Stunned for a moment, Fu Chaoying put down her phone and closed her eyes.
In the darkness, she seemed to see a vast world of ink wash painting and that solitary, cold mountain peak standing apart from the world.
After a long while, Fu Chaoying slowly opened her eyes, which seemed to still hold a lingering mist.
She slid her finger across the screen, replying to the comments one by one in chronological order.
After replying to three or four, her fingertip hovered over Ye Jiayuan’s comment before she tapped lightly on the keyboard: 【Thank you for your concern, Sister Jiayuan [/rose][/rose]】
Fu Chaoying thought that those two rose emojis were quite fitting for their status as sisters from families with long-standing ties.
They carried a touch of appropriate distance and a well-measured politeness.
Having finished replying, she turned off her phone.
She tossed the device casually onto the nightstand, letting the exhaustion and drowsiness sweep over and completely submerge her.
When she woke up again, it was already afternoon.
Sunlight filtered through the heavy curtains, casting mottled shadows on the thin quilt. Fu Chaoying felt a dull ache in her head.
This sensation was familiar, nothing more than the aftereffects of an all-nighter spent painting.
Fu Chaoying struggled to sit up. The moment she looked at the piercing sunlight, her mind cleared slightly.
She checked her messages and saw a missed call on the screen from Liu Xin, Ye Jiayuan’s assistant.
Fu Chaoying called back.
As expected, Liu Xin was calling for routine business, asking if she had time to attend the shareholders’ video conference.
Fu Chaoying rubbed her eyes gently and declined, citing that her recent workload was too heavy.
Liu Xin expressed her understanding but then lowered her voice, offering a sigh that seemed out of character for her professional role: “It’s probably for the best that you aren’t attending.”
Hearing this, Fu Chaoying felt a flicker of curiosity and confusion. She chuckled softly, “Why do you say that?”
Liu Xin was silent for two seconds, seemingly weighing her options, before she made up her mind and whispered: “What I’m about to tell you is internal company gossip. You absolutely must not say it came from me.”
Fu Chaoying gave a light hum of agreement, a sense of anticipation rising in her heart.
Hearing the response, Liu Xin felt reassured and opened the floodgates: “It’s just that there was a bit of trouble in the HR department recently. Somehow, they managed to hire one of President Ye’s admirers. In the end, the entire department had their performance bonuses docked.”
An admirer of Ye Jiayuan…
Fu Chaoying froze slightly upon hearing this. An inexplicable emotion welled up in her heart, she couldn’t tell if it was jealousy or resentment.
Steadying herself, she asked softly, “Was it President Ye who made the decision for the punishment?”
“No, no!” Liu Xin explained quickly. “It was President Qu. She’s the one in charge of HR.”
They exchanged a few more pleasantries before hanging up.
The dial tone hummed in her ear, but Fu Chaoying’s brow only furrowed deeper. It felt as if a heavy stone was pressing against her heart.
Even after she left, Ye Jiayuan’s “peach blossoms” (romantic interests) continued to bloom vigorously. Even without her by her side, there was another woman willing to ward off those unwanted advances for her.
Ye Jiayuan didn’t need her help at all, she had one “peach blossom” to block the others.
Fu Chaoying gave a silent, bitter smile.
After a simple lunch, Fu Chaoying’s phone rang again. It was feedback from the Yun Ji team, they requested a major overhaul but provided no specific suggestions, offering only a vague “the feeling isn’t right.”
Another set of these ambiguous excuses.
Fu Chaoying took a deep breath, suppressing the irritation in her heart, and patiently and politely asked if they could provide more detailed suggestions for the revision.
Unexpectedly, the other team simply sent over a set of images. Fu Chaoying recognized them instantly, they were the latest gowns from a competing brand.
And the patterns and textures of those gowns had absolutely nothing to do with the ink wash style.
The other team followed up by demanding a revised version within two days.
Forcing down her negative emotions, Fu Chaoying gripped her phone tightly. She closed her eyes, chanting “calm down” in her mind before opening them and replying in a steady tone: 【Understood, I will revise it as soon as possible.】
She stood up immediately to go back to the office to work on the draft, but as soon as she reached the door, she felt a sudden bout of dizziness.
Hearing the commotion, Aunt Wu hurried over to support her, looking worried: “Oh my, you’ve been working non-stop for days. You should stay home and rest today!”
Fu Chaoying pulled her lips into a weak smile. “It’s alright, Aunt Wu.”
Failing to submit the manuscript within the specified deadline would be considered a breach of contract.
She couldn’t let the company face a lawsuit because of her health.
Forcing herself to push through, Fu Chaoying took a taxi to the office. Before she could even sit down at her workstation, she suddenly felt aching all over, her legs weak and her head spinning.
Seeing this, her assistant, Li Bingzhi, ran over. She immediately reached out to check Fu Chaoying’s forehead and cried out, “Teacher Fu, you seem to have a fever! Your forehead is burning!”
“It’s okay, let me check my temperature first.” Fu Chaoying’s voice was weak, but it carried a soothing tone.
Li Bingzhi went to get a thermometer and waited by her side.
It was already 38.5°C.
The office kept a stock of fever reducers. Fu Chaoying forced herself to swallow a pill and struggled to stay focused on her work.
By evening, her high fever still hadn’t subsided; in fact, it seemed to be getting worse.
Fu Chaoying’s cheeks were pale, her lips were bloodless, and fine beads of sweat broke out on her forehead.
Seeing her complexion worsen, Li Bingzhi couldn’t take it anymore and suggested softly, “Teacher Fu, how about we negotiate with them to see if we can submit the draft a bit later? If you keep going like this, your body won’t hold up.”
Fu Chaoying gave her a forced smile and nodded slightly. “I’ll try.”
With trembling fingers, she sent a message, only to receive an immediate reply: 【We understand that Teacher Fu has worked hard these past few days, but we are all waiting for your design sketches. Please persevere a bit longer.】
The words were filled with nothing but perfunctory coldness.
Fu Chaoying let out a hollow laugh and sighed softly, her voice uncannily calm: “Pack up. Let’s prepare to terminate the contract.”
The other party was clearly making things difficult on purpose. Even if she revised it a hundred times, they would still dismiss her with the phrase “the design does not meet the client’s requirements.”
Since that was the case, there was no point in wasting more time.
Shen Guannan had just finished work. Receiving the message, she rushed to the office within half an hour. Seeing Fu Chaoying’s deathly pale face, she was startled: “Heavens, are you alright?”
Fu Chaoying smiled weakly. “I’m fine. I took some medicine.”
Her voice was raspy from the fever, sounding heart-wrenchingly frail.
Worry flashed in Shen Guannan’s eyes as she checked her temperature again: 38.4°C. “If the fever doesn’t break, you must go to the hospital.”
Fu Chaoying nodded, indicating she knew her limits, and pointed to the contract on the desk. “Look over this contract for me first.”
The company’s legal counsel and Shen Guannan studied the contract carefully. Finally, they reached a consensus, the terms were vague and left a lot of room for manipulation. If it actually went to court, they might not necessarily win.
Moreover, being in China and having to fight a lawsuit in a foreign country was like walking into a lion’s den; the chances of winning were slim.
Fu Chaoying stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing into the distance, her eyes vacant and lost.
Their analysis was exactly what she had expected, but she had been unwilling to give up hope.
Fu Chaoying turned around, looked at Shen Guannan, and asked softly, “Guannan, do you have any lawyer friends who work in Singapore?”
Shen Guannan shook her head. “My overseas lawyer friends are usually in Hong Kong or the US.”
Fu Chaoying’s head was already splitting, and hearing this made her joints ache even more.
Looking at her weakened state, Shen Guannan sighed and suggested softly, “Do you want to… ask Ye Jiayuan for help?”
The Ye family had a massive presence and an extensive network in Singapore. Xingye International’s legal team was top-notch. Asking Ye Jiayuan for help was the simplest and most effective way.
Fu Chaoying’s body trembled slightly. She looked up at Shen Guannan, her gaze complex and unreadable.
After a moment, she spoke in a hoarse voice: “I’ll consider it.”
Seeing her swaying figure by the window, Shen Guannan sighed helplessly and went over to support her. “Go home and rest first. Your health comes first.”
Shen Guannan drove her home.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Fu Chaoying’s gaze remained fixed on the sunset clouds. The clouds were brilliant, but they couldn’t dispel the haze in her heart.
“Guannan, is asking Ye Jiayuan the only way?”
Shen Guannan didn’t know what had happened between them, but she could sense something from her tone. “Did you and Ye Jiayuan… have an unpleasant falling out?”
Fu Chaoying shook her head, a forced smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “No unpleasantness. It’s my problem.”
It was her wishful thinking, wanting to be Ye Jiayuan’s “contract girlfriend” to turn fake into reality.
But Ye Jiayuan didn’t seem to need her at all.
Shen Guannan wanted to press for details, but then heard her laugh softly and say in a slightly nasal voice, “It’s too embarrassing to talk about. I’ll tell you after I’ve moved on.”
At a red light, Shen Guannan stopped the car and patted her shoulder gently. “Don’t overthink it.”
Upon arriving at the Fu residence, Fu Chaoying asked Aunt Wu to host Shen Guannan while she went upstairs to take medicine and rest.
However, during her rest, she received several calls from Singapore.
All of them were demanding the draft.
Fu Chaoying smiled wordlessly. A contract intended to build the company’s reputation had now become a “debt collector’s curse.”
She turned off her phone and slept until dawn.
But she dreamed all night. In her dreams, she was being chased, mocked, and abandoned, so much so that when she woke up, she felt completely dazed.
Fortunately, the fever had broken. After washing up, Fu Chaoying felt her mind clear.
Gazing at the rising sun and the swaying flowers outside the window, only one thought remained in her mind: she wanted to terminate the contract.
She wanted to seek justice for herself and the company.
She immediately picked up her phone and dialed a number. It was picked up quickly.
“Miss Chaoying, please speak.”
Fu Chaoying adjusted her breathing, trying to make her voice sound as calm and gentle as possible: “Hello, Liu Xin. I have a private matter I’d like to ask your help with.”
Fu Chaoying briefly explained the situation and then tentatively asked if Liu Xin knew any senior lawyers who could help, promising a substantial referral fee as a thank you.
There was a long silence on the other end, so long that Fu Chaoying thought she was being declined and was about to smooth things over when she heard the voice again.
“That… Miss Chaoying…” The tone sounded very troubled.
“Is it inconvenient?” Fu Chaoying’s heart sank, and she smiled briefly. “If it’s not convenient, that’s alright.”
Before she could finish, a familiar, cold voice came through the phone.
“Xiao Ying, if you’ve run into trouble, why didn’t you come to me?”
It was Ye Jiayuan.
Perhaps from the very beginning of the call, Ye Jiayuan had been right there next to Liu Xin.
In that instant, Fu Chaoying’s heart seemed to lose its rhythm.