My Ceo Husband is Sworn Enemy

Chapter 397: Chapter 397 Instant Hope Shattered
 

Although the dead cannot be brought back to life, and his ashes are right here with me.

Yet, suddenly hearing this familiar voice, my heart couldn’t help but leap with joy.

It was the man I’d been thinking about for so long.

I was dying to snatch the phone from Lin Nansheng’s hand and ask for clarity.

But reason still prevailed, and I wouldn’t allow myself to commit such a discourteous act.

All I could do was to wait patiently, reigning in my eagerness.

Fortunately, Lin Nansheng only gave brief instructions and quickly hung up the call.

I forced down the excitement bubbling inside me and pretended to be nonchalant as I asked him,

“Uncle Lin, who was that on the phone just now?”

“Oh, a family member!”

Lin Nansheng said casually.

Family member?

The hope in my heart shattered in an instant.

If it was his family member, then it definitely wasn’t Gu Yuanzhou.

A sense of loss overtook me once more.

“Which city is Uncle Lin’s family in now?”

“Currently, all my family members are in Singapore!”

“Do they have plans to come to A City?”

“Not for the time being! My daughter is still in university; she can’t come over!”

Hearing Lin Nansheng say this, I was slightly surprised,

“Didn’t Uncle Lin say your daughter was the one who had gone missing? The one born to your lover whom you mentioned…”

Actually, ever since Lin Nansheng said he once had a lover, and especially after he saw a photo of my mother and started taking extra care of me, I had a faint feeling.

Could his lover be my mother?

But remembering what Song Shixiong had told me, that my mother was in love with a married man, it made me all the more eager to know more about Lin Nansheng.

Upon hearing this, Lin Nansheng’s gaze filled with sadness.

“When we were in love, indeed my family had arranged a marriage for me. I had planned to call off that marriage and marry her, but her brother found out and demanded a large sum of money from me, accusing me of toying with her feelings. After selling land and property to raise the funds, he finally told me that his sister had already married someone else and had a child.”

“I felt like my heart had died then, and after returning home, I accepted the marriage my parents had arranged for me. It was many years later that I had my current younger daughter…”

“So that’s what happened, that’s truly a regrettable affair.”

In fact, by this point, I had already mostly guessed the conclusion.

However, considering he now had a family of his own, I decided not to tell him about my mother.

Lin Nansheng was supposed to drive me home, but I was afraid he might get the wrong idea if he saw I lived on Beilu Hill.

So I just had him drop me off at Zhenyi Company.

Because I didn’t return, Jian Jing was afraid to go there alone, and at this hour, she was still waiting for me at the company.

Seeing me get out of Lin Nansheng’s car, she looked thrilled,

“Wow, Director Lin personally drove you home. He’s really taking good care of you, huh.”

“Uh, don’t overthink it, he sees me as a younger relative!”

Jian Jing, ever the gossip, chased after me, eagerly inquiring about my day. I didn’t hide anything, telling her about playing golf in the morning and visiting the business district in the evening.

Jian Jing listened with rapt attention, eyes wide with interest.

“What? He wants to collaborate with you? How much do you have to invest?”

“Zero investment, I just have to contribute my presence.”

“Holy shit, this is like making money while lying down! I’m telling you, there’s only one reason a man would treat a woman so well, and that’s because he likes you!”

I helplessly spread my hands,

“Really, it’s not like that—you’re overthinking it! I’m not some naive girl who’s never seen the world before; can’t I tell?”

Indeed, Lin Nansheng was a very gentlemanly man, and it was very comfortable being around him, but he always maintained a reasonable and polite distance from me.

To me, he was more like an elder who provided thoughtful guidance; he pointed things out to me little by little in the realm of business.

The advice he gave me about Zhenyi Company was excellent—all of it struck a chord with me.

In the following days, I reformed the company according to his guidance.

During the weekend, Wenya and Su Peisheng came to see me.

After entering the company, Wenya looked at the changes and expressed her praise,

“Ayun, I told you, you have the ability to improve Zhenyi Company. Look, look, it’s already reaching its peak now.”

“Well, not quite, but it’s definitely moving in the right direction.”

Wenya walked around the office and, seizing a moment when no one was around, she suddenly asked me,

“Have you encountered any ghosts recently… like Gu Yuanzhou’s?”

I seriously thought about it. Lately, I had thrown myself entirely into work, and with Jian Jing always by my side, it seemed Gu Yuanzhou hadn’t appeared again.

I hadn’t even had a single dream about it.

“Nope!”

“That’s good, otherwise it’d be too damn scary. I told ya, you can’t live alone. Living alone makes it easy to have illusions. Lucky for you, I begged Jian Jing to stay with you… Oops, seems like I let slip something I shouldn’t have, hahaha, I’ll cast a forgetting spell on you!”

“Cut the crap, I know Jian Jing was sent by you. She was quite scared in the beginning, but now she’s gotten used to it.”

“That’s good. I think it’s best if you move on from that dark period, but, however, please take it easy. I know you’re a bit lonely, but still, hold back a little. If you really need a man, Su Peisheng and I talked it over, we can introduce you to a boyfriend.”

Only then did Su Peisheng, who had been following behind me, step forward.

“I have a buddy, he’s a pretty good guy. Three years older than you, tall one eighty-eight…”

“Stop right there, I’m not interested in blind dates at all. Wenya, don’t stir up trouble for me when there’s none. I’m perfectly fine on my own.”

Wenya gave me a meaningful look,

“Without a man, what will you do about loneliness?”

“How am I lonely, I’m so busy every day…”

“Ai, I didn’t want to say it, but I’ve been hinting for so long and you just don’t get it, so now I’ll just say it outright.”

Wenya took out her phone and showed me a news article.

I was startled when I saw it—I had no idea. The photos of me playing golf, horseback riding, and dining with Lin Nansheng had been sneakily taken and manipulated before being posted online.

They even came with a sensational headline, “Ding Yinuo’s ex-wife passionately in love with a mysterious magnate, an age-gap romance envied by many…”

I took another look at the photos, I had to admit, the photographer chose very peculiar angles, all of them suggesting intimacy.

“Erk!”

I shook my head after seeing them,

“This is absolutely slander! None of this is true! Lin Nansheng is not that kind of person.”

Wenya looked at me doubtfully,

“I’ve heard some things too, this big shot is super rich. Marrying him wouldn’t be wrong, but… he’s too old, he could practically be your father, and I doubt you’d be satisfied in bed. In another ten years, he’ll be in his sixties, and you’ll be in your prime, and he won’t be able to satisfy you.”

Wenya’s words became more and more outrageous, and I put my hand over her mouth,

“Enough, shut up, if you keep this up, we’re done as friends.”

“Hehe, are you feeling shy?”

“It’s not about being shy or not, the thing is, Lin Nansheng and I are innocent. Sigh, those people who are smearing me definitely have ulterior motives…”

With this information from Wenya, I immediately became alert.

Because all this was too unusual.