Lin Lin stuffed boxes of pudding into the kitchen fridge before walking back to the room. The expression on her face seemed to suggest that she still hasn't completely forgiven Jiang Chen for his action. When she came in, she didn't say anything as she just pushed Jiang Chen out of the room with her two slim arms and shut the door.
Jiang Chen stared at the closed shut door, knowing he was in the wrong. However, all he did was awkwardly scratch his nose as he didn't know what to say to apologize.
Jiang Chen admitted that despite not processing his action through his head, the act he committed was over the line for a girl. But he didn't expect her to react so dramatically.
After deliberating for a while, Jiang Chen let out a sigh and gave up on the idea of explaining himself. Instead, he walked to his own bedroom.
Worst case he would just have to bring her a few more boxes of pudding next time… Mango flavored.Jiang Chen lied on his bed and muttered to himself before he closed his eyes and commenced interdimensional travel.
When he opened his eyes again, he was in the modern world.
He raised his hand and pressed the grain-sized crystal on the bracelet as the dark green light immediately dimmed down. He threw the bracelet into the storage dimension, and then checked his phone for the time.
It was getting late, already midnight.
He rubbed his weary eyes, dragged up the sheets, and slept till morning.
…
The next morning, Jiang Chen checked out from the hotel before arriving at the close by airport, empty-handed. He boarded a plane from Melbourne to Xiangjiang.The ticket was book three days ago.
Because there was still the bidding on the construction site and the loan to take care of, Jiang Chen had to head to Xiangjiang before returning to Xin. It was already April, and the contract with Dalmer corporation was almost up. Although the "smart driving system" was completed by Yao Yao in two hours, to avoid any commotion, Jiang Chen hasn't given the USB and the chip to Carmen Rothschild. On this trip to Xiangjiang, Jiang Chen planned to provide Carmen with the program.
One billion in two hours, needless to say, Yao Yao was the biggest "goldmine" of the wasteland.
After hours of flying, with the flight attendant's gentle announcement, Jiang Chen woke up from his nap and got off the plane.
At the gate of the airport, Jiang Chen saw the stunning figure from a distance.
It was Xia Shiyu.
Before he returned to Xiangjiang, Jiang Chen had sent a message to Xia Shiyu, asking her to pick him up if convenient.
With a smile on his face, Jiang Chen walked directly towards her.
"You are finally back."
Although her face was rather expressionless, Jiang Chen could still read the sense of blame within her eyes. He had known her affection from the start and thus obviously understood the meaning behind her words. However, just like before, he only laughed and avoided the question.
"I haven't seen you in two months… You have lost weight."
Xia Shiyu rolled her eyes at Jiang Chen, didn't respond, and instead opened the Maybach door.
The car was previously Jiang Chen's ride, but he left the key to Ayesha who was protecting Xia Shiyu at the time in Xiangjiang before he left the country. After she had confirmed that Xia Shiyu was safe, Ayesha left the car key to Xia Shiyu according to Jiang Chen's instructions. Now, the car became Xia Shiyu's mode of transportation.
In the passenger seat, Jiang Chen looked at Xia Shiyu who was combing her hair to the side as she started the car.
"Do you like it?" Jiang Chen asked abruptly.
Xia Shiyu's eyes instantly turned red. She stepped on the gas as the car dashed forward along the barrier. The series of actions almost scared Jiang Chen to death.
"What, what are you even saying?" She hastily gained control of her steering, but the red hue climbed from the bottom of her neck to the tip of her ears. Xia Shiyu's voice was also listless, and her tone was even off.
"Ahem, I… I am asking if you like the car."
Her pumping chest began to return to normal. The calmed Xia Shiyu turned her head and gave Jiang Chen a dirty look before she returned to her expressionless state.
It seemed like… She was angry?
"Uh, I am serious. If you like it, I'll give it to you as a gift," Jiang Chen said in a tiny voice.
"No need, I can afford it myself." Xia Shiyu clenched her teeth as it made a crisp sound.
She didn't know why she was so angry. But there was one thing she was certain about and that was this guy definitely was not as courteous as she had thought. No, he was a pervert!
As to how she knew about this, she learned that by living with Ayesha. Because of her delicate figure, although her face looked young, she had always thought Ayesha was over 18. Until one time they talked about age, and she finally knew Ayesha's real age.
But that was not the point. When she asked that if Jiang Chen had done anything to her. Ayesha looked at her innocently and said in a casual voice: We had sex.
Had sex?
Xia Shiyu didn't manage to react at first, but then it hit her like lightning.
She just remembered that she was completely stunned.
She had thought Jiang Chen was a type where he would always be respectable to girls but never had the skill to interact with them. However, he was actually a pervert that did it with his own bodyguard – a girl that was less than 18 years old.
But Xia Shiyu's reaction was typical as Ayesha told Xia Shiyu with a straight face. It was normal for people to be married at the age of 13. Especially during a conflict-filled era, the age might be even younger. Also, she had expressed to Xia Shiyu that she could sense her affection towards Jiang Chen as well and she wouldn't mind sharing his gentleness with her.
Perhaps it was ordinary in Ayesha's eyes. Since in her home country, polygamy was common. Even if Syria was at the frontier of modernization among the middle eastern countries, this point did not change at all.
But to Xia Shiyu, who lived in the modern world, it was an unacceptable practice!
When she heard that Ayesha and Jiang Chen had done it before, she was shocked.
Then remorse, even despair, before it gradually turned into hate.
All men would turn to the bed once they have money.
She felt as if she had just gone through a break-up, although her feelings and the relationship could only be considered a crush.
But regardless, it was her first time feeling so heartbroken.
But with Ayesha's pure and innocent eyes, she couldn't impose the hate on her, especially since she had risked her life to save hers. And what made her feel the most powerless was…
She still loved him.
If she didn't love him, she wouldn't even be sad about this. She would not be jealous of the fact that another woman was before her, she would only need to leave.
If she didn't love him, she wouldn't be here to pick him up.
…
The car stopped at a modern apartment as Xia Shiyu skillfully parked the car in the garage.
"This place is?"
"My home," Xia Shiyu answered concisely and got out of the car.
Jiang Chen followed her as they walked to the elevator of the apartment, he had to ask.
"Do you not plan to send me to a hotel?"
"That's too problematic, just live here." Xia Shiyu swayed her hair as she didn't realize how explosive her words were and pressed the elevator button.
Jiang Chen was shocked.
"Uh?"
"What, do you dislike me?" The corners of Xia Shiyu's mouth formed a beautiful curvature while she looked at Jiang Chen.
Stunned by the glimpse of her beauty, Jiang Chen didn't manage to react in time.
"No, No."
Xia Shiyu was satisfied with Jiang Chen's expression as a smile appeared on her lips, and she said, "Then that's that. This time you are back for business, it is easier for us to exchange opinion if we live together… No other intentions."
Jiang Chen thought the last sentence was trying to cover something up.
As they spoke, the elevator arrived.
While the door opened, she only stepped one foot into the elevator.
Jiang Chen looked at Xia Shiyu with eyes saying "What are you waiting for" as he stepped into the elevator feeling puzzled.
She had already made up her mind, she must act proactively.
What if he had another woman? Still not married yet! Before he gets married, it's all fair game. Therefore, she will win him over.
Ayesha's presence made her feel threatened. She had no feelings to be bothered by the childish question of "Who confessed to who first". Xia Shiyu made up her mind to drag Jiang Chen onto the right track and save the good person that mistakenly went on the "wrong" road.
No need to be mistaken, it was just for her to repay the favor of him saving her multiple times.
Xia Shiyu comforted herself.
…
In the Pannu Islands thousands of kilometers away, two transport vessels and two construction vessels slowly headed to New Moon Island.
To best protect the local environment, Jiang Chen didn't choose to blow up the reef to build the port, but instead, he decided to build a sea platform two kilometers away from the island. There, he would construct a dock that would connect the platform to the land. As to the sea platform, it will be built with a three kilometers long arch water dam.
Two cars could travel at the same time on the dam. On the far end of the dam, they will construct a tidal wave electricity generator. Although the depth near the island was somewhat shallow, the continuous waves made up for it. Not only did it solve the problem of connecting the land to the sea platform, but it also addressed New Moon Island's electricity.
The sea platform cost more than one billion USD and even surpassed the military base by two folds, but Jiang Chen still considered the investment to be well worth it. The sea platform and dam construction were contracted to a company called "Wilson" while Thomas' "Mammoth" was only responsible for connecting the dam.
Since these professional sea construction projects already exceeded the capabilities of a military construction company. Thomas had brought up the idea of working with other companies on this project. The boss of both corporations were all confused as to why Celestial would spend so much money to build a sea platform.
Usually, this thing was built far away from the shore; it was kind of pointless to build it near the island. Especially since the request was to build it as large as possible, they wondered what the true intention was behind the project.
