The sarcastic remark made her blush. She wasn't trying to jump off the building! Who could blame her when someone had ill intentions toward her? If she didn't have any sense of self-defense, she'd be like meat on a chopping block, at his mercy to do as he pleased!
Pei Shaoze didn't look at her again. Instead, he reached out to grab her foot. Su Banxia cautiously pulled back. "I'm like this, and you still want more!" She stared at the man before her, finding him utterly terrifying. How obsessed was he with matters of love and lust?
Pei Shaoze shot her a glare. "In your eyes, am I really that shameless?" Without further argument, he forcefully pulled her leg toward him.
"Exactly. If you weren't shameless, you wouldn't have forced me so many times." Su Banxia didn't dare say it loudly, only muttering under her breath.
Still, Pei Shaoze caught her low murmur. "What did you say?" "Nothing. I'm complimenting you, saying your mind is full of talent, which is why Dingsheng is so powerful." She quickly covered up, afraid he might suspect something.
Pei Shaoze merely gave her a faint glance, then stood up and walked away. "You're just leaving like that? You won't even call a doctor for me? I got hurt here at your place!"
She glared at his retreating back, furious.
Su Banxia was sitting on the bed, cursing Pei Shaoze's ancestors for eighteen generations, when the door suddenly swung open again. Pei Shaoze had returned, but this time with a medical kit in hand.
"It'll take a while for a doctor to get here. Your foot is sprained. I'll apply some medicine for now, and tomorrow I'll take you to the hospital for a check-up." He spoke matter-of-factly, reaching out to grab her foot, preparing to dab on some medicinal liquid. "Bear with it. The skin's broken here, so it might sting a bit."
Su Banxia rarely saw him so gentle, his tone no longer icy. Just as she was getting lost in this rare tenderness, the pain hit her foot. "Hiss..." She sucked in a sharp breath, nearly fainting from the pain.
"Bear with it. It'll stop hurting soon." Pei Shaoze remained focused on applying the medicine, not forgetting to comfort her.
Su Banxia actually regretted jumping down from there. If she limped home like this, Guoguo and Haohao would be worried sick.
"You don't need to go to the company tomorrow. If you go home like this, the kids will worry. I'll tell Fang Shiqing that you're on a business trip with me. I'll take care of you these few days until your foot heals." Pei Shaoze capped the medicine bottle, his expression serious.
Su Banxia immediately frowned. That meant she'd have to go days without seeing her precious kids and stay in this den of wolves and tigers!
"How about... I stay somewhere else? A hotel would be comfortable too. No need to trouble you, President Pei!" She gave an awkward smile, trying to negotiate. She didn't want to end up as his living tool for satisfying his desires one day!
Seeing Pei Shaoze's face darken to an extreme, Su Banxia realized she'd said the wrong thing. "Try stepping out of here, and see what happens!" Pei Shaoze threatened her outright. With this woman, whose mind was full of who-knows-what, nothing else worked except this approach.
Watching him leave without giving her any room to negotiate, Su Banxia angrily punched the bed in frustration.
She didn't know how she fell asleep that night. When she woke up the next day, it was already ten in the morning. The entire villa was empty, not even a trace of Pei Shaoze. "Didn't he say he'd stay with me? Where did he go?" She muttered to herself. Had he just left her here and gone to work?
Then who was Su Banxia, the secretary, supposedly on a business trip with? She shook her head, confused.
Her phone suddenly rang. An unfamiliar number made her frown. Who had her number? She pressed the answer button but didn't speak.
"Hello? Banxia, are you there?" A familiar voice came through the line—Su Sinian.
She thought they'd never contact each other again after that last time. Su Banxia hadn't expected her to have her contact info. "Yeah." She hesitated for a moment before replying. Now that the Su family's troubles were over, what could she want?
"Let's meet up." On the other end of the line, Su Sinian stared at the contracts between the Lin and Pei corporations in her hands, her expression grim.
She didn't understand how Su Banxia had managed to get Lin Tongze and Pei Shaoze to help the Su family together. She was the eldest daughter of the Su family, yet she wasn't valued by either of them.
"I've already done what you asked me to, Miss Su. If there's nothing else, let's not meet." She didn't want to get tangled up with Su Sinian again, nor with the entire Su family. Meeting again would only lead to endless complications.
"Banxia, are you really that heartless? Dad's health is getting worse. Haven't you thought about coming home to see him? Are you really holding a grudge over what happened back then?" Su Sinian was furious. She hadn't expected the wild girl her father had doted on since childhood to be so cold and indifferent.
Su Banxia didn't rush to refuse. There was a few seconds of silence on the phone. "Send me the address." After saying those five words coldly, she hung up, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.
Su Sinian was quick to act. Soon, the address came through. Su Banxia had no choice but to drag her limping foot and slowly make her way outside. This godforsaken place—she couldn't even hail a cab and had to walk a long way out!
The place Su Sinian had chosen was right downstairs from her company. Since Lin Tongze and Pei Shaoze were both preparing to cooperate with her, she naturally wanted to focus her time and energy on that.
The reason she wanted to see Su Banxia was simply to find out what made her capable of getting both business elites to cooperate with her! She could understand Lin Tongze's side—they'd known each other since childhood, so a favor was a small matter. But Pei Shaoze's side baffled her. Su Banxia kept saying she was just his secretary, but if she were merely a secretary, how could she have such influence?
Su Banxia had a hard time of it too, limping a long way before finally managing to hail a cab. After a bumpy ride, she finally arrived. "I'm here." She quickly sent Su Sinian a message, not wanting to waste any more time.
Su Sinian glanced at the message on her phone, a faint smile curling at her lips, and headed downstairs. "Banxia, sorry to keep you waiting." "Dad... how is President Su?" She almost said "Dad" but quickly stopped herself, switching to "President Su." It was a bit distant, but still appropriate.
Su Sinian shook her head. "Dad's health is getting worse. Won't you go back and see him?" Her face was full of melancholy, her tone sorrowful as she spoke of Su father's illness.
It had been six years. Su Banxia hadn't been home in that long. She never wanted to return to the Su family, but she couldn't repay the kindness Su father had shown her.