Chapter 83: Chapter 83

The news comes with pictures and text, meticulously detailing the love story between the Crown Prince of the Beicheng Pei Family and the defeated daughter of the Shen Family.

Childhood friends, their feelings for each other are truly enviable.

Some pictures of the two are from the past, some from the present, with a focus on the present: Pei Che wearing a blue and white striped hospital gown, with people recognizing the background as a ward in Yicheng’s Third Hospital. Pei Che looks pale and haggard, sitting helplessly on the floor, tightly holding Shen Jianian, his expression full of sorrow and despair.

Marketing accounts skilled at crafting stories from pictures imagined a whole series based on these images—

After the Shen Family’s fall, Shen’s daughter left alone to wander in a foreign land, drifting and strayed. Upon his return to the country, Mr. Pei took over the family business, dedicating himself to finding his former lover.

Finally, the two met each other in Yicheng after much searching.

The destitute Shen’s daughter knew her status had changed and felt unworthy of Mr. Pei, so she proposed a breakup. Naturally, Mr. Pei would not agree, got drunk late at night, and ended up hospitalized. Upon learning this, Shen’s daughter couldn’t bear it and went to take care of him at the hospital. They took the opportunity to confess their feelings, eventually embracing, creating a happy ending beloved by the audience.

Netizens were even more adept at spinning stories than the marketing accounts, even writing fan fiction about the two in the comments section.

"Meeting again, the once high and mighty young lady turns into a rookie in the workplace, with the overbearing CEO traveling thousands of miles to declare his love, playing out a heart-wrenching story of her fleeing and him chasing, with her unable to escape!"

"Chapter one: ’Return to the Country,’ Chapter two: ’Reunion,’ Chapter three: ’Pursue the Wife,’ Chapter four: ’Misunderstanding,’ Chapter five: ’Entering the Hospital,’ Chapter six: ’Rolling in Bed’..."

"Is this a plot straight from a novel becoming reality? I’m obsessed."

"Seriously, after finding out more, it’s really captivating! The Pei and Shen families are old acquaintances, the guy is a year older than the girl, and they attended kindergarten, primary school, middle school, and high school together. Later, Pei Che went abroad, while Shen Jianian studied at a top music academy in the country. She played the cello, and the school’s official microblog can still find videos of her playing, isn’t this a perfect match of a prince and princess? Later, for unknown reasons, the Lingyue Group fell into decline. It’s said that the chairman suddenly died of a heart attack, and his wife followed him, leaving only Shen Jianian to go to Yicheng to seek relatives, and then Pei Che returned to the country to find her."

"Some friends couldn’t find the video of Shen Jianian playing the cello, here’s the original blog link, who wouldn’t be mesmerized by watching it? The goddess is so beautiful!"

A netizen followed a link in the comments to find a video about Shen Jianian at a public school event, where she represented her class on stage.

A bright white spotlight shone on her, darkened around her, making her the only shining star.

She wore a custom-made black velvet dress, with delicate and elegant makeup on her face, her long black hair cascading over her shoulders. With her head slightly turned, playing the cello, she seemed to glow, noble and aloof.

The camera panned to the audience, where Pei Che sat in the second row.

A sunny and handsome young man dressed in a white shirt and black dress pants held a bouquet of pink and white roses, ready to present them to his beloved girl.

Someone dug up the timeline, and at that time, Pei Che had already gone to study abroad but seemed to have returned specifically to watch Shen Jianian’s performance.

In this thread, the most liked comment was: "Today’s sweetness was provided by the two of you. When you get married, please let me know; I’ll send a gift. I mean it!"

The black Maybach stopped at the entrance of a high-end private membership restaurant. After waiting for a while, the person in the back seat remained motionless, head down, sliding fingers across a phone.

Qu Mo glanced through the rear-view mirror and respectfully reminded, "Mr. Chen, we’ve arrived."

Several senior executives from the company had already gone ahead and were waiting in a private dining room in the restaurant for the boss, and it wouldn’t be good to keep them waiting too long.

Fu Jichen put away his phone, his dark eyes gazing heavily out the car window.

Qu Mo got out of the car, opened the back door, and then Fu Jichen extended his long legs, standing beside the car, adjusting his cuffs with raised hands, and walked up the steps, entering the revolving glass door.

Outside, Qu Mo wiped his forehead, breaking into a sweat in the freezing weather.

Inside the private dining room, delicious dishes were served at the table, and everyone chatted while eating, with Fu Jichen barely speaking. He was always taciturn, which the senior executives were long used to, noticing nothing unusual.

After the meal, they moved to the tea room to discuss company strategy deployment issues. Someone carelessly broke a teacup, causing Fu Jichen’s face to suddenly turn cold, his deep black eyes becoming gloomy and frightful, like a storm was brewing.

The senior executives momentarily froze, exchanged glances, feeling that it wasn’t worth it over a teacup.

At one in the afternoon, employees from various departments gradually returned from lunch, discussing entertainment news seen online while walking.

Several of them entered the secretary’s office, and upon seeing Shen Jianian sitting inside, they instinctively shut their mouths.

Although the discussion ceased, their eyes uncontrollably glanced at Shen Jianian.

Who would’ve thought, after working together for so long, that Shen Jianian was actually the only daughter of the Beicheng Shen Family, a true heiress. No wonder her aura was different from ordinary people, nurtured from childhood with a silver spoon.

But that was all in the past.

The Shen Family’s fall, the loss of close kin, this ordeal indeed tugged at the heartstrings. Anyone else might not have been able to adapt to the fall from grace.

Her and Pei Che’s story was described vividly on the internet, though its truth was unknown, and no one was tactless enough to ask her for confirmation.

She was now Mr. Chen’s person, and if her affair with Pei Che were true... it seemed like the scent of a conflict was in the air.

Zhu Yilan’s voice made everyone stiffen, quickly turning their chairs and sitting upright, hands on the keyboard posing as if working seriously.

Then they realized, wait a minute, isn’t this lunchtime?

Zhu Yilan walked over to Shen Jianian’s workstation wearing high heels, her gaze somewhat complicated. She used to be curious about her identity, wondering why she lived in Rose Manor. Now that she knew, a hint of pity arose in her heart, though she didn’t show it, maintaining a businesslike tone as she conveyed instructions from that person.

"Mr. Chen wants you to stop by the office."

"Now?" Shen Jianian asked, "Did he say what it’s about?"

Zhu Yilan guessed it was related to the online news but didn’t dare voice her guess: "He just called me on the extension, asking you to go over, didn’t say what it was about."

Shen Jianian didn’t take anything with her, leaving the secretary’s office with empty hands.

After she left, people in the secretary’s office quickly slid their chairs closer together.

"Is Mr. Chen summoning Jianian to ask about the news?"

"Doesn’t everyone have a past? Not to that extent."

"Why not to that extent? A man like Mr. Chen is bound to be possessive. Seeing his woman hugging another man, it’s unreasonable if he can tolerate it."

"Ew, you’ve read too many novels, talking about possessiveness."

"Have you noticed that the clothes Jianian was wearing are exactly the same as in those online photos, meaning it happened this morning."

"Alright, here we go again with the classic childhood friend versus sudden appearance showdown, who are you choosing?"

Zhu Yilan frowned tightly, slapped the table, and warned her colleagues who were openly discussing the boss’s gossip: "Do you guys not want to stay at the company anymore? Even dare to casually talk about the president’s affairs."

Shen Jianian walked to the president’s office, knocked on the door, and heard the calm voice inside say "come in."

She pushed open the heavy glass door with one hand, looking up to see a man sitting on the sofa in the reception area, holding a lit cigarette between two fingers, not in business mode.

Shen Jianian closed the door upon entering.

Fu Jichen raised his eyes, his gaze swept across her face, bent to pick up the remote on the coffee table, pressed it, and the blinds on the glass wall facing the hallway all closed.

Shen Jianian walked over, her hands naturally hanging at her sides, respectfully saying, "Mr. Chen, you called for me."

She always addressed him at the company, but at this moment, it sounded somewhat ironic to Fu Jichen’s ears.

He chuckled, extinguished the cigarette in the ashtray, and threw his phone onto the coffee table, lifting his chin to indicate for Shen Jianian to look.