Shoutout to Alinaza for the commission!
Spring night moonlight was hazy, the evening breeze slow.
A dazzling blue supercar sped down the road. Through the half-open window, a few lines of fast-paced heavy metal rock drifted out, sweeping through the cool night of the western suburbs.
The car arrived at a vintage palace-style building. Under the blazing lights, the tires screeched in an arrogant grip. The car door unfolded like wings.
Several young girls dressed in palace-style Hanfu stood respectfully outside the door, softly calling: “Miss Zhu.”
Zhu Mingli stepped out of the driver’s seat in a pair of sky-high heels, let out a short hum through her nose, and strode toward the club lobby.
The club manager followed closely behind her: “Your private hot spring is ready. Would you like to bathe first or have a massage first?”
Zhu Mingli handed her platinum bag to the manager and said: “Bathe first. In a bit, besides Chairman Fu and Yin Lin, I’m not taking anyone’s calls.”
Her voice carried its usual arrogance. The manager was already used to it and bent down to take the bag from her hand.
Her exclusive bathhouse room had a very poetic name, called Biliuli.
The club always played the sound of elegant zithers and flowing water year-round. It was a style set by Zhu Mingli’s late mother, and Zhu Mingli never liked it. Once inside the bathroom she told them to turn off the outside music and turn on the built-in indoor sound system.
A high-pitched “Believer” looped through the drifting white mist.
Coming out of the bathroom, she took off her bathrobe and stepped barefoot into the pool, closed her eyes and enjoyed the rose-scented hot spring water. From time to time she hummed along with the music.
In the brief pause between the song ending and starting, a gentle, pleasant voice unhurriedly intruded.
“Seems like you really like this song. Believer? Whose believer are you, and who is your god?”
Zhu Mingli’s eyes snapped open, staring at the girl standing beside the pool who had appeared without her noticing.
“How did you get in here?” Her face went cold. “You’re not a member here. Who allowed you in?”
Jiang Se looked down at her, smiling: “Weren’t you especially fond of putting on that deep-sisterhood act with Cen Yu not long ago? This bath’s supreme membership card was something you personally gave Cen Yu. I handed her card to the front desk and they let me in without a word.”
“After all, I was the Cen family’s young miss for twenty-three years. Can’t blame them for not suspecting anything. Your people have the same kind of poor judgment you do.” She walked forward two steps. “As for this bath, who doesn’t know you love Bi Pond? One look and anyone knows this Biliuli room is your private one. I specially picked the room next to yours.”
Her words were all insinuation and needles wrapped in silk.
Zhu Mingli let out a cold laugh: “You have to steal someone else’s VIP card just to enter a club. You’re living pretty miserably for a knockoff. I’m calling security!”
She started to get up to grab the bathrobe on the lounge chair.
The bath floor was slippery. Jiang Se lightly stepped on her shoulder, and without much effort made her lose her balance. With a “splash” she fell straight into the water, sending up a huge spray.
Rose-petal-filled hot spring water rushed into her nose and mouth. Zhu Mingli stood up in embarrassment, eyes cutting into Jiang Se. She laughed from anger: “Are you trying to spend the night at the police station today or what?”
“Sure.” Jiang Se looked completely unbothered. “And I’ll let the people of Beicheng see how much you like drugging others.”
Zhu Mingli’s face stiffened. She narrowed her eyes lightly: “What nonsense are you spouting?”
Jiang Se couldn’t be bothered to watch her act. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes as she asked, “Zhu Mingli, was it fun to drug me? Triazolam. Someone else used this on me before too. Quite the coincidence, isn’t it?”
Zhu Mingli studied her for two seconds: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. If you have evidence then call the police. If not, go fix whatever illness is in your head and stop going crazy here.”
“How do I not have evidence? Butler Yu and that shop manager who bought you rock sugar are both witnesses.” Jiang Se put her hands in her coat pockets and looked down at her. “And how do you know I’m mentally ill? Shouting at someone who’s mentally ill, don’t you want to live?”
Hearing her so casually bring up Butler Yu and the shop manager who used to run errands for her made Zhu Mingli’s eyelid twitch hard. Her expression almost slipped.
Jiang Se examined her face, slowly putting away her smile.
“The project between the Fu family and the Cen family is in Australia. Your useless brother went to Australia to study two years ago, was that arranged by Fu Yun? I heard he’s interning in their joint project now?”
Zhu Mingli forced down the fire in her chest.
But Jiang Se’s next words shattered the calm on her face instantly.
“Seven years ago, the painting in the showroom, you’re the one who ruined it.” Jiang Se stepped onto the pool’s stairs, letting the warm water rise over her feet. “When I was imprisoned in that abandoned factory, were you happily soaking in hot springs and listening to music here?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You do. How could you not?” Jiang Se stepped down another stair. “When did you and Fu Yun get together? Seven years ago you were only eighteen. You liked him that early? No, earlier. With Fu Yun’s personality, if you weren’t utterly devoted to him at that time, he wouldn’t have made you his accomplice.”
Her pressure mounted with each step, each sentence landing like a heavy hammer against Zhu Mingli’s chest, making her heart pound.
But she was sure Jiang Se couldn’t have evidence. All the kidnappers were dead, and she and Fu Yun had never appeared at that factory.
And so what if they found out she ruined the painting?
Who hasn’t accidentally damaged something?
As for Butler Yu, he leaked so many Cen family details every day, how could he ever guess they were involved in the kidnapping?
And even if he guessed, so what? Did he have proof?
Fu Yun held his weakness tightly. Would he dare speak?
Zhu Mingli steadied herself. “Utter nonsense! If you keep slandering me I’ll sue you for defamation!”
“Go ahead.” Jiang Se stepped right in front of her and reached out to touch her dripping long black straight hair. “When did you change your hairstyle? Didn’t you always hate having the same long black straight hair as me? And when did you switch your perfume to this rose one?”
She lowered her head and stepped on the floating rose petals. “Did you think since Fu Yun likes rose scents now you had to fill an entire pool with roses? Funny thing, just recently when I had dinner with Fu Yun, I happened to use this exact perfume.”
She pulled a pink-shaped perfume bottle from her pocket and sprayed her twice. Her voice was cool: “Like it? I’ll gift you the bottle.”
With a “thunk,” the perfume bottle was tossed into the pool, ripples spreading across the rose-covered water surface.
Zhu Mingli narrowed her eyes halfway. “Which day did you have dinner with him?”
“The day after or the third day after I returned to Beicheng. March 11? Shuangyue Lake Hotel, remember? That place.” Jiang Se lifted her skirt, dampened by the water, sat at the pool’s edge, and looked at her calmly. “Next time I see him I’ll switch to another perfume. Want me to tell you in advance, so you won’t have to go through all this trouble filling another useless pool with roses?”
March 11th.
That night, it was indeed Fu Yun who called her over and told her to spray the new perfume.
She knew that the orange-blossom–based perfume was the one Cen Se used to use.
That night she even thought he had finally stopped being obsessed with that scent, and had secretly been delighted.
Jiang Se quietly observed the expression on her face and shook her head in disbelief: “After all, you’re the rival I’ve competed with since childhood. How did you become like this? Doing everything for a man who doesn’t like you at all? What virtue does Fu Yun have to make you this obedient?”
“What do you know?” Zhu Mingli sounded like someone had stepped on her sore spot, and her voice suddenly rose. “We’re getting engaged this month. If he didn’t like me, why would he persuade Old Master Fu and insist on marrying me?”
“Of course so he can kill you more easily.” Jiang Se smiled without warmth. “His own uncle and nephew both died by his hand. You know so many things about him. How long do you think he’ll let you live?”
Zhu Mingli’s breath stalled.
She indeed took part in the kidnapping case seven years ago. She also indeed suspected that Fu Yun was the one who killed Fu Jun. But Fu Yun’s own uncle?
Growing up together, Jiang Se read the meaning of Zhu Mingli’s expression in a single glance.
“What, Fu Yun never told you about his uncle? The beers you receive every month are sent by his aunt. Both owners of that brewery died by his hand. He has harmed so many people. Almost everyone who ever acted as his executioner is dead. Only you are left. Do you think he’s marrying you because he loves you, or because he wants to kill you? Besides—”
Jiang Se deliberately paused, then smiled at Zhu Mingli. “Fu Yun has said more than once that as long as I’m willing, he’ll continue the marriage agreement with me. Tell me, what if I say after your engagement that I want to marry him? You’ve always known the Cen family can’t bear to let me go. Once I return to the Cen family, I’ll marry Fu Yun and let all of Beicheng watch how this ‘counterfeit’ steps on the ‘real one.’”
“Cen Se!”
Jiang Se took a recorder out of her bag. “Want to hear Fu Yun’s own words? Hear what he said about you the last time he ate with me? The dignified daughter of the Zhu family is nothing but an obedient little pet in his eyes.”
Zhu Mingli’s face first went pale, then quickly flushed red, her gaze fixed on the recorder in Jiang Se’s hand.
“You think he’s the one who kidnapped you back then, don’t you?” her voice turned soft and cold. “You would marry someone who once kidnapped you? I don’t believe it. Cen Se, you wouldn’t!”
They grew up together. Zhu Mingli knew her too. She would never marry someone who had harmed her.
“Don’t view me from your perspective, okay? You can’t understand.” Jiang Se smiled. “You’ve never been kidnapped. How could you understand? Didn’t you always say Cen Se was a hypocritical b*tch? Let me tell you, compared to Cen Se, Jiang Se is not only a b*tch, she’s a lunatic.”
She tapped her temple. “She has always been sick here.”
Her gaze was very cold, her pupils dark like ink, like the black muzzle of a gun. Cold and shadowy, with a hint of madness.
Like a lunatic.
Zhu Mingli watched her.
Her full chest of humiliation and anger faded without her noticing. She stood naked in the hot spring, a cold breeze blowing past, and couldn’t keep herself from shivering.
“You telling me all this definitely isn’t just to embarrass me.” Zhu Mingli slowly sat back into the pool, her expression returning to arrogance. “Say it. What do you want from me?”
“Now you look a bit more like the Zhu family’s eldest daughter I used to know.” Jiang Se nudged the rose petals floating on the water with her foot. “Simple. I’m here to give you a multiple-choice question. Between you and your brother, and a murderer who may kill you both at any time, pick one.”
Zhu Mingli curled her lips in mockery. “Do you still think you’re the Cen family’s eldest daughter? What qualifications do you have to make me choose? Those ridiculous things you said just now?”
“Of course I’m not qualified. But I have my older brother and the Cen family, don’t I?” Jiang Se said. “My older brother has felt guilty toward me for so long. He’s wanted to make it up to me for ages. I don’t need him to fight the Fu family to the death. I don’t even need him to destroy the Zhu family. I just need him to support your second brother, make him the future head of the Zhu family, and let you and Zhu Yinlin spend your whole lives living under someone else’s thumb. Didn’t Zhu Yinlin beat your second brother until his stomach bled? How do you think your stepmother and your second brother will treat you two after this?”
Zhu Mingli’s father remarried after her mother died. Her stepmother looked kind but was ruthless, and her son, only a year younger than Zhu Yinlin, naturally had ambition.
Zhu Yinlin was an incompetent firecracker who caused trouble and hit people at every turn.
Zhu Mingli had Fu Yun send him to Australia partly so he wouldn’t cause trouble in China, and partly to use the Fu-Cen joint project in Australia to give him a layer of “gold plating,” so he could return smoothly to inherit the Zhu family.
Zhu Mingli’s expression turned cold. “If you dare to touch Yinlin—”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Jiang Se interrupted indifferently, then smiled. “Wait. Your older brother should be back in Beicheng in a few days.”
Her older brother was Zhu Mingli’s inverse scale. She gritted her teeth and asked, “What did you do to Yinlin?”
“Why so nervous? It’s just an appetizer.” Jiang Se said calmly. “You siblings have such a good relationship. If your older brother knows what Fu Yun has done, and knows there’s a high chance Fu Yun will kill you, do you think he’ll try to fight Fu Yun to protect his sister? Or if Fu Yun learns your older brother knows what you two did, will he kill your older brother to silence him?”
Zhu Mingli’s eyes almost popped out. Jiang Se laughed. “Why are you angry? I never said it would definitely go according to that script. Isn’t there a second script for you to choose?”
Zhu Mingli said nothing, only stared at Jiang Se.
“My goal is only Fu Yun. As long as you help me, I won’t go after you or your brother. I can even help you.”
“Help me?” Zhu Mingli mocked. “You’d be that kind?”
“You like Fu Yun so much, don’t you? Do you want Fu Yun’s eyes and heart to have only you? I have a way to make his entire future life have only you. Only you can speak to him. Only you can get close to him. Only you will be his one and only.”
“As for your brother, letting him smoothly take over Zhu Group is not a difficult thing.” Jiang Se rose from the hot spring pool and slowly walked up the steps, slanting a look at Zhu Mingli as she said, “You know my personality the best. I keep my word. Think it over for a few days. If I dared to come find you today, of course I have a backup plan. If you’re not afraid of losing your life and your brother’s life, then go ahead and tell Fu Yun everything that happened today. Believe me, if Fu Yun knows the content of our conversation, he’ll want you dead more than anyone.”
—
When Zheng Huan heard that Jiang Se was going to find Zhu Mingli, she was quite surprised and asked her, “This woman is Fu Yun’s accomplice. Aren’t you afraid she’ll spill everything to him?”
Jiang Se and Zhu Mingli had been classmates from primary school until their classes split in high school. They saw each other constantly. Using Guo Qian’s words, they were mortal enemies with a deep karmic tie.
When they were young, the Zhu family had not yet declined. Business was booming. Zhu Mingli refused to accept that Jiang Se always suppressed her in everything. In every competition Jiang Se joined, she was basically always there.
A childhood rival can sometimes understand you even better than family.
Just like how Zhu Mingli knew that if she ruined Jiang Se’s painting, Jiang Se would definitely return to the painting institute that weekend to repaint it. Jiang Se also knew that as long as she dragged Zhu Yinlin into this, Zhu Mingli would hold back.
She spent more than half a month investigating Zhu Yinlin’s affairs thoroughly. Naturally she wouldn’t waste her efforts.
Moreover, when it came to Fu Yun possibly killing her, Zhu Mingli looked shocked yet not that shocked.
There’s no way she didn’t know what kind of person Fu Yun was.
Maybe she had never considered that possibility before. But once such a thought took root in the mind, Jiang Se didn’t believe she wouldn’t start becoming wary.
Sure enough, Zhu Mingli didn’t spread the news that Jiang Se had met her at the club.
Two days after meeting Zhu Mingli, she even had a meal with Fu Yun and accepted the engagement invitation he personally handed her, the venue being that revolving restaurant in Beicheng.
When Fu Yun passed the invitation to her, he even teased Jiang Se, saying, “Don’t worry. I’ve already talked to Mingli. If you come to our engagement party, she won’t give you even the slightest embarrassment.”
His tone was as warm and gentle as always, but the phrasing he used carried more of the powerful assertiveness of someone in a high position.
Ever since Old Master Fu fell gravely ill, all matters big and small in the Fu family were decided by him.
This was the confidence and arrogance brought by power.
The engagement banquet was set for April 12th, ten days later.
Jiang Se let her gaze sweep over the names on the invitation and said, “I’m not sure if I’ll be free that day. I’ll accept the invitation first. I’ll tell you in a few days whether I’ll come.”
“Of course, whether you come or not is up to you. It’s best if you can come. If not, we can meet privately another time.” Fu Yun leaned forward and poured her a cup of black tea, gently saying, “I heard that when you went back to Tongcheng last week, someone stopped you on the plane?”
Lu Huaiyan had taken her from the cabin that day. With so many people watching, naturally someone who recognized him would have spread a few words. It wasn’t surprising.
Jiang Se picked up the teacup and said casually, “You mean Young Master Lu? Mm, I had a bit of an unpleasant moment with him that day.”
Her voice was light, a clear sign she didn’t want to say more.
No one knew her personality better than Fu Yun. Someone who, at such a young age, had stubbornly practiced two full sets of dance steps and insisted on performing Black Swan no matter what, no one could force her to do something she didn’t want to do.
So he simply didn’t ask further and changed the subject: “I visited Old Master Lu two days ago. Judging from his tone, it seems the Lu family and the Guan family might be having good news soon.”
Jiang Se nodded slightly, still sounding calm: “I heard it from my older brother too. Good. The Guan family and the Lu family are about equal in strength. It counts as a strong alliance.”
Fu Yun let his gaze move across her lowered brows for a moment before drawing it back.
As the meal neared its end, Zhu Mingli’s call came in.
Fu Yun had been about to decline the call, but the girl across from him set down her teacup and said, “It’s Zhu Mingli? May I say a word to her?”
He clearly hadn’t expected her to directly speak with Zhu Mingli. The man hesitated for a second before pressing accept and passing her the phone.
Jiang Se picked up the call and spoke warmly and gently: “I just received the invitation from Fu Yun. I may not have time to attend your engagement banquet. My older brother dumped a lot of work on me in Australia. Too many things to handle. I just wanted to congratulate you in advance. I wish you two a lifetime of happiness. I’ll find a time to bring your gift over.”
There was silence on the other end for a few seconds before a faint, unreadable “thank you” came through.
Jiang Se smiled and returned the phone to Fu Yun. “I have something to do and need to go first. You two continue.”
Fu Yun paused slightly. “I’ll walk you out.”
With that, he held the phone to his cheek and said softly, “I’ll contact you later,” then hung up.
They descended the stairs side by side. It was sunset, the sky awash in rosy clouds, and the slanted sunlight hung like a peeled salted egg yolk, glowing red in the distance.
The center of the first-floor lobby had a glass revolving door.
Just as Jiang Se approached it, she saw a group coming up the steps outside.
The man at the front wore a suit, a suit jacket draped over his arm, turning his head slightly as he listened to the person beside him.
When he stepped onto the last step, he seemed to sense something. His gaze suddenly shifted toward the revolving door.
Their eyes met briefly.
Jiang Se gently looked away.
They stepped into the revolving door almost at the same time: one going in, one going out.
The dusk light flickered in the rotating glass. The air moved like wind, lifting the strands of hair at her cheek and catching the hem of the jacket in his arm.
Just like that, the two of them passed each other inside the revolving door, eyes straight ahead, expressions calm, their steps not slowing for even a moment.
