yilan seemed full of grievances, tears swirling in her eyes.

Lixia was familiar with this delicate side of her.

As for Fu Yilan, the stepmother, she was wiping her tears while holding her chest, truly resembling someone mourning.

Lixia sneered inwardly. It was good to have someone who could cry; it made it easy for people to stand by them without considering the right or wrong. There was no doubt that she was the one who destroyed the marriage between Lixia's parents. But it was said that back then, Lan Yu was deceived by Fu Xinren and didn't know he was already married. She felt deeply cheated and spent her days sorrowfully, too sorrowful to even go to the hospital for an abortion, thus prematurely giving birth to Fu Silan. She resented Fu Xinren for his deception, felt guilty towards the original wife, Li Yiren, and then gave birth to another daughter, Fu Yilan, ten years later. And finally, she married Fu Xinren.

Of course, she had been living in guilt and pain for so many years, so even if she smiled in public, she always gave people the impression of being melancholy and sorrowful. It made everyone forget that she was originally a homewrecker.

"A Xia, don't be so angry with your dad." Lan Yu, despite her years of sorrow, had surprisingly well-preserved herself, with fair skin like a young girl, her eyes like a clear spring, brimming with tears.

Her tears were genuine.

To suddenly have the daughter of the original wife appear today, she was going to be a stepmother. How sad! How could the term stepmother fit her pure and kind temperament? It was truly a painful thought.

Lixia watched her cry so sadly, as if someone had died. This remark startled everyone. Lixia glanced at them and said, "Isn't there anyone missing? Auntie, you've been crying for so many years, non-stop. Don't you find it ominous? Today is Dad and Second Sister's birthday. What's the meaning of your tears?"

Mourning?

Previous

Next