Chapter 591: Le Rong

An Yinan smiled, not the indifferent kind of smile; this expression did not match her clothes at all.

It was somewhat arrogant, somewhat unbridled, and even carried a sense of aggression.

"Young Master Li, I'm afraid you take me for a child of a few years old. Are you planning to enroll me in a kindergarten class?" An Yinan sneered, her face full of mockery, making no attempt to hide it.

Until this moment.

Li Kun finally sat up straight and looked at the woman across from him squarely.

"You have a lot of nerve." Li Kun seemed to have reached a conclusion.

But this conclusion only made An Yinan shrug; she had no desire to answer such an idiotic question.

If she didn't have nerve, would she have come to the City?

If she didn't have nerve, would she have confronted the Li Family head-on?

"The Li Family can hire you; name your price." Li Kun's expression returned to calm.

An Yinan knew that only now had things entered the main track; everything before—the apologies, the schemes—was nothing more than an appetizer.

"I refuse."

Three words, so firm, allowing no room for negotiation.

Even Li Kun was stunned; he didn't know since when he had stopped hearing the word "refuse."

In his memory, no one had ever been able to refuse him, especially a woman!

"Good!"

Just at this moment...

A woman's voice came from the lounge behind them, and a lady wearing a purple Cheongsam opened the curtain and walked out from inside.

On her neck, ears, and arms, she wore a set of imperial green jewelry, and she wore a gentle, mild smile.

But...

It was this very smile that made An Yinan suddenly realize something.

This person is...

The First Madam.

She was also someone with a connection to Duyanlong, yet she was someone he could look up to but never reach his whole life.

"Mother." Li Kun stood up, walked forward, and stood beside the First Madam; after the First Madam took her seat, he sat back down in his own place.

From his actions, it was not hard to see the respect he held for the First Madam.

"May I know your name? Or your surname would do; otherwise, it's a bit strange for me to keep calling you 'Madam, Madam'." The First Madam smiled lightly, her words gentle and soft, carrying a bit of the charm of a Jiangnan woman.

"An An." This identity, if the Li Family wanted to investigate, would be very easy to find out.

The fact that both Li Kun and the First Madam asked meant that their choice was one of respect.

"Miss An." The First Madam smiled; her eyes seemed to be able to speak, capable of soothing a person's emotions very well.

This was the most formidable person An Yinan had met since she transmigrated.

"Just call me Madam An; I am married." An Yinan smiled; although she didn't wear a ring on her hand because she didn't like the feeling of her fingers being restricted, she had never denied her marriage.

"Very well, Madam An. My name is Le Rong; you can call me Miss Le, or you can call me First Madam. However, if you call me Le Rong, I might be even happier." The First Madam—no, Le Rong—said with a beaming smile.

An Yinan looked at Li Kun with some surprise, yet Li Kun did not object, feeling that such a form of address was perfectly reasonable.

"Le Rong." When in Rome, do as the Romans do; how one addresses someone depends on the mood of the person being addressed. By comparison, she also preferred calling people by their names directly.

Madam, Miss—these titles partly represent a man's status, but they fail to capture the value of the women themselves, and she preferred calling people by their names directly.

From birth, to marriage, to having children, to death, it is the name that accompanies one for a lifetime.

Many things will change, but this name, it is always there.

No one can take it away.

Hearing this name, the expression on the First Madam's face became more genuine, and the smile hanging on her face became bright.

"An An." She tentatively called out the name once.

An Yinan shrugged, "My name isn't that complicated. An is my surname; you can call me Madam An, or you can call me An An—either is fine."

Whether it was because of Duyanlong that she felt more curiosity toward the First Madam, or some other reason, while observing her, she could clearly feel that she was unhappy.

Even the address of a name seemed to be able to make her truly happy; what a satisfied person she was.

"So..."

"Was it Le Rong who called me here today, or the Young Master?" An Yinan was not nearly as polite toward Li Kun.

"It was me, and it was also him." Le Rong answered.

"These are the stocks I've invested in; you can take a look." Le Rong took out a folder of documents; these were what she had recently organized, sorted by date and stock category, page by page...

An Yinan suddenly discovered that the overlap rate between these documents and the stocks she had chosen was at least fifty percent.

Then...

"Did Le Rong invest in these? Or the Li Family?" She was somewhat incredulous.

There are many Hong Kong Stock stocks, and every refresh involves several pages at once; for the overlap rate between two people to be this high, it meant that their vision was actually consistent in the general direction.

And unlike An Yinan, the First Madam had both losses and gains in her stock picks, but the losses were relatively small, while the gains were quite significant.

"I did it myself." Le Rong said with a triumphant expression.

"Very impressive." An Yinan saw the hidden meaning, praise...

Toward excellent people, she had never been stingy with her praise.

"Not as impressive as An An. Your eye for picking stocks is absolutely divine. I only settled on this stock in the mid-to-late stage, and for this one, I only caught the tail end of the dividend."

"And this one, I didn't manage to sell it in time; I could have earned even more."

When Le Rong spoke of these things, she didn't look like someone from a great family, but rather like someone mingling in the Exchange Main Hall, an ordinary person who had their own insights, wanting to gain the recognition of others, and feeling proud for choosing stocks that made money.

"You have already done very well." An Yinan gave her assessment objectively.

For a lady of a great family, she could manage this much; at the very least, even if she left the Li Family, she would not have to worry about food or clothing.

"I..." Le Rong did not finish, merely shaking her head calmly.

Li Kun looked at his mother; the mother in front of An Yinan was different from the one in front of him. In front of him, his mother was steady and self-possessed, in control of everything, and whenever he was confused, she could always provide the best outcome.

And she was even more different from the First Madam of the Li Family.

When his mother was in the Li Family, her face was as cold as ice, keeping people at a distance; she possessed the nobility of the First Madam and an authority that could not be refused. She was the daughter-in-law recognized by the Old Master, and her son was Li Kun.

The mother of now...

Seems more ordinary, more approachable, yet this approachability is not directed at him.

"Then today..." The several shifts in the topic forced An Yinan to continue guiding the conversation.

She had no interest in the Li Family, no interest in the young master Li Kun, and likewise, no interest in the First Madam Le Rong.

Everything she was preparing now was for that stock a year from now; if it were not for the entry of state funds, she might have wanted to return to Beijing.