I Want a Lifetime with You novel Chapter 76

“He’s not a wild man,” Shi Nuan blurted out. She sighed upon seeing Fu Xicheng’s expression and continued, “Fu Xicheng, I’ll say this one more time: don’t do anything that will disgust me.”

She reached for his hand, which had clamped down on her arm, and pried his fingers off her one by one. “It’s best for us to maintain our distance at work!”

“Nuan!”

Staring at Shi Nuan’s back, Fu Xicheng punched the elevator door, frightening a personnel who just happened to be walking by. “Mr. Fu!”

“What are you doing here?” Fu Yuqing’s voice rang out from behind Fu Xicheng. “Father!” Fu Xicheng had been oblivious to father’s presence and responded nervously.

“Hmph,” Fu Yuqing glared at Fu Xicheng. “How many times have I told you to watch yourself at work? Since you’re already engaged to Shi Wei, stop approaching Shi Nuan!” Fu Yuqing was disappointed in his own son. “You have to be clear of what you want!”

“But father…” Fu Xicheng frowned. “I truly love Nuan.” If it weren’t for the shares in Shi Wei’s hands and for the sake of obtaining Huancheng, he wouldn’t have chosen Shi Wei. It was true that he was physically attracted to her, but he didn’t love her.

“True love? There’s nothing in the world that money can’t buy. You’ll understand what I’m saying after you get Huancheng’s shares,” Fu Yuqing scoffed as he stared at Fu Xicheng. “Look at what you’ve become. There’s nothing to gain from Shi Nuan. I’m warning you: if I catch you with her again, I won’t go easy on you.”

“Yes, I understand,” Fu Xicheng said submissively.

“It’s a critical moment for the company now. Something’s going on at Shengyuan and it’s drastically impacting our sales. Go investigate.”

“Understood!”

After freeing herself from Fu Xicheng, Shi Nuan felt unsettled, and her skin crawled when she remembered the encounter. Her phone buzzed in her hand – it was an incoming call from Jiang Yu. It would be an understatement to say that Shi Nuan was feeling infuriated.

She stared at the screen for a long time as it continued to ring. The phone would turn silent for a few seconds, only to ring again. After the same process repeated a few times, Shi Nuan finally picked up the phone in frustration. Jiang Yu’s shrill voice immediately pierced her eardrums. “What are you doing? Why did it take you so long to pick up?”

Jiang Yu sounded extremely hostile. Shi Nuan had always known how her own mother treated her, but she still couldn’t help but feel slightly hurt. She could never understand why her mother pampered Shi Wei but treated her like a nemesis when both of them had the same set of parents.

Shi Nuan bit her lip and said with a wry smile, “I was at work so I didn’t hear it ring. What are you calling me for, mother?” No matter what, this woman was her mother; Shi Nuan couldn’t deny that Jiang Yu had raised her.

Hearing Shi Nuan’s words, Jiang Yu merely scoffed, “Is your work more important than me? It looks like I’m becoming more and more insignificant to you, Shi Nuan.”

“That’s not true,” Shi Nuan said. “I really was busy with work. What’s the matter?”

“Am I not allowed to talk to you without a reason?” Jiang Yu said bitingly, “Look at what you’ve become. I’m your mother, but you never take the initiative to contact me, and I always have to be the one calling you. How pompous can you be?”

Jiang Yu sounded extremely harsh and mean. Her tone was nothing like how a mother would talk to her own child.

But no matter how hurt she felt, there was nothing Shi Nuan could say. “I’ve been quite busy with work. I…”

“Being ‘busy’ is always your excuse. Your elder sister is a huge celebrity; are you saying that you’re busier than her? You’re just unfilial. No matter how busy your sister is, she would drop by or call to ask how I’m doing. And you? Not only did you move out, you refuse to even visit us! How could I have given birth to such a heartless creature like you!?”

Shi Nuan’s grip on the phone tightened as felt a twinge in her heart. She closed her eyes and took a moment to calm down. “Mother, are you not aware of the reason I never return home?”

“You…” Jiang Yu thought her daughter was being a pushover as usual when Shi Nuan did not respond initially. She didn’t expect Shi Nuan to refute her this time. “What do you mean by that, you brat?”

“Do you really not know what I mean, mother?” Shi Nuan smiled bitterly. “What are you calling me for?”

Shi Nuan was well aware of Jiang Yu’s character. Her mother would never call without a motive. Since Jiang Yu was now proactively approaching her, there must be something important.

“Come back and visit!” Jiang Yu said petulantly. “Don’t forget that this is your home. Your grandpa treats you so well, yet you…”

“I’m really busy recently!” Shi Nuan immediately said. It was true that her grandfather treated her well, so she certainly would want to see him. However, the old man was also very considerate of her and naturally wouldn’t force her to return. Shi Nuan easily saw through Jiang Yu schemes – she was using the old man as an excuse to persuade Shi Nuan to go home.

“Sure, you’re busy,” Jiang Yu spat through gritted teeth. “What can you be so busy with, you brat? You only work for others. I’m warning you: if you don’t come home today…”

“What will you do?” Shi Nuan cut her off. “I’m your daughter too, mother. But if you could just be more thoughtful sometimes, I wouldn’t be so opposed to the idea of returning to my home.”

“What do you mean by that?” Jiang Yu was livid when she heard Shi Nuan’s response. “Are you saying that it’s because of me? I’m warning you, Shi Nuan: if you don’t come home today, you’ll regret it.”

Shi Nuan squinted her eyes as a thought formed in her head, making her feel uneasy. “What would I regret?”

“Photos of your little adventure with Mr. Yun that day were captured. Are you sure you won’t regret?” Jiang Yu said smugly. “Come back at once!”

“What could possibly happen between Mr. Yun and me, mother?” Shi Nuan rebutted, “I’ve never met Mr. Yun before, no?”

“You…”

“Or are you admitting that you and father had planned that incident? I’m your daughter too, mother. Why would you do this to me?” Shi Nuan trembled as she spoke. There was a voice in her head telling her not to get mad, reminding her that she had been long aware of this matter. But she still couldn’t control herself.

“There’s no reason! Huancheng needs money, and Mr. Yun was willing to provide it. If you still consider yourself my daughter, come back or I’ll release everything! Make your decision!”

“Mother!” Shi Nuan growled. “Do you really have to do this?”

“Yes!” Jiang Yu replied. “It’s the only way. You should know that Yun Shen is the Yun family’s third young master, and the Yun family is much better off than the Shi family. If you were to become Yun Shen’s woman, everything that belongs to the Yun family will belong to you. I’m doing all of this for your sake. When you reap the benefits, you’ll be grateful for what I’ve done.”

“Grateful?” Shi Nuan was utterly disappointed by her mother’s behavior, but knowing that Jiang Yu had dirt on her made her feel unsettled. Moreover, Jiang Yu was someone who would do anything for Shi Wei’s sake. If she were to hand this information over to Shi Wei… Shi Nuan didn’t dare to imagine the consequences. “Fine. I’ll meet you guys, but I don’t want to go home!”

Jiang Yu smiled gleefully. “Fine, then we’ll meet outside.” She didn’t want Shi Nuan to return home anyway. If they were to meet inside the Shi family home, it would be difficult to carry out her plans with Shi Yunsheng and Mr. Yang watching them closely.

After hanging up, Shi Nuan felt like she had been drained of all her energy. She slumped to the floor. She stared straight ahead in a daze, her eyes glazing over as she fell into a trance.

This continued until Pei walked over and frantically helped Shi Nuan up. “What’s wrong, Ms. Shi?”

Regaining her senses, Shi Nuan forced a smile and shook her head, saying, “It’s OK, I’m fine!” She pushed Pei aside and sat on her seat. “You should get back to work!”

“OK, but are you really alright, Ms. Shi?” Pei was still worried, but Shi Nuan nodded and told her to leave.

Shi Nuan remained in a stupor for a while before pulling out her phone to look for Fu Chengyan’s number. She was stunned to see his contact name and immediately changed it to ‘That One from Home’.

She then dialed Fu Chengyan’s number, but the man was probably busy as he didn’t pick up.

Fu Chengyan was in a meeting, so he had silenced his phone and didn’t hear Shi Nuan’s phone call.

The meeting room was filled with tension. Regarding what Fu Chengyan had done recently, he had gained the approval of several directors, but there was another group that was unhappy with his actions. Especially with the fact that Fu Chengyan had bought over the shares of Fu Renjiang and the other two shareholders in his own name.

With that, Fu Chengyan’s percentage of shares had increased, and this wasn’t something they were particularly pleased about.

Moreover, because of what Fu Renjiang did, his position as department manager was now vacant. Everyone wanted the position for themselves, or at least get their own people to obtain it. Hence, this meeting had been in session since morning.

Fu Chengyan tapped the table with his slender fingers as he watched the seniors of the company argue among themselves. He looked calm and relaxed, completely unfazed by what was happening.

Perhaps the meeting had been going on for too long, but everyone exchanged glances and silently looked at Fu Chengyan the moment they heard a knock on the door. Fu Chengyan merely raised a brow and gestured with an arm. “No worries. Please carry on!” He then turned to Zhou Zheng, who immediately went over to open the door.

The person standing at the door was Fu Chengyan’s secretary. She looked at Fu Chengyan with an anxious face, saying, “Mr. Fu, you have an international call from WH… They’ve been waiting for you for half an hour.”

Fu Chengyan frowned. “Why didn’t you remind me?” His cold voice interrupted a shareholder who was just about to speak. “How could you let this happen?”

“But…” The secretary was in a tight spot. “This morning, you told me not to interrupt the meeting, so I…”

Fu Chengyan got up as his eyes turned cold. “Please excuse me, sirs. I may have to answer a phone call.” The tone in his voice left no room for negotiation.

The few directors who initially had more to say had already become distracted the moment they heard about WH. All of them knew that Shengyuan was intending to work with WH. WH was an extremely well-known company from the US. A collaboration with them would open up Shengyuan’s path to the international market, thus greatly benefitting the company.

Seeing that the directors had nothing else to say, Fu Chengyan stood up and calmly exited the meeting room with a faint smile on his lips. Zhou Zheng and the secretary followed closely behind. “Those old fogeys are really too much, Mr. Fu!”

“Yep!”