Chapter 480: Chapter 309: A Complete Slap in the Face, and If Jiangg Ruxue Finds Out, Won’t She Force a Marriage?
...
In the hallway.
Two pairs of shoes tapped against the floor. TAP, TAP.
The windows were bright and clean, and the gentle sunlight outside slanted in, casting a glow on Chen Yuan’s black suit and white shirt.
He walked forward without looking back. When he heard the footsteps behind him grow distant, his pace slowed. When he heard them draw near, his pace quickened.
He always maintained a perfect distance.
To an onlooker, it would have seemed perfectly normal. But to the two of them, the constantly shifting pace of their footsteps held a tacit understanding.
Until Chen Yuan called the elevator, and the two of them stepped inside together.
He pressed the button for the 17th floor and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Jiangg Ning.
Suddenly, a quiet voice drifted to Chen Yuan’s ear. "This part-time job of yours is pretty nice, Chen."
He turned his head, and the sight of Jiangg Ning’s deliberately teasing expression made him freeze. He stammered, unsure of what to say, all traces of the aloof chairman from moments ago gone.
"Ningning, let me explain..."
"Oh? Go on, then. Explain."
Just as Chen Yuan was about to speak, the elevator jolted to a stop. With a DING, the doors, having been summoned by another floor, slowly slid open.
A petite young woman in work attire appeared before them.
The two of them instantly fell silent.
The petite woman with ash-blonde hair had been about to enter the elevator, seemingly lost in thought, but the moment she saw Chen Yuan, she snapped to attention.
She forced a smile. "Good morning, Chairman."
"Mm, hello. Going up?"
"No, no," the woman said, waving her hands frantically. "I’ll take the next one."
...
Chen Yuan’s office was on the very top floor of the building. It had originally been reserved for Jiang Zhengfeng, so it was exquisitely furnished. The entrance opened into a spacious, open-plan room with a perfectly plush carpet. A black leather sofa and tea table were arranged together, with his desk situated beside them, next to the immaculate floor-to-ceiling windows.
Against the wall stood a sparsely filled bookshelf.
Because Chen Yuan hadn’t drawn the curtains when he left, he and Jiangg Ning caught the dry scent of baked sunlight as soon as they walked in.
The air conditioning was set to a comfortable temperature, so it wasn’t too hot.
On the tall bookshelf sat a piece of calligraphy reading "Great Virtue Carries All." Not to mention the expensive paintings on the walls—Chen Yuan knew just how much all these odds and ends were worth.
At this very moment.
Inside the office.
CLICK. The door was shut.
Chen Yuan immediately took a deep breath, rubbing his hands on his suit trousers. The expression on his face changed in an instant.
"Ningning... why did you come here for an interview? You scared the life out of me just now."
He smiled, feigning a relaxed air. He shrugged, then moved behind Jiangg Ning, guiding her by the waist with an eager-to-please look on his face, and had her sit on the sofa.
Jiangg Ning shot him a glance but didn’t return his smile. She sat down, her face devoid of expression.
She scanned her surroundings, her gaze occasionally pausing, before finally landing on the tea table in front of her.
"The pot is wrong."
"Huh?"
Chen Yuan cautiously sat down beside her, and her sudden comment took him aback. With his guilty conscience, he initially thought she was accusing him of being in the wrong.
He took a moment to process her words.
"This kind of tea should be brewed in a Zisha teapot to taste good."
"Is that so?" he asked, scratching his head.
"Alright, weren’t you going to explain? I’m listening." Jiangg Ning turned to face him, her eyes fixed on him. Though her voice was soft, a few drops of cold sweat trickled down Chen Yuan’s back.
He took a deep breath.
’There’s really nothing to hide. Our relationship is at the stage where we should be telling each other about our families anyway.’
In the past, Chen Yuan’s adoptive parents had specifically told him not to talk about Jiang Zhengfeng. Whenever someone asked, he should just brush it off. Over time, this became a habit. He only ever told people about his home in Qishui County.
It proved to be the right approach. The speaker may be careless, but the listener is always attentive. Revealing too much could make it difficult to have normal relationships with others.
Chen Yuan looked into Jiangg Ning’s eyes, reading the inquisitive look within them, and suddenly felt that today was a rare opportunity.
’I’ve been wanting to find the right time to tell her for a while now.’
’I might as well take this chance and tell her everything...’
"Okay," Chen Yuan said, taking Jiangg Ning’s hand and speaking softly. "This is actually a really complicated story, so I’ll have to skip over some things. Let me think... You heard them call me Chairman, right?"
"I did," Jiangg Ning nodded. "They all know, but I, your girlfriend, don’t. Wouldn’t you say that’s a little strange?"
"...Ningning, please don’t be angry. I wasn’t hiding it from you on purpose, I just couldn’t find the right chance to say it. My parents who came to Lanjing the other day are my adoptive parents. You knew that."
"I know."
"They adopted me when I was very young, before I could even form many memories. Looking back now, I can’t remember my birth mother’s face. I only have a vague impression from photos that she was very beautiful and came from a good family. Actually, before I started middle school, I was no different from any other kid. Life was uneventful. My parents were teachers who supervised my studies every day and rarely let me go out to play. All in all, it was a boring childhood."
"You told Yaoyao about this. She told me."
"Right. But everything changed when I started middle school. My biological father used various channels to find his way to Qishui County. He spent several months there and finally figured out which family from which middle school had adopted me. Then, one afternoon, he showed up at the entrance to my family’s alley." Chen Yuan’s memory of that afternoon was still crystal clear, right down to the tire tracks in the mud after the rain. Confessing all this to Jiangg Ning now, he felt a sense of relief. "That’s when I learned that my biological father’s name is Jiang Zhengfeng, and that before my birth was officially registered, my name was Jiang Yuan."
He paused, pressing his lips together in silence.
Jiangg Ning’s reaction was even more dramatic. Hearing the truth for the first time, she couldn’t stop herself from covering her mouth with her hand.
"Oh my god..."
The shock in her eyes was irrepressible, and her expression instantly became complicated.
Even though she’d had her suspicions, the moment they were confirmed, she found it hard to believe.
Her Chen.
’He’s actually related to Jiang Zhengfeng.’
How could Jiangg Ning ever have dared to confirm such a guess? If Chen Yuan hadn’t said it himself, she would have found every reason to force herself not to entertain such a fantasy.
’There’s no way something could be this much of a coincidence.’
’Perhaps only fate can explain it.’
"No wonder..." she murmured.
"What is it?" Ningning’s reaction seemed a bit over the top to Chen Yuan, and he was confused.
How could he have known that Jiangg Ning had met Jiang Zhengfeng before and had found him somewhat familiar? Now it seemed that familiarity was because of the resemblance between the biological father and son!
However.
Jiangg Ning wasn’t just surprised by that.
Chen Yuan didn’t understand how important and complex the matter he had just recounted in such a calm tone truly was.
In an instant, a thousand thoughts flooded Ningning’s mind, and she remained silent for a long time. If Chen Yuan was Jiang Zhengfeng’s biological son, then he was the future heir to the Jiang Corporation, a leader in Huaxia’s energy sector. That was the same behemoth that Jiangg Ruxue had tried desperately to curry favor with, only to be completely ignored.
All these years, the two sisters had thought that among all the people they’d met, their own family background was top-tier. But compared to Chen Yuan, it was utterly insignificant.
Before, Jiangg Ruxue had repeatedly called him "that country bumpkin from Lanjing." Now, she had been thoroughly and completely proven wrong.
Jiangg Ning couldn’t calm the turmoil in her heart.
If even someone with Chen Yuan’s background could be looked down upon, then all the wealthy young men Jiangg Ruxue had painstakingly tried to set the sisters up with, even all of them combined, couldn’t hold a candle to a background like the Jiang Corporation.
It’s just as the saying goes: a watched flower never blooms, while an untended willow grows into a forest!
Jiangg Ruxue had tried every method possible to rely on the background and resources of others, stubbornly refusing to accept the fact that the sisters were dating. She could never have imagined that this "college student" entangled with her daughters was the one who truly embodied the meaning of the two words "family background."
Most importantly, the Jiang Corporation had only one heir.
"You... Chen. Just let me calm down for a second. I need to process this..." Jiangg Ning pressed her hand on Chen Yuan’s thigh, taking deep breaths to quell the storm of shock raging within her.
’If this is the truth... then this relationship can’t be just a simple romance.’
Not to mention what would happen if Jiangg Ruxue found out.
Jiangg Ning could perfectly imagine it. If her mother found out, she would fly to Lanjing and immediately arrange the marriage. She would fawn all over the so-called "country bumpkin," not only forcing Jiangg Ning to marry him tomorrow but also tossing aside any talk of her career or staying in Mingzhu City.
This was the ultimate windfall.
Jiangg Ruxue could instantly achieve the status that comes from a daughter marrying into wealth.
Jiangg Ning had no doubt her mother was capable of such a thing.
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