Ruan Li didn’t reply to the text.
Xu Mengzhou sent a voice note, but still got total silence.
Finally, she dialed the phone. The ringback tone played for a brief second before abruptly cutting out.
She had been hung up on.
“Ruan Li! Answer your damn phone!!!”
Unfortunately, no matter how high the decibels or how piercing the scream, a cry like that wasn’t going to reach someone dozens of miles away.
When Xu Mengzhou arrived at the set, her face looked like it was shadowed by a storm cloud. Anyone with eyes could tell she was in a foul mood.
The moment her butt hit the chair, the entire crew shifted into high gear. Even the biggest chatterboxes zipped their lips, putting on a masterclass in the art of silence.
“Cut! You’re playing a bright, adorable younger disciple, not a shivering monkey on Mount Emei! Why are your arms and legs shaking? Take it from the top!”
The car accident hadn’t weakened her in the slightest. If anything, her voice was louder than ever…the kind of booming roar that could easily rival a salvage collector’s megaphone.
The female lead, Qin Jing, reset her posture and softly reassured her scene partner, “You did great. Your expression was spot on.”
“Thanks, Sister Jing, I’m okay,” the fourth female lead, Tian Shuhao, replied with a sweet smile. “The director just wants the scene to be perfect. I’m so sorry you have to shoot it again because of me.”
Qin Jing shook her head gently.
They nailed the second take quickly, wrapping up their scene for the time being. With a few quick adjustments to the set, it was time to shoot the confrontation between the female lead and second female lead.
Tian Shuhao sat on a folding chair nearby with a bottle of water, quietly acting like an attentive student watching the master at work. In reality, her eyes and ears were completely wandering, sneaking peeks at the director with the cast on her leg.
Standing right behind her, her young assistant could tell instantly that her attention was elsewhere.
She poked Tian Shuhao in the back, her eyes full of disapproval.
Tian Shuhao lowered her voice. “Don’t you think Director Xu is super cool and carefree? Plus, we went to the same university…what a coincidence! Look at her skin tone, that wheat complexion is awesome. And that sliced eyebrow! Her loud voice gives her such an authoritative vibe, not to mention her muscles and abs…”
Her assistant cut her off frantically, whispering a stern warning, “Think about your career! Do not fall in love!” Especially not with Xu Mengzhou…that was a terrifying prospect.
Tian Shuhao tried to defend herself in exasperation. “Oh, come on, you’ve got it all wrong! I don’t like Director Xu like that…I want to be like her.”
Her voice brimmed with admiration as she continued, “Everyone listens when Director Xu speaks. Nobody treats her like a clueless girl, even though she’s only twenty-six…just three years older than me. I really want to be like that.”
The assistant looked at her cute round face, almond eyes, and skin as pale as milk. After a long pause, she offered a lukewarm comfort: “Most people just judge a book by its cover…”
“Right…” Tian Shuhao sighed, cupping her face in her hands like a squishy rice dumpling.
While her heart was full of longing, she had no idea that there were plenty of people who refused to listen to Director Xu either.
Meanwhile, Ruan Li moved a video file into an encrypted cloud drive while declining call after call.
She wasn’t humming, yet the air around her felt light and cheerful, as if sunlight were playing a harmonica, green plants were dancing the hula, and her teacup had grown hands to beat a rhythm against the desk.
Chu Wen pushed the office door open to deliver a report, but the moment her foot crossed the threshold, she instantly backed out and glanced up at the door frame.
Ruan Li stared at her. “…If you don’t want to come in, get out.”
“Miss Ruan, you haven’t smiled like that in a long time. It’s honestly a little terrifying.”
“Ahem. Let’s get down to business.” Afraid her bonus might evaporate, Chu Wen quickly pivoted the topic. “Here are the proposals that came in. Per your instructions, I picked the two worst ones. They won’t look suspicious in the short term, but long-term, they’re guaranteed to tie up capital. Honestly, it was pretty tough…the company has too many capable people. I almost had to hire an intern to write them.”
Ruan Li took the folder and flipped through it. “Is that all you came to say?”
“Of course not.” Chu Wen’s expression turned serious as she handed over a USB drive. “It’s been too long, so finding hard evidence is tricky. But I audited the transactions from ten years ago and spotted a few inconspicuous expenses.”
“These records claim eight million was spent buying construction materials across several installments. But I checked, and the supplier was already on the verge of bankruptcy back then…they definitely never received this order.” She let out a mock sneer. “If they actually had, it might have saved their business. What’s most suspicious is that even though the company went under, the owner wasn’t affected at all. In fact, she bought a small villa that exact same year.”
“Guess what her last name is?”
“Given the way you’re asking, it’s definitely not Lin,” Ruan Li said, raising an eyebrow.
“Bingo. She took her mother’s surname, Hua. But her father’s surname… is Lin.”
“You did well, but it’s not enough evidence.” Ruan Li lifted her teacup and took a slow sip, sounding as relaxed as if they were catching up over afternoon tea. “My cold-hearted excuse for a father is somewhat clever. He definitely has a scapegoat, and one person named Lin won’t be enough.”
“What if we bring in a few more?”
The two exchanged glances. A dark glint flickered in the depths of Ruan Li’s eyes, and a faint smile touched her lips. “This upcoming development project will decide the survival of the company. Let’s invite my dear little sister to play.”
“When you leave, call my assistant in.”
She raised her cup to see her guest out. The devious smirk on Chu Wen’s face instantly collapsed. “Seriously? Throwing me out right after I helped? Don’t I get a reward?”
“How about access to my private room at Tingzhu Pavilion?”
“Flexing your love life again… Who else loves spicy food like your wife does?” Chu Wen grumbled under her breath, picking up a pot of magnolias from the desk as she walked out.
They had been university classmates and were on good terms, so Chu Wen felt she understood Ruan Li well enough. Ruan Li held grudges, but she was also generous.
Chu Wen had eyed that potted plant for a long time. Ruan Li didn’t even care for flowers and kept it purely for decoration. Chu Wen had asked for it multiple times, but Ruan Li always refused just to tease her…she could be truly wicked like that.
Taking advantage of Ruan Li’s rare good mood, Chu Wen snatched it and left, and as expected, Ruan Li didn’t mind at all.
Who knew what had made her so happy today? The sun must have risen from the west.
Silence returned to the office.
Unhurriedly, Ruan Li put on her earphones, clipped a short segment from the security footage, and saved it in the same encrypted folder.
She usually slept very deeply.
People with poor blood circulation tended to dream a lot and wake up easily. The soothing soup she drank contained mild sleep-aiding ingredients, which actually allowed her to sink into a deep slumber that was harder to break than usual.
In the surveillance video, Xu Mengzhou was sitting on a cushion, shuffling forward bit by bit just to avoid waking her…
Ruan Li’s eyes darkened as her hand gently rested over her chest.
The heart inside her chest was beating far too fast…it was a bit too much to handle, as if her blood vessels were on the verge of bursting.
Yet at this moment, even the faint ache felt sweet.
She ran her fingers through a strand of hair, caught its faint scent, and let it go. Looking up at the assistant entering the room, a quiet flame seemed to burn in her eyes. “I remember you have a girlfriend.”
The assistant froze for a second. “Yes, I do.”
“Good. There are a few things I need you to buy.”
The assistant opened her notes app and listened respectfully. “Go ahead, Miss Ruan.”
The last time she heard her boss say those words, she had been sent to buy a set of micro-surveillance cameras for her home. She couldn’t help but wonder what it would be this time.
Zuixian Building.
Artificial rockeries, trickling streams, green bamboo, and climbing vines divided the main hall into private, intimate dining nooks. On the double-sided embroidered screens, court ladies were depicted fanning themselves or playing the zither. Serene zither music drifted from afar, creating an atmosphere so tranquil it felt as though the figures in the paintings were actually playing live.
Xu Mengzhou scanned the room and instantly felt it was a bit overly sentimental.
A glance at the menu only made it worse: names like Yao Terrace Under the Moon and Immortal Drifting in the Clouds stripped away half of her appetite before the food even arrived.
The dishes weren’t bad by any means, but the gimmicks far outweighed the food itself. In her eyes, none of it was as satisfying as a plate of spicy rabbit heads.
This was a place Ruan Li had picked…it really suited her tastes.
Xu Mengzhou had finally recalled what happened this morning.
She wanted to talk to Ruan Li about their past and see if it might jog her memory.
Looking back, her main issue when facing Ruan Li was a feeling of awkwardness…she wasn’t used to being married, nor was she used to the version of herself that her friends and family described.
Still, now that things had turned out this way, she had to accept it and try not to make a mess of things.
It would be awful if losing her memory ended up driving her wife away.
Before long, a waiter guided Ruan Li over.
She wore a light slate-blue suit that looked as though she had draped the morning mountain mist over her shoulders. Her jet-black hair was tied with a moon-white ribbon, and two smooth, lustrous Australian white pearls hung from her earlobes, elegant and subtle.
Only the touch of red around her neck remained unchanged, wrapped around her collarbone like a branded plum blossom petal.
A flash of stun passed through Xu Mengzhou’s eyes.
The waiter poured Ruan Li a cup of tea and left with his tray.
After a moment of silence, Xu Mengzhou got straight to the point. “I want to know about how we used to get along. How did we get together in the first place?”
Ruan Li tapped her fingers lightly against the porcelain surface of her teacup. Looking around at their surroundings, she spoke with a hint of nostalgia: “Right here. This is where you proposed to me…and caught me completely off guard.”