Outside the Chamber of Commerce Hall.
The cold air rushed towards them, seeping in through their collars.
Nan Yu had just stepped out following Tan Linyuan. She was about to open her mouth to ask something when suddenly someone called her from not far away.
"Yuyu!"
Nan Yu suddenly looked up and saw Qu Jiaran standing at the bottom of the steps, smiling and waving at them.
The words Nan Yu wanted to ask got stuck in her throat.
Qu Jiaran was beaming. She smiled and asked, "How was it? Was everything smooth tonight?"
Tan Linyuan said indifferently, "Thanks to you, everything went as normal."
Qu Jiaran raised her lips proudly. "I knew it. That old guy suddenly having dinner with my dad must have had some ulterior motives."
"Fortunately, I asked my dad in advance. Otherwise, those people would really have been sent by Old Man Shen."
Nan Yu caught the important information from their conversation.
Those well - trained bodyguards were arranged by the Qu family for the chamber of commerce. They changed their stance halfway tonight mostly because they only took orders from the Qu family.
Shen Suhai wanted to bribe Qu Gaolin to restrain Tan Linyuan. But he didn't expect that Tan Linyuan had anticipated his move and found Qu Jiaran in advance.
Nan Yu suddenly understood.
Tan Linyuan's move tonight was to imply to Shen Suhai that his tricks were no match.
Seeing that the storm had passed, Qu Jiaran asked Nan Yu with a smile, "Yuyu, were you scared inside just now?"
Nan Yu shook her head. "No."
"We're good friends. Why are you being so stubborn?" Qu Jiaran obviously didn't believe it. "Linyuan is really something. He even brought you here to take risks..."
No matter what Qu Jiaran thought, Nan Yu really wasn't scared just now.
She only felt nervous for Tan Linyuan when those people rushed in.
But she didn't think she was in danger.
Even Nan Yu herself didn't realize that instinctively, she thought as long as she was with Tan Linyuan, she would be fine.
He would protect her.
...
After the crisis was resolved, Qu Jiaran said that to celebrate, she proposed that the three of them go for a late - night snack.
Tan Linyuan's expression was calm. "I'm not hungry."
"Even if you're not hungry, Yuyu must be." Qu Jiaran turned to Nan Yu, winking at her. "Yuyu, right?"
Nan Yu hesitated a bit and then turned to look at Tan Linyuan.
His expression remained unchanged. Under the night sky, his facial features looked even colder and his expression was as calm as ever.
He stood at the bottom of the steps, exuding an otherworldly aura.
He was leaving the decision to her.
Nan Yu shifted her gaze and met Qu Jiaran's expectant eyes. She still gave a negative answer. "I'm not very hungry either. Sorry."
She yawned. "I'm so sleepy that my eyelids are fighting. How about we make another appointment some other day?"
Since she had said so, Qu Jiaran had no choice but to give up regretfully. "Then let's have a meal together next time. Anyway, we'll have plenty of chances to meet."
Qu Jiaran leaned closer to Nan Yu and whispered with a smile in a voice only she could hear, "Next time, I'll tell you a secret."
Nan Yu wasn't very interested in the secret Qu Jiaran mentioned, but she still nodded. "Let's talk about it next time."
This time, Qu Jiaran didn't pester Tan Linyuan to send her back. Instead, she got into her own car and bid farewell to the two of them.
A dozen minutes later, Tan Linyuan's car stopped in front of a restaurant that was still open.
"Get out of the car."
Nan Yu glanced at the restaurant's signboard and couldn't help asking, "Didn't you say you weren't going to eat?"
Tan Linyuan didn't say a word. He just looked at her as if she were a fool.
Nan Yu reacted and pretended to suddenly understand, nodding. "So Uncle is trying to avoid Qu Jiaran."
Tan Linyuan didn't confirm or deny it. He just asked her if she wanted to eat.
After watching the drama for a whole night, she was already hungry. She originally thought she would make some late - night snacks when she got back to the villa, but now she didn't have to bother.
Tan Linyuan ordered the dishes. His taste leaned towards the lighter side, mostly typical vegetarian dishes.
Nan Yu glanced at the menu and added a bowl of wonton noodles.
It was already very late. There were few people in the restaurant, and the atmosphere was a bit cold.
When the wonton noodles were served, Nan Yu picked up a wonton with her chopsticks, blew on it, and took a bite. A look of surprise appeared on her face. "It's so delicious. How is it made?"
Tan Linyuan glanced at her and directly asked someone to call the chef over.
The chef came over and explained to Nan Yu with a smile, "The soup base is made from the fresh shrimp delivered today, supplemented with tofu. That's why it tastes fresher."
After the chef left, Nan Yu said with a smile, "Such a simple bowl of wonton noodles actually requires such a complicated cooking method."
Tan Linyuan raised his eyebrows, thinking there was a hidden meaning in her words.
"Just like the drama we watched today. It seems effortless, but actually Uncle must have put in a lot of effort behind the scenes, right?"
Nan Yu looked at him with a big smile, waiting for him to reveal the mystery of tonight.
"You're quick to catch on," Tan Linyuan's voice was light, like a thin mist. "Why don't you tell me your guess first?"
Nan Yu pondered for a moment. "If I'm not wrong... you and Shen Suhai should be vying for the leadership of the chamber of commerce?"
"You have a better head than those people in the hall just now."
"..."
Tan Linyuan didn't hide anything from her and told her about the general situation of the chamber of commerce's current situation.
Last month, Tan Linyuan had just issued a notice that the overall proportion of dividends in the chamber of commerce would be reduced. Many members privately expressed their protests.
Even though Tan Linyuan had led the chamber of commerce to make a lot of profits in the past two years and the overall development and operation were much better than in previous years, it still couldn't stop people's greed.
"The reduction of the chamber of commerce's dividends is because this part of the money has been used for charity and social contributions," Tan Linyuan explained indifferently.
Businessmen value profits. Even when doing charity, it's for the sake of networking.
But Tan Linyuan's expenditure was a real contribution to Jiangcheng without asking for any return.
This was originally the first rule he established after stabilizing the chamber of commerce, but now more and more people were starting to get restless.
All the minor opinions combined, and with Shen Suhai around, Tan Linyuan's position was in jeopardy.
The internal strife between him and Shen Suhai was not just once or twice.
"Today, he stood on the side of the chamber of commerce members to fight against me. He should have been sure of victory."
"But because the Qu family got involved, it's not certain who will win in the end, right?" Nan Yu said.
Tan Linyuan nodded, indicating his approval of her words.
Nan Yu thought for a few seconds and asked a crucial question. "So is the Qu family helping you or Shen Suhai?"
The moment she asked, she saw the man across from her smile slightly at her naive question.
His smile was very faint and fleeting. Soon, a thin layer of coldness spread across his eyes.
"Do you understand the story of the snipe and the clam?"