At 10 p.m., the banquet ended, and the guests began to leave one after another.
Outside the hotel entrance, Song Shuyao said goodbye to Fu Sinian.
“Sinian, I’m heading home now. If you’re still not feeling well, get some rest early.”
But Fu Sinian’s mind was entirely preoccupied with what had happened in Room 519 earlier that evening. Faced with Song Shuyao’s concern, he didn’t respond much—he just nodded and replied briefly:
“Alright.”
Fu Yiqing, noticing his son seemed distracted and remembering how unusually drunk he had been tonight—despite normally being a heavy drinker—felt something was off. He asked:
“Sinian, what’s going on with you tonight? I thought you always held your liquor well and knew your limits. How did you end up getting so drunk?”
“Dad, I’m fine. Don’t overthink it. I just overindulged a bit.”
Fu Sinian’s response was concise. He didn’t tell the truth about what had happened that evening.
Fu Yiqing gave him a long look but didn’t press further.
The rain outside was still pouring down. Fu Yiqing shivered and sneezed, pulling his suit jacket tighter around him.
“Dad, it’s windy out here. Let me have my assistant drive you home.”
“You’re not coming with me?”
“I’m heading back to Jinmao Mansion tonight. I’ve still got work to finish on the current project, so I won’t be going back to the main house. Please explain it to Mom for me.”
Then Fu Sinian turned to the driver, Zhang Feng, and said:
“Uncle Zhang, take the chairman home.”
“Yes, sir.”
Although Fu Yiqing looked up at the dark, cloudy sky, clearly suspicious, he didn’t say anything.
A moment later, the car pulled up to the hotel entrance.
Fu Yiqing reminded his son to take care of his health and not to stay up too late. Then he got in the car.
As the car disappeared into the curtain of rain, Fu Sinian’s eyes gradually darkened as well.
Suddenly, someone shouted:
“Oh no! The power’s out!”
“Damn, how did it go out again?”
“Jeez, it’s pitch black—this is scary.”
Hotel reception staff and employees came rushing out in a panic.
The lights abruptly shut off, plunging the hotel into darkness.
Assistant Jiang Yuan asked nervously:
“President Fu, what do we do now?”
Fu Sinian, calm and composed, ordered:
“Call the company’s electrical team. Have them send someone over right away.”
“Got it.”
Just as Jiang Yuan made the call, the lights suddenly flashed back on, causing everyone to squint at the sudden brightness.
“The power’s back!”
“Thank goodness!”
Fu Sinian instructed the hotel employees to return to their posts quickly.
Although power outages were common during thunderstorms, the fact that it happened twice was very suspicious.
Jiang Yuan muttered:
“President Fu, these outages seem really odd…”
Fu Sinian’s brow furrowed tightly. A sudden thought struck him, and his expression turned serious and tense.
He immediately said to Jiang Yuan:
“Have the tech department pull all the surveillance footage from tonight—right away.”
Boom!
A deafening clap of thunder rolled over the rooftop.
Lin Qing, fresh out of the shower, stepped out of the bathroom. Her limbs were exhausted, her eyes heavy and barely able to stay open.
A dull, pounding pain throbbed in her temples.
She forced her drowsy eyes open and groggily walked over to the cabinet by the coffee table where she stored her medicines. She rummaged through it repeatedly.
“Weird… Why isn’t it here?” she muttered under her breath.
Halfway through searching, she suddenly realized with a jolt: the cabinet didn’t even have the medicine she was looking for.
Lin Qing smacked herself lightly on the forehead.
Of course—she was so tired she wasn’t thinking straight.
She was a single woman—how could she possibly have birth control pills at home?
She glanced at the clock: 10:40 p.m.
Outside, the rain was pouring down heavily.
It was April, still chilly, and the air outside was cold and damp from the storm.
She changed into a pair of casual long pants, threw on a white sweater, grabbed an umbrella, and headed out to buy the medicine.
Taking the elevator downstairs, she stepped into the storm.
Because of the heavy rain, the streetlights inside the residential complex hadn’t turned on.
It was pitch black all around, with the wind howling like a wild beast roaring in the night.
Branches and leaves, torn off by the storm, kept tumbling at her feet.
Lin Qing rolled up her pant legs halfway and walked forward in slippers.
Rainwater soaked her feet to the ankles—a chill pierced straight through her bones.
She shivered from the cold.
In that moment, she thought bitterly:
“From now on, I’m checking the almanac before leaving the house.”
What a god-awful mess.
Such terrible luck.
She had always been on good terms with others in the legal field, never intentionally offending anyone.
She was certain what happened tonight must’ve been caused by someone targeting Fu Sinian in the business world—and she had just been caught in the crossfire.
“Fu Sinian, you damn bastard!”
Lin Qing cursed aloud.
On the other side of the city, the man suddenly sneezed for no reason.
“President Fu, we’ve found tonight’s surveillance footage for you.”
Wang Yong, head of the technical department, didn’t dare waste time and quickly brought over the surveillance tapes.
Jiang Yuan and Fu Sinian reviewed the footage frame by frame, from the beginning to the end of the banquet.
The video showed Lin Qing appearing at the bathroom entrance for the first time. Then, the screen went black for a long stretch.
When the video resumed, it jumped to the moment Lin Qing exited Room 519.
After watching the footage, Fu Sinian gained a general understanding of what had happened that night.
Both he and Lin Qing had been drugged.
Someone had deliberately lured Lin Qing into the room he was resting in, hoping that the Song family or his father would catch them together.
If he hadn’t woken up just a bit earlier, the mastermind’s plan would have succeeded.
That thought made Fu Sinian’s expression darken.
He turned to Jiang Yuan and said:
“Call in all the hotel staff who were working tonight. I want to question them one by one.”
“Understood.”
An hour passed.
After questioning the hotel staff and conducting a brief investigation, Fu Sinian discovered that a male employee surnamed Chen had acted suspiciously and vanished without a trace two hours after the incident.
Even more disturbing was the discovery of a pinhole camera hidden inside Room 519.
Fu Sinian summoned the hotel’s HR manager and learned that this “Chen” had been a temporary hire from a week ago. His personal information had never been thoroughly registered—just a name.
Now that a suspect was identified, Fu Sinian instructed the hotel staff and supervisors to return to their duties.
“President Fu, in this situation, should we call the police?”
Fu Sinian shook his head.
“Not for now.”
Jiang Yuan was confused.
“Why not?”
Fu Sinian explained calmly:
“Tonight’s incident involves the Lin family as well. The reputations of both the Fu and Lin family businesses are at stake. Also, let’s not forget—Lin Qing is a well-known lawyer at a top-tier law firm. If this leaks, what will happen to Huading’s reputation?”
Hearing this, Jiang Yuan suddenly understood.
“I wasn’t thinking as thoroughly as you, sir.”
After a pause, he asked:
“What about Miss Song? What do you plan to do about her?”
The engagement was scheduled for next month and had already been publicly announced.
Now the fiancé had slept with another woman—anyone would find that hard to accept.
Although it was just an engagement, Jiang Yuan knew that Fu Sinian only saw Song Shuyao as a political match, not someone he genuinely cared for.
Their relationship had been arranged by the elders.
But now, with this scandal out of the blue, Jiang Yuan feared the engagement would be called off.
When Song Shuyao was mentioned, Fu Sinian’s expression barely changed. He said flatly:
“We’ll wait and see what the mastermind does next. What’s clear now is that whoever drugged us wanted to sabotage the alliance between the Fu and Song families. The surveillance footage has already been stolen, and there was a hidden camera in the room. It’s highly likely that the next move will be to sell a private video of Lin Qing and me to the media, destroying the engagement and turning the Song family against us.”
Jiang Yuan’s tone turned urgent:
“Then what do we do? Is there any way to stop this?”
The Fu and Song families had been allies for many years, with deep business ties.
If the private footage was leaked and the media blew it up as a cheating scandal, the relationship between the families would inevitably fall apart—and that could severely impact the group’s business interests.
Fu Sinian fell silent for a moment, then sighed.
“The only thing we can do now… is try to minimize the damage.”
Fierce winds bent the willow trees on both sides of the street.
It was as if a massive black curtain had been draped across the sky. A heavy, oppressive atmosphere hung over every corner of the city.
Lin Qing stepped out of her apartment complex and onto the street, nearly losing her footing as the wind nearly knocked her down.
There wasn’t a single pedestrian in sight. Occasionally, a few cars passed by—their headlights flashing, tires hissing as they splashed through puddles, spraying up sheets of water.
The cuffs of her pants were soaked by the rain.
She shivered, braving the cold wind and trudging forward with difficulty.
After walking about fifty meters, she finally arrived at a chain pharmacy.
Lin Qing stood at the entrance and peeked inside.
The front desk was manned by a woman in her fifties.
Her steps faltered. She hesitated at the doorway, unsure whether to go in.
Finally, she gave herself a mental push and forced herself to walk forward.
“Hello, I’d like to buy a box of emergency contraception.”
She practically whispered the words.
The woman behind the counter was older and the howling wind outside made it difficult to hear. She asked again,
“Sorry dear, what did you say you wanted?”
Lin Qing was cursing silently in her head. But she had no choice—she needed the medicine. So she bit the bullet, raised her voice a little, and repeated:
“I said—a box of e-mer-gen-cy contraception.”
As expected, the moment she said it, the woman gave her a strange look.
Feeling guilty, Lin Qing averted her eyes, unable to meet her gaze.
Buying emergency contraception on a stormy night like this—ninety percent of people would think she’d just been fooling around.
She paid, grabbed the black bag containing the medicine, and rushed out of the store.
The woman behind the counter shouted after her, but her words were lost in the wind:
“Hey, girl! That pill won’t work unless you take another one 12 hours later!”
Back home, Lin Qing poured herself a glass of water, opened the package, and took one of the levonorgestrel tablets.
Then she went straight to bed.
Her body was already aching and exhausted.
The moment she hit the mattress, she fell asleep.
The rain outside was still heavy. Lin Qing drifted in and out of sleep.
An hour later, her phone rang.
Still groggy, she picked it up and glanced at the caller ID: “Mother Dearest.”
She sighed and answered the call.
“Hello? What is it? It’s the middle of the night.”
“Baby, happy birthday!”
Lin Qing’s mouth twitched.
“Mom, if you’ve wrapped filming, go wash up and sleep. If you’re filming a night scene, go memorize your lines. Whether you’re awake or not—I still need my sleep.”
On the other end, Zhou Yan—her mother—picked up on Lin Qing’s off mood and asked,
“Aren’t you usually used to staying up past midnight working on projects? Why are you acting so strange tonight?”
“Did something happen?”
Zhou Yan knew her daughter well. Lin Qing had always been a night owl—and now, a workaholic. Sleeping early just wasn’t her style.
Lin Qing thought of everything that happened with Fu Sinian that night.
The words reached her lips… but she swallowed them back down.
Forget it—better not bring it up.
If her mom ever found out she’d gotten involved with Fu Sinian… the consequences would be unimaginable.
So Lin Qing made something up casually:
“I’m sick. Didn’t feel well, so I went to bed early. I’m not a machine—I can’t just work without resting.”
Zhou Yan gasped.
“Sick? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“It’s nothing. Just a cold,” Lin Qing said, faking a few coughs.
“Don’t overwork yourself, honey. When you’re tired, rest. Your health comes first. I’m doing much better financially these days. If you need money, just tell me.”
Before marriage, Zhou Yan was a household-name actress.
Though she walked away from her divorce with nothing, she’d since made a successful comeback. Now one of the country’s top actresses, she was definitely not lacking in money.
Lin Qing was well aware of that.
“I know, Mom.”
“I’ve already mailed your birthday gift. You should get it in a few days. I’m filming on location and can’t be there to celebrate with you this year. Once this project wraps, I’ll make it up to you when I’m back.”
Zhou Yan kept going, clearly worried Lin Qing would feel neglected.
Lin Qing listened silently, nodded, and said,
“Okay.”
Zhou Yan made a kissy sound through the phone:
“Love you, baby girl!”
Then she hung up.
All that was left on the phone was the dial tone.
Lin Qing could no longer sleep.
She ran her hands through her hair in frustration, tugging lightly at the roots.
Somehow, the strong wall she’d built around herself cracked.
An overwhelming loneliness crept into her chest.
Her mom, as usual, was “busy with work.”
Even on her birthday—she couldn’t be there.
Lin Qing couldn’t even remember the last time she saw her mom in person.
She seemed to have gotten used to living alone.
Work filled her days so completely and urgently that she’d even forgotten her own birthday.
Scenes of her parents’ endless arguments from years ago resurfaced in Lin Qing’s mind.
She sighed, pulled the blanket over her head, and tried to go back to sleep.
Outside, the rain had eased, but Lin Qing’s sleep was restless.
At 3 a.m., she woke up, reached for her forehead, and felt her hand come away soaked with sweat.
She sat up in bed, her mind filled with fragments from the dream she’d just had.
Fu Sinian, unusually, had appeared in that dream.
Lin Qing turned her gaze to a few old selfies from her school days on the bedside table and recalled the past.
Though the Lin and Fu families had a strained relationship, she and Fu Sinian had attended the same high school.
She had always been an excellent student, consistently ranking second in every exam year after year—but never once had she made it to first place.
Because of that, every time the rankings were released, some classmates would tease her, calling her the “eternal runner-up.”
And the person who always held first place?
None other than Fu Sinian.
“Look at Fu Yiqing’s son—he’s always top of the class. Why are you always one step behind him?”
“Xiao Qing, can’t you try a little harder? Just once—for your dad’s pride.”
Even her mother, Zhou Yan, would say,
“Try just a little more. I know you can get first place.”
Back then, her parents were going through a rough patch—frequent arguments, on the verge of separating.
Every time she brought her grades home, her father Lin Nanshan and her mother would use them as ammunition in their fights—always comparing her to Fu Sinian, always putting her down.
It made her resent Fu Sinian more and more.
That kind of life continued for over five years, until second year of high school, when her “eternal runner-up” status finally came to an end—because Fu Sinian was admitted early to A University, a year ahead of schedule.
She remembered the day Fu Sinian left school vividly.
She had just picked up a stack of test papers from the teacher’s office and returned to the classroom.
The golden sunset cast a warm glow across the sky.
It was long past school dismissal. The other students had finished cleaning, gone to the field for evening exercises, or returned to their dorms.
Only Lin Qing remained in the classroom.
She was working through problems, stuck on one particularly tough math question.
She filled page after page with calculations—writing, tossing, and starting over—but she just couldn’t arrive at the correct answer to the long function problem.
The air conditioner above hummed faintly in the sweltering summer heat.
Then came the sound of footsteps—tap, tap, tap—and she looked up.
Fu Sinian stood at the door, carrying a suitcase.
The teenager was dressed in a crisp white school uniform, his short black hair clean and neat, his appearance fresh and cool.
An older man—the Fu family’s driver—stood beside him.
Fu Sinian looked slightly surprised to see Lin Qing there.
He glanced at the papers and pen in her hand, then said calmly,
“Sorry to disturb your studying. I’m just here to pack up my things.”
With that, he walked to his desk, started gathering his books and notebooks into his backpack, quietly emptying his workspace.
Lin Qing lost all motivation to study.
She set down her pen and just watched him.
In that moment, a deep sense of envy surged from within.
Fu Sinian stood there in front of her, silently packing his desk, calm and unhurried.
His ease and composure stood in stark contrast to her restlessness and exhaustion.
A cruel reminder:
“Hard work means nothing in the face of raw talent.”