Surprise Resignation of Female Substitute Secretary

Chapter 28

Su Tao stretched out her hand to cover his mouth, looked at the direction of the computer, and pointed to the door, signaling him to duck out.

When Xie Jin was pushed out by her, he put his arm around Su Tao's waist and took her out with him.

Outside the house, under the starry night, accompanied by the rustling sound of the wind blowing the leaves, Su Tao was pinned against the wall by Xie Jin.

"Let go." Su Tao looked around nervously, afraid that someone familiar would walk by.

"Why didn't you come? You have time for meetings but no time to meet me?" Xie Jin looked down at her, his long eyelashes and dark eyes under them scrutinizing her.

Su Tao was at a loss for words for a moment. Her eyes darted around to find an excuse: "It was too late. I still had to drive a long way to get there, and you would have had to wait another hour."

Xie Jin brushed the strands of hair that had been blown to her mouth by the wind behind her ear. His ink-black pupils were filled with only her reflection: "I've been waiting for a year, what's another hour?"

Su Tao avoided his gaze, pretending to be indifferent as if she hadn't heard the feelings in his words: "Then let's just call it even, you tricked me last time too."

Xie Jin: "I waited for you for over three hours, plus the round trip, five hours. Is that even?"

Su Tao: "The extra can be interest."

Xie Jin smiled faintly and nodded, accepting the "interest" statement.

Xie Jin: "Then how do we settle last night's account?"

Xie Jin tilted his head slightly, chasing her evasive eyes, and raised his eyebrows at her.

Su Tao's expression froze for a moment, and she looked up at him with clear eyes, "...Wasn't that hush money I gave you?"

Xie Jin stared at her for two seconds, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. He suddenly turned his head and left a kiss at the corner of her mouth, his low voice full of seduction.

"That was interest."

After Su Tao returned to the room, she locked the door, fanned herself with her hand, and sat down in front of the computer.

The video had been fully connected, and everyone had been staring at each other blankly for five minutes waiting for Su Tao to come back, pretending they knew nothing, ready to start the meeting.

"Peach, who was that man just now?"

Liang Ke's big face suddenly appeared in the video. He had squeezed Yang Qing, who was the manager of female singer Xue Xinzi and was originally poached from Liang Ke, to the side.

"Did I invite you to join my video conference?" Su Tao asked coldly.

"I heard it, it sounded so much like President Xie's voice." Liang Ke was still immersed in gossip, waving his orchid fingers animatedly.

With his words, the other colleagues either covered their mouths or bowed their heads laughing, or had surprised looks on their faces.

"Qingqing, are you still working overtime at the company now?" Su Tao said to Yang Qing, who had been squeezed to the side by Liang Ke. "Now, turn off the computer and join again after you get home."

"Oh, don't," Liang Ke said, hugging the computer to dodge Yang Qing. He got back to business, "I just want to ask how my darling Xiao Shang is doing? She hasn't been moody lately, has she?"

"No, very good, especially happy." Su Tao answered emotionlessly, like a machine.

Liang Ke: "That Jiang Hao hasn't bothered Xiao Shang again, has he?"

Su Tao: "No, Jiang Hao left the next day."

Liang Ke seemed to have just found out about this news. His eyes widened as he leaned forward, and Su Tao could even see the blackheads on his nose.

"Jiang Hao is not recording anymore? Why is that?"

Su Tao finally couldn't help but roll her eyes: "Director Liang, I'm going to start the meeting, could you please stop wasting everyone's time."

Liang Ke finally reluctantly returned the computer to Yang Qing, made a gesture of making a phone call to Su Tao: "Call me, okay?"

Su Tao looked at him coldly, and Liang Ke finally left.

She breathed a sigh of relief and went to get the water glass on the table. When she looked up, she saw through the floor-to-ceiling window that across the pool, Xie Jin was still in his swimming trunks, leaning lazily against the edge of the pool with his elbows back, tilted his face, and was staring at her unswervingly.

Seeing Su Tao look over, he flipped his wet hair back and raised the wine glass in his hand, smiling as he took a sip.

Su Tao's face darkened as she got up and resolutely pulled the curtains tightly closed.

-

Recording would be completely finished in one week, and Su Tao had already been here for a week. The company had piled up a lot of things that needed to be dealt with, so she had to go back.

Fortunately, Xie Jin didn't stop her this time. He happily bought the same flight as her to go back with her.

In the airport lounge, Su Tao glanced at Xie Jin sitting next to her out of the corner of her eye. He was busy handling business on the phone.

Taking a trip to Nan Cheng not only piled up a lot of work for Su Tao, but even more so for Xie Jin. So why was he taking the flight back to Jiang Cheng with her?

Finally there was a break, and Su Tao asked him, "You're so busy, why don't you just buy a ticket straight back to Bei Cheng?"

"Of course I have things to do in Jiang Cheng," Xie Jin said matter-of-factly without looking up from his phone.

"What business do you have in Jiang Cheng?"

Xie Jin took his eyes off his phone and looked at Su Tao, the corners of his lips turned up faintly: "Do I need to report my itinerary to you? Then add me on WeChat first."

Su Tao withdrew her gaze and ignored him.

Suddenly there was a commotion outside the lounge, and then a few fan girls came in, the shutters of their cameras rattling like machine guns with incessant "click click click".

With this momentum, without looking, Su Tao knew it must be some popular male celebrity.

When she looked up, she was surprised to see a familiar face in the crowd.

The most eye-catching teenager in the crowd was Gu YiYan.

He was wearing a fisherman's hat pulled down almost to his eyes, a mask and sunglasses covering his features tightly, wearing a loose T-shirt and jeans, walking beside Wang Qi.

Wang Qi saw Su Tao first, and whispered to Gu YiYan next to him. He immediately looked at Su Tao, his footsteps turning to walk towards her.

Gu YiYan took off his mask and sunglasses, lifted his hat up a bit, revealing his smiling face: "Sis."

The seats in the airport lounge were four round leather sofas sitting in a circle, with a small round table with four cups of coffee in the middle.

In this circle, apart from Xie Jin's gloomy face, the other three had smiling faces and were chatting softly.

Gu YiYan's fans were quite well-behaved, not crowding in close for photos, but they weren't sitting too far either.

Gu YiYan didn't know if it was because he was tired from work recently or what, but he didn't like being followed by fans taking photos of him all the time, yet he couldn't stop them either, so he would keep a cold face the whole time, not smiling.

Sitting across from Su Tao, not only did Gu YiYan take off his mask and sunglasses, but he was also smiling, and even his expressions were lively.

From their conversation, the fans also learned Su Tao's name, searched and guessed her identity, and knew she was Gu YiYan's big manager. So they let down their guard and even praised Su Tao's beauty in their group chat.

Seeing the photos the fan girl took in the group chat, they specifically cropped and enlarged the side profile of Xie Jin and screamed in the chat: Ah ah ah ah! Who is this handsome guy?

Wang Qi secretly observed Xie Jin's expression. Seeing that although he had a gloomy face, he didn't say anything and just kept busy with his own things, she was slightly relieved.

Gu YiYan looked at the two curiously a few times, then withdrew his gaze under Su Tao's warning eyes, complaining: "Sis, you knew I had business in Nan Cheng, how come you didn't come visit me on set?"

"Your business was just the morning. By the time I got there you would have been done anyway." Su Tao saw him fussing with his bangs and habitually took out a small mirror from her bag and handed it over, "Are you guys going to record a show now?"

All the major satellite TV stations were preparing for their mid-year shopping festival gala events, and Gu YiYan was invited to record the gala for Liang Cheng TV. Su Tao could rattle off the schedules of almost all the artists under her.

Wang Qi took the opportunity to take out the publicity plan that Su Tao had asked her to do previously and report it to Su Tao: "Peach, this is the plan I made, take a look."

Su Tao took it and glanced through it, asking doubtfully, "Why is there no arrangement for film and television? I remember there are several suitable scripts for YiYan that are in preparation. "

Wang Qi was embarrassed. She glanced at Gu YiYan and said, "I found two scripts, but YiYan wasn't satisfied."

Su Tao took the two dramas she had screened and nodded, "These two are indeed not suitable for him."

Gu YiYan seemed to have found his backing. He made a face at Wang Qi, "See, I said my sister wouldn't agree either."

Wang Qi's expression darkened as she said to Su Tao in distress, "But these were the best among the dramas we could get."

Su Tao smiled gently, "As long as he likes it, that's fine. Leave the rest to me."

Gu YiYan's flight check-in time was up, and after they left, the lounge quieted down a lot.

Su Tao called Zhang Qi Guang and asked him to buy a snuff bottle as a gift, which must be mailed to the company before the day after tomorrow.

Sitting next to her, Xie Jin took a peek at her computer screen, then entered a string of words in WeChat and sent it to Wu Xie Yu.

In less than half a minute, Wu Xie Yu replied.

【Wu Xie Yu: Drunk Haze? I think it's produced by Morning Pei Films. The team is set, but I don't think they've confirmed which platform they’re partnering with yet. We don't plan to vie for this project.】

【Xie Jin: Then plan for it now, must get it done.】

-

In the two days after Su Tao returned to the company, she quickly dealt with the work squeezed into one week. Le Xuan knocked on the door to remind her that she had an appointment to have dinner with Director Hua Chunjiang at 9pm tonight.

Su Tao looked up from the documents and checked the time, still two hours, just right.

She had found out two days ago that Hua Chunjiang was on a business trip in Jiang Cheng, and had set up this dinner early on.

She took out the gift box of the snuff bottle prepared for her by Zhang Qi Guang, casually turned off the lights in the office, and the office fell into darkness.

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<translated>

The office opposite the pitch-black office was brightly lit. All the top executives of TianJin Entertainment had gathered in the living room with their heads down, each fearing for themselves.

Through the large floor-to-ceiling windows of the apartment, you could see the sign for JingYang Entertainment.

Everyone was puzzled as to why the boss had bought an apartment in Jiang City and called them here from so far away in Bei City.

But fortunately, Bei City was not far from Jiang City, just an hour's flight.

But the boss's fickle temper really made people nervous. In the company, at least after being scolded they could go back to their own offices. Here, after being scolded, they could only stay by the boss's side.

Two words: Painful.

"Why hasn't this hot search gone down yet?"

Xie Jin slammed the tablet on the table and looked up at Wu Xie Yu with a gloomy face.

He was pointing at the video of the interaction between Su Tao and Gu YiYan at the airport. The hot search title was "#Gu YiYan's manager has a healing smile#".

The content was that Gu YiYan had a cold face the whole time at the airport, but finally smiled when he saw senior manager Su Tao.

There were also many praises for Su Tao's beauty, saying her smile was too warm and healing.

Wu Xie Yu's mouth twitched. This was obviously an extended topic due to Gu YiYan's high popularity after the shopping festival gala, with no real significance.

Just because Gu YiYan's popularity was very high recently, even small things could be brought up and talked about, with some marketing accounts trying to ride the wave of his popularity.

Moreover, this hot search was ranked at the very bottom among several other topics related to Gu YiYan, barely noticeable.

"It's going down now."

Wu Xie Yu didn't dare complain out loud. He was a grown man being scolded like a three-year-old child, without a temper at all.

Jin Chuiwen secretly sent Wu Xie Yu a message, telling him to pay more attention in the future. Whenever Su Tao appeared in hot search, take it down immediately without waiting for the boss to ask.

Wu Xie Yu silently nodded to Jin Chuiwen. His phone suddenly rang. Seeing it was director Hua Chunjiang, he asked Xie Jin for instructions before going aside to answer it.

Xie Jin rubbed his eyebrows and habitually turned to look across, his expression changed slightly as he glared at Jin Chuiwen and asked, "Where is she?"

Jin Chuiwen, who was tasked with watching Su Tao's office window, looked at the darkened window and broke out in a cold sweat.

When did Su Tao leave?

"There's a beautiful manager, you have to give face right?" Hua Chunjiang's speaker was somehow turned on, and his voice spread throughout the apartment.

Wu Xie Yu was so frightened that he broke out in the same cold sweat as Jin Chuiwen, and quickly clarified, "Director Hua, what are you talking about? What beautiful or not beautiful, I have never had such preferences! My way of life has always been..."

"Oh, Manager Wu, what are you thinking? She's the daughter of an old friend of mine. Her artist wants to act in my play, so I'm just helping to make a connection."

Wu Xie Yu finally regained his spirit, and was about to decline when Jin Chuiwen suddenly had an idea. Looking at the window across, he seemed to realize something. He quickly gestured to Wu Xie Yu.

The two exchanged looks that only brothers in adversity could understand. Wu Xie Yu quickly asked, "Director Hua, which beautiful manager is it?"

"Su Tao, the artist director of JingYang Entertainment, a very capable young lady."

Wu Xie Yu and Jin Chuiwen sucked in a breath simultaneously, looking elated. They both turned to look at Xie Jin, waiting for praise.

The silent Xie Jin rested his elbows on the armrests, hands crossed, and slowly raised his eyes to look at Wu Xie Yu. "Go."

\---

Su Tao arrived at the reserved private room at the club. Because she was treating Hua Chunjiang, she specially chose a Zen-style club.

The simple and unadorned solid wood table and chairs were placed in the center of the private room. The tea table and four treasures of the study were all imbued with a strong cultural charm, giving a refined and extraordinary feeling.

Hua Chunjiang was famous for shooting ancient costume dramas, and Su Tao remembered that he liked such Zen-themed sets in the ancient costume dramas he made.

He used to work with actors at the level of Best Actor and Best Actress awards, and was close with Su Tao’s mother, so they had known each other for many years.

When Su Tao was on school holidays as a child, she often went to visit the crew to play. After so many years, it was perfectly reasonable for her to call Hua Chunjiang "Uncle Hua".

While waiting for Hua Chunjiang's arrival, Su Tao started boiling water to prepare tea. She wasn't sure how much face her mother still had, so she tried her best to cater to his preferences.

But after Hua Chunjiang pushed open the door to the private room, Su Tao was stunned to see Su HaoYang behind him.

Su HaoYang did not seem surprised to see Su Tao, and even affectionately called out, "Tao Tao, you got here first."

Seeing her stunned expression, Hua Chunjiang was also somewhat puzzled, but with high EQ he just laughed and didn't let the room become awkward. "Little Su Tao, you and your brother really have a spiritual connection, calling me one after the other to invite me to dinner. How could it not be pre-arranged between you two?"

Su Tao saw the female artist beside Su HaoYang and suddenly understood in her heart, but her expression remained calm and gentle as she smiled, "No, Uncle Hua please have tea."

Su HaoYang and the female artist also sat down. When Su Tao handed Su HaoYang his tea cup, she glanced coldly at him before calmly withdrawing her gaze.

Su HaoYang's expression was somewhat embarrassed. He took the initiative to ease the atmosphere, "Tao Tao, you're at JingYang Entertainment now? You said you wanted to enter this industry, how come you didn't come home?"

Su Tao had been smiling faintly all this time. She seemed gentle as she said, "I haven't been home for a year, and big brother is only asking about me now."

After drinking some tea, Hua Chunjiang seemed oblivious to the undercurrents between the siblings. He laughed heartily, "Oh Tao Tao, you chose such a nice place. I like this environment. Your mother also used to make tea for me, I loved drinking the tea she made."

At the mention of her mother, Su Tao's smile became more sincere, "I didn't even learn a fraction of my mother's skills."

"Ah, it's been so many years," talking about Su Tao's mother made Hua Chunjiang feel sentimental. He put down his cup, as if reminiscing, "I made eight out of ten dramas with her. To be honest, I feel quite gratified that you can enter this industry. You have your mother’s spirit back then."

Hua Chunjiang's tone changed as he patted Su HaoYang beside him, "HaoYang is also good, managing the company very well."

"That's also because my mother laid a good foundation for the company." Su HaoYang lowered his head and smiled, seeming humble.

Su Tao's smile completely disappeared. When he said "my mother", she felt nauseous.

He didn't even call her "mother" once when she was alive. Now when currying favor he called her so smoothly.

Su Tao took out the prepared gift box and handed it to Hua Chunjiang, "Uncle Hua, your birthday is coming soon. This is a gift I prepared for you."

Hua Chunjiang excitedly accepted it and directly unwrapped it. Seeing the jade-like snuff bottle inside, his eyes lit up as he lovingly turned it over in his hands. "Oh my, exquisite!"

His gaze towards Su Tao was even more affectionate. "Little Su Tao, you still remember this little hobby of mine. You were so young back then, really as attentive as your mother, noticing everything but not saying it. Good, very good."

Hua Chunjiang's praise made Su HaoYang's face dark. He really didn't think of Hua Chunjiang's upcoming birthday. He just wanted to promote his own artist and invite him to dinner.

Although unwilling to admit it, Su Tao was clearly better at currying favor than him.

This girl was still so scheming.

Su HaoYang pushed up his glasses and glanced at the female artist who had been sitting there silently without saying a word. He secretly signaled to her, "Na Na, pour Director Hua some tea."

The artist called Na Na was quite young and seemed a little petulant. She reluctantly reached for the teapot in front of Su Tao, but before she could take it, there was a knock on the door.

Hua Chunjiang put away the snuff bottle and laughed as he pointed at Su Tao, "Girl, you gave me a surprise, so I'll give you one too. I brought the investor for my drama."

Su Tao and Su HaoYang were clearly both very surprised and stood up together to greet them at the door.

When the door to the private room opened, Wu Xie Yu's face appeared. Before Su Tao could even be surprised that RuiQi Entertainment was investing in this drama, she saw Wu Xie Yu step aside, and a handsome and upright figure stood before everyone.

Everyone in the private room was stunned. Wu Xie Yu immediately introduced, "This is our boss Xie."

Xie Jin had long locked his pitch-black eyes on Su Tao among the people. He lightly shook Hua Chunjiang's outstretched hand and entered the private room without even glancing at Su HaoYang and his artist.

When sitting down, under Wu Xie Yu's intentional arrangement, Xie Jin successfully sat next to Su Tao. He kept secretly nudging his chair closer. Of the large table, it was the narrowest gap between the two of them.

Su Tao neither dodged nor avoided him, but also did not look at Xie Jin. Her expression was calm without the slightest ripple, not knowing what she was thinking.

"I didn't expect Chairman Su to be here too, and even brought someone personally." Wu Xie Yu, a sly old fox, naturally understood Su HaoYang's intentions at a glance. He mocked,

Su HaoYang concealed his embarrassment and raised his glass with a smile, "Manager Wu, don't ridicule me. It's because I happened to catch Director Hua's birthday. My mother had an old friendship with Director Hua in the past, so as the younger generation, I just wanted to treat Director Hua to a meal. I didn't expect to meet Manager Wu and Chairman Xie. We're all one family now!"

While drinking, Su HaoYang kept secretly observing Su Tao and Xie Jin.

According to his knowledge, it seemed like the two had broken up a year ago. Su Tao disappeared without a trace, and Xie Jin even went to her house and company specially looking for her, asking for many of Su Tao's friends and classmates' contacts.

But they didn't have any of Su Tao's friends' contacts! In the end, it was through Su Yangxing that he learned Su Tao had gone abroad, and Xie Jin stopped coming to find her.

He didn't know what had happened between Su Tao and Xie Jin, how could Su Tao be so willful and leave without a word?

Seeing that Xie Jin seemed to still have feelings for Su Tao, he deliberately assumed the posture of a brother and said to Su Tao, "Tao Tao, you haven't even toasted Chairman Xie. Let Chairman Xie look out more for our family's artists!"

Su Tao, who had been bowing her head, slowly raised her eyes. Looking at Su HaoYang, she didn't know how he could be so shameless.

The atmosphere fell into an awkward stalemate. Su HaoYang's greatest strength was that no matter how embarrassing the situation, he could pretend nothing had happened.

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<translated> Su Tao didn't listen to him. He patted his own artist and said, "I heard that the investment hadn't been decided a few days ago. I didn't expect it to be invested by President Xie. Now it's really a strong alliance. Our Na Na is really lucky not only to see Director Hua, but also to have the chance to have dinner with President Wu and President Xie.”

Na Na immediately understood, holding a cup filled with wine, she rushed directly to Xie Jin, with eyes full of spring and coquettishly said, "President Xie, I toast you alone."

Xie Jin, who had been watching Su Tao all the time, finally moved his eyes away, but looked at Su HaoYang.

There was a knife hidden in the deep ink-like eyes, and the sharp edge made Su HaoYang dare not look at him.

"Since when did Su Tao's mother become your mother? Didn't you change the company's name long ago? I thought you had made it clear to her long ago." After Xie Jin finished speaking, the whole scene fell silent, all feeling the undercurrents and Xie Jin's hostility towards Su HaoYang.

The most miserable was still Na Na. She was left aside, not knowing whether to sit back or drink the wine, her face flushed red with embarrassment. Finally, under Su HaoYang's frown hint, she went back to her seat.

Because Su HaoYang was brought by Hua Chunjiang, in order to ease the atmosphere, he raised a glass, and everyone raised their wine glasses.

Su Tao poured wine into her empty cup without showing her emotions. Just as she finished pouring, Xie Jin reached out and took it away.

In front of everyone's surprised eyes, he drank her wine, and still nonchalantly poured warm water into his own cup and handed it to Su Tao.

Of course, no one dared to say anything about Xie Jin's actions. Su Tao didn't touch the glass of warm water either, and brought up the topic, making the awkward dinner lively again.

Su Tao: "Uncle Hua, is the heroine confirmed?"

As soon as she brought this up, Su HaoYang and Na Na immediately sat up straight, looking forward to Hua Chunjiang with anticipation.

Hua Chunjiang: "No, the original heroine candidate has no schedule. I'm still looking for a new one."

Su Tao: "I think Jiang Wan is very suitable for the heroine. When I read the original, the image of the heroine appeared in my mind as soon as she appeared on the stage.”

After a short excitement, Hua Chunjiang sighed, "The heroine I originally decided was her. Her agent said she had no schedule. She took the hottest variety show to make quick money and looked down on TV shows."

Su HaoYang's eyes lit up, and he just wanted to recommend Na Na to play the heroine, but Su Tao cut him off.

Su Tao: "Uncle Hua, I can try to persuade Jiang Wan. I still have some private contact with her."

Hua Chunjiang cheered up and sat up straight, "Are you sure you can get Jiang Wan to star?"

Su Tao, "I'll try my best. I also think she and Gu YiYan from my family will have good chemistry. Gu YiYan's image is especially suitable for your male protagonist."

Hua Chunjiang laughed heartily, pointed at Su Tao, seeing through her little fox tail, "You little fox, okay, as long as you can get me Jiang Wan, Gu YiYan can come over for an audition another day. Even if he's not suitable for the male lead, I will definitely give him a role."

After speaking, Hua Chunjiang looked at Wu Xie Yu and Xie Jin and asked, "Do the two bosses have any objections?"

Wu Xie Yu hurriedly shook his head. How dare he object?

Xie Jin did not respond, which was the best response.

"Okay, it's a deal."

Su Tao smiled gently and raised her cup to toast Hua Chunjiang, only to remember that her cup contained the water Xie Jin had poured, but she had already raised it, so she could only drink a little sip.

Su Tao went to the restroom on the pretext of paying the bill in advance. As soon as she turned around, she bumped into Su HaoYang.

He was extremely indignant but trying hard to restrain himself. "Su Tao, what do you mean? You know I wanted to recommend Na Na for the heroine. I am your brother after all. You would rather help an outsider than help me?"

Su Tao narrowed her eyes. She no longer hid her emotions in front of Su HaoYang.

There was only disdain in her bright eyes. Her words were like knives, each one drawing blood.

"Even if I don't make a move, do you think your vase can be selected by Director Hua? Also, if you dare to use my mother's name to make connections again, I will take away your resources once for every time I find out!"

-

After the dinner party dispersed, everyone found that it was raining heavily outside the club.

Su HaoYang and his vase left gloomy faced. Wu Xie Yu also tactfully sent Hua Chunjiang away. Only Xie Jin and Su Tao were left at the club entrance.

Su Tao had driven here. Xie Jin grabbed her before she could leave without a word.

"I drank alcohol and can't drive. Take me home."

Su Tao glanced at him and politely but distantly said, "I'm sorry Mr. Xie, it's not on my way."

Xie Jin was dissatisfied with her distant attitude. His habitual threat slipped out, "Little Taozi, do you not want Director Hua's play anymore?"

As soon as the words came out, he panicked.

What did he just say? Did he threaten Little Taozi again? Was he crazy?

Xie Jin waved his hands in panic, subconsciously grabbing Su Tao's arm, afraid that she would leave without giving him a chance to explain, "I didn't mean that. Little Taozi, I didn't mean to threaten you. It was a slip of the tongue..."

There was only indifference and a trace of disgust in Su Tao's bright eyes. She was silent for a long time before speaking calmly with a faint smile, "Okay, Mr. Xie, please get in the car."

The heavy rain washed the car windows passionately. Except for the sound of rain, there was not a hint of sound in the car, so quiet that it made people uneasy.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Xie Jin didn't even dare to look blatantly at Su Tao. He could only sneak glances at her. Even when she casually raised her hand, it made his breathing difficult and caused him to cough.

Su Tao's calmness frightened him. She had been so calm a year ago when she said she was going to pack and then disappeared without a trace.

The car stopped at a hotel Xie Jin had randomly named. Su Tao spoke calmly with a faint smile still on her lips, "Mr. Xie, we've arrived at the hotel. Have a nice time in Jiang City."

Xie Jin finally found his breath again. He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, as if plucking up courage. When he spoke, his voice was smaller than the windshield wipers.

"I was wrong."