Inside the Jiang Family villa.
Jiang Qi was in the bathroom. After hastily ending the call he had inexplicably made to Jiang You, he braced his hands on the sink and looked up. The mirror reflected his somewhat disheveled appearance.
His amber eyes were tinged with red. Droplets of water dotted his handsome, stern face, and the tips of his jet-black hair still dripped with cold water.
A slow-burning lust smoldered deep in his amber eyes, and it had been for some time.
Jiang Qi clenched his jaw. He stared for a moment before looking away, then reached for a tissue. He slowly wiped the water from his reddened knuckles, soaking a patch of the paper.
He crumpled the tissue into a ball and tossed it into the nearby trash can.
The trash can was filled with messy, crumpled wads of tissue, all marked with faint, water-like stains.
Jiang Qi took out a cigarette and walked over to the French window to smoke. His eyelids were lowered, his amber eyes holding the lingering afterglow of burnt-out desire.
After a while, he took out his terminal. The pad of his long finger hovered over the screen for a long time. Finally, it descended. After typing and deleting several times, he sent Jiang You a message.
Jiang Qi: About what happened last time, I can take responsibility.
On the other end, Jiang You had no idea. She was already asleep.
「The next day.」
Jiang You went to class. It was an elective: The Art of Flower Arranging.
She was still wearing her Rose Liss uniform, but now she had a pink apron with a rose petal pattern tied over it.
She wore her hair in a high ponytail, giving her a look that was both sharp and gently charming.
Following the assignment’s requirements, she arranged a vase of pink and blue flowers.
Her three followers beside her immediately began to praise her enthusiastically, though their compliments were a bit exaggerated.
"Wow, it’s so beautiful! Sister You, you’re amazing! This is definitely the most beautiful arrangement in our class," Yu Lin gushed with the most sincere-sounding praise.
"It’s gorgeous! As expected of our Sister You, you’re even amazing at flower arranging," Lin Xue chimed in.
"Quick, quick! I have to take a picture and post it on my Moments! I’ll tell everyone our Sister You arranged this!" Chen Yu’s eyes were sparkling.
...
The three of them had their enthusiasm and tone down perfectly.
Jiang You was quite pleased with the flattery. She watched as Yu Lin and the other two followers started taking pictures with their terminals.
She took out her own terminal to snap a photo of her creation, and only then did she notice she had an unread message.
She belatedly remembered the phone call from the middle of the night.
She picked up her terminal and saw the call from last night.
It was from Jiang Qi.
And he had also sent her a message.
Jiang You’s heart tightened inexplicably. ’Why would Little Uncle call me so late at night?’
’Could it be something important?’
’I didn’t even check this morning, and I’m only seeing it now.’
’Will he be angry that I’m only replying after so long?’
Jiang You’s thoughts were in a jumble as she quickly opened the chat window to see what her Little Uncle had sent her.
She assumed it was something urgent.
But when Jiang You saw the message, she froze.
Jiang Qi: About what happened last time, I can take responsibility.
A storm of thoughts raged in Jiang You’s mind. ’What happened last time? Did he do something bad to me?’
The events of that night at the main family estate didn’t immediately come to mind.
In her view, that incident was in the past. They both had a tacit understanding to treat it as an accident.
So, at this moment, Jiang You’s thoughts didn’t go there.
Jiang You typed out a tentative question: Little Uncle, what happened last time?
The moment she sent her message, Jiang Qi received it.
He had set up a special notification for her the previous night, so he was alerted the instant her message arrived.
Jiang Qi was currently on an undercover mission, tracking down gangs that trafficked in Deformed Beasts and Beast Slaves.
Upon receiving Jiang You’s message, the normally composed man suddenly felt a flustered anxiety. He fumbled with his terminal, almost turning it off by accident.
’I wonder what she’s thinking, what kind of message she sent me.’
In that brief moment, Jiang Qi’s mind raced. He finally tapped into the chat window and saw the message Jiang You had sent him.
His gaze faltered.
Jiang Qi stared at the message for a while. She was asking him what he meant.
’Does this mean she doesn’t want to address it?’
In reality, Jiang You was genuinely asking what he was talking about.
But Jiang Qi had clearly misunderstood. He thought she was avoiding the topic and wanted to let the matter drop.
Jiang Qi’s breathing grew a little heavier, as if he were in some discomfort.
His sharp brows knitted together tightly.
Jiang Qi: It’s nothing.
In the end, Jiang Qi only replied with those two words.
Jiang You saw Jiang Qi’s reply and was puzzled. She reread it a few times but couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
So she just replied: Okay.
And with that, their conversation ended.
Someone @mentioned her in the "Top Ten Rich Heirs" group chat again.
Just then, the system’s voice announcing a new mission rang out.
[Mission Issued]
Hearing the system’s voice, Jiang You let out a soft sigh.
She tapped on the "Top Ten Rich Heirs" group chat.
Bai Sisi: @Jiang You, Sister You, Sister Qi is back from abroad! She’s throwing a party tonight, don’t be late.
Shen Qi: Everyone can come whenever they want. There’ll be a lot of people, so the private room probably won’t clear out until late.
Xu Mei: Sister Qi has so many friends.
Shen Qi: Friends, and friends of friends. Of course it adds up.
Yun Yue: Alright, it’s been a while since I got out of the hospital, so I could use some fun. Did you bring back any handsome foreign guys?
Shen Qi: Yep, lots of them. Make sure you come.
...
’Aside from the male lead’s plotline collapsing, these villainesses have never gone off-script. They’re like NPCs for issuing missions or triggering plot points...’
Tonight, according to the plot, the villainess Jiang You would brag that Shen Lan was madly in love with her just to save face. The others would then pressure her to call her "boyfriend," Shen Lan, and get him to come over. She’d have to bite the bullet and call, but Shen Lan would be busy and unable to make it. The villainess would suffer a huge loss of face, and everyone would start saying she’d be dumped soon, that her relationship was on its last legs.
And that was indeed how the plot went. She got dumped later on.
「The evening party arrived as scheduled.」
On her way to the private room, Jiang You thought to herself, ’All I should have to do is complete the task of showing off that my boyfriend is Shen Lan, then call him to come over. That should count as finishing the mission.’
’It doesn’t matter if Shen Lan actually shows up afterward.’
She had brought Yu Lin and the others with her this time, since Shen Qi had said she could bring people along and that the private room was huge.
It really was huge, and very lively.
Jiang You was wearing a short, black, slightly poofy one-piece dress that was both sexy and bewitching. She had a coat on over it, which she took off after entering the room.
The black dress against her snow-white skin and stunning figure was exceptionally eye-catching. She looked like a cold, bewitching black rose in full bloom.
Her expression and aura were both haughty, her disposition noble. One could tell at a glance that she was of a different status.
The moment she entered, the party’s host, Shen Qi, called out to her, "Youyou’s here! Come, have a seat over here."
She was, indeed, no ordinary person.