It rained again tonight.
Fine droplets of rain clung to the floor-to-ceiling windows, making the neon lights outside look hazy and blurred.
Ni Xia was half asleep, drifting between wakefulness and drowsiness, when the phone beside her pillow suddenly vibrated. It drove away most of her sleep.
She sleepily picked up her phone. When a new message popped up, the corners of her lips curled into a smile.
[J]: Not bad.
Getting a compliment from You Jue made all the effort she had put into the meal worthwhile.
It seemed that You Jue was quite interested in good food.
But why had he only replied at eleven?
Ni Xia looked up at the dark night outside the window.
Had he been so busy that he only had time to eat now? That sounded exhausting.
[Ni Xia]: As long as you like it~
[Ni Xia]: Is there anything else you want to eat? I can make it for you next time.
As she sent the message, Ni Xia had already started going through all the delicious dishes she had tried before.
Gongbao Chicken from Shuijing, First-Class Tofu from Haidailou, Wenzheng Mountain Bamboo Shoots from Huiyun Pavilion, Eight-Treasure Rice from Huaiyang Xiaoyan…
[J]: Don’t trouble yourself.
[J]: If I want to eat something, I’ll just order it myself.
Ni Xia: “…”
Oh.
Wait. What did he mean by “I’ll just order it myself”?
Did he know that the food had been delivered from Xixiang Feast?
Impossible. Unless he knew the chef there.
“Food ordered from outside can’t compare to what I make myself—”
She had typed halfway through the sentence when she suddenly felt guilty and deleted it.
She didn’t dare underestimate a lawyer’s sharp instincts. It was better to just end the conversation here.
Early the next morning, Ni Xia walked across the damp ground from the outdoor parking lot to the entrance of Jiangcheng Exhibition Center.
The opening ceremony of the Jiangcheng Film Production and Broadcasting Annual Conference was being held there. Gu Yusheng had managed to get two entrance tickets from a friend, and the two of them planned to sneak in and try their luck.
After all, industry giants gathered at events like this to exchange connections and resources. Who knew? They might even stumble upon an unexpected opportunity.
Before long, Gu Yusheng arrived with an umbrella, walking briskly toward her.
“Not bad. I thought there was no way you’d get up today. Looks like you just washed your face and came straight here.”
But Ni Xia had not only done her full makeup. She also looked surprisingly energetic.
“I got up at seven.”
Ni Xia proudly raised her eyebrows as she walked inside beside Gu Yusheng.
“I even made myself a cup of coffee.”
“Money really can cure everything.”
Gu Yusheng laughed.
“You haven’t slept this well in a long time, have you?”
Ni Xia happily hummed in agreement, her voice rising at the end.
“If nothing unexpected happens, Grandpa’s three million should keep me sleeping well for quite a while.”
“If you were sleeping in your husband’s arms, you’d probably sleep even better.”
Ni Xia didn’t understand at first and gave a confused “Huh?” before realizing who Gu Yusheng meant by “your husband.”
Calling him “your husband” was one thing, but she even had to describe her lying in his arms.
The image immediately appeared in Ni Xia’s mind. She even stumbled slightly as she walked.
When she turned and met Gu Yusheng’s knowing gaze, she finally understood and murmured, “Who wouldn’t sleep well in the arms of someone worth fifty million?”
Then she spread her hands.
“Unfortunately, my husband and I aren’t very familiar yet.”
As they spoke, they had already reached the hall where the opening ceremony was being held.
Looking at the enormous sign-in wall in front of them, Gu Yusheng raised her eyebrows.
“Don’t worry. He’s only Plan B, after all.”
The annual industry event was packed with people coming and going. Everyone was dressed to impress, greeting one another and exchanging pleasantries.
Ni Xia knew perfectly well that she had gotten in by tagging along. She was young and had no reputation in the industry, so it was inevitable that she felt nervous.
Gu Yusheng, however, showed no sign of nervousness. She was tall to begin with, and standing there in a shirt dress with a signing pen in hand, she genuinely looked like a young executive from a film company.
With that kind of presence, even the staff didn’t dare neglect them. They politely led them into the conference hall.
But even in the entertainment industry, opening ceremonies were still dull and rigid.
There were the same old speeches from officials, presentations of industry achievements, followed by a few strategic cooperation signing ceremonies. The whole thing dragged on for more than two hours.
Ni Xia and Gu Yusheng were seated in the very corner. The people around them were all staff members responsible for the ceremony, so they had no chance of making useful connections.
The afternoon panel discussions were much the same.
The two of them moved from one conference room to another. Gu Yusheng carefully observed everyone around them, but she still couldn’t find an opportunity to strike up a conversation.
It looked like they were going to leave empty-handed today.
Ni Xia sighed and absentmindedly started playing with her phone.
After replying to a few messages, she scrolled down to You Jue’s chat. Looking at their last exchange, she forced herself to forget the awkwardness and pretended nothing had happened.
[Ni Xia]: My grandpa wants to invite you to his house for dinner tonight.
[Ni Xia]: I’m near your law firm right now. Do you want me to pick you up on my way?
A moment later.
[J]: No.
Tsk.
Just as expected. No wonder he could only be Plan B.
Ni Xia put her phone away, disappointed, and leaned toward Gu Yusheng.
“I’ll leave after this session. I promised Grandpa I’d have dinner at his place.”
“No problem.”
Gu Yusheng nodded.
“But leave your car with me. I need to use it tonight.”
“Sure.”
Ni Xia immediately handed her the car keys.
Then she noticed that Gu Yusheng had been staring at the back of someone’s head in the row ahead.
Ni Xia narrowed her eyes and took a closer look.
“Who are you looking at?”
“I feel like I’ve seen that person before…”
As soon as Gu Yusheng finished speaking, the man turned around and quietly exchanged a few words with someone sitting behind him.
The moment Gu Yusheng saw his profile, she sucked in a breath.
“It really is him!”
“Who?”
“Luo Zhan, the vice president of Qinhai Entertainment.”
Gu Yusheng gritted her teeth.
“I was fooled by that refined-looking face of his back then. The moment he turned against me, he was a complete bastard!”
Although Gu Yusheng cursed him under her breath, she knew exactly where she stood.
Forget openly confronting Luo Zhan. She didn’t even dare to meet him face-to-face.
So after the round-table discussion ended, all she could do was drag Ni Xia away quietly and sneak off.
At the end of a dim corridor, Gu Yusheng hid in a corner and watched Luo Zhan chatting and laughing with others. She was so angry that her teeth almost hurt from grinding them.
Ni Xia looked around and whispered, “I’m going to the restroom and then heading straight home. Are you staying here?”
Gu Yusheng waved dismissively.
“I’ll look around a little longer.”
“Okay.”
The restrooms at the exhibition center were spacious. The men’s and women’s entrances were on opposite sides, with a shared circular sink area in the middle.
Since this restroom was at the very end of the building, there weren’t many people around.
After washing her hands, Ni Xia took out her compact and lipstick and carefully touched up her makeup. She paid no attention when she heard footsteps approaching.
That was until a middle-aged man’s voice came from the other side of the sink.
“Hey, it doesn’t matter if we don’t understand it. As long as Young Master Meng likes it.”
“I’m just telling the truth. Who watches science fiction movies these days? And the main character is just a little girl. At most, it’ll attract some young girls. But Young Master Meng is confident about it.”
In just two sentences, Ni Xia immediately picked up several important keywords.
Her hand stopped while applying lipstick. She slightly turned her head and looked across the sink.
Sure enough, the man on the phone was Luo Zhan.
“The investment isn’t small. Those rich second-generation kids don’t understand a damn thing. They’re just lucky to be born into wealthy families. But what do I care? It’s not my money anyway.”
He laughed twice and turned on the faucet, holding his phone between his shoulder and ear.
“Didn’t it already fall through? Oh, I know. Where are those two young girls supposed to get the money? Don’t worry. They won’t be able to get the film produced.”
The conversation was heading straight toward the very thing Ni Xia feared.
Luo Zhan’s contemptuous tone made her fingers tremble around the lipstick.
“Their copyright expires in a little over half a year. It doesn’t matter whether they give it to us or not. Young Master Meng said we can just go directly to the copyright holder. Five or six million isn’t a big deal.”
Clack.
The lipstick slipped from Ni Xia’s hand and fell into the sink.
Fortunately, Luo Zhan had the faucet running, and the sound of the water covered the noise.
He finished washing his hands, shook them twice, and turned to leave.
Ni Xia was left standing alone in front of the sink, stunned.
Five or six million…
She had spent only a few hundred thousand of her own money to buy the copyright back then. When she decided to renew it, Grandpa happened to give her three million.
She had thought that would be enough to secure everything.
But Qinhai was actually willing to offer five or six million.
Unless the copyright holder had lost their mind, they would obviously choose Qinhai.
No.
They couldn’t lose at this point.
They had to secure the copyright first.
Ni Xia watched helplessly as the reflection of her face in the mirror quickly turned pale.
Once Luo Zhan’s footsteps disappeared, she grabbed her bag and ran outside.
She didn’t know where Gu Yusheng had gone, and she wasn’t answering her phone.
Ni Xia searched floor by floor until she finally spotted her at the main entrance on the first floor.
It seemed to have rained again that afternoon. The ground was wet, and droplets clung to the leaves before being blown down by the autumn wind.
The moment Ni Xia stepped outside, she felt the chill.
Yet Gu Yusheng, wearing only a dress, showed no reaction to the cold as she chatted with a group of strangers, even though the tip of her nose had already turned bright red.
“Gu—”
Before Ni Xia could finish calling her, Gu Yusheng seemed to sense her presence. She turned around, saw Ni Xia, and excitedly waved her over.
“Ni Xia, come here!”
Ni Xia didn’t recognize a single person in the group, but from their clothes and bearing, it was obvious they were important people.
Before Ni Xia could even stop, Gu Yusheng pulled her over and began introducing everyone.
“This is President Wang, this is President Li…”
She chatted with them so naturally that it was as if she had known them for years.
With Gu Yusheng doing all the talking, Ni Xia barely had a chance to say anything.
Only when everyone was preparing to leave did Gu Yusheng ask, “We’re all going out for dinner together. Do you want to come?”
Ni Xia hesitated for a moment before shaking her head.
“I’ll pass. My grandpa—”
“She’s going to visit her grandpa tonight.”
Afraid that the others might think Ni Xia was being aloof, Gu Yusheng quickly took over and embellished the explanation.
“Old people are getting on in years. All they look forward to is having their children and grandchildren come home. He’s probably been waiting for her since early this morning and has already prepared a whole table of food. He’s probably watching the door and waiting anxiously by now.”
Ni Xia: “…”
Seeing everyone nod in understanding, Gu Yusheng finally relaxed.
Actually, she didn’t want Ni Xia to come along for dinner either. Ni Xia wasn’t good at socializing and was too honest. Having her there might only get in the way of Gu Yusheng’s networking.
On the way to Grandpa’s house, a light drizzle began to fall again.
Ni Xia leaned her head against the car window, her worried expression reflected in the glass.
Traffic was completely jammed, with the lanes on both sides barely moving.
Beside her was a striking gray sports car. Just from its wedge-shaped body, she could tell it was worth a fortune.
Ni Xia suddenly regretted not being interested in cars when she was younger.
The day she got her driver’s license, Grandpa had offered to buy her a car, but she had waved him off, saying she didn’t want to drive.
When she finally needed a car, she simply inherited the one her mother had grown tired of driving, registered it under her license, and drove it away.
Now, aside from several large apartments that had yet to be completed and handed over, she surprisingly had no assets that she could quickly turn into cash.
While Ni Xia was lost in thought, her phone chimed twice.
Grandpa had sent her a voice message.
“Have you left yet?”
Hearing her grandfather’s voice, Ni Xia sighed again.
If she hadn’t overheard Luo Zhan, she probably would have gone to dinner with Gu Yusheng.
But now that another huge financial hole had appeared right in front of her, the first people she wanted to rely on were still her family—not a group of strangers wearing social masks.
“I’m on the way. I’ll be there in half an hour.”
After replying to Grandpa, Ni Xia sent Gu Yusheng a message, telling her everything she had overheard in the restroom word for word.
Of course, Gu Yusheng didn’t reply.
Who knew when she would have time to check her phone?
Feeling frustrated, Ni Xia scrolled through all the apps on her phone before finally opening her Moments.
By coincidence, the very first post that appeared after refreshing was from Fang Jialin.
He had posted a photo of the international arrivals terminal at Jiangcheng Airport, with just three words as the caption:
I’m back.
He had been absent from her social media for so many years that Ni Xia had almost forgotten they were still friends.
The moment she saw his name, she couldn’t even remember what he looked like. She only vaguely recalled that he was a tall, thin guy.
That tiny bit of memory remained only because Fang Jialin had once confessed his feelings to her.
But what did he mean by “I’m back”?
Had he been abroad all this time?
He really kept a low profile.
The ride-hailing car crawled through the rain. Nearly forty minutes later, it finally arrived at the villa community where Ni Jianguo lived.
The driver dropped Ni Xia off at the gate. She got out and hurried through the rain, taking two or three steps to reach the shelter of the roof.
The front door was unlocked. The housekeeper was cooking in the kitchen, but aside from her, the entire first floor was empty.
Knowing her grandfather’s habits, Ni Xia put down her bag and headed upstairs.
The villa was even older than Ni Xia herself. As she stepped onto the solid wood staircase, it creaked softly beneath her feet.
Ni Xia had lived here until she started middle school.
When she was young and didn’t know any better, she was always jealous of her classmates’ homes. Their decorations were bright and fashionable, unlike hers, which looked old-fashioned, with dark furniture everywhere.
Other families kept cute cats, dogs, and rabbits.
Her family kept strange, ugly-looking fish.
Other families grew beautiful, colorful flowers.
Her family planted aloe vera that seemed to be everywhere.
Only after she grew up did Ni Xia realize that the dark furniture in her home was made of red sandalwood.
Those strange, ugly fish were freshwater black diamond stingrays worth seven or eight hundred thousand yuan each.
And the aloe vera she thought was ordinary was actually Queen Victoria agave. Just one of her grandfather’s plants was worth as much as three hundred thousand yuan.
Every brick and tile in the villa seemed to radiate the scent of money.
But no matter how rich Grandpa was, if he refused to help her, she couldn’t exactly rob him.
She had already tried crying and making a fuss a while ago, which had resulted in the grandfather and granddaughter giving each other the cold shoulder for several days.
Would crying again today actually work?
Ni Xia shook her head to herself.
Probably not.
The last two times she had managed to get money from Grandpa, it was because he had happened to see her together with You Jue and assumed they were dating…
Thinking of You Jue made Ni Xia feel even more depressed.
If he were here, there might actually be some hope.
But he didn’t want to come over. What could she do, put on a one-woman show?
Lost in thought, Ni Xia reached the second floor.
Beyond the hallway was an enclosed terrace where Grandpa usually drank tea.
She knocked on the door.
When she heard no response, she pushed it open.
Amid the lush green plants, a young man sat in the chair at the center.
He wore a dark gray hoodie and was bent over, playing with an antique-looking tea set. A few strands of messy hair fell across his brows, softening the sharpness of his features.
The moment he turned his head and looked at her, Ni Xia felt as though the dark, cold, damp terrace had suddenly been flooded with brilliant sunlight.
Golden light seemed to shine everywhere.
This wasn’t Plan B at all.
He was a living, breathing pile of cash.