章 22: Hotel De Classique
During dinner, Lijuan didn't bother to give them any ear as she was still giddy about Ning Shan's return. Ning Shan had always been the smartest of the both of them. They had gone to the same school from kindergarten up to college. Her parents weren't as rich as hers but they were able to afford giving their eldest daughter what she wanted. Shan had a younger brother Ning Hao. He was still in college but was already handling most of the family's businesses while Shan on the other hand had refused to work for her family.
She envied Shan most times. She wished she could leave her family to somewhere far or move about confidently and work in a firm without having a guard follow her about. But she knew she could never have that life as far as she was still Mei Lijuan.
Shan had advised her to chat with Yanju and check if he was really who he said he was so she opened the site on her laptop.
"Hey!" She sent to him and waited for his response but after waiting for over an hour, she still didn't receive a reply from him.
She remembered she was to look for a pen so she began to search everywhere for it to while away time and keep herself from falling asleep due to boredom. Finally, she heard her phone beep with a message notification.
"Hey!" She saw the message but it hadn't been from Yanju. It had been from Sexy Yun instead.
She greeted back. At least there was someone to help keep her company.
"You seem to always be offline. Busy much?" She asked.
Yun was in the balcony of his new apartment. From there, he could see the tall building of the Mei family's house. He sat on a chair with a glass of wine beside him on the stool and his laptop on his lap.
He had been busy with work and was already tired and sleepy after the day's activity so he decided to just check the dating site and there, he met her online. He hadn't wanted to send her a message but he thought chatting with her may keep him busy so he just went on to send her a simple "Hey!"
"Yes. Been busy with work." He replied her.
He took a sip from his glass as he waited for her reply and frowned when she delayed.
"What kind of work do you do? I thought you were poor?" She asked.
He remembered Jinhai had mentioned he was poor in his bio and decided to go with it.
"Even poor people take up odd jobs to get by..." He said and waited for another couple of minutes before she replied again..
"Oh... things must really be hard for you.. sorry."
He smiled when he saw the message. So empathetic. He thought.
"Why does it take long before you reply?" He asked her. He didn't like that the chat was slow. It was making him get even bored.
It took another frustrating long minutes before she replied.
"Oh sorry... I am a bit busy."
Yun frowned. What could she possibly be busy with that's making her not chat with him? Or... was she like the servant in the house who cleaned the whole place at night?
"What are you busy with?" He asked before he could stop himself. He was never one to be curious about other people.
"I was searching for a pen. Now, I'm drawing."
Searching for a pen? She had really lost his pen.
Drawing... it suddenly reminded him of the picture she sent him and his face squeezed into a frown.
"You aren't by chance drawing that Yun guy again, are you?"
"Hahaha... Not at all. I already made up my mind to end things with him."
Yun chuckled when he saw the message. He wondered if things between them was ever going to end. They just kept bumping into each other everytime a.d he was certain it was till going to keep happening especially now that he was her neighbor.
"So did you find the pen?" He asked.
She sent a sad emoticon before typing.. "I couldn't find it."
Yun sighed when he saw the message. He really hoped for her to find it. He was going to try not to give her a hard time because of it. She was also going through a lot after all.
"What are you drawing?" He asked.
"Want to see?" She replied almost immediately.
Yun was a bit skeptical about it. After the first time, he wasn't sure he was ready to see any of her drawings anymore.
She didn't wait for his reply before she sent an image.
Yun looked at the image with interest. It was a drawing of a wedding gown. He didn't know much about gowns especially wedding gowns, but he liked what he saw.
He had known she was a good artist, but this blew him away.
"You really drew this?" He asked.
She sent and emoticon of a monkey covering its face and replied.. "Yes, It's my dream to become a fashion artist."
"Your dream? Why haven't you achieved that yet? Aren't you from a rich home?" He asked with interest.
There was a long wait before another message came in. "Being from a rich home doesn't mean you can achieve your dreams... especially when you are a klepto."
A wave of sadness hit him when he read the message. He looked straight at the direction of their building. He wasn't sure whether she had sent the message so casually or whether she was actually really sad sending it, but he felt bad for her.
"I really have to go now. I need to keep searching for the pen." She said.
"Isn't it late? You should sleep." He replied.
"Lol! You won't be there to save me when Yun blows up on me. Good night. Thanks for your time and do take care of your health even as you work."
He frowned again when he saw the message pop in followed by a notification that she had gone offline.
************
Yang Lei watched from the side as his grandfather's secretary spoke privately with a police officer.
He knew immediately he stepped out of the police station, his grandfather was going to kill him and he really didn't know how to explain that it had all been a misunderstanding.
He had seen a guy harassing a young lady on his way out of the club and had gone to save her... or maybe the excess alcohol he had drank had actually made him think so... but then he got into a fight with the guy and then the lady had called the cops on him that a psycho was beating up her boyfriend.
And there he was, being bailed from the police station by his grandfather's secretary.
He had gotten glimpse of camera lights flashing in his face and had no doubt that before dawn he would make the front pages of the tabloids. Damn those bloody reporters!
"We can leave now. The Chairman is waiting for you." The secretary said leading him to the car.
"Shouldn't he be sleeping? It's so late already and I'm tired. I'll just catch a cab." Yang Lei said and gasped in surprise when the car door suddenly opened and the chairman stepped out of the car glaring at him.
"I'd be sleeping if I didn't have such an irresponsible grandson. Now get into the car" He growled at him angrily.
"Grandfather, grandfather!" Yang Lei cried pretentiously hugging his grandfather.
"Get off me you rascal!" He pushed him off gently before getting into the car.
"I'm getting too old for this. I have made up my mind. You're leaving for Hotel De Classique first thing tomorrow morning! Since you've refused to be responsible I have no choice than to forcefully make you responsible!" His grandfather said as the driver drove them away from the police station premises.
"But Grandfather I can't leave you... how will you live without me?" He asked as he tried to take his father's hand.
"You're leaving! I will live healthier and longer without you. How will I die and leave the company comfortably in your hands if you're this irresponsible? You think we will be celebrating our 40th anniversary if I was as irresponsible as you are at your age?" He scoffed.
"So you don't want me to attend the 40th anniversary ceremony?" Yang Lei asked.
"What's the point when you're just going to cause problems again and probably generate more scandals at the event?" His grandfather barked at him angrily.
"Okay... Don't worry I'll do a good job managing the hotel.." Yang Lei promised with a sigh. It was a huge responsibility but he was willing to do it.
"Managing what hotel? You're going there as a normal employee! You're not leaving with your black card nor debit card... I'm seizing them all. So make sure you wake up early to catch the bus or train, whichever works best for you. I've seized your cars too! As a matter of fact your house is locked!"
"Hahaha, you can't be serious, right? Right? Right?" Yang Lei asked as panic seized him. "Grandfather you can't do that to me, I'm going to die!" Yang Lei pleaded.
"Then you should just die already because I've done it. There is an auction going on at the resort on the night of the anniversary. Make sure everything is well organized without any hitch. If you do this successfully then maybe you can return! Stay out of trouble between now and then... I don't need any more scandals." His grandfather said as the driver stopped in front of the house.
"You... are putting me in charge of the auction?" Yang Lei asked in confusion.
"You are not in charge dummy! You just have to make sure everything falls perfectly in place and prove yourself worthy." His father said to him in a gentler voice this time.
He really loved his grandson but if this was what it took to make him responsible then he wasn't going to hold back. He should have done this a long time ago.
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