BANCB 12

Chapter 12

Yet, there was a total lack of movement from across the ocean.

Three days later, Bian Xu tossed his phone aside and did not pick it up to look at it again for an entire month.

Lu Yuan, however, treated it like an ancestral shrine, painstakingly keeping that phone charged every day.

The people who knew Bian Xu’s number were well accustomed to his “orphan” style of behavior; if there was an urgent matter, they would naturally contact Lu Yuan, so it didn’t delay important business.

Yet, Lu Yuan never received another phone call from Liang Yuxuan.

He thought to himself that this was probably the most patient relationship in the world.

They both acted as if the other were dead.

And the kind where they wouldn’t even burn paper money during the first seven days after death.

Pulling his thoughts back from his musings, Lu Yuan dragged Guo Hao away: “He’s in a bad mood, stop asking. If you ask, the answer is that investing will mean a massive loss.”

In the afternoon, the plane landed at the West Suburb Airport in Nanhuai City, and the driver picked up Bian Xu right on time.

From the front passenger seat, Lu Yuan asked the back seat: “Where are we going, Boss? Lanchen Tianfu or the dance center?”

Bian Xu kept his eyes closed and didn’t answer.

“I think the dance center is suitable.” As a personal assistant, he also had to manage his boss’s romantic life. Lu Yuan decided to act as a peacemaker for this cold war that had dragged on for over a month.

“Look, it’s three-thirty right now. It takes about an hour from the West Suburb to get there. I checked South Ballet’s performance schedule for tonight, and Miss Liang’s name isn’t on it. That means Miss Liang gets off work at five o’clock. If you pass by a flower shop along the way to buy a bouquet of flowers, see, the timing is absolutely perfect!”

This time, Bian Xu actually opened his eyes, coolly spitting out a few words: “Why buy flowers?”

Whether this question was too simple or too profound, Lu Yuan choked on his words for a long moment: “Boss, even though I’ve never been in a relationship, isn’t a man buying flowers for a woman standard operating procedure…?”

Bian Xu made a gesture for him to pause: “Go back to the previous sentence.”

“Even though I’ve never been in a relationship? What’s wrong with that sentence?”

“You don’t understand?” Bian Xu raised his eyebrows. “If you don’t understand, read it out loud again.”

“Even though I’ve never been in a relationship…”

Lu Yuan chewed on the words slowly once more, and finally grasped the meaning.

This was saying—who exactly gave you the courage to teach me how to do things?

“…” Lu Yuan turned back around and yanked his seatbelt straight. “Fine then, you tell me where to go.”

Bian Xu fell silent for a moment. He turned off his phone’s airplane mode and scrolled through the list of missed calls from the past month.

There was nothing from Liang Yuxuan.

Liang Yuxuan’s last incoming call could be traced all the way back to the end of August, the day she concluded her European tour.

At that time, he was in the recording studio and hadn’t answered the phone, so she turned around and contacted Lu Yuan to go onto the island.

Bian Xu’s eyes swept over that line of red dates, and he suddenly noticed something amiss.

That night, Liang Yuxuan had said she was on her period. He hadn’t paid attention to the dates at the time, but calculating it now, her period clearly wasn’t at the end of the month—it was in the middle of the month.

To tell such a lie, what kind of tantrum was she throwing?

Bian Xu’s interest was piqued. His knuckles tapped against the armrest box. “On the day Liang Yuxuan came onto the island, did she say why she came?”

Lu Yuan truly could not comprehend an artist’s reaction time; something that happened at the end of August wasn’t being investigated until the beginning of October.

“I suspect she came because of the scandal involving you and Miss Bei, but she said she didn’t know about it before she came.”

Bian Xu knit his brows.

What did Liang Yuxuan say she came for that night again?

Oh, she said she came over to say goodbye to the dog.

Lu Yuan also belatedly realized that something was off: “Wait a second, why do I suddenly feel like those words were a bit like trying to cover something up? Could it be that she specifically came because of the news, but who knew it would be like punching cotton—you didn’t let her say a single word and went straight into the recording studio on your own…”

“If that’s the case, then you truly deserved that ‘shut up’!”

Bian Xu’s gaze swept over frostily.

“What I mean is,” Lu Yuan offered a hollow laugh, “she’s a girl, after all. This means she cares about you too much. She only clapped back at you because she was jealous. The more she likes you, the more she speaks without thinking… Don’t worry, as long as you go say a few sweet words right now, I guarantee this matter will be put behind you!”

After a moment of silence, Bian Xu let out a sigh and made a gesture to the driver: “The dance center.”

Although Bian Xu still looked reluctant, he at least had the driver pull over at a flower shop near the dance center.

Lu Yuan got out of the car to do the errand on his behalf, asking if he should buy a bouquet of lilies like before.

Bian Xu pondered for a moment and said no, switch to roses instead—they suited a girl with many thorns.

Spending fifteen minutes at the flower shop, they arrived at the dance center at exactly five minutes to six.

Bian Xu leaned against the back of his seat, closed his eyes, and lifted his chin, letting Lu Yuan go inside to fetch her.

The quietness of the car cabin blurred the passage of time. By the time Bian Xu realized that too much time had passed, he checked his wristwatch and saw it was already quarter past six.

His limited patience fully exhausted, he picked up his phone, preparing to make a call.

Just then, a vibration went off, and an email came in.

It was still that young grandson from the Guo family, stubbornly using that boring, house-playing variety show to ask him for a professional opinion.

Bian Xu casually dragged the PDF attachment. Seeing it was a proper investment prospectus, he was just about to forward the email to Bian Chen when a familiar face suddenly flashed past his eyes.

His finger paused. He blinked slowly, and began to scroll the bar upward bit by bit from where it had been dragged to the bottom.

The complete promotional photo slowly revealed itself.

The person in the photo wore light, nude makeup, a medium-sleeved, knee-length white chiffon dress with a tailored fit, and a loose high bun that exposed her clean, smooth forehead. The outer corners of her watery, pitch-black eyes were curved into crescent shapes, and she was smiling brightly toward the camera.

The female guest lineup was striking.

Her looks were a dimensionality reduction strike against the world of ordinary participants.

Looking at this aura, she was even a ballet dancer.

“…”

After staring face-to-face with the Liang Yuxuan in the photo for a full half-minute, Bian Xu calmly closed the materials, put on his glasses, and then opened the attachment once more, dragging it to the exact same position.

Liang Yuxuan was still right there.

Bian Xu nodded, returned to the body of the email, and re-examined that promotional slogan—Heavy investment to create a simultaneous recording and broadcasting real-time couple-shipping mode, the most thrilling public cohabitation romance in history is right here!

“?”

The rear car window was suddenly knocked on urgently.

The driver rolled down the window, and a gust of chilly wind rushed in violently, blowing the bouquet of white roses in the back seat until they looked pitiful.