The Vanishing Beauty - Chapter 7 - 4

Chapter 7 - 4

Hearing this, Yu Shuang was taken aback. Thinking Kang Long was driving his father out again, she quickly said, "Chairman Kang, stay here with peace of mind. Stay as long as you like. There's plenty of room—two adults, three children, two bedrooms, neat and bright!"

Chairman Kang replied, "No, no, it's not because of that. I have things to take care of back home."

It was clearly an excuse. Yu Shuang felt helpless.

Chairman Kang continued, "Xiao Yu, thank you for all this time. Chairman Kang recognizes you as a daughter-in-law from the bottom of my heart, straight from the tip of my heart."

Yu Shuang hurriedly stammered, "No... Chairman Kang... that's..."

Chairman Kang kept right on talking. "That brat Kang Long is as stubborn as a mule! But I can see he treats you well. He's even said so himself—he likes you, cares about you, enjoys talking with you, and thinks you're a good life partner." He paused. "Look, Chairman Kang is leaving, and I don't know when I'll be back. Give Chairman Kang a straight answer: when do you and Kang Long plan to tie the knot?"

In an instant, Yu Shuang felt a splitting headache.

"Chairman... well..."

"Just give me a word. I'm his father. If I don't look out for him, who will?"

Yu Shuang never imagined Chairman Kang could show such a warm and considerate side toward Kang Long. A father's tenderness. Looking into Chairman Kang's eager gaze—so sincere and earnest—the carefully constructed lies in Yu Shuang's heart instantly crumbled. She had to tell the truth; she could only tell the truth. She didn't have the heart to lie to such a chairman—no, a father, an elderly man.

"We aren't ready yet," Yu Shuang said as gently as possible.

"How long do you plan on preparing?"

"Well..."

"Having children when you're older is tough work."

She never would have guessed that such a hardened man of steel like Chairman Kang would care about a woman's reproductive years. Zhang Fei threading a needle—rough on the outside, meticulous on the inside.

"I'll think about it carefully."

"Be brave and take responsibility. Haven't you raised Chun'er quite well?" With that, Chairman Kang began packing his luggage. A few days later, Yu Shuang, Chun'er, and Kang Long threw a farewell dinner for Chairman Kang. Deeply moved, Chairman Kang drank until he was thoroughly intoxicated. In a surge of emotion, he even poured a toast to the small portrait of Yu Shuang's mother.

Afterward, Yu Shuang told Kang Long, "Your dad is a man of deep sentiment." Kang Long didn't respond. With his old man returning to live alone in the old family home, he felt a bit worried. They had started looking for a live-in nanny, but finding a suitable one wasn't easy; until a permanent one was found, they would have to rely on a part-time cleaner.

"He cares about you," Yu Shuang added.

"Blind care." For some reason, Kang Long always loved being harsh toward his father.

"He asked me when we're getting married."

Kang Long was stunned, rendered completely speechless.

Yu Shuang went on, "I told him I didn't know, that we weren't ready yet." Then she added, "But I always feel like I'm letting him down."

"Live for your own heart. Don't care what others think."

"He's your father."

"So what?"

"He cares about you and cherishes you—even if you might not agree with his methods, he wants you to be happy." Yu Shuang said, "When he asked like that, I also felt like I was failing you, as if I'm holding you back."

"Don't say that. I'm doing this of my own free will."

"You love children more than I do."

"In our past lives, you must have been a man and I a woman," Kang Long joked.

"Do you still love me?" Yu Shuang asked. "I mean that kind of love—burning, passionate love."

"I don't know." What even was love? Kang Long wasn't entirely clear himself.

Yu Shuang grabbed his hand and placed it over his left chest. "Ask right here."

"It feels like... there's a little bit."

"As for me... I feel like I don't even have that feeling for you anymore," Yu Shuang admitted frankly. "Work... the kids... plus a million messy things... I suspect myself... of simply... simply having no reason to get married..."

"We can cultivate it," Kang Long remained calm as ever.

"It can be cultivated?"

"Like a chestnut tree—cleft grafting."

"Want to give it another try?"

"I have no objections," Kang Long said with absolute certainty.

Rui came to see Shuang and was somewhat surprised to learn that Chairman Kang had moved out. She asked Shuang if something had gone wrong between her and Kang Long. Shuang replied that there wasn't any real problem, things had just grown a bit distant, and Chairman Kang's departure had nothing to do with Kang Long. Just as they were talking, Yu Qing's wife walked in with her three children. Yu Rui understood the situation instantly. Once everyone went off to wash their hands and eat fruit, Yu Shuang whispered to Yu Rui, "One child is a treasure, two children are complete fulfillment, and three children are living hell." Yu Rui covered her mouth and giggled.

Shuang then asked about Yu Qi's situation, and Yu Rui gave a brief summary. Even someone as easygoing as Shuang couldn't help wondering if Bai Yuan Kai had romantic designs on Qi. Yu Rui deliberately changed her tone, "Well, who knows? And honestly, who dares to ask?" Shuang said she would ask her later; if it was real, it was real, and if it was fake, it was fake—they couldn't have people toying with a young girl. The two of them turned the conversation to Sister Jia and expressed their worries. Shuang mentioned she would invite Yu Jia out more often to listen to Kunqu opera or the like, just to distract her and help take her mind off things. She then asked Rui, "How is your job going?"

"Lately, the atmosphere has been a bit subtle," Yu Rui said.

Indeed, it was subtle. The day she walked into the office, the atmosphere felt even more peculiar. Ye Cha wore a rigid expression, as if deliberately refusing to give her a pleasant look. Yu Rui walked over to the pantry and brewed two cups of coffee, bringing one to Ye Cha. "What's going on?" she asked with a placid smile, softening her attitude. Ye Cha was busy organizing documents and clacking away at his keyboard, completely ignoring her.

"Jack," she called out, switching to his English name.

"Don't talk to me," Ye Cha snapped irritably.

"What's wrong with you?"

"You know damn well!" he seethed, still burning with anger.

It wasn't until the human resources manager called her that Yu Rui finally understood what had happened. A corporate restructuring had taken place, and she had been promoted to Han Guang's first assistant, squeezing Ye Cha out of the position. Unable to save face, Ye Cha had no choice but to request a transfer. He was reassigned to the retail business department with a nominal title of deputy director, which amounted to an empty position with no real power.

Who did this? Yu Rui was completely blank. Ye Cha hated her to the bone. Seeing the murderous look in his eyes, Yu Rui didn't even need to ask to know he must think she had used some secret weapon—or worse, special methods—to take down President Han. What an unjust accusation! By early Monday morning, Yu Rui realized she had lost a friendship.

Upon becoming Han Guang's first assistant, responsible for handling all emails and written documents, Yu Rui immediately recognized the sheer difficulty of the role. She had never imagined that being a first assistant involved dealing with so much paperwork every day. Her own standard for herself was simply to write clearly, fluently, and get straight to the point. She wanted to be an efficient secretary. To meet the standards, Yu Rui ended up working overtime nearly every single day. Her younger sister Yu Qi had already begun her internship, and Yuan Kai's company had promised her a formal position after three months.

Because she was so busy, Yu Rui always had lunch delivered to the office—partly to save time, and partly to leave some space for her younger sister and Bai Yuan Kai at home. When Yu Qi came back, she mentioned she was now Yuan Kai's assistant. Yu Rui found it amusing; how did both sisters end up being assistants? Assistants didn't have a specialized profession, a fact she wasn't entirely thrilled about. However, Yu Rui soon received an order that added an entirely new responsibility to her workload.

Han Guang wanted to publish a biography. Ye Cha oversaw the writing, but they were currently lacking raw material. Consequently, Yu Rui was tasked with interviewing the chairman every day at noon for thirty to forty minutes. Yu Rui suddenly realized this was the true reason she had been transferred to this position.

At noon, lunch was already finished. The chairman was in. Clutching a thick notebook and preparing two voice recorders, Yu Rui approached the office. The door was left ajar. She knocked lightly and stepped inside. Han Guang was reclining at a sixty-degree angle in his large leather chair, looking as though he had fallen asleep. Seeing this, Yu Rui paused for a few seconds, then light-footedly began to retreat.

"Sit," Han Guang commanded without opening his eyes.

Yu Rui had no choice but to carefully sit down on the edge of her seat, holding her breath in strict readiness.

"Were you an actress?"

"Yes."

"Did you bring the outline?"

"I brought it."

"What do you want to talk about?"

Yu Rui quickly flipped through her materials. "Let's start from 196... back in your childhood... in chronological order."

"We're not doing it that way." He suddenly sat up, opened his eyes, and locked his gaze directly on Yu Rui. She gave a start, nearly losing her balance.

Han Guang slumped back down, half-asleep. "Don't think of me as your boss right now, and you aren't my employee either. You've looked over the materials—just pretend you're an ordinary reader, a complete stranger, and ask whatever you find most interesting."

Yu Rui's mind scrambled. Most interesting, most interesting...

"How did you... make your very first pot of gold?" The moment she asked, she regretted it, silently scolding herself for being so cliché!

"Making money?" Han Guang chuckled softly, a hint of disdain in his voice. "Luck," he said. "Why aren't you asking about my background?"

"Humble beginnings."

"My father died when I was three months old. During the three years of natural disasters, my mother passed away, and my grandmother raised me..." Han Guang seemed to drift into a long, distant memory.

Sometimes it was a cruel gray, sometimes a passionate red, and other times a melancholic blue. Han Guang spoke while Yu Rui listened, scribbling notes at top speed. The voice recorders ticked away, second by second. From then on, whenever Han Guang had free time, Yu Rui would spend her lunch hours listening to his stories. His accounts were fragmented, entirely out of chronological order, saying whatever came to mind. Yet her questions and genuine curiosity helped unlock the floodgates of his memory. It was a world Yu Rui had never known. Before taking the college entrance examinations, he had farmed, driven tractors, shoveled nightsoil, and traded lime. He took the college entrance exams three times while living at school, eating grain that had molded and rotted, yet having no choice but to force it down... After graduating from university, he was assigned to a machinery factory, and after the reform and opening up, he ventured out to the southern provinces, starting out with only two employees... Yu Rui found herself gradually becoming fascinated by Han Guang's stories. In the past, he had merely been a cold, aloof chairman devoid of life—only giving orders. Now, through these piecemeal recollections, he was transforming into a complex creature. Occasionally, while speaking, he would ask, "Did I scare you?" or "Do you understand what I mean?" And he would laugh—completely forgetting his surroundings, letting out a booming laugh.

Yu Rui realized profoundly that for a man, experiences were the most important thing of all—let alone the experiences of a successful man. They were unrepeatable, etched into the monument of history. "Some things cannot be written down," Han Guang would occasionally remark.

Yu Rui would reply that these were just raw materials.

He would then ask, "What kind of person do you think I am?"

Yu Rui spoke her mind without holding back. "A complex creature."

Han Guang threw his head back and laughed heartily, appearing thoroughly satisfied with the description.