“Bang—”
Amid the busy and congested morning rush hour, two cars suddenly collided, emitting a piercing sound.
Wen Xuxue’s body lurched forward due to inertia. Her heart raced as she stared at the shattered taillight of the car in front, momentarily stunned.
Three seconds later, she realized—
She had rear-ended someone.
The traffic police were stuck ahead and couldn’t make their way over. The car in front still hadn’t reacted, and the surrounding traffic had become even more congested due to the accident.
Listening to the incessant honking around her, Wen Xuxue decided to call her best friend first.
“Hello?”
Wen Xuxue said calmly, “I accidentally hit a car.”
Jiang Jing couldn’t detect any emotion in her tone, so she naturally didn’t take it seriously and generously replied, “I just got my bonus. I’ll cover the cost for you!”
Wen Xuxue pursed her lips.
Jiang Jing asked cheerfully, “Is it a Volkswagen or a Toyota?”
Wen Xuxue said, “A Maybach.”
Jiang Jing was startled. “What?”
Wen Xuxue repeated, “I hit a Maybach.”
Jiang Jing said, “Goodbye.”
Then she hung up.
Wen Xuxue: “…”
She tossed her phone aside, opened the car door, and got out.
Although it was only 8:30, the sun was blazing, shining directly on Wen Xuxue without any shade, making her mood even worse.
An hour earlier, she had suddenly received a message from an unknown number.
It was a photo.
The background was the hallway of a luxury hotel.
The main subjects were a man holding a woman, both beaming with delight and eagerness.
Wen Xuxue didn’t recognize the woman, but she would have recognized the man’s face even if he were reduced to ashes.
It was her boyfriend of just one month.
Wen Xuxue went to the hotel address and room number provided in the message and caught them red-handed.
She first took a photo of the scumbag and the shameless woman, then slapped each of them once, and finally kicked the door open before storming off.
Throughout the entire ordeal, she didn’t say a word.
Wen Xuxue had thought she wouldn’t care too much about such a trivial matter. But when her gaze fell on the shattered taillight of the Maybach, she knew she was still upset inside.
Otherwise, why would she have suddenly rear-ended the car in front while driving normally?
Wen Xuxue took a few more steps forward and knocked on the rear right passenger window.
The window was made of privacy glass, so she couldn’t see the person inside clearly. She could only speak from outside, “I’m sorry, could you please come out? Let’s discuss the compensation.”
“Click—”
A crisp sound of a car door opening rang out.
It was the passenger seat door that opened.
A man in a suit stepped out, looking like a secretary.
He held a large iPad in his hand, a standard smile on his lips. He instinctively reached out to shake her hand but seemed to reconsider and withdrew it, saying, “Hello, miss. My name is Chen Shu. My boss asked me to discuss the compensation plan with you.”
Wen Xuxue had no intention of introducing herself and simply said, “Alright.”
Chen Shu said, “My boss’s car is a Maybach S680, with an on-road price of 6.8 million. There’s no insurance, so we can only settle this privately. You shattered one taillight and caused some paint damage, so let’s make it this amount.”
After speaking, he raised his fist and gestured with his fingers.
Wen Xuxue tried to bargain, “Ten yuan?”
Chen Shu replied mercilessly, “One hundred thousand.”
“If you have no objections.” He handed her the iPad, which displayed an electronic version of the compensation agreement, freshly drafted. “Then please sign here. We will contact you later to arrange payment.”
Wen Xuxue’s mind was in complete disarray, but she knew the 100,000 yuan compensation was entirely reasonable. Taking the stylus, she signed her name and left her phone number.
Once finished, she returned the iPad.
It was then that Wen Xuxue suddenly noticed another name already signed on the opposite side of where she had just written hers.
That must be his boss’s name, right?
The owner of this Maybach.
So mysterious—Wen Xuxue suddenly felt curious to see what that person was called.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the character “Jing.”
What kind of Jing was it?
Wen Xuxue tried to get a clearer look, but Chen Shu swiftly pulled the iPad away, holding it close to his chest. “Our boss is in a hurry to get to work. Please take care.”
The traffic jam ahead had cleared, and the light turned green. The black Maybach sped away.
It really did seem like he was rushing to work.
Yet he had waited so patiently for her just moments before.
Wen Xuxue couldn’t make sense of it. Turning around, she noticed a white BMW parked behind her, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere.
Jiang Jing stood beside the car, her sunglasses pushed up onto her head. The breeze lifted her hair, giving her a dashing and spirited appearance.
She asked, “How much?”
Wen Xuxue replied, “A hundred thousand.”
“Oh, my dear,” Jiang Jing sighed. “I just received a bonus of exactly a hundred thousand. I’ve transferred it all to you. Let the insurance company handle your car. I’ll take you out for hot pot.”
Wen Xuxue wasn’t surprised by Jiang Jing’s arrival—she was always like this, tough on the outside but soft-hearted.
She opened the passenger door and got in, asking, “Aren’t you going to work?”
Jiang Jing fastened her seatbelt and said, “I was afraid you’d be standing alone on the street crying, so I took the day off to keep you company.”
Wen Xuxue gave a faint smile. “I’m not that kind of person anymore.”
Jiang Jing glanced at her, raising an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”
Wen Xuxue lowered her gaze. “Yes.”
The Maybach, with one of its headlights shattered, drew even more attention as it sped down the street.
Especially since its license plate read [Sea A 88888].
Bold and ostentatious.
It all hinted at the extraordinary status of its owner.
Drivers on the road speculated about who had been bold enough to hit such a car, how much the compensation would be, and even took out their phones to snap countless photos of the vehicle ahead, planning to post them online for clout.
However, Zhou Shijing, sitting inside the Maybach, was unaware of all this.
At that moment, he was staring motionlessly at a photo in his hand, his gaze as cold as ice.
Yet beneath that icy surface, there seemed to be a surge of scorching emotion, ready to erupt.
Chen Shu turned around, intending to show the electronic contract to his boss, and the first thing he noticed was the photo tucked inside Zhou Shijing’s wallet.
It was a landscape photo.
Of Iceland.
So exquisite it didn’t look like a stock image—more like a raw, unedited shot.
No people in it.
Just a heavy snowfall drifting down.
Chen Shu remembered this photo vividly.
In the years since he started working here, he had often seen Zhou Shijing sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window, quietly gazing at this photo.
He would look at it for entire afternoons.
Even once, when he had been caught in the rain, developed a high fever, and was hospitalized, he had clung to this photo.
Over time, the photo had grown worn, its edges even beginning to show creases.
As his personal secretary, Chen Shu deduced three possible reasons why Zhou Shijing was so fond of this landscape photo:
He met his ex-girlfriend at this location.
He visited this place with his ex-girlfriend, and after their breakup, he still couldn’t forget her, so he spent his days gazing at the photo, lost in thought.
He and his ex-girlfriend had planned to go to Iceland together, but for some reason, the trip never happened. He went alone, took the photo, and secretly cherished the memory.
All of the above were conclusions he had drawn during his idle moments, imagining scenarios about his boss, and held no basis in reality.
Zhou Shijing calmly closed his wallet, glanced at his secretary who was lost in thought, and asked in a cold tone, “What is it?”
Chen Shu was startled and quickly snapped back to attention, handing over the iPad. “Mr. Zhou, I’ve reviewed it. There are no issues with this compensation agreement. Please take a look.”
Zhou Shijing took it and said, “I’ll handle this matter personally from now on. You don’t need to be involved anymore.”
Chen Shu was somewhat puzzled but still replied, “Understood.”