At half past two in the afternoon, Xu Lize received a message from Su Yang, saying that she had finished the school business and was waiting for him at the school gate.
At the end of the message, Su Yang added an apology, saying that she had to hang up the phone earlier due to an urgent matter.
Xu Lize was replying to company emails in the study at that time. Seeing Su Yang's message, he couldn't help but sneer, but still stood up in the end.
Forty minutes later, Xu Lize drove to University A and saw Su Yang standing with a tall boy in a white shirt and jeans.
The boy was bowing his head and saying something to Su Yang. Su Yang reached out to rub her eyes and then nodded frequently.
Xu Lize stared for a few seconds and then impatiently honked the car horn.
Su Yang was talking to Song Haolin at the school gate.
The two had just come out of Feng Zhiyu's office. Su Yang learned that the baseless post on the forum might affect Feng Zhiyu's assessment in the second half of the year, so she was a bit emotional.
Song Haolin had been comforting her all the way out.
Hearing the sudden car horn, Su Yang looked over and saw the familiar Jeep Grand Cherokee.
She immediately sniffed and nodded goodbye to Song Haolin.
Song Haolin glanced at the Grand Cherokee parked across the road, stopped Su Yang and asked, "Who's that?"
Su Yang opened her mouth and hesitated for several seconds, not knowing how to introduce Xu Lize's identity. Finally, she could only smile awkwardly.
"He's the boss of my internship company. He's passing by and will take me to work on a project."
Many people knew that Su Yang had been interning outside during her entire senior year. Moreover, she thought it was not wrong to call Xu Lize her boss.
After all, in name, he was indeed her "sponsor".
When getting in the car, Su Yang habitually opened the back door and got in.
Before she could close the door, she heard Xu Lize say casually, "You really treat me like a driver."
Su Yang was stunned for a moment, quickly got out of the car with hands and feet in a hurry, and then obediently walked around to the front and sat in the passenger seat.
As soon as she got in the car, Xu Lize saw that the little woman's eyes were red, as if she had been crying.
Xu Lize frowned. The words he wanted to ask were on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed them back in the end.
The car slowly drove away from the gate of University A. When merging into the traffic flow, Xu Lize saw from the rearview mirror that the tall boy was still standing at the school gate, as if seeing Su Yang off.
"Is he your classmate?" Xu Lize asked.
Su Yang was lowering her head to send a message. Her thoughts didn't catch up with Xu Lize's for a moment.
"Who?" She looked up and turned to look in the direction of Xu Lize's gaze. Song Haolin's figure had already been blocked by the cars behind. "Oh, yes, he's my senior."
After that, the two didn't say anything more. Su Yang was still preoccupied with the incident of the forum post, while Xu Lize didn't know why he was sulking. He kept a straight face all the time.
It just so happened that he always had this cold look on his face even when he was in a good mood, which fully confirmed the saying - showing no emotion. So Su Yang didn't notice anything strange at all.
It wasn't very far from University A to Ren'ai Hospital. It would only take about twenty minutes on the elevated road without traffic jams.
By the time the car drove into the hospital's underground parking lot, Su Yang's mood had stabilized a bit.
When getting out of the car, Xu Lize asked her to get something from the trunk. When Su Yang opened the trunk, she saw a flower basket and a delicate and high - class fruit basket inside.
Su Yang felt extremely embarrassed. When she took out the things, she kept saying "thank you" to Xu Lize.
Xu Lize took the heavier fruit basket from her hand and then asked Su Yang to lead the way.
While waiting for the elevator, Xu Lize suddenly moved closer to Su Yang and naturally took her hand.
Su Yang immediately tensed up. "What... are you doing?"
She felt her palms start to sweat. The invisible aura around Xu Lize seemed to gain weight and suddenly pressed down on her, making it hard for her to breathe.
"I'm getting you used to it." Xu Lize calmly glanced at Su Yang, but didn't let go of her hand. "Your mother is an elder and an experienced person. If you act too strange with me, do you think she'll believe that you're not marrying me for other reasons?"
Su Yang was speechless, but still made a last - ditch effort. "But... there's no need to hold hands."
"Okay, if you don't want to hold hands, how about I put my arm around your waist?" Xu Lize said as he let go of her hand and was about to put his arm around Su Yang's waist.
Su Yang was so scared that her face turned bright red. She very actively grabbed Xu Lize's big palm and held it tightly.
"Let's just hold hands. Holding hands is fine!" Su Yang squinted and smiled.
Suddenly, the elevator "dinged" as it arrived.
Xu Lize pulled Su Yang into the elevator and slightly curled the corner of his mouth, but still spoke seriously.
"She's your mother. If acting a part can make her happier, if it were me, I'd act the part well."
Xu Lize's appearance in He Juan's ward with Su Yang caused a small stir.
There was only one reason. Just from Xu Lize's elegant dressing and his behavior, he was so out of place compared with the other family members in the general inpatient ward.
And such a pampered young master showed great care for Su Yang, a young girl.
When Su Yang was talking, he would lower his head to listen. Facing He Juan, he was also gentle and answered every question. In the middle, he even stood up on his own initiative, took a bunch of grapes from the fruit basket and went to wash them.
As soon as Xu Lize left, He Juan grabbed Su Yang's hand and asked, "Yangyang, is it true that you're getting married?"
Su Yang's heart tightened. She remembered what Xu Lize had said before the elevator.
Actually, Xu Lize was right. He Juan was her mother. A mother knows her daughter best. Not to mention that she had never mentioned "Xu Lize" in front of He Juan before, just the fact that she was going to get married suddenly tomorrow sounded like a fantasy.
"Mom, we..." Su Yang calmed down and cleared her throat. "I didn't tell you in advance because there were too many variables in this matter before. I was also very unsure myself. If I had told you in advance and the thing didn't work out in the end, I was afraid..."
"But marriage is such a big thing. How can you decide it so suddenly?" He Juan frowned and interrupted her. Her sick eyes stared fixedly at Su Yang. "Yangyang, tell mom the truth. Why are you getting married so hastily?"
"Auntie, actually, this is my fault." At this time, Xu Lize just came back after washing the grapes.
While putting the glass bowl with grapes on the bedside table, he put his arm around Su Yang, whose body was a bit stiff, and patiently explained to He Juan.
"Yangyang didn't introduce me to you before because actually I have business dealings with her father. Coincidentally, I got to know Yangyang because of President Su. Yangyang has always cared about this, so it's been postponed until now."
Seeing He Juan look stunned, Xu Lize secretly squeezed Su Yang's shoulder. "As for marriage, I proposed it. I think the thing you're most worried about now, auntie, is Yangyang. I hope you can rest assured and hand her over to me. I'll take good care of her."
Xu Lize's words were sonorous and forceful. His deep voice was like the keys of a piano being played, flowing out lingering tenderness.
The way he looked at Su Yang was full of affection. At that moment, no one knew whether his feelings were true or false, and no one knew whether his solemn promises were for that 10% of the shares or for the responsibilities of a husband that would soon be legally binding.