Chapter 26

"What? Can't speak a word? Have you realized how terrible you are?" Jennie pursued in asking.

"I'm not going to argue with you about this, you can think however you want. Besides, this wasn't a marriage that I wanted, some things can't be explained in a few words." Lisa laughed in a carefree manner.

Jennie immediately fumed with rage, "I'm only saying all these things to you because I want to help you get promoted. You're obviously not stupid, and you're even more intelligent than most people, this can be seen from the fact that you understand so many foreign languages. But why can't you properly work hard for your career, and strive to perform like others in the workplace? Do you want to live off a woman for your entire life!? Even if Jieun is just taking you as a shield for other men to see, sooner or later there will be a day where she doesn't need you anymore, what will you do then?"

"Living off a woman is also pretty good." Lisa contently nodded, "Right now, aren't I driving my wife's car, living in my wife's home? I think my life is pretty good. If some day she truly doesn't need me by her side, I can just go back to selling mutton skewers."

"You......" Jennie was filled with anger but had no way to release it. She offered earnest and sincere advice for this idiot's own good, yet she didn't seem to give a damn.

Only after taking a few deep breaths did Jennie ease the tension on her chest, but the more she saw the face of the person in front of her the more pissed she got.

Therefore, she called out towards CL, "CL, bring two bottles of dry wine, the high alcohol content type!"

CL was cooking, and consented with a smile after she heard Jennie.

"White liquor? It can't be Kaoliang wine, right?" Lisa still wasn't familiar with the local drinks.

"Yeah, if I don't drink I'd be stifled to death by you, you monkey!" Jennie glared at Lisa.

CL seemed to know that Jennue could eat spicy food, and could drink. So when she served the dishes, it didn't matter whether it was seafood or vegetables, all were doused in copious amounts of chili oil.

As for the two unlabelled bottles of liquor, with one look it was obvious that it's a cheap yet strong white liquor.

"Can you hold your liquor?" Jennie opened a bottle, and turned to ask Lisa.

Lisa felt a little dizzy when she tried sniffing at the bottle, while overseas she drank quite a lot of western liquor, and often drank wine. But a scorchingly strong liquor like this with high concentration was something she rarely came into contact with.

Seeing Jennie's 'this lady is great at drinking' expression, she couldn't help but bitterly smile as she answered, "I'll drink less, I'm not used to this."

"Weak." Jennie sneered as she poured some into Lisa's shot glass.

CL had to take care of her other customers, so after chattering with Jennie for a while, she went elsewhere to do her business.

Leaving the two sitting in the corner of the food stall, eating spicy Sichuan cuisine, and drinking liquor with high alcohol content.

As night fell, the streetlights by the river meandered without end.

The inverted reflection of the bright white moon hanging in the sky shone on the river, adorned with countless stars and rippling from the movement of the waters, as if the Milky Way descended upon mortal soil.

The cool wind blew with a whistle that wasn't ear-piercing.

Lisa ate the Ma La dishes, sipped on the scalding liquor, and gradually felt that the surroundings were full of warmth, with her mind exceedingly relaxed, causing her to be somewhat entranced.

Isn't this the life she yearned for?

There's liquor, there's meat, and all kinds of people passing by in her surroundings.

She could feel the wind blow, the swaying of the trees, the sound of the river flowing, and the noise from the insects. All of these seemed so beautiful, and was worth looking forward to.

After some time, Lisa returned to her senses. When she once again looked at Jennie, she was stunned.

Jennie had already drunk a whole bottle of white liquor, it was at least half a liter, and her tender face was flushed from the alcohol. Her exquisitely fair skin seemed particularly rosy and alluring under the lights.

The woman's eyes were as clear as spring water, as she quietly stared at the dishes on the table, yet she didn't move her chopsticks, she just held the shot glass in her hand like she was in a daze.

"This is enough, do you always drink this much?" Lisa felt that for a woman, drinking half a liter of highly concentrated white liquor was a lot.

Looking a little frail, Jennie glanced at Lisa and was obviously a little drunk. She shook her head, and with a vague voice she said, "In the past there wasn't anybody that could accompany me here, I can't drink this much alone."

"Don't you have friends?" Lisa curiously asked.

Jennie chuckled like a blossoming safflower, "Among our friends from the company, which of them do you think will like coming to a dirty food stall to eat?"

Lisa was speechless, it was true that with Jennie's current status, without even considering whether or not those people who befriend her are truly her friends, in that circle, who would come to a noisy place like this to eat without a reason? They would only think that coming to a place like this would lower their social status, and make them lose face.

"That means that it's my honor to be the first person to accompany you for a meal here." Lisa self-mockingly declared.

"And also the first person I asked out." Jennie smart and wittily said, "When other men invite me for a meal I don't even entertain them y'know?"

"Fortunately, it's a food stall, if it was somewhere else and we were caught, I'd become the public enemy of men." Lisa said.

"Isn't that great? I think the food here is better than those in five-star hotels." Jennie grinned, she seemed rather joyful.

Lisa nodded, although a little spicy, the dishes here had more life, this was something that she was also fond of.

As the two chatted, Jennie's phone that rested on the table vibrated. Jennie gracefully picked up the phone to see who called, and paused for a brief moment. She then picked up the call.

"Mom...... Yep...... I got it, I will...... Okay...... You take good care of your health......"

After hanging up with a tranquil expression, Jennie put her phone to a side, grabbed the shot glass, and finished what remained in it.

Lisa witnessed everything, and asked in befuddlement, "Your mom called?"

Jennie looked at her and nodded, "Didn't you hear it?"

"Is there something wrong?"

"No."

"Do you need help?"

"Nope."

"You seem to be in a bad mood."

"You're really annoying!" Jennie impatiently frowned as she spoke.

Lisa awkwardly smiled, "I'm full, you?"

"Then let's go." Jennie didn't drag on, she picked up her personal belongings and left her seat.

Although CL repeatedly declined, Jennie still paid, and even stuffed a few hundred dollars more for CL. Saying that it was for her children. CL seemed to understand Jennie's crabby temperament, and since she couldn't keep declining forever, she could only accept it.

When the two walked back towards the car park, Jennie was a little preoccupied, and quietly walked forward.

When they reached the car, the surrounding cobblestone appeared spacious and still under the dusky street lights.

Suddenly, Jennie turned around, her cat-like eyes stared fixedly at Lisa. Under the night lights, her pretty face looked a lot more exhausted.

"What's wrong?" Lisa felt that something was going on with Jennie but she could never guess what this woman was thinking, so she had no choice but to remain silent with her.

"Can I hug you?"

"What?"

Jennie just spread her arms wide open, and immediately hug Lisa.

Lisa didn't reject or dodge it, when Jennie's cool and smooth arms wrapped around her neck, a sweet body scent entered her nose along with the smell of alcohol. While below her chest, Lisa could clearly feel Jennie's pair of large round lumps, flexible yet soft.

Hesitating for a while, Lisa sighed, sympathetically opened her arms, and held Jennie's jade back, gently stroking it.

In this night the two were like a pair of lovers, embracing in a deserted place, enjoying their time together that was hard to come by.

"Actually, you can tell me if there's something wrong, perhaps I can help you, like I did earlier." Lisa muttered.

Jennie burrowed her face into Lisa's chest, rubbed on it a little, and equivocally replied, "Don't say anything, don't ask anything, just let me hug for a while, please."

In a daze, this embrace seemed to last very long, but when the two separated, they felt that only a moment passed.

Jennie stroked her hair, a little red in the face as she bashfully looked at Lisa, "Thank you, let's go back."

"For a beauty to throw herself into my arms, I consider that a blessing."

"I know that you didn't have such thoughts." It was unknown whether it was intentional as Jennie looked at Lisa's bottom, "Unless you don't have that capability."

How did she know, I have that thing? Jieun!

Lisa's face froze. These days, trying to be a clean and honest person is hard, this woman is too naughty, she's even taking note of any physiological changes on me!

After returning to Lee International in Jennie's car, Lisa said goodbye to her, then hastily drove back to the hospital. Although Jieun said that she had completely given up on her father, Byung-hun, she still had to be informed of Byung-hun going insane.

---------

It was already past 10 in the evening when she arrived at the hospital. Other than the nurses on duty, there was practically no one else to be seen.

When she walked up to the door of Jieun's ward, she noticed that the lights were still on, and thought that Jieun was still awake. When she opened the door, she realized she guessed wrongly.

The table lamp on the bedside table was on, but Jieun who laid on the bed was fast asleep, sleeping sideways on the pillow, in her hands was a book regarding the market's economy. On her upper body she wore a pair of loose blue pajamas with white lines, and her messy hair covered half her face, revealing a delicate side to her that cannot be seen during ordinary times.

It was difficult to imagine that a young lady like this was the CEO of a well-known company, on her thin and weak shoulders she beared the burden of thousands of employees worldwide.

When she thought of this, Lisa admired her own wife.

Feeling that the air-conditioning in the room was a little cold, Lisa noticed that Jieun fell asleep while reading a book, the upper half of her body was out of the blanket, and she couldn't help but worry that she might catch a cold.

Thinking for a moment, she stealthily walked to the side of the bed, calmly supported Jieun's head, removed the back cushion, then let Jieun's head rest against the pillow below.

Subsequently, she slowly pulled the blanket up till it covered Jieun's shoulders, then carefully tucked it into the sides of the bed, ensuring no cold air entered.

Right at this moment, the sleeping Jieun drowsily opened her eyes, and looked at Lisa with a little confusion.

Despite Jieun just quietly staring at her, Lisa could feel the depth and clarity within that pair of eyes, and couldn't help but blankly stare back.

Actually, Jieun noticed Lisa's presence from the moment she entered. Because she had received the burden of the company from her grandmother at such a young age, she's always wrapped up in work, and always on edge. Her phone was never off, and she never enters a deep sleep.

Lisa's gentle and considerate actions made her want to remain asleep, for she didn't know how to react to being taken care of by this person; yet she also felt that to continue pretending to be asleep was inappropriate, she had to confront this situation sooner or later.

"Umm--Did I wake you up?" Lisa returned to her senses, and felt helpless. She felt that she was stealthy enough, and didn't expect to wake her up.

Looking at Lisa silently, Jieun blinked and softly asked, "Jennie should've asked you out, how is she?"

"What do you mean how?" Lisa was puzzled how her first sentence was about Jennie.

"She's in a bad mood today." Jieun replied.

"Of course it would be bad." Lisa sat on the stool on side of the bed with a smile, "After getting kidnapped, was she supposed to be in a good mood?"

"It's something else." Jieun replied with certainty.

Lisa wrinkled her eyebrows, and thought of the phone call Jennie received while they were having dinner, "Is it regarding her family?"

"All I know is she has a family member coming, and she's in a bad mood."

"Indeed, she was in a bad mood, but it should be fine now." Lisa never mentioned about the hug, even if this icy lady doesn't care.

After Jieun replied with a "Hmm" sound, she once again closed her eyes, which was a clear message that meant —— I want to sleep, you should leave.

Lisa bitterly smiled, she still had something to talk about, hence she said, "There's something else I need to tell you, which is also why I came. Don't get too agitated when you hear it, it's about Byung-hun."

Jieun opened her eyes again, but she didn't speak a word, and just waited for Lisa to speak.

"He's gone mad, perhaps it's because he couldn't bear failing. He has entered a mental hospital." Lisa bluntly said.

Jieun's body clearly trembled, but she immediately turned her body away from Lisa, then said, "I got it, you may leave."

Lisa knew that she needed some time alone, so she left the room understandingly.

------

For the next few days, Lisa's life was tranquil and cozy, she continued to bring breakfast for the ladies in the office every morning.

After going through some ambiguous matters, she was now much closer to the three women, Yuna, Yeji and Lia.

Occasionally teasing them and flirting with them till they coquettishly pout and hit her was something that was of greatest pleasure to Lisa, other than her gaming career.

Knowing his place, the Department Head no longer harassed the ladies in the PR Department. According to Yeji, that old fella has already submitted his resignation letter to the board of directors and intends to retire after handing over his duties to somebody else.

Jennie also returned to her usual work schedule, other than her original post, she also held the position of being the company's vice-chairman. Originally, there wasn't the position of a vice-chairman, because Jieun was incredibly formidable and didn't need a vice-chairman or even an assistant.

However, ever since Jieun fell sick, many matters couldn't come to a conclusion in the company. Therefore, Jieun issued a series of commands from the hospital, allowing the usual tasks to be decided by Jennie, while the cold CEO's secretary In-na assists.

Jennie may be young, but many elders in the company were aware of her relationship with the previous CEO and the current CEO.

Lee International could be considered as the private property of the Lee family, so Jieun's words always held enormous weight.

An interesting thing happened in the midst of all these occurrences. After discussion with fellow colleagues, many groups were formed to pay a visit to Jieun.

This was something out of Lisa's expectations, because Jieun usually maintained a cold countenance with a look that says do not come near, practically no employee had dared to initiate a conversation with her. But unexpectedly, the moment Jieun was hospitalised, everybody fervently cared about visiting her.

In the PR Department, the ladies also prepared gifts that were meticulously selected. They sent various health and skincare products to the hospital, and even ordered a large bouquet of carnations.

One of the PR ladies even brought a camera with her to the hospital and took a photo of Jieun.

On this photo, without any makeup and under the bright lights, Jieun held a book in her hands, and looked at her employees with a limpid gaze.

The attitude of a nonchalant beauty emitted from her bones made a bunch of female employees with tendencies to 'chase stars' shriek. They were incredibly envious that the CEO didn't need any makeup as her skin and face was so perfect, so much so that she may be prettier without makeup.

At this time, Lisa noticed something, beauties are always welcome, while beauties that issue paychecks are even more welcome!

Of course, other than the company's employees, many figures in Zhong Hai's business world took this opportunity to visit. Jieun, who had originally wanted to recuperate with a low-profile had to mentally prepare herself by drinking Chinese medicine while conversing with the smiling tigers that she usually tries to avoid.

As she needed to deliberately keep their relationship a secret, the amount of time Lisa spent in the hospital drastically decreased. But right on the second week, as she sent new books to Jieun, Lisa ran into a visitor she didn't really want to meet.

The one who came to Jieun's ward, was someone who Lisa met twice, and who left unhappy memories, the police officer Irene.

As of that moment, Irene was in casual clothes. She wore a white close-fitting short-sleeved Levi's T-shirt, causing her tall mountain range and slim waist seem all the more conspicuous. She didn't look a teeny bit like she had an identity of being the West Region Police Bureau Chief, and looked more like a well-developed housewife, a sexy city beauty.

When Irene appeared at the room's door, Lisa suspected that she was seeing things, but when she then looked at the profound smile on Irene's beautiful face, Lisa was convinced she didn't see a ghost this night.

"A rare guest, Police Chief has come." Lisa smiled and greeted.

"I know that you actually don't welcome me, but I'm here to see Jieun." Irene glanced at Lisa, directly walked to Jieun's bedside and looked worriedly at her, "I told you not to work so hard, but you just wouldn't treasure yourself."

It was obvious Jieun recognized and was familiar with Irene, because she revealed a slight but rarely seen smile. Pointing at what was in Irene's hand, she asked, "Is that a present for me?"

In Irene's hand was a gift for a patient, but it wasn't fruits, wasn't flowers, and more so wasn't some thousand-year-old ginseng from the Baekdu mountains, or wild Yunnan lingzhi.

It was a box of glutinous rice balls.

"Yeah, I at least know you this well, you've always liked eating this since you were young, so I didn't bring anything else." Said Irene, she then put the beautifully wrapped sesame glutinous rice balls onto the bedside table.

"Thanks." Jieun softly said.

Irene pouted, then pretended to be angry as she said, "There's no need for thanks, I actually didn't intend to come at all previously. You have no conscience, you didn't even inform me that you got married, being childhood friends was all in vain."

Jieun lowered her head and didn't make a sound, she chose to remain silent.

Irene seemed to understand her character, then minding her own business she said, "But I truly never expected, that the woman you asked Lawyer Won-hae to bring away that day would become your wife, when did you guys begin dating? Why was I totally in the dark?"

Jieun continued to lower her head with silence, fact was she herself didn't know what to say.

Irene knew that there was no way to continue on this topic, and helplessly pouted, "Fine, you've always been like this, keeping silent the moment you bump into a crucial question. There's actually one more thing I came here to tell you about, your grandpa says he misses you, and wants you to take good care of yourself."

Hearing the word "grandpa", Jieun abruptly raised her head and coldly said, "I don't need his concern, moreover I don't have a grandpa, I haven't since a long time ago.

"Actually Grandpa has his own difficulties." Irene bitterly smiled, and tried to explain.

"Irene, don't talk about that anymore, I don't want to hear it." Jieun turned her head away.

Lisa who sat by the side listening to their conversation was rather baffled.

Jieun actually had a grandpa? But why hasn't she spoken a word about him before? Moreover she and Irene have known each other since they were young, so the two parties' relationship should definitely be good. In addition, Irene even knew of matters regarding Jieun's grandpa, so it's obvious that Irene knew quite a lot of secret matters.

However, looking at Jieun's expression, it seemed like she doesn't like that grandpa of hers very much, rather, there was intense rejection. According to reason, after her grandma passed away and her father went insane, if this grandfather existed he would be her only living kin, but why would she loathe him so much?

Seeing that Jieun was in a bad mood, Irene sighed. She could only drop the subject. She mentioned some of the greetings from the elders in her family, then got up to leave.

Noticing Lisa standing by the door, there was a glint in her eye as she said, "Lisa, do you mind sending me out?"

"Umm--" I knew that it wouldn't be anything good. Lisa muttered inside, while there was a smile on her face as she said, "Of course, Chief Bae, please."

After Irene walked to the door, Lisa planned to find an excuse to slip away, but Irene called out to her, and got straight to the point as she said, "Lisa, I have something to ask you."

"Huh? Y-Yes Chief." Lisa bitterly smiled.

Irene wore a grave expression, she didn't seem to be making a joke, "That day, at the Sung Residences, you're the one who did it, right?"

"Sung Residence? What's that?" Lisa immediately denied, and feigned ignorance.

"Don't play dumb, when you passed by that area that day, it was exactly the same time as when the suspect left the scene. Furthermore, according to reports from our police insiders, that murderer's reported appearance is fundamentally the same as yours."

"Chief Bae, I don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about." Lisa raised her hands, "There must be evidence before you speak, I'm a good citizen that follows the law."

Irene snorted then said, "Don't try to con me, it doesn't matter whether you admit to it or not, the day will come where I find proof and send you to jail. As for why you married Jieun, I will also investigate the truth. If you dare to do anything excessive to her, look out for your head! If you harm Jieun, you will definitely die without even knowing how you died!"

Lisa swallowed her saliva, smiled and slowly said, "There's no need to exaggerate so much, right? How can marrying a wife be so frightful, I admit that my wife is a little prettier than others', but is it my fault for being kind and honest?"

"Shameless." Irene glared at Lisa for a moment, then turned around and left.

Lisa breathed in a breath of relief, distressed about how to handle this beautiful lady officer. She slowly walked back into the ward, but the moment she entered, she saw an incomparably cute scene.

*****