"Eh...Beichuan," Father Ye grabbed hold of him to stop him. "It would be wasting so much time if I went to the investment manager. Won't it be more efficient if you directly look at my project proposal?"
Lu Beichuan unhappily looked at Father Ye. "The real waste of my time is you standing here and blocking my way." He didn't give him any face.
"But... Beichuan, how can you say that?!" Father Ye half-reproachfully looked at him, but he didn't dare to actually reprimand him. He only quietly said, "At the very least, I'm your father-in-law."
"If you weren't my father-in-law, you wouldn't even be able to appear in front of me. Mr and Mrs. Ye, you've seen Zhenzhen today. Please leave."
Father Ye's face was a mix of ugly colors, but he didn't dare to say anything. He could only watch as Lu Beichuan entered the hospital room and closed the door.
Inside the hospital room, Ye Zhen had pulled up the covers to block the light. Hearing the sound of familiar footsteps, she knew that it was Lu Beichuan that entered the room. She pulled down a corner of the blanket and asked, "Are they gone?"
"En, they're gone. How was your talk with them?"
With Lu Beichuan's help, Ye Zhen sat up. "Could it go well? It was the same stuff as always. So boring."
"Don't bother yourself with your family's affairs anymore. I'll handle them."
"You?" Ye Zhen looked at him. "How will you handle them?"
"Don't worry about it. I have my ways."
Regarding Mother Ye, Ye Zhen truly didn't want to come into contact with her again. As for Father Ye, he got on her nerves even more, the second he saw her, he would drag the conversation to investment opportunities. It would be a load off her mind if she didn't have to concern herself with the Ye's messy affairs.
Ye Zhen thought it over before saying, "You don't have to worry about them. My dad doesn't have the ability to run a company. No matter how much investment money you give him, it'll still end up being money poured down the drain. He's a bottomless pit that's filled with discontent. Rather than giving him investment money, it would be better if you donate it to charity."
In the novel, Father Ye had Lin Zhan's help. But now that he didn't have Lin Zhan, with Father Ye's lack of vision when it came to investing, no matter how much he was given, it would all be for naught.
Lu Beichuan looked at her side profile. A strand of hair slid down from her forehead. He gently tucked the strand of hair behind her ear. "Okay, I'll listen to you."
This gesture was too intimate. Ye Zhen glanced at him.
Shortly after Lu Beichuan said those words, there was the sound of knocking on the door. A nurse brought over an exquisitely packaged item that was marked with express delivery.
"Mrs. Lu, someone delivered this item to the hospital and named you as the recipient."
"A delivery for me? Who was the sender?"
The little nurse shook her head. "I'm not sure about that. That person left after dropping this off at the front desk."
Ye Zhen took the item. "Alright, thank you."
"No problem."
The exquisitely wrapped express package was a little bit bigger than two adult-sized palms. There wasn't a name or any other identifying marks on the package. It wasn't possible to guess what was contained in the package without opening it.
She raised her eyebrows and looked at Lu Beichuan. "Mr. Lu, is this a surprise from you?"
Lu Beichuan's gaze was focused on the express package. He remained silent, but there was clearly hostility in his eyes.
The Lu's hadn't announced that Ye Zhen had given birth yet. So then, who would have sent over this gift?
It seems that this wasn't a gift from Lu Beichuan.
Ye Zhen ripped off the wrapping paper and saw an exquisite antique-style box underneath. She opened the box and saw a blood red jade nestled in the velvet lining.
When she saw the bracelet, her heart immediately leapt.
Wasn't this the heirloom that Lin Zhan's mother had prepared for her future daughter-in-law in the novel?
Ye Zhen remembered this blood red jade bracelet very well. Lin Zhan's bracelet had been mentioned many times in the novel.
Lin Zhan's mother had been born into a literary family. She happened to meet Lu Shaoren, that playboy. Under Lu Shaoren's smooth talking, she quickly fell in love and became pregnant with his son. While promising that he would marry her, Lu Shaoren continued messing around with other women. It was only after Lin Zhan's mother had given birth to him that she saw Lu Shaoren's true colors.
Since then, Mother Lin had cleanly broken off with Lu Shaoren and raised Lin Zhan by herself.
The Lin's had passed on this blood red jade bracelet from one generation to the next. No matter how hard or exhausting her life was, Mother Lin never considered pawning this bracelet for money. On her deathbed, she had given this bracelet to Lin Zhan and repeatedly implored him to give this bracelet to his beloved in the future. This was the only gift she had prepared for her future daughter-in-law.
So naturally, after Lin Zhan and Ye Qing got married in the novel, Lin Zhan gave this blood red jade bracelet to Ye Qing.
There was a lot written about Ye Qing and this blood red jade bracelet in the novel. In the novel, the blood red jade bracelet was one-of-a-kind in the coastal city. When a fair-skinned beauty with smooth skin wore this blood red jade bracelet, it enhanced those beautiful qualities. As a result of Ye Qing wearing the jade bracelet, it started a trend of people wanting to buy blood red jade. However, the preciousness and rarity of blood red jade caused the prices for them to be extremely high.
In this timeline, Ye Qing hadn't married Lin Zhan, which meant that this blood red jade bracelet could only be sent by Lin Zhan.
But, what did Lin Zhan mean by giving her this bracelet?
"This jade bracelet is very valuable." Lu Beichuan's tone sounded neither salty nor light. Nothing wrong could be heard in his voice.
There seemed to be something tucked under the first level of the jewelry box. Lu Beichuan noticed it and took it out to look. It was a piece of thin, but stiff paper. There was a note written on it.
"Wishing for the mother and baby to be safe and sound, Lin Zhan."
In an instant, Lu Beichuan's expression became gloomy. His eyes looked as if they had been covered in frost. He narrowed his eyes and stared at the blood red bracelet in Ye Zhen's hand.
If he didn't have misgivings over Ye Zhen's health as well as caring about his image in front of her, he would have smashed this bracelet into pieces and thrown it into trash at the first sight of that note.
"Wishing for the mother and baby to be safe and sound, Lin Zhan?" Ye Zhen furrowed her brow. She was aware that she was touching a sensitive issue. "This really is from Lin Zhan?"
"Really?" Lu Beichuan's sharp perception didn't miss the meaning. With a slightly sunken and questioning tone, he asked, "You knew in advance that Lin Zhan sent you this gift?"
Ye Zhen paused for a moment. As she thought over the words she had just said, she silently put the jade bracelet back into the box. "I saw the bracelet before when he was dating my older sister."
"How did you know? Because you saw this jade bracelet? Why is he giving you this jade bracelet?"
She really didn't know how to explain this.
In all honesty, she hadn't had any contact with Lin Zhan since that time at the airport. And yet, against all reason, Lin Zhan sent her this jade bracelet. Even if she had a hundred mouths, it wouldn't be enough to argue her innocence.
After thinking for a while, Ye Zhen honestly answered, "I don't know."
Her gaze looked extremely innocent.
Lu Beichuan crumpled the congratulations card into a ball. He tossed the box into a drawer like it was trash. His expression was solemn as he briskly marched out of the room.
Without that big Buddha's "threatening" presence, Ye Zhen relaxed.
She really couldn't figure it out. What was Lin Zhan thinking? What had happened that she didn't know about that would cause him to give her such a precious bracelet?
She had been worried that Lu Beichuan would throw a fit given how he had looked. After all, Lin Zhan was Lu Beichuan's half-brother. Their situations had been on opposite sides from the moment they were born. Right now, she was Beichuan's wife, but she inexplicably got a jade bracelet from Lin Zhan. Such an ambiguous gesture. Who would believe there really was nothing between them?
He could have sent anything along with that note of wishing her and the baby well. Why did he choose such a precious bracelet as his gift?
Ye Zhen sighed. She was totally innocent.