What do you want in life

Chapter 61 Don't Want to Lose Your Smile (12)
"Mom, you have a phone!" Xiaozhi suddenly rushed into the room holding her singing cell phone. When this child is in a good mood, he is quite sensible.

"Thank you Xiaozhi!" Xiaoying patted his head to express her gratitude, and then glanced at the number on the phone screen, which was very strange.

Xiaoying picked it up listlessly, "Hello, who is it?"

What I heard was a very familiar voice, "It's me, Shen Juncheng."

Xiaoying's whole body trembled, and even her spine straightened imperceptibly, "Are... what's the matter?" Every time she heard his voice, she couldn't calm herself down.

"I just heard from Xia Bin that you're not at work, so there's nothing wrong with that?"

"No, no problem." Xiaoying didn't expect him to call and talk to herself, "My son is still young, maybe I... have to stay at home for another year..." Because of her panic, she spoke incoherently.

However, Shen Juncheng heard the implication, "So, are you going to be in Kelan for long?"

"I...don't know yet." When it came to this question, Xiaoying's thoughts were cut and confused, but she was not used to lying, especially to the person on the other end of the phone, "It should be."

As soon as the words finished, she suddenly remembered that Fan Zhijun was still preparing for Shen's project with all his strength, and she was heartbroken, and quickly added, "However, even if I want to leave, I will leave after finishing your project. "She didn't want to affect Fan Zhijun's efforts because of herself.

Shen Juncheng smiled lightly, "Don't worry, we will definitely continue our cooperation with Ke Lan. You Mr. Fan are nice."

Hearing his explanation, Xiaoying realized that what she just said was taking herself too seriously, her face was burning hot, and she said embarrassingly: "That's good, Mr. Fan, cough, He really cares about your company."

"Xiaoxia said that I want to meet with your family this weekend." Shen Juncheng didn't seem to want to talk about business with her, so he quickly changed the subject, "He invited me to go with him, and I agreed to him."

"You and Li Zhen..." Xiaoying hesitated, "Didn't he reject you last time?"

"That's nothing." Shen Juncheng said indifferently, "After all, we used to do things together, and now we come to the same city. Even if we don't have the opportunity to continue working together, we can still get along like friends."

After hearing this, Xiaoying fell silent.

"Is there a problem?" Shen Juncheng was sensitive to her strangeness.

"There's a question I've been... wanting to ask you."

"Ask." He said calmly.

Xiaoying took a deep breath, "Why did you come to City H?"

This time it was Shen Juncheng's turn to be silent.

In the deathly silence, only Xiaozhi's excited voice of Xiaozhi holding a toy machine gun and firing at the imaginary enemy repeatedly echoed back and forth in Xiaoying's ears.

"No reason." Shen Juncheng finally spoke, with a flat tone, "Suddenly wanted to come, so I came here."

Xiaoying pursed her lips and said nothing.

"Do you...don't want me to meet Li Zhen?" Shen Juncheng expressed her doubts very directly.

This is exactly what Xiaoying wanted to express. She licked her lips and explained softly, "I don't want him to misunderstand."

Shen Juncheng remained silent for a long time before slowly saying: "I understand."

A few seconds later, a busy tone of "beep beep" came from the receiver, and Shen Juncheng hung up without even saying "goodbye".

Xiaoying put down her phone, feeling that the hole in her heart was rapidly expanding.

It didn't take much effort for Xia Bin to invite Li Zhen, and it was done with just one phone call. The two hadn't seen each other for more than three years, and they still chatted happily through the phone line, because they had a pleasant time together when they were in Nanxiang. time.

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Ting knocked on the door and came in to hand in a document to Li Zhen. Seeing him smiling, she boldly joked, "Mr. Li, did you meet any happy event?"

Li Zhen took the document in her hand and smiled at her, "No happy event, but I won't work overtime this Saturday!"

Zhou Ting stuck out her tongue and muttered in a low voice, "Gong Cao and the others can finally breathe a sigh of relief!"

Before Li Zhen could speak out and reprimand, she had already rushed out the door, her big playful eyes were full of smiles.

Li Zhen has clearly felt recently that since Zhou Ting comforted her on the day she broke up with her, the distance between the two of them seemed to have suddenly shortened a lot. Careful, and occasionally joked with him.As for Li Zhen, for some reason, he always has a little bit of a child-loving mentality towards her. As far as conditions permit, he is willing to indulge her naughtiness-maybe she gave him the impression that she was too shy and timid before.

Soon it was Saturday.

Li Zhen drove Xiaoying and Xiaozhi to meet Xia Bin at Mingyue Tower by Minghu Lake.

This restaurant was newly built at the beginning of this year, occupying a corner of the newly developed scenic spot by Minghu Lake. It has a unique view and is a scene of its own. It is very popular with young people who like petty bourgeoisie.Not only can you eat here, but you can also enjoy the scenery and fish. There is also a water park specially set up for children nearby. Xiao Zhicai covets the big plastic rolling balls floating on the lake as soon as he gets off the car.

The person who came with Xia Bin was also a young man named Fang Wen, who was Xia Bin's current subordinate. He followed him to City H alone. They were both young bachelors. The two usually lived close to each other. What private activities did Xia Bin have? As long as conditions permit, they are used to calling him.Moreover, Fang Wen was also transferred from Nanxiang, and he admired Li Zhen very much, but when he joined Nanxiang, Li Zhen had already left the company.

"As long as G3 is mentioned, the first thing everyone thinks of is Brother Li, haha!"

Xia Bin arm-in-arms with Li Zhen affectionately, "Do you know? G3 has run very smoothly in the past two years. Zhao Tao, who stepped up after you left, often told people that it was all because of Li Zhen's good foundation! No wonder even Mr. Shen has always been thinking about you! Oh, by the way, he wanted to come today, but he couldn't leave because of something, so he asked me to bring some gifts for your son. "

After finishing speaking, he turned his head and yelled at Fang Wen, "Where is the thing Mr. Shen asked us to bring?"

Fang Wen took out a big gift bag from the trunk of the car, which was full of colorful toys. He grinned and held the gift bag in front of Li Chen's family.

Li Zhen smiled unabated, "President Shen is so polite!" He accepted it for his son without much refusal. At that time, Xiaoying had already greeted Xia Bin and the others and led Xiaozhi to play water polo.

The three men found a row of clean stone benches by the lake and sat down to smoke. Xia Bin was in high spirits, approached Li Zhen and said in a low voice, "I can see that Mr. Shen really wants to invite you to join the Shen family!"

Li Zhen looked up at the blue sky, smiled silently, and made no complaints.

"Hey, how is it?" Xia Bin lightly punched him on the shoulder, "Come on, let's work together, it's still the same as in Nanxiang before! You know Mr. Shen is a man, even I have been promoted, so he must not treat you badly." !"

Li Zhen shook his head with a smile, "I'm getting old, and I'm not as motivated as you guys. I just want to find a place to retire safely, and I'll be content."

"Aren't you?" Xia Bin frowned, "You're not a few years older than me! You're only 35 this year, a man, and it's time to start a career!"

Li Zhen raised his hand to take a puff of cigarette, still just smiling.Not far away, Xiaozhi and Xiaoying were hiding in a big transparent water polo, laughing and pushing the ball on the water surface. He stared at them intently, his eyes filled with nostalgia.

Xia Bin suddenly came to his senses, and regretfully smacked Fang Wen and sighed: "Oh, see, there is still a difference between married men and bachelors like us, who go home every day and wait for their wives and children on the kang. Like us, we are all alone no matter where we go, and we can only pass the time by working hard!"

Fang Wen giggled, "I'm not the same as you, Boss, I'm really a loner. You're in the company, anyway, Miss Xiao can remember you!"

"Stop talking nonsense!" Xia Bin reprimanded, "I have nothing to do with her!"

The flames of war suddenly ignited on Xia Bin, even Li Zhen smiled and looked at him with great interest, "Xiao Xia, if there is something suitable, you must hurry up, you bitch have to change your temper, if you procrastinate, what are you doing?" When can I find a wife?"

"I really don't have one!" Xia Bin was miserable, "Where does it go! Xiao Yuxin definitely doesn't like me!"

"Oh? What kind of girl? Even Xia Bin from Yushu Linfeng doesn't pay attention to her?" Li Zhen teased him more vigorously.

"Hey, hey! She is a big celebrity next to Mr. Shen, and her status is similar to that of Cao Wenyu in the past. Do you think I can be with her?" Xia Bin looked annoyed, turned his head and couldn't stop the hand holding the cigarette. Pointing to Fang Wen, "I'm telling you guys, I'm going to be in a hurry with you if you dare to make such a foolish joke again!"

Seeing that he was coming for real, Fang Wen didn't dare continue to smile, and muttered, "It's not like we set a precedent, Mr. Shen took the lead in making this joke!"

"I don't care who started it, in short, you can't talk nonsense in the future!" Xia Bin widened his eyes, "What kind of words did Xiao Yuxin hear!"

Fang Wen was so ashamed by Xia Bin's training that he couldn't sit still, looked at his wristwatch and said, "It's almost time, should we go in?"

Xia Bin said casually: "Okay, you go and call sister-in-law and the others back first!"

Fang Wen took the order and left.

Li Zhen looked at him with ulterior motives and said happily: "It seems that you are playing for real this time!"

Xia Bin didn't catch his breath, and was teased by Li Zhen again. He felt aggrieved, and suddenly rolled his eyes, and laughed, "Hey, Brother Li, I'm not as good as you when it comes to chasing girls. You didn't do it for Han Xiaoying doesn't even want a promotion, she just ran to City H to settle down, she's so infatuated, I'm not wrong about you, am I?"

Li Zhen glanced at him with a smile, "Hey! Why are you trying to trick me again?"

Xia Bin winked, "But this time I really have to thank my sister-in-law. If she hadn't called me to do business, I really didn't expect you to be here. After all, I haven't contacted for several years."

The smile on Li Zhen's face froze for a moment, "She... called you?"

"Yeah!" Xia Bin didn't notice the subtle change on his face at all, "Their company is very interested in Shen's new business, but they can't find anyone to introduce them to. Probably because I heard that my sister-in-law worked in Nanxiang before. Just ask her to call to get a pulse, and we'll connect now."

Li Zhen brushed the ashes between his fingers, "Are you going to use Ke Lan?"

"This is not necessarily the case, we have to go through the bidding process!" After a pause, he probably felt that Li Zhen is not an outsider, and there are no outsiders here, Xia Bin waved his hand and said: "However, I think Ke Lan's possibility is very high .”

"Why?" Li Zhen asked, "The quality of their products is particularly good?"

"Well!" Xia Bin scratched his head habitually again, "We tested the first batch of new samples, it's not particularly good, but overall it's okay. It's mainly Ke Lan's project leader, oh, it's My sister-in-law's boss is quite responsible, and there is..."

"What?" Li Zhen's face became more and more ugly, but Xia Bin didn't realize it.

"I don't know the details, but I think Mr. Shen values ​​Ke Lan very much. When testing the samples, he asked me about the data results several times. He has never cared so much about other bidders."

Li Zhen flicked the cigarette butt into the lake, stood up with a livid face, not far in front of him, Fang Wen and Xiaoying and Xiaozhi, who were smiling, were running briskly towards them.

However, the way he stared at his wife was no longer gentle, replaced by haze.

The meal was very enjoyable. During the dinner, Xia Bin frequently recalled the experience when he was with Li Zhen in Nanxiang, and there was a lot of emotion in his words. Some things were even remembered by Xiaoying, and they resonated with each other. place.

Fang Wen became Xiaozhi's playmate, a big boy led a little boy, they had a great time upstairs and downstairs, and when they broke up, the two were reluctant to leave.

Xiaoying took Xiaozhi from Fang Wen's hand, and patted his sagging face, "Xiaozhi is good, uncle has something to do, let's play with uncle again in the future!"

Xia Bin laughed and said, "What uncle, it's more like brother, isn't it, Xiaozhi?"

Xiaozhi still pouted, looking unhappy.

The two groups parted ways near the parking lot.Xiaoying hugged her son and followed Li Zhen to her car.

Xia Bin suddenly ran back out of breath again, smiled and said to them: "Suddenly remembered, tonight, the city TV station has an exclusive interview with Mr. Shen, and it will be broadcast on time at 07:30 in the evening. You can watch it if you have time."

Xiaoying's heart skipped a beat, her eyes were fixed on her son's face without moving, while Li Zhen smiled at Xia Bin, "Okay."

Driving all the way home, Xiaozhi was already in the back seat eagerly unwrapping the big gift bag from Shen Juncheng. Model cars, planes, weapons, and armors were all boy's favorite things. sound, and then show it to parents in turn like presenting treasures.

Li Zhenzhen was annoyed, frowned and said to Xiaoying, "I'm driving, so can't you take care of him?"

Xiaoying couldn't help but cast a glance at him, thinking to herself that the things Shen Juncheng gave him probably disturbed him, she turned her head and told Xiaozhi softly, "Let's take it apart when you get back, look, the things are so messed up that you can't even sit on them." .”

This day until the evening, Li Zhen kept an abnormal silence, shutting himself in the study room alone, Xiaozhi ran to knock on the door several times and he ignored him, finally Xiaoying came over and hugged Xiaozhi away, " Dad is doing something, Xiaozhi is playing by himself!"

After persuading Xiao Zhi to go away, she stood at the door blankly for a while, imperceptibly, an unconcealable shady feeling was spreading towards her.

After dinner, Li Zhen seemed to have calmed down a bit. While Xiaoying was washing the dishes, he took Xiaozhi's hand and went downstairs for a walk.

After washing the dishes, the father and son hadn't come back yet. Xiaoying was sitting on the sofa flipping through magazines, absent-mindedly glancing at the clock hanging on the wall from time to time. It was five minutes before 07:30.

When he was hesitating whether to turn on the TV to watch, Li Zhen and Xiaozhi opened the door and came in, both of them had smiles that hadn't faded away.

"Why don't you watch TV? It's 07:30!" Li Zhen said without changing his face, and walked over to turn on the TV with the remote control.

Xiaoying put down the magazine and got up, "I'm going to cut some fruit and eat it."

As soon as she hid in the kitchen, she didn't come out again, but her ears were erect.

Li Zhen didn't change the channel. After a few minutes of commercials, the character interview program started. First, the host gave an introduction. Soon, the voice that made Xiaoying's heart tremble reached her eardrums. Her hand holding a fruit knife Suddenly it became unnatural, as if no matter how hard you pinched it, you couldn't exert any strength.

The voice after being on TV is somewhat different from the usual voice, but to Xiaoying, it is still so familiar that it makes her feel uneasy.

When the host asked Shen Juncheng how he came to invest in City H, Xiaoying had completely forgotten that she was still peeling fruit, and she was concentrating on the TV. At this moment, she was also glad that she was not sitting in the living room with Li Chen. Watching together, she was afraid that she would not be able to control her secrets - she simply didn't have the strength to calmly face even Shen Juncheng on the TV.

"...I once studied in city H for a year, and I fell in love with the scenery here. Although I have stayed in many places over the years, in retrospect, city H is still the city I most yearn for. Moreover, Here is near the sea, there is an airport, the transportation is convenient, and the economy is also developed. Our Shen's development in the southeast has not been strong, so I hope I can break through this bottleneck..."

Xiaoying listened fascinated, and suddenly a deep voice came from behind, "What are you thinking?"

"Ah!" She screamed in fright, and the fruit knife almost flew out of her hand. When she looked back, Li Zhen had entered the kitchen at some point, and stood at the door with her arms folded, staring at her intently.

There was deep anger, jealousy and some kind of fanaticism burning in his eyes. Those eyes made Xiaoying feel strange and scared, as if she had done something wrong and was caught by him.

The two were deadlocked in the kitchen, and Xiaoying could almost feel Li Zhen walking towards her with a ball of fire. She wanted to hide, but her hands were covered with sticky orange juice. Put it under the faucet for cleaning.

Fortunately, Xiaozhi suddenly rushed in with a new gun, "Hands up! Don't move! Robbery!"

Li Zhen's rationality seemed to be awakened suddenly, and he turned his face bluntly to reprimand Xiaozhi, "What a mess, come here!"

The kitchen finally became quiet again, Xiaoying picked up the knife again, and slowly cut the oranges, and put them into the small round tray one by one.

She felt something cool slowly sliding on her face, and when she raised her hand to wipe it, her arms were covered with water, and at some point, she actually cried.

The night is deep.

In the dark, Xiaoying heard Xiaozhi's light and even breathing, but she couldn't fall asleep. The small alarm clock on the bed cabinet had night vision function. She touched the black probe and took a look. It was almost twelve o'clock.

Li Zhen hasn't entered the room yet, maybe he will spend tonight in the guest bedroom again.Thinking of this, Xiaoying didn't even have the energy to sigh. The reason why she couldn't sleep because of Li Zhen's attitude towards her was because of Shen Juncheng's TV interview until now, he didn't say a word to herself .

The three years of peaceful life were finally broken by the arrival of Shen Juncheng.

Xiaoying thought over and over again, if she had endured her loneliness back then, and hadn't called Fan Zhijun and joined Ke Lan, would the situation have changed?

But people are animals that love to toss, and they can't resist temptation, especially when they are struggling with loneliness and boredom.Did she dare to deny [-]% that she didn't have the slightest desire to get involved with Shen Juncheng when she chose Ke Lan?

Xiaoying turned over, her already chaotic heart became more numb because of this period of self-analysis.

There were rustling noises in the living room. It turned out that Li Zhen was still awake, and Xiaoying's heart was a little restless.

She doesn't want to continue the cold war with Li Chen. In any case, this is the home she cherishes very much, and all the conflicts now are caused by her past with Shen Juncheng, and have nothing to do with Li Zhen himself.

If there must be a compromise between the two of them, Xiaoying can't imagine any reason for herself to shirk.

She sat up on the bed in the pitch blackness, regained her composure, and then quietly got out of bed, slipped on her slippers and walked out, not forgetting to close the door behind her back.

The lights were off in the living room, but the few rays of light leaking in from the window made the view much clearer than in the room.

Li Zhen sat quietly on the sofa, holding a glass of water in his hand, he was in a daze.Even the sound of Xiaoying's heavy footsteps walking towards him could not shake his pensive posture.

"Why haven't you slept yet?" Xiaoying walked to him, sat down with him, and asked softly.

(End of this chapter)