The next day.
Only after Chu Zilan’s fever had completely broken did Rong Ci return home.
She still hadn’t prepared a gown for the banquet tomorrow evening.
In the afternoon, Rong Ci went out.Upon arriving at the high-end luxury boutique, she found the store manager and several sales assistants clustered around a particular dress, making final adjustments.
They only noticed her when Rong Ci approached.
“Sorry, Miss.
How may I help you?”
“I’ll just take a look for now.”
“Of course.”
Although she had married into the Feng family, she had rarely attended any banquets over the years.
After all, even for formal occasions, Feng Tingshen and Sang Qian never invited her.
As for Old Mrs.
Feng, she had retired behind the scenes years ago and no longer cared about the socialite scene.
Rong Ci didn’t know much about evening gowns, but since Chu Zilan worked in high-end fashion, she had picked up a basic sense of aesthetics through osmosis.
However, there were simply too many beautiful dresses in the store, making it dizzying to look at them all.
Rong Ci hadn’t planned on being overly picky; she just wanted something presentable.
Just as she was thinking this, the very dress the staff had been fussing over came fully into her view.
Rong Ci froze.
It was a pale purple, semi-sheer tulle corset gown.
The floral detailing cinched at the waist was exquisitely crafted, and paired with the elegant, precious necklace draped around the mannequin’s neck, it perfectly blended ethereal grace with opulent luxury.
She couldn’t help but walk toward it.Just as she reached out to test the fabric’s texture, before her hand even brushed the dress, the store manager grabbed her wrist forcefully.
Rong Ci winced and furrowed her brows in pain.
The manager quickly let go.
“I’m so sorry, Miss!
I didn’t mean to.
It’s just that this gown is a private custom piece for our VIP client.
There is only one in the entire world, and it is extremely expensive.
If anything were to happen to it, we simply couldn’t bear the liability…”
“It’s fine.”
Not expecting it to already have an owner, Rong Ci felt a pang of disappointment.
The cheaper gowns in the store cost tens of thousands, the mid-range ones were in the hundreds of thousands, and the most expensive exceeded a million.
Yet, even the most expensive batch of dresses in the store looked utterly mediocre and plain in comparison to that pale purple gown.
In the end, Rong Ci chose a cream-colored silk maxi dress with floral embroidery.
As she was checking out and having the dress wrapped, she overheard two sales assistants whispering nearby.
“I heard the necklace and the dress together cost over thirty million.
That’s literally wearing a luxury villa on your body.
“Exactly.
And most likely, she’ll only wear it once…”
Thirty million…So it was that expensive.
Even if it were unclaimed, she wouldn’t be able to afford it anyway.
Rong Ci shook her head and turned to leave.When she got home, Chu Zilan called to say she wanted to treat her to a big dinner tomorrow night.
Upon learning that Rong Ci was attending a banquet the next day, Chu Zilan rushed over the following afternoon, insisting on doing Rong Ci’s styling personally.
Rong Ci had an excellent eye, and the dress she picked was great.
Paired with the makeup Chu Zilan meticulously crafted for her, it perfectly highlighted Rong Ci’s gentle, graceful, and pristine beauty.
That evening, when Yu Moxun came to pick her up, he was completely captivated the moment he saw her.
“You look stunning.
It suits you perfectly.”
“Thank you.”
Once they got into the car, Yu Moxun asked, “So, officially returning to the company tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“By the way, Lin Wu…”
Realizing she might not know who that was, he explained, “She’s the algorithm genius I told you about last time.
She’s also officially joining tomorrow, so I’ll introduce you two then—”
Rong Ci’s expression stiffened.
“Lin Wu?
Did you say her name is Lin Wu?
The ‘Wu’ as in desolation?
Did she return from Country A recently?”
Yu Moxun nodded, looking quite surprised.
“Yes.
Do you know her?”
“She’s my half-sister.”
Yu Moxun froze.He knew some things about Rong Ci’s family background.
He hadn’t expected such a coincidence.
Rong Ci’s gaze turned cold as she added, “She’s also Feng Tingshen’s mistress.”
The car slammed on its brakes.Yu Moxun’s eyes widened in shock.
“You—”Rong Ci shook her head.
“I’m fine.”
Her face remained perfectly calm as she continued, “You can call it an abuse of power if you want, but I don’t approve of her joining our company.”
Yu Moxun’s expression turned serious, and he agreed without hesitation.
“No problem.
Rong Ci felt a warmth spread through her chest.
“Thank you.”
She paused before adding, “However, this means you’ll be losing out on a genius.”
Yu Moxun shook his head and smiled, glancing at her.
“She may indeed be a genius in algorithms, but compared to you, she is absolutely worthless.”
He spoke the last few words with the utmost solemnity.
Rong Ci was taken aback, thinking Yu Moxun was exaggerating.
Seeing what she was thinking, Yu Moxun chuckled and said, “I’m telling the truth.”
Rong Ci hadn’t expected him to say that.
After a moment of thought, she asked, “She had her interview quite a while ago.
Why hasn’t she started yet?”
Yu Moxun shook his head.
“She said she had some things to take care of.
I didn’t ask for specifics.”
A little over ten minutes later, they arrived at their destination.
Rong Ci, however, seemed lost in thought.
“What’s wrong?”
Yu Moxun asked.
“I just don’t quite understand why she would want to join our company.”
Although their company was doing quite well, there were certainly bigger, better corporations in the country.
Given Lin Wu’s background and academic credentials, she had plenty of options.
It was true that Rong Ci was a major shareholder, but due to certain special circumstances, her identity wasn’t made public.
Lin Wu shouldn’t have known about her connection to the company.
Therefore, Lin Wu couldn’t possibly be targeting her.
Yu Moxun stroked his chin and suddenly smiled.
“When we chatted that day, she mentioned our company’s programming language and said she was very interested in CUAP.”
CUAP was designed and developed by Rong Ci when she led a team at the age of seventeen.
At the time, many people thought it was quite ordinary, but in reality, it was their company’s most formidable moat.
Over the past few years, the industry had come to realize just how incredible it was.
Numerous professional teams had attempted to dismantle and analyze it, but none had succeeded in cracking it.
Now, this programming language had become an untouchable existence in the industry.
Without a doubt, Lin Wu was here specifically for this programming language.
“Come to think of it, a lot of the top talent our company has hired over the past two or three years came because of this programming language.”
Rong Ci hadn’t realized that was the case.
Yu Moxun looked at her, gently patted her head, and smiled.
“So, when I say she’s worthless compared to you, it’s really not an exaggeration.”
How could he, as her senior martial brother who knew her well, not know exactly how much of a genius she was in this field?After all, before Rong Ci appeared, he too had been a universally praised genius.