The air seed to freeze for a mont.
Tea splashed slightly from the cup, landing on Ouyang Xianyue’s lapel and blooming into a small dark stain.
But it was only a lapse of less than two seconds.
Ouyang Xianyue steadied her mind with composure.
She did not hurry to wipe the stain;
instead she calmly set the teacup back on the table.
It made a soft “clack.”
When she lifted her eyes again, there was no ripple left in them.
“Su Yu, your joke went a little too far.” She smiled lightly, a tone of worldly clarity in her voice. “I’m at that age already. I don’t have the heart or energy to think about raising children anymore. For , as long as Tang Yi Precision can endure for generations, that’s the best child I could wish for.”
Those words were airtight.
But as a top-tier diva personally shaped by Tang Song, Su Yu was best at catching micro-expressions.
She could determine whether soone was lying from the slightest facial movent.
Or rather, this graceful and elegant Ms. Ouyang was not as indifferent and ascetic as she professed to be.
That, for Su Yu, was actually good news.
What she feared most was Ouyang Xianyue truly living as a paragon of chastity, forever placing family legacy and that deceased husband above all else.
If that were the case, for the sake of family interests, she might one day stab Tang Song in the back as Jin ixiao warned.
Although she loathed Jin ixiao, she had to admit that Jin ixiao’s feelings for Tang Song were absolutely genuine.
But now, it seed otherwise.
Where there is private desire, there is leverage.
“Sister Xianyue, don’t take it the wrong way, I was just being sentintal.” Su Yu’s mouth curved into an amused smile, she leaned forward slightly, lowering her voice. “For , the most romantic, the craziest thing in my life would be to have a child with Tang Song that belongs to both of us.”
She looked into empty space, her gaze suddenly tender and full of feeling.
As if she had fallen into the most beautiful dream.
“Think about it, that child might inherit a pair of eyes as pretty as mine, but with his exact sa straight nose—his little replica, whose blood runs like him, who would call out softly ‘daddy, mommy’...”
For a mont, Su Yu transford with supre acting skill into a small woman imrsed in love,
a maternal glow so contagious it almost overflowed.
It was like a gentle knife, stabbing directly into the softest, loneliest corner of Ouyang Xianyue’s heart.
No matter how well-guarded the noblewoman’s defenses were, she felt her composure sway and her breath falter.
Have a child...
Ouyang Xianyue’s hand on her knee tightened instinctively on the fabric.
She lifted her eyes and smiled faintly, shaking her head. “Su Yu, you’d definitely be a good mother.”
Su Yu, who had been watching closely, took in that reaction and smiled: “Maybe. Actually, I’m not confident I could raise him well.”
“Xiangxiang, enough, you’ve gone off track.” Ouyang Xianyue didn’t want to dwell on this dangerous topic any longer, and she forcibly steered the conversation back on point. “The reason I asked you to co here today is mainly twofold. One, the Paris trip—you need to manage the boundaries properly. Two, regarding the Moonlight Trust, I hope you have no reservations about it.”
“I don’t care about the trust at all. If I could swap identities with Liu Qingning, I’d give up all assets and fa,” Su Yu waved her hand casually, showing indifference. Then her tone shifted, and a wild light flashed in her eyes: “But as for the Paris trip, the boundaries might be another matter.”
“Hm?” Ouyang Xianyue blinked.
Su Yu rose slightly, leaned in, and whispered in her ear.
“I’m going to sleep with him, and no one will stop this ti. If he dares to refuse again, I’ll drug him. Lock him in the hotel and don’t let him out for a week. Maybe... there will really be a child?”
This yandere pose and talk clearly startled Ms. Ouyang.
“We agreed—don’t do anything reckless!”
“Don’t worry, I was only joking.” Su Yu shrugged. “Alright, Sister Xianyue, thanks for the tea. You’re so busy, I won’t keep you. I have to go prepare for my birthday party. Goodbye.”
With that she put on her trench coat, sunglasses, and a baseball cap.
Accompanied by Secretary Chen Jing, she pushed the door open and strode out with the utmost swagger.
Only Ouyang Xianyue remained in the office.
Her eyes flickered violently as she exhaled sharply.
Her gaze then fell on the still-damp tea stain.
It had been over nine years since her husband’s death.
A couple of years ago, to escape gossip and to hide truths she didn’t want to face,
she poured all her energy into salvaging the ss her late husband left behind at Xin Kaihang Electronics.
Under the hypocritical banner of “fulfilling my late husband’s wishes,” she wanted to prove herself.
A top graduate from Tsinghua’s precision instrunts departnt and an MBA from MIT Sloan,
her academic credentials, intelligence, and ability were unquestionable.
Yet reality was brutal.
Outdated technology, insufficient funding, fierce market competition...
First her grandfather died, leaving her emotionally drained.
Then, with her husband gone, a resources gap ford.
Added to that were the greedy in-laws’ gossip and their behind-the-scenes sabotage.
The factory began to suffer a series of problems.
If she had bowed her head then and invoked the Ouyang family’s backing on her father’s side to force-feed support, perhaps the factory could have been saved.
But she was too proud, too concerned with face.
She refused to admit failure, refused to be anyone’s subordinate.
What followed was the darkest ti.
Factory shutdowns, employee unrest, bank loan demands.
External ridicule and doubt from both sides of her family nearly drowned her.
Until the eve of the 2017 New Year.
A nineteen-year-old suddenly appeared.
He brought not only lifesaving funds but also advanced technical resources and, more precious than gold, his trust.
He pulled her out of the mire.
He let her beco the today’s exalted “Precision Queen,” standing at the forefront of national manufacturing reform, a leader both families looked up to.
But no one knew the full story.
Over the years, moral constraints, ethics, dignity, face, and reputation...
these heavy shackles shaped the false “Ms. Ouyang” she presented to the world.
Even though she had long since developed feelings for Tang Song,
even though she keenly sensed his hidden possessiveness toward her,
every ti she was about to give in, she would find lofty excuses and pile on layer after layer of rationalizations.
“Stability for the family firm,” “to check Jin ixiao,” “to appease Su Yu.”
As if cloaked in “business cooperation” and “political jockeying,” everything she did toward him beca reasonable and noble.
But...
a child.
To bear a child, especially an illegitimate one by Tang Song,
would an tearing off every pretense and facing the starkest reality.
Potential public storm, the family’s face, her pristine reputation...
Even, how would Tang Song view her?
Ouyang Xianyue closed her eyes and gently stroked the cool tea stain.
She felt cold all over, yet blood hot in her veins.
In truth, Su Yu hadn’t convinced her.
Because she had been thinking about this from the start.
That crazy seed had perhaps been planted the mont Tang Song pulled her from despair.
Otherwise, why over the years had she, who posed as righteous and elderly in deanor, watched Tang Song and Liu Qingning drift apart without intervening?
Why did she stay silent when Su Yu used Tang Yi Precision’s resources to transfer Liu Qingning away from Tang Song to Shen City?
In her original strategic blueprint, the pure-born, childhood-friend Liu Qingning was the best chip to check Jin ixiao’s ambition.
Over the past few years, if she had exerted even a little effort, pushed a little, Tang Song and Liu Qingning might already have been preparing their wedding.
But she didn’t.
She sat high and watched everything unfold, then comnted on Su Yu’s madness and Jin ixiao’s ambition, as if she were an outsider.
Finally, she magnanimously gifted Liu Qingning 5% of Qingning Technology’s shares.
She was too good at disguising herself.
Too adept at using morality to hypnotize herself.
Packaging herself as a “saint” who endured humiliation for the greater good.
Su Yu’s earlier speech simply tore away the fig leaf hiding her deepest, greedy, dark self.
Her nervousness and montary loss of composure at the ntion of “child” wasn’t just sha;
it was panic at having her secret calculations exposed.
And...
Why was she going all the way to Jing County?
Why did she adopt the posture of a junior visiting Tang Song’s father?
Wasn’t it to later secure the Tang family’s recognition for her own child?
She was a woman steeped in tradition and clan values.
Even if she wanted to be an unconventional lover and have a child,
deep down she longed for a sense of ritual legitimacy.
At that thought, Ouyang Xianyue opened her eyes abruptly.
A low, self-mocking smile curved her lips.
She stood and walked to the large executive desk.
She pulled open the bottom drawer.
Inside she took out a sheet of xuan paper. It wasn’t the usual “jing” character she wrote, nor business plans.
It was a stack of poems written in wild cursive.
The script was rough and unrestrained, the strokes pressed through the paper, each brushstroke exuding repressed passion and yearning.
She spread a fresh sheet.
Dipped the brush in thick ink.
She lifted the brush, wrist suspended.
Tang Song’s young handso face and his strong masculine scent floated through her mind.
In that mont, it was as if he stood behind her again.
His palm covered the back of her hand, guiding her strokes.
His abdon pressed tightly against her ample waist and hips, the burning heat searing through the fabric to her skin.
Her wrist trembled as the brush touched down, ink flowing.
“Rudream Ode · Stealing Spring”
Inner courtyard, heavy doors locked, accustod to watching the lone lamp and lying alone. Last night the rain thinned and raged, startling a thousand begonia blossoms. Know it? Know it? I stole a single breeze of spring.
After writing the final character, she set the brush down heavily.
Ouyang Xianyue stared at the “steal” character, its strokes pressing through the paper, and a near-pathological delight flashed in her eyes.
It was the exhilaration of breaking a taboo, the catharsis of years of suppressed emotion.
“Knock, knock, knock—”
At that mont the steady knock on the door interrupted the private reverie.
Ouyang Xianyue’s expression hardened, she suppressed all emotion.
She calmly picked up a heavy finance magazine and gently covered the still-damp paper, concealing that absurd secret.
She adjusted her breathing and returned to her composed, noble deanor, and said faintly, “Co in.”
The office door opened and Secretary Chen Jing entered.
“Ms. Ouyang, Miss Su Yu has already left. She will stay in Shen City for a day, then fly directly to Paris.”
Ouyang Xianyue inclined her head slightly, her tone calm: “Understood. Arrange it—tell the security and PR teams to be on full alert. Her birthday party has caused a huge stir worldwide, with many eyes on it. Make sure she’s well taken care of. I don’t want to see anything unexpected happen.”
Especially not for her to truly go mad and do sothing irreversible.
That half-sentence she kept to herself.
“Yes, understood.” Secretary Chen Jing nodded and took notes. “Also, just now we received a request from Jiang Yourong of Xuanji Optical World’s CEO office;
she hopes to accompany the inspection to Quancheng.”
“Oh? Jiang Yourong?” Ouyang Xianyue raised an eyebrow, pondered briefly, and said, “Okay.”
Chen Jing nodded. “Also, Ms. Liu Qingning has just arrived at the Qianhai Innovation Center.”
“Is it for Xuanji Optical World?”
“Yes. The engineering prototype of the first-generation AR glasses is finished and has entered the final stage of hardware-software integration. Qingning Technology, as the core algorithm support, is on-site with Ms. Liu leading the team.” Chen Jing glanced at her tablet and added, “Besides her, there’s also Miss Zhang Yan you asked to keep an eye on. As a mber of Nebula International’s marketing support team, she ca with the delegation.”
“I know.” Ouyang Xianyue watched the window, seemingly lost in thought.
After a mont she suddenly asked, “I rember Qing Ning’s father was an accountant, right?”
Though the chairman’s topic jump was surprising, as a top secretary Chen Jing was well-versed in the backgrounds of personnel: “Yes. Qing Ning’s father is nad Liu Xueming, currently employed at Quancheng Mining Construction Company’s branch in Jing County. It’s a long-established state-owned enterprise. He serves in the finance departnt as a veteran accountant, with long service and a good reputation, but his position hasn’t changed much.”
Ouyang Xianyue pondered then tapped the desk lightly with her fingers.
“Arrange it. Contact the Quancheng State-owned Assets Commission and transfer Liu Xueming to Quancheng State Investnt. Place him in the Audit and Supervision Departnt. That role is quiet, well-paid, and respected. Take care of this personally. I want it done before I leave Quancheng.”
“Understood! I’ll communicate it right away.”
“Go.”
Chen Jing turned and left, closing the door gently.
Silence returned to the office.
Ouyang Xianyue leaned back, sinking into the wide executive chair.
Qianhai · Tang Yi Precision Innovation Center.
In the silver-gray corridor full of tech vibes, a faint scent of aroma lingered in the air.
“Zhang Yan, Zhang Yan?”
Beside her, Zhang Lu lightly tapped her arm and whispered.
“Oh... here.” Zhang Yan snapped back to attention, standing up a little flustered. “What’s wrong, Lulu?”
“We’re about to enter the eting room. Why do you seem spaced out today?” Zhang Lu worriedly glanced at her. “Did you stay up last night revising the proposal? Are you feeling unwell?”
“No, no.”
Zhang Yan pressed her lips together and shook her head, taking a deep breath to tamp down the wildly beating heart in her chest.
Her hand, however, tightened instinctively around the Coach briefcase she had bought recently.
Zhang Lu didn’t notice anything odd. Instead she leaned in toward her, voice bubbling with excitent:
“To be honest, my legs are still weak. Our company is amazing to land such an incredible project! Xuanji Optical World—that’s Tang Yi Precision’s most confidential project in this park!”
She looked at the hurried elites wearing high-level badges with envy in her eyes.
“If it weren’t for you returning from Imperial Capital’s training and being promoted two levels, being personally chosen by Director Wen as head of marketing copy, I, a little shrimp, would never have a chance to get into a eting room like this. Yan-yan, from now on I’ll cling to your thigh!”
Zhang Lu’s chatter did nothing to ease Zhang Yan’s nerves.
It made her more anxious.
Her nervousness wasn’t just because it was her first ti at such a high-level business eting,
but because she saw Qingning Technology listed among the project participants in the group.
She didn’t know whether Liu Qingning would attend, but fear gnawed at her anyway.
Although she knew Tang Song had other won around him—Wen Ruan, Xu Qing...
when facing Liu Qingning she felt an instinctive, thief-sees-the-owner panic.
For the past ten years she had lurked in the shadows like moss in a gutter, secretly admiring, secretly loving, and despicably stealing what belonged to another girl.
Even though rationally she knew Liu Qingning, up on that pedestal, probably didn’t even recognize her, even might never have noticed this transparent forr middle school deskmate,
in Zhang Yan’s heart, Liu Qingning was the brightest light of Tang Song’s youth—the one who had rightful claim to him.
Three years of high school, no matter how hard Zhang Yan studied and tried to catch up, she always felt tens of thousands of miles away.
Now seeing her again as Tang Song’s “girlfriend” brought that bone-deep inferiority and helplessness flooding back.
Perhaps sensing the odd gaze from the corner, Liu Qingning paused slightly as she walked to the main seat;
those clear black-and-white eyes seed to casually scan the room.
Her sight slid to the end of the long table.
Their eyes briefly t in the air.
Liu Qingning’s gaze was clear, but when she saw her, her pupils flickered slightly with a trace of puzzlent and scrutiny.
In that instant, Zhang Yan felt as if her breath stopped.
She bowed her head in panic and stared at the keyboard.
Is she looking at ? Does she recognize ?
Impossible... why would she rember a nobody like ...
She frantically comforted herself and slowly cald.
“All right, everyone’s here. Let’s begin today’s eting.”
The eting was chaired by a senior Tang Yi Precision manager, but the person in the core seat beside the host was Liu Qingning.
“This eting is primarily to coordinate the final push before the first-generation Xuanji Optical World product launch. We need to deeply align hardware developnt, software ecosystem adaptation, and marketing promotion...”
The eting began in earnest.
Slides switched on the screen, professional jargon floated through the air.
Liu Qingning would occasionally add a comnt.
Her voice was clear and pleasant, not domineering but logically razor-sharp. She pinpointed technical difficulties succinctly, with a rhythm that instantly seized control of the room.
That confidence, composure, and radiant competence made Zhang Yan both envious and ashad.
Soon it was the marketing team’s turn to introduce themselves and present proposals.
Zhang Yan inhaled deeply and forced herself to stand.
Her legs were still weak and her palms sweaty.
“G-good morning, everyone. I’m Zhang Yan from Nebula International’s Content Ecology Cooperation Departnt, responsible for this product’s marketing copywriting...”
Her voice trembled at first, and she did not dare look toward the main seat.
But as she continued, relying on solid preparation and sensitivity to wording, she gradually found her footing and her voice steadied.
Still, she could feel that clear gaze from the main seat, faint but persistent, landing on her.
It prickled her skin as if hidden pins were being stuck into her back, as if every secret of hers were being exposed by that look.
...
Toward midday, the long technical eting finally ended.
The room’s taut atmosphere relaxed into the scrape of chairs and light conversational chatter.
In the corner, Zhang Yan imdiately closed her laptop.
She kept her head down, hands trembling a little as she gathered her papers, desperate to escape the suffocating place.
But Murphy’s law always strikes at the worst mont.
A light, rhythmic set of footsteps cut through the crowd, not toward the exit but straight for their corner.
Zhang Lu, who was packing up, suddenly froze and pushed Zhang Yan’s arm nervously.
Zhang Yan’s heart leaped.
She lifted her head slowly.
The soft-textured apricot silk blouse and that face, alarmingly familiar and now very close, ca into view.
Liu Qingning had already co to her desk and stood quietly, looking at her.
“Ms. Liu!” Zhang Lu sprang up and greeted awkwardly.
Zhang Yan, frozen in her seat, felt her mind go blank.
She opened her mouth to speak but no sound ca out.
Liu Qingning’s big eyes swept over her for a mont. Her expression was neither harsh nor arrogant;
instead it held a keen insight as if she could see through people’s hearts.
Then a proper smile appeared on her face: “Hello, Zhang Yan. Haven’t we t sowhere before?”
Zhang Lu was surprised and looked at her friend.
Zhang Yan bit her lip in nervousness, fingers digging at her clothing edge. “I—”
“Emm...” Liu Qingning tilted her head slightly and tapped her chin with long fingers, as if recalling. “If I’m not mistaken, is your hotown also Jing County?”
Zhang Yan hadn’t expected this high-school-celebrated, moonlit goddess to recall soone as insignificant as her.
Rather than feeling honored, she felt an increased panic, as if there were nowhere to hide.
“Yes.” She bowed her head, unable to et those too-bright eyes. “I attended high school at Jing County No.2.”
“That’s it.” The investigative look in Liu Qingning’s eyes softened into a warm smile. “I thought you looked familiar. After hearing your na and introduction, I confird it. Hello, Zhang Yan. We’re fellow townspeople and half-alumni—nice to et you properly. We’ll have plenty to collaborate on.”
She then openly extended her hand.
“Hello, Ms. Liu.”
Zhang Yan shakily took her hand.
It felt warm and soft, yet carried an undeniable strength.
At that mont, Zhang Yan felt like a thief caught red-handed, holding the owner’s hand.
“Do you have lunch plans?” Liu Qingning naturally extended an invitation. “The staff cafeteria here tastes very good. Want to grab a bite and chat about our hotown? I haven’t t anyone from ho in a long ti.”
Zhang Yan’s heart pounded wildly;
instinct urged her to flee.
Faced with Liu Qingning, she had no courage for direct contact—one more second and she might blurt out an apology.
“N-no, thank you.” She flailed, finding an imperfect excuse. “I... have an urgent matter to go back to the company for. Next ti, next ti for sure.”
“All right, work is important. We’ll have many chances in the future.”
Liu Qingning did not press, rely nodding sympathetically.
Then, as if rembering sothing, she turned and casually ntioned: “By the way, you work at Nebula International. Actually I’m good friends with your Director Wen Ruan. If you have any work difficulties, feel free to tell .”
As she said this Liu Qingning watched Zhang Yan’s expression closely from the corner of her eye.
Sure enough, when she heard “Wen Ruan,” Zhang Yan’s face drained pale.
Even Zhang Lu noticed and jumped in to smooth things with: “So Ms. Liu is friends with our Director Wen—what a coincidence!”
“Yes... such a coincidence...” Liu Qingning repeated softly, her gaze deep and voice quiet.
What a coincidence.
So coincidental that all clues seed to point to the sa center.
After a mont of silence:
“Then I won’t keep you. See you.”
Liu Qingning politely said goodbye and turned to leave, her steps composed and posture upright.
Only after she had disappeared from the doorway did Zhang Yan slump back into her chair as if all her strength had been drained.
To her, Liu Qingning was like Frieza in final form descending—
the oppression was natural and absolute, a total superiority by rank.
Now, without Tang Song’s encouragent at her side, she had no way to transform into a Super Saiyan to combat the fear.
She looked at her own hands, bitterness filling her heart.
...
Outside in the corridor,
Liu Qingning slowed her pace and let her smile recede.
Zhang Yan.
Of course she rembered.
Because of her deep care for Tang Song, in high school she had a radar for every female who appeared near him.
Zhang Yan had been one of the faintest but most persistent presences.
The girl who silently followed Tang Song in high school, the fleeting silhouette at the Imperial Capital subway station, the tired profile in the Gao Si Education office...
And that panicked, guilt-filled look just now.
Liu Qingning stopped by the floor-to-ceiling window and watched the busy scene below, whispering:
“So you never really disappeared.”
She took out her phone, her finger hovering above Wen Ruan’s contact.
Zhang Yan was in Wen Ruan’s domain at Nebula International.
One call and she could know the whole cause and effect.
But after hesitating for a mont she locked the screen and put the phone back in her pocket.
No need.
She was astute.
She knew well that confronting Wen Ruan or targeting Zhang Yan would be the lowest-level, dumbest moves.
All roots led back to Tang Song.
And at this mont, that man was thousands of miles away in New York, attending Smile Holdings’ shareholders’ eting.
The woman with him was Jin ixiao.
The renowned Director Jin, Ms. Smile,
the “devil” Su Yu had described—possessive and determined to monopolize Tang Song.
Liu Qingning already had a vague awareness that her ntor Wang Chang, Qin Yingxue, herself, and even the whole Qingning Technology might be pawns in Director Jin’s vast strategem.
Compared to Jin ixiao’s terrifying capital control, a petty old-school rival like Zhang Yan ant nothing.
She was still too weak.
Not yet qualified to duel with that side.
She did not know what Jin ixiao intended for her.
But at least for now, the other side was helping her.
Liu Qingning looked at her reflection in the window.
Her gaze was clearer and firr than ever.
As for a more complicated emotional entanglent with Tang Song, she had long since prepared herself ntally.
She was not the type to wallow in self-pity.
When faced with a problem, she analyzed the variables and solved them.
That was her logic.
If emotional competition had beco reality,
then crying and jealousy were aningless.
Only by becoming stronger—irreplaceable, able to sway the situation—could she resolve it.
That was why she so urgently wanted to take the helm of Qingning Technology and to seize the discourse power over Xuanji Optical World.
She wasn’t fighting for power for its own sake.
She was accumulating chips for herself.
She had never forgotten the promise from their youth—to et again at the peak.
Nor had she stopped having the courage to rise.
Now she only wanted to keep pace with him.
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