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The night was serene, with the bright moonlight streaming through the glass window and illuminating the room.
Chen Rui tiptoed quietly, glancing at Li Xue, who was still sound asleep in bed. He stealthily entered the bedroom, opened his wardrobe, and pulled out a few casual outfits to stuff into his backpack. After gently closing the wardrobe door, he slowly exited the bedroom.
In the living room, Chen Rui pondered for a moment before deciding to leave a note behind, lest this auntie think that her brother Zijing had gone missing again!
He opened his notebook, tore out a page, and placed it on the table. Holding a pen, he found himself at a loss for words.
I’m going traveling. Don’t look for me. I want to be alone for a while. I’ll be back after the holiday.
After much thought, Chen Rui could only manage to write this incomplete message without signing it. He truly didn’t know whether to sign it as Chen Rui or Chen Zijing...
The reason he didn’t want Li Xue to look for him was that he was genuinely afraid she would use her influence to track his phone’s location. If Li Xue followed him, everything would slow down significantly, and he might not be able to do what he wanted at all.
Once finished, Chen Rui pressed the paper down with a cup, placing it right in the center of the table so she would see it when she woke up.
After packing his things, Chen Rui gently opened the door and quietly closed it behind him, moving like a man sneaking out to meet a lover without his wife knowing.
Chen Rui hadn’t booked a flight because if Li Xue noticed he was missing in the morning, she would surely check the passenger lists of all airlines immediately. That way, it would be obvious where he had gone.
Moreover, when he looked at flights to Wuhan, there was only one at nine in the morning. If Li Xue caught him at the airport waiting for his flight, it would be truly awkward.
Instead, Chen Rui took a taxi directly to the train station. He planned to buy a ticket and take the high-speed train to Wuhan. There were many trains from Beijing to Guangzhou, and the fastest route from Beijing to Guangzhou had to pass through Wuhan, so Chen Rui wasn’t worried about not getting a ticket.
Besides, now that all major universities had started their semesters, the rush of students returning had already passed, and there were plenty of empty seats on almost every train.
Upon arriving at Beijing Station, Chen Rui encountered a serious problem: all trains heading toward Wuhan departed from Beijing West Station. The only train leaving from Beijing Station was an ordinary express train that took eight hours to reach Wuchang Railway Station.
“Eight hours!?” Chen Rui was shocked by the travel time displayed on the schedule because flying from Beijing to Wuhan only took just over an hour. Now he faced a journey that would take roughly seven times longer!
“Better go to West Station,” Chen Rui said with a wry smile as he booked a high-speed train ticket from West Station to Hankou Station. The journey would only take three and a half hours—this was basically the fastest option available.
After booking his ticket, Chen Rui took the subway to West Station. With three hours until departure, he leaned back in the VIP Lounge with his business class ticket and managed to catch some sleep. He hadn’t slept at all that night; waiting for Li Xue to fall into a deep sleep had kept him tossing and turning on the couch in the living room. A few times he nearly fell off onto the floor.
"Sir, sir! Your train will be departing in twenty minutes." A well-dressed female attendant called out to Chen Rui, waking him up and handing him his ticket with a kind reminder.
"Oh? Oh! Thank you!" Chen Rui rubbed his eyes, groggily accepting the ticket.
Wait a minute! My ticket has always been with me! Then what is this? Chen Rui squeezed the 'ticket' tightly, and suddenly understood what it was.
The sound, the texture—this was clearly a page he had torn from his notebook not long ago!
If this paper is here, then the person in the black female suit before him is not an attendant, but—Li Xue!!!
"Hmph! Trying to run away? Not telling me where you're going!" Li Xue snatched the paper back and threw it at Chen Rui's face, her movements swift and practiced as if she had done it countless times before.
Chen Rui realized his actions had been exposed, so he decided not to explain. "I just wanted to go have some fun."
Li Xue's eyes immediately turned red as she retorted fiercely, "Have fun? Not telling me where you're going? And sneaking off like this! Who goes on a trip like that? Most importantly! Why didn’t you take me with you?"
Chen Rui pondered for a moment, then looked directly at Li Xue and said, "I'm sorry. I know you would definitely ask me to take you along, and I also know I wouldn't be able to resist your sweet words and actually bring you. But if you really came with me, it wouldn’t do you any good at all; it might even make you feel miserable and sad! I mean that from the bottom of my heart."
Li Xue was taken aback by his words. After a moment to collect herself, she calmly asked, "Is that true? You're really just going to have fun? You'll be back soon?"
"Of course! After all, I still live in the city; I have to come back to work," Chen Rui replied with a faint smile. Cold sweat began to trickle down his back; Li Xue's focus was starting to frighten him.
Li Xue sighed and helplessly sat down on the sofa across from Chen Rui, slightly turning her head away. "Then go ahead. Just come back home early."
Chen Rui picked up his backpack from beside him and solemnly promised Li Xue, "Yes, I will definitely come back early!"
He quickly left the VIP Lounge. He didn't know how Li Xue had found him here, but he didn't need to know—or perhaps he didn't want to think about it—because the influence of the Li Family was simply too great. Many things that ordinary people found unbelievable could be accomplished with just a word from them. So Chen Rui chose not to concern himself with how Li Xue had tracked him down.
Taking out his phone, he checked the time; there were only a few minutes left until ticket checking began. It seemed Li Xue still respected him quite a bit. Otherwise, she could have easily stopped the attendant and waited until after the train departed to wake him up.
Watching the long line slowly forming at the ticket gate, Chen Rui suddenly missed being able to enter any place without waiting when he was with Li Xue because there were always VIP passages prepared for them in advance.
Getting used to the VIP treatment made it quite difficult for Chen Rui to return to the life of an ordinary citizen. He chuckled to himself as he glanced at the spot where Li Xue was sitting in the VIP Lounge.
Only that empty sofa remained...
"It seems I've hurt her feelings after all," Chen Rui sighed, furrowing his brow. While it was certain that he had wounded Li Xue's heart, he hadn't anticipated that his own actions would directly cause her sadness. Wasn't this a form of torment for him?
As the signal at the entrance changed from red to green, passengers began to insert their electronic tickets into the machine, one by one passing through the checkpoint.
Chen Rui's business class seat was located in the rear half of the train, and out of the eight seats, he was the only passenger. He stuffed his backpack into the overhead compartment and sat back, gazing out at the station through the window.
"Doo doo doo doo..." Chen Rui's phone rang. This ringtone was a 'warning' that signaled a call from Xiang Xiao; usually, it meant news about overtime or urgent tasks.
Frowning slightly, Chen Rui felt a bit annoyed but answered the call quickly. To his surprise, as soon as he picked up, Xiang Xiao's voice came through, hoarse and frantic as if she had just run ten kilometers in a race. "Hurry back to the company! Urgent mission!"
"What?!" Chen Rui was taken aback by this sudden change of events and blurted out an expletive. His first thought was whether Li Xue had specifically requested A Group to provide her with access to Dreamland...
No, that couldn't be right. She was now an assistant team leader and shouldn't be acting so recklessly. Besides, she had promised to let him go; people from the Li Family were not known for going back on their word.
"Of course you need to come!" In her confusion, Xiang Xiao took Chen Rui's curse as an affirmation. "Team Leader Gao Zhijie and Eighth Group Leader Ruan Yu are already on their way. You need to hurry back!"
"I'm on my way too... but I'm heading to Wuhan," Chen Rui thought bitterly but replied directly, "Okay, I'll be there right away."
"I'll be waiting for you in the conference room; move quickly!" Hearing that Chen Rui would leave immediately seemed to ease Xiang Xiao's tone a bit. After all, Chen Rui lived close to the company and could reach it in less than ten minutes if he ran.
With a wry smile, Chen Rui took off his backpack and dashed off the train toward the exit, completely ignoring the conductor shouting behind him, "Sir! We're about to depart..."
Half an hour later...
"Why did you take so long?" Xiang Xiao glanced at Chen Rui as he pushed open the door and tossed a document at him. "Take a look at this; this project is for you, Gao Zhijie, and Ruan Yu to complete together."
"Of course," Chen Rui replied as he caught the document. "Even though it's a joint effort, each of you will be responsible for a batch of clients, and these clients share a common characteristic..."
Chen Rui flipped through the documents and immediately frowned upon hearing this. "A senior graduating this year? Is that for real? Shouldn't they be out looking for jobs or internships?"
Gao Zhijie slammed the file onto Chen Rui's head, laughing as he scolded, "Idiot! If they were just ordinary graduates, how could they afford to hire us? This is a contract with a Private University, and we are responsible for being the graduation instructors for each batch of their graduates!"
"My goodness! Do we really have to deal with rich folks again?" Ruan Yu threw the document onto the table. "Classes at various universities have started for about a week now. Why are we only being notified about this now…"
Xiang Xiao awkwardly smiled and said, "I… forgot..."
After confirming the class assignments, Chen Rui slung his backpack, stuffed full of belongings, over his shoulder and headed home. He felt utterly unlucky; a series of unexpected events had left him flustered, and his holiday was about to end before it even began.
Upon opening the door to his home, he tossed his backpack onto the sofa and let out a sorrowful sigh.
Li Xue immediately jumped out from her bedroom upon hearing him, her eyes red as she looked at Chen Rui. "You're back?"
Perhaps this emergency task wasn't so bad after all. Chen Rui thought to himself as he stepped forward to embrace the trembling Li Xue, feeling her warmth.
"I'm back."
***
The third volume has concluded. Over the course of two months, we shared three significant stories spanning twelve chapters. I sincerely thank all the readers for their long-term companionship; it is because of you that I find the motivation to continue writing.
The fourth volume is also a crucial point in the narrative—it's going to be exciting, so please look forward to it!
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