Chapter 77

What a beautiful scene.

Yet Zhong Ning felt as if she had fallen into an abyss. The sunlight seemed like the sharp glint of a blade, and the laughter transformed into mockery. Her expression was almost blank, unable to understand what exactly had happened.

How could she do this, how could she… She couldn’t do something like this, it was too much. Was this not harm? Was she not hurting her? She had deceived her…

Why did she lie to her…

This could hardly be called questioning. There was nothing aggressive in it, only grievance born of incomprehension, a bewildered sense of being wronged.

Had she done something poorly? Had she made her angry? Had she done something wrong?

The phone screen flashed, and Zhong Ning slowly lowered her head bit by bit, seeing that Xie Corporation’s entertainment division had issued a statement summarizing the incident. It especially emphasized that several shareholders had violated business ethics and contractual obligations, conspiring with another company to try to shake Xie Corporation’s foundation. They had already gathered evidence of the communications and planned to sue.

Those few lines were so piercingly glaring that even the phone turned into a scalding hot potato. Zhong Ning suddenly could no longer hold it steady. Her hand trembled, and the phone fell to the ground with a loud clatter. The gravel scraped the screen, and it felt as if she herself had shattered along with it.

This seemed like a dream.

A strange dream, a mistaken dream.

Sadness was not a good thing. Neither was pain. Zhong Ning clutched her chest, and the first thought that surfaced was still to escape.

Could she face this?

How cruel it was, to fall completely in love with someone, to rejoice because of her happiness, to fret because of her worries, only to be told that the other person did not trust her at all and regarded her as nothing more than a joke.

Was there any punishment in this world heavier than that?

The love she had imagined was not like this.

It was as if she had been skinned alive, left to walk naked through the streets.

Zhong Ning did not remember how she managed to move her legs, stiff as stone, and sit back in the car, nor did she remember how she mechanically used her chopsticks to finish the dinner in front of her.

For the first time in her life, she tasted the flavor of betrayal.

As the sky grew darker and darker and it neared the time when Xie Shiqing would return home, Zhong Ning suddenly stood up from the sofa. She said to the butler, “I won’t be coming home tonight. I’m going to a gathering at Nanshuang’s place.”

She did not ask for a driver. She walked out of the villa district alone. The traffic flowed like stars across the road, people came and went. For most of Fengcheng, the nightlife was only just beginning.

Zhong Ning wandered aimlessly, not knowing for a moment where she could go. Whom could she confide her troubles to?

In such a vast city, there was not a place she could call home.

She could not face Xie Shiqing, nor could she understand why.

But at least, the very first question now had an answer—because Xie Shiqing did not trust her and did not see her as family. So naturally, there was no need to make mutual introductions with Qi Wan, was there?

Fu Nanshuang had been right—she truly was an outsider.

It seemed she wasn’t so hopelessly foolish as to understand nothing after all.

Xie Shiqing returned home later than usual. After pretending to be busy for so long, this time she finally had something real to occupy her.

The hacking incident had been a coincidence, but Xie Shiqing had already anticipated that Eden Entertainment would certainly hire someone to break through the video’s blockade. Only by fully leaking it could they inflict the greatest damage on Xie Corporation.

The controlling shareholder of Eden Entertainment was a relative of the Le family. Few in the industry knew that it was, in fact, a Le family enterprise.

Since taking over Xie Corporation, she had indeed never once made a misstep in decision-making. The only exception had been catastrophic—the entire company fell into other hands, and she was left betrayed and deserted by everyone. She would never repeat that mistake.

Striking back at the Le family while clearing out those few restless, malignant tumors among the shareholders—it was truly killing two birds with one stone.

After being reborn, she had begun gathering evidence. Only when everything was ready did she put on this fine performance.

This was merely one part of her revenge plan. Xie Shiqing opened a bottle of champagne and sipped it slowly on the way home, replaying in her mind the shrill, broken screams of those shareholders as the police escorted them away.

It was wonderful.

The wails of her enemies were the most beautiful music in the world.

Immersed in the pleasure of this moment, Xie Shiqing was already pondering how she would deal with the Zhong family next.

When she returned home, it was not Zhong Ning who came to greet her first.

Hearing no sound from Zhong Ning, Xie Shiqing’s brows knit slightly. The butler quietly explained the reason she had left. Even then, the furrow between her brows did not smooth out. It was only after a while that she gave a soft “Mm.”

Today was a day worth celebrating. She had hoped to share this joy with Zhong Ning.

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Xie Shiqing: Hee hee

Zhong Ning: Not hee hee

Chapter 36

Thinking carefully about it, she realized that ever since she had transmigrated here, she had experienced more events than in all the previous years of her life combined.

When a person remained in a peaceful and stable environment for too long, her mindset and perceptions hardly changed. Zhong Ning was precisely like this.

Not vigilant enough, not cautious enough, too much trust, too much naivety.

The little colored lights entwined around the greenbelt twinkled on and off. A few girls walked past her, chatting and laughing. Suddenly, one of them turned around. “Hey! What’s wrong? Broke up with someone?”

Zhong Ning was startled. That girl gave her a sympathetic look and pulled a grilled squid skewer out of the round bucket she was carrying in front of her, handing it over. “Here, have something to eat.”

The star-shaped earring on her ear sparkled like a real star. “There’s nothing grilled squid can’t fix.”

She stuffed the skewer into Zhong Ning’s hand, then rejoined her giggling friends and walked away.

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