Top floor, Fu Group Headquarters.
Inside the president’s office, Chen Zhou knocked on the door before entering.
“President Fu, I’ve gathered all the information on the Wen family.”
Fu Yan accepted the documents and casually flipped through them.
The Wen family.
Their ancestors had once produced scholars who served in the prestigious Hanlin Academy. However, the family’s fortunes had gradually declined over the generations, leaving them with little more than a collection of ancestral textile patterns and weaving manuals.
By the current generation, the family had built its business around preserving traditional techniques and creating custom-made qipao.
Fu Yan tapped his fingers idly against the pages.
After skimming through the stiff, formal descriptions, his thin lips curved into a contemptuous smile.
Just as he’d expected.
A well-behaved young lady raised on poetry, classical literature, etiquette, and traditional arts.
Someone like her would never belong in the same world as a man who had spent his entire life doing whatever he pleased.
What intangible cultural heritage?
What refined young lady from a distinguished family?
Strip away those grand titles, and she was nothing more than a little seamstress making a living from her ancestors’ outdated craftsmanship.
The Wen family had long since fallen from prominence, yet they stubbornly clung to the airs and dignity of a prestigious household.
And now they were so eager to arrange a marriage with the Fu family.
Did he really need to guess their intentions?
They simply wanted to attach themselves to the Fu family’s power and influence, using the marriage to rescue their declining household and preserve whatever pitiful dignity they had left.
How predictable.
Fu Yan closed the file and tossed it aside without another glance.
“There’s something else. Look into the surveillance footage from the Champs-Élysées Hotel last night.”
“Yes, President Fu.”
Chen Zhou nodded and promptly left the office, closing the door behind him.
Fu Yan leaned back in his chair.
Compared to that dull little seamstress, the sweet little darling who had made him surrender so completely last night was far more appealing.
Just thinking about that woman was enough to stir something within him.
As for the Wen family’s little seamstress?
The very thought of her bored him.
Jiang Ye drove Wen Shushu back to the Wen family’s ancestral residence.
After getting out of the car, Wen Shushu carefully straightened her qipao and secured her long hair with an ornamental hairpin.
Her entire demeanor was gentle, quiet, and reserved.
There was a certain cool elegance about her, like a gardenia blooming silently, beautiful yet seemingly untouched by emotion.
Every trace of last night’s rebellion had been carefully concealed beneath her composed exterior.
It was almost impossible to imagine that this was the same woman who had raced recklessly through the night, drowned her frustrations in liquor, and spent hours entangled with a complete stranger until exhaustion claimed her.
She steadied herself.
Drawing a deep breath, she pushed open the door.
The atmosphere inside the main hall was oppressive.
Her parents sat upright in their seats, their expressions so grim that the entire room seemed to have grown colder.
“Where have you been?” Wen Wenyuan demanded, barely suppressing his anger.
“You stayed out all night! Have you forgotten who you are?”
Wen Shushu lowered her gaze.
Her long eyelashes concealed every emotion stirring beneath them.
When she answered, her voice was barely above a whisper.
“I’m sorry. I made you worry.”
There was no explanation.
No attempt to defend herself.
Not even the slightest hint of resistance.
She was so obedient that it was almost unsettling.
She seemed like an entirely different person from the young woman who had stormed out of the house the previous evening.
Seeing her daughter’s submissive attitude, Chen Ruolan softened her tone slightly.
“As long as you understand what you did wrong.”
She paused before continuing.
“You must remember that your actions don’t reflect on you alone. Everything you say and do represents the entire Wen family.”
“Our family comes from a distinguished scholarly lineage. One of our ancestors even served in the Hanlin Academy.”
“As a daughter of the Wen family, you must conduct yourself with the grace and dignity expected of a well-bred young lady.”
Wen Shushu stood quietly, listening without interruption.
Chen Ruolan continued.
“We’ve already discussed the marriage arrangements with the Fu family. Both sides have agreed that you should meet.”
“When?” Wen Shushu asked softly.
“Three days from now,” Wen Wenyuan answered in a solemn voice.
He straightened, his expression grave.
“The Fu family stands at the very pinnacle of the capital’s most powerful and prestigious households.”
“Marrying into their family would be an extraordinary blessing, not only for the Wen family, but for you as well.”
Wen Shushu kept her head lowered.
For a long moment, she said nothing.
So it had finally come to this.
She was going to marry a man she had never even met.
A complete stranger.
Someone whose appearance, personality, and temperament she knew nothing about.
And yet, her future had already been decided.
If this conversation had taken place the previous evening, she would undoubtedly have raised her head and declared without hesitation:
“I won’t marry him.”
She would have resisted.
She would have argued.
She might even have walked out again, just as she had done before.
But now…
Wen Shushu slowly lifted her gaze.
A gentle, perfectly composed smile appeared on her face.
“All right.”
Only she knew how deeply her fingernails were digging into her palms.
The sharp pain kept her painfully aware of everything happening around her.
“I’ll follow your arrangements.”
Both her parents froze.
They had expected another argument.
In fact, they had already prepared themselves for a lengthy confrontation, perhaps even having to resort to harsher measures to force her agreement.
Never had they imagined that their daughter would yield so easily.
“You… you’ve finally come to your senses?” Chen Ruolan asked, unable to conceal her surprise.
Wen Shushu raised her eyes.
Her smile was graceful and appropriate, exactly what one would expect from a daughter of the Wen family.
Yet behind that gentle expression, her eyes were strangely empty.
“Yes. I’ve thought it through.”
She spoke calmly, each word measured and composed.
“I am a daughter of the Wen family. It’s only right that I shoulder the responsibilities that come with that.”
“We cannot break our promise to the Fu family, nor can I disregard the dignity and reputation of our household.”
Her parents looked at her with visible relief.
But Wen Shushu felt nothing of the sort.
Once was enough.
She had already allowed herself one night of rebellion.
One night to escape the suffocating expectations that had followed her since childhood.
One night to race freely beneath the darkness, drink without restraint, and surrender herself to a stranger whose name she didn’t even know.
It had been reckless.
It was foolish.
But for those few fleeting hours, she had belonged entirely to herself.
Now that the dream was over, it was time to wake up.
She would return to being the same Wen Shushu everyone expected her to be.
A young lady who followed the rules.
Gentle, obedient, and endlessly considerate of her family’s wishes.
As for the madness of the previous night…
She would bury it deep within her heart.
And pretend it had never happened.
After all, perhaps that would be the only time in her entire life that she would ever dare to cross the boundaries drawn for her.
Her one secret act of defiance.
And her last taste of freedom.