Chapter 22: When did the gentleman and the lady become so close

After adding Shen Linyan, An Ling put down her phone to change clothes. When she returned, she noticed another message had arrived from the other side.

Shen Linyan: [Are you free at noon today? I might need to go back to the Shen family home. Mother called me.]

An Ling instantly remembered that news report. There was no need to guess; it was definitely because of that.

She checked online and found the clarification still hadn't been posted, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

An Ling: [I'm free.]

Shen Linyan: [Good, I'll pick you up at noon.]

After replying, An Ling opened her contacts, intending to clean house.

Over the past two years, that lousy system had deleted many of her colleagues and friends, adding in some completely irrelevant riff-raff instead.

An Ling hadn't realized this issue at first, not until she ran into Huang Long last night, which reminded her of this troublesome problem.

While deleting friends, some people even sent her messages, probably having seen the news about Huang Long.

Stranger A: [Sis An! Is the report true? Did you really do that to Huang Long?! Are you crazy?!]

An Ling: [Let's delete each other, or you're next.]

Stranger B: [Damn! An Ling, how dare you mess with Huang Long? He's Lu Jingshen's good brother. Won't this ruin your chances of chasing Lu Jingshen?]

An Ling: [Let's delete each other, or you'll be ruined too.]

Stranger C: [Is this your new tactic to seduce Lu Jingshen? Aren't you afraid of taking it too far?]

An Ling: [Let's delete each other, or I'll set you on fire.]

Stranger D: [Sis An, did Huang Long upset you? I actually know Lu Jingshen's preferences too, you can ask me,]

An Ling: [Let's delete each other, or those preferences can be buried with you.]

...

By the time she finished deleting everyone, her hand was sore.

She searched and sent friend requests to re-add her former, closer colleagues.

However, the friend requests weren't accepted immediately, and An Ling wasn't sure if they would agree. After all, being inexplicably deleted by someone certainly didn't feel good.

An Ling sighed, massaging her temples with a headache.

She suspected it was a lingering side effect from that system; her head kept aching from time to time.

Fortunately, one colleague quickly accepted the friend request.

Their tone was full of surprise.

[Ah Leng?? Is that you, Ah Leng?]

Ah Leng, her former alias in the circle.

After absorbing the memories of the past two years, suddenly seeing her old alias gave An Ling a sense of being in a different lifetime.

She quickly replied: [It's me, it's me! Sorry, Sister Lin Ya, some things happened over the past two years that completely messed up my life.]

Lin Ya replied swiftly: [It really is you! It's fine, it's fine. You deleted all of us before, and we never saw you again, so we thought you'd suddenly left.]

"..."

Her wording was quite tactful.

An Ling smiled and breathed a sigh of relief: [Could you please let Teacher Chen and the others know?]

Lin Ya: [Of course! Teacher Chen Minhuai has been thinking about you these past two years, saying she finally had a talented apprentice who suddenly vanished. She'll be thrilled you're back. She's been quite frustrated with her project lately.]

After sending that, Lin Ya hesitantly added another line:

[You are coming back, right?]

An Ling's gaze paused for a moment before she smiled and replied.

[I'm coming back. I'll be counting on your guidance from now on, Sister Lin Ya. Don't scold me when I cause trouble later (o・`з・ ́o)]

Lin Ya: [Haha, you're joking. I'd be praising you non-stop. I'll go tell them now.]

An Ling: [Okay, you go ahead and get busy~]

Checking the time and feeling it was about right, Shen Linyan also sent a message. An Ling got up, gathered her things, and prepared to go out.

Taking the elevator down, the black Bentley parked at the entrance reminded her of the day she was discharged from the hospital.

Opening the car door, the man inside looked over at the sound. He was still the picture of refined elegance, a slight curve on his lips. "Did you see the news, Madam?"

"I did." An Ling got in, closed the door, leaned back in the seat, and smiled wryly. "My brother came to ask me about it first thing in the morning. I had to explain it to him."

Shen Linyan's smile was gentle. "Calling us back today is probably to discuss this matter as well."

Secretary Chen in the front seat silently raised a question mark: ?

Since when did Sir and Madam get along so well?

Last time they were in the car together, it wasn't like this.

Mentioning the report, An Ling suddenly turned to ask: "By the way, was that news released by you?"

The smile on Shen Linyan's lips paused briefly. He smiled, his eyes gently lowering, his expression as mild as spring snow, his tone composed. "No."

No?

Alright, as expected. A good older brother who even paid over a million for Lu Jingshen wouldn't deliberately release such news.

An Ling leaned back in her seat, closed her eyes to rest, and sighed with feeling. "It seems a lot of people can't stand Lu Jingshen. Serves him right."

Truly the male lead, enemies everywhere.

The man lifted his gaze nonchalantly to look out the window, tapped his fingers lightly on his knee, the corners of his lips lifting as he let out a soft chuckle.

"Indeed."

Arriving at the Shen residence, as soon as they pushed the door open, An Ling immediately saw Shen's mother sitting on the sofa.

Her face was grim, even darker than when An Ling first came here.

An Ling put down her bag and called out cheerfully, "Mom~ Who upset you? Could it be me again?"

The lively tone broke the serious atmosphere. Zhou Wen, hearing this, paused and looked up, seeming to want to say something but hesitating.

Shen's mother responded with a cold sneer. "How could I dare? My eldest daughter-in-law is far too capable. I hardly deserve to be called 'Mom' anymore."

"How could that be~" An Ling exclaimed in feigned shock, covering her mouth and blinking playfully. "You saw the news too, right? It's also a misunderstanding."

After saying that, she looked towards Lu Jingshen sitting on the other side of the sofa, her eyes curving into smiles. "Shouldn't Lu Jingshen know about this? That was his friend. So you should ask him. It's not my fault."

When Lu Jingshen met her gaze, his eyes were so sinister it seemed he wanted to devour her, but he didn't say anything more.

Looking at the woman smiling before her like a cunning glutinous rice ball, Shen's mother gritted her teeth secretly.

This wretched girl doesn't have a single decent word in her mouth, impossible to gain any advantage from.

If she couldn't win an argument with An Ling, she could still pick on the easier target!

Shen's mother let out a cold laugh, slapped the sofa hard, and suddenly shouted sharply at the man sitting beside her, her words dripping with disgust and reproach.

"Shen Linyan! How did you handle yesterday's incident?! Your brother's friend ends up in that situation, and you just stand by and do nothing? What kind of brother are you?!"

Hearing this, the smile on An Ling's face faltered, her brows furrowing.

?

What did that mean?

She was just about to turn to look at Shen Linyan.

But the sharp sound of Shen's mother's accusatory voice reached her ears first.

"Your brother made those friends. As the eldest brother, instead of thinking about covering for your brother, you help outsiders step on your own flesh and blood!!"

"You ungrateful wretch! I've wasted all these years raising you! That was your own brother's friend, what business was it of yours? Is your wife some delicate, untouchable princess? Now it's perfect, everyone in the circle knows your brother's friend has no manners, saying our Shen family has poor upbringing."

As she spoke, Shen's mother let out a cold snort.

"Then again, you've been jealous of your brother being favored since you were little. Now you've finally found a chance to get back at him, haven't you?"