Return: My Hell and Heaven
Chapter 17: Reunion (2)
Song Shu held her breath in horror.
The room was exceedingly dark, with no light at all. Song Shu couldn’t determine if the person in front of her was awake or what state he was in.
After her name was called in a way that made her afraid to move recklessly, the person’s voice was intermittent and hoarse, with a drunken murmur: “Song Shu…” He reached out and encircled her with his arm, resting his head on her shoulder, his tone low and mournful like a helpless child.
Song Shu felt a pain in her chest.
She did not struggle and stayed still until the room gradually quieted down.
The person lying on her seemed to have found the warmest place, holding her tightly. He buried his head in her long hair hanging down by her neck, giving light kisses to her hair scented faintly with shampoo, and his breathing gradually steadied.
After some time, when the breath beside her ear finally became steady and even, Song Shu snapped back to her senses. She carefully tried to free her tightly gripped right hand from the man’s hold. But he held on too tightly, and her wrist didn’t budge despite several attempts.
Song Shu sighed silently.
She should have known, no matter how much psychological preparation she did before and after returning home, she couldn’t control her emotions when facing Qin Lou.
Perhaps she should be grateful that their first reunion happened when he wasn’t fully conscious—she still had time and opportunity to adjust herself.
Thinking this, Song Shu carefully pried open his fingers and withdrew her arm. Then she gently placed his hand back beside him.
As she withdrew her own fingers, she accidentally brushed against Qin Lou’s wrist.
Song Shu’s movement paused again.
Instinctively, she looked down, feeling a sticky texture under her fingertips, along with a hint of blood hidden beneath the smell of alcohol.
Her fingers trembling slightly, Song Shu took her phone out of her pocket, turned on the flashlight, and directed the small beam of light at Qin Lou’s arm.
The skin was split and bloody at the point where the back of his hand extended towards the wrist.
It wasn’t the worst-case scenario she feared, and she felt both relieved and anxious. After observing the wound for a moment, she realized it had mostly stopped bleeding on its own. Any further treatment would involve cleaning, disinfecting, medicating, and bandaging.
But that was something she absolutely couldn’t do.
Song Shu could only turn off the flashlight, endure the wrenching pain in her heart, and make her way outside with difficulty.
In the dark, she stumbled over a rolling wine bottle on the floor, nearly falling but steadying herself with the help of a nearby sofa.
Upon reaching the elevator lobby, Song Shu picked up her bag from the floor, not giving herself a chance to hesitate or look back, and quickly stepped into the elevator.
As the elevator doors closed in front of her, the soft purple-padded background disappeared. Song Shu slowly exhaled and clutched her handbag tightly.
The mirrored metal walls of the elevator reflected a woman who slowly revealed a gentle smile.
Only her eyes were cold, pained, and determined.
For the sake of her plan, and for Qin Lou—she couldn’t let anyone recognize her.
~
8th floor of Vio Capital, main personnel department floor.
In the pantry, two female colleagues stood side by side, filling their water bottles.
“What’s wrong with Minister Luan today? She seemed really down since she came up from the archives room on the 7th floor. I saw her pacing around the office several times.”
“This week is ‘Hell Week.’ She always gets in a bad mood around this time of year. That’s why people in the company say she and President Qin must have a history.”
“It feels different this time…” The speaker glanced outside the pantry before lowering her voice. “I heard from Dennis that Minister Luan seems to have a bias against the newcomer from Junsheng Law Firm.”
“Hmm? Junsheng has a newcomer? Haven’t they always had consultants from their firm?”
“This one’s different. I heard they’re a top graduate from some prestigious foreign university, coming to our company as a ‘compliance officer[1]‘.”
“…I barely passed CET-4 and CET-6, so please don’t throw English terms into our conversation.”
“Haha, it’s because there’s no strict translation for this job in Chinese. Some call it ‘assistant compliance officer,’ but the role isn’t widespread here… That’s all I know.”
“Sounds like a cushy job for someone who got in through connections. Is that why Minister Luan is upset?”
“Couldn’t be. What does she have to be upset about? If it weren’t for President Qin, Minister Luan wouldn’t have climbed to her position in Vio at such a young age.”
“Tsk tsk, being good-looking sure has its perks…”
“Speaking of which, Dennis said the newcomer, despite wearing black-framed glasses, is actually very beautiful.”
“Wow, that sounds like it could be interesting.”
“Isn’t it?”
“….”
In the minister’s office at the end of the same floor, Luan Qiaoqing looked down at the resume in her hand, her brows furrowed with a pained expression.
Too coincidental… it was really too coincidental.
A woman who looked so much like her sister, arriving at the company on her sister’s birthday—was this really just a coincidence?
Luan Qiaoqing gazed at the woman in the photo.
The woman in the picture was smiling at the camera, gentle and even charming. Any man seeing her for the first time would probably be momentarily distracted—completely different from the sister in Luan Qiaoqing’s memory. Even if their facial features were similar, that person never showed any emotion on her face, no matter what she did.
To this day, she could clearly remember that moment—when the truck hit, the girl next to her, who wasn’t even as tall as she was, jumped over to protect her.
Even at that moment, that person had no expression, except for a pained frown. In their dazed state, Luan Qiaoqing could still hear that person’s voice whispering in her ear.
“Qiaoqiao… don’t cry… someone will come to save us… everything, everything will be alright…”
Luan Qiaoqing suddenly tightened her grip on the document.
She glared at her reflection in the glass, her eyes red-rimmed—because that person had lied to her.
She was taken to the hospital, but she only had time to see that person once more!
She had said everything would be alright… liar! Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
The glass door of the office was suddenly tapped on, then pushed open a crack.
“Minister Luan, the person you scheduled an appointment with has arrived. Should I let him in directly?”
“…” Luan Qiaoqing silently took a deep breath, suppressing the tremble in her voice, and tried to speak calmly, “Yes. Let him in.”
“Alright.”
Half a minute later, a man in a suit carrying a briefcase entered Luan Qiaoqing’s office. The assistant closed the door behind him as she left.
The man stood still, waiting until the assistant had left before stepping forward and extending his hand to Luan Qiaoqing. “Minister Luan, hello.”
“Hello.” After a brief handshake, Luan Qiaoqing gestured to the sofa, “Mr. Qiao, please have a seat.”
“Thank you, Minister Luan.”
“It’s only right to be courteous when I’ve specially asked you to come.”
After they sat down, Luan Qiaoqing began, “I won’t waste our time—let’s get straight to the point, shall we?”
“Of course. What can I help you with, Minister Luan?”
“I’d like you to investigate someone for me,” Luan Qiaoqing pushed a copy of the resume in her hand towards the man. “This is a new consultant from Junsheng Law Firm, a firm we frequently collaborate with. I want you to look into her background.”
“Do you have any specific suspicions or uncertainties about her background?”
“I’d like to obtain childhood photos of this person or evidence sufficient to prove whether she has undergone plastic surgery.”
“You suspect she may have altered her appearance to look like someone else?”
“…”
Luan Qiaoqing was silent for two seconds, her gaze darkening as her hand unconsciously clenched.
After a few moments, she said, “Yes. I suspect someone might be using past individuals and events to deliberately infiltrate Vio.”
The man was taken aback, his expression changing slightly, “You mean… industrial espionage?”
Luan Qiaoqing paused, “It’s just a suspicion.”
“Given Vio’s current level of business, this is indeed something that needs to be guarded against.” The man looked thoughtful as he quickly skimmed through the documents, then asked uncertainly, “But this new employee’s position doesn’t seem sufficient to access Vio’s core operations.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. Just get me the results as soon as possible.”
“Understood.”
The man placed the documents into his briefcase.
At that moment, Luan Qiaoqing’s phone suddenly rang.
She gestured for the man to wait, then stood up and retrieved her phone from the corner. Seeing the caller ID, she paused, almost instinctively checking the date on her desk.
It was indeed Song Shu’s birthday.
So why would Qin Lou be calling her today?
Without overthinking, she answered the call.
“Brother?”
“This morning…” The voice on the other end was weary and hoarse, “Did anyone come to the 23rd floor?”
Luan Qiaoqing was stunned, “How could that be? Everyone in the company knows not to disturb you this week. No one would dare go up there without permission.”
“….”
“Did something happen?” Luan Qiaoqing asked cautiously.
After a long silence, a low, hoarse laugh came from the other end.
“Nothing. Just dreamed of her again.”
Luan Qiaoqing froze.
Qin Lou had already hung up.
The phone clattered to the floor, echoing in the empty room.
Qin Lou leaned against the sofa, letting out a short laugh after a while. He looked up at the ceiling, his eyes vacant and crazed.
“But this was the most realistic dream yet, Doll.”
“Minister Luan? Minister Luan?”
“Ah, sorry.” Luan Qiaoqing hurriedly put her phone away and looked back at the man standing by the sofa. When her eyes fell on the briefcase in his hand, she suddenly remembered something, and her face changed. “Could it be that she went up there?”
“Uh? Minister Luan, what are you talking about?”
Luan Qiaoqing snapped back to reality, her expression having changed. She frowned and said, “You can go back now. I’ll contact you if anything comes up—inform me as soon as you have any results.”
“Alright, understood.”
As soon as he left, Luan Qiaoqing quickly returned to her desk, picked up the landline, and dialed the extension for the IT department. Once connected, she said, “I need to retrieve the elevator operation records for this morning—verify if anyone went to the 23rd floor.”
“……”
A few minutes later, with the answer in hand, Luan Qiaoqing’s face turned pale. She stared intently at the woman in the elevator surveillance footage.
“Qin Qing, who exactly are you, and what do you want at Vio?”
She harshly pressed the thermal mug she’d picked up back onto the desk. Leaning over her computer, she gritted her teeth at the woman on the screen.
“No matter who’s behind you, I absolutely, absolutely won’t let you succeed! And… how dare you use her face. When I find out who you all are, I’ll tear you to pieces and feed you to the pigs!”
In the frozen surveillance footage, the woman smiled gently, silently.
Luan Qiaoqing glared at the screen for a few more seconds before her eyes reddened. She suddenly slammed the computer monitor down.
“Don’t you dare use her face to smile so disgustingly!” Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
The glass soundproofing wasn’t very effective.
Outside, in the cubicles, everyone on the 8th floor of the HR department looked up in stunned confusion.
~
For dinner, Yu Qisheng, under the guise of “welcoming and celebrating a birthday,” took Song Shu to a famous open-air riverside restaurant in Q City.
He went out to take a phone call midway through, and when he returned, his expression was somewhat complex.
Song Shu noticed and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Yu Qisheng hesitated before saying, “Vio called me, indirectly suggesting they want to replace their new consultant.”
Song Shu’s expression remained unchanged. After thinking for a few seconds, she smiled faintly, “I see.”
“See what?”
“I see who I’ve probably ‘offended’.”
Yu Qisheng was taken aback, “Weren’t you just going there for onboarding today? How could you have offended someone?”
“Well, because I ran into an ‘old acquaintance’.”
“—!” Yu Qisheng stopped cutting his steak and looked up sharply, “Did you see Qin Lou?”
Song Shu’s eyes flickered for a moment, then she looked up and smiled, “No need to get so worked up, Mr. Yu. I only saw Minister Luan from the HR department.”
“Then how…” Yu Qisheng paused mid-sentence. After a brief thought, he smiled helplessly, “It seems Minister Luan feels threatened by you?”
“Mr. Yu, Qiaoqiao isn’t like that. Besides, she personally witnessed ‘my’ death certificate and cremation back then. She wouldn’t suspect that I’m still alive.”
“Oh? Then how do you explain the HR department’s decision?”
“There’s nothing to explain,” Song Shu said, narrowing her eyes slightly as her fingers unconsciously traced the base of her wine glass.
After a moment, she came back to herself and smiled at Yu Qisheng. “I guess I still carry some traces of my past. She probably thinks I look too much like Song Shu. Vio is a vast empire, and there are plenty of people looking to exploit any loopholes. It’s always better to be cautious.”
“You certainly trust her,” Yu Qisheng remarked.
Song Shu turned her head slightly and smiled, “Because I understand her very well.”
“But people can change.”
“If it were that easy, there wouldn’t be a saying like ‘A leopard can’t change its spots,’ right, Mr. Yu?”
“…” Yu Qisheng seemed reminded of something, his gaze shifting slightly. After a moment, he looked down and smiled, “That’s not necessarily a good thing.”
Song Shu laughed as well, “And Qiaoqiao doesn’t necessarily have a good temperament.”
“Hahaha, you must have been a strict older sister back then—judging from this, you haven’t changed either.”
“…”
Song Shu’s eyes flickered, and the sound of a yacht’s horn across the river cut through the mist and night.
Song Shu came back to her senses, gently raising her slender wrist. A small seashell bracelet jingled softly.
She raised her glass and smiled faintly.
“To unchanging things.”
Yu Qisheng, after a moment of surprise, also raised his glass. The clinking of the glasses produced a clear, crisp sound in the air.
“Alright, to unchanging things.”
As for what exactly remained unchanged, each person’s heart held its own answer.
Meanwhile, at Vio Capital, on the 23rd floor.
A figure leaned numbly against the floor-to-ceiling window, the incoming moonlight cold and lonely. The room was eerily quiet, without a sound for a long while.
It wasn’t until a hand holding an empty wine bottle on a knee moved, producing a hollow clinking sound, that the person by the window slightly lifted his eyelids.
After pausing for a couple of seconds, the bottle was thrown aside. Qin Lou supported himself on the low table behind him, half-drunk and half-awake, and walked towards the wine storage.
The room was a mess, and without the light from the window, it was impossible to distinguish anything. Qin Lou stumbled a few times, finally stepping on a round wine bottle and crashing hard against the corner of the sofa.
With a dull thud, the wound on his wrist, not yet scabbed over, was torn open again, and blood dripped onto the floor.
Qin Lou let out a low, hoarse laugh, the emptiness of his emotions evident.
“…Lights on.”
He opened his mouth, his voice hoarse and strained.
The bedroom’s voice-activated system emitted a soft beep, and the nearest floor lamp linked to the system turned on.
Qin Lou paid no mind to the blood pouring from his arm. He supported himself on the sofa and prepared to stand up.
Then he froze.
He stared unblinkingly at the black leather sofa under his hand.
After a few seconds, his gaze shifted abruptly—
Under his palm, a few centimeters away, was a fresh, blood-red handprint.
A woman’s handprint.
Sansukini: Both Qin Lou and Qiaoqiao were very attached to her when they were young so they were still sensitive when it comes to her death.
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[1] This is originaly written in English