Chapter 72: Sitting on Two Boats

  As Lin Zixuan's agile hands stroked her, Ning Lan felt that her scorching wrist was like soaking in a hot spring, so comfortable that she wanted to moan. When the heat finally dissipated, the red swelling on her wrist had disappeared, leaving only a faint red mark on the skin, and a slight tingling sensation, but it no longer hurt.

  Ning Lan quietly looked at him grasping her wrist, Lin Zixian let out a breath and smiled: "Alright, it's fine now, but the red and swollen areas may peel over the next few days, other than that there shouldn't be any issues."

  Ning Lan came back to her senses and found that the red swelling on her wrist had really disappeared. She was suddenly surprised and exclaimed, "How did you do it? It's too magical!"

  "Hehe! That's just a small trick." Lin Zixian waved his hand dismissively.

  "Since it's a minor skill, then teach me!" Ning Lan said with an expectant face: "In the future if I encounter thugs, I'll use this move to deal with them."

  "Ran into a rascal..." Lin Zixian was speechless, and her casual remark was taken seriously by the other person. She coughed and said: "This thing is not passed down to women, although women can also learn it. However, after learning it... that... afterwards, they will be unable to give birth. It's said that out of ten pregnancies, eight or nine will end in miscarriage. Apparently, there were also women who learned this in the past, but it seems like they were nuns from a convent."

  What he said is true, the one-pillar incense towards heaven is indeed not suitable for women to practice. Women who have practiced it cannot give birth, and often cannot survive three months of pregnancy. The fetus in their abdomen will suffer an unexpected outcome, which is too cruel for women. Therefore, later on, they stopped teaching women.

  But Ning Lan didn't believe it, thinking that he was just unwilling to teach himself. However, she only brought it up as a topic of conversation and wasn't really interested in learning about such hurtful things. She casually mentioned the word "feudal" and didn't persist further.

  "You've come running to find me now, is there something going on?"

  "Just passing by, I'll come and see if Deputy Director Lin is sticking to his post." Ning Lan sneered: "I didn't expect to catch Deputy Director Lin sleeping on the job, I'm going to report to the company leadership and deduct your bonus for this month."

  Lin Zi Xian was also bored to sleep, but as soon as he heard someone teasing him, he immediately became spirited. He put his two feet on the sofa and laughed: "Okay! You've made me so poor that I have no money for food, I'll go to your house to freeload."

  Ning Lan smiled and waved her hand, saying: "It doesn't matter, come on then! Since I've already kept you, I couldn't let you starve to death, could I?" As she spoke, she leaned in close to Lin Zixian and teased, "Do you want me to give you a key to my house?"

  It's dragged to the point of being kept again, do I look like someone who eats soft rice? Lin Zixian rolled her eyes and coldly hummed: "Don't provoke me, what if one day I take your house key and sneak into your bed, you won't even have time to cry."

  "Oh! You're not afraid, what am I afraid of? As long as you're not afraid of Liu Yanzi getting jealous, just come on over, I'll be waiting for you at home." Ning Lan gave a look that said "you dare to try".

  "Liu Yanzhi?" Lin Zixian was taken aback and said: "Why does she want to be jealous of me?"

  "What's the big deal." Ning Lan said with disdain, "I've heard about what happened in the restaurant today. It's said that Deputy Director Lin openly confessed his love to Liu Yanzi." This was her real intention for coming here, she wanted to confirm whether it was true or not, otherwise she wouldn't be able to calm down and work.

  Lin Zixian was dazed for a while, and couldn't remember when he had confessed his love to Liu Yanzhi. Ning Lan immediately reminded him, "You really are handsome." Lin Zixian suddenly came to his senses, burst out laughing, and didn't hide it from her. He told her about how he had pretended to be in love with Liu Yanzhi, and finally said: "That woman looks powerful, but actually she's just a hedgehog, using her prickles to protect herself. Last time you also saw that for the sake of friendship, she can stab people in the back, but as a person, she's not bad. If there's an opportunity, I'll ask you to help me out and give her some face. I heard her work ability is pretty good."

  "It turned out to be like this." Ning Lan let out a sigh of relief and suddenly blinked his eyes, saying: "Aren't you afraid that they are just pretending but actually mean it?"

  "What's the difference if we're just pretending to be in a relationship?" Lin Zixian said nonchalantly, "Liu Yanzhi is pretty good-looking too! If a beauty like her is willing to pretend to be my girlfriend, I should feel happy about it, that's an honor for me, no need to think of it as a nuisance!"

  Suddenly revealing a lecherous expression, he snickered and said: "Ning beauty, you wouldn't also want to make our fake relationship real, would you? That's something I'd be more than happy about!"

  "Alright! Since you can't get what you want, I'll fulfill it for you." Ning Lan said with a calm expression.

  He got up and walked to his desk, picked up a pen and paper, scribbled something, came back and handed it to him: "This is my home address. After sending the general manager home, come find me. I'll personally buy ingredients and cook a sumptuous dinner for you, so as not to say that I've been supporting you for so long without even treating you to a meal."

  Lin Zixian took a glance and chuckled, "Ning Da's assistant personally cooking, it's too much of an honor. Alright, I'll definitely keep the appointment and taste your culinary skills." He casually stuffed the note with the address into his pocket, having already set aside the joking words, thinking that Ning Lan was just inviting him to dinner as a friend, and didn't take the teasing about being kept seriously.

  He himself was thinking of taking some time off to invite Ning Lan for a meal, otherwise having known each other for so long and not even inviting him out for a single meal would be somewhat unjustifiable.

  Ning Lan's face didn't show any other expression, she didn't stay for long, after all her work nature wasn't suitable to leave the post for too long during working hours.

  When getting off work, Lin Ziyan sat in the car waiting for Qiao Yun to get off work and subconsciously took out a cigarette to smoke, because there was music playing inside the car, he would always sit inside listening to music while smoking when he had nothing to do.

  As usual, Qiao Yun, the female strongman, always finishes work half an hour later than others, so she has enough time to smoke two cigarettes and then take a walk around to dissipate the smell of smoke.

  Who would have thought that after smoking more than half a cigarette, a voice suddenly came from the intercom: "Director Qiao is off work, get ready below."

  "Ah!" Lin Zixian let out a strange cry, quickly flicking the cigarette butt away and waving his hand vigorously inside the car to disperse the smoke.

  Several bodyguards surrounded Qiao Yun as she walked out of the elevator, and another bodyguard opened the car door. Just as Qiao Yun was about to get in, Xiuli's delicate nose wrinkled slightly, having caught a whiff of smoke. People who don't smoke are always more sensitive to the smell of smoke.

  The car team came out of the famous flower building, Lin Zixian still occasionally observed her reaction through the rearview mirror. However, Qiao Yun's arm was propped on the leather armrest, her body slightly tilted, with the back of her hand supporting her smooth and round chin, looking sideways at the outside of the car window without saying a word, her eyelashes occasionally blinking, stunningly beautiful.

  Lin Zixian suddenly felt strange, he didn't believe that Qiao Yun hadn't smelled the smoke, and unexpectedly this time she didn't make things difficult for him.

  The car was halfway there when Qiao Yun suddenly spoke up and said, "Is she your girlfriend?"

  "Huh……" Lin Zixian glanced at the rearview mirror and found that Qiao Yun was still in her original posture, if it wasn't for hearing clearly, she really couldn't tell that it was her speaking. He then asked with a suspicious face: "Qiao is always asking me?"

  Qiao Yun didn't react at all. Without getting an answer the first time, she didn't ask a second time. Her expression didn't change in the slightest, as if she hadn't spoken up at all.

  "What the...!" Lin Zi muttered to himself, unable to help but use his small hand to dig into his ears, really thinking he had just hallucinated.

  Back at Qiao's house, Xiao Hua was walking the dog. Seeing Lin Zi Xian, Xiao Hua immediately smiled and said: "Little Lin, stay for dinner tonight!"

  "Thanks Auntie! No need, tonight Ning Lan said she wants to personally cook a big meal for me, I'll go to her house to get free food." Lin Zixian laughed and said.

  "When did Lanlan learn to cook?" Xiao Hua handed the dog chain in her hand to Qiao Yun, with a puzzled expression: "As far as I know, Lanlan can't cook!"

  "Really?" Lin Zixian was stunned, quickly took out the paper from his pocket and studied it: "This is the address she left for me this afternoon, is she playing a trick on me?"

  Xiao Hua took the paper from his hand, looked at it and nodded: "That's right, this is indeed Lanlan's home address, I've been to her house." When she returned the paper, she asked strangely: "Xiaolin, are you in a relationship with Lanlan?"

  Lin Zixian was left bewildered by her questioning, and before he could respond, Qiao Yun, who was walking away with her dog, suddenly said, "You're playing both sides." Her tone was extremely disdainful.

  Two people were left standing there, looking at each other in dismay, unsure of who she was referring to.

  After exchanging pleasantries with Xiao Hua for a while, Lin Zixian changed cars and left.

  Ning Lan's address is easy to find, it's a high-end residential area on Jiang Island that everyone in Donghai knows about. It's a small island lying in the river, with one bridge connecting each side of the riverbank. To enter this place, you must go through these two bridges, and the security checks at the bridgeheads are very strict, ordinary people are not allowed to enter.

  Lin Zixian was stopped at the bridgehead and asked who he was looking for. The security guard called the owner, Ning Lan, in the duty room to confirm before letting him pass.

  The island has no high-rise buildings except for a lighthouse, all are villas. Ning Lan's house is located beside the ring road, when Lin Xi found it, Ning Lan was wearing a simple and elegant dark green knee-length skirt, her hair was simply tied back, looking like a homely young woman, fresh and beautiful, very eye-catching, standing at the door smiling and waiting for him.

  Lín zǐ xián jià yù de bǎo mǎ chē tíng zài le níng lán de bēn chí yuè yě páng, xià chē hòu kàn le kàn zhōu biān de huán jìng, yǐn yǐn kàn dào yǒu rén zài dǎo biān chuí diào, zéi zéi yǒu shēng dào: "hǎo dì fāng ā! zài zhè lǐ mǎi xià yī zhuàng bié tīng, kǒng pà bù pián yi ba?"

  Ning Lan shook her head and smiled: "My income can't afford it, it was Aunt Xiao who bought it for me when I officially joined the Ming Hua Group as an assistant to the chairman after graduation."

  "Hehe! I'm afraid it's still Qiao An Tian's intention, how can the trusted people around him be treated unfairly?" Lin Zi Xian said casually, with another sentence left unsaid in his stomach. Letting Xiao Hua buy it also has the meaning of avoiding suspicion, otherwise, if the boss gives a house to an opposite-sex assistant or secretary, it would easily lead to gossip.