And the green eyed monster raises its ugly head… for all of you who were wondering how JYN responds to LZ.

Chapter 20

Faced with this invitation, Yan Liang hesitated.

The first thing she did was to look up at the manager. Although the manager could not hear Lu Zheng on the phone, she didn’t know why she was having a guilty conscience. Holding the phone, she took two steps away, and was about to refuse. But the person on the other end was impatient after waiting for so long and not getting any answer. So he made his own decision ,” I will pick you up at 6 pm from your company, is that ok?”

“……” “…”

” Is it ok?”

Yan Liang hesitated for a long while, then, said: “Ok.”

She really wanted to return to the company in the afternoon. The release of ‘Secret’ was happening soon. Even if she hadn’t got Xu Ziqing’s invitation, Yan Liang was planning to go to the conference to meet the elite of Xu’s research and development team.The brand was really expected to be a big hit in the market.

Yan Liang was back in the company by 1.30 pm. The conference was slated for the hall on the 24th floor. In front of the door, she could see a number of media reporters who had set up all their equipment, ready for interviews with the attendees.

The first row of seats in the auditorium was reserved for senior executives of Xu. The people responsible for ‘Secret’ were seated according to order of rank, naturally Xu Ziqing was in the middle of the first three positions, playing her role.

As soon as Yan Liang appeared, the sharp-eyed reporters rushed over to surround her.With the spotlights flashing non-stop, Yan Liang shaded her eyes with her hands but could not take a step forward..

“Miss Yan Miss Yan! How is it that you are not attending this with your sister?”

“Miss Yan, I heard Ya Yan is interested in strategic

cooperation with the Ming Ting, is this true?”

“Miss Yan, the Li Bo Group also has selected today to hold a conference on their new European products at 2 pm, what are your views ?”

“ Earlier in the interview with Ms Xu Ziqing, she said the relationship between Xu and Li Bo is very good. There was no need to have a vicious competition. Our colleagues interviewed Mr Jiang Yu Nan as well, and he said that he is confident of Xu’s win in this competition. In this matter, can you tell us what your father thinks ?”

“Miss Yan …”

One after another their voices were ringing in Yan Liang’s ears. Before she could hear one question, the other reporter was asking another.

Yan Liang spent a lot of effort to dodge the reporters, as she opened the left door, she hurried in , leaving them behind.

Xu Ziqing was in the back of the conference room to do the final summary, she was really surprised when she saw Yan Liang coming towards her.

She immediately gave the documents in her hand to the program director to follow up and coolly greeted her, “You still came. “

“I was curious about your real strength, so decided to take a look.”

Xu Ziqing did not sarcaatically remind her about the “I’m too busy” comments in the last conversation they had, probably because of the presence of others in the conference room.

Yan Liang found a corner to sit down. There were too large screens on the wall, one was broadcasting the conference room here while the other was directly broadcasting the Li Bo conference on TV. Li Bo had always been the strongest competitor to Xu, Jiang Shijun was a very difficult opponent, so Xu Ziqing’s apprehension could be seen on her face as she looked at the screen.

Yan Liang kept to the background and watched the screens as she didn’t want to be seen. She was really tired of the reporters.

Seeing that it was two o clock, Xu Ziqing and all the secret team members headed to the lounge. Yan Liang declined the invitation to go with them, she really did not intend to move from her perch.

Soon, Yan Liang could see Xu Ziqing on the screen.

Xu Ziqing and the others were sitting among the audience in the first row. Only the project Vice President came to the podium at the invitation of the host to answer the questions of the media.

In addition to the major journalists, the other invitees to the conference included cosmetics experts, both domestic and foreign, the worlds five major regional agents, the global spokesperson for Xu and high level North American representatives from Johnny Weir.

The TV screen zoomed to Xu Ziqing and the North American representatives talking happily , and then went back to the podium.

The models and makeup artists had been ready long back, this was going to be a high quality show.

A little light went off, indicating that the conference had officially began

Yan Liang focussed on the make up products in the futuristic ‘Perfect Look’ series.

Due to naturally occurring defects in white skin such as freckles and other issues which were less prevalent in Asian skin, the ‘Perfect Look’ series was positioned as a high-quality futuristic product . The promotion of this would be the focus in the fourth stage of the conference.

The press conference proceeded step by step as per schedule.

As it progressed, Yan Liang looked at the screen where the Li Bo conference was being shown.

While in the ‘Secret’ conference, the star product was going to be launched in the last phase, in Li Bo, they were launching their star product in the second part of the conference.

While the product director of ‘Secret’ was solemnly explaining the concept of the overall series, the product director for Li Bo was announcing to the reporters, “ I want to introduce the ‘HD look’series to everyone here.”

Yan Liang was shocked.

She looked at the table with the ‘secret’ products, then at the big screen where the five products of the Li Bo “HD look’ series were being displayed. Even before her brain could process what was happening , she was already rushing towards the door.

As she rushed to the front, she could hear the product director of ‘ secret’ whisper , “Li Bo has already launched what we are introducing ..the Perfect Look series..”

Yan Liang could see from her position that the reporters by the door were receiving lots of phone calls. Although she didn’t know what the calls were about, looking at the reporters surprised faces, she had a bad premonition of what was going to happen.

It was too late to think of any rescue measures. She saw Xu Ziqing’s secretary hurriedly rushing towards the front row and whispering frantically to her for a long time.

As they continued whispering, the assistant was getting more and more anxious while Xu Ziqing was getting more and more livid

She had never seen her sister with such a look. Even when she had exposed Xu Ziqing to her father a little while ago,Xu Ziqing’s face did not have even one tenth of the panic that she had now.It was all clearly out of control.

Xu Ziqing hastily left, them someone walked over to speak to the program director on the podium. There was momentary chaos. The Perfect Look series had just been put up on the stage, now stealthily it was pushed back. The media also smelled a rat, they broke through the barriers set up and surrounded the program director.

“ Our colleagues in the Li Bo conference just sent a message saying ..”

“Is it really a coincidence that the Perfect Look and the HD look series are the same?”

“Is it just the name that is the same?”

…… …

The product director was in a difficult position surrounded by all the reporters .Finally a large influx of security came to maintain the order.

The reporters were forced to return to the media interview area.

Xu Ziqing was escorted by the security to the podium. With the microphone in her hand she said, “we have some problems with the conference.. I request my media friends not to be impatient. We will continue now.”

This seemed to appease everyone. Just when all the reporters were eagerly looking forward to the debut of the ‘Perfect Look’ make up series, the conference was temporarily changed to show the make up artist demonstrating foundations.

One of the reporters stored on the spot to protest “This is the next segment , what happened to the ‘Perfect Look’ series?”

Not only did his colleagues agree to the reporters words, even the camera zoomed on Xu Ziqing’s face. The product director on the stage was temporarily silent. He looked at her, asking for guidance. Xu Ziqing looked at him, indicating that he should just keep silent and not respond to the reporters comments.

＊＊＊ ***

Finally, she resolved to leave the meeting. Her assistant was still calling to her from the side, “ Lee said that Mr Jiang is rushing over..”

Jiang Yunan ?

Yan Liang paused for only a second, and then hurriedly left.

The Li Bo group was really a nightmare to Xu.

The conference was so messed up that it finished half an hour earlier than originally planned. Even though the launch of the ‘Perfect Look’ series was stopped half way, there were whispers of ‘plagiarism’ against the program director.

The Perfect Look products were not going to be available in the market.

Before they could find out why and how the Li Bo group was launching a series so identical to their own, the release of the product in the market would be dangerous. Which meant, that if they shelved the series as of now, the ‘Secret’ product portfolio was missing the most basic and important key.

Naturally the dealers were not happy.

Yan Liang thought about the problem all the way back from the venue. Although these were problems that the ‘Secret’ team needed to solve and she had no reason to start worrying about Xu Ziqing, still she couldn’t help thinking about it.

With so many thoughts in her mind, Yan Liang was sitting in front of the computer, constantly refreshing the media page on perfect look finish series, when she suddenly remembered she had a date at six.

She hurriedly turned off her computer. Before the screen was dark, her phone rang.

He was really punctual.It was six to the dot.

Yan Liang picked up the phone. She heard the voice of Lu Zheng, “ I am downstairs .”

Hearing this short sentence, for the first time, Yan Liang had the feeling that Lu Zheng was a perfect gentleman showing just the right amount of respect towards her.

“I’m coming down right now.” Yan Liang said, as she picked up her bag and walked towards the door.

*************

This translation belongs to miumiu596.wordpress.com. Please do not copy.

The restaurant was nice.

Yan Liang was wearing her work day clothes, not the right attire for a date. She was distracted, not the right attitude for a date either.

The first few dishes had been withdrawn, Lu Zheng was sitting silently opposite her , tasting the foie gras while Yan Liang picked at her food , her mind wandering.

As she continued eating silently, Lu Zheng paused with the knife and fork in his hand. He frowned, then looked up at her,” Ms Yan are you disappointed with the food, or am I too disappointing ?”

Yan Liang was immediately brought back to earth, composing herself,she said innocently, “ I’m sorry, I was focussing on the food, what did you just say?”

She was unable to decipher the emotion in his eyes, but he just shook his head and said, “ I was asking you if you liked the food.”

They had both decided to give each other some concessions to avoid further awkward developments.

To change the topic, Yan Liang searched in her mind for something to say and finally asked, “ You must be coming here all the time.The waiters recognise you.”

Lu Zheng ‘s expression was much better than before, although the improvement meant that he brought his lips close to her ear, and with a pleasant smile , he said , “The French cuisine here is very authentic .”

Lu Zheng also asked a question., “Earlier, weren’t you wondering about the secret and Li Bi group situation?”

Yan Liang’s face changed.

Lu Zheng immediately reassured her ,” Rest assured , I am not interested in gossip, I will not ask you anything.”

Yan Liang could not help but feel relieved when he said this. She was again looking around for something to say when Lu Zheng added, “ The only thing I am curious about is, from what I have heard about the relationship between you and your sister, I did not think you would even think about it, let alone worry about her.”

He moved the main dish towards her, “ You haven’t tried the main dish.”

Was he not happy with the date ? At least Yan Liang did not think so. Neither did Lu Zheng, “ Next time, shall we try another place?”

Yan Liang only smiled.She neither promised nor denied, she did not want to upset this man.

As they went down, they were the only two people in the elevator.

The lights were dim, they were both silent. Fortunately, half way down, a lady with a child stepped into the elevator. The child was very naughty, he kept running non stop in the confined space of the elevator.

The more the lady tried to restrain the child, the more he laughed, making Yan Liang squeeze herself more and more into the corner. She was still wandering about the company and ‘Secret’ when…

“Be careful!”

Suddenly someone shouted.

The naughty child had stumbled on his own ball, and his body hurtled directly towards Yan Liang.

To avoid him, Yan Liang almost twisted on her foot and lost her balance when a hand crossed over her body and hugged her shoulders. Yan Liang saw that Lu Zheng had stretched out his arms to hold her and prevent her fall. His face was close to hers, there was no particular expression on his face, but obviously his arms were very powerful.

Before they could separate, the elevator arrived at the next floor and the doors opened.

There was a couple waiting outside to get in. Yan Liang’s head was down to avoid looking at Lu Zheng’s eyes. So, not only did she not see the elevator opening, she also failed to notice how the expressions on the face of the couple changed rapidly as they saw Yan Liang and Lu Zheng when they entered the elevator.

By the time Yan Liang composed herself and looked up, the man and woman had entered the elevator. They were.. actually..yes..

Jiang Yunan.

And Xu Ziqing.

When Yan Liang looked at Jiang Yu Nan, his face was expressionless. His cold eyes swept over Yan Liang , then greeted Lu zheng , “ Mr Zheng.”

Lu Zheng was quite surprised, “Mr Jiang, you’re also here for dinner?”

Jiang Yu Nan smiled ambiguously as an answer to his question.

And what was Xu Ziqing’s expression at the moment?

Yan Liang was definitely not going to get concerned about that..

They reached the underground parking lot.

Earlier during dinner, Yan Liang had secretly contacted her assistant, so the assistant had come with her car. Pretending she was needed for something urgent at the company, she left in her car. She did not want to accompany Lu Zheng in his car.

As the car slowly drove out of the parking lot, she closed her eyes. In her mind, she could see Jiang Yu Nan and Xi Ziqing together in the elevator.

Suddenly, the car braked.Yan Liang opened her eyes immediately.

Before she could see what had happened, someone came to her side of the car and pulled open the door.

Yan Liang shivered : ” Jiang… …”

He did not wait for her to finish and immediately interrupted her,” I allowed you to do business with him, not to sell yourself.”