Chapter 550 - An Xin's Trouble
The international call was connected in no time. As it was dinnertime in China, Yang Chen knew that An Xin would most likely not be asleep.
The phone was picked up after ringing for a few seconds. Surprised, An Xin asked, “Hubby, why did you suddenly call me? You don’t usually do this. Do really miss me that much?”
“You didn’t call me despite being in trouble, so I had to be the one to make the first move.” Yang Chen was rather displeased as he had to figure out the problem of his woman through his friend. It was honestly rather embarrassing.
From An Xin’s end, there was nothing but silence. After quite a while, she spoke softly, “I thought I could solve the problem before you come back, so I chose not to tell you right now.”
“Humph. I bet you haven’t planned on telling me all this time.” Yang Chen understood the woman well. “Ignoring everything else, tell me what’s going on.”
An Xin hesitated for a bit, showing her struggle on the other side of the call. At last, to avoid further irritating Yang Chen, she explained the matter briefly. At last, Yang Chen’s expression turned slightly serious. Ending the call, he said to Edward, “Prepare a plane for me. I will be needing it.”
“Are you returning to China early?” asked Edward with a smile.
Yang Chen nodded. Before that, he had to look for Lin Ruoxi at Louvre Museum to inform her. As he stood up, he remembered something before telling Edward, “When Catherine is awake, ask her to take care of the people from Ron’s side. Ron has aged quite a bit over the last few years, he can’t afford to look through everything in detail.”
Edward replied, “Don’t worry. Even if Aunt doesn’t help them, we’ll help you take care of your backyard nicely.”
After around half an hour, Yang Chen arrived at the ballroom of Louvre Museum. Lin Ruoxi should be out from the exhibition area by now.
Passing through a bunch of people who were conversing, Yang Chen spent quite some effort before finally locating Lin Ruoxi at an inner corner.
Dressed in a white pleated dress with straps, Lin Ruoxi sat quietly on a leather seat, with a pearl necklace hanging in front of her chest. Without any makeup on, Lin Ruoxi maintained an expressionless look, causing her to appear so cold that no one dared to approach her, and her surroundings seemed to be clear of people.
Holding a glass of champagne in hand, Lin Ruoxi didn’t drink it, but looked in front absentmindedly instead. It wasn’t known what she was having in mind.
Yang Chen walked toward her and stood still, before Lin Ruoxi slowly turned her head over.
There was no change in Lin Ruoxi’s expression when she realized it was Yang Chen, as if she had seen a complete stranger, causing Yang Chen’s heart to ache. He really didn’t understand what had happened.
“Is there anything you need?” asked Lin Ruoxi softly.
She spoke like she was talking to a stranger as well, giving Yang Chen the urge to pull her out so he can clarify everything once and for all. However, he also had An Xin’s trouble in mind, so he had to push forward Lin Ruoxi’s matter for now. “I will be returning to Zhonghai earlier than planned.”
“Understood.” That was the only word Lin Ruoxi replied, as if everything was out of her concern.
Yang Chen clenched his fists. Lin Ruoxi currently was much colder when he first met her, like an emotionless porcelain doll or ice sculpture. Not only did she cause heartaches, she was so dull that she appeared hard to communicate with.
The more Lin Ruoxi behaved this way, the more afraid Yang Chen was. However, she indeed wanted to avoid talking to him, but couldn’t find an excuse to do so.
After quite some time,Yang Chen shook his head with a bitter smile. “Then I’ll leave now.”
“Mhm.” It was how Lin Ruoxi bade him farewell, having no question in mind.
Without delay, Yang Chen strode out of the ballroom.
Until Yang Chen’s figure blended into the crowd and disappeared, Lin Ruoxi finally raised her head and stared at the direction he left to while her eyes turned watery.
… …
In Zhonghai, An Xin walked into the director office of Yu Lei International with a white handbag. She wore a black suit and a light brown pleated skirt which was cut off at the knees. As if she scattered upon stepping into the room, she laid her head on the office door in exhaustion with her eyes shut.
An Xin had been distressed recently. She felt all the more pain when she was the source of all problems.
During the competition Star of Yu Lei, due to her hobby and ambition, she became the show hostess after begging Yang Chen. Although she had done a good job, and the television staff had tried to convince her to become a permanent staff, she had to turn it down to avoid making public appearances too often as she wasn’t just another girl from a normal family.
An Xin thought that her career as a hostess would end after Star of Yu Lei passed. But due to her occasional appearance on the television, she caught the eye of an attention seeker!
It was the director of a broadcasting station called Lu Min, a young man from a wealthy clan. Since An Xin withdrew from the hostess position at Star of Yu Lei, she was bugged and stalked by Lu Min.
Back then when the An clan was among the second tier, An Xin had tons of admirers. However, since her an engagement with the Liu clan, most of them decided to back off.
Soon after, when the An clan became the second largest one in Zhonghai, very few people decided to pursue her. Furthermore, with the presence of her father An Zaihuan who was always trying to get onto Yang Chen’s good graces, he had to obey his daughter in any way possible. If ordinary people dared to go after his daughter, he would get rid of them without giving a reason.
However, Lu Min was different. According to An Zaihuan’s words, the man had an extraordinarily strong background. Being merely thirty-one years old, he managed to become the director of a company with direct relations with the government. He was the head of a governmental department which supervised all channels of information and media!
In China, such a position allowed a person to hold utter control of the media, thus controlling the mindset of the population. It was rare of a man in his fifties or sixties to become the head in a governmental department, let alone a man in just his thirties.
Also, it was found out through an investigation that Lu Min had been transferred over to Zhonghai for less than a year, while his root was in Beijing, the capital of the country.
In a place so powerful and dangerous like Beijing, any second-tier clans would be capable enough to rival the top clans in Zhonghai. Ministerial support was common amongst these people from the top clans. It was even possible for the true masterminds of China to be involved. Thus, they weren’t people that the An clan could afford to mess with.
Frightened, as An Zaihuan couldn’t accurately determine Lu Min’s background, he hoped that An Xin could explain her situation to Yang Chen and let him deal with the problem.
In other words, An Zaihuan wanted her daughter to follow whomever was the superior man. He wasn’t willing to offend either of them!
An Xin was pissed off by this issue. Upon getting financial support from Rothschild thanks to Yang Chen’s help, An Zaihuan’s status had spiked, while his concern for An Xin had also increased.
Regardless of what her father’s objective was, An Xin at least felt the love and warmth of her family.
Unexpectedly, once she was troubled and harassed by a truly powerful individual, her father had once again become a coward who hides in his shell like a tortoise. Not only did he back off from helping his daughter, he even asked An Xin to talk to Yang Chen instead of asking for help himself!
As a result, An Xin was forced to hide from Lu Min, and come up with various excuses to turn him down as she had no one to depend on.
Despite being asked to call Yang Chen, An Xin didn’t dare to do so.
She wasn’t worried that Yang Chen wouldn’t help her. Although she was unaware of Yang Chen’s identity specifically, being a person whom even the Rothschild clan highly regarded, must mean that it wasn’t as simple as she thought.
The problem lay in the difference between China and other countries. Judging from the fact that the Rothschild clan dared not get themselves directly involved in operations, but merely pumped in finance, they were restrained by the Chinese government, regardless of how strong they were overseas.
If Lu Min indeed had an exceptional background, and Yang Chen offended them because of An Xin, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself.
Thus, An Xin planned to push forward the problem for as long as she could, hoping that Lu Min would stop his fruitless pursuit.
Unexpectedly, Yang Chen who was in Europe was informed of her problem by a third party to the situation. After listening to his solemn tone, An Xin knew that she couldn’t hide it anymore and decided that it was time to explain it to him in its entirety.
“I wonder if he’ll be mad or not…” muttered An Xin. She then sighed and walked to her office table while carrying her handbag. She then sat down and started looking through the documents delivered by Wang Jie and Zhao Teng.
However, just a few second later, there was a knock at the door.
“Please come in.” An Xin tried her best to avoid sounding downhearted.
After the door was opened, a man dressed in an Armani suit and tailor-made suit pants came in. The black-red tie he wore made him exude the aura of a successful person. He had white moustache and a pair of golden-framed spectacles. With a 1.8-meter height, he looked young yet mature.
“Miss An, being able to see you at your workplace this early really makes my day,” said the man.
An Xin paled instantly. Biting her lips, she stood up and walked closer to the office table. “Lu Min, what are you doing here? For the hundredth time, I told you I will never accept you.”