“And then?” Wen Xiaozhi blinked expectantly.
“There is no ‘and then’.” Zhu Qing sat with her long legs crossed on her dorm desk, leaning back as she flipped through a book, faking total composure.
Having listened to Zhu Qing’s entire account of the commission experience, Fang Kegui gave her chair a hard kick with her foot. “That’s it? That’s the reason you stayed out all night and didn’t come back until noon today? Nothing happened at all?”
Zhu Qing pouted. “Correction—I came back at ten-thirty in the morning.”
The actual reality was that, with her head spinning, she had fallen asleep on the guest bedroom bed. The next morning, she was woken by the harsh morning sunlight, only to discover that the woman had thoughtfully draped a blanket over her. But the apartment was already completely empty.
She had entertained the thought of waiting in the apartment for her to return, but she quickly noticed that the flat carried almost no signs of daily living. Aside from a few bottles of spring water, the fridge was bare, and the kitchen island was pristine and dustless.
Fang Qinghui didn’t live here regularly, and she certainly wouldn’t make a special trip back just for her. Thus, Zhu Qing could only stare blankly at the ceiling for a bit before hastily pulling her emotions together, packing her things, and slinking back to the dorm in defeat.
As for the specific details of what happened yesterday, she kept them to herself. She didn’t even mention that her client was Fang Kegui’s elder sister…
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to say it; she simply had no idea how to bring it up. Every time she opened her mouth and met Fang Kegui’s scrutinizing gaze, she found it impossible to utter something like, “I’m really interested in your sister.”
Right then, Wen Xiaozhi excitedly grabbed Fang Kegui’s hand. “See! Didn’t I tell you my fortune-telling was spot on? Zhu Qing’s iron tree has bloomed—she met her destined one!”
Fang Kegui paused, raising her eyebrows slightly. “Setting aside whether this ‘destined one’ is real or not for a second, how on earth did you determine that her iron tree bloomed?”
“Have you ever heard of Zhu Qing getting nervous in front of anyone before?” Wen Xiaozhi smiled with supreme confidence, her tone unwavering.
Fang Kegui fell into a long silence. After a while, she snatched the book right out of Zhu Qing’s hands and murmured under her breath, “Show me a picture of her.”
“Don’t have one.”
“Don’t have one? You went out on a rental gig and didn’t even take a single photo together? You’re completely unprofessional!”
In truth, Zhu Qing was intensely full of regret herself for failing to snap a single photo together. On top of that, the woman hadn’t sent her a single message since that day.
The chat window remained stuck on the last line she had sent—a task-complete line from the game.
She regretted sending it on one hand, while on the other, she kept opening the chat window to edit messages over and over, only to delete them character by character. She sank deeper and deeper into this endless loop over a chat window that offered no reply.
Regardless of whether Zhu Qing’s iron tree had actually bloomed, Fang Kegui found her behavior over the past two days utterly eerie and terrifying. She kept catching Zhu Qing staring blankly at her phone, only to shift her unfocused gaze onto her with an expression that screamed she had something to say yet held back.
Zhu Qing, naturally, was the type who couldn’t care less about other people’s peace of mind. If she happened to make eye contact while staring at someone, she didn’t feel a shred of embarrassment at being caught; instead, she would simply offer an extremely natural smile, accompanied by a casual arch of her brow.
To Fang Kegui, however, this behavior was nothing short of an overt provocation. She could feel in her bones that Zhu Qing was hiding something from her, and she currently suspected that Zhu Qing possessed some embarrassing photo of her—something she could never tolerate.
Meanwhile, through Wen Xiaozhi’s eyes, what she saw was Zhu Qing and Fang Kegui suddenly locking eyes far more frequently than usual, with Zhu Qing constantly wearing a creepy smile on her face.
She felt like her world was ending. If those two were dating behind her back, wouldn’t that prove her fortune-telling was completely inaccurate?! She absolutely could not accept that.
Unaware of the wildly rich mental landscapes of her two roommates, Zhu Qing believed she was merely waiting honestly for a reply while obediently attending all her classes without skipping any lately.
Finally, a day later during a Journalism Ethics lecture, a new red notification dot popped up on her app. Thrilled, she tapped it open, only to find that someone named He Li had sent her a friend request.
The person claimed to be Fang Qinghui’s assistant. Immediately after being added, he apologized profusely for causing her trouble, explaining that because he had never met Fang Kegui in person, he had selected the wrong photo, which led to her being booked by mistake. Along with the explanation, he transferred the payment for that day’s commission.
Looking at the five thousand yuan transfer, Zhu Qing couldn’t muster an ounce of joy. Just as she was about to turn off her screen, another transfer of five thousand yuan came through, sending her mood plummeting straight to the bottom of the pit.
That second amount was the exact price of the Dior necklace she had hidden inside the bouquet that night.
She let out a soft “Tsk,” as the memory of the woman’s cold, detached face surfaced once more. An inexplicable wave of irritation washed over her, and glancing at the brick-thick textbook sitting on her desk, she only felt even more annoyed.
Making up her mind, she waited for the instructor to turn around before kicking her chair back, grabbing her bag, and shoving her hands into her pockets in one fluid motion, striding out the door with large steps.
The students in the back row stared at her departing back in stunned amazement, only for the instructor, who had just turned back around, to reprimand them with a couple of sharp words instead.
Annoyed as hell. When it comes to electives, skipping is a must; when it comes to required courses, skipping them once in a while feels damn good.
“Do you have an appointment?”
“I don’t need an appointment to see her.”
Leaving school, Zhu Qing headed straight for the Zhu Corporation building. She leaned casually against the reception desk, flashing a remarkably charming smile at the front desk girl.
The young receptionist looked at the girl in front of her—tall and straight-backed, wearing an oversized blue jacket over a tight black top—and stared at her handsomely reckless, alluring face, her cheeks flushing slightly red.
However, as a career-minded woman with professional ethics and strict guidelines, she cleared her throat, put on a polished business smile, and said with absolute certainty, “Anyone wishing to see President Zhu needs an appointment. If you are a close friend of President Zhu, you can give her a call, and we can arrange things for you on our end.”
In truth, Zhu Qing had originally intended to just send Zhu Nange a text to settle the matter online, mainly because she still didn’t really want to meet her in person—or rather, she was terrified of Zhu Nange.
After all, her entire lifestyle and behavior fell strictly into the category that parents would beat you up for, and the person who wanted to beat her up the most was Zhu Nange. The eldest sister stood in place of a mother; she was the strictest maternal figure in Zhu Qing’s life.
Yet, when she opened the chat window containing 50 unread/unreplied messages with a sense of resignation, she discovered that her eldest sister had actually blocked her. Even her phone number had been blacklisted. That was why she had ended up at the company in person.
Zhu Qing maintained a poker face. “I don’t have her phone number. Could you at the front desk make a quick call to President Zhu for me?”
Hearing this, the receptionist raised her hand slightly. Just as Zhu Qing was about to thank her, she heard the girl say in a cool, unyielding tone, “In that case, please head back.”
To an exceptional receptionist, there were countless people every day who made up excuses to fish for the contact details of top executives. Their duty was to turn all of them away. At that thought, she couldn’t help curling her lips into a confident smile.
Zhu Qing rubbed her forehead helplessly. Seeing that repeated persuasion failed to move the receptionist in the slightest, she chose to cross her long legs and sit down in the lobby’s lounge area. She even ordered herself a cup of coffee, pulled out her laptop, and began writing a term paper for her minor class.
She decided to wait for Zhu Nange right here. She refused to believe this woman could pull a 24-hour shift in the office without ever stepping out.
As it turned out, she had truly underestimated this workaholic. She waited from normal off-work hours all the way through overtime hours, until the crowd thinned out completely, yet she still caught no sight of her. Stretching her stiff, fatigued waist, she stood up and began moving around in the lobby.
The next peak human traffic hour would be ten or even twelve o’clock, once the corporate white-collars finished their late-night overtime. At that thought, she cursed Zhu Nange under her breath for being a stinky capitalist who exploited her employees. Furthermore, she decided that when she finally saw her, she would cause a massive scene just to reward her own legs, which had gone completely numb from sitting all afternoon.
Just then, the receptionist had packed up her belongings and was getting ready to clock off. Walking past the lobby lounge, she was surprised to find that Zhu Qing was actually still there, marveling inwardly at how persistent people could be nowadays.
However, since her shift was over, company rules naturally had no right to invade her personal time. Stepping over with large strides, she looked at Zhu Qing, who was currently doing stretching exercises, tilted her head with a smile, and said, “May I get your contact info?”
Zhu Qing was long accustomed to such scenarios. Just as her polite words of rejection were about to leave her lips, her eyes suddenly locked onto a familiar figure.
Ignoring the girl entirely, Zhu Qing immediately yelled toward that direction at the top of her lungs: “Zhu Nange!”
The resounding voice rang through the entire lobby. The sparse crowd and staff members in the hall all turned their heads, dozens of pairs of eyes locking instantly onto the direction of the sound.
Zhu Nange froze completely, a physiological wave of unease rising within her at the sound of that voice. Turning toward the noise, she caught sight of that tall figure.
The moment she clearly registered Zhu Qing’s familiar face—brimming with provocative anger and a provocative smile—she whipped around like she had seen a ghost, pacing frantically while gesturing for the security guard to swipe the turnstile open for her.
Yet she was a step too late. A firm, slender hand with distinct knuckles clamped down on her shoulder. She turned around stiffly, forcing out an ugly smile, before locking eyes with Zhu Qing’s resentful gaze.
In the very next second, Zhu Qing pulled an instant facial transformation, suddenly putting on an extraordinarily innocent, pitiful expression. Alarm bells blared wildly in Zhu Nange’s mind, a single phrase exploding in her head: I’m doomed.
Zhu Qing immediately slumped down, grabbing onto her arm, and began wailing piteously right in the middle of the lobby.
“President Zhu! Please stop sending people to smash down my front door! My brother will definitely pay back the tuition money he owes you!”
“We live in a society governed by the rule of law now, President Zhu! Forcibly abducting innocent men is completely unacceptable, President Zhu!”
Looking at the girl in front of her who was squeezing her eyes shut trying to force out tears but couldn’t cry at all, nearly bursting into laughter instead and listening to the nonsensical garbage spewing from her mouth, Zhu Nange’s face flushed red then turned pale, putting on quite the colorful spectacle.
The surrounding crowd buzzed with commotion, some even pulling out their phones to start filming. Seeing this, Zhu Qing put on an even more dramatic show.
The two male secretaries following behind Zhu Nange were new hires. Seeing a scene like this for the first time, they froze in utter bewilderment. Furthermore, recognizing that this was the boss’s younger sister, Zhu Qing, they were caught entirely off guard, not knowing whether to stop her or leave her alone.
It wasn’t until the two received a furious, deadly glare from their boss that they hastily rushed over to disperse the gathering crowd, calling for security guards to maintain order.
As for Zhu Nange herself, she ended up dragging this giant, loud human attachment backward step by step, getting shoved right into the elevator along with her.
Only the receptionist girl remained standing frozen on the spot in utter chaos, her jaw nearly hitting the floor and her mind spinning wildly—was this her reason for saying she didn’t need an appointment to see President Zhu?!