The venue for the banquet was at the company headquarters established by Yan Mingya, located on the top two floors opposite Haicheng’s largest shopping mall.
When they arrived, the banquet had already been going on for a while. Yan Mingya was surrounded by a group of people, handling himself with grace—neither arrogant nor overly humble. People couldn’t help but sigh; the younger generation will surpass the older. He was only eighteen years old.
Yet, they were unaware that the master perfumer praised by experts like Fang Jinrong and other masters was actually also just eighteen years old.
Yan Mingya noticed Yan Sui and Meng Ting and immediately came over to greet them, “Uncle, Little Aunt, you’re here.”
Yan Sui nodded. It was clear that Yan Mingya was very happy, but he still reminded him, “Don’t drink too much.”
“Yes,” Yan Mingya straightened his back upon hearing this, nodding repeatedly. He had always been this obedient in front of Yan Sui.
Meng Ting’s gaze swept across the hall. He didn’t see many of Yan Sui’s usual friends who often attended such events. He asked Yan Mingya, “Did we make money?”
“Of course,” Yan Mingya nodded, looking at Meng Ting as if he were a golden nugget. If Meng Ting weren’t his elder and Yan Sui’s spouse, he would have wanted Meng Ting to keep creating perfumes indefinitely. The perfumes he handled were worth ten times the ordinary ones, but that wasn’t the limit.
It was said that someone who bought the gold-labeled perfume online resold it for nearly twenty times the price, and there was still room for it to rise. Without experiencing it firsthand, it was hard to understand the charm of Meng Ting’s perfumes.
“Little Aunt, we’ve made a fortune! The first batch sold out completely, and we’ve already recouped our initial investment! From now on, whatever we sell is pure profit!”
Meng Ting still couldn’t fully grasp the magnitude of the success. He nodded, “As long as it makes money.”
Just when everyone thought Meng Ting would move on from the topic, he added another reminder to Yan Mingya, making it seem as if he were in dire need of money, “You know my bank account number, right? Make sure to transfer my earnings to me…”
“Of course,” Yan Mingya could only respond with this.
But he was genuinely happy today. Before the banquet, he received a call from his grandfather, Yan Zhengbo, who naturally praised him. Even Yan Shuya called to probe, but Yan Mingya chose to remain reserved with Yan Zhengbo, so how could he possibly reveal more to him?
This project was unrelated to the Yan family, so he didn’t need to disclose everything to Yan Zhengbo. As long as he delivered satisfactory results by the deadline, that was enough.
And what were results? Money, of course!
With over a year left, he believed that the miracle he and Meng Ting had created was something Yan Shuya could never surpass, no matter how hard he tried. Thinking this way, he realized he wasn’t as concerned about Yan Shuya or the Yan family as he once was.
He could create his own business empire. The Yan family in F country was just an icing on the cake for him. It was only now that he truly understood the meaning behind the words Yan Sui had said to him in F country.
***
Yan Mingya was still very busy. After greeting Yan Sui and Meng Ting, he went off to meet other guests.
Yan Sui continued to accompany Meng Ting, eating and drinking. When the time was right, he took the person and left.
“Let’s go home early. You must be tired today,” Yan Sui said, gently ruffling Meng Ting’s hair, his heart aching a little as he looked at him. Over the past few days, Meng Ting had not only been busy in the lab but also had to prepare for his midterm exams at home. There were even a few times when he fell asleep right on top of his papers.
Meng Ting nodded obediently and let Yan Sui lead him out of the banquet hall. As they entered the elevator, he leaned close to Yan Sui’s side. He probably wanted to kiss Yan Sui, but the elevator doors suddenly opened, and Meng Ting froze mid-motion. He straightened up, glancing at Yan Sui as if to say, “I’ll kiss you later.”
Two people entered the elevator: a man wearing a hat and mask, who looked like a janitor, and a pregnant woman in professional attire with a noticeable belly. The man walked in and moved to the corner, while the pregnant woman smiled at Meng Ting and Yan Sui.
Yan Mingya had only rented the top two floors of this building, while the other floors were occupied by other companies. It wasn’t strange for more people to enter the elevator. However, Yan Sui remained alert. His eyes swept over the masked man, and he pulled Meng Ting closer to his side.
But just at that moment, the man raised his eyes, and a small knife slipped out of his sleeve, thrusting toward Meng Ting.
Yan Sui yanked Meng Ting back, then delivered a fierce kick to the man’s abdomen, followed by another stomp on his wrist, sending the knife flying into the corner.
Meng Ting was pulled so hard that he collided with the elevator wall. Though startled, he quickly calmed down. The space inside the elevator was too small, and getting closer would only hinder Yan Sui.
“Ahh!” The pregnant woman screamed, seemingly frightened, and collapsed to the floor. Meng Ting instinctively reached out to catch her, but then a fruit knife slipped out of her hand.
Yan Sui had subdued the man, but through the elevator’s mirror, he clearly saw the woman attacking Meng Ting. He instinctively wanted to kick her away, but Meng Ting suddenly turned and blocked Yan Sui’s kick. At the same time, the pregnant woman stabbed Meng Ting in the side.
“Meng Ting!” Yan Sui retracted his foot, kicked the man on the ground unconscious, and then supported Meng Ting, his expression both shocked and confused.
“Don’t kick her stomach… there’s a real baby inside…” Meng Ting said, not touching the pregnant woman again. He tried to pull out the knife but found it was deeply embedded. He didn’t make any more rash moves and let Yan Sui hold him.
Yan Sui supported Meng Ting, his gaze dark and menacing as he looked at the pregnant woman, but he didn’t act further.
She sat on the floor, clutching her stomach and sobbing bitterly. Perhaps she felt her mission had failed and her future was bleak, or perhaps Meng Ting’s words had struck a chord with her. But regardless of the reason, neither Yan Sui nor Meng Ting paid her any more attention.
“Don’t be afraid, I’m fine,” Meng Ting leaned against Yan Sui, unsure of what to say to comfort him. But the blood from his side had already soaked through his clothes, starkly visible against his white coat.
With a ‘ding’, the elevator reached the ground floor. In his panic, Yan Sui had triggered the alarm, and Zhao Bing had already arrived with his team.
“Leave this to you,” Yan Sui said, immediately picking up Meng Ting. They didn’t head to the hospital but went straight home. The operating room originally prepared for He Yue was now the first to be used for Meng Ting.
From the perfume company to the Yan Residence, Yan Sui drove for only twenty minutes, running red lights all the way home.
As the car stopped at the entrance, Gu Li and Zhen Han were already waiting with a wheeled operating bed.
Throughout the journey, Meng Ting, injured and didn’t dare to move much, felt guilty and was a bit afraid to speak to Yan Sui. But as Yan Sui picked him up again, his hands tightly gripped Yan Sui’s clothes.
“Will you stay with me?”
Meng Ting couldn’t see himself, so naturally, he didn’t know how terrible his complexion was at that moment—the kind of bad that made people scared.
“I’ll stay with you,” Yan Sui said firmly as he placed Meng Ting on the operating bed.
Yan Yu, He Yue, and Yan Manjia were all alarmed, but Meng Ting’s injuries needed to be stabilized first before they could ask any further questions. They didn’t even dare to say a word to Yan Sui, whose expression looked even more concerning than Meng Ting’s.
Meng Ting was wheeled into the operating room, and Yan Sui followed.
Meng Ting had a phobia of taking medicine and undergoing surgery, but with such injuries, treatment was unavoidable. Gu Li directly administered anesthesia through the respirator. Meng Ting looked at Yan Sui, initially seeing him clearly, but his vision gradually blurred.
Gu Li quickly examined him and gestured to Yan Sui by the operating table to step aside and not get in the way.
“Brother, stand further back.”
Zhen Han also spoke to Yan Sui, quickly preparing the surgical tools as he did so.
Yan Sui stared at Meng Ting for a moment before taking two steps back, standing there as they cut open his clothes and pulled out the knife. The bright red blood that flowed out was extremely jarring.
But Yan Sui didn’t blink, watching intently. The surgery didn’t take long, ending after half an hour. However, Meng Ting had lost quite a bit of blood and was under anesthesia, so he likely wouldn’t wake until the next morning.
“He knows how to protect himself. No internal organs were damaged. He’ll recover in about ten days.”
Gu Li’s judgment and medical skills were naturally beyond doubt. Though he hadn’t seen the scene, he could deduce the situation from the angle and tearing of the wound. But it was certain that Meng Ting had suffered.
Yan Sui carried Meng Ting back to their room and stayed with him for a while before finally stepping out.
Yan Yu and He Yue had already learned the general situation from Zhao Bing. This wasn’t a simple case of hiring a killer. If Meng Ting hadn’t blocked Yan Sui’s kick, the pregnant woman would have certainly miscarried. Even if Yan Sui was acting in self-defense, he would still had to face some criticism.
But he would rather endure such public scrutiny than see Meng Ting fall into a coma from being stabbed.
“I was careless,” Yan Sui’s first words were these. He thought his presence alone would be enough to ensure Meng Ting’s safety, but he hadn’t anticipated their enemies would go to such lengths, even using a pregnant woman.
“It’s their fault, Sui Sui. Don’t blame yourself too much,” Yan Manjia couldn’t help but console him, as Yan Sui’s expression was truly dreadful. It seemed he would rather be injured himself than see Meng Ting harmed in the slightest.
Yan Sui didn’t respond to this. He looked at Zhen Han and said, “You stay here and keep watch. I need to leave for a while.”
“Alright,” Zhen Han nodded. He got up and went to Yan Sui’s room to take care of Meng Ting together with Nanny Wang. As soon as Yan Sui finished speaking, he directly left the Yan Residence.
***
It was quite a coincidence, really. These two assailants were not from the same group, or rather, they weren’t sent by the same faction, yet they both seized the same opportunity. The man whose wrist Yan Sui nearly crushed was a professional assassin, but he didn’t expect Yan Sui to react so quickly in such a confined space. His knife was coated with poison, the kind that can kill swiftly, clearly intending to kill Meng Ting.
As for the pregnant woman, it was roughly as Yan Yu and others had speculated. Her scheme was to use an unborn child to drag Yan Sui or Meng Ting down, aiming to use public opinion to restrain Yan Sui’s increasingly urgent actions.
But the people behind the pregnant woman didn’t expect that when Meng Ting supported her, he would feel the fetal movements of her unborn child. He didn’t think too much about it, but instinctively protected the child.
The narrow space in the elevator limited both him and Yan Sui, and Meng Ting got injured.
Xiao Zi was on the phone with He Wan, and before she could even say a word, Xiao Zi had already scolded her harshly.
“Don’t you know how capable your son is? Hiring an assassin? Do you think you haven’t left enough evidence for Yan Sui? How can you be so foolish when Yan Sui is so clever?”
Xiao Zi was utterly baffled by this. Clearly, neither Yan Yu nor He Wan were particularly astute, yet somehow their son Yan Sui had managed to intimidate even the people of his father’s generation.
“What assassin? You told me to hold back, and I did!”
He Wan finally exploded. From the press conference at the Yan Corporation until now, she had been following Xiao Zi’s advice to not act rashly, suppressing her anger and fear, staying put.
He said he had a plan, so she waited. But she didn’t expect him to call and scolded her harshly.
“Xiao Zi, if you don’t explain yourself clearly, I won’t let this go!” He Wan stood up from the bed with a terrible expression. The mirror on her dressing table reflected her excessively ferocious face. In just over twenty days, He Wan had aged ten years, though she hadn’t even noticed it herself.
“It wasn’t you?” Xiao Zi’s tone still carried some doubt. He would believe it if He Wan had targeted Yan Sui, let alone Meng Ting.
But this time, he had indeed misunderstood He Wan. The two groups colliding was not He Wan’s doing.
Xiao Zi hung up the phone with lingering doubts, but at the same time, he still felt it was a troublesome situation. However, he couldn’t personally go looking for the pregnant woman. Even if Yan Sui suspected him, without direct evidence, it wouldn’t affect him much. If things got too bad, he could always retreat abroad again.
***
Yan Sui barely slept that night. He returned to the Yan Residence as dawn approached. Zhen Han was still keeping watch in the room. When Yan Sui returned, Zhen Han yawned and went back to his room to sleep.
Meng Ting’s brows furrowed slightly, likely feeling the pain from his wound as the anesthesia wore off.
After taking a shower, Yan Sui sat on the edge of the bed, gazing at the person for a long time, not daring to touch him. After a while, he reached out and gently cupped Meng Ting’s cheek, then slowly leaned down to embrace him softly. “I’m sorry.” It was his failure to protect Meng Ting that caused him to get hurt.
Yan Sui’s self-reproach finally surfaced at this moment; if he kept it bottled up any longer, he would surely break.
Meng Ting still hadn’t woken up, but the furrow between his brows seemed to have softened slightly.
Yan Sui didn’t leave again, but he didn’t rest either. He simply sat by the bed, waiting for Meng Ting to wake up.
Around seven o’clock, Meng Ting’s brows twitched, and he opened his eyes. He was dazed for a while before he could focus, and when he saw Yan Sui sitting by his bed, it took him another moment to recall what had happened.
“Yan Sui…”
“I’m here,” Yan Sui responded, then picked up a small spoon to feed Meng Ting some water. “Be good, drink some water first.”
Meng Ting pursed his lips, realizing he was indeed thirsty. He opened his mouth slightly, letting Yan Sui feed him.
As he drank, he studied Yan Sui, recalling the grim expression Yan Sui had worn the night before.
Once Meng Ting had drunk enough, Yan Sui set the cup aside. Before he could turn his body, Meng Ting had already grabbed his other hand. However, Meng Ting’s grip was still weak and lacked much strength; with a little effort, Yan Sui could easily break free.
“Yan Sui, are you mad at me?” Meng Ting asked, his expression tinged with panic. He tried to pull Yan Sui closer, but as soon as he exerted a little force, his brows furrowed.
Yan Sui turned around and, seeing Meng Ting like this, was really a bit angry.
He let Meng Ting continue holding his hand. Having not slept all night, his voice was hoarse. “Why would I be mad?”
“Mad that I got hurt?” Meng Ting wasn’t entirely sure if Yan Sui was angry with him, but he felt he deserved it. “I messed up. I didn’t protect myself well, and I made you worry.”
“Yan Sui, please don’t be upset, okay?”
Meng Ting wasn’t certain if Yan Sui was angry, but he was sure Yan Sui had been worried and distressed for him.
Yan Sui carefully held Meng Ting’s hand, then leaned down to kiss his forehead and lips. “Don’t think too much. I’m not mad at you. I’m here with you.”
Even if he was angry, it was directed at himself. As soon as he finished speaking and was about to sit back, Meng Ting held him tightly. His hands still lacked strength, but his resolve was firm.
“I’ll be fine. I promised I’d always be with you.”
Yan Sui’s hand rested on the side of Meng Ting’s neck, maintaining this position for a while until Meng Ting’s strength completely gave out, and he had to sit back properly.
However, the oppressive feeling of an impending storm in Yan Sui didn’t ease much. He didn’t tell Meng Ting that if it had been a different knife, he might have truly lost him. By that time, what would Meng Ting have used to fulfill the promise he had made then?
He had been too arrogant, thinking he could solve everything at once, but he had instead put Meng Ting in danger.
Meng Ting’s hand remained on Yan Sui’s, too weak to hold the person or even speak. His eyelids grew heavy, and he didn’t even notice when Gu Li and Zhen Han came to check on his injuries.
[dropdown title=”List of Idiom in Chapter 070.2″]
後生可畏 (hòu shēng kě wèi): a young person displaying exceptional skills; a young person’s abilities must be respected; though inexperienced, the younger generations will surpass us in time; the young will be redoubtable in the years to come (idiom); the young are to be regarded with awe; the younger generation will surpass the older; a ragged colt may make a good horse. From the Analects, Book 9 (《論語·子罕》): 子曰：「後生可畏，焉知來者之不如今也？四十、五十而無聞焉，斯亦不足畏也已。」, The Master said, “A youth is to be regarded with respect. How do we know that his future will not be equal to our present? If he reach the age of forty or fifty, and has not made himself heard of, then indeed he will not be worth being regarded with respect.”錦上添花 (jǐn shàng tiān huā): lit. to add flowers to the brocade (idiom); to decorate sth already perfect; gilding the lily; to make perfection still more perfect; add flowers to embroidery―embellish what is already beautiful; add brilliance to one’s present splendour.
痛哭流涕 (tòng kū liú tì): weeping bitter tears; cry one’s heart out; break down in tears; cry and shed bitter tears; Describe the extreme sadness.
輕舉妄動 (qīng jǔ wàng dòng): to act blindly without thinking (idiom); to act rashly and blindly; take reckless action; be impetuous and imprudent; Refers to actions taken carelessly without careful consideration.
一勞永逸 (yī láo yǒng yì): once and for all; to get sth done once and for all; put things right once and for all; be efficacious forever; for good; to work hard once, get things done, and then you will have permanent peace.
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