Rebirth of a Star - Chapter 108

Chapter 108 – A Different Fu Bainian (2)

After dinner, Lan Jinyao sat on her bed browsing Weibo to around 10 PM when sleepiness struck her and she fell asleep with her phone in her hand.

When she woke up the next morning, she noticed that the spot beside her was empty. She then touched the bedsheet with her hand and felt an ice-cold sensation, so she immediately withdrew her hand. It suddenly dawned on her that Fu Bainian hadn’t returned to the room all night.

She hurriedly got out of bed and washed up. After changing her clothes, she grabbed her phone to go downstairs. However, when she picked up her phone, she noticed that she’d received a missed call from someone. The number looked somewhat familiar, but she didn’t bother with it and instead walked out of the room and down the stairs.

On her way down, Lan Jinyao saw that breakfast had already been prepared, and she heard Changning say, “I’m going to wake Sister-in-law up for breakfast!”

Fu Bainian was already sitting at the table and told Fu Changning, “Let your Sister-in-law sleep a while longer. She’s normally very busy at work and doesn’t have many chances to sleep in.”

Fu Changning then sat down next to him and coquettishly said, “Brother, this is where you’re wrong. Since Sister-in-law is so busy at work, why don’t you just let her rest and get Li Qi to arrange for less work for her?”

Fu Bainian didn’t answer her question and instead said, “Hurry up and eat.” He then went silent.

Lan Jinyao swept a glance at Fu Bainian’s back and then walked over to his side and sat down at the table as if nothing had happened.

“Sister-in-law, you’re up already!”

“Yup!” answered Lan Jinyao with a smile.

At the same time, Fu Bainian looked up at her, and Lan Jinyao noticed that he had dark circles under his eyes. Moreover, his voice had sounded slightly hoarse when he speaking to Changning earlier.

Lan Jinyao lowered her head and quietly ate her breakfast. The Fu Family had always adhered to a tradition of not talking while eating, so she didn’t speak and didn’t attract anyone’s attention.

After eating breakfast, Fu Bainian left for his study right away. Lan Jinyao stared at his departing figure and was about to follow him, but someone seized her arm, so she had no choice but to halt her steps.

“Mum? What’s the matter?”

Lan Jinyao turned around and saw her Mother-in-law, Hong Lian, incessantly winking at her.

“Changning, after you finish your breakfast go to work earlier; don’t just stay in the living room. I have something to discuss with Meimei.”

Changning conceded and grabbed her bag before swiftly leaving, like a gust of wind.

The two sat down on the sofa. The entertainment news happened to be playing on the TV right at this moment, thus Lan Jinyao’s eyes fell on the screen. She then saw her face appear. This was a broadcast from when she’d participated in the interview program. The direction of the camera changed and soon fell on Jiang Cheng, zooming in on his smiling face.

When Lan Jinyao looked away, she saw her Mother-in-law intently staring at the TV screen. Only when the program had finished broadcasting did her Mother-in-law retract her gaze and pat her hand, looking as kind as usual.

“Meimei, last night, Bainian worked until very late in the study. I peeked in from outside and saw that there were a lot of papers piled up on his desk. Perhaps, he was worried about disturbing you so late at night, so he instead went to the room next door and slept there!”

The room next door? Wasn’t that the locked room?

“Mum, until what time did Bainian work yesterday?” It was the same as when he was in his office. The papers that Qian Ran had brought in were piled up like a mountain. What project was he working on recently? Why didn’t she know about it?

Hong Lian sighed and then said, “When I took a look, it was already past 2 AM. After he’d finished dinner, he sat down with his Father for a while and then went into the study and never came out again. Meimei, you were so in love with Bainian in the past, and now that Bainian has finally married you and brought you home, I hope that you can show him some more care. All is fine even if we don’t participate in this kind of program!”

At this moment, Lan Jinyao felt somewhat guilty. If it were Chen Meimei, this probably wouldn’t have happened. Chen Meimei loved Fu Bainian so much. So much so, that even if she’d continued pestering him, Chen Meimei certainly wouldn’t have let Fu Bainian work until it was so late. She also loved this man, but, in the end, her love wasn’t as deep as that of Chen Meimei’s. To her, even the hatred hidden deep inside her heart was slightly more important than Fu Bainian.

Seeing Lan Jinyao lower her head without answering, Hong Lian sighed again and then earnestly said, “It’s not that I want to blame you for being too busy with your work; I just don’t want to see you tire yourself out by working so hard. Back then you only joined the company to pursue Bainian, and now that you’ve already married into our family you should spend more time with Bainian.”

“Mum, I’ll take note of this, and I won’t participate in these kinds of programs in the future.”

She’d always thought that since Fu Bainian loved her dearly, she could enjoy his pampering unscrupulously. But, truth to be told, no matter how big-hearted Fu Bainian was, he would still get tired one day!

Lan Jinyao then recalled the day when she’d asked Fu Bainian whether he was hurt when he saw Jiang Cheng embracing her, but Fu Bainian had said no. He was clearly lying at that time. How could she not have seen through it? She must’ve been really stupid.

Having received her assurances, Hong Lian laughed and said, “All’s good then! Meimei, could you go up and check on Bainian? I’m worried that his body won’t be able to cope with the long hours. In any case, I’m unable to persuade my son as you can see; the only person who can do that is you. Meimei, at least persuade him to rest for a while, okay?”

Lan Jinyao earnestly nodded. “Okay, I’ll go now!”

In fact, her eyes had already reddened a bit, but she tried hard to ignore it and pretend that she wasn’t going to cry.

Fu Bainian didn’t like the fact that Jiang Cheng was approaching her, and he also didn’t want her to continue walking down this path of revenge on her own because he was clearly by her side and was always there for her. Of course, Lan Jinyao understood all of this. It was just that she wanted to stick to her principles.

When confronted with this issue, she was still unable to change her way of thinking.

After the small talk, Lan Jinyao went upstairs. When she passed by the room next to Fu Bainian’s study, she extended her hand out of curiosity and twisted the door handle. Sure enough, the door was locked. She let go of the door handle, but then an incomprehensible feeling bubbled up in her heart.

She already knew about the secrets hidden in this room. Besides, they were already married, so she couldn’t comprehend why Fu Bainian would still lock this room. Could it be that there was something else hidden in there that she wasn’t aware of?

Lan Jinyao stood there thinking for a long while before halting her thoughts and proceeding to Fu Bainian’s study.

The study wasn’t locked, and the door was left half-open, so when Lan Jinyao was still standing in the corridor, she could see Fu Bainian flipping through the documents.

“Fu Bainian!” she called while walking in. She then stopped in front of his desk and stared at him.

At that moment, Lan Jinyao saw a trace of panic flash through Fu Bainian’s eyes when he looked up.

He quickly closed the folder he was reading as if he didn’t want her to see the contents of the documents inside.