This year’s Christmas gift was truly unique—a pair of “The Wizard of Oz” themed earrings, whimsically designed, especially with the tiny jade-carved squirrel in the middle, absolutely adorable, like a lavish toy meant to please a child.
Li Yaru muttered, “Is this just a squirrel? Or just… a rabbit? Why would you give me something like this? You should give it to little Yujing instead.”
Though she spoke of childishness, in her heart she adored them.
Zhuang Qiting personally put the earrings on her, his deep eyes lingering with satisfaction at his own taste. “Mm, don’t you think they suit you?”
“How do they suit me?” Li Yaru pursed her lips.
“The squirrel is you when you’re eating, and the rabbit is you when you’re looking around everywhere. Anyway, the moment I saw them, I thought they looked just like you.”
As he spoke, Zhuang Qiting only found Li Yaru even more irresistibly adorable.
He couldn’t resist that kind of bone-deep, instinctive affection—he leaned over and planted a firm kiss on her.
“Do you remember the first time I took you to play golf? You kept munching on biscuits, or you were looking around for wild men. At the time, I thought you were just a squirrel, a rabbit, or some little thing like a meerkat.”
Li Yaru’s face flushed red. “Crazy… I’m almost fifty… Can you not keep calling me a little thing? I can’t handle my face getting so hot.”
Zhuang Qiting didn’t mind at all, his rich, mellow voice gentle. “Even when you’re seventy or eighty, you’ll still be my little thing in my eyes.”
“Don’t say such scary words in the future. I’m still a long way off from that day.”
The thought of growing old and becoming a frail old lady unsettled Li Yaru, making her uncomfortable, with a vague hint of fear.
What woman isn’t afraid of beauty fading with age? Though one should face aging with composure and grace, how many women can truly manage it?
Zhuang Qiting sensed her anxiety and fear toward aging.
He wrapped his arm tighter around her, pulling her into his embrace, his broad palm patting her gently.
“Don’t be afraid, A’Rou. You will never grow old.”
His gaze grew deep as he looked out at the glittering city lights beyond the car window.
Tonight was the Eve of Peace; the streets bustled with endless streams of cars.
The eight o’clock Christmas fireworks had long since ended, but people still lingered.
This city had once belonged to them, but no matter how great a hero, their curtain must fall someday—such was a question that humanity could never solve.
They would grow old, no longer young, but could always maintain grace, and he could always love her.
“I’ll be by your side forever.”
Li Yaru didn’t like saying such sticky words, but she did enjoy hearing sweet nothings like this.
She rubbed against his chest. “You’re even older than me. Take good care of yourself, Boss Zhuang.”
Zhuang Qiting gave a light chuckle, then slapped her on the rear.
“Stop teasing your man. Even at my age, I could keep you up all night.”
Li Yaru’s eyes rolled back, and she yanked his tie hard, forbidding him from saying such dirty things.
*
Christmas passed happily, and Li Yaru received all sorts of gifts.
Liang Sijie sent a handwritten letter and a hand-painted silk folding fan from Tokyo, Kurt sent a painting—a vivid depiction of Li Yaru’s latest sunset photoshoot for a magazine cover, while Lorenzo sent an Italian coffee machine perfect for home use, along with a case of red wine brewed at his own Lorenzo’s Winery.
He said this year’s grapes were the best harvest in nearly twenty years, and the wine was the best quality yet—he hoped she wouldn’t mind.
Aside from these, there were many other gifts—some from relatives and friends, others from major brands, clubs, hotels… In short, there were so many that Li Yaru had no idea who some were from.
Zhuang Qiting looked at the mountain of gifts filling the Li Residence with disdain. “What is all this nonsense? So gaudy.”
He picked up a bottle of red wine, reading out the label from Lorenzo’s Winery, then frowned and commented,
“What kind of small workshop is this? Too shoddy, it’ll burn your mouth. I’ll have someone send it to Second Restaurant for them to give out as table wine.”
Li Yaru was filled with joy, but hearing his usual sharp tongue, she wanted to laugh and scold him at the same time.
She snatched the wine away, carefully placing it back in its wooden box.
“Why don’t you lick your lips and see if you can poison yourself? It’s been sixteen years—how can you still hold such a grudge against him? So petty.”
Lorenzo sent all kinds of gifts to the Li Residence every year, especially at the Spring Festival and Christmas, always coming up with new ways to make his presence felt.
How could Zhuang Qiting not hold a grudge? He wished he could throw everything out!
Zhuang Qiting’s face grew a bit dark. Gripping a cup of freshly brewed black tea, he stared intently at Li Yaru sorting through all the gifts.
His gaze only softened when it fell upon the little squirrel earrings dangling from her ears.
Only his gift truly matched her heart.
“Pick out a few for me to take with me. I forgot to prepare gifts for Xiao Hua, Xiao Chen, and Haozai,” Zhuang Qiting suddenly spoke up.
Haozai was the child of the eldest, Zhuang Shaoyan—a little cub born this year.
Not even three months old, and he’d already peed all over Zhuang Qiting.
At the time, Zhuang Qiting was holding the little troublemaker, frowning tightly, looking like he wanted to throw the child away but didn’t dare, until the nanny came to the rescue.
Only plush toys were picked out, and with a laugh, she said, “Can’t you be a bit less perfunctory? You’re just regifting things others gave me, and you’re not even embarrassed to hand them over?”
“So what? Gifts just circulate back and forth anyway. Besides, he—”
To expect him to spend time and effort picking gifts for anyone besides Li Yaru—impossible, he simply wasn’t that idle.
Li Yaru rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll prepare the gifts for you. I’m heading to Qiu Mei’s place for a Christmas party. Don’t come pick me up, I’ll be out until after midnight, just so you know.”
“Are there any men?”
“None at all.”
Zhuang Qiting’s tone grew icy.
Li Yaru laughed aloud, not even bothering to look up as she kept unwrapping gift boxes. “I know, I know, I have a boyfriend.”
“Let Ada go with you.”
“She was planning to go with me anyway.”
Zhuang Qiting wasn’t actually worried—Li Yaru’s cousin couldn’t stir up much trouble and wouldn’t dare introduce any messy men behind his back.
His real concern now was the second daughter-in-law.
“Are you staying at the Li Residence tonight, or going back to the Zhuang Residence? I heard from Xiao Shen you have a banquet.”
“Mm, I’ll go back to the Zhuang Residence after the banquet. A group of ducklings is throwing a party at the Zhuang Residence—if I’m not there, they’ll probably tear the place down.”
Li Yaru glanced at him with a smiling reproach, and reminded him not to be too stern with the children—don’t act like one of those stiff, unlikable, old-fashioned elders.
It’s Christmas, after all—it’s all about getting together and having fun, isn’t it?
Zhuang Qiting came over and kissed her cheek, promising softly, “Don’t worry, I won’t make trouble for them.”
Zhuang Qiting agreed readily enough, and Li Yaru didn’t give it much thought.
She never imagined that Zhuang Qiting had another motive for going back to the Zhuang Residence.
It wasn’t until three days after Christmas that she heard from Zhuang Shaozhou’s call that Zhuang Qiting had made Chen Weiqi cry.
“She cried? How could she cry?” Li Yaru’s mind went blank.
She couldn’t imagine her daughter-in-law being scolded to tears by Zhuang Qiting, nor could she imagine why he would pick on his daughter-in-law out of the blue.
“She really cried, Ms. Li, and I couldn’t even comfort her. What’s gotten into the old man? In front of everyone, he called my wife into the study, and when she came out her eyes were all red. I asked her, but she wouldn’t say a thing—he must have threatened her.”
On the other end of the phone, he kept fueling the fire,
“You know how scary he is when he’s angry. Sometimes even I’m scared of him, let alone Tanya, a girl who just joined the family. She’s just arrived, and she’s already been so wronged. I don’t even know how to explain it to her brother and mother-in-law.”
Li Yaru massaged her throbbing temples, trying to steady her blood pressure. “Don’t panic. Just comfort her for now. The in-laws can’t find out about this.”
“Of course, we’ll keep it quiet. But, Mama…” Zhuang Shaozhou sighed. He rarely addressed Li Yaru so formally unless he wanted something—or was up to no good.
“The old man’s tyranny is too much. Weiwei says she never wants to come to the Zhuang Residence again.”
Li Yaru could feel her anger rising. She had already reminded Zhuang Qiting many times to be gentle with his daughter-in-law and not always put on a stern face.
Not only did he not listen, he even went behind her back to make trouble for her!
Zhuang Shaozhou added, “It must be because you’ve been spending too much time with my wife lately—always inviting her out. Mom, the old man’s possessiveness is acting up again, and now he can’t stand me or my wife either.”
Li Yaru sneered, recalling a few clues from before—Zhuang Qiting always spoke of the second daughter-in-law with a hint of discontent.
She’d thought it was just his usual way; after all, he could find fault with anyone. She hadn’t expected there to be another reason!
“He dares find fault with Weiwei? Don’t worry, I’ll handle this. Enough talk, just comfort Weiwei and take her on a holiday to relax.”
After hanging up, Li Yaru quickly pulled herself together and instructed Ada to find out Zhuang Qiting’s whereabouts.
Half an hour later, Li Yaru emerged from her dressing room, her loose silk dress replaced by a sharp light-blue suit, the patent leather gleaming, its tailoring razor-sharp.
Ada hadn’t seen Li Yaru dress like this in ages and clicked her tongue. “Ma’am… Are you going for a negotiation?”
Li Yaru put on her sunglasses, smirking coldly. “I’m going to fight.”
Zhuang Qiting spent at least three days a week at the Shenghui Group headquarters—attending meetings, handling paperwork, and focusing all business socializing on those days.
His schedule was packed, and his only private time was a nap after lunch.
On those three days, he basically had no control over Li Yaru and could only check in online.
She, of course, was very mischievous—he’d ask three questions and get only one reply, if he was lucky. He couldn’t exactly show up in person.
He had grown used to not seeing Li Yaru for three days a week. In fact, he found it helpful—he could focus on work.
Ever since their divorce, Li Yaru rarely visited Shenghui Group—partly to avoid gossip, partly because she didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention.
Every time she showed up, rumors would fly about her relationship with Zhuang Qiting.
But this time, her private car made a high-profile entrance at Shenghui Tower and parked right in the private space that had once been hers.
All these years, no matter what, no one had dared park in her spot.
In high heels, Li Yaru strode into the elevator, heading straight to Zhuang Qiting’s office.
Zhuang Qiting was having a team meeting in his office—suit immaculate, posture upright, listening strictly to several executives reporting their work.
At that moment, the elevator leading directly to the Chairman’s office opened. Everyone was stunned.
Zhuang Qiting looked up with displeasure, thinking it was another troublemaker who didn’t know the rules, just barging out of the elevator.
He’d warned them many times: no one was allowed to use the private elevator to his office without permission.
Anyone wanting to see him had to go through proper channels—report to the Directors’ Office and have the secretary arrange a time.
The elevator doors finished opening, and a striking, capable figure in light blue strode out, heels tapping crisply on the tiles.
Zhuang Qiting’s grip on his pen tightened sharply.
“Having a meeting?” Li Yaru took off her sunglasses without so much as a glance at Zhuang Qiting, instead smiling cordially at the group of executives.
Many knew her well; she’d once been a member of the Board of Directors of Shenghui Group.
The group hurried to bow and greet her, “Good day, Madam.”
“Carry on, don’t mind me. I’ll just wait here.”
Li Yaru completely ignored Zhuang Qiting’s sharp gaze, walked straight to the sofa, sat down, picked up a finance magazine, and began reading as if nothing were amiss.
Zhuang Qiting stared intently at Li Yaru’s delicate, full profile, and any thoughts of work flew out the window.
The meeting that was meant to last another fifteen minutes wrapped up efficiently in five.
Once the room cleared, he immediately stood up and walked to the sofa, wanting to hug his wife, his tone gentle as spring water.
“Baby, what brings you here? Why didn’t you say anything ahead of time? Did you miss me?”
Li Yaru squinted her eyes, rolled the magazine into a tube, and smacked him on the head. “Miss you, my foot! I’m here to beat you up!”
*
On the top floor.
Zhuang Shaozhou had already heard the news that Li Yaru was storming the Shenghui Group.
Pleased, he lit a cigar and sent a message to Chen Weiqi: [Baby, let’s have a feast for lunch to celebrate.]
Chen Weiqi: [Celebrate what?]
Zhuang Shaozhou bit down on his cigar and quickly typed: [Celebrate the old man getting his comeuppance.]