He Kept Me as His First Love's Stand-In, but I Saved Him First novel · Chapter 11 of 24
Chapter 11: Stay
Shao Hanjing had signed nine hundred contracts, and he could not write this one.
He sat in the study at one in the morning with the fountain pen over a blank page and the date three days off.
Term: five years.
Fee: three times the old one.
He wrote Party A and Party B at the top, and under them there was nothing.
Lu Wen stood by the desk with his hands folded.
"He won't sign it, sir."
"Everyone signs a number."
"Mr. Ning didn't take Mr. Jiang's cheque. It was five million." Lu Wen cleared his throat. "I believe he would not take yours."
Hanjing put the pen down.
On the corner of the desk lay a plain brown folder, the corners soft from handling.
It had lain there for four days.
"What is that?"
"The Shipu file, sir. The one I put in the cabinet in September." Lu Wen spoke carefully. "I added to it, after the lake."
"Take it away."
"There is a commendation in it from the Shipu rescue office. There's a log of the north jetty for that summer. I have spoken with a man who was on duty that summer. He will tell you what he saw."
"I said take it away."
"Sir."
"Burn it."
Lu Wen did not move.
"I won't burn it, Mr. Shao," he said, in the same level voice. "I'll leave it in the cabinet where it was. I only ask you to open it once. It takes a minute."
Hanjing stared at the folder.
Behind it on the desk lay the photograph, still face down.
"A minute," he said.
"Yes, sir."
"If I open it, and it says what you think, then nine years are a lie."
Lu Wen was silent.
"And three years are worse than that."
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