That night, he saw Li Yaru for the first time.
A beautiful noblewoman from China, dressed in an elegant and gorgeous qipao, her dignified attire highlighting her innate radiance.
Perhaps she didn’t like the decadent music or was chasing a cat, but she came alone to the back garden.
His dog was startled and barked wildly. Li Yaru followed the barking to the dog house.
“Don’t bark… bad dogs don’t bark,” she spoke Chinese, threatening the Japanese dog.
“You little Japanese dog, baka yarou!” she switched to broken Japanese, a phrase widely spread in China.
He laughed.
Hearing laughter, the woman was not frightened but lowered her voice. “Who’s there? Come out! If you’re pretending to be a ghost to scare me, I’ll get you.”
“I’m not a ghost,” he said coldly.
His voice came from the dog hole. The woman was startled and quickly turned on her phone’s flashlight, shining it into the hole.
The narrow but piercing beam illuminated his bruised face. She saw him clearly, and he recognized her immediately.
A stunning woman. Perhaps calling her a woman wasn’t accurate—without trying to look mature, her youthful face and lively expression made her seem just in her early twenties.
“My god! How did you get locked in there?” Li Yaru couldn’t believe someone could be locked in a dog hole. “Are the Japanese all this twisted? What kind of game is this?”
He sneered, speaking Chinese in agreement: “They’re all twisted.”
Li Yaru fiddled with the door panel, finding it locked. Unable to open it, she shook it violently, then curiously said, “You speak Chinese?”
“Locked. You can’t open it,” he said with a gloomy tone that oddly softened. He reminded the beautiful woman, “Go back, just pretend you didn’t see this. Your dress is beautiful—don’t get it dirty.”
“I have to get you out at least,” Li Yaru insisted. “What a messed-up place, locking people like dogs. Crazy.”
Liang Sijie smiled, narrowing his eyes. “Then can you help me with that bottle of water? I’m thirsty.”
“Okay, wait here, I’ll find someone to open this for you.”
“Hey—” he only wanted her to bring water.
The woman’s high-heeled steps were swift and loud; she didn’t hear his call and rushed toward the brightly lit area.
When she returned, there was a man beside her, his large hand tightly holding hers.
Behind them followed the Yamazaki Villa’s butler and several servants in kimonos.
The usually neutral, uninvolved butler personally unlocked the dog hole door and took Liang Sijie out.
Then he awkwardly apologized in broken Chinese to the beautiful woman and the man beside her: “Sorry, sorry, Mr. Zhuang, Madam Zhuang, letting you see this was our fault.”
The man was very imposing, probably in his thirties. The dim streetlight outlined his sharp eyebrows, his aura so fierce it was suffocating.
“My wife was scared. It was indeed your fault,” the man said lowly, not caring about the poor little mixed-blood dog he had just rescued, only tightening his grip on the woman in his arms.
Liang Sijie bowed his head, noticing the veins and thick knuckles on the hand wrapped around the woman’s waist.
The butler said, “Sorry, Mr. Zhuang, the young masters’ prank went too far. I will report honestly to the head of the family.”
The man called Mr. Zhuang looked at the woman in his arms. “Satisfied?”
“What do you mean satisfied? I was just standing up against injustice. You’re the one who got involved and made a fuss.”
The man smiled, brushing a stray hair from her temple.
The woman stepped forward and handed him the bottle of spring water. “Here, your water.”
Liang Sijie took it and said in Japanese, “Thank you.”
Li Yaru said, “Next time someone bullies you, you have to fight back. They even say you’re a Yamazaki Family young master—are young masters this spineless?”
The small incident ended quickly. He held that bottle of spring water tightly, watching her receding back.
After the banquet, the butler reported the incident to the Yamazaki Family head, Liang Sijie’s grandfather.
From then on, life improved a lot. The young masters reined themselves in, no longer blatantly bullying him, though they still found ways to cause trouble.
But he no longer acted like a submissive dog—he had learned to bite back.
Liang Sijie admitted he came to Li Yaru’s side with a purpose, but that purpose was simply to take good care of her.
To make her happy.
.
Since Zhuang Qiting returned from Rome, life at the Zhuang Residence had improved significantly. The master’s mood was noticeably better. Even eating alone no longer felt cold and lonely.
Li Guanjia thought, at last, there was hope in life.
At six in the morning, Zhuang Qiting’s biological clock woke him precisely on time.
He got up, washed, exercised, showered, changed into a neatly pressed three-piece suit, and arrived at the dining room full of energy for breakfast.
Several people were already waiting in the living room—the three secretaries, assistants, bodyguards—just waiting for Zhuang Qiting to finish breakfast before heading to the group.
Shenghui Group was holding its semi-annual shareholders’ meeting in the morning.
Four cars were parked in front of the main building of the villa. In the center was a brand-new, gleaming extended Phantom painted a deep garnet red.
The license plate wasn’t the usual “1” but “ELEANOR.” The car’s smooth double waistline was a bright gold, and the rear was specially painted by a well-known artist with a camellia flower.
After breakfast, Zhuang Qiting strode out of the villa and paused in front of the Phantom, admiring the new ride.
He was increasingly satisfied.
Eleanor. Eleanor. Now everyone would know Li Yaru was still his woman, the woman he pursued. Surely no meddlesome dogs would dare harass her.
This car was customized entirely to Li Yaru’s taste. From now on, chauffeuring her would surely make her happy.
“Well done,” Zhuang Qiting praised Li Guanjia.
Li Guanjia nodded slightly. “Just doing my job.”
He couldn’t hide his pride. Such a flashy car—it was impressive he came up with the idea!
Zhuang Qiting got into the outrageously flashy car and drove in a grand procession to Shenghui Group.
The car stopped in the reserved parking space on the ground floor. Secretary Shen got out to open the door for the Chairman.
It was eight in the morning, peak clock-in time for employees, and the area bustled with neatly dressed office workers.
Shenghui’s clock-in system was flexible—eight hours a day was mandatory. Sometimes people came late in the morning and left late in the afternoon, but 8:00 a.m. was always the busiest.
The customized garnet red extended Phantom was a scene wherever it went, especially parking so conspicuously in front of Shenghui Tower.
Five minutes later, a Bentley carrying Zhuang Shaozhou entered Shenghui’s premises.
About to head to the underground parking, he caught a glimpse of the gaudy red car and hurriedly told the driver to slow down.
Zhuang Shaozhou sipped water, staring suspiciously at the overly flashy car. Which brazen bastard dared treat the group headquarters like a show?
His gaze landed on the license plate, and he couldn’t help but laugh aloud, choking on his drink and coughing violently.
Between coughs, he snapped a photo with his phone and sent it to the brothers’ group chat.
【Picture】
【Fighting for Li Yaru, the big boss is going all out.】
Li Shengming was on his way to school and almost died laughing at the message: 【Hahahahahahaha!】
【I knew about this car! It’s been parked in the garage! Uncle Li mysteriously covered it with a cloth; I sneaked a peek hahaha I thought it was a gift for…】
Zhuang Shaoyan was at the Hong Kong University cafeteria, pretending to have a chance encounter. He opened his phone and couldn’t help but chuckle.
【Daddy, keep it up! Wish you success!】
Before the shareholders’ meeting began, news of the Chairman’s new ride had already spread rapidly.
When Zhuang Qiting entered the meeting room, all eyes turned to him.
But no one dared stare openly; they all secretly glanced before quickly returning to serious composure.
Zhuang Qiting never cared about others’ gazes. He sat down leisurely, his pristine white cuffs showing.
The luxurious gold camellia cufflinks were set with a sapphire, dazzling everyone.
“Let’s begin.” He tapped the table.
After the meeting, Zhuang Qikai and Zhuang Qize followed smiling behind Zhuang Qiting as he entered the Chairman’s office.
Zhuang Qiting found these two nuisances annoying, delaying him from picking up Li Yaru.
“Spit it out quickly.”
Zhuang Qize grinned. “Boss, you’ve been on a roll lately. The sister-in-law’s back, huh?”
Zhuang Qiting bit on a cigarette. “What’s it to you?”
Zhuang Qikai said, “Boss, you can’t just use up the birds and hide the bow! That dog headgear was still airlifted by me!”
Zhuang Qize: “What dog headgear?”
Zhuang Qiting coldly glared at the younger one.
“Alright, stop glaring. I’m going to pick up Arou now. You two do as you please.”
“Hey, boss, is the sister-in-law really coming back or not?”
Zhuang Qiting strode out. “Still chasing.”
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