Please Confess to Me

Chapter 12
***

S Municipal Airport

Li QingYuan and Fang Yu were dragging suitcases behind them as they walked.

“Mr. Li, you really aren’t going to go to the company?” Fang Yu couldn’t help but ask again.

“No, I’m going home. I need to sleep.” After the kind of business trip he just had, Li QingYuan just wanted to go home and rest.

“But President Su said he was going to hold a meeting later this afternoon to follow-up on the contract.” Fang Yu said.

“That’s your business. I’m just the legal consultant. Once a contract has been settled, my part is pretty much finished.” Li QingYuan replied, uncaring.

“But you heavily participated in the negotiations. I think the company would very much like to hear your suggestions.” Fang Yu continued.

“Heck, why are you going to the meeting? You didn’t participate in any of the negotiations. You should want to go home just as much as I do.” Li QingYuan complained. “Man, you’ve been following Su Hang for so many years, I’m amazed that you’re still as bright-eyed as before. With business trips every week, and even more meetings straight after, simply disgraceful, ah.”

“That’s just the job. I remember last time, the Boss had to go to Country M. A thirteen-hour flight, two nights with no sleep, then the moment we land we had to go to the company to continue working.” Fang Yu commented.

“He even went on a business trip right after getting married, can you believe that guy?” Li QingYuan ridiculed.

“Er..haha.” Fang Yu could only smile awkwardly

The two soon left the airport and stood around the entrance, waiting for the company car to arrive.

Li QingYuan looked down at the Q&H gift bags Fang Yu was carrying. “And you even had to buy a necklace for your boss.”

“Yeah.” Fang Yu had to concede to that.

“Give it to me.” Li QingYuan casually took the bag from him.

“Ha?” Fang Yu puzzled.

“Are you going to pass by his house before heading to the company?” Li QingYuan asked.

“Ah?”

“You should know what he bought it for.” Li QingYuan continued.

Fang Yu silently nodded. After so many years with the Boss, the only way he wouldn’t know was if he was blind.

“So if you wanna pass it to me, I can directly give it to the Madam….”

Li QingYuan hadn’t even finished his sentence when Fang Yu pushed the bag towards him. Looking very sincere, Fang Yu said: “Mr. Li, I’ll be troubling you.”

“It seems that you also know that your boss is a moron.” Li QingYuan said, giving Fang Yu a meaningful glance.

(T/N: If confused, my take on this is that if they give it to Su Hang, he’s going to take ages/pass it off as someone else’s gift for the wifey. Hence, moron. So before that happens, Li QingYuan plans to give it to Shen Xi and straight up say its from Su Hang.)

“Mr. Li, the car’s here, I’ll be going first.” As the chuckling Fang Yu said this, he quickly placed his suitcase in the trunk, ran and jumped in the car, and rapidly escaped.

“Hey…look at that thief.” Li QingYuan looked at the speedily retreating car. He couldn’t help but scoff. In the end, Li QingYuan stopped a taxi and left.

==

After a week of resting, Shen Xi’s cold had finally passed, and Su Hang went back to work at the company instead of working home.

After eating lunch, Shen Xi planned to visit one of the coffee shops she managed. Speaking of coffee shops, it would be more accurate to say that these stores were Shen Xi’s hobby, rather than her businesses.

Shen Xi liked to read a lot, but she also felt that reading alone at home was too lonely, while reading in the library was too dull. She liked reading in coffee shops the most. The soft music, the bitter fragrance of coffee, the light chatter of the people around her; it was a very warm and comfortable atmosphere.

So she opened a coffee shop of her own. She decorated her stores based on her tastes and filled it with all her favorite books, sharing them with other people. She didn’t care how much profit the stores made and instead concentrated on keeping the atmosphere quiet and peaceful. There was even a decibel meter on each table, strictly limiting the volume of every guest. It wasn’t really a coffee shop anymore, but more of a personal study.

After changing clothes, Shen Xi walked downstairs, only to see Mrs. Zhang open the front door. With a smile, Mrs. Zhang turned around and told her: “Madam, Mr. Li is here.”

“Mr. Li? Li QingYuan?” Shen Xi asked.

“Yes.” Mrs. Zhang nodded.

“I see.” Shen Xi looked towards the door, put down her bag, and said, “Please make us some tea.”

As Mrs. Zhang walked towards the kitchen, Li QingYuan entered the house. When he saw Shen Xi standing at the living room nearby, he immediately smiled and enthusiastically shouted: “Sister-in-law!”

Li QingYuan was Su Hang’s best friend and was the only one, out of all his other friends, who had ever called her ‘sister-in-law.’ During their five years of marriage, Shen Xi had met some of Su Hang’s friends. At first, they would call her sister-in-law, but Shen Xi couldn’t get used to it, so Su Hang started telling everyone to just call her by name. They all acquiesced, and in the end, only Li QingYuan persisted in calling her sister-in-law.

“Have a seat.” Shen Xi greeted Li QingYuan and offered him to sit down. As he sat down, Mrs. Zhang placed some bubble tea on the coffee table.

“Are you looking for Su Hang?” Shen Xi asked.

“Yes, is he home?” Perhaps it was because he had been a lawyer for a long time now, but Li QingYuan’s lies were typically flawless.

“He went to the company to work.” Shen Xi replied.

“He went to the company? I thought he was accompanying you at home, ah.” Li QingYuan said, pretending to be surprised.

Shen Xi didn’t say anything, awkwardly smiling instead.

“I thought he’d be home because he practically ran back from HK. He said that sister-in-law was sick, how can he work at a time like this?” Li QingYuan acted overly concerned and asked: “Sister-in-law, how’s your body holding up?”

“He came back because of me?” Shen Xi was surprised.

“Of course! Su Hang heard you had a cold and hurried back. He even forgot some of his things, so I came here to drop them off.” Li QingYuan pushed the Q&H gift bag towards Shen Xi and said: “He bought sister-in-law a gift, but because he was in such a hurry, he dropped it at the hotel.”

Shen Xi clumsily accepted the gift. She felt the bag looked a little familiar, but she didn’t open in and instead smiled at Li QingYuan. “Thank you for coming all this way.”

“It was no trouble, no trouble.” Li QingYuan had achieved his goal, so he stood up to leave. “Since I’ve given it back, I’ll be going now.”

“Already? Why not stay for a little longer?”

“No, my taxi is still waiting for me outside.” Li QingYuan replied.

Hearing that he couldn’t stay, Shen Xi stood up and walked him to the door. Chu Wu, who had been playing in the front yard, saw Li QingYuan and started barking, his tail wagging happily. Li QingYuan gave him a firm rub before entering his taxi.

As the taxi drove away, the first thing Li QingYuan did was pull out his phone and send Su Hang a message: [Brother, no need to thank me.]

In his office, the busy Su Hang read the text and sent a perfunctory reply: [Go die!]

“Hey!” Li QingYuan felt like he just did something charitable, but this Su Hang scolded him instead. Feeling bitter, he complained to the taxi driver: “Sir, what would you do if you generously helped a friend, only to be told to go die?”

“I’d reflect on things.”

“Reflect?”

“On whether I’m being too nosy.” The driver’s answer was very deep.

“….”

Shen Xi walked back to the living room and looked at the gift bag on the coffee table. She tried to remember where she had seen it before. Back in her last life, Su Hang had also gone on this business trip. Only, he didn’t come back early, nor did he come home with this gift. So why this sense of familiarity?

Shen Xi couldn’t hold back her curiosity and opened the bag. Inside was a blue velvet box, and when she opened it, she saw the sparkling diamond necklace inside. Shen Xi finally remembered where she had seen the bag before.

She did receive this gift in her past life. But she recalled that it wasn’t Su Hang that gave it to her, but an associate of the Su family. Back then, Shen Xi had thought the necklace to be too exaggerated and luxurious to wear often, so she auctioned it out in a charity sale soon after.

So why did she receive this necklace from Su Hang this time around? Or was it that during both times it was actually Su Hang that gifted it to her?

“What a beautiful necklace! Mr. Hang gave it to you, right?” Mrs. Zhang’s exclamation interrupted Shen Xi’s thoughts.

“Mrs. Zhang, please help me put the necklace away. I’m going out. Shen Xi said.

“Oh, yes.” Mrs. Zhang closed the lid of the gift box, then asked: “Will you be having dinner at home this evening?”

“Yes, I’ll be back by then.”

Shen Xi’s thoughts were still a little chaotic. She thought back to her past life, to the necklace that was probably given to her by Su Hang. She had never worn it even once, and even gave it up for auction. Shen Xi wondered what Su Hang must have felt when he saw her give the necklace away.

Suddenly, Shen Xi had an impulse to see Su Hang and ask him about this face to face. She even managed to drive all the way to the business district. But once she arrived, she calmed down again. How could she just casually go up to Su Hang’s office and ask him things about her past life?

With a sigh, Shen Xi turned back around and went to her coffee shop that was situated in the same district.

It was a cat cafe, with 18 cute cats in it. Shen Xi had asked people to pick them up from parks. After giving them baths and the necessary shots, the cats were only brought to the cafe once they had been determined to be safe. White-collar employees that worked in nearby buildings liked visiting and would come and sit down whenever they had the time. Because of this, business was booming. Even during working hours, there would be customers coming in to drink tea, or workers coming in to do business.

“Sister Shen Xi.” A shop attendant greeted Shen Xi when she came in.

“Sister Shen Xi, how come you’re here?” Mi Na, the store manager, walked up to her.

“I just wanted to check up on the store.” Shen Xi replied.

“Did you want to check up on the store, or your husband?” Mi Na joked, causing the waiter nearby to chuckle.

They knew that their beautiful boss had recently married the president of the Su Group. And now to be the first of her coffee shops to get inspected, people can’t help but think such things, ah. The Su Group company building was nearby after all.

“Is that how you talk to your boss?” Shen Xi snappily asked.

“Boss, we just wanted to remind you.”

“Remind me of what?” Shen Xi tilted her head.

“You got married, but we still hadn’t received any wedding candy.” Mi Na exclaimed. The barista nearby even nodded in agreement.