Chapter 261: Chapter 261

Fu Jichen listened to Shen Jianian and bought two tickets. The movie would start in half an hour, and he stored the shopping bags in the lockers on this floor.

"Do you want some popcorn?" Fu Jichen asked, noticing other girls entering with buckets of popcorn and drinks.

Those girls were quite young, probably university students without classes, watching a movie during their free time.

Shen Jianian shook her head, "No, I don’t."

Despite her refusal, Fu Jichen bought a small bucket of popcorn and handed it to her, along with a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice in a transparent plastic cup, inserting a straw for her.

Shen Jianian held the cup and quietly asked, "Is it at room temperature?"

"You just got vaccinated, so try to avoid cold drinks."

His phone rang from the pocket of his pants. He took it out and saw it was a call from Song Fang. Turning away, he moved to a quieter spot to answer, keeping his eyes on Shen Jianian while speaking in a low voice on the phone with the person on the other end.

Shen Jianian sat down on a chair in the resting area, sipping on the orange juice and placing the small bucket of popcorn on the table. With no phone to entertain herself, she observed the other people out of boredom.

Since it was a weekday, there weren’t many people at the movies. Her gaze swept around and landed on Fu Jichen. Read full story at novel fire.net

The man stood tall and straight next to a pull-up banner stand, holding the phone to his ear with one hand while the other rested in the pocket of his trousers. Even in an inconspicuous spot, his presence was enough to attract attention.

Suddenly, the sound of a chair scraping against the floor caught her attention, and Shen Jianian turned her head. A young man pulled out the chair to her left and sat down.

The man had slightly long hair that covered his eyes, wore a black T-shirt with English letters, tight jeans, and high-top sneakers. He held a half-burned cigarette, shaking his leg and glancing at her, with two other men of similar age standing nearby, looking like his followers, both of whom were grinning maliciously.

"Alone to see a movie?" The guy next to her flicked ash and flashed a smile he thought was charming, "What do you want to watch? I’ll treat you, sis."

The man took a drag from his cigarette, squinting his eyes as he exhaled slowly.

Though both were smoking, this man gave off a hoodlum vibe, reminding Shen Jianian of Fu Jichen’s calm and captivating demeanor when he smoked.

Just as she thought of him, he appeared.

During the call, Fu Jichen never took his eyes off Shen Jianian, not even for a second, so he naturally noticed what was happening on her side immediately. Without hanging up, he listened to Song Fang’s report while striding over with a stern expression, raising a hand to pat the man’s shoulder.

"Who the hell are you? Can’t you see I’m busy..." The man cursed as he turned around, only to meet an exceptionally cold and sharp face. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the look in the man’s eyes could kill.

Meanwhile, Song Fang, overhearing the curse from the other end of the call, hesitated and uncertainly asked, "Mr. Chen, are you okay?"

Fu Jichen offered Song Fang just two words, while glaring at the man and motioning for him to get lost.

Intimidated by his aura, the man didn’t dare say anything else, awkwardly scratching the back of his head as he stood up from the chair and walked away, muttering under his breath about having bad luck.

Earlier, he had been playing around in the arcade and got thirsty, so he came over to the cinema to buy a drink. While waiting, he spotted a beautiful woman sitting alone, couldn’t resist approaching her, only to find out she was with her boyfriend.

Luckily, he hadn’t done anything excessive yet.

The man left with his tail between his legs, his two cronies trailing after him.

After just a few steps, they were stopped by the mall’s security guard: "Smoking is prohibited indoors, please cooperate with us."

Fu Jichen inspected Shen Jianian’s expression, worried that the incident might have upset her. But she seemed unfazed, sipping her orange juice as if nothing had happened.

He didn’t leave her side, pulling out another chair to sit next to her. Once Song Fang finished discussing work matters, he gave concise instructions: "Have Vice President Li head over to Switzerland by this Sunday to finalize the factory site as soon as possible. Any other issues can be addressed at the executive meeting next Monday. Also, inform Dongke’s manager to attend next Monday’s meeting..."

Shen Jianian listened to Fu Jichen’s orderly directives, suddenly conscious of him being the CEO of Junshan Group. Though she was aware of this fact, he usually acted so gentle and patient around her, giving the impression that he had plenty of spare time, which made her overlook his true identity.

"That’s it for now," Fu Jichen routinely asked, "Is there anything else?"

Song Fang informed him of a few unavoidable important engagements, and the call ended there.

Taking the phone away from his ear, Fu Jichen glanced at the time on the screen. Fortunately, they hadn’t missed the movie start; there were still ten minutes left.

"Were you frightened earlier?"

Judging by Shen Jianian’s appearance, Fu Jichen thought she seemed fine, but he wasn’t sure if deep down she felt uneasy, so he asked.

Shen Jianian wasn’t feigning nonchalance. She genuinely didn’t feel frightened. Even without Fu Jichen’s timely intervention, she believed she could have handled it herself: "I’m okay."

"Why would I lie to you?" Shen Jianian recalled something similar, "Before, I was cornered by an investor’s boss in a hotel who tried to proposition me, but I managed to escape."

Fu Jichen knitted his brows: "Which investor?"

Shen Jianian didn’t say, thinking of the call he had just taken, she changed the subject: "If you have work matters to attend to, just go, don’t worry about staying with me. I’ll go back after watching the movie. If you’re worried I’ll run away, you can have someone keep an eye on me."

"The movie’s about to start." Fu Jichen glanced at his watch, "Let’s go in."

He helped her with the bucket of popcorn.

Even in the past, they hadn’t watched many movies together, you could count them on one hand. He considered it as making up for past regrets.

The beginning of their relationship was intertwined with too much insincerity. When their genuine feelings finally aligned, the countdown to separation had already started. They had precious few dates that couples should have.

Shen Jianian rose to follow him, heading towards Screening Room 2, hesitating to speak: "Fu Jichen, about what I said you..."

Fu Jichen turned back to look at her, gently sighed, and explained in detail: "The special assistant called to talk about the expansion of the car manufacturing plant in Switzerland and also about Dongke, Junshan’s subsidiary. The head of the technical department resigned, taking with him part of the core technology, and has now disappeared. It’s still under investigation whether he was detained by a competitor or staged his own disappearance. If he dares to leak core secrets after signing confidentiality and non-competition agreements, he’s definitely heading to jail. Even if I return to the company now, all I can do is wait for information, nothing else. Do you understand what I’m saying?"

Shen Jianian listened, somewhat bewildered.

They successfully checked the tickets and entered the screening room, where a few people were sparsely seated. Shen Jianian silently digested Fu Jichen’s words and asked him: "Wouldn’t the consequences of leaking core technology be severe?"

Although she wasn’t entirely clear, she understood the stakes were high, surely not as trivial as he made it sound.

Fu Jichen smiled slightly without answering.

Shen Jianian said: "I mean, if that head of the technical department were forced to hand over core secrets rather than willingly leak them, would he still go to jail?"

"We’ll have to wait for the investigation results to know, but taking the core technology with him was inherently wrong." Fu Jichen explained patiently, "Before resigning, he should have handed over all his responsibilities according to protocol. Who knows how he managed to take it out."

Shen Jianian found it quite troublesome: "Aren’t you worried?"

Fu Jichen paused, looking at her: "Worrying won’t help with many things, just like if I worry about you leaving me, will you stay?"

Shen Jianian was speechless, wondering how the conversation turned to her.

"I remember Dongke’s main focus is in the medical field?" Dongke is a big brand she’s heard of, she had just never paid attention before, unaware it was a Junshan Group subsidiary.

"Yes, the company internally set up a new division, specializing in AI medical technology. The person who left was part of that division’s technical team." Fu Jichen finished explaining, glancing at her face, half-smiling, "You seem quite concerned about this matter?"

Shen Jianian muttered: "I’m just asking casually."

Fu Jichen nodded, replied thoughtfully: "You should indeed be concerned, considering it’s your former employer."

"I mean you were employed at Dongke before, though not for long, technically speaking, it counts as your old employer."

"How is that possible?" Shen Jianian couldn’t think of any reason why she would work for a medical company, she was completely an outsider, "Do you think I’m easy to deceive because of amnesia?"

"You think I’m lying to you?" The movie hadn’t started yet, showing advertisements, Fu Jichen asked her, "Do you know what city Dongke is based in?"

Shen Jianian wore an expression saying ’how would I know.’

Fu Jichen told her: "In Yicheng. I met you in Yicheng when managing Dongke. After you followed me, you once served as my personal assistant."

He spoke with logic and evidence, yet Shen Jianian still found it too far-fetched.

The big screen displayed the dragon markings, Shen Jianian sat up straight, stopping her inquiries about the topic.

The movie began with a night of pouring rain, a man dead in his basement at home, a woman’s sharp scream piercing the rainy night, echoing in the auditorium through the sound system, causing Shen Jianian to squint her eyes in fear.

She thought it was just an ordinary suspense movie, unprepared for the horror elements, hitting hard from the start with a strong visual impact.

Backing out now seemed too late, the movie was her choice, she had to watch it through despite the fear.

The heavens will punish those who stubbornly refuse to admit their fears.