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Zao Chun Qing Lang | Chap 76: Luan Nian Finally Holds Her

Luan Nian drove aimlessly through the streets. Autumn was probably Beijing's most beautiful season. Fallen leaves scattered across the pavement, a lone chair sat at a bus stop, and an old man sketched by the roadside, folding it all into his drawing. There was nothing dirty or ugly in the picture, only a prettified peace. He parked by the curb, found a chair, and sat watching the crowds flow past. The trembling Shang Zhitao and the Shang Zhitao who had endured everyone's scrutiny kept alternating in his mind, until at last they settled into a single image: Shang Zhitao fighting her battle alone. A Shang Zhitao who had never wanted to ask him for help, who had held fast to the terms the two of them had first agreed on. A completely different woman. Or maybe she had always been like this, and he simply had never noticed. Luan Nian had never been so shaken, so filled with dread, as he was today. That recording had torn something open inside him, and it wouldn't stop bleed...

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    Zao Chun Qing Lang | Chap 75: Flora's Report Exposes Dony's Harassment

    That day was an ordinary one for Lingmei. Everyone was busy at their posts, occasionally exchanging a few quiet words, but most of the time typing away at their computers in silence. Luan Nian was in a management meeting. Dony was talking about revising the new strategy yet again, but no one spoke up. Luan Nian didn't say anything either. He merely raised his head and glanced at Dony, a look that gave nothing away. Tracy also looked up at Dony, then lowered her head and sent Luan Nian a message: "I put on makeup specially today." "This does call for it." Luan Nian replied. The meeting dragged on tediously, but uncharacteristically, Luan Nian didn't call it to a stop. He even leaned back in his chair, watching the various departments spar with each other. After a while, Luan Nian saw the expression change on Tracy's face, someone who had seen every kind of storm. She cut Dony off: "Sorry, Dony, could you stop for a moment. Luke, could you step o...

    Zao Chun Qing Lang | Chap 74: Shang Zhitao Catches Dony in the Act

    Tracy sent the files to Luan Nian bit by bit. They were thorough, more thorough than any ordinary background check firm could manage. Whoever had compiled them clearly had real skill, and connections overseas besides. Luan Nian read through them carefully. Tracy did solid work, and he told her so: "Money well spent." Tracy ignored that and asked him directly, "Take him down?" "However messy his private life, that's in his past. Nothing illegal, and no evidence of anything out of line at the company now." Luan Nian's answer was measured. "You're sure he hasn't broken the law?" Tracy pushed back. "Page fifteen. A woman's statement. At a company dinner, drunk and not fully conscious, and he had relations with her." "I saw it." "So I'll ask again. Take him down?" Tracy was rarely this serious, this combative. "You want him gone because the board assigned him without asking you?" Lu...

    Zao Chun Qing Lang | Chap 73: An Unexpected Encounter

    Shang Zhitao never expected Dony to be on a business trip in the same city. She had just finished work when a colleague from the branch office invited her to eat chuan chuan, then added, almost as an afterthought, "Dony's here too." Something about the colleague's expression seemed off. Zhitao paused. "What's he here for?" "Something about following up on a project proposal." "Oh." Zhitao knew Dony couldn't have deliberately followed her to Chengdu. Her trip had been arranged only the day before she left, so this had to be a coincidence. Still, the coincidence left her uneasy. "I'll head back to the hotel first and write up my report. I'll come find you all after." Zhitao had already prepared her excuse to escape, but the colleague looped an arm through hers. "Eat first, write later! The work will still be there!" And so Zhitao was hauled off to the chuan chuan restaurant. The others had already a...

    Zao Chun Qing Lang | Chap 72: A Fever and the First Drink

    Luan Nian refused to look after Luke, which meant no one would look after Luke at all. But Luan Nian's words were rarely straightforward. When he said he couldn't, it usually meant he could. So Shang Zhitao tried again. "Should I bring Luke over now?" "No." "What?" Luan Nian didn't answer her. Instead he picked up a call from Dr. Liang. "What's going on?" "Your father went to some event recently and met a Professor Gong. They got to talking, and it turns out his daughter is back in the country, teaching at a university in Beijing. Could you help look after her a bit?" "Gong Yue, right?" Luan Nian asked. "Wait, how did you know that?" "I happened to run into her today." "That's wonderful, then. You young people should get together for a meal sometime, liven things up a little. Otherwise with that personality of yours, won't you suffocate yourself?" "Fine....

    Zao Chun Qing Lang | Chap 71: Steadiness

    Shang Zhitao thought to herself that Dunhuang 108 was the kind of trip you only needed to do once in a lifetime. It was exhausting. Truly exhausting. The next morning when she got up, her legs didn't feel like her own anymore. That was nothing, though. The real challenge was tonight, when they'd be sleeping in tents. Camping was supposed to be nice, and the stars in the desert were sure to be beautiful, but right now Shang Zhitao was thoroughly dreading it. She got up early to keep an eye on the buffet breakfast, and at the entrance to the dining hall she found Luan Nian, who had risen even earlier than she had. His eyes landed on her slow, stiff walk. "You need to work out more." "I don't hike every day." Shang Zhitao muttered a protest, unhappy with his mockery. "Your stamina isn't great even on a normal day." Luan Nian said it pointedly. Shang Zhitao was always finding excuses to slack off, and in truth he rather enjoyed it when she...
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