Chapter 4
Edward Quan ·
He didn't seem surprised to see us arrive together.
He stood and greeted Lu Ciyan respectfully.
“Mr. Lu.”
Then he turned to me with a smile.
“Mr. Lin. It's been a while.”
I nodded, beginning to understand.
Lu Ciyan was about to close the net.
“Sit down.”
He gestured me toward a seat and took the head of the table.
Everything about him changed.
He was no longer the clingy “Yanyan” from home. This was the head of Lu Group, a man with real power to decide people's fates.
“How are the preparations?” he asked Li Wei.
Li Wei handed him a file.
“Everything's in place. Chairman Wang can't wait any longer. He's making his move tonight.”
Chairman Wang was a Lu Group shareholder, one of his uncle's allies.
So he was the real target.
Lu Ciyan flipped through the documents, his lips curving in a cold smile.
“Good.”
“Tonight, we'll make sure he doesn't get away.”
I listened like an outsider as they discussed a battlefield I hadn't known existed.
While I'd been oblivious, Lu Ciyan had been laying plans on this scale.
The crash, the pretense—he'd used it all as bait.
And I had been the most important link in his scheme. His safest shield.
Once business was concluded, Li Wei tactfully found an excuse to leave.
Lu Ciyan and I were alone.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
He broke the silence.
“Did I scare you?”
I shook my head.
“I'm just… surprised.”
“That I'm so ruthless?”
I looked at him.
“No. That you trust me.”
We had been rivals for years, after all.
He'd exposed his most vulnerable side to me. Placed his life in my hands.
That was a heavy trust to bear.
Lu Ciyan held my gaze, his eyes unreadable.
“It wasn't trust,” he said.
“It was a gamble.”
“I was betting you wouldn't leave me to die, Lin Mo.”
“That you… weren't completely indifferent to me.”
His words fell like a stone into the still water of my heart.
I couldn't argue.
Because he was right.
While he'd been pretending, while I'd watched him depend on me for everything, my feelings had long since become a tangled mess.
“You won,” I said softly.
His eyes lit up.
He rose, came over, and took my hand.
His palm was warm.
“Lin Mo.”
He looked at me, speaking each word clearly.
“When this is over… let's be together.”
I didn't answer at once.
Together?
With my sworn enemy?
The idea was mad.
Our families, our business rivalry—none of that would be easy to sort out.
Lu Ciyan seemed to read my concerns.
“I know what you're worried about.”
“Give me a little time. I'll take care of everything.”
He sounded certain.
Looking at that serious face, I found myself nodding.
Lu Ciyan smiled.
He bent and kissed my forehead gently.
“Let's go home,” he said.
Home.
The word warmed my heart.
We didn't talk on the way back.
But the silence in the car was no longer awkward.
Something unspoken quietly grew between us.
Only when we reached home did I realize how tired I was.
After a shower, I lay down and had no desire to move again.
Half asleep, I felt someone settle beside me.
Lu Ciyan.
He held me from behind, his chin resting against the curve of my neck.
“Lin Mo.”
“Mm…” I answered lazily.
“Tonight… thank you.”
“For what?”
“For… coming to me.”
His voice was very quiet, but clear.
I said nothing. I just nestled farther into his arms.
Found a comfortable position and drifted off.
It was the first time I'd shared a bed with someone.
Yet I felt strangely safe.
Lu Ciyan's plan went off without a hitch.
That very night, news broke that Chairman Wang had embezzled an enormous sum from the company and was preparing to flee.
Li Wei also handed the police evidence that Wang had hired someone to cause the crash.
Lu Group's board convened an emergency meeting overnight.
The following morning, Lu Ciyan “miraculously” recovered his memory.
He acted with lightning speed, purging Chairman Wang's entire faction from the company.
The business world was shaken.
Everyone marveled at his cunning and methods.
And I—the one person who knew what had really happened—felt a little hollow.
It was over.
So… he would be leaving my house now, wouldn't he?
When I came home that evening, his toys had vanished from the living room.
Everything had been tidied away, as though he'd never been there.
My heart sank.
He'd gone.
Just like that. Without even a goodbye.
I gave a self-mocking smile.
Of course.
The danger was over. Naturally, he'd returned to his own life.
We'd never belonged to the same world.
I'd become too caught up in the act.
I dropped onto the sofa, not bothering to turn on the lights.
In the darkness, I could still catch his lingering scent.
My eyes began to sting.
Just then, my phone rang.
An unfamiliar number.
I answered irritably.
“Who is it?”
A familiar voice came down the line.
“What's got you so worked up, Mr. Lin?”
Lu Ciyan.
I froze.
“Come downstairs.”
He hung up.
I ran to the balcony and looked down.
The familiar black Maybach was parked below.
Lu Ciyan leaned against the door, looking up at my window.
The streetlight stretched his shadow across the ground.
Still in my slippers, I ran straight downstairs.
Only when I stood in front of him did I realize how impulsive I'd been.
“Didn't… didn't you leave?” I asked breathlessly.
He raised an eyebrow.
“Who said I was leaving?”
He pointed at the trunk.
“I was just clearing out a few things that took up space.”
I looked.
The trunk was empty.
“Then… where's my Lego spaceship?” I blurted out.
I'd spent several nights building it with him.
He laughed.
“That?” He opened the car door. “At my place.”
“Come on, Mr. Lin. Let me show you your new home.”
He bundled me into the passenger seat.
We drove to his penthouse in the city center.
The moment I stepped inside, I saw the enormous Lego spaceship in the middle of the living room.
It sat beneath a glass case, carefully protected.
My heart suddenly settled.
“Lu Ciyan, what's this supposed to mean?” I turned to him.
He wrapped his arms around me from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder.
“It means…”
He leaned close to my ear, his breath warm.
“My performance is over, Mr. Lin.”
“Now it's your turn to play along.”
“Play what?”