After returning home with the child, her ex-husband knelt down and gently coaxed her.

Li Chunfang knocked on the door from outside. "Anning, this morning before you came back, a young man surnamed Xu called the house."

Upon hearing this, An Ning opened the door. "Your surname is Xu?"

"Yes, he said his surname was Xu. He asked where you were and said he had sent you a message this morning but you didn't reply. He was worried that something had happened to you, so he called."

An Ning opened her phone and, sure enough, there was an unread text message from Xu Zhijun.

[Ningning, good morning. How have you been lately? Autumn is almost here, and you tend to catch colds more easily during seasonal changes, so please remember to keep warm and let me know if you feel unwell. I heard you mention that important collaboration a while ago, how's that going? Have you discussed any solutions for the collaboration?]

An Ning was about to reply when she suddenly frowned.

An uncertain thought popped into my mind.

Could Lu Xiyan have misunderstood her intentions after seeing her text message?

But her phone is password protected, so Lu Xiyan shouldn't be able to unlock it, right?

Moreover, when they were together, he never looked through her phone, giving her enough private space and a great deal of trust.

"Anning? Ningning?"

Li Chunfang's voice interrupted her thoughts, "What are you thinking about? Mom is asking you a question."

"Huh?" An Ning put away her phone. "What?"

"Mom's asking you, this young man surnamed Xu is so concerned about you, what's your relationship with him?" Li Chunfang asked curiously, "Did you meet him in Jining City?"

"It's nothing," An Ning said calmly. "Just ordinary friends."

"Just friends?"

Li Chunfang clearly didn't believe it, sending text messages and making phone calls to their home. Could this be just an ordinary friend?

She suddenly grabbed Anning's arm and asked seriously, "It's not Xuanxuan's father, is it?"

"Of course not." An Ning denied it without even thinking. "Xuanxuan has nothing to do with him."

"Then he—"

Li Chunfang wanted to ask more, but An Ning interrupted her, saying, "He is my psychologist."

The words were on the tip of her tongue, but Li Chunfang swallowed them back, her face showing guilt. "Oh, you're a doctor."

An Ning felt a strong aversion to Li Chunfang looking at her with that expression, just as she resisted being looked at with pity or other expressions by outsiders who knew she had depression.

She changed the subject, "Where's Xianxian?"

"Zhao Li took him to the amusement park in the mall. I was just about to go grocery shopping," Li Chunfang said with a smile. "What do you want to eat? Mom will go buy it and cook it for you."

An Ning didn't have much of an appetite, and when she was little, Li Chunfang rarely cooked anything special for her; most of the dishes were made for Yu Can.

Now that she's suddenly asked this question, she can't even think of a random dish name.

"How about congee with preserved egg and lean pork?" Li Chunfang touched her forehead; the fever had subsided.

"You've just recovered from a cold, shall I cook you some porridge?"

An Ning nodded. "Anything is fine."

Li Chunfang left the house, and An Ning checked her phone for a text message, replying: "I'm fine, don't worry, thank you, Dr. Xu."

......

Without Lu Xiyan's permission, no servants have gone into his bedroom to tidy up.

Pushing open the door, a familiar, austere atmosphere rushed out, carrying with it a faint fragrance.

It's fresh and pleasant, like a light gardenia scent.

It was the fragrance emanating from her.

It is exceptionally clear in a space that did not originally belong to it.

Two distinct auras intertwined, like the two burning bodies that had been entwined the night before.

Lu Xiyan walked into the room and stared blankly at the messy bed.

Last night, she lay on his bed, hooking her arms around his waist, enticing him to fall into her trap.

He even fantasized that after this one night, there would be countless more.

As long as she's serious, he's willing to take her bait.

Unfortunately, her bait was too obvious; before he could even take the bait, she had already exposed her fishing rod.

But she didn't choose either the money or the contract, which surprised him somewhat.

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed slightly. He walked to the bedside and picked up a long hair from the pillow with his fingertips.

One end of her hair fell onto his wrist, and with the gentle breeze blowing in from the window, it seemed to linger on his watch.

He lightly rubbed his fingertips together, his eyes darkening slightly, and then picked up his phone to make a call.

"Make an appointment with Dong Chenghai of Haowei and tell him I'd like to invite him for a cup of tea."

......

In the upscale private teahouse, the highly private rooms are filled with the subtle aroma of tea.

Dong Chenghai never dreamed that Lu Xiyan would invite him out to discuss cooperation.

The man opposite him was dressed in a suit and looked young, but he had a calm and noble demeanor, and his every move exuded the aura of a superior.

"Mr. Lu, has our company's project proposal for Anning been approved?"

Across the rising steam from the tea, Dong Chenghai looked humbly at the man sitting opposite him.

Lu Xiyan skillfully arranged the tea set and brewed tea, without even glancing at a single word of Anning's project proposal.

A white porcelain cup filled with tea was pushed in front of Dong Chenghai. "Hmm, not bad."

"Thank you for your praise and appreciation, Mr. Lu."

Dong Chenghai took the teacup, secretly pleased.

He knew that Anning was definitely a money tree, and as long as Anning was around, cooperation with Ou Teng was only a matter of time.

Sun Liangying had been working on this collaboration for so long but couldn't get it done. In fact, she even quit a couple of days ago. Meanwhile, An Ning, who has only been with the company for less than a month, managed to secure the collaboration.

It's true that ten Sun Liangyings can't compare to one An Ning.

Lu Xiyan placed the contract on the table. "This is a preliminary cooperation contract drafted by Ou Teng's legal department. Mr. Dong, please take a look. If there are no problems, the cooperation will be put on the agenda."

Dong Chenghai quickly picked up the contract and skimmed through it. It was fine overall, but when he saw the last point, he frowned.

"Mr. Lu, are you going to transfer An Ning to Ou Teng?"

Lu Xiyan took a sip of tea, slightly raised his eyes, and said, "After the cooperation, she will be in charge of the project. She is more suitable for Ou Teng. I will personally guide the entire project."

Having worked in the business world for many years, Dong Chenghai naturally understood the meaning behind his words—only if Anning went to Ou Teng could the cooperation be successful.

But An Ning resigned a few days ago, and now Lu Xiyan has made this arrangement. Could it be that An Ning resigned not to go to Ou Teng, or that Lu Xiyan did not know that An Ning was going to resign from Hao Wei?

Does Lu Xiyan want to exchange cooperation for peace?

He pondered for a moment and roughly understood that Lu Xiyan had let her join Haowei in order to pave the way for her to join Ou Teng.

Moving from project manager at Haowei to project manager at Outen is a legitimate step up, much more suitable than being parachuted in.

and so--

He became even more convinced that peace and tranquility must be very important to the president of Auten.

Of course, for Dong Chenghai, cooperation is the most fundamental goal.

It didn't matter to him where Anning went.

"There are no problems with Haowei's side."

Dong Chenghai looked troubled. "However, Mr. Lu, you may not know this, but An Ning submitted her resignation to me a few days ago."

After saying this, he looked at Lu Xiyan's expression, seemingly without surprise.

Lu Xiyan's deep eyes remained calm and his face was completely composed.

I'll resign and go to Suzhou.

he knows.

He was determined not to let her leave Jinghai again!

He lightly tapped the contract on the table with his slender fingers, a composed smile playing on his lips. "How to retain a core talent, Mr. Dong, I don't need to teach you, do I?"

"Of course not." Dong Chenghai quickly smiled and picked up his teacup. "Don't worry, Mr. Lu, I'll make sure An Ning stays."

Lu Xiyan toyed with the teacup, gently grinding it with his fingertips, a hint of a smile in his deep eyes.

She had so many tricks up her sleeve that she ended up in his bed.

He was curious to see what tricks they might pull right under his nose.