Chapter 34: Cross Out Her Name

Jiang Lai hesitated for a moment, then answered.

"Hello."

"Come back to the company and work overtime." Ke Zhongyu's devilish voice came through the phone.

"..." She glanced at her phone, then kept it pressed to her ear. Ke Zhongying's angry voice continued coming through.

"Brother, are you even human! I told you about things out of the goodness of my heart, and you repay kindness with enmity. You're going to make me lose all my friends! You damn capitalist, who works overtime in the middle of the night!"

Shen Xun noticed Jiang Lai's paused expression and leaned closer to ask her, "What's wrong?"

His voice naturally carried through to the other end of the phone as well.

Ke Zhongyu: "Half an hour. I want to see you in the office."

The call ended.

Jiang Lai replied, "Working overtime."

Shen Xun frowned and glanced at the time. "At this hour?"

"Mm." Jiang Lai nodded. To get Shen Xun to let her go, she brought up the matter of her resignation. "The process has been moving along. Once the time comes, I won't need to go to work anymore. The Ke Clan has been busier lately, so we'll be working a bit harder too."

Shen Xun's brow indeed relaxed.

He probed, "What is the Ke Clan busy with? Are they participating in some project bid?"

Jiang Lai's eyes shifted. "I'm just a temporary secretary. I don't have access to those things."

"True enough." Shen Xun thought to himself that he'd actually counted on Jiang Lai to help gather useful information—he'd overestimated her.

Jiang Lai gave a soft "Mm." "Mm, I'm going now. The sooner I finish things, the sooner I can resign."

"Did you put the card away safely?" Shen Xun asked her. "Do you really think those courses are good?"

He was conducting a compliance test.

Jiang Lai pressed her lips together. "They're not bad. Quite expensive. It's the first time you've bought me something this expensive."

Shen Xun's expression faltered. A trace of guilt stirred in him, and he urged, "Go on, then."

Jiang Lai left as she wished. Braving the autumn wind, she took a cab all the way to the Ke Clan building. Several floors of the entire building still had lights on, especially the top floor.

"Sister Jiang Lai!" Ke Zhongying trotted out from inside, rushing up to Jiang Lai and immediately beginning to apologize.

Jiang Lai wasn't angry—as long as she had a legitimate reason to leave Shen Xun's side.

"I don't know what got into my brother. He insisted on calling you back to work overtime. Is it going to kill him to stay here all by himself?"

She linked her arm with Jiang Lai's and walked inside together with her. "But don't worry, I'll stay with you."

"Thank you." Jiang Lai smiled faintly and turned her head to look at her. "Do you siblings always bicker like this?"

"He's the one who never has anything nice to say. I just... learned it all from him! The older one corrupts the younger one!" Ke Zhongying huffed twice.

Jiang Lai couldn't help thinking of how the siblings Shen Xun and Shen Xi interacted—one extremely doting, the other always quick to tattle—yet both were very protective of each other.

In reality, the siblings Ke Zhongyu and Ke Zhongying were also very protective of each other. Otherwise, when Ke Zhongying was bullied, Ke Zhongyu wouldn't have personally come to back her up during work hours, and Ke Zhongying wouldn't have tattled so naturally.

The interaction patterns between the two pairs of siblings appeared different on the surface, but were essentially the same—though the personalities they produced were not.

"Sister Jiang Lai, what are you thinking about?" Ke Zhongying pressed the elevator button and dug a chocolate out of her bag, offering it to her.

Jiang Lai reached out and took it, putting it in her pocket.

"Nothing."

"You're not thinking about my brother, are you?"

Jiang Lai froze for a moment.

"If you want to curse my brother, you can just say it out loud, because I curse him too." Ke Zhongying chuckled twice.

The two arrived at the office. Ke Zhongyu sent her a document. "Memorize all the information on it. It's to prepare for the tech exhibition and the banquet."

Jiang Lai opened it and looked—it was all basic information about big names in the tech industry and senior executives of various companies, including Professor Cheng and Shen Xun.

On Shen Xun's information, one column showed "married." In the wife column, "unknown" had been crossed out and her name written in.

Fountain pen handwriting, combined with that sharp stroke—Jiang Lai knew at a glance it was written by Ke Zhongyu.

Further down, there was a line: "Lin Shutong suspected to be his lover." The words "suspected to be" had also been crossed out.

Seeing her looking and making a sound, Ke Zhongyu raised his hand and tapped lightly on the desk, reminding her, "I don't want a situation where I ask you who someone is and you don't know anything."

"President Ke, that day I..."

"Whether you go or not, you need to memorize it." Ke Zhongyu didn't look at her again and continued flipping through the project proposal.

Jiang Lai walked out and was about to close the door. Ke Zhongyu looked up. "No need."

She didn't return to her workstation, but went to the sofa chairs by the window. Ke Zhongying had her head resting on the desk, staring blankly at her own notebook.

Seeing Jiang Lai come over, she immediately shifted over, wanting Jiang Lai to sit with her.

Just after sitting down, Jiang Lai asked her, "Do you have a pen?"

Ke Zhongying took a pen from her own laptop bag and handed it to her, watching her cross out her own name.

"Huh?" Ke Zhongying perked up at once. "Why did you cross out your own name?"

In the quiet office, Ke Zhongying's voice reached Ke Zhongyu's ears.

The man raised his eyes, his gaze locking onto Jiang Lai's lovely face through the blinds.

Ke Zhongying: "Sister Jiang Lai, since you know Shen Xun treats you like this, why do you... keep enduring it?"

She actually wanted to ask why she didn't get a divorce.

But she felt that saying it directly would be too much.

"I only found out a few days ago too." Jiang Lai flipped back to the first page, thinking of the day she accidentally discovered Shen Xun had a white moonlight. Her eyes instantly dimmed. "I didn't know before."

"Then now that you know, how come you..." Ke Zhongying's voice paused. Thinking of her orphan background, she suddenly understood. "Is it because you have no family to back you up, so if you leave, you don't know where to go?"

"If you don't mind, I have an apartment near here. I'll let you stay there first. It'll be convenient for your commute and you can get away from that place that brings you pain."

The Ke Clan was not in the city center, but built along the river. Four towers in the east, west, south, and north, plus twin buildings connected by skybridges, formed the Ke Clan's commercial empire—spacious and expansive, with beautiful surroundings.

The headquarters of all companies under the Ke Clan were located here; if something went wrong one minute, you'd get scolded by President Ke the very next.

If she lived here, she would indeed be far from the Shen Family, far from Shen Xun and Lin Shutong.

Jiang Lai said sincerely to Ke Zhongying, "Thank you."

"Sister Jiang Lai, I won't charge you rent." Ke Zhongying looked at her eagerly. "If you feel bored, I can also come keep you company sometimes. When I was little, I wanted my parents to give me an older sister, but Mom said she couldn't have an older sister, only a younger sister, and then Dad gave me a knock on the head."

"Hmm?" Jiang Lai was puzzled. "Why?"

"Actually, after my mom had my brother, Dad didn't want her to have any more children, but my mom really loves kids and felt that one child would have no companion, so she secretly poked holes in that thing with a needle. My mom was three months pregnant before she told my dad. According to my mom, my dad was so angry he cried, but after I was born, both Mom and Dad treated me very well."

Ke Zhongying suddenly leaned in and whispered, "Actually, my brother treats me really well too, but I've gotten used to arguing with him ever since I was little."

Jiang Lai laughed hearing this, and as she lifted her gaze, she unexpectedly met Ke Zhongyu's eyes looking her way.

"Sister Jiang Lai, what do you think of my suggestion just now?" Ke Zhongying looked at her expectantly. "Are you really going to keep enduring this? This will only waste your life away! You're only twenty-eight, so young—don't hang yourself from a crooked-neck tree!"

She grew anxious as she spoke.

Jiang Lai looked up at Ke Zhongying, who had stood up in agitation, and pulled her by the hand to sit back down.

"Don't worry, I have no intention of enduring it."

"Are you going to get a divorce?" Ke Zhongying's eyes lit up at once.

Her voice wasn't kept down, and Ke Zhongyu heard it clearly. The tip of his pen paused, leaving a heavy mark on the paper.