The Wife From the Contract Marriage Does Not Want to Get Divorced - Chapter 3

The office suddenly fell into an eerie silence.

Lu Yanqing looked at the faint smile on Xie Siyu’s lips. Sunlight filtered through the venetian blinds, cutting lines of light and shadow across her profile. The shadows cast by her eyelashes hid a hint of bluish gray the mark of long-term sleep deprivation.

Lu Yanqing suddenly realized that while it had been a mere instant for her, for Xie Siyu, it had been over a thousand days and nights.

Glancing at the mountain of documents piled on the desk, Lu Yanqing’s hand hanging by her side clenched into a fist. After a brief silence, a heated argument drifted in from the adjacent conference room; she could faintly make out that it was about brand entry for the shopping mall.

“Xie Siyu, I am very sorry for suddenly vanishing for three years. Whether it was for taking care of my grandfather or managing the group, thank you. I will get up to speed with the projects the company is currently handling as quickly as possible.”

She had to take responsibility.

The Lu Group was the result of years of hard work by her grandfather and his friends. Its primary business was the Shuangqi Yunjing Shopping Center. As for whether the group had added new business sectors under Xie Siyu’s management, she wasn’t sure yet.

“Of course, these are your duties to begin with.”

Xie Siyu pressed her brow tiredly and habitually opened a folder. Her sleeve slid down, revealing a slender wrist; even though the marks from an IV retention needle had been deliberately concealed, the difference in the skin there was still visible.

“Compared to the company’s business, I am more curious about how you plan to explain things when we go to the Second Hospital to visit Grandpa Lu later. Are you going to say you had a dream in the cracks of time and space?”

Lu Yanqing lowered her eyes. Her explanation let alone Xie Siyu even she herself found it utterly absurd.

But it had happened.

What else could she do?

Gurgle~

The stifling atmosphere in the office was broken by an ill-timed sound.

Lu Yanqing covered her hungry stomach, looking a bit embarrassed. She checked the mechanical watch on her wrist and asked Xie Siyu, “Shall we go grab lunch first?”

Xie Siyu had already turned on her computer, prepared to deal with urgent documents, but upon hearing the gurgle, she looked up and met Lu Yanqing’s slightly sheepish gaze. Only then did she notice the time in the upper right corner of the screen.

12:18.

“Go to Yunshan Pavilion?”

After only a moment’s hesitation, Xie Siyu shut down the computer, stood up, walked to the coat rack, took down her blazer, draped it casually over her arm, and walked toward the office door.

Lu Yanqing followed a step behind. “Sure.”

In the Elevator

The stainless steel mirrors reflected two distant figures.

Lu Yanqing stole a glance at the person beside her for the seventh time Xie Siyu was replying to emails on her phone, the cold light of the screen making her lip color look even paler.

Her pearl earrings swayed slightly with the vibration of the elevator; they were the same pair she had worn three years ago when they signed the agreement at the coffee shop.

Ding—

The elevator stopped at the 12th floor.

The employees who suddenly swarmed in froze like a school of startled fish when they saw who was inside. There was a succession of sharp intakes of breath in the cramped space.

“President Lu… You, you’re back in the country?”

An old employee from the HR department gripped her meal card tightly, her eyes darting between the overlapping hems of Lu Yanqing and Xie Siyu’s clothes.

“Yes, I arrived today. I missed the fresh shrimp porridge at Yunshan Pavilion, so I dragged your President Xie along,” Lu Yanqing replied with a smile. At the same time, she quickly reached out to steady a staggering Xie Siyu. Actually touching her body, Lu Yanqing realized the waist beneath her palm was startlingly thin, as if it might break with the slightest pressure.

The sound of phone vibrations was exceptionally clear in the elevator.

Lu Yanqing watched the WeChat group message bubbles refreshing frantically. She suddenly realized how bizarre her current situation was everyone was witnessing this “newlywed” reunion that was three years late.

Once the two left, the entire building exploded. Especially in the Lu Group’s general employee chat, the messages reached 99+ within a few minutes.

[Photo] [Photo]

“It’s not fake news! I ran into President Lu in the elevator. She’s really back—”

“The rumors might not all be true. Maybe President Lu really was studying abroad for these three years, or secretly preparing an overseas merger? President Lu said she’s taking President Xie to Yunshan Pavilion for lunch. The two of them look so good together; they’re prettier than celebrities.”

“Now that President Lu is back, will President Xie have to give up her position as Group CEO?”

“Xiao Zhang from Marketing already posted it, why delete it? Everyone definitely saw it. I’m curious about that too, but I’ve really come to respect President Xie’s ability over these three years.”

“By the way, President Lu won’t leave again this time, right?”

Yunshan Pavilion

Yunshan Pavilion was a famous health-themed porridge shop in Rongcheng.

In their three years of marriage, this was their first time having lunch together.

Lu Yanqing was indeed hungry. She was a regular at this shop and directly ordered a two-person portion of celery and fresh shrimp porridge, stir-fried beef, and blanched heart of bok choy. She handed the menu to Xie Siyu opposite her. “See if there’s anything else you want to eat? You’re too thin.”

The rain had stopped at some point, and the sunlight filtered through the bamboo curtains, dancing on Xie Siyu’s eyelashes. She took a small sip of lemon water. Hearing Lu Yanqing’s words, the lemon water in her cup rippled once, but quickly returned to stillness. “No need, I don’t have much of an appetite.”

Lu Yanqing pursed her lips and said nothing more, handing the menu to the staff member nearby and asking them to serve the food as quickly as possible.

The first floor was usually crowded, while the second floor consisted of private, quiet rooms. The environment was serene, and naturally, more expensive.

Lu Yanqing picked up the pitcher and refilled Xie Siyu’s cup with lemon water, asking casually, “Where are you feeling unwell? Do you still need an IV drip today?”

Xie Siyu hadn’t expected Lu Yanqing to ask. She remained silent for a moment before offering a half-truthful explanation. “My stomach is a bit uncomfortable. No need for a drip anymore.”

In a daze, she remembered the doctor’s suggestion from three days ago: Gastric ulcer. Hospitalization recommended.

“The floating green belt between the twin towers of the West Suburb branch has been completed.”

Xie Siyu suddenly changed the subject, pointing toward the twin towers visible through the window. “The ventilation duct design you drew back then…”

Her voice trailed off; she suddenly couldn’t go on.

Lu Yanqing followed Xie Siyu’s gaze. She heard her own voice, very, very soft: “Accompany me to go see it another day.”

2:00 PM

In the underground parking lot of the Second Hospital, Xie Siyu pulled back Lu Yanqing, who was about to get out of the car. “How do you plan to tell Grandpa about your three-year disappearance?”

Lu Yanqing said helplessly, “I’ll tell the truth.”

Xie Siyu’s expression turned grave. She stared at Lu Yanqing for a long time, then reached into the back seat for a tablet. Her slender fingers tapped the screen, quickly opening a document.

“You might want to look at Grandpa Lu’s health condition over the past three years before you consider whether to be ‘honest’ or not.”

Deep down, she didn’t believe Lu Yanqing’s “truth.” However, the people she had sent abroad to search for her over these three years had scoured Country W and even several surrounding countries, yet there was no trace of Lu Yanqing.

Perhaps, as she said, she really… just opened her eyes and found herself three years into the future.

Lu Yanqing sat back in the passenger seat, closed the car door, took the tablet from Xie Siyu, and carefully browsed through the medical records of her grandfather during her three-year absence.

It turned out that six months after she disappeared, her grandfather had suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. Fortunately, he was rescued in time, and a major disaster was avoided.

A year later, his blood pressure remained persistently high, and he was hospitalized for nearly a month.

Two years later, he was diagnosed with uremia. Because it was caught early, it was still controllable, but he currently required regular dialysis every week.

In short, the old man’s health had been declining over these three years, and now he couldn’t withstand any shock.

Lu Yanqing gripped the metal frame of the tablet. She suddenly thought of an important matter and looked up at Xie Siyu. “The agreement we signed three years ago how much time is left now?”

Xie Siyu avoided Lu Yanqing’s gaze, turning her head to look out the window. She took a breath and exhaled slowly, her voice slightly strained. “Two months and five days.”

Second Hospital, Inpatient Building, 3rd Floor, VIP Room 301

The smell of disinfectant was somewhat diluted by the white orchids by the window. When Old Master Lu learned from the butler, Uncle Li, that his granddaughter Lu Yanqing had returned to the country, his withered hands gripped the bedsheets tightly, clearly struggling to sit up.

The monitor emitted a sharp beep just as Xie Siyu and Lu Yanqing reached the door.

“Grandpa… It’s me, Lu Yanqing. Your Qingqing is back.”

The old man’s violent coughing fit sent a jolt through her whole body. Lu Yanqing sprinted toward the hospital bed.

“Qing… Qingqing?”

The old man saw his familiar granddaughter before him. The IV tube shook violently as he reached out his hand. “You child… you child!”

The grandfather in Lu Yanqing’s memory, who always had a straight back, was now curled up on the hospital bed like a piece of dried, withered leaf, the right side of his body unnaturally hunched.

“I’m sorry for making you worry. I…”

Before she could finish, the old man interrupted her. He actually struggled to get out of bed, ignoring the needle where blood was flowing back, and gripped his granddaughter’s wrist tightly. “Three years! Do you know how Xiao Yu made it through?”

He grabbed the financial report by his pillow and threw it. The paper brushed past Lu Yanqing’s forehead. “Running off to a foreign country the day after the wedding! How could you do this to…”

“Grandpa Lu!”

Xie Siyu suddenly raised her voice, her fingertips inconspicuously turning off the IV tube valve. “Director Liu said you cannot get too excited.”

She steadied the old man’s trembling shoulders.

Lu Yanqing looked at the financial report that had fallen at her feet. In the 2021 Lu Group third-quarter report, risks had been circled in red. Back then, the old man had said the tasks for the final quarter would be left for her to complete.

Her throat felt choked. However, what she wanted to say was preempted by Xie Siyu.

“It was I who wouldn’t let Yanqing contact the family.”

Xie Siyu wiped the back of the old man’s hand with a wet wipe, her voice steeped in a honey-like tenderness. “The overseas merger case at the time required absolute confidentiality.”

She looked up at Lu Yanqing, her gaze firm. “Right?”

Lu Yanqing felt as if something was lodged in her chest, making it hard to breathe. She dully replied, “Yes.”

The excuses she had prepared on the plane about a sudden time-travel were now woven into a seamless lie by Xie Siyu.

She suddenly remembered the day they registered their marriage; this person had used the same gentle tone to tell the notary “I do,” as if they were lovers who had been in love for many years.

“Come here!”

Old Master Lu suddenly grabbed both their wrists and forced them to overlap.

Lu Yanqing noticed a faint white ring at the base of Xie Siyu’s ring finger the mark of wearing a ring for a long time. Meanwhile, her own knuckles were as clean as new.

The old man felt exhausted. It was the sedative that Uncle Li had called the nurse to administer earlier beginning to take effect.

The grandfather’s murmur before falling asleep was like a heavy blow: “From now on, the two of you must live well together…”

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