Chapter 123#

Poor Little Thing#

Director Chen’s son? Chen Estate’s eldest?

She frowned. “He was implicated in the estate case — he got out this quickly?”

“Apparently not deeply involved. Held for a few days and released.” He passed her a glass of fruit juice. “A slippery fox.”

Something felt off to her. She’d seen Director Chen at the estate — and this version of him was different from the one she remembered.

While she was still turning it over, he’d already crossed the room toward them.

“Secretary Liu — the lady with you looks somewhat familiar. Have we met?”

“She’s a friend of mine.” He didn’t mention her work at the Chen household. “Perhaps somewhere at some point — you’re a busy man, Director Chen, it’s natural not to remember.”

When his eyes shifted to her, the revulsion came back, immediate and precise.

He gave a slight nod and walked away without another word.

“Secretary Liu — I’m going to wander around a bit. Please don’t feel you have to look after me.” She set down her glass. Hesitated a moment, then slipped through the crowd and followed him.

*

He found Xu Chenzhu beneath an osmanthus tree, standing alone with no one around him.

He heard the footsteps and turned. “Zhaozhao — this osmanthus is blooming beautifully.”

“No wonder the fragrance reaches so far.” He came to stand beside him. In the dense sweetness, the faint woodsy scent on Xu Chenzhu drifted through.

“Is the gathering a little dull?” He took his hand. “Just now I saw this tree and thought — perhaps tonight we should have found somewhere beautiful and peaceful instead.”

He wanted so much for everyone to know that Zhaozhao was his.

The trending topics, the giveaways, the red envelopes for staff, bringing Zhaozhao out in public. As if the more people who knew — the less likely Zhaozhao would ever leave.

“If we hadn’t come tonight, we’d have missed this tree.” He drew out the last word, looking at him with warm amusement. “And besides — given how significant you are, what if people didn’t take me seriously as your proper boyfriend?”

“Having a boyfriend this good—” He tightened his grip. “I am extremely eager to show you off.”

The breeze moved through the osmanthus, a soft rustling.

He knew it wasn’t the wind moving.

It was his own heart.

*

She stayed back in the shadows, watching Director Chen from a distance. He hadn’t made any apparent effort to network all evening — he stood alone by the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the view.

The view.

She swung herself over the second-floor railing, lifted a corner of the curtain, and looked outside.

Xiao Chao and Xu Chenzhu, hand in hand, standing beneath an osmanthus tree.

Director Chen wasn’t watching the view. He was watching Xiao Chao.

She let the curtain fall and stayed at height, observing.

She opened her phone, was about to send a warning — and Director Chen raised his head and turned it toward her. A mechanical smile spread across his face.

[Such a disobedient tool.]

Terrible.

Her heart lurched. Something moved her sideways before she had consciously decided to move.

CRASH.

The two-metre plaster statue standing in the corridor came down and smashed to pieces on the floor where she’d just been, filling the space with noise.

Every pair of eyes in the gathering turned toward her. Once they understood what had happened, all of them — sincere or not — rearranged their expressions into concern.

Several elegantly dressed women came forward personally to help her up.

“Thank you.” She stood. Her hand found the Lucky Puppet in her coat pocket. It was warm.

Had the Lucky Puppet deflected the strike?

Through the crowd, Director Chen watched her get up unharmed. The smile on his face faded.

“Curly Hair.” He had heard the noise and come back in. The person who’d nearly been crushed was her. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.” She brushed plaster dust off her trouser leg.

“Xiao Chao, I’m so sorry!” The venue manager rushed over, still pale, hands still not steady. “We reinforced all the statues and chandeliers specifically to ensure the safety of our guests — I genuinely don’t understand how something this heavy could have fallen on its own.”

A failure this embarrassing at an event of this scale — the resort was in serious trouble.

“Don’t panic — find out what happened first.” He glanced at the debris and turned to reassure her. “You don’t need to be frightened. I’ll have a bodyguard take you back to the hotel.”

“No.” She shook her head vigorously. “I’m going with you and Xu Chenzhu.”

In this entire world, was anywhere safer than beside the two of them?

“All right.” Seeing she wasn’t too shaken, he asked a server to bring a warm glass of milk and pressed it into her hands.

The atmosphere of the gathering restabilized relatively quickly, though guests had developed an unspoken preference for the outdoor area over the statues and chandeliers indoors.

“That’s impossible.” The venue’s logistics and security staff found it in quiet disbelief: the steel pins securing the statue had been sheared cleanly through.

Steel pins. Not tofu. How had all of them snapped that evenly?

“Sir, could it be that—”

“Don’t say it.” The supervisor’s face was rigid. “I believe this is a deliberate attack targeting our resort.”

If something happened here, every competing venue stood to benefit.

There was a bad actor inside.

*

The second half of the gathering passed without incident. He and Xu Chenzhu left in the car — with Wang Xiao Juan added to the front passenger seat.

“Curly Hair — where are you staying? Is it arranged?”

“It’s arranged.” She kept her eyes averted from Xu Chenzhu, shifting slightly to face Chao Musheng. “Xiao Chao — you don’t need to worry about me.”

She produced the Lucky Puppet from her coat. “Xiao Chao — there have been a lot of people causing you trouble lately. Keep this on you.”

“I don’t need it. You can borrow it a little longer.” He leaned comfortably against Xu Chenzhu’s shoulder, most of his weight on him. “You nearly got crushed by a plaster statue. Maybe look after yourself first.”

“But you—”

“I’ve always had good luck.” He looked at her with something like pity. “You need it more than I do.”

…

Now that she thought about it — she did seem to be somewhat less fortunate than Xiao Chao.

“National Day is coming up soon — I’m taking Xu Chenzhu to my hometown. Would you like to come as well?” He said. “Our rural tourism development is quite good now.”

She knew she shouldn’t be the third wheel — but for Xiao Chao’s safety, she braced herself against Xu Chenzhu’s very pronounced side-eye and agreed anyway. “I’ll do my own thing when we’re there. I won’t intrude.”

Mr. Xu — please stop looking at me. I don’t actually want to be the third wheel either.

“Zhaozhao.” He looked down. “I’ll pick you up from the school tomorrow.”

“Good. I only have one class in the afternoon — we can head home early.” He paused. “Home early—”

Did that mean Xu Chenzhu was meeting the parents tomorrow?

She perked up her ears.

“Mr. Xu — congratulations!” She ventured. “You’re so impressive — your uncle and aunt are definitely going to like you.”

“Thank you.” A faint upward movement at the corners of his mouth. “For the National Day trip — leave with us. You won’t need to buy your own ticket.”

“Thank you, Mr. Xu!” She was visibly pleased.

Romantics really are the easiest to deal with when they’re in a good mood.

*

It wasn’t even light yet when Secretary Liu’s phone woke him with a large red envelope from the boss.

The boss wanted him to come out shopping?

He was fully awake before the question finished forming. When he found him, he discovered the boss was shopping for gifts — for Chao Musheng’s parents.

“Boss — a personal assistant could handle this.” He looked at the list Xu Chenzhu had compiled. This was sending gifts, not supplying a warehouse.

“I’m meeting Zhaozhao’s parents. When visiting important elders for the first time, the sincerity comes from choosing things yourself.” He pushed his glasses up. “Would you agree?”

“Xiao Chao is bringing you to meet his parents?” He was genuinely surprised. “Back where I’m from, meeting parents is as good as saying you want to spend your life together. Boss — Xiao Chao really must like you.”

“Is that so?”

The words were a question. The corners of his mouth, rising without his permission, gave everything away.

*

“What a coincidence — we meet again.” Director Chen looked at him. “You seem to be in a good mood, Xiao Chao.”

“Director Chen.” His tone was mild. “This is the Jinghua University canteen entrance. Running into you here is quite a coincidence indeed.”

He noticed what Director Chen was carrying — a pet carrier, something moving inside it.

“I was passing the school gate just now and noticed a stray dog by the road. A student at the gate mentioned Jinghua has a stray animal rescue station, so I thought I’d bring it here.” He held the carrier out toward him. “Xiao Chao knows the campus better than I do — could I trouble you to show me the way?”

A stray dog found at the school gate — with a carrier already on hand.

He didn’t reach for it. Director Chen didn’t press. He opened a small gap at the top so the dog could get some air.

“Woof!”

A grey, dirty animal pushed its head through the gap — hard to tell at first glance if it was a dog or a cat. Its front paws, which bore traces of dried blood, scrabbled frantically at the opening, pushing toward him.

He went very still looking at it.

The poor creature he’d pulled out of the river years ago had looked almost exactly like this. Down to the injuries — many of the wounds mapped onto the same places.

“Woof woof woof!”

“Xiao Chao?” Director Chen pressed the dog’s head back inside. “Do you know where the rescue station is?”

“Woof-woo~”

Perhaps the movement had caught one of the wounds. The dog let out a small, miserable sound.

“Chao Musheng!” He came out of the canteen with two books under his arm. “What are you standing there for?”

He glanced at the middle-aged man across from him.

Strange. He was already not very fond of this man just from looking at him.

“Woo-woo——”

The sound from the carrier was getting weaker, trembling now.

“This gentleman found a stray dog and wants to bring it to the campus rescue station.” He came back to himself. “Please follow me, Director Chen.”

“I’ll come with you.” He stepped up. “I’m curious about the rescue station too.”

Something about this man wasn’t right. Better to keep an eye on it.

“Of course.” He nodded and didn’t look at the carrier again.

This was not the poor creature he’d rescued all those years ago.

Because that one had never made a sound in front of him.

It would only look at him with wet, quiet eyes, following him wherever he went — as if he were its entire world.