Mu Sijue’s eyes were seemed to have blended in the dark night; his emotions were covered in layers of mystery. It was impossible to know what he was thinking.

But he said playfully, “Why? Miss me already?”

“Seventh Brother, I didn’t know you were so self-involved.” Xu Youning looked exaggeratingly surprised. “I didn’t know you were this kind of person.”

Mu Sijue stared at Xu Youning. “You wanna say it again?”

His tone and face seemed calm, but Xu Youning heard the hints of danger. She then said, “I mean, yeah, I miss you already. Um, for how long will you be away? Are you sure you can get it?”

Mu Sijue sneered, “Do you think I would go there myself if I wasn’t sure?”

Xu Youning was used to his arrogance. She said sarcastically, “Why so confident? No competitors?”

“Competitors…” Mu Sijue repeated the word in playful manner and suddenly gave her a profound smile. “There is one. Speaking of it, you know him. Kang Ruicheng.”

He really was going to get the trades that Kang Ruicheng was aiming for.

Xu Youning thought, that was the last chance she could ask about his quote.

Because of the tension, Xu Youning’s heartbeat hastened, and was afraid that Mu Sijue would be aware of her abnormality.

Xu Youning clenched her fists. “You must get it. If you lose it, go ask your people to break both of Kang Ruicheng’s legs. I didn’t stay in the hospital for nothing!”

Mu Sijue gave Xu Youning a deep look—”She doesn’t seem nervous at all when lying. What a great actress.”

He smiled, “Well, if you put it this way. I’ll have to defeat him.”

That was the best opportunity to ask the question. Xu Youning had no time to ponder on what he meant by saying that. She seized the opportunity and asked, “You have plans?”

“I’ll give the lowest offer and this trade will be ours,” Mu Sijue said.

What are the odds!? He said the key point!

Having a guilty conscience, Xu Youning was thinking about how to ask about the exact offer he was making. Suddenly, she heard him casually saying, “We’re offering 120,000. And I don’t think Kang Ruicheng would go lower than that.”

“…” Indeed, it was impossible.

The cost of each batch of the item they were competing for was nearly 110,000. Including the transportation cost, 120,000 was the farthest one could go. Let alone that Kang Ruicheng source was overseas, the transportation cost would be higher than Mu Sijue’s. Generally speaking, his offer shouldn’t be less than 120,000.

Xu Youning didn’t feel complacent because she got the answer unexpectedly. She didn’t forget that she was working for Mu Sijue and she should be wary of him. She said, “Why the price wars? I remember you said that you never do business that would cost you.”

According to Mu Sijue’s style, if he was determined to win a business, he would choose to take Kang Ruicheng down or to threaten the partner, as he did to Mike. It was so unlike him to just reduce the price as if he had given up fighting.

“Doesn’t matter,” Mu Sijue said lightly, “I want to rattle his position in City A.”

As long as Kang Ruicheng’s position wasn’t stable in the city, it would be much easier for Lu Boyan to deal with him.

Xu Youning thought about it. “So, wish you well?”

Mu Sijue smiled, but behind that smile was a hint of irony. Xu Youning didn’t see it clearly, so she didn’t think too much into it. She opened the car door and went home.

Watching her entering her house, Mu Sijue commanded, “Go back to the big house.”

Arriving at the big house, Mu Sijue didn’t get off immediately. He asked the driver to leave first, and he lit a cigarette in the car alone.

It was smokey inside the car. The smell of cigarette was permeating in the car. His outstanding facial features were covered in the rising smoke. It was hard to tell what was in his mind.

Half an hour later, he finally got off and went home.

No one could ever find out what was Mu Sijue thinking in the car.

Under the same sky, Xu Youning was entangled.

She had thought that it was gonna be hard to get the offer out of him, but she heard it from Mu Sijue out of all expectation. At the moment, she was thinking whether to tell Kang Ruicheng or not.

Last time, she failed to get the business with Mike for Kang Ruicheng. If she failed again, Kang Ruicheng would definitely suspect her, given to his distrusting quality.

But, if she told Kang Ruicheng, would that mean she would hurt Su Jianan indirectly again?

When she was struggling, the phone rang. It was Kang Ruicheng.

She answered the phone and Kang Ruicheng asked right away, “I’m leaving for Mexico tomorrow. Have you found out about Mu Sijue’s offer?”

“Is this the only thing you care about?” Xu Youning was trying to stall.

“I know your leg’s fine now.” Kang Ruicheng was not fooled. “Say it. What’s his offer?”

“I can tell you, but you have to promise me one thing first.” Xu Youning emphasized, making every word clear. “You can’t do anything that might hurt Jianan.”

“Before I can settle in City A, I would do nothing to Su Jianan. This I can say for sure.” Kang Ruicheng had lost his patience. “But if you don’t tell me his offer, you will be the one who suffers.”

Xu Youning closed her eyes and said, “120,000, this is the lowest Mu Sijue can go.”

“Twelve thousand?” Kang Ruicheng laughed. “He lowered the price, abandoning over ten million of profit, just so I can’t take part in the market?”

“Yeah, he just wants you to fail in the country. He doesn’t care about the money anyway.” Xu Youning asked, “What are you gonna do?”

“Do I seem like I need money?” Kang Ruicheng sneered extremely coldly. “I will make a 110,000 offer. And when I win, I look forward to see Mu Sijue’s face. It’s gonna be good.”

He then hung up.

While Xu Youning opened the application and was deleting the calling record, she was also thinking about how to make up an excuse.

That kind of trade had an incredibly wide range of potential in terms of profit. Even Kang Ruicheng was trying to beat Mu Sijue with the lowest offer, there was no way that he would make an offer as low as 110,000, which happened to be only 10,000 less than Mu Sijue’s.

Mu Sijue was an alert person. He would have doubts when he heard of the offer from Kang Ruicheng. And she was the one to whom he mentioned the offer. He would definitely suspect her.

How could she be free of suspicion?

Before Xu Youning could come up with a solution, she had fallen asleep.

The next day, one thing after another, Xu Youning had been very busy. When she finally finished all her work, it was nine at night. She and Ah Guang ordered takeaways in the office.

When she unwrapped her takeaway, she suddenly thought of Mu Sijue.

If no one reminded Mu Sijue, he would forget to eat. He even forgot to sleep when he was busy. He was picky in his country, let alone when he was abroad. There had to be a lot of things that he would eat. Would he just leave them?

But he wouldn’t eat, it would hurt his stomach.

Xu Youning’s thoughts were getting deeper and deeper. It was Ah Guang who woke her up.

“Sister Youning!” Ah Guang knocked on the table with chopsticks. “Stop thinking. Seventh Brother is going to sneeze again in Mexico.”

“…” Xu Youning opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling, “Don’t try to figure out a woman’s brain. I was just thinking why the takeaway tastes so bad today.”

“Because Seventh Brother’s not here,” Ah Guang grinned and said, “If it were Seventh Brother having dinner with you, you would think that today’s takeaway was unprecedentedly good.”

Xu Youning bit her chopsticks. She didn’t want to admit it, but she still asked subconsciously, “How long will he be gone?”

“A week, maybe,” Ah Guang said, “Based on what I know about Seventh Brother, he can usually take down this kind of business in a week.”

Xu Youning nodded, absentminded. “A week, not too long.”

But it seemed very long when you were it actually came down to it.

After that, Xu Youning was busy every day. She worked like a dog in the clubhouse, in the bar, or somewhere else that ran into trouble.

One thing after another; she was usually very tired after a day of work. But when she lay down on the bed, she couldn’t help but think of Mu Sijue.

She thought of his voice and his face.

She wondered how he was doing while abroad.

She wondered if he missed her, even for just a second.

Xu Youning thought about the day when she kissed Mu Sijue, back in City A; she felt she had stepped into a swamp. She didn’t want to get out from it at the moment. She even wanted to go deeper.

But someday, she would leave.

One day, no matter how crazily she missed Mu Sijue, she would be never be able to see him, ever again.

……

On the fifth night Mu Sijue had left, something went wrong in a bar.

Two groups of people were fighting. Xu Youning happened to be there. And she got hurt when she was trying to calm things down. Finally, she was taken to the police station to assist in the investigation.

Some people were severely injured and were sent to the hospital. Some other guests were frightened. The impact of that incident was greater than what Xu Youning had imagined. It took her a lot of time and effort to deal with the press, so as to not affect the business of the bar.

However, the police were not as easy-going as the press. She had been mediating with the police officer for three hours before she could leave. When she finally got out of the police station, it was four in the morning.

“Sister Youning!” Ah Guang rushed forward. “How’s it going?”

“It’s all sorted out.” Xu Youning yawned, covering her mouth. “Is there any hotel nearby? I am too tired to go home. I just want to sleep.”

“The wound on you hand…” Ah Guang pointed at the gauze wrapped on Xu Youning’s hand. “Do you need to go check it in the hospital?” Xu Youning had used her hand to stop one of the groups from fighting and the back of her hand was cut by the broken glass bottle held by the man.

“It’s okay. It’s not too serious. I will deal with it.” Xu Youning looked around and found no hotels. She swore due to her disappointment. Did it mean that she needed to sleep in the car?

“There aren’t any good hotels nearby,” Ah Guang said, “But Seventh Brother’s apartment is nearby. I will send you there. I have his room key.”

When Xu Youning was thinking about whether Mu Sijue would mind, Ah Guang had already dragged her into the car.

She didn’t know how she had gotten into Apartment No.1. She only remembered that the last thing she saw was a giant bed. She fell down on the bed regardless and was surrounded by darkness where her memory was interrupted.

When she woke up, the sun was shining outside the window. It was noon.

Xu Youning lifted her blanket and looked around. It took her a while to realize that she was in Mu Sijue’s apartment. She wanted to leave the bed but then she heard the door was being opened.

That apartment was so secured that it was impossible to have strangers breaking in. And, it was Mu Sijue’s place. Strangers wouldn’t have the guts to get in.

To think of it, that day was the sixth day since Mu Sijue had left. It was almost a week.

So, is Mu Sijue back? How would he react when he saw her there?

Xu Youning’s heartbeat was racing. She got off carefully and nervously, as if she were going to see her first love. She opened the door and looked outside.