Lu Jinnian sat in his seat, listening attentively to every word of the discussion. His expression seemed just as distant and cold as usual, but his heart was wreathing.
"That lady from the Qiao family is ever so pitiful."
When Lu Jinnian heard this, a myriad of images crossed his mind.
The image of him listening to Qiao Anhao and Xu Jiamu's confession through Qiao Anxia's earphones... And Qiao Anhao's happy and tearful face when Xu Jiamu woke up... In the end, the image transformed into Qiao Anhao's distraught, crying face.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtSuddenly, it felt like someone had brutally punched his heart. In an instant, the chopsticks in his hand crashed onto the table, making a "Pa!" sound. All eyes at the table were suddenly on Lu Jinnian. Even people from the other tables nearby turned at the loud sound. Everyone looked over with confusion at Lu Jinnian, who had stood up.
Lu Jinnian said "Excuse me" with a somber expression, then picked up his jacket. Under everyone's watchful eyes, he kicked his chair behind him and strode out.
His assistant blanked out for a second, then got up. He smiled and apologized to everyone, hurriedly following Lu Jinnian out.
Lu Jinnian walked so quickly that his assistant had to practically jog to catch up with him.
In all the years, Lu Jinnian had heard it all at the dinner table; who had gone off the rails, who was financing a celebrity on the side, or who's wife killed themselves because they were abandoned. Whenever people started to talk about these topics, others would sigh along, but not him. He would remain calm and give them no reaction at all.
So much so that even he would start to think to himself, ‘ah that's so normal. Don't all wealthy men like to play around like this? Or else, how would I exist in the first place?’
No matter what he thought to himself or how he didn't react in the past, he'd never suddenly erupt in anger when he heard Xu Jiamu was messing around with another woman. But right now, he was so angry that he felt like he was Qiao Anhao, the person abandoned.
Yet Qiao Anhao had once told Xu Jiamu something like "In my whole life, I will only love you.".
She grew up with Xu Jiamu and now was his wife, but he actually wanted to marry another woman.
Lu Jinnian was never as cruel as to imagine a day when Qiao Anhao and Xu Jiamu would break up and he might have a chance with her. However, now that it came true, he was far from happy and excited, unlike what he imagined he would be; he felt an unspeakable pain in his heart.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Mr. Lu, Mr. Lu!"
When Lu Jinnian heard the calls from behind, he stopped walking and turned his head to find his assistant panting. He said, "Book me a flight, I'm going back to Beijing, NOW!"
The assistant dazed out for a moment, then said, "But Mr. Lu, you still have a meeting to attend tomorrow. You might have to sign a contract... You can't go back!"
"Either arrange for someone else to deal with these matters, or just cancel the signing all together!" Lu Jinnian didn't even think twice about it, and reiterated, "I'm going to back to Beijing tonight!"
"Mr. Lu ..." His assistant still had more to say. He wanted to talk Lu Jinnian out of it, but in the end, the other had already grabbed for his phone and called to book tickets.
Lu Jinnian got off the phone and then ignored his assistant's cries of "Mr. Lu". He raised his hand to hail a taxi, got in, and left his assistant with the words, "Check out of the hotel and pack up everything in the room". Then he said to the taxi driver, "To the airport."