"Madam, you..."

"It’s fine."

Su Xiaomeng sat in the executive chair, glanced at the time, the hour hand just past nine, and said to Chen Lan,

"Can we hold a press conference before one in the afternoon?"

"Madam, what do you intend to do?"

"Clarify the rumors about a marriage alliance between the Rong Family and the Yin Family."

Su Xiaomeng said this almost without lifting her head, as if it were a simple and casual matter.

Chen Lan frowned,

"Madam, are you serious?"

"Yes, go prepare."

Since Eric’s visit had nothing to do with Shixiu, she had no reason to use such rumors to test him.

As for Rong Jing’s side...

If Eric didn’t have news of Shixiu, then Rong Jing naturally wouldn’t have any evidence either.

Chen Lan knew something must have happened last night, and seeing Su Xiaomeng’s resolute appearance, he didn’t ask any further. Perhaps... it’s good to clarify things.

"Okay."

He agreed and was about to leave when Secretary Luo’s internal call came in, and Su Xiaomeng picked it up,

"President Su, Mr. Eric Windsor is here again, and insists on meeting you."

"..."

Su Xiaomeng was stunned. Chen Lan naturally heard what Secretary Luo said as well.

The two exchanged a glance, both thinking the same thing.

Su Xiaomeng pressed her lips tightly together and, after a long silence, said,

"Let him in."

Chen Lan quickly said to Su Xiaomeng, "Could it be..."

Su Xiaomeng’s hands were clasped together, her body in the executive leather chair trembling slightly.

After waiting a whole day...

Did she really wait for this moment?

Secretary Luo showed Eric in, not yet having left when they heard Eric say,

"Su Xiaomeng, if you’re really going through with a marriage alliance, then marry me!"

"..."

Secretary Luo nearly twisted her ankle in her high heels.

Chen Lan’s eyes widened, thinking he might have misheard.

Su Xiaomeng squinted her eyes slightly... she looked at Eric,

"Marry you?"

"Yes, marry me. What you want is interests and someone who can help you, right? I can help you, and I have the strength to do so!"

"..."

"Whatever Rong Jing can give you, I can give you as well. Su Xiaomeng, if you really want to find someone to marry, then marry me!"

Eric’s beautiful water-blue eyes were full of determined light.

This was the method he had thought of after a whole night, to stop Su Xiaomeng from marrying others while solving the interests Su Xiaomeng needed.

He can’t... can’t just watch Shixiu’s wife marry another.

At least until Shixiu recovers, he has to help him hold on to this woman.

If he marries Su Xiaomeng, he could also hide from her the fact that Yin Shixiu is still alive.

That’s what Eric thought.

Xiao Meng stood up from the leather chair, walked around to the front of the executive desk, Secretary Luo still stood at the door in shock.

Su Xiaomeng said to Secretary Luo,

"You go out first, close the door, and don’t let anyone near without my permission."

Secretary Luo quickly nodded.

The atmosphere in the office instantly became frighteningly serious.

Chen Lan was practically speechless after Eric finished talking...

Seeing Su Xiaomeng approaching him, Eric continued,

"You said you wouldn’t love anyone else, so who it is doesn’t matter, right? Marrying into the Windsor family, I will help you against the Rong Family, Su Xiaomeng, trust me, you won’t regret it."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you willing to go this far, Eric."

"I just don’t want to see you sell yourself, I just don’t want to see—"

"Still making it up!!"

Su Xiaomeng suddenly shouted at him, this shout, sobs followed.

Her face was overwhelmed by a tidal wave of sadness and pain, startling Eric.

"I..."

"You’re still making it up! Eric, do you take me for a fool?! Who taught you?"

Eric was dumbstruck by Su Xiaomeng’s angry questioning...

"Was it... Yin Shixiu?"

"..."

Eric’s expression could only be described as frozen.

Su Xiaomeng saw it clearly; she didn’t need him to say anything more, and with an imposing demeanor, she almost commanded,

"Take me to see him."

"..."

Eric’s water-blue pupils shrank abruptly, evidently incredulous...

Su Xiaomeng lowered her voice, almost speaking in gasps,

"I know... he’s not dead. Eric, I know."

"..."

Xiao Meng’s words, spoken with complete certainty, and her steadfast expression at this moment, were enough to render Eric utterly immobilized...

Eric, at thirty-five years old, had never encountered such a gaze that frightened him to the extreme in an instant.

She...

At this moment, Eric realized, there never was a marriage alliance.

Yesterday, every word this woman said with absolute confidence was a test, a force to make him show his hand.

She... never planned to marry Rong Jing.

This was a trap, one she set the moment he appeared in front of her yesterday.

...

On the flight to London.

In first class, Su Xiaomeng sat in a window seat, the seat next to her empty, with Eric across the aisle, daring not to sit beside her.

Eric had numerous doubts in his mind.

When exactly did Su Xiaomeng find out Yin Shixiu wasn’t dead? How did she know?

He tried to ask, but as soon as he opened his mouth, before the words were out, Su Xiaomeng had already turned her head, glaring at him fiercely, mouthing the word "Scram."

Eric also wanted to tell her about Yin Shixiu’s condition, but she refused to listen.

Seeing is believing, and she wasn’t short on time.

Su Xiaomeng was full of resentment, her anger nearly reaching the top of her head.

Since he was alive... since he still had a breath, how could he, how could he keep it hidden from her?

Yin Shixiu...

You truly have a ruthless heart, such a cruel person...

What else is there that you wouldn’t do?

During the ten-hour journey, Su Xiaomeng’s emotions traversed all sorts of feelings under the sky.

But what she found hard to accept was...

When she stood outside the ICU, looking through the glass window at the person lying on the hospital bed, whose living condition was almost equivalent to being dead...

She realized that the myriad feelings of those ten hours didn’t match up to the huidige’s current bitterness.

Her fingers lightly touched the cold, temperatureless glass window...

"He didn’t want to not tell you, he just didn’t expect you to figure out he wasn’t dead, he thought you had already accepted his death..."

"He... has become so thin that only bones are left... how did he become just skin and bones? Ah ah..."

Su Xiaomeng collapsed to the ground, holding her chest tightly, hurting so much she couldn’t breathe anymore.