Chapter 70 Part 1 一 Shackles of Love and How To Set Oneself Free.
Ruan Yōu doesn’t understand Wen Juxi. The moment she received the message, there was a brief moment of tension.
She initially collaborated with entrepreneurs in the name of initial user, providing free guidance. However, these seasoned entrepreneurs saw through her ulterior motives and began to distance themselves from the Cheng family and Cheng Guyuan, following her lead.
While lying low and causing setbacks for Cheng Guyuan, “Ruan Yōu” didn’t have to face the minor conflicts and disagreements that would arise from “not sparing Cheng Guyuan”. It’s the initial user who dislikes him, not “Ruan Yōu”~
This situation seemed quite favorable.
Now, Wen Juxi wants to discuss matters regarding the initial user with her, and it seems odd no matter how she looks at it.
After returning home, she hardly had any interaction with Wen Juxi, let alone a chance to speak with her.
Two people have no intersection, while the Wen family is one of the top six wealthy families, ranking at the forefront. Wen Juxi should be like Gu Fuchen and Fu Jiazhan, having a bunch of experienced investment advisors under her, so there is no need to collaborate with initial user.
Ruan Yōu couldn’t figure it out and logged into inital user’s WeChat account again to confirm that the messages from the entrepreneurs were perfectly normal, with no signs of trouble.
【Jiang Huai: She said she wants to talk to you in person and asked if you have time at 2 p.m. this afternoon.】
Wen Juxi sent this message to Jiang Huai yesterday afternoon at 1 p.m.
At that time, Jiang Huai, Ruan Yōu, and others were on their way back to China, resting and looking at documents. Jiang Huai was dealing with the matters left behind by the company during these days and hadn’t checked his personal WeChat.
After getting off the plane, his personal assistant came to pick him up, and Jiang Huai immediately immersed himself in work. After finishing his tasks and getting a good night’s sleep, he finally picked up his personal phone and saw Wen Juxi’s series of messages.
【Fat Cat: Okay.】
【Fat Cat: But what does she want with initial user?】
【Jiang Huai: I’m not sure…】
The heirs of the top six wealthy families, Gu Fuchen, Fu Jiazhan, Jiang Huai, Lu Jin, Qi Zhiyan, and Wen Juxi, have been attending private study class together for two years, but they haven’t had much contact with each other.
At various dinner parties, they exchange polite nods after meeting, and in private classes, they simply leave after the lessons without much interaction.
This situation improved slightly after Ruan Yōu returned home.
Under Ruan Yōu’s influence, Gu Fuchen, Fu Jiazhan, Jiang Huai, and Lu Jin’s interactions with Qi Zhiyan became less formal.
However, their interactions with Wen Juxi remained polite yet distant. Apart from business matters, they didn’t meet or chat in their personal lives, resembling colleagues who weren’t very familiar with each other at the office一exchanging greetings when they met but leading separate lives after work.
【Jiang Huai: Wen Juxi is the complete opposite of Qi Zhiyan in character; she’s warm on the outside but cold on the inside.】
She can strike up a conversation with anyone when they meet, but no one can truly connect with her.
This is also why Gu Fuchen, Fu Jiazhan, Jiang Huai, and Lu Jin maintain a “polite colleague relationship” with Wen Juxi.
In their daily work, they’ve encountered their fair share of seemingly friendly but backstabbing business partners. While Wen Juxi may not backstab them, dealing with someone who appears friendly but is actually aloof always feels a bit strange.
It’s as if their current familiarity is fake, and behind the laughter and conversations, perhaps the other party is thinking coldly about how to leave or other matters.
As heirs who won’t allow themselves to be wronged, and since their mindsets don’t align, they keep their interactions to a minimum. Over the past two years, they’ve maintained a distant yet cordial relationship, handling business professionally without affecting their cooperation.
Gu Fuchen has recently signed the biggest project of the year with Wen Juxi 一 a partnership with Bozhan Automobile Company.
The collaboration between Bozhan and the Wen Group is growing closer.
Wen Juxi invited her to meet this afternoon at 2 p.m., which coincided perfectly with Lu Xuan’s New Year’s shopping in the morning and afternoon, making it convenient after lunch.
When Ruan Yōu was preparing to drive to find Lu Xuan, she realized belatedly that Lu Xuan had sent her a WeChat message two hours ago, which was at 7 a.m.
【Sister Yōuyōu, something came up suddenly, can’t go out today [crying emoji]】
【Fat Cat: What happened?】
Lu Xuan was probably busy, as she hadn’t replied even after waiting for five minutes.
Generally, Lu Xuan had two states 一 either she was actively using her phone and could reply to WeChat messages instantly, or she could go seven to eight hours without touching her phone when she wasn’t using it, enjoying the present moment.
Receiving messages depended entirely on luck.
It seemed like Ruan Yōu wouldn’t receive a reply from Lu Xuan anytime soon.
Ruan Yōu told Qi Zhiyan about this.
Qi Zhiyan, who had squeezed out time from work to go out with Ruan Yōu and Lu Xuan, only replied with a simple “Okay” when she heard that Lu Xuan had something to attend to, and then she immediately immersed herself in her work.
Ruan Yōu wasn’t in a hurry to leave, so she decided to go back to her room and read.
Just as Ruan Yōu reached the seventh floor, Ruan Liuyu hurriedly came out of her room and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Ruan Yōu.
“Yōuyōu, the dinner with your uncle and aunt has been moved up to tonight.”
Ruan Yōu was surprised, “Tonight?”
Lunar New Year was the day after tomorrow, according to what her mom had said, they should be meeting with them the day after tomorrow.
Ruan Liuyu nodded, “It’s been moved up by two days. Uncle said there’s something he needs to announce in front of the family.”
“But brother is very busy, he said he won’t come back for dinner today.”
In the morning, Ruan Yōu bumped into Gu Fuchen in the elevator.
With the approaching New Year, there are many things to handle, and recording the variety show has also taken up two working days. There is a lot of piled-up work, so he might come back very late tonight.
“It’s okay if he’s not here; as long as you’re here. At your last banquet, Gu Min, your cousin, couldn’t come because he was abroad. He’ll be here tonight. We should get to know a few of Gu’s relatives.”
Ruan Yōu responded quickly.
“No problem.”
After having a dream related to the novel a while ago, she had been wanting to meet Gu Min for a long time.
. . . . .
At 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon, Ruan Yōu arrived early at the private winery that Wen Juxi had mentioned.
She sat in a private room at the winery and looked around casually.
On WeChat, Fu Jiazhan said: 【Let me know when you want to leave.】
He was referring to the dinner tonight.
Tonight, they would be dining at a hotel invested in by Ruan Liuyu.
Usually, after Gu Youqian and Ruan Liuyu finished their meal, they would join their uncle and aunt in the tea room upstairs for a chat. The elders would chat, while the younger generation would gather to play games or go out for drinks.
Ruan Yōu had just returned home and was not very familiar with the children of her uncle’s son and daughter, her aunt’s two sons, and other relatives, except for Gu Zexi, whom she recognized.
Ruan Yōu didn’t like dealing with people she didn’t know or wasn’t very familiar with.
Gu Fuchen understood his sister.
After learning about the dinner gathering from Ruan Liuyu, he tried to find a way to get Ruan Yōu to leave the dinner early.
But at a family gathering, wanting to leave early always required a reason and maintaining a polite facade.
Gu Fuchen wanted to find someone to come up with an excuse to rescue his sister from the depths of the dinner. After asking around, Jiang Huai was busy with work, Lu Jin and Lu Xuan were unreachable, Qi Zhiyan was just as busy, and the only one reluctantly responding to his messages was Fu Jiazhan.
After Gu Fuchen explained his plan, Fu Jiazhan’s response was noticeably faster.
Gu Fuchen didn’t notice the subtle differences and was quite satisfied with his plan.
As for what excuse to use, Gu Fuchen had already figured it out.
一一“Say that Gu Fuchen is too busy at work to have time for dinner, that he has a stomachache but is still working hard for the company. After hearing this, Fu Jiazhan, as a good friend, considers Gu Fuchen’s health and finds the best way to persuade him is through Ruan Yōu.”
一一“The main idea is this, you can beautify the language a bit more,” those were Gu Fuchen’s exact words.
Both Fu Jiazhan and Ruan Yōu were speechless.
The heir of Bozhan was venturing further down the shameless path.
Ruan Yōu opened the chat box and replied seriously: “Thank you so much_(:з」∠)_”
Although her brother’s excuse was shameless, this method was worth encouraging.
She really doesn’t like being in the same room with unfamiliar people, especially Gu Min, who competed with Gu Fuchen for Bozhan in the novel.
【Fu Jiazhan: Not busy, nothing much】
Ruan Yōu felt completely at ease, put away her phone, and began to inspect everything in the wine cellar private room.
There was a promotional brochure on the table.
She flipped through it out of boredom for two pages.
When she saw the three characters “Fu Jiazhan” on the front page, she paused for two seconds.
Just then, she heard Wen Juxi opening the door to the private room.
Ruan Yōu instinctively closed it.
Wen Juxi smiled, her voice like a meandering stream, cool with a hint of a cheerful tinkling.
“I didn’t expect you to arrive so early.”
Ruan Yōu politely smiled, “You’re early too.”
Wen Juxi had been observing Ruan Yōu since their first meeting two months ago, and she sensed that Ruan Yōu didn’t like formalities. After sitting down, she got straight to the point.
“Time is precious, so I’ll get straight to the point.”
Ruan Yōu nodded.
“I heard that the initial user is your investment advisor, and just about half a month ago, he had an invisible confrontation with Cheng Guyuan.” Wen Juxi had a polite smile on her face. “I have something I need to ask the initial user for help with.”
Ruan Yōu thought for a moment, “May I know the specific details of what it is?”
Wen Juxi: “You must know, right?”
Ruan Yōu nodded.
Wen Juxi took out two file folders from her bag.
One of them contained documents, and she took out several photos from the other file folder.
“Three days ago, my cousin Wen Cheng returned to China after completing her overseas studies. During a dinner in China, she brought shocking news.” Wen Juxi’s smile faded a bit, “She said she met a man she had a crush on a long time ago while abroad, and after two meetings, she still felt a strong connection, so she wants to get engaged to him.”
“I understand the sentiments of young love, but…” Wen Juxi paused for two seconds and pushed the photos in front of Ruan Yōu, “But the man who captured her heart is Gu Min, your cousin.”
Ruan Yōu raised an eyebrow.
Ten years ago, Gu Min went abroad to study and had some success there. He co-founded a company with friends, which was quite prominent. Besides Gu Fuchen, he was the most capable young man in the Gu family.
Ruan Yōu had read about this in the information sent by Yang Er.
Their engagement seemed a bit like two distant relatives attempting to challenge the status of the main family.
“While abroad, Gu Min always claimed that Gu Fuchen was his idol,” Wen Juxi handed her another document and, after Ruan Yōu received it, said casually, “He used Gu Fuchen’s reputation to connect with several investors. The two main shareholders of his company now are alumni he met through Gu Fuchen’s overseas alumni association.”
Wen Juxi’s tone was light, “Gu Min and Wen Cheng’s love story is touching, but unfortunately, their union is filled with interests.”
Ruan Yōu frowned, “The initial user doesn’t have that much power, so I can’t help you stop all of this.”
Wen Juxi chuckled.
“I don’t want him to stop it. I want him to help me target Cheng Guyuan.”
“Cheng Guyuan?” Ruan Yōu didn’t understand how this person was brought up again.
Wen Juxi’s information network is much more detailed than Yang Er’s.
“Cheng Guyuan found Wen Cheng the day he left the variety show. They met at a coffee shop abroad.”
Wen Cheng is Wen Juxi’s relative’s younger sister. Although her intentions are clear, her desire to get involved with the Wen family is so evident that Wen Juxi can’t confront her directly.
She can only warn Cheng Guyuan indirectly through a roundabout way.
Under normal circumstances, Wen Juxi wouldn’t take the union of the two families seriously.
However, after Bozhan Automobile acquired Yawei Automobile, they entered into a significant collaboration with the Wen family. It was the first nearly 100 billion yuan project collaboration between the two families in five years.
The Wen family valued it highly.
Financial news had been reporting on it for several days.
Now, the news of the union between the Wen and Gu families would not only give the public the impression that the collaboration was solely a result of their union, but also, at this point, Wen Cheng’s parents have arranged for Wen Cheng to join the family business, participating in the cooperation project with the Gu family. This makes it difficult for Wen Juxi to intervene.
Her position in the Wen family was still fragile, and with Wen Cheng and her parents holding nearly a third of the shares, they definitely couldn’t be allowed to interfere with the collaboration with Bozhan. All the credit would go to Wen Cheng.
Allowing the initial user to help is because everyone knows that he dislike Cheng Guyuan, and continuing to target Cheng Guyuan will not arouse any suspicion, let alone connect it to the three words ‘Wen Juxi’.
Ruan Yōu understood now.
Agreeing to help Wen Juxi had many benefits. It would allow her to suppress Cheng Guyuan, and it could also break the union between Gu Min and Wen Cheng, making her brother’s life a bit better.
Ruan Yōu passed the initial user’s WeChat to Wen Juxi and returned the photos and documents to Wen Juxi. “I’ve given you WeChat, you can send the plan to him yourself.”
Wen Juxi was surprised, “I thought you would join me in stopping them.”
Ruan Yōu picked up her bag and sighed softly.
She did want to, but…
It’s just too tiring!
She chose to tell her brother and let him handle it _(:з」∠)_
. . . . .
When Ruan Yōu returned home, she remembered what her mother had said in the morning about “Uncle’s important announcement.”
Eighty percent of what will be announced is the marriage.
In the evening, when Ruan Liuyu and Gu Youqian arrived with her, the others had already taken their seats.
Eldest Uncle Gu saw Ruan Yōu and laughed loudly, “It’s been difficult to see my niece since the last dinner. Third child, you’ve been protecting her too well, she doesn’t even come to eat with us.”
Ruan Liuyu: “It’s not that we don’t want to bring her, young people have their own ideas.”
Eldest Aunt Gu spoke gently with a smile, “A few days ago, we were surprised to see them on TV. Young people today are different from us. They have the courage to participate in variety shows, which I’ve never seen before. I didn’t expect that Gu Fuchen had this side to him.”
Gu Youqian: “Now Gu Fuchen is very popular online, even Bozhan’s stocks have gone up a bit.”
Eldest Uncle Gu smiled and didn’t say anything more.
Ruan Yōu sat down in her seat, listening to every word they said, her head pounding.
Clearly, they wanted to say that her brother acted so childish that it seemed like he was losing face for the family, affecting the reputation of the Gu family on the variety show. They rambled on without being straightforward, everyone had a thousand and eight thoughts in their minds.
Sigh.
Tiring.
Ruan Yōu didn’t want to interrupt, so she sat quietly. Her almond-shaped eyes rolled around, scanning everyone in the room.
The only person she recognized, Gu Zexi, sat across from her, smiling and nodding at him.
Three minutes later, she received a WeChat message.
【Is it very boring?】
【Fat Cat: How much longer until we can eat?】
【We have to wait for Gu Min.】
As they were talking, Gu Min arrived late.
It had rained outside, and he bent down to wipe the water droplets off his shoulders with a handkerchief.
Gu Min looked decent, with delicate features, but his appearance was somewhat stiff. He quietly nodded to the elders in the room, “It’s raining, and there’s traffic on the road.”
The voice is deep and lacks any distinctive features.
After speaking, he quietly sat next to Eldest Aunt Gu, and you couldn’t tell at all that he had ambitions and desires.
Everyone in the Gu family couldn’t imagine that he would be the one to give up love for the sake of a political marriage to Bozhan.
Ruan Liuyu softly said, “Gu Min seems to be in much better spirits than the last time we met.”
Eldest Aunt Gu: “I heard he recently had encountered something good, of course, he’s happy.”
Ruan Yōu had her hands folded on her knees, her mind empty, knowing without thinking what the next development in the story would be.
It was said that Gu Min had encountered a girl he had fallen in love with at first sight a long time ago, and Ruan Liuyu and Gu Youqian were genuinely happy for him. Everyone present was immersed in this romantic encounter, except for Ruan Yōu, who stared blankly at the ceiling.
Gu Min and Wen Cheng are really wasting their talents by not writing novels.
Ruan Liuyu smiled and said, “I heard six months ago that you met someone you liked, but then there was no news, and I didn’t expect you to see her again.”
Ruan Yōu was taken aback.
Six months ago?
A strange look flickered in Gu Min’s eyes, he lowered his head and awkwardly smiled.
Like a quiet young man too shy to face his parents.
The food arrived.
Ruan Yōu finally didn’t have to watch Gu Min act. She picked up her utensils and began to eat heartily. Just as she took a sip of soup, Gu Youqian said, “That’s great, getting married early is a good thing. Who is the girl? When can you introduce her to us?”
Eldest Uncle Gu: “It’s quite a coincidence, you also know this girl.”
“Who?”
“Wen Cheng.”