Chapter 14 Probing

"Let's leave the case of the Hokkaido Futong Logistics Branch here, and let Attorney Kudo handle the rest."

"President Makoto..."

Tokyo began to gradually warm up after the New Year. The bright sunshine shone through the gaps in the blinds and passed by the cold lenses. A not-so-sharp white light blocked the slightly furrowed brows of Tezuka Kunimitsu.

"Don't get me wrong, Tezuka. You handled this equity sale case very well. There's no need to pursue some of the minor details." Makoto Seiyama is one of the founders of AE Law Firm. As the president of the firm, he not only has a very high reputation in the legal community, but the firm he runs is also full of talented people. These two points alone show his outstanding talents and way of doing things. "Let Lawyer Kudo handle the client's claims for compensation and complaints."

Kunimitsu Tezuka stood solemnly in the spacious and bright office, looking at the man in his fifties behind the desk. He ignored the glance of the female lawyer standing shoulder to shoulder with him. A sharp and cold light flashed in his slender eyes, and he lowered his eyelids.

"The president is really unpredictable." As they walked out of the office together, Kudo Ryoko raised her lips slightly, sighed softly, and glanced at the expressionless young junior beside her, "Hey, Tezuka?"

Tezuka Kunimitsu glanced at the dignified and elegant woman beside him, lowered his head and pushed the frameless glasses on his nose, and responded noncommittally: "Ah..."

Kudo smiled slightly and raised his eyelids. Across the corridor, the elegant woman who had not been seen for several days was walking towards him: "Long time no see, Yuki?"

After half a month, Terajima Yuki finally ended her vacation.

Walking on the smooth sandalwood floor, her high heels made a sonorous and crisp sound on the ground, wearing a delicate and slim long windbreaker, her black hair draped over her shoulders, gently rising with the rhythm of her footsteps.

Tezuka Kunimitsu frowned inadvertently. After not seeing her for a long time, her eyebrows and expression added a certain indescribable feeling compared to before, as if it was an illusion.

"Kudo-senpai, long time no see." When she came closer, she bowed and greeted him politely. The conversation on the rooftop a year ago seemed to be a very distant thing.

Kudo Ryoko bent a graceful smile, nodded, excused herself and left slowly.

The remaining two people stood in the corridor, their eyes met each other, and then they avoided each other without saying a word.

The air was a little stagnant for a moment.

"You didn't even tell me you were back from Hokkaido?" Terajima Yuki raised his eyelids and said very lightly, which was considered to ease the slightly stiff atmosphere.

"I came back the day before yesterday. I heard from Sakai that you went to Kyoto, so I didn't disturb you." He stated the facts lightly and paused slightly, "You, are you okay?" "

Don't worry, I'm fine now." The woman smiled lightly, met his eyebrows, but her heart stagnated slightly. The man in front of her had been away for only a month, but so many things had happened.

In a trance, she felt the sharp edge in his eyes fall down, and stop at her hands that were clasped before her belly. She subconsciously lowered her head, and the delicate diamond ring on her fingertips was shining in the sun.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly exchanged the positions of her hands, covering the dazzling light in her palms.

Are you getting married? Tezuka Kunimitsu almost wanted to ask this.

"Senior Yuki, phone call!"

Sakai Otonashi came over jogging and extinguished the burning fire in his eyes for a moment.

Yuki Terajima seemed to be relieved and breathed a sigh of relief. She raised the corner of her mouth lightly and turned to leave.

The person who called was Hasegawa Shu, and he made an appointment to go over to handle the procedures for the equity transfer.

"All the procedures have been completed. The shareholders' meeting will be held every quarter, and Miss Terajima will be invited to attend."

Both parties signed their names, and the attorney closed the folder, stood up, bowed to the two people in the meeting room, said goodbye, and left.

Terajima Yuki looked indifferent as she flipped through the documents on hand, sorted them out and stuffed them into her handbag. She glanced at the man sitting at the end of the conference table and said, "Well, I should leave too." She

put on a black windbreaker and stood up. She walked to the door and was about to push it open when the young man who had been silent behind her finally spoke.

"Is this your choice?"

She turned around and Hasegawa Shu stood up from his seat, walked around the long round table and came over. His calm eyes were surging with undercurrents.

She was speechless for a moment and just looked at him steadily. Her expression was innocent and even mocking.

Shu felt it was dazzling and suddenly pressed her hand that was on the door handle and said in a deep voice,

"What he can give you, I can give you too."

Terajima Yuki was stunned for a moment and smiled erratically. The hand covered in his palm was secretly clenched into a fist and suddenly broke away from his palm. A faint sharpness stung his skin.

Shu frowned and his eyes fell on her fingertips. The sharp and clear light of diamonds shot into his eyes.

"You can't give me what I want, Shu." She said coldly, her pale eyes suppressing an inexplicable anger. She struggled for a moment, and the words that were about to come out were extinguished in the depths of her black pupils.

When you went to pay tribute to Seiichi that day, were you as open and righteous as you are now?

Hasegawa Shu was shocked by the turbulent undercurrent in her eyes. He wanted to catch it, but it had already disappeared. He clenched his fist in the air and let it go dejectedly. Terajima Yuuki

opened the door of the conference room, and as if she had lost her balance all of a sudden, a pretty woman fell in.

"Brother, you here--" He stopped there, his restless and sharp eyes fell on her, Hasegawa Yumi's voice became unusually sharp, "You, what are you doing here!"

"Yumi!" Shu interrupted her coldly, dragged her to his side, ignored the hatred and anger clearly visible on her face, and sighed, "Yuki, whether it was intentional or unintentional, I have done many things that have let you down in the past, but since you have accepted the Hasegawa family, it is better to get along well, that's what I think."

The current situation is no longer suitable for a deep discussion, and I don't know where to start with the speech I had prepared before, so I can only say a few words hastily as a summary.

Terajima Yuki looked at the brother and sister with different temperaments, his eyes were clear, and he suddenly raised the corners of his lips, smiling innocently: "I know, cousin Shu."

He turned around and walked out gracefully, and the hem of his windbreaker drew a beautiful arc.

"Wait--" Hasegawa Yumi reluctantly broke free from her brother's arm and ran a few steps, but Shu's shout came from behind.

"Stop!" The young master of the Hasegawa Company stood coldly at the door. The last sentence was not long, squeezed out word by word from between his teeth: "If you take another step forward, I will break your legs!"

His sister turned her head in a daze, her legs softened, and she knelt down on the cold ground, tears dripping down.

But since she has accepted the Hasegawa family, it is better to get along well with them.

Is it a beautiful hope, or a warning threat?

Terajima Yuki stood in the busy carriage of the urban railway, looking at the speeding trees and buildings outside the window and thinking sarcastically. A cold face was reflected on the cold window, and suddenly a sarcastic smile rose.

A sweet female voice sounded on the radio, and the train stopped and arrived at the station.

Following the surging crowd, the cold outside still seeped into her collar. She shrank her neck slightly, looked up at the towering office building across the long street, took a breath and prepared to go in.

"Excuse me, are you Miss Terajima Yuki?"

A polite voice came from behind, and the middle-aged man in a black suit bowed respectfully to her.

"Excuse me..."

"I am Keisuke Sugiyama, the assistant to the chairman of the Atobe Zaibatsu." The man handed over a gold-plated business card: "Our chairman would like to invite you to have a cup of tea."

The elegant tea room and the exquisite wooden lattice windows and doors have created a piece of pure land in the depths of the bustling Ginza. As the purple clay teapot rises and falls, a trickle of water trickles into the teacup, and the fresh fragrance spreads in the mist.

Taking off the boots on her feet and stepping in carefully, her heart is enveloped by the tranquility that fills the surroundings.

The old man who was over fifty years old sat behind the coffee table and looked over through the swirling smoke, with a faint smile on his lips.

Terajima Yuki took a long breath and bowed his head deeply: "Chairman."

"Although you and Jingwu are not married yet, it is not convenient to call him father, but it is still okay to call him uncle, right?" The unexpected opening remarks made the chairman of the Atobe Zaibatsu smile slightly, dispelling the slightly serious atmosphere.

Terajima Yuki was a little caught off guard and could only smile lightly: "I am so rude, uncle."

"Don't be so reserved, come and sit down." Atobe Jingyi greeted her, "There were too many people at the party that day, and I didn't have a good chat with you. Jingwu is really a kid, bringing people here without saying a word, which surprised everyone."

"I am really sorry to have caused a lot of trouble to my uncle."

The waitress beside her poured her a cup of Longjing tea, fiddled with the incense burner, and quietly retreated.

She knelt on the tatami, stretched out her hand to touch the purple clay teacup, feeling the warmth slowly penetrating into her fingertips, lowered her head and frowned, wondering about the significance of this meeting.

The other party was a powerful figure in the Japanese financial world. Even though he was old, he was still able to handle important matters with ease, and he still had the aura of someone who could make a difference. He deliberately avoided Atobe Keigo to meet her alone, so it couldn't be as simple as drinking a cup of tea. While she was wondering, the other party laughed dumbly, "How can it be called trouble? Keigo has had many women around him, but none of them was serious. I really want to be able to settle down now. It's just that -" 

He paused, looking at her through the lingering smoke, as if he had recalled something from many years ago and seemed a little confused: "I didn't expect that you would be Gardenia's daughter." 

Terajima Yuki was slightly stunned. 

He looked up blankly and cautiously probed: "Uncle and mother, have you ever met before?" 

"We were classmates at Harvard. At that time, we..." Atobe Jingyi pondered for a moment, a very faint smile spread across the corners of his mouth, picked up the exquisite purple clay teapot, and filled his empty teacup. "We get along very well." 

Youji looked up with some surprise, and the gurgling sound of water in his ears seemed to be separated by a generation. 

"Your mother was a very outstanding woman back then. She was not only beautiful, but also very knowledgeable. She was not at all like those pampered young ladies who were cared for by their families all day long. At that time, we studied at Harvard, talked and traveled together, and now I think it was a memorable time." As if immersed in the past, the chairman of the Atobe chaebol narrowed his eyes slightly, "At that time, your father was also..." 

Terajima Youji lowered his eyelids. 

"Did it touch your heart?" 

"No, it's just... that man left Japan for his career when I was ten years old, and there has been no news since then." She lowered her head and spoke slowly, with a bit of sadness in the facts she stated, "Not long after that, my mother also died of dystocia. I'm sure my uncle should have heard about these things." 

"She has faded out of the Japanese industry since she got married, as if she disappeared all of a sudden." Atobe Jingyi lowered his eyelids slightly and sighed faintly, "I just heard about it vaguely. Have you lived alone in the following years?" 

"One of my mother's best friends took care of my sister and me, but the lady passed away three years ago." 

Atobe Jingyi didn't speak for a while. 

Looking at the calm and beautiful face of the woman in front of him, the dusty past was like the green smoke from the incense burner, rising and falling, curling and drifting away, and finally turned into a sigh with regret. 

"No wonder, your eyes are very similar to your mother's, cold, noble, but with more forbearance and vicissitudes." After a long time, he said quietly, "It is impossible to have such eyes without tempering. Now I understand a little bit why Jingwu chose you." 

"Uncle..." 

"Despite this, I still want to ask, have you really decided?" 

Terajima Yuki looked up slightly in surprise. The old man in front of him changed the subject. His eyes had swept away the vicissitudes and blurs just now. His eyes became clear and sharp, reaching the depths of her pupils, as if there was a kind of soul-stirring power, which made her panic involuntarily. 

"Junior... I don't quite understand what you mean." 

"You don't love Jingwu." 

The firm tone came suddenly, she was stunned, twitched the corners of her lips slightly, and forgot to speak. 

"You see Jingwu's eyes are not the eyes of a woman in love. I can roughly guess what's going on, but I'm very curious, what is the reason that can make you put down your loneliness and self-esteem in your bones and play this dangerous game with him?" 

She felt like she was being seen through. 
 
Yuki sat up straight, stubbornly facing the old man's deep and sharp gaze, but she was no longer afraid, and suddenly raised the corner of her mouth.