Rebirth: Chapter 143

“Huh?” Lingling’s mother gazed into Lu Anran’s eyes. Seeing that the other party did not seemed like she was lying, she hurriedly went to dig up all the essential documents of Lingling’s and handed them over to Lu Anran. She then whispered, “Is Lingling okay?”

“She is okay now and she will be even better in the future!” Lu Anran said with certainty. “Please bear with it for a little longer. Lingling should be able to take you away from here in less than a year.”

“Tell her not to come back….” Lingling’s mother shook her head helplessly. “This is my life! Please don’t let her come back here! As long as she is well…. I… I… don’t need anything else….” After saying that, Lingling’s mother knelt down and kowtowed three times to Lu Anran. It was only until her forehead was bruised that she said hoarsely, “Eldest Young Miss Lu, I beg you, you must look after her. In my next life, I will do everything I can to repay you!”

“Aunty, please get up!” Lu Anran hurriedly helped up Lingling’s mother and comforted her, “Please rest assured!”

It was only after hearing Lu Anran’s promise that Lingling’s mother let out a long sigh of relief as though her mind was thoroughly set at ease. The daughter that was her only worry in this lifetime, has finally escaped from this living hell.

“Aunty……” Noticing the expression on Lingling’s mother’s face, Lu Anran was momentarily alarmed, “You…. You haven’t witness Lingling getting married and having children! Are you contented with just this?”

Hearing Lu Anran’s words, Lingling’s mother was startled. “I…. I….”

“Don’t ever think of such silly thoughts!” Lu Anran said sternly. “Your good life isn’t far off now, so don’t think of such silly thoughts! If anything happened to you, Lingling will live in guilt her entire life.”

“Okay…. I know now…..” Lingling’s mother nodded. Her eyes held on hope once more.

“Then we will be leaving now.” Lu Anran felt relieved after seeing Lingling’s mother’s expression so she left Lingling’s house with Lu Anhu and Xue Dingan.

Once Lu Anran left, Lingling’s uncle reported back to Lin Haosheng, illustrating how Lu Anran hit him, how she coerced and scare Lingling’s mother, how she used torture to extort out a confession, how he was most faithful and true….. All of these were just to get a reward of 10 000 yuan from Lin Haosheng. Seeing the increase in his bank account, Lingling’s uncle finally satisfactorily put on his coat. Now that he’s rich again, he can go and gamble again! Yay!

On Sunday morning, after Lu Anran got up, Lu Anhu told her that training was cancelled this morning. It was to give her strained muscles a chance to relax. They were going to increase her training from Monday onwards.

Opening her wardrobe that has been stuffed full of new clothes for autumn picked by Ji Rou, Lu Anran reached out to rummage through her wardrobe, picking a school-styled dress. After putting it on, she looked at herself in the mirror dissatisfied. She was going to observe the progress of the renovation at Xin Dong today. It was not appropriate for her to wear this. With this in mind, Lu Anran rummaged through her wardrobe again and picked out a few matching clothes – a yellow knitted sweater, with a white t-shirt, a knee-length blue cotton skirt, a pair of white leggings and a pair of deer-skin boots. After carefully examining herself in the mirror, Lu Anran had a rare sense of frustration. The presence of baby fat on her round face really made her look immature.

After putting on light make-up, Lu Anran walked out of her room and went to the first floor where Lu Anhu was waiting for her. Lin Haosheng who was also present, was sipping hot tea as he read the newspapers. As soon as he noticed Lu Anran, Lin Haosheng folded the newspaper and said, “Anran, I feel that we should talk.”

“About what?” Lu Anran tilted her head slightly and said, “Elder Brother Haosheng, what do you want to talk to me about?”

“….” Lin Haosheng stood up and strode towards Lu Anran. He then reached out to grab her wrist, “Come with me.”

“What are you doing?” Lu Anhu held onto the other arm of Lu Anran and berated, “let go!”

“It’s you who should let go! She is my fiancee!” Lin Haosheng acted as though he was a king who was asserting his own territorial sovereignty.

“You are nothing to her!” Lu Anhu sneered.

His sneer touched upon Lin Haosheng’s fragile nerve. However, before he could burst into anger, Lu Anran said, “The both of you, let go!” As Lu Anran coldly said this, she shook off both of their hands. “Don’t ruin my mood for the entire day because of the issues between the both of you! OK?”

“I….” Lin Haosheng suppressed his anger and continued, “I only wanted to have a good talk with you.”

“Then let’s talk again when I’m back this evening!” Lu Anran gently rotated her wrist. So painful!

“Now…” Lin Haosheng wanted to argue.

“I have no time. I’m meeting someone.” Lu Anran turned to leave.

“Who? Your Senior Long?” Lin Haosheng’s eyes flared with danger.

“You investigated me?” Lu Anran narrowed her eyes, pretending to be shocked with a hint of anger from being embarrassed. “How dare you investigate me!”

“I….” After being interrupted by Lu Anran in this way, Lin Haosheng did not know how to answer her. He expected Lu Anran to deny it. This answer made him feel more of a sense of defeat than her denying it.

“I’ll have a good chat with you tonight!” Lu Anran pointed at Lin Haosheng angrily and said, “At the very least, I’ll make you understand what basic respect is! Let’s go!” After saying that, Lu Anran turned agitatedly and left the Lu Residence. Lu Anhu glared at Lin Haosheng before following her.

When they were both in the car, Lu Anran let out a long breath.

“Want to go and eat some cake?” Lu Anhu said to Lu Anran, “The last time, Ji Ling and I went to a pretty good dessert shop.”

“You knew I was pretending?” Lu Anran said as she glanced at Lu Anhu.

“Obviously.” Lu Anhu smiled proudly. “So, are we going?”

“Of course I must try your recommendation!” Lu Anran said smilingly. “I’ll give He Lingshuang a call first. I made an appointment to meet her at the store today.” She was really not an expert in architecture. She could only provided a set of design, for other specific matters, she still needed to rely on He Lingshuang who was a professional to take a look at it.

When she was talking to her over the phone, Lu Anran asked, “I am taking a detour to buy cake. Do you want some? I’ll bring some for you.”

“No need. I’m on a diet.” He Lingshuang said smilingly. “I am almost reaching the Xin Dong store. Come over after you have bought your cake.”

“Mm Mm!” Lu Anran nodded. “Then see you later.”

“OK, see you later!” After He Lingshuang hung up the phone, she parked her car and looked at the time. It was 9 AM. She was early. The appointment with Lu Anran was at 9.30 AM. After alighting from her car, He Lingshuang who was dressed professionally, entered Long Corporation Shopping Mall with her 9 cm heels. The shopping mall was already built and now was the time for the stores to renovate their interiors. As soon as He Lingshuang went upstairs, she heard people complaining about the inhumanity of their employer. He Lingshuang has always resented such behaviour. After receiving the money, one has to do their best no matter how unreasonable their employer was. Anyway, this line of work has always been about status. When she first entered this field, she was often plotted against, blamed, and was even abused by her employer. However she managed to grit her teeth and endure it all until she has reached her current status.

“I have never experienced anything like this. They were the ones who broke the contract first, suddenly changing the design after the work has started more than a month! Asking us to scrap it all and start over again and still want us to finish it in time? Aren’t they just deliberately making things difficult for us?” A worker who was drinking water complained.

“YEAH! They even scold us for drinking water and taking a break! So inhumane ah!” Another worker continued saying. “And this blueprint is not even clear ah! So many details are not stated clearly either, aren’t they just bullying us?”

After hearing this, He Lingshuang could not help frowning. It was indeed too unreasonable. As she looked around, she realised that they were all familiar faces. These workers all belonged to a subsidiary of Hui Meng Construction. He Lingshuang stepped forward to greet them. “Good morning everyone!”

“It’s Xiao Shuang ah!” Noticing that it was He Lingshuang, the person who was complaining just now, could not help heaving a sigh of relief. When he suddenly heard a voice, he thought that it was people from Yue Corporation!

“Whose store is this?” He Lingshuang asked curiously. “So hard to please!”

“It’s Yue Corporation’s.” The supervisor of the workers answered and sighed. “After being in this line of work for several decades, it’s the first time I have met such people!”

“Yue Corporation?” He Lingshuang was stunned. Yue Corporation’s architectural design was also under Hui Meng Construction. Although the project designer was not her, she did approve of it personally. It was a design of a fast food restaurant that conformed to the norms of society. Nothing to write home about except for the set up and appearance. She really did not know that Yue Corporation has decided to change the design blueprint! Thinking of this, He Lingshuang asked the supervisor in charge, “Uncle Jiang, can you please show me the new design drawing that Yue Corporation wanted?”

“This….” Uncle Jiang hesitated before agreeing, “OK! Anyway, we are all under Hui Meng Construction’s banner. It’s fine to let you take a look!” After saying that, Uncle Jiang handed a bound document to He Lingshuang. “Here!”

He Lingshuang flipped through the document page by page and her expression changed from confusion to shock to breaking out in cold sweat. After calming down, He Lingshuang returned the document to Uncle Jiang.

After chatting with the crowd, He Lingshuang was evidently in a daze as she bid goodbye to them. She then hid in a corner and immediately called Lu Anran, “Hello? Where are you? We are in big trouble!”