Chapter 96: Miss Jiang Lai has been sent over, but it's not the real destination

Jiang Lai bent over to help Ke Zhongyu into the car, but as she let go, her wrist was seized.

She looked at Ke Zhongyu, puzzled.

"President Ke."

Ke Zhongyu slightly lifted his eyelids, his deep, boundless gaze fixed on her face.

"Divorced?"

Jiang Lai startled, not expecting him to ask that.

"I saw it." Ke Zhongyu was quite frank.

Jiang Lai also answered truthfully: "I got the divorce certificate yesterday."

The evening breeze blew, lifting a few strands of hair, and the tip of her nose turned slightly red.

"Congratulations." The man uttered those two words, released her wrist, and gestured for her to hurry up and get in.

The driver kindly closed the door for the two of them, then went to the driver's seat and lowered the partition.

The back seat became a completely private space, the roof glittering with starlight.

Jiang Lai lifted her head and glanced up.

Ke Zhongyu also raised his eyes, turned his head slightly, and asked, "Do you like it?"

"It reminds me of the night sky back home." Jiang Lai said, "When we were kids, we could see lots of stars by looking up, but later we couldn't."

Ke Zhongyu asked, "Why?"

Jiang Lai withdrew her gaze: "The county town expanded, lights blazing everywhere; looking up, you can no longer see the stars."

"There's a ranch campsite in the suburbs with an observatory." Ke Zhongyu leaned against the seat, legs crossed, looking both noble and lazy, "Want to go and tell me?"

When Jiang Lai is puzzled, she only looks over with a puzzled expression.

Ke Zhongyu answered her doubt: "The ranch, the campsite, the observatory—all mine."

Jiang Lai nodded.

Understood.

A capitalist's private playground.

"President Ke, are you sober now?" Jiang Lai noticed he didn't look drunk.

Ke Zhongyu: "... A little."

"Since President Ke is sober, I'd like to go to his place to get my luggage, so I won't trouble him to make another trip." Jiang Lai had been thinking about her luggage but hadn't found a chance to ask Ke Zhongyu.

Ke Zhongyu was too busy.

These past two days, her thoughts were completely fixed on the divorce certificate again.

Now the divorce certificate is confirmed genuine, Ke Zhongyu happens to be free, sober as well, so he might as well go get it himself.

Ke Zhongyu gazed at Jiang Lai.

He knew that Jiang Lai's going to his house to get her luggage was just that—going to get her luggage—with not a hint of adult flirtation, nor any clinging tendency like other women.

Ke Zhongyu felt no happiness at all and asked her, "Just the luggage?"

Jiang Lai: "Otherwise?"

Ke Zhongyu: "..."

Headache.

He closed his eyes to feign sleep.

Once his eyes were shut, his other senses became much sharper.

He caught a faint scent from Jiang Lai's body, and could even hear her shift slightly.

Jiang Lai opened something; she must be unwrapping a gift.

Ke Zhongyu slowly opened his eyes, glancing sideways.

Jiang Lai unwrapped it earnestly, not noticing he had opened his eyes.

Secretary Cen sent a pair of silver filigree earrings with pearls, glowing with a soft luster.

Secretary Guan sent ten hand creams, each from a different brand, each with its own scent.

Assistant Zhou sent both a wooden hairpin and a pen.

Whatever it was, it was useful to Jiang Lai, and the corners of her mouth twitched upward.

Actually, this month hasn't been entirely bad.

Her marriage to Shen Xun was heading toward rupture, yet she also gained the kindness of those around her.

Jiang Lai took out her phone, snapped a photo, posted it to her Moments, with the caption thanking colleagues for the farewell gift.

Secretary Cen and her friends liked and commented quickly.

Secretary Guan commented: "Zhou Zhou sent the hairpin? I heard that in ancient times, hairpins were love tokens given to one's sweetheart."

Assistant Zhou replied to Secretary Guan: "That's a pen, don't drag me into this."

Secretary Cen replied to Secretary Guan: "Don't implicate him."

Secretary Cen replied to Assistant Zhou: "Just joking."

Ke Zhongyu liked her Moments post.

Assistant Zhou: "Sudden."

Jiang Lai: "?"

She tilted her head; Ke Zhongyu was looking at his phone.

"President Ke, you're awake."

"Hmm." The man's expression was somewhat gloomy; Jiang Lai silently put her things away.

Nanshan Villa has arrived.

She sped up her motions of gathering things, and casually twisted the hairpin pen that Assistant Zhou had given her into her hair.

As she kept twisting, the man beside her grew even more sullen.

"Not getting out yet." Ke Zhongyu's gaze swept over her head.

The car stopped in the courtyard of Nanshan Villa Number One, with a fountain beside it.

"All right." Jiang Lai had finished twisting her hair, quickly grabbed her bag and gift and got out of the car; as her feet touched the ground and she hadn't steadied herself, the hairpin holding her hair was snatched from behind by a hand.

Her hair poured down like a waterfall.

She turned her head, her hair slightly lifting to cover part of her brows and eyes; her gaze, through the strands, met Ke Zhongyu's deep-pool-like eyes.

The man's originally calm gaze rippled with faint waves.

Jiang Lai didn't notice.

She reached out to smooth her hair and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Your hair down looks nice." Having said that, Ke Zhongyu confiscated her hairpin pen and strode ahead.

Jiang Lai looked at his hand, her lips parting slightly: "My..."

"Hurry up, don't you want the box anymore?" Ke Zhongyu's voice was cold.

The word "pen" in Jiang Lai's mouth never came out; she quickly followed after him.

She stood in the splendid hall, looking around at various paintings, calligraphy, and antique collections.

"Miss Jiang Lai, please have tea." A middle-aged woman carrying tea walked over to Jiang Lai, smiling; seeing her still standing, she immediately added, "Miss Jiang Lai, no need to be polite, please sit."

Jiang Lai nodded slightly in thanks, then wondered aloud, "Do you know me?"

The woman blinked, her eyes shifting: "I heard the young lady mention you at the old residence, and I've also seen your photo."

Actually, it was the mistress who showed it to her.

It turned out to be Ke Zhongying; Jiang Lai took the tea and politely asked, "How should I address you?"

"The young master's miss calls me Mo Yi; you, Miss Jiang Lai, can call me that too—I'm the nanny specifically responsible for looking after the young master."

Jiang Lai: "Mo Yi."

Mo Yi stood to the side, looking at her with a kind expression.

Feeling a bit uneasy under the gaze, Jiang Lai saw Ke Zhongyu, who had come down carrying the box, immediately say, "Mo Yi."

Mo Yi turned reluctantly.

Really now.

The young master had never brought a woman back before, and he didn't let her ask many questions—like what she liked to eat or any dietary restrictions—so he could prepare later.

Hearing Ke Zhongyu's voice, Jiang Lai rose again, spotting the box and hurried over to it.

The box was obviously soaked and wrinkled.

A flicker of panic crossed Jiang Lai's eyes; she took the box, knelt on the ground, and began pulling out its contents one by one, laying them out carefully.

Since the box was soaked and wrinkled, the things inside were surely not spared.

What had been soaked was now dry, but still visibly creased.

Paper that had been soaked and then dried likely would stick together; if not careful when unfolding, it would tear.

It's all her fault.

She forgot to put the box on the table; otherwise it wouldn't have gotten wet.

Jiang Lai wore a face of self-reproach.

When she opened one of the picture books bound only with a stapler, she found every page fine, flipping open easily; it hadn't stuck together from the water, only the colors had slightly blurred.

She intended to open a letter to look at it, but discovered the envelope had already been opened.

Taking it out, aside from the colors being blurred, it was still fine.

Jiang Lai looked up in surprise.

Ke Zhongyu: "I don't have a habit of peeping at others' secrets."

What Jiang Lai heard was that these items had been spread out and dried by Ke Zhongyu for her.

"Thank you." Her eyes sparkled with light.

Ke Zhongyu thought, Jiang Lai's eyes were far more beautiful than the stars he saw from the observatory platform.

Ke Zhongyu: "You owe me..."

"Three times." Jiang Lai immediately responded, putting the things back into the box, hugging it as she rose, bending over, "Mr. Ke, I'm truly grateful—for saving my life at the hotel, for stopping Shen Xun from taking me away, and for now protecting this box—thank you so much, thank you so much."

She even used the honorific "you."

Ke Zhongyu gave her a cold look; what misunderstanding did she have about her own age?

"So this box belongs to Miss Jiang Lai?" Mo Yi appeared again, saying, "Last time the young master brought it back, he immediately took out the contents, laid them on the balcony to dry, wouldn't let me touch them for fear of damaging them, treating them as extremely precious."

The mistress said, the young master has a knack for angering people, but when pursuing someone he's quite fierce; if he meets Miss Jiang Lai, he'll definitely need help.

She'll do that.

When she cooks and cleans, she most likes to listen to "Overbearing CEO Falls in Love with Me."

Now there are also spin-offs like "Overbearing CEO Falls in Love with the Maid Me," "Overbearing CEO Falls in Love with the Menopausal Mom Me"... anyway, they really suit her taste.

"Miss Jiang Lai, you're still the first woman the young master has brought back."

"I've looked after the young master for so many years, and I've never seen him bring any woman back."

"..."

Ke Zhongyu's mouth twitched.

Jiang Lai, meanwhile, felt a bit dazed; having devoted herself to study and the lab since childhood, she had little experience with such things and couldn't react at all.

As for imagining Ke Zhongyu's special treatment of her—

Having just divorced, she was in a stage of avoiding relationships at all costs.

"Mo Yi, go attend to your own business." Ke Zhongyu hurriedly sent her away.

Mo Yi was forced to leave again.

Jiang Lai also wanted to hurry back to carefully examine the paintings and letters in the box.

Just as she turned around.

Her phone started vibrating repeatedly, different from an incoming call vibration—it was an alert.

It was still coming from the laboratory.

Jiang Lai immediately pulled out her phone, and red alerts kept popping up.

She put the box down, this time choosing the coffee table in front of the sofa, then hurriedly said to Ke Zhongyu: "Sorry, Boss Ke, my things might need to stay here a bit longer, sorry for the trouble."

Having said that, she strode out.

She didn't even bring her bag.

Ke Zhongyu had drunk alcohol and couldn't drive, so he immediately called a driver to take Jiang Lai.

Jiang Lai also didn't have time to worry about that; after getting in the car she reported a location not far from the research institute, and since it wasn't convenient to call in the car, she immediately sent a message to Professor Cheng and assistant Xiao Qian.

Someone had moved her desk.

Professor Cheng and Xiao Qian were frightened and rushed to the research institute overnight.

The car arrived at the designated spot; Jiang Lai thanked the driver, got out immediately, slipped into an alley, and used the alley to block the driver's view.

The driver's car waited a moment; seeing no one, he called back Ke Zhongyu: "Boss Ke, Miss Jiang Lai has been dropped off, but it's not the real destination."

"Understood." Ke Zhongyu had him come back, without further questioning.

Suspecting who might have moved her desk, Jiang Lai, while passing a store, recalled Professor Cheng's words, went in and bought a three-dimensional mask that could cover half her face, quickly put it on, and let her hair down from behind her ears to cover the side of her face.

Guard: "Dr. Jiang."

Jiang Lai: "Did Expert Lin come by tonight?"