Su Jianan put on her shoes obediently. Once done, she reached for Lu Boyan’s hand and tugged. “Let’s go,” she said.

She dragged Lu Boyan out the door excitedly, her grin so wide that it was as if her lips had stretched all the way to the bottom of her eyes. She did not seem to have noticed at all that she had voluntarily reached for his hand.

Lu Boyan regarded her alabaster hands, which were slender and small. All of a sudden, he realized that this was what he wanted.

Fame. Money. None of them could compare to this unintended but affectionate gesture of hers.

When she had dragged Lu Boyan out of the hotel, Su Jianan turned around and looked at him smilingly. “You’re not going to ask where I’m taking you?”

Lu Boyan smiled back at her. “Well, you can tell me now.”

“Actually, I’m not even sure if I can find the place,” Su Jianan said, holding out her hand. “Phone.”

Lu Boyan handed her the phone, the same one he had grabbed on the way out of the suite. She sent Su Yicheng several texts, which the latter replied within a minute. Su Yicheng had texted back an address.

“Ah, I know this place,” said the driver. “But it’s a bit far. It’ll take roughly 40 minutes to get there.”

“That’s okay!” said Su Jianan.

With much ebullience, Su Jianan dragged Lu Boyan towards the car. When they were both in the car, she started explaining to Lu Boyan without being asked. “I never met my grandparents. They both pa.s.sed away when I was very young. As far as I can remember, there’s only one elderly person who was very fond of me back then. I call her Granny Xu. She was the nanny who had taken care of my mother back then. She cared for my mom until I was seven. That was when she left us to return to her home town. After that, she would often come to A City to visit us. When she did, she would bring me a lot of rice dumplings that she’d made herself. I never saw her again after my mom died.”

“She’s from G City?” Lu Boyan asked.

“Mm,” Su Jianan said, nodding. “My brother mentioned before that Granny Xu started her own restaurant after she returned to G City. Whenever he was in G City for business trips, save for his business meals, he would always have his meals at Granny Xu’s restaurant. Because the taste of Granny Xu’s food is the closest to my mom’s!”

Forty minutes later, the car pulled up in front of a small restaurant.

It was a small noodle joint hidden within an alley of an old village. There were four sets of plain-looking tables and chairs. All in all, the place looked neat and clean.

The restaurant’s lighting was dim, perhaps due to the fact that it was past its business hours. A young woman sat behind the counter, watching a movie while munching on sunflower seeds. The woman seemed to have noticed that someone had entered. “Sorry, we’re closed,” the woman said without raising her head.

Su Jianan remembered that Granny Xu had a granddaughter. “Maybe it’s this lady,” Su Jianan thought. She walked towards the counter and stood before it. “Hi.”

Xu Youning raised her head and saw Su Jianan. Her eyes went wide instantly. “Eh?” Xu Youning said. When she noticed Lu Boyan, her jaw dropped. “Wow! Even more handsome than the one shown in the newspaper!”

Su Jianan smiled and spoke politely, “I’m looking for…”

“I know! You’re looking for my grandmother!” Xu Youning interjected. She stood up and wiped her hands. “She mentioned you a lot over the years. Today will be her happy day. Please give me a moment, I’ll call her out.”

Xu Youning moved as if she were a gust of wind, parting the portiere and das.h.i.+ng to the back of the restaurant. Su Jianan glanced at the portiere, which looked clean but old, like it had been washed so many times that the colors on it had faded. She recalled that Granny Xu’s clothes looked like that too. Memories from the time when she was cared for by both her mother and Granny Xu flashed before her eyes.

Lu Boyan noticed the look of yearning reminiscence on her face. He walked over and calmly held her hand. Su Jianan smiled at him. All of a sudden, they heard a voice, which sounded weak with age. There was a slight tremor in the voice too. “Jianan.”

Su Jianan glanced towards the portiere. All of a sudden, she felt her eyes growing hot.

It had been ten years. While time had transformed Su Jianan from an innocent little girl into a married woman, it had also engraved Granny Xu’s face with wrinkles and bent her back.

The only thing about the old lady that had not changed was the kindness in her eyes. Whenever those eyes fell upon someone, one would feel as if one was loved and cared for by the entire world.

Seeing that the little girl from before had grown into such a tall beauty, the old lady could not help but feel a surge of emotion in her. The old lady’s eyes instantly became red-rimmed. “Jianan, look how much you’ve grown. So outstanding, just like your brother. Your mother would be relieved if she knew the woman you’ve become.”

Su Jianan held the old woman’s hands tightly. After a long moment, she found her voice. “Granny Xu, I’m married.”

Su Jianan tugged at Lu Boyan’s hand, wanting to make the introductions. Granny Xu smiled. “I know. Your brother had told me about it a month ago when he was here for a business trip. I was talking about you just a few days ago and Ningning showed me your photos.”

The old lady’s back was a bit hunched, so it was difficult to her to keep looking up at Lu Boyan’s tall and towering frame. Su Jianan wanted to help the old lady sit down, but Lu Boyan had beaten her to it by reaching out his hand. There was a small smile on his face. “Granny, please have a sit.”

Granny Xu smiled happily as she sat down. She patted Lu Boyan’s hand lightly. “I heard from Ningning that you’re as brilliant as Jianan’s brother. Yicheng adores his younger sister. You have to promise me that you’ll look after Jianan the way Yicheng did.”

Feeling a bit unsettled, Su Jianan looked at Lu Boyan, though she could not contain the antic.i.p.ation she was feeling right then. Lu Boyan kept smiling. None of his usual aloofness could be detected on his face. Then, he said, “Please, don’t worry. I definitely will.”

She sighed in relief. Vaguely, she could feel sweetness welling in her chest. Following the sweetness, there was a feeling of melancholy.

Perhaps Lu Boyan’s promise was only intended to comfort Granny Xu.

“What’s there to be so happy about?” she thought.

At Lu Boyan’s response, Granny Xu looked even happier. Suddenly, she looked as if she just remembered something. “Jianan, have you guys had dinner? Whenever your brother is in G City, he’d always be busy. So he’d come by my place around this time too. Every time he’d be whining about how hungry he was. Even told me that he had purposely come here on an empty stomach.”

Su Jianan smiled. “We’re the same. Granny Xu, I miss your pork eggplant.”

“Very well. I’ll start preparing it right away.”

The old lady entered the kitchen with a smile on her face. Xu Youning went into the kitchen to help out too. As if remembering something, Su Jianan asked, “When are we returning to A City?”

“You want to go back?”

Su Jianan shook her head. “It’s not that. I get really bored staying at the hotel during the day. If we’re not going back tomorrow, then I’d like to come here during the day.”

“We’ll go back the following afternoon. I’ll have the driver send you here tomorrow,” Lu Boyan said.

Su Jianan had so many things she wanted to tell Granny Xu. “Okay!” Su Jianan said, nodding happily.

Even though Granny Xu was old, her movements in the kitchen were not slow at all. In less than 40 minutes, she had prepared three dishes: pork eggplant, sweet and sour pork tenderloin, and boiled cabbages. The chicken soup had already been prepared beforehand, so she warmed it and had Xu Youning bring it out. She looked at Su Jianan affectionately. “You’re too thin. Not to mention how tiring you must be with your job and everything. You have to eat more.”

Xu Youning helped her grandmother sit down. “Granny, women nowadays are aiming for the skinny look. Overeating will make us feel guilty.”

“Oh, you still have the nerve to say it.” The old lady pinched Xu Youning. “How’s the job hunting going? Yicheng asked you to help out in his company. Why did you refuse?”

“I want to stay with you, so I won’t go anywhere outside of G City. Plus, I’m worried I won’t be able to handle a bada.s.s company like Cheng An Group.” “I’ve thought about what I want to do, though,” Xu Youning said smilingly. “I’ll apply for a job at the hotpot restaurant in the old city area. 7 hours a day plus a salary of 3,000 yuan. That’s just enough for me to spend. I’d like be a waitress and live a chill and stress-free life.”

Other than surprise, Su Jianan began to wonder if things really were that coincidental. She asked Xu Youning, “Are you talking about the hotpot restaurant near the riverside? The one without a name? You plan to work there?”

“Yep!” Xu Youning nodded vigorously. “You guys have been there? I heard that the place only serves the owner’s friends. So there will be about six or seven days in a month that I’ll be totally free. It’s because of that that I want to work there. Are you guys and the owner…?”

“We’re friends,” Lu Boyan said. “I’ll have a word with Mu Qi. Whenever you are ready to start working, just go there straight away.”

Mu Sijue himself would often have his meals at the hotpot restaurant, which was why every employee in that restaurant were people that he could fully trust. The only reason the restaurant was hiring was that an auntie who was one of its employees got injured in an accident. Xu Youning had always doubted her own chances of getting hired there.

But now… could things really go that smoothly?

Also, given the complicated nature of Mu Sijue’s background, how did Lu Boyan end up friends with him?

Despite the barrage of thoughts that had come to her mind, Xu Youning maintained her smile. “Okay, then. Thanks in advance!”

Granny Xu sighed. “Women nowadays are so independent and they all strive for excellence. Xu Youning, why aren’t you like that?”

Xu Youning hugged her grandmother and spoke affectionately. “Other women are aiming high because that’s what they want. What I want is to stay by your side every day.”

The old lady laughed as if in resignation, though her eyes contained nothing but happiness.

Her granddaughter was the only family she had left. Of course, she would want her granddaughter by her side at all times.

After dinner, Su Jianan bid farewell to Granny Xu and told her that she would drop by again tomorrow. The old lady noted how late it was and told Su Jianan to return to the hotel early to rest.

In the car, Su Jianan asked Lu Boyan, “You said your friend is planning to open a branch in A City? But if he only serves his friends, then why bother with another branch in A City?”

Lu Boyan raised his brows. “To serve his friends in A City, of course.”

He had spoken of it as if running a restaurant was a piece of cake. At those words, Su Jianan could only bite her own tongue in silence. She was rendered completely speechless. “Spoken like a true tyc.o.o.n!” she thought.

When Lu Boyan called Mu Sijue to discuss Xu Youning’s employment, Mu Sijue held nothing back in his teasing. “Since when did you start bothering with this kind of sh*t? Well, my original plan was to bring a servant from my house to the restaurant to help out. But now that you’ve recommended someone, I’ll have someone run a background check on the girl.”

Mu Sijue called back after a while. “She’s a G City local,” Mu Sijue said, “Doesn’t have any skills or knowledge since young. Unambitious. Graduated from university with third-cla.s.s honors. She lied to her grandmother after her graduation, saying that she was going to further her studies abroad. But what she really did was to travel the world. Her only special skill is that she’s multilingual. Ha. What an interesting girl. Fine, it’s settled then. Let her come to work.”

Lu Boyan hung up. After a short while, Shen Yuechuan called to discuss work-related matters. As he spoke, Lu Boyan leaned against the backrest. With one hand, he held his phone and with the other, he reached out casually to twirl a strand of Su Jianan’s long hair in his fingers. His movements were so laidback that they completely clashed with the serious tone that he was speaking in.

Su Jianan stared at him and gestured for him to release her hair. But a certain someone outright pretended not to notice and kept on playing with her hair. In the end, she had no choice but to reach up to pull his hand away.

Lu Boyan frowned in displeasure. With much ease, he grabbed Su Jianan and pulled her straight into his arms. His hands went around her and clamped down on her shoulder tightly.

“Ah…” Su Jianan yelped in surprised.

On the other end of the line, Shen Yuechuan had heard the noise. A silence ensued before he said, “Ah, Boss Lu, I see you’re busy with missus boss. My apologies, I really didn’t know. Well, I guess work can wait till tomorrow. I’ll let you get back to…”

Due to the fact that she was held snugly against Lu Boyan and also the fact that it was too quiet in the car, Su Jianan had heard Shen Yuechuan’s words clearly. Her cheeks heated up instantly. She began struggling to free herself from Lu Boyan’s hold.

Lu Boyan held her still effortlessly. “Shen Yuechuan had asked us to get back to it. Why are you running?” he said in a teasing tone.

“Pervert!” Su Jianan raised her face to protest her innocence. “We weren’t even doing anything!”

Her dark eyes glinted in defiance and seriousness. Lu Boyan smiled. “Well, it’s still not too late to do something now.”