Hang Yishao seldom told lies. Having known Hang Yishao for so many years, Su Ziceng had sufficient understanding of him. Before her rebirth, whenever he went out to play with women, he never concealed it from Su Ziceng.
"Ziceng, did you hear what I said? No, I’m coming to the Su Family now, I will not allow you to go to Spain with that dangerous man, cursed Spain," Hang Yishao said anxiously, frantically pulling at his hair.
"Yishao, I know what I’m doing, we are just work partners for now. Business matters are my personal affairs, please do not interfere, and you do not have the right to," Su Ziceng felt that the reply coming out of her mouth was very forced. So far, since their teacher-student relationship ended, they remained merely work partners.
"Of course, I have the right to interfere, I am your fiancé, I... like you," Hang Yishao’s spontaneous confession made both Su Ziceng and him fall silent.
"Ziceng, I really like you," Hang Yishao said carefully, he never knew that confessing to someone needed such caution, fearing that if he wasn’t careful, spoken too loudly or too frankly, he might scare Su Ziceng away. Fresh chapters posted on novel(ꜰ)ire.net
The confession that came too many years late brought to Su Ziceng nothing but surprise.
On the phone, Su Ziceng, tongue-tied, didn’t know how to respond. After a long while, as both of their phones started to heat up, Su Ziceng finally replied, "Yishao, I have self-control."
"Then swear, swear that you will never fall in love with Pello, that if you do, you will..." Hang Yishao wanted to bind Su Ziceng on the other end of the phone with an oath, his heart silently praying, Lord, if oaths really work, then I hope, the woman on the other end of the phone, belongs to me for life, in body and soul.
A calamity that cannot be undone, neither Su Ziceng nor Hang Yishao had the heart to complete the potential oath outright, she could only try her best to say, "I promise, I won’t fall in love with him."
After hanging up the phone, Su Ziceng sat blankly on the bed, not knowing why she had made that promise to Hang Yishao. It might be out of habit; over a decade of marriage had accustomed her to obeying Hang Yishao’s commands. But this time, even she wasn’t sure she could keep that oath.
"Maybe, I really shouldn’t go with Pello," Su Ziceng realized that what Hang Yishao had said did reach her heart. She felt a bit resentful, resentful that Pello hadn’t told her about his previous relationship with Wen Maixue. After experiencing a woman like Wen Maixue, could Pello really take an interest in someone like her?
"Better not to go together," Su Ziceng made a decision, it was best for her to go to Spain alone, she would tell her father now.
Just as she reached outside Su Qingzhang’s study before she could knock, Su Qingzhang pulled open the door himself.
It was already past nine in the evening, and Su Qingzhang was not cajoling the children as he usually did after returning home. Instead, he went straight into the study upon arriving home and had only now come out.
In fact, Su Qingzhang had been considering whether to tell Su Ziceng the news he had learned in the afternoon. If he told Su Ziceng, he was worried it would dampen her enthusiasm, but not telling her would undoubtedly render her trip to Spain fruitless.
"You’re here, is your luggage all packed?" Su Qingzhang turned back inside, his cane walking silently across the thick carpet.
"All packed, but Dad, I’m thinking, for the trip to Spain tomorrow, I can go alone," Su Ziceng was still thinking about how to persuade Su Qingzhang.
"No, you must go with Pello," Su Qingzhang persisted with his original decision. He too had considered the prospect of Pello and Su Ziceng going to Spain alone, worrying it would cause gossip. But at the last cocktail party, Wen Maixue had casually mentioned her past relationship with Pello, eliminating Su Qingzhang’s concerns.
In Su Qingzhang’s mind, he and Su Ziceng shared the same opinion; after experiencing a woman like Wen Maixue, no man could completely back out. Moreover, he now knew of new developments.
"I can handle it myself, some regions in Spain speak French," Su Ziceng believed, with her own experience of visiting ZARA’s headquarters, she ought to be able to successfully conduct the franchise negotiations this time. Last time, she had reached a preliminary cooperation with ZARA.
"The situation has changed now, over the past year or so, the zeal of the Asian market, especially in Z country, has surprised the whole world. Your verbal agreement with ZARA is already void," Su Qingzhang spoke very matter-of-factly.
"Dad," Su Ziceng wanted to argue.
"What have you been doing these past two months?" Su Qingzhang sidestepped Su Ziceng’s persistent requests, suddenly asking instead.
"I’ve been learning about the preparations for opening a store and even put together that report I submitted to you," Su Ziceng felt everything was ready, just waiting to sign the agreement with ZARA to prepare. As for things like store locations, after franchising, the other party would send special personnel for training; planning now would be overly premature.
"Your vision is too short-sighted, these preparations can only be made after your successful collaboration with ZARA. Do you know, two weeks ago, ZARA sold the Asian exclusive franchise rights to a businessman in Europe?" The news came from Pello, who, while preparing the Golden Coast project, also kept an eye on the latest movements of Su Ziceng’s project.
"What," this news was a huge shock to Su Ziceng. She had not anticipated that after she prepared everything, a prematurely signed agreement would render all her efforts useless.
"Now you have two options, first, cancel the trip to Spain and directly join the Su Family to work on the Golden Coast project. Second, go to Europe with Pello, trying to persuade ZARA or that businessman to give up the franchise rights," Su Qingzhang didn’t want to hit Su Ziceng hard, but this was a decision she had to make now.
"I," Su Ziceng was rendered speechless.
"You can think about it, and give me an answer tomorrow morning," Su Qingzhang rose to go check on Yang Wuxu and his mother and child.
"I choose to go to Europe and make one more effort," Su Ziceng made her decision swiftly, her thoughts were still chaotic, but she had made up her mind.
In today’s Su Family, it seemed there was no place for her, she had to create her own sky. And Pello, was her best choice to create this new sky with.
(To be continued. If you work, we welcome you to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation tickets and monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)