Four Years Ago, Her Husband Cheated on Her Body - Chapter 7

When they were calling him a ‘foxy male’, ‘barren’, and a ‘gold-digger’, Jia Qiao himself was in the next room, literally enjoying a melon.

Zhu Nanyu was afraid he’d be bored staying alone, so he had already used a scooper to carve the sweetest part of the watermelon into small balls, placed them on a fruit slush, and even buried a few gummy bears inside.

Jia Qiao paid no attention to the noisy arguments happening next door. Clenching his melon spoon, he diligently tried to ‘arrest’ the gummy bears in the fruit slush.

“You must be the child Nanyu brought back, aren’t you?”

A gentle voice reached his ear. Jia Qiao looked up and saw an old woman with greying hair and kind eyes slowly walking towards him.

Jia Qiao asked blankly, “You are…?”

“I am Nanyu’s grandmother, and from now on, I will be your grandmother, too.” Ji Fuling came to Jia Qiao’s side and took his hand. “Tell me your birth date and time, and I’ll pick an auspicious day for you two. From now on, I’m entrusting Nanyu to you.”

“Grandmother.” Jia Qiao stood in front of Ji Fuling’s small room and gently knocked on the wooden door.

“Is that Qiao Qiao?” Ji Fuling opened the door. Before she even appeared, the scent of sandalwood drifted out.

She still looked kind and gentle, but the corners of her eyes held a few more traces of age, and a sense of unconcealed sorrow was hidden in her tranquil gaze.

“Long time no sees. How is your health?”

“I am perfectly well. Don’t worry about me too much, and take good care of yourself.” Ji Fuling stepped aside, inviting Jia Qiao in.

The small room was clean and tidy. A Buddha statue was enshrined on a central table, and three sticks of sandalwood were smoking in the incense burner.

To the bottom left of the Buddha statue was a black-and-white photo of a man who bore a strong resemblance to Ji Fuling.

At the same height on the right side, another photo frame was hastily overturned on the table, having also knocked over a nearby candle holder. The wax that had splashed onto the back of the frame had not yet solidified.

Jia Qiao knew that was Zhu Nanyu’s black-and-white photo.

Ji Fuling had been eating vegetarian meals and chanting sutras all these years, not for wealth and glory, but simply to accumulate good karma for her son and grandson.

Jia Qiao quickly averted his gaze and looked out the window.

A few flower pots were neatly arranged on the window ledge, filled with small, pale blue, five-petaled flowers, dotted with egg-yellow stamens—pure and soft.

“Grandmother, what kind of flower is this?”

“Just some wildflowers I planted to pass the time.” Ji Fuling came up behind Jia Qiao. “If you like them, I can give you a few seedlings. If you tend to them well, they should bloom next month, just in time for your birthday.”

“I don’t celebrate my birthday,” Jia Qiao said softly. “It was just a random date filled in during registration, it means nothing.”

“Even the most ordinary day should be celebrated earnestly,” she said gently. “Being happy is always better than being sad.”

Ji Fuling found an empty flower pot, put a few seedlings in a tote bag, and prepared to hand it to Jia Qiao.

Before doing so, she abruptly turned around, opened a drawer in a storage cabinet, and took out several already opened envelopes.

“I almost forgot. These are letters recently sent to Nanyu. They were likely sent here to the ancestral home because the sender couldn’t contact him directly. The envelopes were already opened before I received them.”

The Zhu family members, upon hearing they were for Zhu Nanyu, thought they contained some treasure and impatiently opened them to investigate.

“Let me see.” Jia Qiao took the envelopes, casually opened one, and found a thin notice slip inside.

‘Dear Mr. Zhu Nanyu, the safe deposit box you leased on May 20, 20xx, has expired. Please renew the lease or retrieve your belongings with the six-digit password.’

“A safe deposit box?”

Recently, Zhu Nanyu’s lawyer and wealth manager had inventoried his estate, but a safe deposit box was never mentioned.

Jia Qiao studied the envelope again and found the sender’s address familiar—it was a place he and Zhu Nanyu had once visited.

Furthermore…

A six-digit password?

Almost instantly, a familiar string of numbers automatically surfaced in his mind.

After several consecutive days of rain, the sky finally cleared.

Jia Qiao moved his office outdoors.

The world was vast and open, a cool breeze swept through the bamboo forest, and the air was filled with the freshness of post-rain.

On the wooden tea table sat the ‘Unknown Flower Name’ seedlings he had brought back from Ji Fuling. Freshly brewed tea was placed nearby, its aroma filling the air.

It should have been a very refined and leisurely scene, but Jia Qiao was…

EXTREMELY IRRITATED!

Although he was not inherently a man of elegance, his temperament had mellowed over the years; even if he were just pretending, he could manage seven or eight tenths of it.

The problem now was…

What was going on with the person on the other side?

Was this a new business tactic?

After initial communication, Qianhe’s progress with the overseas company was smooth.

As agreed, Jia Qiao personally contacted the other party’s representative to discuss follow-up matters.

He entered the online conference room on time, but the person he was supposed to negotiate with, with the ID ‘Zoa’ and no displayed job title, logged on three minutes late.

Jia Qiao was a little surprised, but he didn’t care who his communication partner was, so he followed the script prepared by his executive assistant to proceed with the process.

However, after he copied and pasted several long paragraphs, the other side’s reply was unusually slow, usually taking three or four minutes to send back a single ‘Good’.

Initially, Jia Qiao thought the overseas company employee couldn’t read Chinese and needed time to translate, so he had his assistant translate the conversation into English and send it over.

After waiting for a full five more minutes, the other side replied with an ‘OK’.

Jia Qiao: …

What kind of malicious business tactic was this!!!

After completing the first phase of the process intermittently, Jia Qiao’s patience was exhausted. He sent a polite ‘Since there are no disagreements, I look forward to our next meeting’ and prepared to exit the online conference room.

Before closing the page, a new message actually popped up in the dialogue box.

Zoa: Are you well now

The person named Zoa could actually type a four-character ‘long and difficult sentence’, which was practically a miracle.

But… how did he know I was sick?

Did Lanner tell him?

Impossible. Lanner himself hadn’t noticed Jia Qiao was sick.

Jia Qiao’s skin was pale to the point of looking sickly, and his figure was slender; he usually looked frail, like he could be toppled by a gust of wind.

If he truly had a cold or a fever, it wasn’t noticeable. Some people even complimented him, saying his face looked flushed during a high fever, making him look more energetic than usual.

From the beginning until now, the only person who could tell Jia Qiao was sick at a glance was Zhu Nanyu.

Jia Qiao: Thank you, I am better now.

No sooner had the reply been sent than the other side transmitted a web link, similar to the health tips older family members like to share in the ‘Loving Family’ chat groups.

Warning! The 48 hours after fever reduction are the ‘Golden Protection Period’. Sitting in a draft can lead to a relapse. An old Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor teaches you three ways to maintain your Yang energy!

“Yang energy? What nonsense.”

The last time Jia Qiao heard the words ‘Yang energy’ was in a wuxia novel.

Judging from the person’s unbelievably slow typing speed and their habit of sending unsolicited health tips, they were likely a stuffy, old-fashioned middle-aged person who enjoyed lecturing.

Since today’s work was finished, Jia Qiao was too lazy to engage. He exited the dialogue box and prepared to shut down his computer.

Suddenly, there was a rustling sound near his ear. A cool breeze passed through the bamboo forest, and Jia Qiao covered his mouth and sneezed.

Lu Min heard the sneeze and immediately sprinted over, holding up his spiral notebook.

‘Master! Finish your work and quickly return to your room!’

‘Dr. Zhou said that getting rid of the fever doesn’t mean the cold is completely cured. If you sit in the cold wind for too long, your condition will worsen!’

Even though Lu Min couldn’t speak, Jia Qiao still felt bothered by his fussing.

“I know. Let’s go back inside.”

Before getting up and walking into the house, Jia Qiao glanced at the laptop on the table, and the link sent by Zoa flashed in his mind.

—How did he know I was sitting in a draft?

After an internal discussion, Jia Qiao’s second communication with the overseas partner was still handled by Zoa.

This time, Jia Qiao had mentally prepared himself and could deal with the other party’s slow replies with calmness.

The result was unexpected: Zoa’s reply speed had doubled in just two short days!

Although it was only shortened from one reply every five minutes to one reply every two minutes, and the number of characters changed from a single one to four or five, Jia Qiao clearly felt the communication efficiency had doubled.

Jia Qiao: If we can successfully reach a partnership with your company, Qianhe will establish a new overseas branch to fully cooperate with your work.

Zoa: Send doc

Send what document? The construction plan for the overseas branch?

That plan was merely a carrot to dangle in front of them to secure the partnership; there was no concrete plan formed yet.

Just as Jia Qiao was sitting in front of the screen pondering how to bluff his way through, the other party sent another message.

Zoa: Your script

“…What is it?”

Jia Qiao gripped the mouse and moved the dialogue box aside, revealing the document open on the screen.

It was densely packed with key points and business negotiation phrases prepared by his executive assistant in advance, even segmented and highlighted in red for Jia Qiao’s easy searching.

Forced to take over Qianhe, the socially inexperienced Jia Qiao had relied entirely on copying and pasting scripts prepared by his assistant for every business negotiation.

As a result, industry insiders who knew the truth privately called him a ‘pretty face’, a ‘puppet’, or a ‘marionette’.

Jia Qiao truly had no interest in business, and he was a complete novice on a professional level.

Over the past four years, to protect the company Zhu Nanyu left behind, he had self-studied many dry and tedious management courses.

His grades weren’t excellent, but at least he passed.

Now, Zoa had exposed him so bluntly.

Jia Qiao’s fingers tightened on the mouse, his eyes growing dark.

Zoa: pat-on-the-head

An emoji suddenly appeared on the screen: a large cat gently patting a small kitten with its pink paw pads, its tail wagging rhythmically.

After a while, a new message was sent.

Zoa: You tried hard

Just four simple characters, without even a punctuation mark.

Yet, Jia Qiao felt as if his inner defenses had been breached, touching a soft spot inside.

Zoa: Since the content for communication has been prepared in advance, please just send the document directly, Chairman Jia. We can then focus on discussing any specific problems, which saves both our time~

“Ah… so that’s what he meant.” Jia Qiao loosened his grip on the mouse, which he had nearly crushed, packaged and sent the prepared script document, and then re-examined the messages in the dialogue box.

The last message was clearly not sent by Zoa; the tilde at the end of the sentence was somewhat irritating.

Was this ID a shared account?

Zoa: File received, thank you for your hard work, Chairman Jia~ The initial communication phase is basically over now. We can communicate anytime about any follow-up questions~ [heart][heart]

Jia Qiao: Communicate with you?

Zoa: Yes~ The previous communicator finds the PC version of the software inconvenient. If Chairman Jia wishes to continue the conversation with him, contacting him via WeChat would be more convenient~

Zoa: Oh, right! I almost forgot, Chairman Jia doesn’t seem to use a mobile phone~ What a shame, I specifically chose one of the latest models from our company as a gift for our partnership. It would be a waste of my kind intentions, wuwuwu~

Jia Qiao: …

What was he wuwuing about? So annoying.