Jiang Nianzhi was indeed a little curious. She placed her arms parallel in front of her chest and leaned her entire body forward.
She hadn’t noticed that the moment she leaned in, a hint of a smile flashed across the eyes of the Sui Ning opposite her.
It was as if a carefully plotted scheme had achieved its goal.
“So what did she say?” Jiang Nianzhi asked curiously.
“She said that she and her girlfriend saw you and thought you were very gorgeous.”
When Sui Ning spoke these words, her tone was somewhat strange. She dragged out the words slowly and deliberately, sounding just like a pretentious elder spinning a spooky ghost story.
Jiang Nianzhi had no patience for such inexplicable antics. She pulled her body back, leaning against the chair’s backrest once more, and conveniently fished back her hot cocoa from the table. By this time, the temperature of the hot cocoa was just right for drinking.
Seeing that she didn’t respond, Sui Ning felt a bit helpless and simply spoke up, only this time, Sui Ning leaned in closer herself.
Sui Ning’s voice dropped very low, as if she were telling a secret.
“She said that both she and her girlfriend like you very much, and they want to invite you to their place tonight to join their party.”
Jiang Nianzhi was completely baffled. Was it really just that?
Then why did Sui Ning have such a stinky expression hanging on her face afterward?
“Hahahaha!”
Hearing Sui Ning’s loud laughter, Jiang Nianzhi instantly snapped back to her senses. It turned out she had accidentally spoken her inner monologue out loud just now.
“Because what she meant was for you to join her and her girlfriend’s bedtime activities.”
If Jiang Nianzhi hadn’t understood before, the moment she heard that suggestive word bedtime, it instantly clicked.
“What kind of hooligan is she?”
Jiang Nianzhi was extremely shocked. How could someone commit sexual harassment in broad daylight like this?
Yet the Sui Ning opposite her laughed even more heartily. Clutching her stomach, she leaned back against her chair and laughed nonstop. At first, it was a laughter the two of them could hear, but soon afterward, Sui Ning’s laughter became completely unstoppable, not only attracting the attention of passersby all around but also drawing strange glances from quite a few people.
Jiang Nianzhi felt her entire scalp go numb from being stared at.
She immediately grabbed her hot cocoa, stood up, and walked away.
She felt utterly speechless inside. Why did everyone she encountered today turn out to be so strange?
Even this acquaintance she met in a foreign land was like this.
Jiang Nianzhi walked forward heedlessly, hoping to use the cold wind blowing down the street to lower the burning heat of embarrassment on her cheeks.
The slow footsteps behind her followed once more.
Jiang Nianzhi sped up her pace, but the person behind her remained, so she slowed down again, and the person behind her matched her unhurried tempo.
It angered Jiang Nianzhi so much that she came to a complete stop and spun around.
She had expected the same lazy, laid-back look, with that trench coat blown open to reveal the white shirt underneath, exposing even her collarbones as if she couldn’t feel the temperature at all.
She didn’t even seem cold; this idiot would best freeze to death.
Jiang Nianzhi cursed inwardly, truly loathing her. Clearly a fan of hers, yet always toying with her.
“Where are you planning to go next?” A single sentence from the woman behind her stopped Jiang Nianzhi in her tracks.
Wasn’t she originally planning to head straight to the airport and return home?
Turning around, Jiang Nianzhi immediately walked over to the roadside and waved her hand. By sheer coincidence, an Uber pulled right up.
Jiang Nianzhi pulled open the car door and sat in the back seat. Through the dark car windows, she could only see a blurry profile of the woman’s face.
Jiang Nianzhi looked at the gray sky outside, the strange architecture, and the woman standing right in front of them, staring at her through the car window.
Her heart felt a bit strange. She thought to herself that the two of them hadn’t met many times, yet every time she ran into her, the whole world seemed to be draped in a layer of mist, leaving only that woman behind.
Jiang Nianzhi didn’t know whether she should say one more thing, especially since many people said she always had her own ideas about doing things.
However, as luck would have it, the Uber driver also stubbornly refused to drive off. Jiang Nianzhi looked at the woman still standing beside the car, rolled down the window, and said coldly to the woman standing by the roadside, “Going back to China, heh.”
With that, Jiang Nianzhi immediately ordered the driver to drive away, refusing to turn her head even a fraction, because she didn’t want to see the woman. That woman would definitely put on that cynical smile of hers again.
That smile was truly enough to make her furious.
As soon as Jiang Nianzhi boarded the airplane, her heart finally settled back into place. Yet looking at the vast sky outside the plane, she suddenly felt a sense of dull boredom.
Clearly, the trip hadn’t been fun, so why did she feel a little bit of loss?
There were no annoying birds outside the window; there were only sleeping passengers inside the cabin.
As soon as Jiang Nianzhi arrived home, she immediately called Xiao Mei over to her place.
The two of them sat in the dining room, and while eating, Xiao Mei swore with absolute certainty, “Sister! That morning you had a momentary drop in blood sugar, but you recovered very quickly. After watching the play, you asked me to send you home, so I left right away.”
Xiao Mei stuffed another chicken nugget into her mouth, her cheeks bulging completely, yet she still insisted on clearing her name. “Sister, I swear, um, I definitely sent you back home!”
As soon as these words came out, Jiang Nianzhi’s headache grew even worse.
She racked her brains, yet she could not find a single memory of boarding an airplane for over ten hours to reach England on the other side of the continent.
She couldn’t even find any related photos or records on her phone.
However, her work did not allow her time to ponder this. An old friend of hers was about to release a new movie and wanted to invite her to show her support.
Jiang Nianzhi had rejected this woman too many times, but this time, since they happened to be in the same city, she couldn’t find an excuse to get out of it.
Moreover, she was helpless because this old friend had deliberately chosen a movie theater very close to her house, only a twenty-minute drive away.
Jiang Nianzhi slept all the way until the afternoon, leaving the entire room shrouded in a hazy mist.
To quote Xiao Mei’s description, it felt as though one had arrived in heaven; otherwise, how could damp coolness and dryness coexist at the exact same time?
Jiang Nianzhi quietly turned off the humidifier.
Since she was only invited as a guest to watch the movie, Jiang Nianzhi did not want to dress in a way that drew too much attention, so she simply asked her stylist to put together an everyday outfit.
Xiao Mei regretfully put down the silk slip dress she was holding.
It made Jiang Nianzhi wonder what kind of drug her surroundings had been laced with, considering it was single-digit temperatures in Beijing, yet someone could actually pull out a silk slip dress.
The styling team arranged a khaki V-neck sweater for Jiang Nianzhi, paired with light-colored, lightly distressed jeans and a pair of short white boots.
Fearing that Jiang Nianzhi might feel cold, they even matched it with a leather jacket.
As soon as Jiang Nianzhi finished changing and stepped out of the room, the three people gathered around immediately burst into a flurry of applause.
It really couldn’t be called sucking up, because Jiang Nianzhi’s figure and face were top-tier in the entertainment industry. Especially with her tiny face and small head, she looked exceptionally good no matter what she wore.
The makeup artist straightened her head of black hair, gave a slight trim to the length around her waist, and let it fall neatly down her back. The moment Jiang Nianzhi stood up, there was even a feeling of a Barbie doll walking out into reality, though that doll-like delicacy was perfectly neutralized by the leather jacket she wore.
Jiang Nianzhi was also very satisfied with her styling, so she got into the car and set off.
Xiao Mei went with her to the movie theater. Her friend had originally arranged a seat in the middle row, but since Xiao Mei didn’t have a seat there, Jiang Nianzhi temporarily changed her seat.
The two of them sat side by side in the corner. At first, Jiang Nianzhi was extremely nervous, terrified it would be some garbage commercial fluff produced by a rich heir.
To her surprise, after watching the movie, Jiang Nianzhi felt that this rich heir had actually studied hard; it was much better than she had imagined.
Her friend had truly fulfilled her own ideal, producing the exact work she wanted to shoot.
The entire movie theater was packed with people, and several large camera setups were even placed along some of the aisles. The hall was stuffy and hot, with Beijing’s indoor heating turned up to the max. Even Jiang Nianzhi, sitting in the corner, felt her whole face turn hot and flushed from the heat.
As soon as the movie ended, she and Xiao Mei left the venue immediately. The reporters were blocked by Xiao Mei, and Jiang Nianzhi hurried away.
She grabbed a familiar staff member and hastily asked where the restroom was.
Finally reaching the artists’ private restroom, Jiang Nianzhi felt her entire being finally wake up, and Xiao Mei followed right behind her, standing guard outside the door.
Jiang Nianzhi had makeup on her face, so she simply turned on the cold water faucet and rinsed her hands, letting the rapid cooling of her hands help cool down her face.
The winter water was piercingly cold, and her skin’s temperature dropped so fast that she couldn’t help but pull her hands back.
Finally feeling that her face wasn’t burning quite as much, Jiang Nianzhi pulled out a piece of tissue paper, gently dried her hands, and pressed her cool hands bit by bit against her flushed cheeks.
She lowered the temperature of her face.
Jiang Nianzhi checked her cheeks and saw nothing unusual, finally feeling relieved enough to open the door. But the moment she pulled the door open, the scene behind it instantly plunged her into utter confusion.
The scene behind the door was completely different from the hallway she had walked through earlier. When she came here just now, this entire path was cordoned off with dedicated yellow warning tape, and traffic cones were placed every five meters to prohibit entry.
Yet now, the moment she stepped out, it had transformed into a white corridor. The floor tiles were clean, atmospheric, gray marble slabs that stretched out all the way toward an open hall ahead. From this angle, she could even see an elegant cluster of gypsum statues gathered in the center of the hall.
Jiang Nianzhi’s heart pounded wildly, leaping straight into her throat. She didn’t dare to walk, terrified that making even the slightest sound would immediately alert the owner of this place.
And then tonight, the trending search topic about Jiang Nianzhi stealing things would hit number one on Weibo.
Yet she still stepped forward, one pace at a time, because she had checked the window of the restroom earlier. Jumping out of it would likely lead to a fatal fall, and furthermore, designer buildings often had windows completely sealed off with wrought-iron bars where even a head couldn’t fit through.
The heels of her little leather boots tapped against the floor tiles step by step, producing crisp clicking sounds. Even though she tried desperately to suppress them, Jiang Nianzhi still felt the noise was deafening.
Yet after she walked past the relatively short pathway ahead, Jiang Nianzhi finally saw the full view of the hall in front.
This was someone else’s office.
To be honest, not feeling panicked would be a lie. When Jiang Nianzhi saw several desks arranged in the corner and people actually sitting there, her heart was already racing out of control.
All of those people were women dressed in proper business suits, looking extremely sharp and professional, yet they were seated in a scattered circle surrounding a single door.
Each person had a solid wood executive desk, but the items placed on each desk were completely different. They all sat facing away from Jiang Nianzhi at a distance.
Thus, Jiang Nianzhi could observe them all the more clearly.
Meanwhile, that exact door happened to be blocked from view by a pillar, making it impossible to see anything.
Yet she instinctively felt that door was of vital importance.
Seeing this realistic scene, Jiang Nianzhi found it utterly unbelievable. She raised her hand and pinched her own arm.
A sharp pain traveled up from her arm.
It was actually real.
She had truly traveled in a single step from the movie theater restroom straight into someone else’s corporate office.
Jiang Nianzhi couldn’t help but curse under her breath.
Yet she didn’t dare raise her voice, only daring to swear in a weak whisper.
The people gathered around that room’s entrance were either working quietly or conversing with one another. The sounds of their work seemed far too normal, completely unlike some digital AI projection.
Jiang Nianzhi didn’t dare to look any longer and refused to stay a single second longer. She hurriedly retreated, stepping all the way back into the restroom.
Jiang Nianzhi stood in front of the sink basin, staring intently at her own reflection in the mirror.
She stared hard, hoping against hope that the mirror reflection would split into two people the next second, or that her reflection would begin smiling inexplicably.
Yet reality refused to grant her wish.
Or perhaps someone had cast witchcraft on her?
Who could it be? Her longtime rival in the industry? But hadn’t that woman already gotten married?
Jiang Nianzhi remembered that woman was currently honeymooning abroad.
Who else could it be? Had she offended anyone recently? Could her agency have hired a Taoist priest to cast spells just to force her into renewing her contract?
Yet the boss of the agency was her own maternal aunt.
Jiang Nianzhi now had a head full of question marks, running through everything she had done recently.
She still couldn’t pinpoint who might be trying to harm her, simply because she had offended far too many people to narrow it down.
Suddenly, Jiang Nianzhi heard a crisp set of footsteps slowly approaching this direction.
Someone was coming?!
Jiang Nianzhi immediately retreated into a restroom stall.
She locked the door from the inside.
She listened as the footsteps grew closer and closer, stopping right in front of her door.
Then they stood motionless.
At that moment, Jiang Nianzhi covered her nose and mouth tightly with both hands, wishing she could fuse herself into the restroom wall. At that point, she couldn’t care less about cleanliness. Her entire body trembled uncontrollably, and her heartbeat was so fast and violent it felt as though it might leap right out of her throat.
Jiang Nianzhi clamped her hands tightly over her nose and mouth, squatting down in the corner with her eyes locked onto the door in front of her.
She was terrified that the slightest leak of her breath would give her away to whoever was outside the door.
Fortunately, after a moment, the footsteps changed direction and headed back.
Jiang Nianzhi heard the sound of running water rushing outside. After a short while, the faucet was turned off, and those footsteps walked away toward the exit.
Only then did she slowly let out a breath, loosening her hands from her face, nearly collapsing from sheer exhaustion.
Since she had handed her phone over to her assistant, Jiang Nianzhi only had a leather jacket thrown over her shoulders, and she was completely clean without a single penny to her name.
Right now, even if she wanted to take a taxi back to the movie theater, she would have to take a cash-on-delivery ride.
Jiang Nianzhi squatted inside the stall, quietly waiting for five minutes.
There was not a single sound in the entire restroom, even the dripping water tightly locked inside the pipes.
After waiting a bit longer with no movement coming from outside, Jiang Nianzhi tiptoed out of the restroom stall.
Peeking stealthily left and right, she saw that the restroom was empty and slowly walked out.
She originally intended to slip away carefully.
Because she had noticed earlier that there was an emergency exit on this floor.
Turning right out of the restroom and walking to the very end, the door to that emergency exit was still wide open.
However, the only catch was that she had to pass right by that main hall without catching the attention of those assistants.
Jiang Nianzhi washed her hands again.
She simply couldn’t accept touching a public restroom door handle and not washing her hands afterward. She also peeled off the leather jacket, draping it over her arm.
Listening to the familiar sound of flowing water, Jiang Nianzhi inexplicably calmed down a little. She lowered her head and shook the water droplets off her palms.
She raised her head again to look at her reflection in the mirror. Once she stepped out this time, she was determined to find out what on earth was happening and who was playing tricks on her.
The look in her eyes within the mirror grew increasingly resolute. Steeling her mental preparation, Jiang Nianzhi turned around, ready to walk out of the restroom.
Just as she rounded the corner out of the restroom, facing directly down the corridor, someone was standing right in the middle of the path.
As if doing it on purpose, that figure didn’t move, merely standing lazily in place with her hands tucked into her pockets, casually tapping her shoe against the pattern on the floor.
A head of casual long hair was tied loosely at the back. A wide-shouldered white shirt looked anything but cliché, naturally bound at the waist with a matching lace belt, leaving a corner to flutter with the owner’s movements.
Jiang Nianzhi didn’t dare to spare even a second glance, preparing to duck back into the restroom in a rush, but her footsteps paused. This person lingering right by the restroom door was clearly lying in wait for her.
Even if she hid and refused to see the other person, the other party knew someone was in here, which would only make things even more awkward.
For the first time, she felt like a petty thief breaking into someone else’s house, though at most she had only stolen some tap water.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the woman ahead turn around. Jiang Nianzhi’s line of sight caught the woman’s forearm.
That figure ahead, seeing that she still refused to raise her head, lazily closed the distance by a few more steps. The faint scent of perfume belonging to the woman washed over her, a very light woody fragrance that nonetheless felt deeply refreshing.
In Jiang Nianzhi’s field of vision, she could only see those slender legs. The trousers of the suit, made from soft white woolen fabric, were somewhat loose. Though they looked somewhat casual, they retained a formal elegance.
The trousers wrapped closely around the incoming person’s legs, revealing a wonderful proportion, and the leg lines that only became visible with movement matched the person’s temperament even better.
An unvarnished, lazy disposition, laid bare for all to see.
Jiang Nianzhi slowly raised her head a fraction.
The person had rolled up her shirt sleeves slightly around her elbows. The casually folded cuffs surprisingly maintained a crisp structure, exposing a pair of pretty hands.
For some reason, Jiang Nianzhi felt an ominous premonition blooming in her heart. She slowly raised her head all the way.
The woman standing opposite her happened to be Sui Ning.
Sui Ning stood right in front of her, the distance between them extremely close. The warm, pale woody fragrance radiating from her body suddenly took on an aggressive edge at this moment. “Hello there, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”
Jiang Nianzhi: “???”