Fu Jinzhi rarely left work right at 5 PM, but today he did. He greeted his executive assistant, then grabbed Wen Yao—who was still grinning mischievously—and walked out of the company with her.
“I’m telling you, barely anyone even saw me.”
Wen Yao chattered on and on to Fu Jinzhi about how cleverly she’d contacted his former assistant, and how she’d quietly slipped into his office via the private elevator without making a sound.
“Why all the secrecy?” Fu Jinzhi’s eyes were full of amusement. In his view, Wen Yao’s efforts were rather pointless.
Whether it was the front desk staff or the employees who’d caught her taking the private elevator, they would all speculate about her identity anyway.
“Uh, mystery is the fountain of a woman’s beauty.” Wen Yao paused, then tossed out a random excuse.
She was doing this for Fu Jinzhi, after all. Later, when she completed her mission and they got divorced, Fu Jinzhi would be spared unnecessary gossip—at least he could maintain his full authority within the company.
Fu Yan’s home wasn’t too far from the Fu Group headquarters—about a 40-minute drive.
She no longer lived at the Fu family estate. The moment she graduated, she’d signed with a talent agency, planning to break into the entertainment industry.
But on one hand, she didn’t want to rely on her family’s connections; on the other, she couldn’t stomach being pushed around.
As it stood, she was lucky to land even a few jobs a year, and most of those were just print modeling gigs.
The apartment she rented was naturally far inferior to the Fu family home, but the privacy it offered was quite good.
“Two years since her debut, and she’s still a nobody.” Fu Jinzhi smiled as he delivered his scathing assessment of his sister. “I have no idea what kind of confidentiality needs she thinks she has.”
After calling Fu Yan, the two of them registered at the gate before entering the residential complex. The one-elevator-per-floor layout certainly did enhance privacy.
Fu Yan was waiting for them at her door, wearing a large mask over her face, looking rather listless.
Beside her stood a young woman in a plain-colored long skirt with a light cardigan draped over her shoulders, her hair loosely tied back—artistic and gentle in equal measure.
“Oh, An Ruoruo.” Wen Yao was caught off guard. She’d only just looked at the White Moonlight’s photo, and now she was seeing her in person. “Back from the dead?!”
“Hello, Miss Wen. I’m An Rourou.” A gentle smile floated across An Rourou’s innocent face as she spoke in a soft, lilting voice—sweet and endearing.
She tilted her face 41 degrees toward Fu Jinzhi. “Senior Fu, it’s been a long time.”
This was the angle An Rourou had practiced countless times in the mirror—the one that made her look most like An Ruoruo. Even the upward curve of her lips was precisely calibrated.
Fu Jinzhi did react. His brows furrowed slightly, his expression subtle. “You are…?”
An Rourou’s smile froze. How could this be? Shouldn’t he have transferred his feelings onto her because of her resemblance to An Ruoruo? Or better yet, shouldn’t he have recognized her as his former junior from school?
“Senior, you’re so busy with important matters that you’ve probably forgotten. I attended the same middle school and high school as you.” There was a hint of playful grievance in An Rourou’s voice.
“Oh, you went to the same school as my brother? Why haven’t you ever mentioned that?” Fu Yan’s listless demeanor perked up slightly.
“Do you want me to keep standing here?” Fu Jinzhi cut off Fu Yan’s question, his expression cool and detached, a flicker of impatience in his eyes.
“Alright, let’s sit down and talk.” An Rourou felt a bit awkward and stepped in to smooth things over.
Once inside, they settled on the living room sofa, and An Rourou poured tea for everyone like a hostess.
A glint of interest flashed through Wen Yao’s eyes. “Miss An looks a great deal like an old acquaintance of my husband’s.”
“But that’s not important either. Are you a friend of Yanyan’s? Why are you still here so late?”
An Rourou was displeased inside, but her face still held an impeccable smile. “Miss Fu has developed some acne on her face. As her therapist, I’ve been staying here recently to facilitate treatment.”
Fu Yan removed her mask. Her originally fair and clean face was indeed covered in many deep red pimples, greatly diminishing her looks. She was in a very bad mood.
“I finally landed a video ad for a sports brand, and now with my face like this, I can only turn it down.”
Seeing her miserable state, Wen Yao’s lips pressed together slightly. This female lead was too ruthless—how could she do this to a young girl who loved beauty?
“Have your brother contact a top dermatologist he knows and go to the hospital for a proper check-up.”
“No need for that.” Fu Yan pouted. “This isn’t the first time. After a party before, my face also broke out in pimples for no reason.”
“I went to the hospital for days with no improvement. Luckily, Rourou’s medical skills are superb—she cured me within a week.”
Silly child, being sold by someone and still counting the money for them. Last time, it was also the female lead who drugged you.
Wen Yao almost felt a pang of affection for Fu Yan.
“Why did you two come today?” Fu Yan looked at her second brother and sister-in-law, a bit puzzled.
“She saw that you didn’t attend the birthday banquet earlier and was a little worried, so she insisted on coming to check on you.” Fu Jinzhi chuckled softly, raising his teacup to his lips.
“Hey!” Wen Yao snatched the cup from his hand, accidentally spilling a bit on herself.
The tea handed over by the poison master herself—how dare he drink it? Does he not want to live?
“What are you doing?” Fu Jinzhi’s brows lowered slightly as he casually pulled a few tissues from the coffee table to wipe Wen Yao.
“It’s already this late, and you’re still drinking tea? Can you even sleep tonight?” Wen Yao had found her excuse.
It was quite convincing—Nanny Wang had said Fu Jinzhi suffered from mild neurasthenia and often had insomnia.
“Always showing off your affection.” Fu Yan muttered under her breath. Thinking of what Fu Jinzhi had said, she felt a little embarrassed.
“Thanks for coming to see me, sister-in-law, but I’m really fine. You two should head home.”
[Host, I’ve detected the residual tea on you. It was indeed drugged.]
[It’s not very harmful, but it will make a person’s mind hazy for a few hours and their emotions more volatile.]
Hmph. Thinking of how Fu Jinzhi in the original novel inexplicably ended up keeping a substitute, Wen Yao roughly understood the reason.
Drug manipulation plus brainwashing to attack weak emotions—truly, she does nothing human at all.
Giving the female lead this kind of traditional Chinese medicine Golden Finger in modern society—is that even scientific? The original novel really went too far.
“Is there a way to cure the poison on Fu Yan?”
[Sorry, Host, I cannot provide an antidote. However, perhaps out of fear of being discovered, An Rourou’s dosage wasn’t large. As long as she’s no longer exposed to the toxin, it should be fully metabolized within a week or two.]
“So you’re shooing me away already?” Knowing what she needed to know, Wen Yao wrapped her arm around Fu Yan’s and acted coy. “Since you don’t have work lately anyway, come stay at my place for a few days~”
“Your second brother is usually too busy to keep me company, and I’m so bored all alone.”
“But I still need to treat my face…” Fu Yan had always been obsessed with appearances, which was exactly why she’d entered the entertainment industry. Looking at Wen Yao’s stunningly beautiful face as she acted spoiled toward her, she felt completely dazed.
Heaven knows, just a week ago she had still disliked this sister-in-law—she was decent-looking but always gave others a cold face.
“What does that matter?” Wen Yao turned to look at An Rourou. “Miss An can simply prescribe the necessary medication for us, can’t she?”
“It’s not like the treatment only works when Miss An is present, right?”
An Rourou’s heart jolted, and for a split second she thought Wen Yao knew something—but how could she?
Her gaze flickered, and the smile at the corners of her lips faltered. “Yes, just take the medicine on time and control your diet as I mentioned before.”
Her plans had been completely thrown into disarray, and An Ruoruo’s face wasn’t as useful as she had imagined.
It seemed she would need to think of a new approach. This Wen Yao was truly in the way.
If only she didn’t exist…