Chapter 38: A Fortune Lands, the Bian Li Dian Burns

"Ms. An, Manager Liu asked me to bring you over."

Looking at the woman before her — dressed in a fitted suit, hair pulled back in a low ponytail, wearing light makeup, giving off an air of briskness and reliability, poised and graceful — An Luo sighed inwardly.

She's really changed so much.

Suddenly, Xiao Ye stopped walking, turned to face An Luo, her face full of excitement and gratitude.

"Ms. An, thank you for what happened before."

An Luo smiled and shook her head.

"It was your own ability and effort that got noticed by the leadership. If you want to thank someone, thank yourself."

Xiao Ye smiled.

"No matter what, I still have to thank you."

Xiao Ye led An Luo to the backstage of the auction.

"Ms. An!"

Manager Liu strode over with a smile.

"Sorry to trouble you to make the trip. These two documents need your signature."

After taking them, An Luo checked them over once, then picked up a pen and signed.

Meanwhile, Xiao Ye beside her suddenly glanced toward the door, her brow furrowing slightly.

Was it her imagination?

Had the door just been opened a moment ago?

The box of gold Yu'an had given her had long been sold. Counting the eight-figure sum that had just come in, An Luo's assets had already broken a hundred million!

Pocketed with a nine-figure fortune, she felt her steps were floating, her whole head dizzy and light.

"Ms. An? Ms. An?"

An Luo came back to herself in an instant and turned her head to look.

"Is there anything else?"

The person in charge of the auction handed over a business card.

"Ms. An, it's been a pleasure working with you. I look forward to our next collaboration."

An Luo took the card and nodded.

"Thank you all for today."

Saying that, she tucked the document folder under her arm, opened the door, and walked straight out.

It was still Xiao Ye who saw her off. After watching An Luo's car drive away, she finally pulled her gaze back and turned to head inside.

Walking along, her heart couldn't help but keep sighing.

Ms. An really is low-key. Who would have thought that a rich woman worth over a hundred million actually drives a little car that only cost a few tens of thousands?

Is this some rich person's little quirk?

"Miss, please wait a moment!"

Suddenly a girl in uniform called out to her.

Xiao Ye stopped and looked at her.

A server from the reception?

"Is there something you need from me?"

That girl glanced toward the door, then asked with a smile.

"Miss, the lady who just left — is she a friend of Manager Liu?"

Hearing that, Xiao Ye's brow knit slightly, and she began to feel wary.

"That has nothing to do with you, does it?"

Seeing she was unhappy, the girl quickly apologized, watching her carefully, and made up an excuse, explaining while observing her expression.

"Sorry, I didn't express myself well. What I meant was, I didn't see that lady at the reception just now, so I came to ask — did she have some dissatisfaction with our service?"

Xiao Ye stepped back, studying her.

"That has even less to do with you."

Saying that, Xiao Ye didn't bother with her any longer and turned to leave.

An Luo had no idea that, just now, a little episode had happened because of her.

At this moment she was answering a call from the bank.

"Financial products? …No, no need."

She had just hung up when another call came in.

"Didn't I already say? I'm not planning to buy any wealth-management products…"

She didn't expect a burst of crying from the other end, along with wailing sounds, shouts for help — the noise was terribly chaotic.

"Boss, the Bian Li Dian is on fire. Come quick and take a look."

Hearing this, An Luo felt her mind go boom, a ringing in her ears, her vision swimming.

She couldn't spare a single extra word for Lin Lin. Hanging up, she frantically hailed a taxi and rushed toward the Bian Li Dian.

By the time An Luo arrived, the fire had already been put out.

Looking at the scorched, blackened ruins, An Luo felt as if all the strength had been drained from her body. The moment she stepped down from the taxi, her legs went weak and she nearly collapsed.

Lin Lin hurried over to support her.

"Boss, are you okay?"

An Luo gazed at the ruins, sobbing uncontrollably.

The Bian Li Dian her mother had left her — gone!

In her panic and distress, her body went limp and she fainted on the spot.

"Boss! Boss!"

On a hospital bed, An Luo frowned tightly in her unconscious state, mumbling something under her breath. Lin Lin leaned in to listen carefully—she was saying, "I'm sorry, Mom."

That's right—the Bian Li Dian was left behind by the boss's mother, and the boss treasured it dearly.

It was all her fault. If only she hadn't been so careless and had checked things over more carefully.

"Ah!"

An Luo jolted awake with a start.

"Boss? You're finally awake—how do you feel? I'll go get a doctor!"

Lin Lin ran off shouting for a doctor as she went.

An Luo rubbed her head and sat up, blinked a few times, and wiped the dampness from the corners of her eyes.

She had just dreamed of her mother, who brought up the Bian Li Dian being burned down.

Her mother's comfort still seemed to linger in her ears.

Her mother said that leaving the Bian Li Dian to her was meant to give her a fallback, not to trap her.

She also said, let it burn if it burned—she hoped An Luo would go do what she truly wanted to do.

After the doctor finished the examination and left, An Luo gripped Lin Lin's hand tightly.

"What on earth happened?"

Lin Lin was also a mess, looking utterly shaken.

"I was organizing the shelves at the time, and then suddenly there were these 'bang bang' explosion sounds, and then it just caught fire."

"The cause of the fire has been found. The firefighters said it was a substandard power strip in the break room—a short circuit sparked the fire—and there were flammable and explosive items nearby."

An Luo's brow knit tightly.

"How is that possible? The power strip is a brand I've been using all these years, and I bought it just half a month ago. And the flammable items—are they the blankets in the break room?"

Lin Lin shook her head.

"No. The firefighters said it was a box of sunscreen spray and a few cans of beer sitting on the table."

"Sunscreen spray and beer?! Whose were they?"

Lin Lin quickly shook her head.

"Boss, you know I don't drink. And the break room—before, only I used it. After Xiaoxiao came, she and I used it together."

At this point, Lin Lin hesitated.

"The power strip was one Xiaoxiao bought herself. She said she had nowhere to charge, so she brought her own. And the sunscreen spray—I saw her receive a box of deliveries last week, but I never saw her take it away. I don't know if it was hers."

The more she listened, the tighter An Luo's grip became.

She already had the answer in her heart.

Xiaoxiao's taking leave to go back to her hometown this time wasn't because something happened to her family at all—it was to create an alibi!

But why would she do this?

"Boss, I'm sorry."

Lin Lin lowered her head guiltily and apologized.

An Luo shook her head.

"It's not your fault. You should go home and rest too. Once the Bian Li Dian reopens, I'm still hoping we can be coworkers again."

Even if she had her own career in the future, she would never give up her mother's Bian Li Dian.

Lin Lin wiped at her tears.

"Boo hoo, boss, you're so good. I'll never complain again about you being addicted to watching Zhu Bo and being an internet-addicted young woman."

An Luo patted her hand.

"Go on back and rest."

After Lin Lin left, the look on An Luo's face instantly went cold.

She took out her phone and called Xiaoxiao. Sure enough, the number's owner had already changed.

Just then, Officer Lu called.

He said a large sum of money had suddenly appeared in the account of that couple's distant relative from before.

An Luo's expression turned serious, and a thoughtful glint flashed through her eyes.

"Officer Lu, something else has happened on my end. I think there must be a connection between these two incidents!"