Chapter 3 third chapter

Karen settled into a spacious seat in the business class, sipping a glass of orange juice.Tan Aili sat next to her with his nose buried in the pile of documents in his briefcase.When she arrived at the Denver airport early this morning, she was immediately escorted to a waiting room she never knew existed. She quietly picked a chair facing him and sat down. Not only did he not greet her, he didn't even look at her.Ten minutes later, he raised his head inadvertently, looking thoughtful, and then looked down at the document again.Then he paused and took another look at her—a slow, careful look from head to toe that Karen felt very proud of.

"You're Karen Law, aren't you?" he asked.She laughed, which convinced her that yesterday she spent three hours at Bonnie's with tinfoil on her head and mud on her face, and another three hours after she got home trying on everything in her closet. It was really worth it for half a day. He told her he had to work on the trip to Virginia, and then started looking at the papers again, but he glanced at Karen several times.On the whole, she found those looks pleasant. Now on the plane, she sat next to him sipping orange juice, feeling more and more bored. "Can I help?" she asked, nodding at his papers.

He smiled at her, the way a man laughs when he thinks a woman is beautiful but somehow has no brains. "If I brought my computer, you could type for me, but I don't have a computer, so there's nothing I can do for you. I just have some things to decide." Oh yeah, she thought, a "man's" job. "For example?" she pressed. He frowned slightly.Apparently he likes his women to keep quiet. "It's just buying and selling!" He replied quickly, clearly wanting her to stop asking such naive questions. "What exactly are you thinking about buying or selling today?"

His eyebrows were drawn together above the bridge of his nose.Love is a ridiculous thing, she thought, and if Ray showed her that look, she would give in right away, but there was nothing this man could do to frighten her. Knowing she wasn't going to stop questioning him, he said grimly, "I'm thinking of buying a small publishing house," and looked back at his papers. "Ah," she said. "Corman Press. Terrible cover, mostly old books reissued. There are a few good books on regional history, but the cover is so ugly that no one will buy their books." Seeing Ai Li's expression is to ask her not to meddle in her own business. "If I decided to buy it, I would rehire an art director who could design a good cover."

"It won't work. The publisher is having an affair with her." Just as Ali brought the orange juice to his lips, he almost choked when he heard Karen's words. "what?" "I was curious, so I asked the publisher's secretary to have lunch with me when she brought you the financial statements. She told me that the publisher and the art director had been together for a long time, and that the publisher himself was married with three children. If he fires the art director, she will tell his wife that they had such a relationship, but the publishing house belongs to his wife's natal family. Anyway, the situation is complicated."

Ali winked at her. "So what's your opinion?" His tone was extremely sarcastic. "Buy it, put a few capable people in charge, and compile several small history books into one big one, and sell it to schools as a Colorado history textbook. Textbooks can make a lot of money." Ali stared at her for a long moment. "You know all this just because you're curious, don't you?" Karen looked away from the window, knowing that she had never missed Rey so much as she did now.Ray would listen to her: he liked her opinions and opinions.Unfortunately, she found that most men's minds were as closed as this man's.

He didn't speak to her again until after the plane took off and went into cruise. "What else have you studied?" he asked softly. "Jet engines? Sewage treatment plants? Road construction equipment?" She knew he was being sarcastic, but she could also hear that he really wanted to know. "I'm only interested in the little things, especially the Denver natives." "Like?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Lawson's," she answered immediately. He laughed when he heard it. "That store is an eyesore in downtown Denver. Gitter Enterprises has offered me a great deal."

"The one that sells leather goods and chains?" She asked with her lips curled up. "It's better to say that it sells leather goods and rhinestones." He leaned back in his chair and looked at her. "Who would you sell it to?" She didn't answer, but he smiled. "Come on, don't back down now. If you're going to teach me how to run a business, how can you stop after making an opinion!" "Okay!" she said angrily. "I'll open a store that sells baby-related items." She expected him to turn his head in contempt, but he didn't.He just sat there and listened patiently to what she had to say.

She took a deep breath. "There's a store in the UK called Mother's Care that sells everything baby-related: maternity clothes, prams, nursery furniture, diapers, all that stuff. In the US you get different stores to buy different things. stuff, and when you're eight months pregnant with swollen feet and two other kids, it's not easy going to five different stores to get everything your baby needs. I don't have experience personally, but I can It seems like it would be very convenient to just go to one place and buy everything.” "What would you name this store?" he asked quietly.

"Sanctuary?" She answered innocently, making him laugh. Ali took out a pen and paper from his briefcase and handed it to her. "Come on, write down everything you know or think about Corman Press. Gossip or whatever. I want to know how to solve the company's problems." Karen tried with all her might not to laugh, but it didn't work.She felt he had never asked any woman's opinion on how they should be bought or sold.He is responsible for only a very small part of Tan's enterprise, and he has some female executives under him, but everyone knows that Tan Aili's words are the law.His insistence that everything be done his way often irritated his employees, but what irritated them even more was that he was almost always right.

But now he actually asked her opinion! "Yes, yes, sir." Karen said this deliberately, and then began to write, she seemed to see a smile on his lips from the corner of her eyes. If Karen had thought that Tan Aili would be courteous to her, this idea did not last long. When he was not buried in the pile of documents during the voyage, he was always talking on the phone.He eats with one hand and holds papers with the other.After landing at the airport in suburban Washington, he handed her three hundred-dollar bills and nodded to the luggage carousel.Karen was tempted to tip the porter with a big bill, but finally paid with a five-dollar bill from her own purse, and then went to Ellie.It turned out that he had come to find her, and he already had the keys to the rental car.They walked quickly out of the airport into the freezing air towards their car. Once in the warmth of the car, being alone with him felt almost intimate, and she looked around for something to say. "Since I want to pretend to be your fiancee, shouldn't I know something about you?" "What do you want to know?" His tone caused Karen to give him a scornful look. "Nothing really. I'm sure just knowing you're rich is enough for most women." Karen had expected him to laugh at this, or to fight back, but he didn't.He just looked straight ahead, frowning in concentration.For the rest of the drive, Karen didn't bother to speak.She decided that if someone came to ask her why she planned to marry Tan Aili, then she would answer: "For the support of the courage." They drove up the Virginia highway to Alexandria, then through the wooded country, past many beautiful houses, until they turned sharply at a gravel intersection.Within a few minutes, a house came into view, which is the most suitable house for Christmas in every little girl's fantasy.Three storeys, high columns on the front, well placed windows.She almost expected the Washingtons to come out to greet their guests. The lawn in front of the house and the stretching garden behind the house are full of people. Some are playing touch football, some are collecting firewood, some are just hanging out, and children are almost everywhere. As soon as their car was spotted, crowds of people rushed over and opened the door to pull Karen out of the car.Everyone reported their names one after another, including Laura, Debbie, Larry, Dev, and... A good-looking man came and grabbed Karen and kissed her hard on the mouth. "Oh!" Karen exclaimed, glaring at the man. "I'm Sidi," he explained hastily. "It's the groom. Didn't Eli tell you about me?" Karen spoke without thinking. "Tan Aili will never talk to me unless he wants something." After she blurted out this sentence, her eyes widened.These people were all his friends, what kind of person would they think of her? Unexpectedly, they all laughed. "Ai Li, you finally found a woman who sees through your true nature." Sidi shouted across the roof of the car, and put his arm around Karen's shoulders. Going inside the house, everyone laughed all the way. They led her through a cozy room with a roaring fire, up a grand staircase, and after two corridors, to a wide white door.Steve pushed the door open. "He will leave it to you." He smiled, then pushed her into the room and closed the door behind her. Ali was in the room, their suitcases were already on the luggage rack, and there was only one bed in the room. "Misunderstanding?" Karen said. Ali frowned at the bed. "I've tried to remedy it, but it can't be helped. The house is full, every queen bed, cot, and couch is occupied. Listen to me," he said, frowning. "If you're worried that I'll rape you at night, I can ask if I can find you a hotel room." For some reason, his attitude displeased her. "At least there are people everywhere, and if I yell, someone will hear me." He looked at her with a half-smile, then began to unbutton his shirt. "I have to take a shower. Wedding rehearsal is an hour away." He looked at him as if waiting for her to flee the room like a Regency romance heroine fearful of seeing a man undress.But of course she wasn't intimidated by him. "Please don't get the bathroom mirror steamed up," she said, her chin lifted, as if sharing a room with a strange man was nothing to her. He chuckled and walked into the bathroom, closing the door with a slit to let the steam out. After he left the field of vision, Karen let her shoulders relax and let out a breath.It was a beautiful room, full of green silks and Federal period furniture, and she listened to the sound of the shower in the bathroom as she happily unpacked.She didn't realize until after everything was buried, because out of habit, she also disposed of Mr. Tan's luggage.Karen nearly cried as she placed his shoes next to hers.It's been a very, very long time since I last did something like this. When she turned around, Ali was standing there looking at her, his hair wet, his burly body wrapped in a terry cloth bathrobe. "I, uh, I didn't intend to unpack your luggage, but uh... I'm used to it." She finally finished speaking, then hid in the bathroom and closed the door firmly. She stalled for as long as she could in the bathroom, glad to find him gone when she got back to her room.She dressed quickly, left the bedroom, and ran down the stairs to join the others as they filed into their cars and headed to church for rehearsal. On the way to church, she grew more and more dissatisfied with Tan Aili.Since pretending to be his fiancée, shouldn't he be more considerate to her?As a result, he left her alone at the door to deal with the crowd of strangers.No wonder so many women refused to marry him, obviously they were women with brains and common sense. The rehearsal went well and nothing went wrong until the very end.Ali was the first person to walk down the aisle. He was supposed to walk in the middle of the conversation, give Karen his arm and let her take it, and then the two of them walked out of the church together.Maybe he didn't understand when people told him, anyway, when he got to the middle, he went out on his own without waiting for Karen. This is just too much. "Everyone knows that's what Ali is," she said. "He just needs to be alone." There was a roar of laughter in the church, and Ali turned around, realizing his mistake.He came back again, bowed to her courteously, and held out his arm. "Are you taking revenge on me for making you work overtime and type on weekends?" he whispered. "This is to speak out for those women in the past. They didn't dare to stand up to you." She said, showing a malicious smile. "I'm not the monster you think I am." "I'm going to ask Elaine for her opinion. By the way, when will she arrive?" They had reached the back of the church, seeing his ugly face, Karen regretted what he said just now. "Christmas day," he whispered and turned away. The dinner table was very lively, and everyone talked about the situation of summer vacation and places they had been to.Karen, preoccupied with her own food at first, did not join in on the conversation, and the men knew each other very well.Ai Li sat at the other end of the long table and also did not speak.Karen gave him a long look, thinking he was looking at her too, but he always looked away so quickly that she couldn't be sure if it was real or not. "Karen," a woman said, and the table fell silent. "Is your engagement ring here?" She answered without hesitation. "Ally bought out all the diamonds in the store and they're waiting for new ones to arrive. You know he buys them by the dozen." The windows of the restaurant were almost shattered by everyone's laughter, even Eli himself laughed, and Sidi slapped him on the back. Some people shouted "Ai Li, don't let her get away with this one", and what else "It seems that your woman's taste has finally improved". After this, everyone made it impossible for Karen to hide any longer.The two women sitting across from her kept asking her what she did, where she was from, and other common questions that everyone would ask.When she revealed that Ali was her boss, they thought it was so interesting and wanted to know what it was like to work for him. "It's lonely," she replied. "He doesn't really need us, except when he wants us to type a letter now and then." During this time, Ali just ate and didn't say a word, but Karen could feel his gaze, and even when Stey leaned over to talk to him, his eyes never left Karen's face. It wasn't until they got back to "their" room that Karen realized that she might have gone a little too far. "Tonight..." she said as he walked past her from the bathroom. "Maybe I shouldn't..." "What, are you going to admit defeat?" He asked, his face was very close to her. For no apparent reason, Karen suddenly felt that he had a wonderful mouth.But she came back to her senses and stood with her head held high. "of course not." "Okay. Where did you put my sweatpants?" "Isn't it too late to exercise now?" She said without thinking, of course, it's none of her business what time he does. Ali smiled at her with a crooked face. "Unless you want to see me tossing and turning and not sleeping, that's the only way to do it." "Third drawer from the left," she said as she hurried into the bathroom.When she came out of the bathroom wrapped in a pure white cotton nightgown, he was already lying on the bed with a big and long pillow in the middle of the bed.She climbed onto the empty side of the bed and said, "Where did you get this?" "Stolen." "Then I reckon some poor wretch is sleeping on an uncushioned bench right now." "Do you want me to return it? You can hug and sleep with me, no, there are better things, we can discuss the jar, that is, you want me to take mine..." "Good night." She said firmly, then turned her back to him, but when she fell asleep, there was a smile on her face.