Chapter 150 She is not stupid either

Lu Fengzhou paused for a moment, then lowered his head and, as if unable to restrain himself, kissed Qiao Jiu's cheek. "Open the door. You changed the password, I couldn't get in."

Qiao Jiu seemed to just realize what had happened, hastily stepping out of his embrace and entering the passcode right in front of him.

Once inside, Qiao Jiu walked straight to her bedroom. Still feeling unwell, she muttered that she was tired and wanted to sleep.

Lu Fengzhou came over to pull the covers up over her, and Qiao Jiu said in a frail voice, "Go ahead and deal with your matters. Don't let me delay your work."

Lu Fengzhou stood by the bedside. "You sleep first. I'll leave after you've fallen asleep."

Qiao Jiu turned over, facing away from him.

Lu Fengzhou sat down on the edge of the bed behind her. Moments later, Qiao Jiu heard his phone buzz twice, indicating a message had arrived.

His phone was scrubbed far too clean; the last time Qiao Jiu had searched through it, she had come up completely empty-handed. If she couldn't investigate through his phone, she had no idea where else to look.

After lying still for a little while, Lu Fengzhou presumably assumed she had fallen asleep. He stood up, and while walking toward the door, tapped out a voice message on WeChat.

It was likely sent to his assistant. He said, "Give President Tan a call later and see if you can schedule a dinner meeting with him tonight. Securing the partnership with him is our top priority right now."

President Tan—Qiao Jiu knew who that was, having heard Liang Xiujin mention him. What a coincidence.

As soon as the bedroom door clicked shut, Qiao Jiu opened her eyes. A few seconds later, she heard the front door shut outside. Lu Fengzhou was gone.

She let out a long breath, slowly sat up, and reached for her phone.

After much deliberation, she sent a message to Jiang Qingchen.

...

In the evening, Liang Xiucheng arrived, bringing dinner with him.

Qiao Jiu changed her clothes and came out. "I'm going to the office tomorrow."

Liang Xiucheng arranged the bowls and chopsticks as he replied, "There's no rush. You can rest at home for a couple more days. I can have a domestic worker come over to take care of you."

Qiao Jiu walked over and sat down. "It hasn't come to that. I don't have such a delicate life."

Liang Xiucheng paused his movements. "Of course you do. Just rest at ease at home and don't worry about anything else."

Qiao Jiu said, "It's mainly because I'm in a hurry."

She didn't specify what she was in a hurry for, and Liang Xiucheng didn't press, only offering a helpless smile. "I can never win against you."

That was his way of agreeing.

He was always like this, granting unconditional concessions.

As the two of them sat eating, Liang Xiucheng mentioned that he had heard from Guan Wei about Lu Fengzhou picking her up from the hospital. "What did Lu Fengzhou say to you when he went to the hospital?"

Qiao Jiu replied, "Nothing much, just expressing concern for my health—all hypocritical nonsense."

If he had truly cared about her health, he could never have done those things to her back then.

Liang Xiucheng sighed softly. "Since you've made up your mind to take back the company, try to draw a clear line between him and yourself. He is very clever."

Qiao Jiu picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks. "I'm not stupid either."

She had been foolish in the past, but after stumbling fall after fall, how could she still fail to learn her lesson?

Before, she had wanted to play a long game, dangling him along. Having suffered such profound emotional wounds, she had wanted to pay back two or three parts of that pain.

But now she knew that man had no heart; she could not hurt him.

After finishing the meal, Liang Xiucheng took his leave, wanting Qiao Jiu to get some rest early.

Qiao Jiu murmured her agreement. "I'll go to sleep in a little while."

Yet the moment Liang Xiucheng left, she went back to her bed, sat down, and sent a message directly to Lu Fengzhou, asking if he was free tonight.

Lu Fengzhou replied quite quickly, saying he had a business dinner tonight. If it wrapped up early, he would come over; if it ran too late, he wouldn't.

Qiao Jiu replied with a single line: *I'll wait for you.*

With just those words, she was certain Lu Fengzhou would come.

She then lay down, her mind spinning with countless thoughts.

Because her own abilities were limited, she had previously thought of simultaneously building up her strength while stringing Lu Fengzhou along.

Now, however, a shortcut lay right before her.

Nearing midnight, the sound of the front door opening drifted in from outside. Qiao Jiu knew Lu Fengzhou had arrived.

Lu Fengzhou went to pour himself a glass of water first, then walked over. Upon pushing open the bedroom door, what he saw was Qiao Jiu hugging her knees, her chin resting on them, staring blankly into space.

For a split second, a sudden sense of disorientation washed over him, as if he were looking at a scene from the days before their divorce.

Back then, every day he would use work-related social obligations as an excuse, coming home later and later. Yet no matter how late it was, Qiao Jiu would always be waiting for him.

She would sit on the bed, and even when she was so sleepy that her head kept nodding off, she stubbornly refused to lie down.

Her love had been so blatant and unmasked; no matter how much he pretended to be blind, he had known all along.

Lu Fengzhou's gaze darkened, and a mix of inner conflict and irritation instantly surged up within him.

Hearing the sound, Qiao Jiu raised her head and smiled faintly. "You're back."

Lu Fengzhou walked over. "Why aren't you asleep yet? It's very late."

Qiao Jiu stretched her neck slightly. "I couldn't sleep."

She then asked, "Who were you dining with tonight? Why are you back so late? Were there any women?"

"No," Lu Fengzhou answered. "How many women are out socializing in the middle of the night? Nobody is that foolish."

Qiao Jiu asked, "Then who was it?"

Lu Fengzhou didn't seem to be guarding against her. "You wouldn't know them anyway. It's President Tan from Hengyi. We just established contact and are currently in discussions."

Qiao Jiu gave an "oh." "Indeed, I don't know him."

Lu Fengzhou took off his jacket, tossed it onto the corner of the bed, and turned toward the bathroom. "I drank some alcohol, I'm going to take a shower."

His phone was left on the bedside table. Qiao Jiu picked it up and pressed the screen to wake it.

The screen was completely clean, with no missed calls and no unread messages.

What a hassle. Since she couldn't trick the password out of him, she would just have to check it in the middle of the night.

As soon as Lu Fengzhou finished his shower and came out, the doorbell rang. He said to Qiao Jiu, "That's my change of clothes being delivered. Go grab it, will you?"

He was thorough in his arrangements. Qiao Jiu went out and found his assistant delivering a fresh change of clothes and the suit he would need to wear tomorrow morning.

Taking them, Qiao Jiu returned to the bedroom. Pushing the door open, she saw Lu Fengzhou looking through his phone.

She walked over nonchalantly. "Here, your clothes."

As she reached him, she casually glanced at the phone. Lu Fengzhou was typing a WeChat message; she couldn't clearly see who it was with, nor could she take in the entire text at a glance.

Lu Fengzhou had only a bath towel wrapped around his waist. Hearing her words, he put the phone down and took the clothes from Qiao Jiu's hands.

Having already washed up, Qiao Jiu climbed into bed. As soon as Lu Fengzhou finished dressing, she patted the mattress. "It's late, let's sleep."

At her prompt, Lu Fengzhou dropped the matter entirely.

With the lights turned off, the two of them held each other, as if the cold war of the past few days had never existed.

Lu Fengzhou patted Qiao Jiu's back, much like someone soothing a child.

He had been drinking, and Qiao Jiu remained entirely still, waiting for a little while until she felt his hand stop moving.

After waiting just a bit longer, she slipped out of Lu Fengzhou's embrace and gave him a gentle nudge. He didn't react at all.

Qiao Jiu picked up his phone and used his hand to unlock it.

The screen opened directly to a WeChat chat page—a conversation with his assistant, instructing him to contact Hengyi tomorrow, put the topics discussed today into writing, and follow up with them.

Qiao Jiu took screenshots of the chat history, sent them to herself, and then deleted the records.

Next, she checked the call logs. President Tan's number was saved under the name Tan Jun; she quickly copied down the digits.

She skimmed through Lu Fengzhou's phone one more time. Just like before, it was immaculate.

Finding nothing else of use, she put the phone back precisely where it had been. Then, using her own device, she forwarded the chat screenshots and the phone number to her intended recipient.