I Want a Lifetime with You
Chapter 362

Shi Nuan took her own sweet time to get ready, so the two were already late when they set off to the office. However, the man did not criticize her because of the delay. Although Shi Nuan told him she did not mind Shen Qianan working together with him, Fu Chengyan knew she had only said so because she wanted to be understanding.

Despite that, she couldn't help but throw a little tantrum here and there at him to vent out her frustration. That was her special privilege as anyone else who did the same thing would have been driven out of his life by him a long time ago. In fact, he was more than willing to entertain her complaints and whining on this matter too.

It was because it showed how much she loved and cared about him.

Meanwhile, Shi Nuan grew frustrated when she realized that she was more bothered by Shen Qianan's presence than she would like to admit. After all, Shen Qianan had once been Fu Chengyan's fiancée, and the woman was well-loved by his family. For Shen Qianan's sake, Fu Chengyan's grandfather had actually gone as far as trying to destroy Shi Nuan's marriage.

Although Shi Nuan's personality was mild and not aggressive, that did not mean she was a pushover.

Now that her love rival was right at her doorstep, she would be deemed as a weakling if she did not fight back. She needed to toughen herself up and put an end to this once and for all so that no one would dare to pull off the same thing on her again.

With that thought in mind, she purposefully took a long time to get ready that morning. Yet, Fu Chengyan looked totally fine with that and showed no sign of losing his patience. Even though they were sure to be late because of her, Fu Chengyan did not criticize her.

Shi Nuan mumbled, "Yan, aren't you angry with me?"

"What?" Fu Chengyan threw a sideways glance at her. "Why should I be?"

"I deliberately took a long time to get ready just now." Instead of driving herself to the office like she usually did, she chose to go with Fu Chengyan that day.

Fu Chengyan broke into a grin in response. In fact, he should only be upset if she acted as nothing had happened. He was actually pleased to see her trying to cause delay to express her dissatisfaction. At least, he could be sure that both of them were working as hard as each other to upkeep their relationship.

When they arrived at the building of Shengyuan Group, Shi Nuan purposefully asked Fu Chengyan to park his car at the entrance. That way, she would be seen getting out of his car in front of all the other employees. The entrance leading to the building was crowded with people at this hour, and most of them noticed it when Shi Nuan got out of Fu Chengyan's car. Immediately, a babble of voices broke out among them.

Shi Nuan put on a smirk, looking unfazed by the voices around her. She waved at Fu Chengyan, who was still sitting in the car before making her way into the building.

"Wait a minute!" Fu Chengyan shouted to get her attention, making her pause in her tracks to listen to him. Then, he opened the door and exited his car with a box of pastries in his hand. "You forgot this!" Shi Nuan frowned. "I prepared them for you!"

She had developed a passion for pastry baking recently. Every now and then, she would make some and keep it as a snack for Fu Chengyan.

After glancing at Fu Chengyan and the people around her, it suddenly dawned upon her what he was trying to do. She immediately took the box of pastries over. "Oh... Okay!"

He caressed her hair and urged, "Go ahead. You're running late!"

"Oh, you're right!" She came to her senses and replied, "I've got to go. You... You'd better hurry up too."

Then, she strode off and made her way toward one of the elevators inside the building at a swift pace. Everyone else walking behind her was left stupefied. The sight of their boss giving Shi Nuan a ride to work came as a huge shock for them.

On top of that, he had prepared snacks for her too. Everyone couldn't help but start to speculate their relationship.

Meanwhile, the hue and cry about Shen Qianan's sudden recruitment as the president's secretary was still ongoing. Things had been dramatic enough because Shen Qianan had been brought to the company by the chairman himself. Now, the president just made the matter even more theatrical by sending Shi Nuan to the office that morning. It was suddenly obvious that a war between the two women was about to break out.

Something was special about it as it involved two women who looked strikingly similar to each other.

Throughout Shi Nuan's entire journey to her office, she received stares from her fellow colleagues. Even though none of them were nosy, their curiosity was piqued because their president was involved in the drama this time..

They couldn't help but wonder what sort of relationship Shi Nuan and Shen Qianan had. They all pondered how the two women were related to Fu Chengyan, respectively.

Surprisingly, Shi Nuan looked fairly unruffled though she knew everyone was talking about her. Still, she couldn't help but be baffled because their reaction was different from how she had expected.

Yuan Jia greeted her as soon as she reached the project management department. "Shi Nuan, you're finally here!"

"What's the matter?" At the sight of the secretive look on Yuan Jia's face, Shi Nuan eyed her suspiciously. "Why are you staring at me that way?"

"I bet you have no idea that our company just got a gorgeous new recruit!"

"I know about it." Shi Nuan chuckled. She was not at all surprised because she had learned it from Fu Chengyan the previous night. "What's so special about that?"

Yuan Jia hesitated before she ventured, "Uhm... Please promise me you won't be mad at me after I tell you this."

"How can I possibly be mad at you? Just shoot." Shi Nuan was perplexed as she stared at the worried expression on Yuan Jia's face. "Does she have some superpowers or something?"

"Uhm, do you have any idea that she..." This time, it was Yuan Jia who was left at a loss. "Look, she has no superpowers, but there's something special about her face. She... She looks exactly like you." "Say what!" Shi Nuan exclaimed, thinking that she must have heard the woman wrongly. She reached out to grab Yuan Jia's arm apprehensively. "What did you just say?"

At that moment, she felt as though something just exploded in her mind. It was a sensation beyond description and definitely not a pleasant one.

So, Shen Qianan looks... like me?

Running her fingers over her face, her mind went blank, and her eyes lost focus for a moment.

Taken aback by Shi Nuan's reaction, Yuan Jia waved her hands frantically in front of her eyes to get her attention. "Shi Nuan?"

Shi Nuan snapped back to her senses and stared at the other woman dazedly. "Yes?"

"Are you alright? Do you replace it unbelievable too? In fact, I refused to believe it too in the very beginning. However, everything changed when I saw her yesterday. I thought it was you, but then I remembered that you had gone out with Mr. Lin at that time. So..." As she was speaking, she kept on glancing at Shi Nuan worryingly. "Are you okay? Your face looks really pale."

Shi Nuan reached out to push her hands back and took a deep breath. "I'm fine." Trying her best to plaster a smile on her face, she continued, "In fact, I'm going out to attend to some work. Please tell Mr. Lin that I will be right back in case he asks to see me."

With that, she dashed out of the office and did not turn back when Yuan Jia tried to stop her.

Yuan Jia had never seen Shi Nuan so flustered before.

Ignoring the watchful eyes of the passers-by, Shi Nuan made a beeline for the elevator reserved for Fu Chengyan's exclusive use. As soon as she was inside, all she could think of was the shocking truth Yuan Jia just told her.

Shen Qianan. Shen Qianan!

She was Fu Chengyan's ex-fiancée. The woman was the best candidate to be Fu Chengyan's wife in the Fu clan's eyes. She had no idea what had happened between Fu Chengyan and Shen Qianan and had no idea what had forced the latter to leave the country back then. All she could think of at the moment was the fact that she was now Fu Chengyan's wife, who looked like Shen Qianan.

Tightening her fists, Shi Nuan suddenly felt slightly sorrowful. A possible, particularly dreadful reason behind Fu Chengyan's decision to marry her kept popping up in her mind. That thought was so appalling that it was pushing her mind to the point of crumbling.

Last night, she still had plenty of confidence to win the battle, considering that Fu Chengyan's relationship with Shen Qianan was nothing but a thing in the past. However, she was forced to view the matter in a new light now.

Why didn't he tell me that Shen Qianan and I look the same last night?

When we first met each other, he was very nice and helpful to me without expecting anything in return. Was he only like that because I had the same face as Shen Qianan?

Shi Nuan was careful not to further that horrible thought, dreading that she might experience a mental breakdown any minute. A voice in her mind urged her to run out of the building and leave everything behind. Perhaps, everything will remain intact if I avoid meeting Shen Qianan...

However, she found it hard to accept the idea of being the replacement of another woman - especially after she had put in so much effort and love in her relationship with Fu Chengyan.

She...

The door of the elevator sprung open with a ding. After taking a deep breath, she walked out of the elevator, only to replace herself running into a person walking out from another elevator. The box of snacks the woman was holding dropped, and its contents were scattered all over the floor. Shi Nuan crouched down to help with the mess just as the other woman did the same thing.

Both of them turned petrified the moment they looked up at each other.

Shi Nuan found herself unable to think straight; her mind was jammed with thoughts. She froze with her hands still holding the box of snacks. In the meantime, she couldn't take her eyes off the other woman. Shen Qianan was gaping at Shi Nuan, too. She saw her own face in Shi Nuan. The longer she stared at Shi Nuan, the sense of repulsion toward her grew more intense. "You..."

An excruciating pain grew in Shi Nuan's heart; her heart felt as though it was shattering into pieces. It was hard to describe the pain. Was it because she was hurt by Fu Chengyan's deception? Or was it because of the sudden realization of how pathetic her life had been?

Clenching her fists, Shi Nuan sharpened her gaze all of a sudden. She then rose to her feet and greeted the woman with a smile, "You must be Ms. Shen!"

Shen Qianan was slightly stunned, but it took her a short time to recover. She stood up and looked at Shi Nuan. "It's nice to meet you. How do you... know my name?"

Shi Nuan broke into a knowing smile. She glanced down at the box of snacks she was holding and put the lid back on nicely. "For your information, not every employee is allowed access to Mr. Fu's office on the twenty-seventh floor. Although Mr. Fu is assisted by a few secretaries, I know every single one of them. I've never seen you before, so I'm assuming that you're new. Someone told me about how you were given a chance to work as a trainee secretary through the recommendation of the chairman. As I was away yesterday, I missed the chance to meet you on your first day of work."

As Shi Nuan talked, she noticed Shen Qianan's face turning pale. "Ms. Shen, are you feeling unwell?"

"I'm alright!" Shen Qianan shook her head, undoubtedly surprised by how shrewd Shi Nuan was. With the use of just a few words, the woman had managed to point out the fact that Shen Qianan had been recruited without going through the normal route. Shi Nuan had also referred to her as a trainee secretary. Although Shen Qianan was not comfortable with such a description, she had no ground to rebut her. "I'm glad you're okay." Shi Nuan stood straight with confidence as she looked condescendingly at Shen Qianan. Other than looking slightly flustered when she first laid eyes on Shen Qianan, Shi Nuan behaved with admirable composure. To Shen Qianan's disappointment, Shi Nuan did not lose her cool.

"My name is Shi Nuan, and I'm from the project management department!"

Shi Nuan took the initiative to introduce herself to Shen Qianan with a pleasant smile on her face.

Taken aback by her enthusiasm, Shen Qianan responded, "Ms. Shi, it's my pleasure to meet you!" When Shi Nuan offered her hand, Shen Qianan was stunned to see the ring Shi Nuan was wearing. "Ms. Shi, are you married?"