Chapter 539

Chapter 539 Happy Birthday!

“What conditions?” Lin Aoxue was somewhat curious.

“Provide Bikang with over one billion in aid funding each year, increasing by two hundred million annually, capped at ten years.” Su Rui said.

Hearing this number, Lin Aoxue’s expression became slightly complicated.

She hadn’t expected Su Rui to negotiate such conditions with Ouyang Xinghai!

Even at a time like this, his heart was still thinking of Bikang!

Even the coldest and hardest heart, faced with something like this, how could it not melt and soften?

Su Rui smiled slightly, “Robbing the rich to help the poor, I love doing this kind of thing.”

Ouyang Xinghai was nearly speechless.

In order to silently and seamlessly defeat his own brother, the price he paid was by no means small!

This much money was nothing short of a massive gamble!

But Ouyang Xinghai believed in his own judgment, believed that Su Rui could pull this off.

Even if… even if he still harbored a trace of resentment toward him for taking his fiancée, Ouyang Xinghai knew very clearly how to choose between a beautiful woman and a stable, prosperous legacy.

After thinking for a moment, he said, “It’s a bit early right now. Since Bingyuan is still in charge of family affairs, I can only pay one-third each year for now. Once Bingyuan steps down, the remaining money will be cleared all at once.”

“Fine, just don’t stab me in the back.” Su Rui said.

“I guarantee I won’t do such a thing.” Ouyang Xinghai said. His words were calm, but they seemed filled with firm resolve.

“Alright, we don’t need to dwell on this issue any longer.” Su Rui spread his hands and said, “Now, you can send someone to check on that dead-dog brother of yours.”

“Then I won’t see you out.” Ouyang Xinghai stood up.

“Just send us the money, and I hope we continue our pleasant cooperation.” Su Rui smiled slightly, took Lin Aoxue’s hand, and left.

Back in the car, Lin Aoxue still hadn’t recovered from the shock this whole affair had brought her.

“I feel…” Lin Aoxue hesitated, stopping mid-sentence.

“I know what you want to say.” Su Rui’s eyes flickered, “You’re worried I’m making a deal with the devil.”

“Mm.” Lin Aoxue nodded gently.

In her view, any man who believed power was above all else was not someone easy to deal with. For power, they could sacrifice anything, even abandon their wives. Cooperating with such a person, one careless moment could lead to being outmaneuvered.

“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. Besides, now is exactly when we need money. Being able to secure more funding for Bikang is always a good thing.” Su Rui said with a grin, “The Ouyang family has seized opportunities to rise over the years, who knows how much money they’ve accumulated. Without me, they couldn’t have achieved any of this, so just consider it well-deserved compensation.”

Su Rui said it so casually, but if the Ouyang family heard this, they’d probably collectively gnash their teeth at him… Why should we pay you any compensation?

“Thank you.” Lin Aoxue said softly.

“We’re already so close, why be polite?” Su Rui’s first sentence sounded nonchalant, but the next one revealed his true colors, “Just offer yourself to me and we’re even.”

Wang Yuan, who was driving, had actually been listening with his ears perked up the whole time. When he heard Su Rui say this, his leg trembled and he nearly hit the brake instead of the gas.

“Keep your eyes on the road!” Su Rui flipped a middle finger toward the front.

But in the next second, he felt his entire body stiffen.

A faint fragrance drifted into his nostrils — Lin Aoxue had gently rested her head on his shoulder!

Though she didn’t say a word, this gesture undoubtedly made Lin Aoxue’s feelings perfectly clear!

Wang Yuan accidentally caught this scene in the rearview mirror and immediately averted his gaze, staring straight ahead.

Su Rui coughed twice, stiffly extended one arm, hesitated again and again, and finally draped it around Lin Aoxue’s shoulders!

“A dark and stormy night… no, a bright and clear moonlit night, shall we stop and take a walk?” Su Rui glanced at his watch and said.

By now the car had reached Golden Dragon Lake in Ninghai, and it was already past eleven thirty.

“Okay.” Lin Aoxue leaned against Su Rui’s shoulder and replied softly.

“So, uh, Wang Yuan, take a taxi back on your own. Don’t disturb my private time with Aoxue.” Su Rui winked at the front seat.

Wang Yuan wanted to cry but had no tears. He could only park the car properly and leave in silent frustration.

He felt so aggrieved inside — why had he been a bodyguard and driver for so many years without Miss Lin ever giving him a second glance, yet Su Rui had only been here a few months and was already winning the beauty’s heart!

Comparing yourself to others will only drive you mad!

However, Wang Yuan had already walked over a hundred meters when he turned back and noticed that Su Rui and Lin Aoxue still hadn’t gotten out of the car.

“Are these two planning to… do it in the car?”

Thinking of this possibility, Wang Yuan was instantly too shocked to speak!

“See no evil, see no evil.” Wang Yuan chanted silently in his heart, then quickly ran away.

The two in the car quietly leaned against each other for a while, the atmosphere indescribably intimate.

“Shall we get out and take a walk?”

With a beauty in his arms yet his whole body stiff, Su Rui was truly helpless.

“No.”

After saying this, Lin Aoxue suddenly sat up, wrapped both arms around Su Rui’s neck, her eyes slightly hazy.

Being stared at with such a gaze, Su Rui’s heart trembled slightly.

Those stunningly beautiful eyes were softer and more radiant than the moonlight above.

Those deep eyes seemed capable of drawing one’s very soul into them.

Their heads drew closer and closer, on the verge of kissing, and this time it was Lin Aoxue who took the initiative.

However, at this very moment, Su Rui gritted his teeth and said, “Wait for me a moment, can you?”

“Wait for what?” The beautiful atmosphere broken, Lin Aoxue was somewhat surprised.

Realizing how forward she had just been, her cheeks flushed slightly, feeling a bit warm.

Clearly, in this moment and this atmosphere, even the ice queen had begun to feel stirred.

“Come, get out of the car.”

Su Rui opened the car door and, without asking for Lin Aoxue’s opinion, pulled her out of the car.

She was a bit bewildered and confused, not knowing what Su Rui was up to.

At this hour, there was almost no one by Golden Dragon Lake — just a lone car and two silhouettes stretched long by the moonlight.

Su Rui looked at his watch and said, “In five more minutes, it will be your twenty-sixth birthday.”

Hearing this, Lin Aoxue took out her phone and checked, only then realizing it.

Busy day in and day out, pouring all her time and energy into the company, she had even forgotten her own birthday.

Yet she had forgotten, but Su Rui still remembered.

There weren’t many people in this world who cared about her. She should properly thank him.

Lin Aoxue’s eyes grew slightly moist, feeling a wave of emotion.

But she quickly composed herself, tilted her head up slightly, looked at Su Rui, and said, “Where’s my birthday present?”

“That’s definitely been prepared.”

Su Rui smiled, opened the trunk, and carefully took out an exquisite rectangular gift box.

The box was upright and didn’t look light.

For some reason, when Lin Aoxue saw this gift box, her heart began to beat faster and faster!

She was eager to see what gift was inside!

“What’s in here?” Lin Aoxue said, feigning composure. Her tone sounded calm, but her speaking pace was noticeably faster than usual.

“How about you guess?” Su Rui smiled, holding the gift box in his hands.

So Lin Aoxue began racking her brain to guess. In truth, she could no longer hide her excitement at this point.

“A desk lamp.”

“Wrong, though it does look like one.”

“A cake.”

“Wrong, who would make a cake shaped like this? Guess again.”

“A vase?”

Lin Aoxue had absolutely no idea what Su Rui had gotten her. She was completely clueless, like a curious child.

“Half right.”

Su Rui grinned and gently placed the gift box on the trunk lid, then carefully took out a crystal-clear crystal vase.

Moonlight and lamplight passed through the vase, casting dreamlike, mesmerizing colors.

The vase was filled with clear water, with a large bunch of rootless flower stems arranged inside.

Blue, white, and yellow flowers bloomed at the tips of the stems. The colors weren’t bold or vivid, appearing elegant and understated, yet within that gentleness flowed a subtle warmth.

These flowers seemed to possess a strange power — the more you looked at them, the more your entire being would feel a sense of calm settling in.

When Lin Aoxue saw the flowers, she immediately felt a sense of familiarity, as if she had seen them somewhere before.

Looking at these elegantly colored blossoms, Lin Aoxue suddenly felt a deep, haunting sense of longing!

A few seconds later, when the faint, delicate fragrance drifted into her nostrils, she finally realized what they were. Her perpetually cold eyes began to quietly fill with excitement. Covering her mouth with one hand, she said in disbelief, “These are… Moresby flowers!”

Su Rui smiled slightly, “Yes, they are Moresby flowers. You drink tea brewed from them every day.”

“Mm-hmm.” Lin Aoxue couldn’t contain her excitement, covering her mouth and nodding repeatedly!

“You’ve only ever seen them withered, never in bloom. Fortunately, their blooming season happened to coincide with your birthday. Knowing you couldn’t travel abroad anytime soon, I sent someone to the Pampas grasslands.”

At this moment, large, glistening teardrops were already rolling down the eldest Miss Lin’s cheeks!

She never imagined that the seemingly carefree Su Rui could be so incredibly attentive, actually sending someone across oceans all the way to Argentina to pick flowers!

This type of flower only yielded a few hundred jin per year, blooming sporadically across the Pampas grasslands, making them extremely difficult to find — which was why Moresby flower tea had been driven to astronomical prices!

For Su Rui to have picked such a large bouquet of beautifully blooming Moresby flowers and preserved them so perfectly after crossing ten thousand miles — how difficult must that have been?

For Lin Aoxue, this bouquet of flowers was virtually priceless.

Placing the vase in front of Lin Aoxue, Su Rui smiled and said, “Aoxue, happy birthday.”