The late-autumn rain, laden with shattered leaves, slammed against the car windows as Gu Chenzhou gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. On the passenger seat, his phone vibrated for the third time. The name Lin Zhiwan flashed on the screen, while the note "Do Not Disturb for the Rest of My Life" beneath it was blurred by the sheen of the rain. He slammed on the brakes, his tires sliding across the pooled water and startling a flock of jackdaws from the parasol trees by the roadside.
In September seven years ago, Lin Zhiwan had crashed into his world just like that, stepping over a thick carpet of fallen parasol leaves. Gu Chenzhou had just taken over the family business back then, handling an urgent matter at a café downstairs from the Gu Group headquarters, when the sharp tip of his fountain pen was suddenly blocked by a warm candy. He looked up to meet a young woman's clear, bright eyes. "You look so fierce when you frown, Senior! Sweets help release dopamine!"
Later, he learned that this girl, who bore the title of the design college's campus belle, sat without fail in the corner of the café every single day, propping up her easel to sketch the parasol trees outside the window. Sometimes she would slide a drawing over, point at a crooked doodle, and laugh, "Look, Mr. Gu, don't these clouds today look just like the acquisition agreement you signed yesterday?"
Chapter 184