Chapter 33: The pressure of the enemy

Tong An’yu saw Lin Huaixu the day before her vacation started.

She packed her laptop bag, locked the office door, said goodbye to her colleagues, and was about to head to the elevator.

But as soon as she reached the company entrance, she saw Lin Huaixu waiting for the elevator through the glass.

Someone greeted him, and he nodded in response.

He looked so approachable, yet he exuded a sense of hard-to-approach loneliness.

The dark black suit seemed to have become his base color.

Tong An’yu once thought he was aloof and indifferent, yet the light inexplicably gathered around him.

Now he was still just as eye-catching—narrow waist, long legs, impeccably dressed—but he seemed to have dimmed.

He had lost a lot of weight recently.
His lips were a little pale, and his jawline was even more defined.

It was probably from being busy with work.

Seeing Lin Huaixu start to turn his head, Tong An’yu quickly turned around and walked briskly back inside.

She felt guilty.

Although she had promised Lin Huaixu, she hadn’t sent a single cat picture in the past two weeks.

It wasn’t intentional.

It was mainly because she was busy picking out a wedding gift for her senior over the weekend and didn’t go home.

Lin Huaixu had seen her figure in his peripheral vision long ago, but his subordinates kept greeting him, so he didn’t have a chance to turn his head.

When he looked again, she had already slipped away without a sound.

To avoid running into him, to not be in the same elevator.

The secretary said, “You just got out of the hospital at noon. You should be resting at home. If there’s anything important, you could have just told me to make a trip.”

He had made a special trip to the office just to give her the gift for tomorrow’s wedding to keep safe.

She was stunned for a long time after hearing it, feeling utterly terrified.

What kind of boss personally comes in while sick to give work instructions?

Lin Huaixu’s tone was flat.

“It’s fine now.”

The elevator arrived.

Lin Huaixu stepped in and disappeared from the seventh floor.

Tong An’yu waited a full five minutes before walking to the company’s main entrance again.

A different group of people was in the elevator lobby now.

Lin Huaixu was gone.

Some employees from PetParty were chatting.

“CEO Lin is really something, huh? He even brought gifts for everyone back from the US.”

“Yeah, that box of liquor-filled chocolates costs over a thousand. I didn’t even dare to buy it when I traveled abroad.”

“Guess who the ruby pendant his secretary is holding for him is for?”

“His girlfriend, duh. I remember he has one, right?”

“So jealous. It’s Cartier.”

“What’s there to be jealous of? Everyone says CEO Lin has a girlfriend, but have you ever seen her? And not only does he not show her off, he kind of avoids talking about her. Marrying up is like swallowing needles. Could you stand it if your boyfriend never took you anywhere, as if he was ashamed of you?”

“That’s true. I’ve never seen CEO Lin show any affection publicly. And he’s crazy busy, flying everywhere, basically never home. I couldn’t stand that.”
…

Tong An’yu thought, ‘It’s not as bad as you guys are guessing. They’re childhood sweethearts.’

And isn’t giving a Cartier ruby pendant enough to express his love?

Back then, she was happy for half a day just from receiving a jianbing guozi.

Her senior’s wedding banquet started on Saturday and would be a three-day celebration.

As a die-hard best friend, Tong An’yu would naturally participate in the entire event.

Back then, she was able to work at Intel after her PhD graduation all thanks to her senior’s strong internal referral.

This saved her from most of the hardship of job hunting, allowing her to easily accumulate experience and bring that experience back to Hexin Technology.

They were a group of students who lived close to each other and banded together for warmth back then.

Her senior was the only ABC (American-Born Chinese) among them.

She never expected that in the blink of an eye, she would be marrying another senior from their program, and that they even planned to work in China.

So, besides sincerely wishing them a happy marriage, Tong An’yu also hoped to invite her senior and the senior brother to join Hexin Technology and contribute to China’s semiconductor industry.

The gift she had prepared for her senior was a painting of intertwined trees, from the hand of a famous artist.

It was expensive, and its collection value was even greater.

Early on Saturday morning, Tong An’yu had the driver take the gift and hurried to the lavender manor, hoping to help her senior out as well.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she arrived, before she even had a chance to take out the gift, her senior pulled her by the hand, her face full of apology.

“Little Tong, I need to tell you something.”

“Go ahead,” Tong An’yu said enthusiastically.

Her senior sighed.

“I really didn’t know about the grudge between your family and Lin Huaixu. You know I grew up in the US and don’t know much about domestic companies.”

“Lin… Lin Huaixu?”

‘It’s not what I’m thinking, is it…’

“I also invited Lin Huaixu,” her senior said sorrowfully.

Tong An’yu took a deep breath.

“You know Lin Huaixu?!”

Her senior gave a bitter smile.

“He’s my university classmate. You know I studied computer science in undergrad and chose semiconductors for my PhD.”

“!”

‘Help me, I really didn’t know!’

During her PhD, they had countless meals and chats together.

Her senior had mentioned it countless times, but she had never once connected her senior with Lin Huaixu.

They both went to Stanford, both studied computer science.

Of course there was a high chance they were classmates!

…it was probably fate…

“It’s fine, really. Lin… Lin Huaixu and I are also alumni from T University,” Tong An’yu squeezed out a smile.

Fortunately, her memory wasn’t great after the surgery back then, so she had never mentioned her relationship to her senior.
Otherwise, today would probably be even more chaotic.

Her senior said considerately, “I’ll try to arrange for you two to be far apart. There are a lot of people at the wedding anyway, so you probably won’t have a chance to talk. But they are both my friends, so I hope you can understand.”

Friends…

“Of course I understand. Don’t worry about it. We’re all adults, what could possibly happen?”

But after giving the gift… she became dejected.

If she had known Lin Huaixu would be coming, why did she hide from him in the elevator lobby?

There were many things to be busy with at a wedding and many people to receive.
Tong An’yu helped check the guest list in her capacity as part of the bride’s family.

Until… five in the afternoon, an hour before the wedding began, Lin Huaixu arrived.

It was dusk.

The red clouds were like leaking oil paint, spreading to the lavender fields, dyeing the ridges a fiery red.

Jing City was usually windy, but today the rain had stopped and the wind had ceased.
His shadow was stretched long by the setting sun.

He wore a very proper suit.

Followed by his driver and secretary, he walked up the steps.

The bell in the old castle’s attic chimed at just the right moment, keeping in step with him.

Tong An’yu scratched her chin and put a checkmark next to his name.

She was really a bit dizzy from the glare of the setting sun.

Lin Huaixu came before her and stood still, looking at her.

His originally silent and dim pupils suddenly gained a bit of light.

He hadn’t seen her yesterday, but unexpectedly, he saw her today.

This was a complete coincidence, not something he had intentionally arranged.

After his funding was cut and he dropped out, he had lost contact with his Stanford classmates.

It was only after he started his own business that he gradually reconnected with them.

He didn’t know that Tong An’yu would know his classmates.

“Gift,” Tong An’yu reminded him in a muffled voice, hardly daring to look up.

Because it was her senior’s wedding, she had dressed very low-key so as not to upstage the bride.

Her dress was a lilac color—elegant, fresh, covering her shoulders and calves.

But Lin Huaixu’s suit was so damn handsome.

It lacked the lifelessness he had when working overtime, and it was about to make her long-cured obsession with good looks relapse.

Back at the Louis Vuitton art exhibition, she had thought Lin Huaixu in a cheap rented suit looked better than a celebrity.

She never expected that was only half his power.

Lin Huaixu kept his eyes fixed on her.
With a lift of his hand, the secretary handed over the ruby pendant.

“Cartier ruby.”

Tong An’yu craned her neck for a look, froze, then looked up in astonishment and blurted out, “You’re giving this gemstone to our senior?”

It wasn’t for Yuan Qing after all.

And just as those PetParty employees had said, for a private occasion like a wedding, he actually brought his driver and secretary instead of his girlfriend?

‘Is this person always so cold to his girlfriend?’

‘But giving her company dividends can’t be considered bad, right? Maybe he’s just not good at expressing himself or is too busy for rituals.’

Lin Huaixu raised an eyebrow.

This question was interesting.

It was as if she had known all along that he had bought this ruby.

“Who did you think I was giving it to?”

Lin Huaixu leaned forward, his hands braced on the white table, his eyes like a clear lake, or like the bright moon in the sky, quietly looking at her.

Tong An’yu swallowed, and swallowed again.

Her throat was dry.

‘Why is he looking at me like that?’

‘How am I supposed to lie like this?’

Lin Huaixu didn’t let up.

He vaguely sensed something and frowned slightly.

“I’m very curious. Do you have someone else in mind?”

‘Where would I get another person from?’

‘Did I misunderstand something?’

“I don’t,” Tong An’yu retorted.

Her nemesis’s oppressive aura was so strong.

How could his gaze feel like it had a temperature?

As expected, she denied it.

Lin Huaixu sighed lightly and reached out to pinch the tablet she was clutching.

“Tell me, who did you think I would give it to?”

He was really a bit tired.

After several consecutive days of liquid food, his stomach felt sour and astringent, and even his fingers had no strength.

If it weren’t for showing up to support the wedding, he would probably just want to lie in bed.

The secretary was adept at reading people.
Regardless of who Tong An’yu was or what relationship she had with CEO Lin, the secretary acted extremely uninterested and dragged the driver far away.

Ask, ask, ask!

You’re the only one who knows how to ask!

Little Tong also had a bit of a temper.
A straight face, a glare, pursed lips—all in one go.

“Yuan Qing, of course.”

Lin Huaixu’s heart felt like it had been licked by fire, giving rise to a sliver of scorching hope.

So it wasn’t his imagination at LONGCUT that day.

She really did care a little.

Just like at the school cafeteria on the third day of the Lunar New Year back then.

Did that mean there was still a possibility she might change her mind?

Tong An’yu didn’t quite understand the look in Lin Huaixu’s eyes at that moment.
It was very complicated.

His hand was also trembling slightly, and with it, her own fingers on the other end of the tablet were also trembling.

“Why would I give it to Yuan Qing?” Lin Huaixu pressed.

“A guess.”

Tong An’yu was very annoyed.
The awkward thoughts hidden in her heart were also being interrogated by him.
“I’m warning you, don’t pull my tablet.”

She fought against him, but unexpectedly, with a single pull, she actually managed to pull the tablet back.

Lin Huaixu let go, his fingertips reddened from the edge of the tablet.

Tong An’yu was also surprised after snatching it back.

Strange.

With all those muscles, her nemesis’s strength was actually weaker than hers?

“Tong An’yu.”

Lin Huaixu’s eyes narrowed, as if he was even more righteous.

He asked in a deep voice, “Didn’t you say that eating the grass by your own burrow is worse than a rabbit?”

There was another sentence he didn’t ask.
‘Absolutely not getting together with a childhood friend. How come you’re the only one who forgot?’

Tong An’yu belatedly remembered that this was something she had once warned him about.

Times had changed, yet he actually still remembered?

The senior, who had just sent a wave of friends into the church, came back to see Lin Huaixu and Tong An’yu at loggerheads, the atmosphere tense.

The senior lifted her dress and ran.

The white senior brother chased after her, speaking in clumsy Chinese, “Wha happen, wifey?”

The senior roared in the first Chinese sentence she had learned in her life, “F*ck, my two friends are about to start fighting!”