They were standing extremely close. A prominent woody floral scent drifted into her nose, a highly complex perfume centered around sandalwood and cedar, accompanied by a light touch of myrtle flower, mixed with a hint of slightly bitter woody aroma reminiscent of cypress.
Mu Lian’s face flushed red instantly. Her long, curled, feather-like eyelashes fluttered up and down rapidly, and she stood there awkwardly, speechless.
Blushing deeply, Mu Lian lightly bit her lower lip, quickly stepped to the side to yield the path, and lowered her eyes to stare at her own feet.
As expected, she had mistaken her for someone else.
Behind her, a deep, resonant male voice immediately sounded.
“President Ye, you’ve arrived.”
“My apologies, President Zhang, to have kept you waiting.”
“Not at all, not at all! Perfect timing.”
A graceful and dignified smile hovered at the corners of Ye Yinfeng’s lips. While talking, she reached out and took a flute of champagne from a waiter’s tray.
She lightly pressed the rim of the glass against her red lips. As she savored the champagne, her gaze swept past the middle aged man in front of her and settled firmly on Mu Lian’s side profile.
The woman slightly narrowed her pair of long, slender phoenix eyes, and color finally returned to her face as her lips curled into an almost imperceptible arc. She tried her absolute best to suppress the surging emotion within her and restrained the impulse to rush forward and kiss her.
The middle finger of her right hand holding the champagne glass gave an involuntary tremble, her suppressed emotions had finally found an outlet.
…
The thick darkness of night enveloped this bustling, prosperous world of luxury and indulgence. Dazzling neon lights glittered, and vibrant streams of light rippled across the outer walls of the row upon row of skyscrapers, creating a lively atmosphere.
This was Mu Lian’s first time attending a charity banquet, especially one on such a massive scale. The amount of donations made by each company was staggering, easily running into tens of millions.
Fortunately, the advertising agency Mu Lian worked for donated fifteen million, putting them among the multi-million level donors. After all, Tweit was one of the top three advertising agencies in Beijing, so its financial strength was beyond doubt, it all depended on whether the boss was willing to open his wallet generously.
Evidently, the boss was very generous this time, far exceeding Mu Lian’s expectations.
Mu Lian had guessed correctly, that woman was indeed the representative of the host. She was the President and CEO of Dingxian Group, surname Ye.
That’s right, she wasn’t Qin Ni, her surname was Ye.
Dramatics like a fallen wealthy heiress suddenly returning home overnight to inherit the family empire didn’t happen in real life. Mu Lian was deeply aware of and firmly believed this, to the point that as soon as the thought began to sprout, she thoroughly squashed it.
“…”
Mu Lian stood in the crowd, her gaze passing through figure after figure, looking toward the queen-like woman on the stage.
The woman’s confident, composed, and commanding presence, along with every single move she made, was a world apart from Qin Ni. As for what this President Ye actually said on stage, Mu Lian didn’t remember a single word, she spent the entire time staring at the woman’s face.
Mu Lian reaffirmed to herself once more that they were not the same person. Yet, she still couldn’t understand: how could two people in this world look so similar? “Similar” wasn’t even the right word, they looked completely identical!
Having vanished off the face of the earth for three years, a woman who looked identical to her first love suddenly appeared right in front of her.
“…”
A sudden surge of soreness hit the bridge of Mu Lian’s nose, and a wave of moisture welled up in her eyes, slowly moistening her eye sockets.
Even though Mu Lian understood that the woman standing on the stage was not Qin Ni, looking at that face, her heart simply could not settle down.
Three years, how could three years of memories be so easily forgotten? What’s more, this was Mu Lian’s first love. Although the two of them had never officially established a romantic relationship, in Mu Lian’s heart, she had always regarded her as her first love.
At 10:00 PM, the banquet came to an end.
A fine, drizzling rain had begun to fall unnoticed in the night sky. Crystal-clear lines of rain cascaded from above, casting a layer of misty condensation over the three massive floor-to-ceiling windows.
To steady her nerves, Mu Lian had drunk two glasses of champagne to calm her shock. Now that the banquet was over, the delayed kick of the champagne began to set in.
Mu Lian hugged her clutch bag tightly to her chest with one arm, raised her right hand, and unhurriedly rubbed her temples with her fair fingertips.
Right now, she needed to go to the restroom.
After asking a waiter for directions, Mu Lian stepped out in her eight-centimeter high heels, leaving the banquet hall and heading straight for the restroom.
Worthy of a high-end private club, the restroom not only lacked any unpleasant odor, but a refreshing, elegant incense aroma floated gently in the air.
Walking up to the vanity counter, Mu Lian first washed her hands, then splashed some cool water on her slightly flushed cheeks. Finally, she dried the water droplets off her face with a paper tissue and slowly raised her head to look into the mirror before her.
Reflected in the mirror was a striking beauty whose features fell right between bold and delicate. On the bridge of her fine, delicate nose sat a tiny light tea colored mole, adding a touch of playful grace.
Her lipstick had faded a bit, likely due to drinking the two glasses of champagne.
Lowering her gaze, Mu Lian took out her powder compact from her clutch to touch up her makeup, then pulled out her lipstick to touch up her lips. Her beautifully shaped, rose-like lips instantly took on a rich crimson shade, making her overall appearance a few degrees more captivatingly cold.
Suddenly, the sound of high heels clicking against the floor resonated outside the restroom.
Mu Lian paid it no mind. She lowered her eyes, twisted the lipstick tube back down, capped it, and placed it back into her clutch.
Footsteps sounded behind her.
Mu Lian instinctively looked at the mirror in front of her. Her expression instantly froze, and her hand zipping up the clutch came to a sudden halt.
It was her! The woman who looked identical to Qin Ni, the representative of the charity banquet’s host, President Ye.
Mu Lian quickly retracted her gaze and lowered her eyelids, staring down at her clutch. Pretending nothing was amiss, she continued to pull at the clutch’s zipper.
As luck would have it, the zipper, which was originally smooth, suddenly got stuck.
Mu Lian buried her head even lower, giving it a firm tug, but it was to no avail, the zipper remained jammed and wouldn’t budge.
Beside her, a familiar woman’s voice suddenly rang out. Her cold, low-pitched timbre sounded like a clear mountain spring flowing through a secluded valley, carrying a hint of ethereal air.
“Let me help you.”
Not only were their voices similar, but they could even be said to be identical. However, Qin Ni always spoke softly and gently, describing her voice as soft and sweet like classic Wu dialect wouldn’t be an exaggeration. In contrast, this President Ye spoke in a very cold tone with no emotional fluctuations, unconsciously giving off a strong sense of distance and aloofness.
“Thank you,” Mu Lian turned to look at the woman and, as if bewitched, handed the clutch over.
The woman reached out and took the clutch from Mu Lian. Lowering her dark eyelashes, she tried to find the reason why the zipper was stuck.
It turned out that the teeth of the zipper were slightly bent and deformed, making it impossible for them to mesh properly.
“The zipper teeth are broken, so it won’t interlock.” Seeing that nothing could be done, Ye Yinfeng had no choice but to hand the clutch back.
Out of habit, Mu Lian murmured another “Thank you,” comforting herself softly, “It’s fine, luckily only this little bit isn’t zipped up.”
“Things won’t fall out.”
Just as the words left her mouth, the woman suddenly took half a step forward, closing the distance between them to mere millimeters.
Looking at the woman within touching distance, Mu Lian’s eyes were filled with confusion: “??”
She didn’t dare to speak, nor did she even dare to breathe. Driven by pure instinct, Mu Lian took a tiny step backward to re-establish some distance between them.
“…”
Ye Yinfeng slightly raised the outer corners of her eyes. Her eyes bore a faint, bittersweet smile, and shimmering traces of moisture glinted in the corners of her eyes.
“What? Don’t remember me?”