Chapter 37: Act First, Report Later
Morning light faintly penetrated the curtains.
The girl still slept sweetly, her small face buried in the soft goose-down pillow, eyelashes trembling occasionally.
The phone ringtone suddenly broke the silence in the room, scaring Ruan Yi into shrinking into a ball inside the quilt.
Before she could recover, the second and third rings exploded in succession. The phone vibrated annoyingly by the pillow.
Ruan Yi reached out groggily to fumble for it. She clearly remembered she hadn’t set an alarm.
“Ruan Yi! What exactly is going on?” Lin Han’s questioning voice exploding from the receiver nearly made her fling the phone away.
“Mm… what ‘what is going on’?”
Ruan Yi’s voice was mumbled, carrying undispelled sleepiness and a bit of grievance from being woken up.
“Your formal engagement party! I’ve even received the invitation. The Shen family says they will announce the wedding date for you and Shen Xun at the engagement party!”
Sleepiness vanished instantly from Ruan Yi’s widened eyes. She sprang up from the bed, the strap of her nightgown sliding down her shoulder with the movement.
“What?! I, I’ll call you later.” She responded randomly to the phone and hung up without waiting for Lin Han’s response.
When Ruan Yi rushed into the bathroom in her plush slippers, she was so anxious she nearly knocked over the bottles and jars on the countertop. Washing up casually at the fastest speed, she grabbed a knitted cardigan by the door and rushed toward the Shen family home.
She didn’t even have time to care if her current appearance was disheveled, sprinting along the cobblestone road of the villa area in her slippers.
The Shen family’s magnificent European-style gates got closer in her vision. The girl’s fingernails dug into her palms from anxiety.
She had to stop Shen Xun before more people received invitations!
Ruan Yi rushed into the Shen family living room. The path was excessively unobstructed; not a single servant came to stop her. Instead, they lowered their heads and retreated far away one after another.
Perhaps it was because of her current appearance. The knitted cardigan draped over her body was half-open, sliding down her shoulder with her hurried steps, revealing a large expanse of snow-white skin. Water droplets that hadn’t been wiped clean still clung below her collarbone.
“Shen Xun! You lunatic!”
She saw the man sitting on the sofa, seemingly waiting for something.
Hearing the noise, Shen Xun looked up, his pupils contracting suddenly.
A few strands of the girl’s messy hair stuck to her crimson cheeks. Her full chest rose and fell with intense breathing, and under the skirt hem, her fair, slender legs glowed with a pink luster under the lights.
The man took a deep breath and stood up.
Ruan Yi stepped forward in slippers skewed from running too fast, grabbed Shen Xun’s collar, and opened her mouth with an angry interrogation.
“On what basis did you decide the engagement party and send out invitations without authorization? Stop it right now, immediately!”
Shen Xun showed no displeasure at having his collar grabbed. He just lowered his eyes, probably because from his elevated perspective, there were things that excited him more.
The girl’s rapidly heaving chest was close at hand, even the cleavage flushed pink.
Shen Xun reached out to grab the girl’s hand pulling his collar, his thumb rubbing the soft flesh on the inside of her wrist, his voice husky.
“Too late. The Lin family was the last to be notified.”
He actually predicted Lin Han would report it!
Burning shame burned from the back of her neck to the tips of her ears. Ruan Yi flung his hand away violently, stumbling back a half-step as she withdrew her wrist.
“Shen Xun! On what basis is the wedding date decided by you? You are acting first and reporting later!” Her eyes, glistening with water from anger, glared fiercely at Shen Xun.
The man suddenly leaned in close. His scorching gaze seemed tangible as it swept over her collarbone, wandering along the undulating curves of her figure, finally fixing on her angry little face, causing Ruan Yi to get goosebumps all over.
“Me, acting first and reporting later? The one who truly acted first and reported later by bringing a man home—who was it, exactly?”
When unable to stick to Ruan Yi every day, naturally someone would watch her for him.
Ruan Yi froze hearing his words. Bringing a man home… was he referring to Fu Wang?
Shen Xun had actually planted spies in the Ruan house! It must be the servants present that day when she deceived Fu Jingchen.
She calculated everything but didn’t calculate for Shen Xun.
“Shen Xun! I don’t care… this engagement party was announced by you unilaterally. The Ruan family won’t acknowledge it!”
The man’s warm breath swept past her reddened earlobe.
“No need for your reminder. On Auntie’s side, the notification has probably already been delivered by now.”
Inside the tea room.
Jiang Qingyue gently stirred her Pu’er tea, looking smilingly at Ruan Ying, whose expression was a bit unnatural, sitting opposite her.
“Back then, it was all thanks to our two families supporting each other in the business sea that we could achieve what we have today.”
She lowered her eyes to blow away the floating foam, her tone gentle yet firm in a way that left no room for refusal.
“Now, the engagement between Little Yi and Little Xun is a match made in heaven. After I chatted privately with Little Xun, I also felt it was time to give this relationship a formal ceremony.”
Facing such sudden rhetoric, Ruan Ying couldn’t quite handle it and could only try to delay.
“What you say is naturally correct, but regarding the children’s marriage, we still have to ask for the children’s ideas. After all, Little Yi is still studying.”
Hearing this, Jiang Qingyue’s fingertips pinching the porcelain cup turned a bit white, though the smile at the corners of her eyes remained gentle.
“As elders, we should always plan for the long term for the children. This engagement isn’t just a matter of two children; it’s a promise extending the trust of two generations.”
Before Ruan Ying could respond, she spoke again.
“The Shen Corporation will inject capital into the New Channel project next month. Our cooperation this time… will definitely be very smooth.”
Ruan Ying sighed, finally understanding the benevolent act of the Shen Corporation conceding profits for cooperation during the period when the Ruan Corporation’s stock price fluctuated due to Ruan Jianming’s accident.
Where was the family friendship? Those sudden acts of generosity were just hooks buried for today’s scene.
With the Shen family applying both grace and authority like this, no matter how much Little Yi resisted, as long as the Shen family didn’t let go, escaping this formal engagement party was impossible.
After a long time, Ruan Ying swallowed her sigh and forced a smile. “Mrs. Shen is right. It was my lack of consideration.”
Hearing the other party finally relent, Jiang Qingyue finally put her heart down, relieved of a heavy burden.
Shen Xun had worn out his lips to get her to agree to do this wicked thing, and even strove to negotiate several transnational large orders, exceeding the standards she set for him.
It would be unjustifiable not to help. After all, he was her own son; how could she bear to go back on her word?
It was just… Little Yi would certainly be frightened.
This child’s temperament, I really don’t know who he takes after. Why is he playing forced marriage on Little Yi?
The phone buzzed “Ding-dong,” making Ruan Yi’s heart panic.
Her mother had already told her Mrs. Shen’s rhetoric.
Ruan Yi had prepared herself mentally, but when she saw the sentence “Mom will think of another way” in the chat box, she still broke down.
How could she bear to let her mother worry? Her mother was already tired enough every day, yet she still had to think about the messy business between her and Shen Xun!
The next second, Ruan Yi let out a wail and buried her face in the pillow, her slender legs kicking wildly in the air.
Ruan Yi suddenly stopped moving. She felt she looked a bit like a cockroach struggling blindly, unable to flip over.
“What match made in heaven! Dead Shen Xun is clearly forcing himself on me!”
The phone vibrated twice more on the quilt. Ruan Yi checked the message while resentfully pulling the long ears of her rabbit plushie to vent her anger.
It was actually an anonymous message from a virtual number.
“I can help you get what you want.”
Just a few short words caused Ruan Yi’s pupils to quake.
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