Xuan Zhi came home drunk and was put through the wringer forced to drink sobering soup before she finally felt somewhat clear-headed.
Unexpectedly, an uninvited guest had shown up at her home, and she had nothing prepared for visitors, so while the guest was showering, she resigned herself to going out to buy some daily necessities.
On her way back with the purchases, before she even reached the entrance of her residential complex, Xuan Zhi noticed a luxury car parked by the roadside. She happened to be walking in that direction, and as she got closer well, would you look at that, it was a Bentley.
This was hardly an upscale neighborhood, so a car like that showing up here was truly strange.
Xuan Zhi was a curious sort, and as she passed by, she happened to glance inside the car.
The window was half-open, and the interior was in full view.
One look and she was stunned. She thought she must still be drunk, she was seeing Shen Qing, sitting there like a melancholy young girl, smoking a cigarette, silently shedding tears. Xuan Zhi’s jaw dropped.
This, this, this!!
“What happened?”
In her memory, Shen Qing was desperately proud and never wanted anyone to see her weak side. During those difficult years abroad, Xuan Zhi had never once seen Shen Qing cry.
Now here she was, crying and coughing, with lingering smoke all around, as if she could barely breathe. Xuan Zhi watched anxiously, terrified that Shen Qing might die right there in the car and ascend to heaven on the spot. She hurriedly reached into the car, unlocked it, and flung the door open.
“Why are you here?” Shen Qing had been crying so hard she’d lost all awareness, and only now noticed Xuan Zhi’s presence. She quickly wiped the tear stains from her face and demanded an answer.
Xuan Zhi snapped, “Why don’t you take a look at where you’ve driven yourself to.”
Shen Qing looked around, and it took her a good while to recognize that this was the complex where Xuan Zhi lived. Then she noticed the plastic bags in Xuan Zhi’s hands, emblazoned with the name of a large supermarket nearby.
“Even so, you can’t just pull open my car door.” With that, she shut the door firmly, and rolled up the window along with it.
Xuan Zhi, face dark, kicked the Bentley twice and cursed, “I was afraid you’d die at the entrance of my complex and drive down the property values. That’s the only reason I cared. Not a single decent word out of your mouth.”
It was far too embarrassing Xuan Zhi had seen her in such a wretched state. She was certain this would become material for mocking her in the future.
Shen Qing took a few deep breaths and hastily pulled herself together. Within mere seconds, she opened the door, got out of the car, and plopped down on the bench outside the convenience store.
“Smoke?” Shen Qing pulled out the pack she’d just bought, took out a cigarette and fiddled with it in her fingers. When she looked up to ask Xuan Zhi, her face was the picture of composure, as if the person sobbing moments ago hadn’t been her at all.
Vain to the bone, suffering for it.
Xuan Zhi couldn’t be bothered with her. She set the plastic bags on the ground and sat down beside her. “Sure. Changed brands?” She took a cigarette from the offered pack and lit it.
“No, just grabbed them at the convenience store.”
“Can you actually understand human speech right now? I have something to discuss with you.”
Having something to say to Xuan Zhi, Shen Qing lit her cigarette but didn’t smoke it, holding it between her fingers while her other hand idly waved at the smoke in the air.
“Tch… listen to you. I’m perfectly sober, I drank the sobering soup. Just say it. It’s just the two of us, no need to beat around the bush.” With that, Xuan Zhi put the cigarette to her lips and took a drag and her expression immediately changed drastically.
“Tch, tch, tch, what kind of cigarettes did you buy? Tastes like mint. I hate mint.” The half-smoked cigarette was callously tossed to the ground, crushed out under the strike of high heels, and the lingering scent in the air was fanned away by Xuan Zhi’s hand, her disgust written all over her face.
The evening breeze stirred the treetops with a soft rustling. Shen Qing stared at the red ember of the cigarette in her hand, thinking it over carefully. After her big cry earlier, she had calmed down. No matter how firmly Jiang Wangshu rejected her, her resolve would never change.
She was going to have Jiang Wangshu. Her sister could only be hers.
Since Shen Xiaqing wanted to use her, she would gladly accept. The Shen family would be hers and naturally, so would Jiang Wangshu.
Shen Qing blurted it out: “I want you to pretend to be my girlfriend. Just for one day.”
“What did you say?!” Xuan Zhi’s expression turned increasingly bizarre. Sure, she always joked about starting a family with Shen Qing, but actually doing it? Just imagining it gave her goosebumps.
“Keep it down. Noise complaint.”
“No, seriously, what’s gotten into you? Who set you off? Weren’t you just running your mouth in front of Jiang Wangshu before? How did this turn into an actual plan? You don’t have a fever, do you?”
Xuan Zhi reached out to feel Shen Qing’s forehead, but was gently turned away with a smile.
After explaining the whole story, Shen Qing promised she would only need her for the family banquet. Afterward, she would personally tell Shen Xiaqing that they had broken up, she just needed a little time to take over Shen Corporation.
Xuan Zhi retracted her saucer-wide eyes, her ambition blazing, and agreed readily: “Fine, I’ll help you this once. Just give me a bigger cut of the bonus this year. Providing for the family is expensive these days.”
“Deal.”
With the scheme settled, Shen Qing’s mood improved considerably. The rest could be handled slowly, she wasn’t in a hurry. She said goodbye to Xuan Zhi, got back in her car, and prepared to make a swift escape from the scene.
Who would have thought that the moment she started the engine, she saw Xuan Zhi still lingering near the convenience store, someone’s hand gripping her arm gripping hard enough to make her stumble, nearly twisting her ankle.
What was going on!
Shen Qing snapped to her senses and hurriedly unbuckled her seatbelt, just in time to see the woman clutching Xuan Zhi’s throat, forcing her up close.
A gesture full of hostility.
Shen Qing assumed Xuan Zhi must have provoked someone out there and was now facing malicious revenge from an enemy. She quickly pulled a small spray bottle full of pepper spray from the armrest compartment and opened the car door.
But once out of the car, she froze, stunned by the woman’s next move.
Their lips were so close. The woman’s frost-cold face showed no sign of exertion, and looking closely, Xuan Zhi’s face showed no pain either, only provocation in her eyes.
Shen Qing couldn’t figure out the relationship between them until she saw the look in the woman’s eyes as she gazed at Xuan Zhi. A look identical to her own.
She was certain it was covetousness and possessiveness.
Shen Qing completely stopped her advance and quickly returned to the car.
Before leaving, she suddenly heard the woman’s ghostly, sinister question: “What did you promise her?”
The next second, a chill ran down Shen Qing’s spine. She caught a glimpse of a gaze like a venomous snake.
Hostility. Hatred.
Shen Qing shook her head, took a deep breath, and tried hard to dispel the scene that kept replaying in her mind, only then realizing she had broken out in a cold sweat.
The next day.
Shen Qing got up early and, dressed in a foolproof outfit modeled on how she used to dress when working at a company abroad, came downstairs. Today she was to follow Shen Xiaqing to the Shen Corporation there was no room for error, and it was her first time going to Shen Corporation.
The former Shen Qing had never been valued by Shen Xiaqing. Although she lived in the Shen residence, she might go ten days or half a month without seeing Shen Xiaqing once, let alone getting a look inside Shen Corporation.
If Shen Dai were in good health, she might never have had the chance to set foot in Shen Corporation in this lifetime after all, Shen Xiaqing would only have chosen Shen Dai as her heir, rather than settling for her, the second-best option, as she was doing now.
Shen Xiaqing was always this partial. Anything Shen Dai wanted, she would provide.
Shen Qing gave a couple of cold laughs. The self in her memory was as blurry as fog, yet it was gradually overlapping with the person in the mirror. No matter what had been, it was all hers now, wasn’t it?
A fitted linen shirt paired with a burgundy leather skirt, a khaki trench coat draped over her arm Shen Qing put on exquisite makeup, added a few minimalist accessories, and shuffled downstairs in her slippers to the dining table.
Shen Xiaqing was already seated at the table eating, her expression far from good, looking as if her energy was failing her.
No wonder Shen Xiaqing was in such a hurry to cultivate a qualified heir now, in her current state, she couldn’t possibly spend all day at the company handling affairs.
Thinking this, Shen Qing sat down across from Jiang Wangshu and watched her thoughtfully peel a boiled egg for Shen Xiaqing. She felt displeased but didn’t show it, eating her breakfast at a leisurely pace.
“A-Qing, have some noodles. Don’t just eat the simple meal, mind your nutrition.”
Shen Qing looked at the chicken noodle soup Jiang Wangshu pushed toward her and felt a surge of joy. This looked like Jiang Wangshu’s own cooking, she still remembered what she liked to eat.
But before her happiness could last, Shen Xiaqing’s dissatisfied voice came from beside her: “What on earth are you wearing?” In that instant, the joy that had just risen dissipated, replaced by irritation welling up in her chest, a stifling feeling that made Shen Qing furrow her brows tightly, deeply uncomfortable.
Shen Xiaqing always found some reason to be displeased with her.
Shen Qing snapped outright: “Why does President Shen love meddling so much? Now you’re even policing what I wear? I’m not indecently dressed, what’s wrong with this outfit?”
The moment the words left her mouth, she heard Shen Xiaqing set her porcelain bowl down heavily on the table with a noticeable clink.
“A-Qing, go change into a suit. If you don’t have one, you can look in my room.”
The moment Jiang Wangshu spoke, Shen Qing understood what was inappropriate about her outfit.
Working abroad was inherently relaxed, without the heavy grind of domestic corporate life, and GEMINI was a modeling agency, the employees there all dressed as fashionably as they pleased, however they wanted to dress. There was certainly no rule requiring formal business attire at work.
That would make it an insurance company, wouldn’t it?
“Mom, have you forgotten A-Qing used to work at a modeling agency? It’s only natural she’d dress a bit stylishly. You need to give A-Qing some time to adjust.”
Shen Qing looked at Jiang Wangshu with some surprise. Beyond her delight at Jiang Wangshu’s guidance and care, there was also astonishment after seven years apart, Jiang Wangshu had somehow developed such tact, and she was handling Shen Xiaqing with increasing ease.
But as she thought about it, her delight faded, leaving in her heart only an ache for her sister.
Every child should be cherished from birth, yet she always had to curry favor with others, how unfair.
“Remember this: dressing in somber colors is the only way to hold your own. Otherwise, at your age, the people on the board will eat you alive, leaving not even a bone behind.” Shen Xiaqing gave a cold snort as she offered this advice.
Shen Qing’s mind was elsewhere, so she didn’t respond, and instead went upstairs.