Water and Fire~Chapter 121.2: Gentle Yet Powerful

 

Chapter 121.2: Gentle Yet Powerful

That afternoon, Wang Jun was summoned to the law firm. Due to Qiao Zhixin's false accusations, he also had to return for an internal investigation.

Before leaving, Wang Jun said to Chu Qianmiao, "You're right. If I don't make a decision soon, I'm afraid I'll really get myself into trouble."

Chu Qianmiao encouraged him, "It's okay, Lawyer Wang. We're honest people who aren't afraid of investigation."

Wang Jun nodded and left.

After get off work that afternoon, Chu Qianmiao met up with Ren Yan outside a street connected to the enterprise. Together, they went to the home furnishing market to select materials.

Ren Yan drove an SUV today, a car Chu Qianmiao had never seen before. She asked Ren Yan if it was new, and he said yes, to make it easier for her to carry renovation materials and furniture.

I bought it specially for you.

Chu Qianmiao was flattered and showered Ren Yan with no less than eight hundred words of eloquent praise.

On the way, Ren Yan asked Chu Qianmiao, "What have you been busy with lately?"

Chu Qianmiao was stunned for a moment and replied, "I'm busy with a project. Oh, and renovations, too. You know all about that."

Ren Yan quickly turned his head, glanced at her, and said nothing.

When they arrived at the home furnishings market, Chu Qianmiao took Ren Yan by the hand while they looked at the main and auxiliary materials, asking him what color he liked.

Ren Yan's mind didn't seem to be on these things. He replied in the same format: "Anything is fine, everything is good."

Chu Qianmiao was so horrified by this that she almost replied, "She likes your age and that you don't shower."

She asked Ren Yan, "If you're so careless about choosing materials, how did you decorate your house?"

Ren Yan replied, "I left it entirely to the designer."

Chu Qianmiao thought of the apartment's cold, luxurious, all-inclusive style. It felt completely sterile. Living there felt like staying in a hotel. She even wanted to hang a Do Not Disturb sign outside the door before going to bed.

"I still want the house to reflect my own preferences and style," Chu Qianmiao said. "That feeling of happiness and warmth that washes over you as soon as you enter."

Chu Qianmiao gestured as she spoke, as if there was a door in front of her. When she opened it, happiness and warmth literally rushed towards her.

Ren Yan looked at her. As he looked at her, he felt those same things rushing towards him.

At that moment, he sighed, letting go of himself, who had been dwelling on something.

Well, if she doesn't want to talk, then she shouldn't.

After selecting the materials, Ren Yan helped Chu Qianmiao load the car. He first drove the materials to Chu Qianmiao's new home, then took her home. After parking the car, before getting out, he took the keys out and handed them to Chu Qianmiao.

"You drive this car until your house is finished."

Chu Qianmiao was stunned. "Huh?"

Ren Yan looked at her and said, "I'll be busy later, and I may not be able to accompany you every time you want to go to the home furnishing market. If you need to look at something or pick it up, it's more convenient to have a car. Tell your colleagues and the people at the company that a friend or classmate is borrowing it from you. You can use it as a truck during the renovation." Afraid that Chu Qianmiao would refuse the keys, he added, "Give me the keys after I'm done with this, and I'll continue to be your driver."

Chu Qianmiao thought for a moment and nodded. "That's fine, Senior, I'll be more than welcome then."

Hearing the "you're welcome," Ren Yan's tense mood, which had been tense all night, eased a little.

As soon as Ren Yan returned home, he received a video call invitation from Lei Zhenzi.

Ren Yan, with a stern face, asked Lei Zhenzi, "Why do you always have to video call me?"

Lei Zhenzi, incredulous and furious, said, "Calls are free! Even if you have money, you shouldn't waste it like this. Besides, my face isn't worth your attention."

After being pestered by Lei Zhenzi for a while, Ren Yan's mood improved a little.

He listened to Lei Zhenzi recount his happy troubles. "Ren, I have something I want to tell you today. You know, the last time your project team came for due diligence, An Sheng came too, and they brought a little girl, An An. Little An An looks so much like me. She's so beautiful, so outstanding, so unique. In a crowd of people, you can only see her unique aura. I'm the only one who can give her this."

Ren Yan said coldly, "If you want to talk about something, just talk nicely. Don't be disgusting."

Lei Zhenzi ignored him and continued his sentimental rant. "Because An An looks so much like my child, when your project team left last time, I threatened to commit suicide and forcibly detained both An Sheng and An An. I asked An An about my relationship, and An Sheng insisted that there was no relationship. But I took An An for a paternity test, and you know, An An is my daughter."

Lei Zhenzi suddenly became excited.

Ren Yan almost wanted to end the video call.

"Ah Ren!" Lei Zhenzi shouted passionately through the phone screen. "You know, I have a daughter! An Sheng actually gave me a daughter! That little An An! When I hold her, she's so soft and adorable! I love her! When I hold her, I think, what the hell is freedom? Screw the whole unmarried, DINK thing! I just want to be a dad to An An! I really want this project here to be finished quickly so I can go back and be a dad to the cutest baby in the world, An An."

Ren Yan shared Lei Zhenzi's joy of becoming a father through the phone screen. "Congratulations, you're a dad!"

Lei Zhenzi happily said thank you.

Ren Yan asked him, "You're An'an's father, but what about Sister Sheng?"

Lei Zhenzi actually felt a little shy again. "I admit it. That woman is my destiny. She's held me in her clutches my whole life. I played around, I had a blossoming romance, I pursued freedom, but it was all fucking fake. It turns out only being in her palm was real."

Ren Yan congratulated him again. "Congratulations on losing your freedom but gaining two loved ones."

Lei Zhenzi's eyes were filled with joy.

His own happiness came to an end, and he noticed Ren Yan's face looking grim. "Ren, what's wrong with you? I feel like your expression isn't right. Are you having some unhappy, old-boy thing?"

Ren Yan paused for a moment, then said, "Qian Miao still doesn't trust me." After another pause, he asked, "Remember Qiao Zhixin?"

Lei Zhenzi said, "That bastard, of course I remember him bullying our Qian Miao."

Ren Yan said, "Recently, a project Qiao Zhixin was working on was reported. It was previously in another department of our company. I asked Qian Miao to review it, and she saw some problems. My colleague then withdrew from the project, and Qiao Zhixin took it over. A few days ago, that project was reported, and I can guess it was Qian Miao's doing."

Lei Zhenzi looked shocked. "I'll go praise Qian Miao!"

Ren Yan remained calm and continued, "She didn't just do all that. She'd been working on projects with Wang Jun, another partner at Xinfeng, from very early on. I suspect she was hoping to gain access to Wang Jun and obtain evidence of Qiao Zhixin's illegal manipulation of Case."

Lei Zhenzi praised again, "Qian Miao is so strategic! She's amazing! Why aren't you happy?"

Ren Yan frowned, "But she did all this without telling me. She did it all on her own."

Lei Zhenzi: "Uh, this?"

Ren Yan frowned, his annoyance evident. "Why didn't she tell me? I could have helped her. If I'd known she was so determined to get rid of Qiao Zhixin, I would have done it long ago. I thought she didn't want to talk about it, that she'd moved on. But it turns out she was waiting until she was stronger before dealing with Qiao Zhixin."

Ren Yan rubbed his forehead in distress. "Why can't she rely on me? Why can't she tell me about this and let me help her?"

Lei Zhenzi sighed and soothed him, "Ren, if you think that way, it's you who taught Qian Miao to be independent. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself first. Actually, aside from the fact that she kept it a secret from you, I really admire Qian Miao now. She's patient, yet also brave, resourceful, and capable of taking action."

After praising Chu Qianmiao, Lei Zhenzi suddenly slapped his thigh. "By the way, Ren, do you think that bastard Qiao Zhixin could guess that it was Qian Miao who reported him? If he did, wouldn't Qian Miao be unsafe?"

Ren Yan told him, "I'll secretly protect her. I'll find a way to lend her my car. It's always safer for her to drive, and it has real-time tracking." After a pause, his eyes and voice hardened. "If we want her to be completely safe now, we have to get Qiao Zhixin in as soon as possible."

It was a rare evening when Chu Qianmiao and Gu Miaoyu were both home. After dinner, the two sat in the living room, watching TV and chatting.

Gu Miaoyu asked Chu Qianmiao, "How's that bastard Qiao Zhixin? Did he get the retribution he deserved today?"

Chu Qianmiao replied, "We're investigating him. He's dead. I'm also waiting for Wang Jun's response. If Wang Jun can help me, Qiao Zhixin is completely dead."

Gu Miaoyu and Chu Qianmiao high-fived. "It's never too late for a gentleman to avenge his grievances." She still remembered how heartbroken she had been the night Qiao Zhixin tried to bully her.

After the high-five, she asked Chu Qianmiao, "But you did this on your own. Why didn't you tell Ren Yan?"

Chu Qianmiao turned to look at Gu Miaoyu and smiled. That smile was so beautiful it lit up the room at night.

"There's a lot of turmoil at Litong headquarters right now. It seems there's going to be personnel changes, which will likely affect the heads of several departments. I don't want Ren Yan to be distracted from his work. It's more important that he protects our entire department." She paused, her smile growing distant. "Besides, he doesn't know why I waited over a year to do this. I don't want him to know because he was caught on tape beating Qiao Zhixin. To protect him, I made a deal with Qiao Zhixin: Qiao Zhixin wouldn't sue Ren Yan, and I wouldn't sue Qiao Zhixin either. If he knew about this now, he'd feel guilty, like he'd done something wrong with good intentions."

She touched the necklace around her neck; it was his anniversary gift. Her expression was unprecedentedly gentle and powerful. "I don't want him to feel that way. He's done so much for me, so let me do something for him."

The next day, there was a company meeting. Ren Yan was busy, so he asked Chu Qianmiao to attend in his place.

Chu Qianmiao spent the day in meetings at the company and didn't go to the project site.

On the third day, she arrived at the company.

Just as she was about to go find Wang Jun, Wang Jun came to her first.