novelraw Chapter 14 Too Heavy to Carry
Chapter 14 Too Heavy to Carry
Lu Xiran, however, slept surprisingly soundly that night, waking up when the sun was high in the sky.
Her phone screen was overflowing with unread messages, and before she could even look at them closely, a phone call came in.
"Brother Si'an?"
"Ranran," Xie Si'an's voice came through the receiver, still clear and gentle, but with an undisguised tension and urgency. "Where are you? I came back immediately after seeing the news from Switzerland." He paused. "I asked around through all the connections I could, but there was no news. I thought... I was just glad you were alright."
He paused for a moment, then spoke again, his tone calm and restrained: "You really... want to get married?"
"Mmm," Lu Xiran replied softly.
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone before the question continued, "How could you... fall for Gu Yanshen?"
Lu Xiran lowered her eyelashes, looking at the sunlight filtering through the sheets. Her voice was soft, yet carried a reckless frankness: "He's the person I've always had a crush on. I applied to ETH Zurich back then... because of him."
"So back then," Xie Si'an's voice seemed to choke for a moment before returning to normal, "you insisted on going to Switzerland instead of accepting MIT's offer and going to the US with me, because of him?"
Uh... can they be connected like this?
A subtle sense of relief, a result of the coincidence, swept through Lu Xiran's heart, as if scattered fragments of a lie had suddenly been pieced together by the hand of fate into a plausible picture.
"……right."
All that could be heard from the receiver was the faint hissing of electricity and his barely audible, suppressed breathing.
He was always like that—emotionally stable, well-mannered, and even when he was down, he maintained an elegant distance.
"Brother Si'an, I have something to take care of here. Let's talk again next time." Lu Xiran ended the call first, a faint sense of guilt spreading through her heart.
Xie Si'an is the only son of Xie Mingzhong, the second largest shareholder of the Lu Group, and also her childhood playmate, practically childhood sweethearts. The elders of both families had subtly hinted at matchmaking on more than one occasion, but in her heart, she always only saw him as a gentle and reliable older brother.
He, too, had always been that legendary "other people's child," receiving the best elite education all the way, never overstepping the bounds in his words or deeds, and going to the United States for further studies after high school, where he was now a shining star. After she sensed his feelings that went beyond friendship, she consciously distanced herself, even deliberately avoiding the United States when going abroad.
She was afraid of holding him back.
What's more, there's already someone else in her heart.
Even if that person may never love her.
Lu Xiran opened WeChat and looked at the simple chat window pinned to the top, her heart stirred slightly.
Her fingertip hovered over the nickname field, hesitating before secretly typing "husband." She stared at those two words for a few seconds, her cheeks burning. Just as she was about to guiltily delete it, Gu Yanshen's call came in at that opportune moment.
"Awake?" His deep voice came through the radio waves, making her ears inexplicably burn.
"Um."
"About what we talked about last night," he paused, and Lu Xiran's heart involuntarily quickened, thinking he was going to bring up wedding details, but he calmly changed the subject, "Yunyuji's bid objection has been accepted, and the bidding will be reopened tomorrow."
"Really?" Lu Xiran immediately sat up straight, all sleepiness gone.
"I've sent you the data, but the price data needs to be reorganized and analyzed; time is tight."
"I'll get right to it!" She hung up the phone and immediately got to work, carefully organizing and filing the quotes from various companies sent by Gu Yanshen, and repeatedly checking them.
In the evening, she and Lin Chen went to the Gu family's old house together.
"Ranran has come to see Grandma." Second Aunt Lian Bichen came up to her, warmly shook her hand, and smiled gently.
"Yes, Auntie." Lu Xiran responded obediently. Among the Gu family, apart from her grandmother, only Lian Bichen showed her consistent kindness, so she naturally felt goodwill towards her as well.
As the two were talking, Su Lanzhi caught a glimpse of Lu Xiran from the second floor and hurried downstairs, but unfortunately Lu Xiran had already gone into the old lady's room with Aunt Yun.
"Second sister-in-law, is that Lu Xiran?" Su Lanzhi leaned closer and asked in a low voice.
"yes."
"Tsk," Su Lanzhi narrowed her eyes, carefully examining the direction of the closed door, "Why does it look... somewhat similar to Song Zhihe's profile?"
"Don't talk nonsense," Lian Bichen frowned and gently stopped her, "It doesn't look like it at all."
Su Lanzhi smiled knowingly, her tone laced with undisguised schadenfreude: "I knew it! How could someone like Gu Yanshen suddenly take a liking to such a young girl... Turns out, she's just a substitute."
Inside the room, Lu Xiran was carefully arranging the soup dishes.
"Grandma, today's soup is whelk and pork rib soup, it's the sweetest and most appetizing one."
Bai Fang was happy to see her, and her appetite returned. "What kind of dessert fruit did you bring for Grandma today?"
"I stewed pears," Lu Xiran said, opening the insulated container. A sweet aroma wafted out. "The weather is dry, so this is perfect for moisturizing the lungs."
Bai Fang took a bite, her brows and eyes relaxed: "Mmm, it's sweet and not greasy, and my throat feels much better after eating it." Lu Xiran then handed another portion to Aunt Yun.
"Miss Lu always remembers me; I'm really benefiting from the old lady's kindness," Aunt Yun said with a smile.
"I'm going to do it anyway, and I usually eat with... Yan Shen." Her voice softened unconsciously when she mentioned his name.
"With you taking care of him, Grandma is completely at ease." Bai Fang finished her soup and gestured to Aunt Yun. A moment later, Aunt Yun brought out more than twenty jewelry boxes of different sizes, almost covering the entire bed.
A dazzling light instantly flooded the room, with diamonds, sapphires, jade, pearls... all kinds of precious gems lying quietly on velvet cushions, like a top-notch jewelry exhibition.
Lu Xiran stared in disbelief: "Grandma, what is this...?"
"Your wedding is so close together, there's no time to order custom-made items now. These are all from Grandma's private collection. Take your pick and see which ones you like as your wedding gifts," Bai Fang said kindly, but her tone left no room for refusal.
"No, no, this is too expensive..." Lu Xiran quickly waved her hand. Even though she was unfamiliar with this, she knew that any set in front of her was worth a lot of money.
"Then Grandma will choose for you." Bai Fang enthusiastically discussed with Aunt Yun, "The white wedding dress must be paired with this set full of diamonds, it's sparkly and dignified enough... If the toast dress is red, it must be paired with gold jewelry. Go and get my set of dragon and phoenix auspicious gold jewelry, the craftsmanship of that is truly exquisite!"
"Grandma, why don't you let Miss Lu come with me to the dressing room to take a look? There are too many styles, and we can't fit them all here," Aunt Yun said with a smile.
Lu Xiran shook her head vigorously: "Really, Grandma, I understand your good intentions, but..."
"Child, you're disrespecting your grandmother." Bai Fang deliberately put on a stern face.
Unable to refuse, Lu Xiran was eventually stuffed with a set of dazzling diamond jewelry, a heavy set of red gold headdress, and a shimmering pink diamond necklace. Just as Bai Fang was about to pile more boxes into her hands, Gu Yanshen arrived in time and gently pressed his grandmother's hand down.
"Grandma, this is enough." His gaze swept over the dazzling jewelry in Lu Xiran's arms, then landed on her somewhat helpless face, a faint smile flashing in his eyes, "If you take any more, she won't be able to carry it all."