When they arrived at Yingwang International, there was a car that drove in first and stopped in front of the porch.

  Shen Hua saw Zhou Ming and Su Kainan get out of the car one after another, so he stopped the car by the roadside and pointed at Zhou Ming and Su Kainan who were walking towards the main hall: "Do you know them?"

  "Uh-huh." Yang Lili didn't know Shen Hua's intention and just nodded.

  "Has Su Kaiwen been to Yingwang International with Zhou Ming recently?" Shen Huai asked directly, seeing that Yang Lili's eyes still had a hint of wariness.

  "I've been here several times." Yang Lili said.

  On the surface, Shen Huai and Su Kuiwen, Zhou Ming still maintained a united front, but in their hearts, they had grown distant. They didn't meet up as often, and after the new year, they hardly saw each other at all. He wasn't even clear about their recent schedules, let alone that Su Kuiwen and Zhou Ming had become regulars at the British royal family's gatherings.

  Zhou Ming and Su Kai also treated Shen Hua as an outsider and rarely took the initiative to contact him.

  "Does Deputy Head of Municipal Party Committee Organization Department Pan Shihua ring a bell?" Shen Hui asked again.

  "Are you referring to the one who has been transferred to Tangzhai District as the district head?" Yang Lili asked.

  It turned out that Pan Shihua was also a regular at Emperor Entertainment, Shen Huai curled up her mouth and didn't ask anything about Pan Shihua anymore. She asked Yang Lili: "Do you still remember my phone number?"

  "Mm." Yang Lili nodded, she was in charge of maintaining and recruiting customers at Ying Huang International. Even if she disliked Shen Hui, she wouldn't throw away his contact information. She was also curious about why Shen Hui hadn't appeared at Ying Huang for such a long time?

  "Gao Xiaohu or someone else, if they do something outrageous and unjust in the British concession, I hope you can inform me promptly..." Shen Huai said.

  Yang Lili looked at Shen Hua and didn't say a word. Acting as an informant for Shen Hua, keeping an eye on Gao Xiaohu, Yang Lili thought about it and didn't want to do this; if Gao Xiaohu found out about this, being stripped naked and thrown onto the street would be getting off lightly.

  "My temper has changed a lot, otherwise think about it, if this matter fell on Gao Xiaohu's head today, how would he treat you?" Shen Huai wasn't afraid that Yang Lili wouldn't comply, even if Yang Lili didn't comply, he wouldn't have any losses. He said, "Gao Xiaohu has an old grudge against me, he can't do anything to me. You've already betrayed him once, I'm sure you don't want me to tell Gao Xiaohu what you just said..."

  Yang Lili's heart felt a chill, she could sense the conflict between Shen Huai and Gao Xiaohu was far more serious than just a rich family son competing for attention, it wasn't something she could get involved in, yet Shen Huai had somehow dragged her into it, leaving her no room to struggle.

  Although she thought she hadn't said anything to Shen Huan, would Gao Xiaohu believe her?

  Shen Hua took out a cigarette, disassembled it, and took a pen from the sun visor to write down a phone number. "In case you lose my contact information, call this number and I should be able to find you," he said. "Also, when we went upstairs for dinner, I met that girl who really caught my eye. You know I like 'fresh goods', so keep an eye on her for me..."

  Yang Lili knew that Shen Hua used to like good families, but didn't know he liked fresh goods.

  She silently took the note with the phone number from Shen Hua, trying to make her smile look natural, and said: "Secretary Shen's affairs, how could I not care?"

  Shen Huai waved his hand and let Yang Lili go in. He drove the car towards Meixi Town while steering the wheel.

  Yang Lili watched as the car disappeared into the sea of vehicles on Jinghai Avenue, her heart filled with a mix of emotions. It seemed like she had just escaped this calamity, but ahead of her lay an even larger net waiting to ensnare her.

  Yang Lili pulled the collar of her shirt with a button and walked in, the staff in the hall stood far away, without greeting each other as usual.

  Yang Lili initially found it strange, then a little girl ran over and asked with concern: "Sister Yang, do you want to report the crime?"

  What's the report about?

  Yang Lili was about to ask a question, but then she suddenly understood why the staff in the lobby looked so strange after she came in. It turned out that people in the hotel had already spread the news that she had offended Shen Huai and they all thought she had been raped and come back...

  Yang Lili was somewhat crying and laughing, and also knew that she was a bit disheveled, and it would be hard to avoid being misunderstood by others. Yang Lili said to the kind-hearted girl who came over to ask: "Nothing's wrong?" and first went to the dressing room to change her clothes, while others didn't ask any more questions, just thinking that Yang Lili was forced at first and then became willing afterwards.

  The girls working at Emperor International, even if they are not escorts, many of them end up sleeping with clients and becoming their mistresses. It's not just Yang Lili, there are more than a few, only that behind their backs, there are some gossiping topics.

  Yang Lili went to the dressing room, afraid of losing buttons and scorching a hole in her shirt, took it off, touched her ear, and found that the earring on her left ear was gone. She thought back and should have dropped it when she was screaming at Shen Hui's car, but didn't know if it was hanging on Shen Hui's clothes or fell in his car.

  Yang Lili was about to call Shen Hua to tell him, but she thought better of it. The earring wasn't worth much money anyway. She hoped that Shen Hua's girlfriend or wife would see it and make a big fuss, maybe then she'd have the chance to get rid of this scoundrel.

  **************

  Shen Huai drove towards Meixi Town, went around the workshop and returned to the dormitory at 11 o'clock.

  The lights in Chen Dan's house were still on, Shen Hua went over and knocked on the door. Xiao Li had already fallen asleep, while Chen Dan was still sitting under the lamp, doing accounts. Shen Hua smiled and said: "How did you become so obsessed with money? How is the hotel's performance this month?"

  "It's much better than before," Chen Dan said, "after deducting the contract fee, this month we can have more than 800,000 left; in the past when He Yuelian took over the reception station, the profit was not as high as this. Otherwise, let someone else take over the reception station? If I continue to do it, it will have a bad impact on you..."

  Shen Huai shook his head and said, "In these times, it's not enough to just do what you think is right in your heart. If you're always worried about what others will say, you won't be able to accomplish anything. Besides, I'm just a low-ranking official, why do I need to be so cautious?"

  Shen Huai walked over and gently wrapped Chen Dan in his arms, Chen Dan struggled lightly and whispered: "Not here..." The words were cut off before they could be finished.

  Shen Huai found it strange and saw Chen Dan remove a shiny object from his shoulder, not knowing when Yang Lili's earrings had hung on his shoulder.

  Shen Huai awkwardly smiled and didn't know how to explain the situation in the car to Chen Dan, or if Chen Dan would even believe him; he estimated that Chen Dan wouldn't believe him.

  Chen Dan stuffed the earrings into Shen Huai's pocket and said: "You go back to the house first, I'll come over in a while..."

  Shen Huai lowered his head and looked at her clear eyes, like stars in the night sky. He didn't know what she was thinking, and feeling guilty, he went back to his room first, not knowing if Chen Dan would be angry or not.

  The door creaked open and Chen Dan pushed it from the outside, holding a thermos in her hand. Her loose hair fell down, covering her eyes. Shen Huan walked over to take the thermos from her, saying, "This matter isn't what you think..."

  "What was I thinking?" Chen Dan looked up at Shen Hui, biting her lip lightly and said, "I understood from the first day with you, and I won't mind these things, so you don't need to say anything to deceive me. Remember to return the things to their owner..."

  Mud in the crotch is still shit; some things just can't be explained.

  As Chen Dan put the thermos on the wall and walked to the table to help him tidy up the messy documents, Shen Hui felt a slight pang in her heart: Chen Dan only regarded her as his mistress, even if he knew some secrets, he was careful not to be too close to her in front of outsiders.

  Shen Huai didn't know what to say to Chen Dan, could he tell her that he was just living with the identity of "Shen Huai", that he was Sun Haiwen, Xiao Lei's older brother, and that four years ago when they first met, her pure and innocent beauty had left a deep impression on his heart?

  Shen Huai smiled wryly, some things are not going to change with his will, he can only exist as "Shen Huai", and all the benefits and consequences that come with it, he has to bear alone.

  Even if Chen Dan thought he was just infatuated with her and forcibly entered her life, even if Chen Dan thought it was impossible for him to have true feelings for her, even if Chen Dan carefully wrapped herself up and only treated herself as his mistress, as a passerby in his life journey, he could only silently endure, because he could only exist in Chen Dan's life with the identity of "Shen Huai".

  Maybe if I don't tell her anything, she'll also feel distant from me? Shen Huan held onto Chen Dan's icy hand and stopped her from cleaning the table, pulling her to his side:

  "Sometimes Sun Ya Lin's words are piercing and hard to hear, but she's always telling the truth. I used to be a total mess, hurting many people, so much so that both my dad and mom's sides of the family grew to despise me. In fact, they were worried that I would cause irreparable damage and harm the entire family's interests, so they kicked me out..."

  Chen Dan knew that Shen Huan had a much more complicated story on his body than ordinary people, but Shen Huan never said anything, and she couldn't ask either. At this time, hearing Shen Huan mention it himself, she obediently sat down next to him.

  "Tan Qiping used to value me, mainly because of my family relationship; however, he should now know how bad my relationship with my family is and should have guessed what kind of person I was before, fearing that I would make a big mistake for him, so he distanced himself from me..."

  "How could that be?" Chen Dan didn't know the complexity of Shen Hui's past, she just subconsciously thought that even if Tan Qiping was the municipal party secretary, alienating Shen Hui was an unwise move. She didn't know about Shen Hui's life before, but since Shen Hui came to Meixi Town, all the things he had done, she had seen with her own eyes. "Your work in Meixi Town is so outstanding, isn't that also helpful to him?"

  Thinking of Tan Qiping, Shen Huai's heart also felt a chill. He told Chen Dan about the pros and cons: "Tan Qiping is an extremely pragmatic official, he understands the pros and cons better than anyone else. No matter how outstanding my work is, it's just adding flowers to his brocade; with these achievements, he won't be immediately promoted to provincial party secretary, but without them, he won't lose his position as municipal party secretary either. On the other hand, he's more worried that if he gets too close to me, I'll cause some unstoppable disaster and he'll have to take responsibility for it, which would harm him so much that he can't even be a municipal party secretary..."