The night wind blew at the hem of Mu Wen’s clothes and tugged at her stubborn bun.
As she walked, she suddenly understood herself clearly: she could not accept any kind of disrespect from Xie Chong. The wind seemed to blow away all the confusion in her heart and leave her feelings completely exposed.
She ran all the way to the entrance. The streetlights along Wanliu Middle Road were dim, so she decided to run home.
Back in school, she used to run around the track every morning. This distance was nothing to her. By the time she reached home, she thought the wind would have blown all her unhappiness away.
She should not let that strange man ruin her mood.
Someone silently ran after her, passed her like the wind, and finally stopped in front of her.
It was Xie Chong.
Would he hit her because she had cursed at him?
Mu Wen touched her canvas bag. There was a small fruit knife inside. If he really tried to hurt her, she would use it to cut him.
Xie Chong stood there with his hands on his hips and looked at her.
“Mu Wen, aren’t you usually very bold when you ask people for money? Weren’t you asking me for money just now?”
Mu Wen was confused.
“What are you talking about?”
“If you can confidently ask me for money, then why were you acting so flattering toward that client yesterday?”
Xie Chong’s voice unconsciously grew louder.
“Couldn’t you tell the way he was looking at you was disgusting?”
“What are you talking about?” Mu Wen asked again, her voice trembling slightly.
Deep down, she had deliberately ignored the discomfort that Mr. Liao had caused her. All she wanted was to sign the project. She had told herself that his eyes were his own problem. She could simply pretend not to notice.
Xie Chong took another step toward her and raised his voice.
“I! Am! Asking! You! Couldn’t you tell the way he was looking at you was disgusting? You couldn’t?”
His voice completely tore through the quiet night.
Mu Wen almost felt as if even the leaves on the roadside were trembling from his words.
“Say something! You really couldn’t tell?”
Xie Chong was pressing her for an answer.
Mu Wen stepped back, putting more distance between them.
His questions were so sharp that she felt as if he were pulling her by the ear, forcing her to listen and answer him.
“Yes! I could tell! So what? What does it have to do with you?” Mu Wen shouted.
“What right do you have to control me? Just because someone looked at me in a disgusting way, does that give you the right to humiliate me like that?”
“How are you any different from him?”
Her eyes turned red with anger.
“You’re both my clients! That’s all! You two are exactly the same. Neither of you respects me!”
“What right do you have to criticize him? In fact, if I renovate his house, I’ll make more money! He’s better than you!”
Mu Wen thought bitterly:
I can ignore the way he looks at me. But you threw your wallet into a tree. You hurt me.
You stepped all over my pride.
Suddenly, they both fell silent.
Xie Chong’s chest was rising and falling heavily. He stared at the ground for a long time.
The road was quiet and empty. There were no cars and no people.
Only the two of them.
“Earn your money standing tall, Mu Wen.”
Xie Chong suddenly spoke in a low voice.
“Earn it standing tall.”
“Otherwise, one day you’ll regret it.”
He looked up and met Mu Wen’s shocked eyes.
For just a moment, there was a trace of pain and concern in his eyes.
She had only just graduated. There were many people in society who were like wild beasts. They would use all kinds of methods to take advantage of her.
She wanted money, so they would use money as bait to trap her.
They would make her lower her head willingly, make her accept everything willingly.
Xie Chong stood beneath the tall potted plant and had seen that man’s eyes repeatedly wander over Mu Wen.
He was like an experienced hunter, while Mu Wen seemed completely unaware.
No.
She knew.
She was smart. She had to know.
She was only pretending not to notice.
Xie Chong had met too many people. He knew he had not misjudged that man.
He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and that was even more frightening than an ordinary wolf.
When you see a wolf, you immediately run away and never give it a chance to come close.
But when you see a wolf wearing a sheep’s coat, you might think the little sheep is cute. You lower your guard and approach it.
Then, when it gets close enough, it suddenly knocks you down, tears you apart, and devours you.
That man was exactly like that.
Xie Chong thought that no matter what happened, it had nothing to do with him.
He had not wanted to say anything or interfere. He wanted to remain an outsider.
But he had failed.
All day, he had kept thinking about that hidden meaning in the man’s eyes.
It was a net meant to trap Mu Wen.
He did not want Mu Wen to act so eager to please.
She had enough ability to win clients through her professional skills and her character.
She did not need to do that.
A taxi appeared in the distance.
Xie Chong raised his arm and waved it down for her.
Mu Wen was still standing there in a daze when he said again,
“Earn your money standing tall.”
He gently held her arm through her clothes and led her to the roadside.
When the taxi stopped, he opened the back door for her.
Then he took a thick stack of cash from his pocket, pulled out a hundred-yuan bill, and handed it to the driver.
“Take her to Xiaonanzhuang. Give her the change.”
Mu Wen stared at the thick stack of money in his hand.
She suddenly remembered how lightly his wallet had hung from the tree.
And she finally understood why it had not fallen.
There had been no money inside.
Xie Chong said, “The wallet was empty. I threw it because I didn’t want it anymore. I’m sorry. That joke went too far.”
He patted the side of the taxi.
“Go. Tell me when you get home. If you still want to talk to me.”
Xie Chong stepped back.
The taxi drove away, and he looked at its license plate.
Mu Wen’s mind was completely blank and confused.
Xie Chong’s words kept echoing in her head.
She thought about what Little Gu had told her.
Little Gu must have noticed something wrong with Mr. Liao too.
Everyone had seen it.
And she had seen it herself.
But she wanted to make money too badly.
She had told herself that as long as she was more careful, everything would be fine.
She had ignored how complicated, cruel, and unforgiving the adult world could be.
When she got home, she did not contact Xie Chong.
Mu Wen did not want to talk to him anymore.
Xie Chong passed by the tree and looked up.
The wallet was still hanging there.
He jumped up, grabbed the branch, and shook it.
The wallet fell down.
He took out the photograph inside, tore it apart, and threw the wallet into a trash can.
When he got home, a terrible wave of nausea hit him.
He was certain he had drunk fake alcohol.
Maybe it was also because he had made such an inappropriate joke with Mu Wen.
Perhaps heaven was punishing him.
He vomited several times that night and had stomach problems several times as well.
By the next morning, he looked terrible.
But he still went to Jingdezhen.
There was still a lot of work waiting for him there.
He had to hurry back.
Mu Wen slept until she naturally woke up.
After getting up, she sat on the bed with her computer resting on her knees and quietly worked on her design.
Chu Ling was reading on her own bed.
Every now and then, the two of them exchanged a few words.
According to Mr. Liao, his wife wanted an American country-style design.
Mu Wen planned to finish the proposal over the weekend and hopefully meet Mr. Liao on Monday.
She did not leave the house all weekend.
She stayed in her pajamas, with her hair messy, completely absorbed in the design.
On Sunday evening, she contacted Mr. Liao and asked to meet.
He replied,
“Sure. How about lunch? We can talk while we eat.”
Mu Wen thought about it.
It was broad daylight, so there should be no problem.
She agreed.
On Monday morning, an unexpected visitor arrived at the company.
The woman claimed to be Mr. Liao’s wife.
She said Mr. Liao had suddenly gone on a business trip, so she had come to look at the renovation proposal.
Mu Wen happily carried her laptop into the meeting room.
The moment she opened the door, she saw an elegant woman around fifty years old.
The woman was looking at her with a meaningful expression, as if silently asking:
So you’re the one?
Mu Wen had not expected Mr. Liao’s wife to be so much older than him.
She became nervous for a moment, quickly put down her laptop, and politely extended her hand.
“Hello, Mrs. Liao. I’m Mu Wen.”
Mrs. Liao only gave her hand briefly, while keeping her eyes on Mu Wen’s face.
“I finished the first version of the proposal over the weekend. I’ll go through it with you now.”
While Mu Wen was setting up the projector, Mrs. Liao suddenly said,
“You should call me Miss Liao. Because the man you call Mr. Liao is actually surnamed Gao.”
Mu Wen stopped what she was doing.
She carefully thought about how to respond.
She had never expected Mr. Liao’s surname to be fake.
Miss Liao continued,
“It’s fine. Between the two of us, he handles the money.”
She winked at Mu Wen.
“Since you’re already here, I should properly go through the proposal with you. I…”
“It’s fine. You’re young. Whatever the proposal looks like, it will be fine. I only came to take a look at you.”
She stood up.
“You two already arranged to have lunch today to discuss the proposal, right? Go ahead.”
After saying that, Miss Liao walked out.
Mu Wen quickly followed her and accompanied her to the elevator, even pressing the button for her.
Miss Liao looked at her.
“Have a good meal. Eat a few more times. I don’t mind.”
Mu Wen did not understand what she meant.
She simply watched the woman leave in confusion.
She did not know whether she should still have lunch with Mr. Liao.
Then Mr. Liao—no, Mr. Gao—called her.
“My wife came to see you, right? That doesn’t affect our lunch.”
Mu Wen had very little experience with this kind of situation and could not figure out what was going on.
Fortunately, Little Gu had just returned from measuring another house.
Mu Wen told her everything about Miss Liao.
“She’s a very beautiful and elegant woman, but she looks older than Mr. Liao. The way she looked at me was so strange. It was almost like she thought I had some kind of relationship with her husband…”
Little Gu quietly said,
“That isn’t unusual. We have plenty of clients like that. A wealthy older wife and a younger husband.”
“I don’t understand.”
“What does that mean?”
Little Gu analyzed the situation for her.
“Eighty percent of the time, Miss Liao is the one with the money, and Mr. Gao is basically a kept man. Mr. Gao probably keeps flirting with women outside, so Miss Liao came over to see who he was involved with this time.”
“If I were Miss Liao, I’d be angry. He’s spending my money while fooling around outside…”
“You don’t understand, Mu Gong.”
Little Gu lowered her voice.
“Mr. Gao will make it up to Miss Liao in another way. How should I put it? Maybe Mr. Gao acts like a wolf in front of young women, but turns into a dog in front of Miss Liao.”
“The more he acts like a wolf outside, the harder he works to be a good dog in front of her.”
“This…”
“Control?” Mu Wen carefully asked.
“Yes.”
Little Gu nodded seriously.
“You can go to lunch by yourself and see what happens. The restaurant is a public place, so you don’t have to be afraid. I’ll wait outside and keep an eye on things.”
Mu Wen loved Little Gu so much.
She really was a kind and gentle person.
So Mu Wen went to meet Mr. Gao.
The moment they met, the elegant Mr. Gao stood up and pulled out a chair for her.
Then he naturally placed a hand on her shoulder and guided her into the chair.
“Calling me Mr. Gao is fine. It’s just a name.”
He raised his hand and ordered the food, showing no embarrassment about what had happened that morning.
Mu Wen said she wanted to show him the proposal.
He stopped her.
“You designed it. Whatever you make will be good.”
Then he started talking about something else.
He talked about the day at the banquet.
Mu Wen had walked toward him wearing a white dress, and he said his heart had almost floated away at that moment.
He felt that no matter what happened, Mu Wen had to be the one to design his home.
Mu Wen quietly listened.
Then she remembered what Xie Chong had asked her:
He looked at you like that. Couldn’t you tell?
She suddenly looked up and met Mr. Gao’s gaze.
His eyes were fixed on her like she was prey.
There was greed and an aggressive hunger in them.
Mu Wen said nothing.
She lowered her head again.
Then she heard Mr. Gao say,
“I really like you. If you’re willing, I can buy you a small apartment and give you some money every month. Of course, if you want to keep working, you can continue working.”
“I know you don’t dislike me.”
“And I also know you’re very smart. You know what you want. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have deliberately taken me aside at that banquet.”
Mu Wen’s head was buzzing.
His words had come too suddenly.
In her mind, contempt and ugliness between people should at least wear a mask. They should be more indirect.
She had never expected someone to be this blunt.
She had treated him as a potential client.
He had thought she was making a move on him.
He actually thought she was trying to seduce him.
Mu Wen took a deep breath.
“Then what does Miss Liao think about this?”
“She likes you too. She doesn’t mind.”
The moment he finished speaking, Mu Wen punched him.
She had never really hit anyone before, and her punch landed directly on his nose.
When she saw him covering his nose, she stepped forward, grabbed his collar with the same strength she used when catching lambs as a child, and cursed him in Mongolian:
“You little bastard!”
Her eyes burned with anger as she glared at him.
This was the first time Mu Wen had ever hit someone on purpose.
She turned around and walked out of the restaurant.
Little Gu immediately came over.
“What happened? What did he say?”
“He wanted to keep me.”
“I knew it!”
Little Gu was furious.
“I knew it! It’s always like this! Things like this keep happening. They always think money can buy everything.”
Mu Wen loved money.
She really did.
But she did not regret what she had done.
When she returned to the company, she went to find Lin Weisen and told him everything about that bastard Gao.
“I finished the proposal, but I don’t want to work with this client anymore.”
“Master, I’ll give the client to you. Whether you can sign him or not will depend on your ability.”
“If I sign him, I’ll give you the bonus,” Lin Weisen said.
“No, Master. I don’t want a single cent.”
Mu Wen had loved money since she was little.
She admitted that when she was young, she had been a little money-guarding creature, and now she was a big one.
She had put so much effort into that villa project.
But so what?
In Beijing, she had learned one of the most important lessons of her life:
How to say no.
She had learned to refuse.
Her heart suddenly felt light.
The discomfort that Gao had caused her in that villa disappeared.
She no longer cared about his money.
She no longer respected him.
Some people simply were not worthy of respect.
Lin Weisen comforted her.
“How should I put this? Things like this are actually very common. Rich people’s world has all kinds of… interesting things going on.”
“Once you’ve seen more of it, you won’t feel the way you do today.”
“I know, Master.”
Mu Wen smiled.
“We’ll see.”
For her, the incident had been a major shock.
Of course, Gao was not willing to let her go easily.
He knew how to cause trouble and act shamelessly.
But Mu Wen was not afraid of him either.
She threatened him.
“Why do you think I dared to hit you?”
Gao said nothing.
“Do you think I would dare to hit you if I had no background?”
“Just wait.”
Mu Wen invented a powerful background for herself.
When she said those words, her eyes were firm and fearless.
The usually confident Gao finally showed a trace of nervousness.
Mu Wen pointed a finger at his nose and turned away.
She never told Xie Chong what had happened.
She did not want to talk to him.
In her heart, their story had ended here.
They were not people who belonged on the same path.
Xie Chong was simply a good person she had met after first arriving in Beijing, a man who had made her heart flutter.
That was all.
She still treated Little Gu to spicy duck heads.
While eating, Little Gu said,
“I couldn’t eat these while I was breastfeeding because I was afraid the baby would get too much heat. I still want spicy hotpot and ice cream…”
“Mu Gong, when we have time in the future, let’s eat them together. I can treat you too.”
“I’ll treat you.”
Mu Wen smiled.
“I’m all alone anyway. As long as I feed myself, I don’t have to worry about anyone else!”
Little Gu laughed.
“Some people say you’re stingy. I always tell them Mu Gong isn’t stingy. You’re really good to me.”
“They’re not worth it.”
Mu Wen said,
“We don’t make money easily. Every cent should be spent where it matters—on people who are good to us and people we care about.”
“With everyone else, I’ll be stingy. I’m not afraid of what they say.”
Mu Wen felt that no matter how big Beijing was, it was still a little like the grasslands.
On the grasslands, no matter how loud a voice was, the wind could drown it out.
In Beijing, no matter how big a rumor was, the crowd would eventually drown it out.
It was the same.
At the end of September, Mu Wen received a call from Xie Chong.
The moment she answered, she said,
“Mr. Xie, I want to tell you something.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t want that client anymore.”
Mu Wen said,
“You were right. I should earn my money standing tall.”
Xie Chong was silent for a moment.
“Mu Wen, congratulations. I also have some good news to tell you.”
“What?”
“Back in Jingdezhen, someone intercepted my shipment. Now his goods are stuck in Jingdezhen, while my shipment sailed overseas today.”
“Oh my gosh! How did you manage that?”
Mu Wen was genuinely happy for him.
She knew Xie Chong was very capable.
“It’s a long story. I only used a little trick.”
Xie Chong sounded completely unmodest.
“I’ll tell you about it in person next time.”
Even through the phone, Mu Wen could practically imagine his tail sticking straight up in pride.
“Actually, I already heard about that client from Lin Gong. I mainly called today to congratulate you. You handled it beautifully.”
He’s congratulating me.
Mu Wen’s nose suddenly felt a little sore.
She also felt secretly pleased.
He’s happy for me.
Xie Chong said,
“I still have something to do. When you get home, remember to open your gift.”
“What gift? Why would I have a gift?”
“Don’t think too much about it. I saw it and thought it suited you, so I bought it.”
“Thank you, Mr. Xie.”
Mu Wen practically ran home.
She hurried back without stopping.
When she reached her door, she saw an incredibly beautiful package.
It was a lovely wooden box painted with a picture of a shepherd boy herding cattle.
A delicate lock was attached to the box, with a key already inserted.
Mu Wen carefully carried the wooden box inside.
She placed it on the table between her and Chu Ling’s beds and opened it.
Inside were many small wooden boxes of different sizes.
Each one was painted with a different grassland scene.
One showed a sunset over the grasslands.
Another showed cattle and sheep beneath the wind-blown grass.
Another showed birch forests and grasslands separated by a river.
A small card was attached to one of the boxes.
It read:
“Dear Ms. Mu Wen, congratulations on your new home.”
She opened them one by one.
Inside, she found a little money-saving creature-shaped piggy bank.
She found the little bowl with a child cooling off beneath a grape trellis.
She found the teacup with a tiny fish swimming around inside.
There were more than a dozen beautiful handmade items.
They were all the kinds of things Mu Wen had once dismissed as “pretty but useless.”
He had said, “Congratulations on your new home.”
But he was not really congratulating her simply because she had moved.
He was congratulating her because she had learned how to let go.
Because she had learned to let go, she had gained something more.
Her heart finally had a place to live.
Mu Wen could not quite explain what kind of person Xie Chong was.
Sometimes he was annoying.
Sometimes he was adorable.
Sometimes he acted like a child.
And sometimes he could be so gentle.
He was constantly changing, yet somehow he was always very real.
She thought about how much she liked him.
Even though there was no possibility between them, knowing that he had been so kind to her still made her cry.
But these were happy little tears.
They were the tears of someone thinking:
My judgment really is good.
At least I didn’t fall for some terrible man.
Chu Ling came through the door and saw that Mu Wen’s eyes were still red, as if she had just cried.
“What happened, Wenwen?”
Mu Wen sniffed and joked,
“Chu Ling, do you know anyone who likes buying things like these? I think they might be worth quite a lot of money.”
Chu Ling came over to take a look.
The beautiful items were all completely handmade, and almost impossible to find in Beijing.
“I don’t even know what to say. The person who gave you these must be a romantic, right? People like that are almost impossible to find in real life.”
Mu Wen opened both arms and hugged all the gifts close to herself.
It was almost as if she were hugging the romantic, childish Xie Chong himself.
“Is this the person whose call you were waiting for before?” Chu Ling asked.
This time, Mu Wen did not avoid the question.
She nodded.
“Yes. It’s him.”
She put all the gifts away because Chu Ling said they were too valuable and she would be heartbroken if any of them broke.
The two of them agreed that after they eventually bought their own homes, they would use these beautiful things in their everyday lives.
Then Xie Chong asked her,
“Did you receive it?”
She replied,
“When are you coming back? I still owe you two meals.”
“Then why not eat now?”
Xie Chong said,
“Come out. Meet me in the back alley.”
Mu Wen let out a delighted scream, jumped out of bed, and rushed out of the house.