She Was Watching Her
Preparing for Engagement
The banquet had booked out the entire second floor of the hotel, with a long corridor connecting to the banquet hall.
Lin Sifei and Luo Ke walked side-by-side through the corridor and entered the main hall. As soon as Luo Ke appeared, someone immediately walked up to talk to her.
“This is…”
Lin Sifei seemed to have a switch flipped; she immediately raised her chin and looked at Luo Ke with sparkling eyes.
Luo Ke shook her head helplessly, “This is my girlfriend.”
The surrounding people immediately revealed expressions of sudden realization, “This must be Miss Lin. I heard she is already President Luo’s fiancée.”
Luo Ke raised an eyebrow, “How did you all know?”
“President Luo didn’t know? Your Second Uncle, Director Luo Shengping, has been asking us about Miss Lin’s situation recently. Someone’s wife was so curious that she went to ask your Aunt, only to find out you already have a fiancée.”
“Actually, we…” Lin Sifei tried to explain.
“Actually, we have already prepared for the engagement ceremony, but we are both very busy and haven’t set a date yet. We will invite everyone to attend the ceremony when the time comes.” Luo Ke smiled and raised her wine glass.
The people around them all smiled and raised their glasses in response, congratulating them on their happiness.
After extricating themselves from the group, Lin Sifei couldn’t help but pull her close and lean into her ear, “We aren’t going to get engaged.”
“During the day, you said you would consider the matter of marriage. Have you made up your mind?”
Lin Sifei looked at her uneasily, “Not yet.”
“So, let’s get engaged first. Being engaged is no different from being married, but if we aren’t suitable, we can still separate.”
Lin Sifei pursed her lips and nodded, “Alright then.”
Casting aside her doubts, she held Luo Ke’s hand with some excitement, “Then when do you say we should get engaged?”
“At least wait until you finish filming your movie, otherwise I’m afraid Director Chen will really come to smash up my company in anger.”
Thinking of Director Chen’s expression of hating iron for not becoming steel1, Lin Sifei nodded solemnly.
Someone else approached head-on. Luo Ke smiled and greeted them, listening to them chat about recent business plans.
She glanced at Lin Sifei, who was smiling and chatting beside her, feeling a bit uneasy in her heart. Why was Second Uncle asking about Lin Sifei? What was he planning?
Last time, Lin Sifei had shifted all the hatred onto herself; she was a bit worried. Having dealt with them for so long, Luo Ke knew very well they were not people who let things go easily.
“Be careful recently.”
Lin Sifei looked at her in confusion, “What’s wrong?”
“Second Uncle is investigating you; he likely harbors ill intentions.”
“Okay.” Looking at Luo Ke’s slightly furrowed brows, she tightened her grip on her hand, “You’ve already found bodyguards for me, it’ll be fine. What about you? Should you also find a bodyguard to follow you?”
Luo Ke thought for a moment and nodded, “I will.”
The sight of the two leaning close to bite ears2 fell into everyone’s eyes; it looked like they were loving and affectionate, thick with sweetness.
“President Yuan, aren’t you going to say hello to President Luo?”
Yuan Mo glanced at Yan Yafei beside him and smiled awkwardly, “I was just about to go over.”
Yan Yafei’s brows twitched, and she tightened her hold on his arm.
Lin Sifei looked up and saw Yuan Mo and Yan Yafei, then nudged Luo Ke.
“President Yuan, you came to this banquet too.”
“This banquet invited many company CEOs and directors; it’s normal for me to come.” Yuan Mo smiled, trying to indicate that meeting was just an accident.
Lin Sifei glanced at Yan Yafei beside him, “How is Miss Yan’s production crew doing? When does shooting start?”
“Just at the beginning of the month, soon. What about you, Miss Lin? Your crew has already started shooting, right?”
“Yes.” Lin Sifei smiled, revealing her small canine teeth. “It’s Director Chen’s new play. You should have heard of this drama; I heard many people fought for it, but the roles were personally selected by Director Chen.”
Yan Yafei pursed her lips slightly, looked up at Yuan Mo, and hooked the corner of her mouth into a smile, “Yuan Mo-ge3, if I remember correctly, that play was invested in by President Luo, right?”
Yuan Mo thought for a moment and nodded, “It was invested in by President Luo. I wanted to share a cup of broth4 back then but was rejected.”
Speaking of that conversation, Luo Ke raised an eyebrow at him. Yuan Mo’s expression changed slightly, remembering the rest of the content. He took a sip of wine and stopped talking.
Lin Sifei saw that Luo Ke had something to say to Yuan Mo, so she stepped forward and took Yan Yafei’s arm, “I saw a very beautiful chocolate cake over there just now. Want to go taste it?”
Yan Yafei was still dazed when she was pulled away.
Lin Sifei winked at Luo Ke, then turned her head to give Yan Yafei a big smile. She cut a large piece of cake and handed it to Yan Yafei.
Yan Yafei looked at the chocolate cream cake on the plate, her lips trembling uncontrollably. This was all fat!
Lin Sifei understood the painful foot5 of female stars in the entertainment circle best. She raised an eyebrow, “You aren’t afraid of getting fat, are you? My bad, I didn’t pay attention. After all, there are very few people like me who can’t get fat no matter how much they eat.”
Flames instantly surged in Yan Yafei’s eyes. She threw her head back and smiled, “How could that be? What a coincidence, I also can’t get fat no matter how much I eat. I’ve actually been considering gaining weight recently.”
“Is that so? Then no need to be polite.”
The war between the two women was on the verge of breaking out as they picked up their spoons and ate cake face-to-face.
Luo Ke watched her start eating with Yan Yafei, then turned to look at Yuan Mo. “I didn’t expect that even after saying all that, President Yuan still hasn’t given up.”
“I don’t want to discuss this matter with you anymore.” Yuan Mo revealed an impatient expression. “We’ve known each other since we were small, but you’ve really changed a lot now, always interfering in my business. I’m not a three-year-old child; I can see what kind of person Yan Yafei is.”
Luo Ke frowned slightly, looking at him like a trapped beast, anxious and restless. She hooked her lips and raised her wine glass, “Then I look forward to seeing President Yuan’s judgment.”
After speaking, she turned and walked in Lin Sifei’s direction.
Yuan Mo watched her retreating figure and paused. For some reason, the irritability in his heart grew stronger. He really didn’t understand; he was just pursuing a girl, so why were there obstacles everywhere? Just because Yan Yafei’s identity wasn’t some Fu’erdai6 Eldest Young Miss? What a pedantic group of people!
Luo Ke walked straight to Lin Sifei’s side, “Feifei.”
Yan Yafei and Lin Sifei looked up at the same time.
Lin Sifei’s expression instantly became very ugly. She actually shared the same sound as Yan Yafei! Why hadn’t she noticed before! Hadn’t Yuan Mo called her Yan Yafei?
She glared at Yuan Mo, then withdrew her gaze. It must be because he shouted it too greasily that she felt it was completely different.
Lin Sifei puffed up her cheeks in anger; the chocolate cake in her hand wasn’t appetizing anymore.
Luo Ke watched her eyes widen in anger, realized what happened, and immediately changed her address, “Xiaoxiao.”
Hearing the familiar name, Lin Sifei took a deep breath and calmed down a little.
Yan Yafei stood by the side, a bit surprised, “Isn’t that the name of President Luo’s cat?”
Luo Ke glanced at her, “Because that is the cat Xiaoxiao and I raise together. When Xiaoxiao can’t accompany me, looking at the cat relieves a little lovesickness7.”
“Is that so.”
Luo Ke didn’t look at her again; instead, she pinched Lin Sifei’s chin, “Don’t move.”
Lin Sifei’s eyes suddenly widened. Were they going to kiss here?
However, Luo Ke just took out a handkerchief and helped her wipe the cream off the corner of her mouth bit by bit, “There. You aren’t careful even when eating.”
Lin Sifei pouted, “I know.”
Luo Ke looked at her lips, slightly reddened from the wiping, smiled, and leaned in to peck them.
“Be good.”
Lin Sifei glared at her coquettishly, slowly raised her hand to take her arm, and smiled.
Yan Yafei stood by the side, her face looking a bit ugly, “If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving.”
Lin Sifei hugged Luo Ke’s arm, watched her leave, and immediately whispered to Luo Ke, “Yuan Mo still likes her a lot.”
Luo Ke revealed a slight smile, “Like is like, but his father should have started stopping him. I mentioned it slightly today, and his state was very bad. It seems the Yuan Corporation is going to be turbulent for a while.”
Lin Sifei glanced at Yuan Mo, who was smiling at Yan Yafei not far away, and worried a bit, “I feel that in this situation, blindly stopping him will instead push Yuan Mo towards Yan Yafei.”
“Since it’s his choice, he can’t blame others.” Luo Ke led her around the long table and walked toward the balcony. “The Yuan Corporation’s turbulence will be an opportunity. Some branch companies will have difficulty guaranteeing fund allocation.”
Lin Sifei widened her eyes in surprise, “You aren’t planning to swallow Yuan Mo’s company, are you!”
“Of course.” Luo Ke looked back at her as if it were a matter of course.
“Aren’t you guys… friends? The kind that have known each other since childhood? His dad takes pretty good care of you too.”
Luo Ke burst out laughing, “In the business world, profit is always number one. Besides, the one truly sitting in command of the Yuan Corporation is Mr. Yuan, Yuan Mo’s father. I can only take down a few small companies; it won’t shake anything fundamental, just dampen Yuan Mo’s arrogance.”
Lin Sifei frowned, trying hard to recall the plot in the book. It seemed that in the beginning, Yuan Mo also only swallowed a few small companies of the Luo Corporation. It was only later, when Yan Yafei’s other brothers kicked them while they were down, that the Luo Corporation fell into a huge crisis. In the end, Yuan Mo gave the final push and used Old Madam Luo to deal the final blow to the Luo Corporation.
“If, and I mean if, the Yuan Corporation is crumbling in Yuan Mo’s hands and huge problems arise, would you swallow him up?”
Luo Ke didn’t understand why she asked this. She smiled, “Your summary covers many situations. Does ‘crumbling’ mean it can never rise again, or just that the foundation is shaken but can still rise again from the Eastern Mountain8? Aside from that, I have to consider whether other companies have swallowed the market after the Yuan Corporation has issues. I can’t make a decision without knowing the situation.”
“So troublesome.” Lin Sifei curled her lip. “No matter what, I know now that you guys really don’t have friends in the business world.”
“Talking about friendship in business usually means either getting scammed or getting implicated.” Luo Ke raised her wine glass. “This is speaking from experience.”
Lin Sifei nodded, her hostility toward Yuan Mo decreasing just a tiny bit. After all, Luo Ke would also consider attacking the Yuan Corporation depending on the situation, so they were much the same9. But in the end, Luo Ke would die, and he actually stood by and watched coldly. She couldn’t accept that point, so the hostility only dropped by ten percent at most.
“You’re spacing out.”
Lin Sifei heard Luo Ke’s voice and snapped back to reality. She felt a bit cold and realized she and Luo Ke were already standing on the open-air balcony.
The night breeze blew gently, lifting her hair. Lin Sifei reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear and leaned against the railing, “Can’t I space out?”
“It’s nothing. It’s just that you used to love spacing out, but now you do it much less.”
Lin Sifei thought about it. Before, she was probably lost in the plot too. Now the target was the Luo family and Yuan Mo; the goal was clear, so naturally, she didn’t need to space out anymore.
“I was emptying my brain, resting.” She spouted nonsense.
Luo Ke smiled and nodded along, though she didn’t believe a word of it in her heart. When Lin Sifei spaced out, her brows were furrowed, as if she were seriously thinking about something.
“It’s so beautiful here.” Lin Sifei pointed at the colorful lights not far away.
Luo Ke leaned close to her, looking at her smile, and couldn’t help but smile along with her.
“Is bringing you to the banquet making you uncomfortable?”
“Not at all.” Lin Sifei reached out her hand, letting the wind slip through her fingers, and smiled casually. “You underestimate me too much. These banquets are small scenes; I’ve seen plenty. Now that I have you as a backer, it’s actually not bad. No random people coming up saying annoying things.”
She curled her lip, revealing a look of disdain.
Luo Ke frowned in confusion. Do yaoguai10 also hold banquets? Were the annoying people big yaoguai bullying her?
Luo Ke felt something was wrong but couldn’t put her finger on it.
“Oh right, Luo Ke.” Lin Sifei turned to look at her. “We don’t seem to have any photos together.”
The other thoughts were instantly thrown to the back of her mind. Luo Ke smiled and raised an eyebrow.
This meant she agreed. Lin Sifei happily took out her phone, stood next to Luo Ke, hugged her arm, and placed her finger on the shutter button.
Luo Ke reached out to hug her waist. Lin Sifei was touched on her ticklish spot and couldn’t help but throw her head back and laugh.
Luo Ke was startled and widened her eyes to look at her.
With a click, the phone flash went off, freezing this moment.
Lin Sifei looked at the photo and opened her mouth wide, “My ugly photo!”
“It’s quite cute.” Luo Ke leaned in to look, seeing Lin Sifei laughing so rarely, and hooked her lips in satisfaction.
She was very close. Lin Sifei could smell the perfume on her, an elegant scent—not strong, but with a strong presence. With Luo Ke standing behind her, it was like she was being enveloped.
A strand of Luo Ke’s stray hair fell down, brushing past Lin Sifei’s shoulder and floating up in the wind.
Luo Ke raised her hand and tucked that strand of hair back behind her ear.
“Save it.”
Lin Sifei snapped back to reality, looking at Luo Ke’s side profile, not knowing what she had just said.
Luo Ke chuckled and tapped the tip of her nose, “What are you thinking about, silly little cat.”
She took Lin Sifei’s phone, saved the photo, and sent a copy to herself.
Lin Sifei finally reacted, letting out an “Eh?”, “That’s my ugly photo, why keep it?”
“Where is it ugly?” Luo Ke shook the phone and handed it back to her.
Lin Sifei pouted and took the phone, looking at the photo on it. She saw Luo Ke wearing a faint smile, looking at her.
It seemed… it was quite cute.
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