Page 19 of He Is My Bride
“I don’t know?” Li Ying said. “Hanjun doesn’t talk much about his work. It sounds kind of boring, honestly, but obviously it pays.”
“It’s an affiliate of Wu Pharma.”
It took a second for Li Ying to let that sink in. Suddenly his eyes widened. “Wu…?”
“And they…” Anne opened his phone and showed Li Ying a Chinese financial news site with a formal family picture of two gentlemen and a young boy.
The boy was surely no older than seven, but the serious child bore such a clear resemblance to Hanjun that there was no mistake that it was him. Behind him stood two men; one was older, or perhaps just tired, very tired, and the other one looked stern. There was a headline:
‘Wu Yiling to step down from Wu Pharma,’and a lead:
‘Board elects his brother, former company CEO Wu Yiheng, as chairman of the multi-billion-yuan family business. ‘My brother’s son will carry on the company’s future when I retire,’ Wu Yiheng comments.’
“…Are one of the highest-revenue pharmaceutical companies in China,” Anne concluded. “Did you read that?‘Multi-billion!’Li Ying, your husband is an heir to anempire!”
Li Ying wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Huh.” He casually sipped his coffee. “Funny, he never mentioned that.”
“Really, Li Ying?Really?And you never did a search on him?”
“I’m not a stalker! I knew he’s well-off, but I wasn’t dating him because of his money, or obsessing over how much exactly he’s worth.”
“Oh my god, and you let me take him to a fast fashion store?!” Anne rolled up an issue of Vogue from the coffee table between them and half-heartedly whacked Li Ying over the head with it.
“I’m sorry, Anne, I didn’t know it was that big of a deal! Damn, when did you become so fierce? Be careful with my face, I can’t marry if you ruin my beautiful face!”
“Speaking of your face, did you go to the cosmetologist like I told you?”
“Yes, yes, I have a routine.”
“Good, please follow it. Now, because I just got an ultra-high-net-worth individual as my customer—”
“You’re welcome.” Li Ying grinned, but had to duck away from anotherVogue assault.
“As I was saying: I am committed to my task and have spent the entire week finding clothes you could wear when you go to Shanghai without getting laughed out of the country. It’s alsomyfuture career on the line here, you know, and I’m not wasting this opportunity. And I won’t letyouwaste it either, so you better do everything exactly as I tell you to, or we’re both screwed!”
Li Ying pretended to cower before her.
“Li Ying,” Anne spoke, now gently, “you want to marry Sir Hanjun, right?”
“Yes!” Li Ying looked up and brought his hands together. “Please, Anne, kind, beautiful, wise Anne, wave your magic wand and make it so that I can marry my prince!”
“Are you thinking of pumpkins and mice and glass slippers?”
Li Ying looked dreamy-eyed and was grinning like a fool as he nodded enthusiastically.
“Well, forget the glass slippers, you’re going to wear Louboutin. And we have to get you up on those four-point-five inches walking like a nice kitty before December. Let me take you to the back.”
Why does it sound like she’s bringing me to slaughter?
Over the following hour, Li Ying tried on clothes, shoes, and bags to match. The brand names flashing before his eyes were all high-end, although some of them he’d never heard of before. He feared to guess how much they cost.
Anne buzzed around him, taking pictures, notes, and occasionally sliding the measuring tape off her shoulders to measure this or that.
“I guess you don’t own all these?” Li Ying asked while eyeing the racks of clothes.
“I will return what we don’t want and bill Sir Hanjun for what we keep. I could only source so much within a week, but don’t worry, I’ve put everything else on the back burner, and I’m focusing on building my network to get you everything you need within the next few months.” Anne looked at Li Ying between her notes-taking. “It didfeel very good to walk into all the shops along Fifth Avenue and say I’m shopping for an exclusive client.”
“Did you look as smug then as you do now?” Li Ying grinned, and Anne blushed and scoffed, turning back to her notes. She was obviously pleased.
