My Possessive CEO: Trembling in His Arms-Chapter 193: Waiting Year After Year for Your Return

Jack Yates’s smile deepened at the corners, looking both roguish and enticing.

Shane Grant stopped at that, not pursuing the topic further, and instead switched to serious matters.

"There will be major movements from the top in the second half of the year, a big reshuffle. Hold your ground for now, don’t alert the enemy."

Jack Yates flicked his cigarette-ash off to the side with his forefinger.

Shane Grant continued, "Actually, there’s no need to provoke the Thorne Family. Even if you don’t use them, the Hawthorne Family won’t last much longer."

Jack Yates smiled faintly, "I don’t like gambling on luck with my actions. Besides, you always need to present a token of allegiance, don’t you?"

Shane Grant was surprised, "Didn’t you say you weren’t taking sides?"

Jack Yates bit on the cigarette and squinted, his deep voice slightly hoarse, "Nothing is absolute."

Shane Grant raised an eyebrow, "Don’t tell me it’s because of..." He pointed in Renee Winslow’s direction, "Her."

Jack Yates neither confirmed nor denied, he simply said, "Power that’s not great enough will always be subject to others."

Shane Grant saw the unabashed ambition in his eyes, felt a jolt in his heart, but asked no more.

-

The ferry was rented by Jack Yates, taking an entire boat to drift leisurely on the river for over two hours.

After finishing the hot pot, it was time for the cruise to end.

Getting off the boat, Renee felt a bit wobbly, like walking on cotton.

Jack Yates picked her up directly, holding her legs with one arm, easily lifting her.

Renee’s body suddenly lifted into the air, she hurriedly wrapped her arms around his neck, then hit him lightly on the shoulder, "So many people are watching, put me down."

Jack Yates pressed her head to his shoulder, "If you lean on me, they won’t be able to see."

Renee, both amused and annoyed, buried her face, biting his shoulder.

Jack Yates chuckled, "Aren’t you afraid of being seen when you bite me?"

Renee said nothing, biting him again, this time on the neck, leaving a clear mark on the side of his neck.

After biting, she rubbed his neck with her thumb, asking, "Does it hurt?"

Jack Yates’s Adam’s apple bobbed, "Don’t tempt me in public."

Renee pressed down hard on his neck, "Who’s tempting you? Shameless."

Due to the rain, they’d originally planned to take a helicopter to see the night view, but Jack Yates canceled it for safety reasons.

On rainy days, there weren’t many people on the streets.

Jack Yates took Renee to The Pilgrim’s Ascent, the misty stone street, under the glow of traditional lanterns on both sides, instantly reminded her of Samuel Lowell’s "Night Rain Sent North."

In this scene, that sentimental teenage story of pain was forgotten, replaced by the ancient poet Samuel Lowell’s longing for his wife while staying in a foreign land.

She held Jack Yates’s arm, sharing an umbrella as they walked on the wet stone steps.

"You ask when I will return, my return is uncertain; the night rain of Mount Ardor fills the autumn pool." Step by step, she spoke as she walked, "When will we trim the candles by the western window and talk about the night rain on Mount Ardor?"

Jack Yates looked at her from the side with a gentle smile in his eyes, "What does it mean?"

Renee smiled and met his gaze, "You’re asking when I’ll return to Chang’an, and I don’t know either. All I know is tonight the rain from Mount Ardor has already filled the autumn pool."

"When can we meet, trimming the red candles together under the western window, to talk about tonight’s longing for you on Mount Ardor."

Jack Yates looked into her clear, bright eyes, feeling his heart inexplicably tighten, as if the sand he was holding ran even faster.

Renee immediately added, "Samuel Lowell’s wife died in the season between summer and autumn."

Jack Yates’s Adam’s apple moved quickly, as he hugged her tightly, his voice hoarse, "Renee, I won’t let anything happen to you."

Renee smiled, "Mm, I believe you. Windfang Ruin, water the Han Sea with your horses. Felix Yates is a great hero, able to protect a whole nation, how could he not protect me?"

Jack Yates hugged her even tighter, as if wanting to embed her into his own bones.

He had protected her, but he couldn’t keep her.

For the next five years, every year on the day after the Dragon Boat Festival, he went to Veridia, standing alone with an umbrella on a rainy night on the crowded steps of The Pilgrim’s Ascent, imagining that she would suddenly appear at some moment.

But for five whole years, she never appeared once.

You ask when I will return, my return is uncertain; the night rain of Mount Ardor fills the autumn pool.

When will we trim the candles by the western window and talk about the night rain on Mount Ardor?

The poem she inadvertently explained to him, he memorialized it for five years, waiting year after year for her return.