Chapter 48

"Have Auntie and Uncle gone?" Pei Yueran asked when he back back into the room.

They were staring at each other awkwardly, so she asked for lack of a better conversation starter.

"Yes they have."

Both of them fell silent.

Li Chuanmo then walked to her bedside, sat down and took her hand. Pei Yueran started blushing again.

"You seem to blush a lot." Li Chuanmo blurted out.

"And for ridiculous reasons too. I mean, I'm a grown ass woman, not a teenager experiencing puppy love", Pei Yueran said in self-disgust.

"So are you saying 'grown ass' women and men have no right to blush or fall in love? Aren't they people too?"

"That's not what I'm saying, but isn't it weird?"

"It's not. Besides, you look really good when you blush."

As if on cue, Pei Yueran blushed again. Li Chuanmo smiled and continued,

"And if it's any consolation, I don't blush, but my ears turn red when I'm embarrassed."

Pei Yueran laughed, "It makes you look so cute."

Li Chuanmo grinned, looking very much like a teenager.

They were interrupted by the nurse, who came to check on Pei Yueran. After she left, Pei Yueran said, "Tell me about yourself."

"Well, what would you like to know?"

"Hmmm, okay here's one: What's your biggest motivation for work?"

Li Chuanmo raised an eyebrow, "Questions about work are not allowed."

"Okay." Pei Yueran thought for a few moments. "Then let me go easy on you, what's your favorite color?"

"Black."

"Favorite car?"

"Aston Martin."

"Favourite person?"

"You."

Pei Yueran coughed to hide her smile, "Yuchen will be so sad to hear that."

"Let him. He's such a pain in the you-know-where."

They smiled. They both knew that Li Chuanmo loved his son to pieces. He was to him as Han Yichen was to her.

"Okay. Hobbies?"

"Programming, gaming, traveling and paragliding."

"Wow, I haven't tried paragliding before. I can only imagine how it feels to be so high in the air, the wind hitting my face."

"You should try it sometime, it's really amazing. I've gone paragliding in New Zealand, Georgia, Italy, Switzerland and even Nepal, to mention a few places."

Pei Yueran was truly amazed. She had always wanted to travel around, but life happened to her and cut off that dream. It could only sit at the bottom of her bucket list, forgotten.

She gazed at Li Chuanmo with a look of adoration, eyes shining. He was her travel 'role model'.

"We can go together if you don't mind. June is a great time for paragliding. we could go at the beginning of June, for a few days."

Pei Yueran ignored the unspoken implication of going alone and just said, "I'll work towards that. Yi Chen will be graduating at that time and moving in with me, so we could all go together. I'm sure Yuchen will also be interested."

"Ohhhh. That would be good."

Pei Yueran almost laughed out loud at his crestfallen look. She never knew he could say things he didn't mean. Right now, he looked like someone was holding a gun to his head, forcing him to bring the kids along.

"By the way, the six months that the Board of Directors gave us for the first review are almost up. Have they fixed a date for the review yet?"

"Yes. Secretary Min texted me this morning about that. It's in two months, on the 15th."

"I hope it goes well, so that the whole probationary leadership issue can stop. Everyone at the company can testify that you're a capable and competent leader."

"Yes", Li Chuanmo agreed.

What both of them did not voice was that if they successfully passed the review in two months, Pei Yueran would have to go back to City A even earlier.

Pei Yueran fell asleep soon after, while Li Chuanmo busied himself with company affairs.

Gong Anwei called to say that Fu Mengyao's lawyers were pushing for her bail.

"Block them. Just call Commissioner Jiang and tell him to pay special attention to this case."

"Okay sir."

"How about the Fu Company?"

"They will be filing for bankruptcy any day now."

"Stop all attacks immediately, and invest a substantial amount into the company."

"Sir?"

"You heard me."

"Alright sir." Gong Anwei didn't understand his boss' reasoning, but orders were orders.

Originally, Li Chuanmo just interfered in the Fu Company affairs as a warning. However, this time, the main offender would be punished directly, so there was no need to continue messing with their company.

Also, he could see a good business opportunity there, it was only right that he took advantage of it.

He looked at Pei Yueran, she was still sleeping. The nurse informed him before he came back in that the doctor wanted to see him, so he decided to go and see him now.

"Come in", the doctor said when he knocked. When he saw Li Chuanmo, he motioned him to sit down.

"Good day Doctor. I was told you wanted to see Ms. Pei Yueran's guardian. Is everything fine?"

"Yes, yes. As I said before, she's healing well, and she can be discharged tomorrow evening. She would need to be coming for checkups regularly, and with her guardian if possible. Depending on how well she heals, we can remove the stitches in two weeks."

"Alright, thank you doctor."

*****

When Pei Yueran woke up later in the evening, it occurred to her that she hadn't spoken to her family since the incident happened. There were several missed calls and messages from her mother and son.

Li Chuanmo had left a note to inform her that he was going to get something to eat, so he wasn't around.

She sent Director Zhou a short message. Her call came in almost immediately.

"Ran'er! You had us very worried. What happened? You were neither picking your calls nor responding to messages."

Director Zhou spoke quickly, showing her worry. She only stopped when she noticed Pei Yueran's tired and weak look.

"What happened to you Ran'er?"

"I'm okay Mum." Pei Yueran gave her a quick summary of what happened. Director Zhou shouted in alarm.

If not for Pei Yueran's persuasion, she would have been on her way to City M. Pei Yueran assured her that she was already feeling better and would be discharged the next day.

"Don't tell Xiao Chen Mum, he'd worry. I'll call you two after I have been discharged."

"Chen'er is currently in his room. I'll just tell him that you have been busy and that you promised to call him. But you should also send him a message to keep him from worrying."

"Okay Mum."