Su Banxia’s hand froze on the doorknob.
The sudden increase in the man’s volume was extremely intimidating, like a wounded beast that wouldn’t allow anyone near.
During their time living together, he had, at most, used a stern tone to warn her to behave herself, but he had never spoken to her in this manner before.
Su Banxia was taken aback and hurriedly said, “Why won’t you let me help? Did you fall? Don’t be stubborn. I’m your… wife. There’s nothing I can’t see.”
She speculated that perhaps Shang Lu had trouble with his clothing. Even if he looked disheveled, she wouldn’t mock him.
“If you don’t understand what I’m saying, do you?” Shang Lu’s voice was cold and ruthless. “Su Banxia, if you dare to come in, I’ll make sure you leave the Shang family tomorrow!”
There was no movement outside the door, and the figure seemed to still be there.
Shang Lu’s pitch-black, cold eyes turned bloodshot, and he sternly warned and threatened, “Don’t think that just because I allowed you to come to the company to deliver meals these days, you can take advantage and try to enter my life! My affairs have nothing to do with you! Everything is unrelated to you!”
Stay away from him. He was a disabled, useless person. There was no future with him. He didn’t need any warmth.
With his head hanging low, Shang Lu continued coldly, “Starting tomorrow, you are not allowed to go to the company anymore. If anyone dares to let you into the office…”
The sentence hung in the air, unfinished, but the threat was clear.
The words remained unfinished, and he froze, listening quietly.
His heart felt like it had been tightly squeezed, and he couldn’t breathe for a moment.
She… was crying.
Outside the bathroom, there was a soft sobbing, so quiet yet so heartbreaking.
The sound of the girl’s choked sobs could make one imagine tears falling from her eyes and landing heavily in his heart.
The words that hurt even more were stuck in Shang Lu’s throat, and he couldn’t bring himself to say them.
“Are you crying?” he hesitated to ask.
“Yeah,” Su Banxia replied angrily. “You said we have nothing to do with each other, but you still want to care if I cry?”
Shang Lu’s body was drenched, and he felt very cold. His hand, resting next to his body, clenched into a fist.
“Stop crying,” he said in a hoarse voice.
He had shouted at her and now told her to stop crying. It didn’t make sense. If she couldn’t control her tears, she would cry, and if he couldn’t stand it, he should let her in.
Su Banxia cried while thinking about where the key to the bathroom door was kept. Even if she was angry, she still had to consider Shang Lu’s safety.
While listening to her crying, Shang Lu felt uncomfortable in his heart, but his attitude remained unchanged, cold and unyielding.
“If you want to cry, go somewhere far away and cry, don’t let me hear it.”
Footsteps echoed, and the person outside the door left.
Shang Lu sat dejectedly on the floor, his legs throbbing with a dull pain. He gritted his teeth and, in an awkward manner, managed to pull himself up, grabbing the wheelchair nearby.
With some effort, he managed to upright the wheelchair on the floor and then used it to support himself, attempting to climb onto it.
Shang Lu didn’t want to expose his vulnerable side to others. Deep down, he was sensitive and filled with a mixture of self-doubt and dark emotions.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a key turning at the door.
Shang Lu released his grip on the wheelchair’s hand, and his mind filled with unsettling thoughts. He immediately shouted angrily, “Su Banxia, I told you not to come in!”
Su Banxia opened the door and saw the scene in the bathroom, which left a suffocating feeling in her chest.
Who could have imagined that the formidable man who strategized in the business world could look so disheveled and helpless with his legs disabled? Anyone who saw him like this would feel heartbroken.
Su Banxia didn’t show a pitying expression; Shang Lu hated it when people looked at him with pity in their eyes.
She pushed open the door and rushed in, kneeling on the floor, holding onto his arm, and said, “I’ll help you up.”
Shang Lu saw her tear-washed eyes, red nose, and pale face, looking somewhat pitiful, and couldn’t bear to push her away.
“If you want to scold me or hit me, can you wait until after changing clothes?” Su Banxia lowered her head slightly, her eyelashes trembling, concealing the sadness in her eyes. Her voice was extremely gentle. “Your clothes are all wet, what if you catch a cold?”
The girl’s voice quivered slightly, tinged with a hint of choking and a touch of grievance.
Shang Lu’s pale lips pressed into a straight line. The moment she saw him, his mind went blank, and there was even a hint of resentment.
Why, why did she have to see him in this disheveled state?
Dark emotions hidden deep within him surged out, overwhelming him. He hadn’t felt such a strong urge to destroy everything in a long time.
Even when he was ridiculed and trampled upon, lying in the dirty mud, he had never felt such intense hatred.
Su Banxia didn’t know what was going through Shang Lu’s mind. The man had a lean figure, but he still had some weight. He seemed like a puppet, obediently sitting in the wheelchair with her support.
She pushed the wheelchair into the dressing room, took out fresh pajamas for him, and placed them nearby. She urged him to change quickly.
Before leaving the dressing room, she looked back.
The man had a pale, gloomy expression, as if the world had abandoned him.
Su Banxia closed the door to the dressing room.
She crouched down.
In the original plot, there were only a few mentions of Shang Lu’s past. It briefly described how he and his mother were kidnapped when he was young, the plane they were on crashed, and they were left stranded. When he returned to the Shang family, his father had a new lover. What made it even more complicated was that the new lover was his own aunt, and she was pregnant. Unable to accept the truth, his mother committed suicide.
The suffering he had endured over the years was unknown to others.
She couldn’t imagine how he had endured the countless dark nights.
Recently, the company had been facing frequent crises. If they didn’t overcome this current situation, Shang’s father might use it as an opportunity to promote Shang Jingyao and strip Shang Lu of his authority within the company.
Su Banxia wiped away her tears. Whether it was for Shang Lu or for herself, she was determined to uncover the truth of what had happened back then.
Shang Lu spent a long time in the dressing room, so long that Su Banxia fell asleep from exhaustion.
When he heard no movement in the bedroom, Shang Lu came out of the dressing room and turned off the light.
Sitting in the wheelchair for so long was uncomfortable, and it would be best to go to bed now, but he couldn’t sleep.
He found a cigarette, looked at the sleeping girl on the bed, and then pushed open the French window to go to the balcony.
In the deep night, it was calm and quiet.
Shang Lu lit the cigarette and stared at the dark night with a cold and lonely expression.
After regaining his composure, he became calm again.
Tonight’s unexpected incident, being suddenly seen in his disabled state by Su Banxia, was something he couldn’t accept. It even gave rise to many dark thoughts.
What he shouldn’t have done the most was to make her cry.
She was angry and hurt, but she endured it and helped him.
Throughout his life, he rarely made mistakes, and even if he did, he never bowed his head. At this moment, he felt a deep regret and a desire to apologize.
Shang Lu closed his eyes and exhaled a puff of smoke.
The next day.
Shang Lu woke up very early. He came out of the bathroom and saw the girl sitting on the bed with a blanket wrapped around her. He felt a bit uncomfortable.
Su Banxia rubbed her eyes. Sleep was indeed the best remedy. After being upset and angry last night, waking up to see the sunlight made her feel better.
She still had the unresolved issue of the vegetative state nanny on her mind, so she immediately grabbed Shang Lu, who had skipped work, to try to find out more.
“Wait a moment before you go to work. I have something to ask you,” Su Banxia said.
Shang Lu’s expression remained indifferent as he asked, “What is it?”
In her mind, Su Banxia cursed him as a dog but still went ahead to pour him a cup of coffee, acting cute and obedient like a little deer.
“About yesterday’s incident, did you instruct the lawyer to sue those people?” she asked.
Shang Lu replied coldly, “The troublemakers can only be detained for a few days.”
The two men who had attempted harassment and assault would be sentenced to three to five years in prison. He had instructed the lawyer to file the most serious charges against them.
Su Banxia frowned and said, “But after they are released, they might cause trouble again, and the media is fueling the fire behind the scenes. It could be very detrimental to the company.”
“I know,” Shang Lu responded.
Su Banxia scooted forward while holding the blanket and sat on the edge of the bed. “May I ask a few questions?”
Shang Lu looked at her with his cold, dark eyes.
With lowered eyelashes, Su Banxia quickly asked, “Was it you who fired the nanny? When did it happen?”
In theory, when a nanny is fired and something happens afterward, the employer’s child should immediately sue the former nanny. The sudden disturbance during the bidding process of the Shang Corporation, which caused stock price fluctuations, was a significant issue.
“You don’t need to worry about this matter,” Shang Lu replied in a cold and distant tone. “And school starts in a few days… I’ve bought you an apartment near the school. You can move there.”
Su Banxia suddenly raised her head, looking at him in disbelief. “You want to kick me out?”
Shang Lu pursed his lips and said, “Regarding company matters, you should interfere less.”
This time, Su Banxia was genuinely angry, glaring at him. “Shang Lu, I wanted to help you. If you don’t appreciate it, fine, but now you want to kick me out?”
“The house is noisy. If you live there, you can focus on your dance,” Shang Lu remained unmoved.
Su Banxia was infuriated. “Your matters are unresolved, and I can’t focus on dancing.”
Shang Lu’s gaze suddenly changed.
He stared at her sharply and sneered, “Su Banxia, have you forgotten what I said?”
“What did you say?” Su Banxia asked through gritted teeth.
Shang Lu coldly stated, “Mind your own business. You only need to take care of yourself.”
Su Banxia fell silent, and although she had agreed to that, when it came to him, how could she not care? He was her life at the moment.
“Fine, I won’t interfere,” she said stubbornly.
Shang Lu began to move his wheelchair, but Su Banxia jumped off the bed and blocked his way. “Hold on,” she said.
She suddenly leaned down, cupped his face, and kissed him passionately on his icy lips.
Shang Lu was taken aback by the unexpected kiss, and his lips were kissed, nibbled, leaving a strange tingling sensation.
He grabbed her shoulders with both hands and gently pushed her away. “Su Banxia, are you out of your mind?”
Su Banxia wiped her lips and stared at him. “I’m about to leave, can’t I collect some interest? You owe me this!”
With that, she returned to the bed, pulled the covers over herself, and disappeared underneath.
Shang Lu felt restless. She was always like this, disrupting his composure.
When she heard the door slam shut, Su Banxia emerged from under the covers. Her cheeks were red, a mix of anger and embarrassment. It was the first time she had forcefully kissed the big boss, and it felt quite satisfying.
Moving out was just moving out. She wasn’t afraid of anyone.
Now that she had reclaimed a star’s worth of luck by kissing him several times, it would buy her some time.
Su Banxia lay on the bed, thinking. Since Shang Lu didn’t answer her questions, perhaps he didn’t want her to get involved in the nanny incident. In that case, she would have to investigate on her own.
However, her top priority was moving out of this house. She didn’t want to see Lu Yurou and Shang Jingyao every day.
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