Tang Ning had been chatting quite nicely with Uncle Hei just now.
She wanted to pry a few more words out of him, but it seemed the information he had was also very limited. She had recovered a tiny bit of memory—just a little bit.
But that small amount was already enough for her to quietly grumble and label Jiang Linye: “Dog of a man.”
All he ever wanted was something else when he married her.
Yet when Uncle Hei heard this, he actually shook his head very seriously: “But Miss, the look in someone’s eyes when they like a person cannot lie. I feel that five years ago Mr. Jiang already loved you very much, and now he loves you even more than before.”
Tang Ning became even more confused.
In her memory, her girlhood youth ended in a great hurry. On her eighteenth birthday banquet, Jiang Linye left early. She abandoned a whole crowd of friends and chased after him, nervously tilting her head up to ask: “Why are you leaving so suddenly? I haven’t even cut the cake yet… Do you want to leave after eating cake, or should I pack a piece for you?”
That day the sky was bright and clear, with huge cotton-candy-like clouds floating in the air. Her friends were holding a party for her on the backyard lawn, the champagne tower sparkling with light, servants shuttling back and forth replenishing cooked dishes. A five-tier cake sat on the dessert table; right in the center stood a fondant little princess modeled after her, holding up a huge skirt and smiling sweetly.
Jiang Linye knew that five hours later, when dusk fell, the biggest hotel in the city would host an even more formal evening banquet to celebrate the coming-of-age ceremony of the youngest daughter of the Tang family.
He had never felt such intense irritation before. A fire blazed in his mind, burning all the memories of the past eighteen years into ashes.
“Tang Ning.” So, bathed in the bright daylight, he turned around and gave her an indifferent glance. “Get this straight—if you hadn’t invited me so many times, I wouldn’t have come at all.”
From that moment on, he began to distance himself from her.
Tang Ning had asked him why, more than once. But after that day, it seemed he didn’t even want to speak to her anymore—not until they both graduated high school, not until he went abroad.
So all these years, Tang Ning had been wondering.
Was her first eighteen years of life just too perfect? Was Jiang Linye’s appearance meant to deliver, at this exact moment, her coming-of-age gift: to let her understand that in this world, there will always be disappointments, always things you want but can never have.
After Uncle Hei left, Tang Ning sat dazed in the courtyard.
She secretly ate two lobsters, three scallops, and six skewers of lamb that had no soul because no chili was added. Afraid the smell would be noticed, she even slipped back inside to wash her face, then ran back out wearing a face mask.
Somehow, she fell asleep.
When awareness returned, someone was shaking her hard.
Half-dreaming, Tang Ning thought she had sleepwalked into the pond and been fished out. She rubbed her eyes and realized it was Jiang Linye. His expression was as ugly as in her dream, and his tone was just as cold and heartless: “Go sleep in the bed yourself!”
Tang Ning: “…”
After dropping that line, Jiang Linye stormed off in a huff.
Tang Ning hurriedly jumped up and chased after him in a few steps: “President Jiang, President Jiang.”
Jiang Linye’s footsteps paused. He turned back with lofty dignity: “Speak.”
“Um… I just had a dream,” she licked her lips. “I dreamed that when we got married, there was a major change in the equity situation at my house.”
Jiang Linye was slightly stunned. A faint, ambiguous smile curved his lips: “And then?”
“So when we got married… wasn’t there actually a lot of shady money deals going on between us?”
Jiang Linye felt her choice of words was already quite suggestive.
He gave a half-smile, half-shake of the head: “Tang Ning, if you sneak food behind my back again, don’t even think about getting in bed to sleep.”
Although there were no barbecue trays or empty plates on the small table beside them, when he leaned closer, he caught the faint scent of cumin.
Normally, she should smell very sweet there—always the light, clear fragrance of shea butter that made him want to kiss her.
Clearly dissatisfied with this answer, Tang Ning trailed behind him, muttering very quietly: “You talk as if I’m dying to yin-yang harmony with you… so immoral, ptui.”
That little “ptui” actually made Jiang Linye laugh.
When they reached the floor-to-ceiling door, he stopped once more.
“Tang Ning,” he said. “You were the one who begged me to marry you. You were also the one who begged me to get into bed.”
“Now you’re telling me it’s immoral. Isn’t that a bit ridiculous?”
Even after returning to North City, the question still swirled in Tang Ning’s mind.
She didn’t think “immoral” was ridiculous at all.
She found Uncle Hei’s sentence—“Mr. Jiang loves you very much”—pretty laughable.
“Which normal man with a brain expresses love like this? His wife gets in a car accident, he flies back and immediately does indescribable things to me in the hospital; right after I get discharged, he feeds me plain boiled cabbage; I fall asleep in the courtyard, and he actually shakes me awake and tells me to roll back to bed myself?”
“Maybe the caregiver uncle was bought off by President Jiang.” Sheng Xinglai sat in the car listening to her ramble, head down, grinning without looking up. “It’s not impossible.”
“He’s too lazy to bother with that kind of boring scheme.”
Weaving a beautiful lie about the world to deceive a brainless little wife—that’s the script only a male lead deserves.
But Jiang Linye is a villain! All he does is sneer coldly at the female lead: “Heh, woman, you’re just my bed-warming tool!”
As they spoke, the car reached the area near the convention center. Closer to the main zone, vehicles formed a long dragon, and traffic started to jam.
Tang Ning wondered aloud: “Can you actually see admiration for me in his eyes?”
She’d asked this question about ten times along the way already. Sheng Xinglai jolted like she’d been electrocuted: “I’m blind. The only thing I can see in your teenage eyes is that back then, you really, really wanted to do indescribable things with him.”
“…”
After a tiny pause, her bestie added with a sly, ambiguous tone: “And now you’ve probably done it a ton of times—whether you initiated or not. Either way, congratulations, your dream came true~”
Tang Ning snatched the brochure from her hand and pretended to smack her with it.
“Gentle, gentle! Don’t ruin it—we need it later.” Sheng Xinglai was laughing so hard, then reached over and scratched under Tang Ning’s chin like she was petting a cat to soothe her. “My hospital just finished renovations. When are you coming over to visit?”
Tang Ning leaned against her and looked at the coated-paper brochure in her friend’s hand.
A very fresh mint-green cover, printed with the hospital’s basic info and contact details, and four big characters at the bottom: Xingchuan Pet Hospital.
Tang Ning licked her lips: “No rush.”
“…”
“I’ll definitely come find you at your hospital once my husband reaches the appropriate age for neutering.”
“…??”
The Asia Pet Expo lasts one week.
The time is split in two: half for industry professionals, the other half for general visitors.
Tang Ning’s company booth didn’t need her to manage it. Her schedule was mainly in the afternoons—various major pet-industry companies were holding CEO summits, and she had to at least show her face.
But Sheng Xinglai had to come early in the morning. Xingchuan Hospital was in charge of running sixteen voluntary emergency pet first-aid stations across the exhibition halls. As the director, she didn’t have to do the hands-on work herself, but she still needed to be there early.
So Tang Ning hitched a ride with her.
She had no memory of the Asia Pet Expo and hadn’t expected the venue to be this huge. The two of them walked through the staff passage and saw the dense, dark sea of heads lined up at the entrance.
Tang Ning pointed out very scientifically: “One day definitely isn’t enough to see everything.”
“You don’t even have a pet. There’s nothing worth wandering around for anyway.”
Tang Ning immediately got upset: “Who says I don’t have one? There’s a huge dog at my house!”
“…You just cursed yourself too, Mommy’s little dummy.”
The two of them walked deeper into the venue along the halls.
The pet market had developed rapidly these past two years. It wasn’t just segmented into clothing, main food, snacks, supplements, and insurance anymore—they’d even expanded into wedding services and pet funerals.
It was still early, but there were already quite a few people moving back and forth inside the halls, some dragging suitcases, others leading small animals.
Tang Ning saw someone with a fluffy pet and instantly couldn’t walk anymore, filled with envy: “I want one too.”
“You want everything you see.”
“Do you think I could trade one Jiang Linye for one of those?”
“…”
The Asia Pet Expo also sold pets to the public. The animals in the pet zones weren’t limited to cats and dogs—there were pet ferrets, alpacas, African pygmy hedgehogs, and other small exotic pets, plus some cold-blooded ones.
Tang Ning had never owned anything fluffy before. Back when her mom was still alive, she’d get allergies and rhinitis from dust or willow catkins, so she didn’t dare keep any.
But now she had her own family…
Tang Ning hugged a rabbit from the exhibit area and refused to let go, speaking earnestly: “Xingxing, I want to open a zoo.”
Sheng Xinglai: “…?”
“You…” She was just about to roast her when suddenly, from another exhibit area behind them, came excited shrieks from a group of teenage girls.
Around the periphery of the venue, an industrial side area had set up a stage. It had been warming up ever since they entered, and now a host finally stepped on.
The huge screen behind showed the logo of a major entertainment company. The crowd nearby was drawn in and gradually drifted toward the stage.
Tang Ning had noticed it earlier but didn’t know what it was for: “Is there an event in the morning too?”
Sheng Xinglai stood on tiptoe to take a look and explained: “You know JC Video? That short-video platform under Jiangcheng Entertainment. They signed a bunch of little influencers and invited a group of pet bloggers to do an on-site event.”
Tang Ning let out a long “Ohhh.”
In front of the stage was a row of guest seats. Security had put up barrier tape behind them. Tang Ning and Sheng Xinglai stood on a small raised spot, giving them a perfect full view of the stage.
“Look.” Sheng Xinglai pointed at the row of glamorous girls sitting together. “Fu Caicai is here too.”
“Wow, how did you know I was looking for Fu Caicai?”
“Your company’s drama from a while back blew up all over the internet. Hard not to see it.” Sheng Xinglai looked disgusted. “This chick is so annoying. Back in high school I already wanted to beat her up for you.”
Tang Ning was stunned: “High school?”
“Didn’t you only lose five years of memory? How could you even forget her?” Sheng Xinglai was surprised. “She was the math class rep in the class next door in high school—same grade as us! And she chased Jiang Linye for ages. You seriously forgot even that?”
Tang Ning remembered.
No wonder she felt the vlog on Weibo looked so familiar that day.
Turns out they were schoolmates.
Tang Ning huffed unhappily: “There were so many girls chasing Jiang Linye in high school. How could I remember which one she was?”
The cold and ruthless President Tang said this while pulling out Leeuwenhoek’s microscope and slowly scanning Fu Caicai from head to toe.
Today this little schoolmate was wearing a sleeveless little white dress, her long hair tied into two small Nezha buns, looking ethereal and youthful. She sat among the crowd, chatting softly with others, occasionally turning so her face showed—smiling with tiny dimples.
But…
“Didn’t her dog die?” Tang Ning noticed a big fluffy lump lying at her feet—a huge Samoyed, eagerly panting its tongue at her. “Why is she bringing another one?”
“Because she has two dogs, my silly daughter.” Sheng Xinglai sighed. “She pretty much became famous overnight. Your company’s traffic at least fucked her up 500k new followers.”
Tang Ning opened her mouth, about to say something.
The next second, as if she sensed it, Fu Caicai suddenly turned her head.
Tang Ning: “…”
Their eyes met out of nowhere.
Fu Caicai saw her, froze for two seconds, then actually smiled very friendly—even from across the huge venue, she raised her slender little arm and waved hello.
President Tang: “Eww.”
President Tang: “Look at that lipstick she’s wearing—it’s so bad she’d be better off kissing the couplet on my front door.”
Sheng Xinglai: “Should we go over?”
“Go over for what.”
“To passionately curse her out up close.”
“…”
The moment Tang Ning heard that, she got excited. She was rubbing her hands together, about to say “Yes! Let’s go right now—”
When a breathless female voice called out from behind: “Tang… President Tang!”
Tang Ning turned around and was surprised to see Jian Wei—dressed in high heels and work attire, clutching her phone, jogging through the crowded crowd to reach her: “Why are you here?”
“It’s time for us to go, President Tang.” They had agreed to meet outside the venue at noon, but Tang Ning’s phone had died and couldn’t be reached, so Jian Wei had come in to find her. “It’s almost eleven already. President Jiang told me to take you to lunch, then head to the afternoon summit.”
“No problem.” Tang Ning nodded. “Give me three minutes. I’m going to teach someone a lesson.”
Jian Wei: “?”
“See that?” She pointed. “That’s our company’s trash PR person—the one we couldn’t get in touch with, Fu Caicai.”
Jian Wei followed her finger but didn’t see anyone—just a huge dog.
She swallowed hard: “Okay, President Tang. I’ll wait here for you.”
Jian Wei had been at TJ for three years. Even before entering the workforce, she’d idolized Tang Ning and wanted to become a woman just like her—perfect and capable in every aspect of work.
But she had one fatal, secret weakness.
She was terrified of dogs.
As a child she’d been bitten badly—flesh torn open, blood and meat hanging out. Ever since, she avoided any animal with sharp teeth and a big mouth. She’d even detour around a tiny Teddy on the street.
Tang Ning didn’t think much of it and just nodded.
The next second.
A black shadow suddenly burst into her peripheral vision. That massive Samoyed had gone completely mad. Like a cannonball, it charged straight in this direction at full sprint.
All morning, Jiang Linye had been a little distracted.
Tang Ning had gone to the Asia Pet Expo alone. When she left in the morning, she hadn’t spoken to him. Breakfast time had been silent, just like the past five years.
After coming back from her father-in-law’s house, she’d stopped fussing about her amnesia. He was worried, so he told Jian Wei to stay in constant contact. When Jian Wei entered the venue to find Tang Ning, he even made her keep the video call on.
Luckily, Jian Wei found his little wife quickly.
As always, his little wife was bursting with energy—shouting about going to teach someone a lesson and showing Fu Caicai what a cold-blooded capitalist really looked like.
Jiang Linye couldn’t help but smile.
And then, the very next second—
A burst of chaotic noise exploded through his earpiece. The crowd screamed. Something kept crashing into and knocking over equipment in the venue. It didn’t stop—it kept going. Then people started getting knocked down, rolling like a snowball, triggering louder, more frequent screams.
Jiang Linye’s heart shot straight to his throat: “Jian Wei, what’s happening?”
But she was screaming too.
Her phone got knocked out of her hand in fright and landed screen-up, camera pointed straight at the high dome of the convention center.
Amid the pandemonium, Jiang Linye was frantic, about to send people over immediately, when a clear voice cut through.
“Sit!”
Gentle, firm, and incredibly penetrating.
Like a summer breeze.
—Or like it had just sliced straight through the entire crowd.
The noise on the other end instantly died down.
Jiang Linye recognized it immediately. That was Tang Ning.
He unconsciously straightened his back.
With no visual on the scene, he forced himself to stay patient: “Jian Wei, talk to me. What the hell is going on? Where’s Tang Ning?”
Jian Wei was sitting on the ground. It took her a long moment to catch her breath before she stammered: “Pres… President Jiang.”
“…?”
“Pres… President Tang is so cool.” She stared at Tang Ning, who had decisively subdued the huge dog, completely incoherent, her face flushed with excitement. “I want to work for her forever… No, I—I want to marry her wuwuwu…”
Jiang Linye: “??”