Chapter Ten: The Face with Eyes Shut Tight

Enduring it was truly difficult. Xiaowei also noticed that Aunt Yang’s expression was always strange whenever she was nearby, as if conflicted about something. Perhaps her previous attitude at home, facing so many people, had frightened her.

At the very moment when a certain woman was hesitating over whether to reach out and smooth the little tuft of hair standing atop the child’s head, Xiaowei flashed the smile he had practiced for so long.

Yuan Xiangdie was instantly struck—her heart echoed with a mysterious and ancient voice: Ah, I’m dead.

“My little darling, you’re just too adorable. Come here, let me hold you. Oh, you’re simply too cute!”

Yuan Xiangdie fulfilled her wish, holding the child close in her arms. Xiaowei’s hand trembled, and a mysterious droplet appeared on the table.

A little one with a cleanliness obsession as severe as Jin Yuan’s chose, in this moment, to ignore it.

If the old butler, who had raised Xiaowei since childhood, could have seen this, he might have wept with joy.

“Aunt Yang… I can barely breathe.”

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, Yuan Xiangdie had already been alone with the little darling for nearly three hours.

The child had been obedient all along. Whatever Yuan Xiangdie handed him, Xiaowei would cherish like a precious squirrel receiving a treasured nut, hiding everything behind his back.

He even tried to use his thin little body to carry all the gifts at once, making Yuan Xiangdie love him even more.

She was so taken with him that she forgot all about sending her design drafts to her tablet. Julie, her best friend and business partner, was at her wits’ end. She raged as she repeatedly tried to get through to Yuan Xiangdie.

“Oh my god, young lady, pick up the phone! If you don’t answer soon, I’m going to faint. This is the grand competition! Pick up! Opportunities like this don’t come twice.”

Like an ant on a hot pan, Julie was helpless. Was she really going to watch the chance at the grand competition slip away? Yuan Xiangdie had waited so long for this—only with it could she turn things around and gain her footing here, making all her preparations and those five years of being set up by that mother and daughter worthwhile.

Qiao Shanshan had come early to pick up her custom-made gown. Today she wore a bright ruffled dress, complete with a mask and wig, looking every bit the charming young woman, though no one could tell who she was.

“Hello, how may I help you?”

Long fingers removed her sunglasses; a bright gaze revealed her identity at once.

“So it’s you. The altered gown is already on the rack. Please, come this way…”

This dress incorporated a touch of traditional Chinese style, with a cheongsam-inspired bolero at the top.

“That’s exactly it; you’ve really worked hard.” Qiao Shanshan, who had held little hope for this design, had previously been thwarted by a man’s interference. She had been plagued by rumors, and that young master—who knew why he’d set his sights on her? Oujing Xiao publicly courted the famous actress, and the two had secret rendezvous under the camphor trees in the east of the city.

Just thinking of that headline gave Qiao Shanshan a splitting headache that would not abate.

If that young master hadn’t recently found a new target, the studio might never have entrusted her with the opportunity to attend fashion week this time.

After collecting her dress, she went straight to the car—the studio had downgraded her transport from a luxury RV to a simple business vehicle.

Looking back, she realized she finally felt at peace; before, everything had been too extravagant, making her uneasy.

The driver was a bodyguard. The studio had washed its hands of her, given her scandalous association with the young master—a stain impossible to scrub clean. Years of hard-earned reputation ruined overnight.

“No need to go to the company; take me home.”

The bodyguard was a professional. The boss had already made it clear that whatever this lady said was to be obeyed.

Jin Yuan finally left under a cloud of awkward glances, his long legs striding away. Tian Xiaoxiaomeng had to pretend she’d known everything all along but just hadn’t told anyone.

Ouyang Xiao felt his molars ache; he’d wasted nearly five hours here, for what? When everyone left, there was the sound of something breaking in the office.

“Doesn’t he know what he is? Just because he’s young and owns such a big business, he thinks he can throw his weight around in front of me. Youth is youth, arrogant as always.”

Ouyang Xiao’s beautiful assistant didn’t even dare enter the room. In name, she was his assistant, but in reality, she was no different from a mistress. Every time she came to this office, there was only one purpose: to please the boss. That was her sole reason for existing.

“Yingying… come in.”

That summons sounded like the devil’s call from the depths of hell, shattering all hope for a poor girl.

Liu Junmei deeply regretted her naivety—believing the old man’s lies about becoming his assistant.

Now their relationship had become what it was, and he held shameful secrets over her. A stack of photos—if posted online, her life would be over, especially since the old man had threatened to send them to her parents in her hometown if she dared speak out.

Ouyang Xiao waited in the room until he realized she was still standing at the door. He laughed coldly, making Liu Junmei tremble like a quail.

In truth, Ouyang Xiao and his son were cut from the same cloth. People outside wondered what sins the Ou family had committed to produce such a prodigal son. But the father was even more dissolute.

“Boss, you called me.”

“Yes, good girl, I’ve been calling you. Why didn’t you answer?”

She closed her eyes in pain, ready to face nothing but humiliation. Why not let her die outright, instead of forcing her to endure this slow suicide, trampling all her dignity into the mud…

It was late at night by the time Yuan Xiangdie finally left her room, only because she needed to cook dinner. She was boiling noodles; at noon, the child had eaten two small bowls of fish porridge.

Now, she didn’t know what else to make—the child only said he wanted noodles.

“Oh dear, how shabby. You’re feeding him this? Anyone would think we’re mistreating Xiaowei. If Mr. Jin knows, I won’t take the blame—just you wait.”

Why must there always be this competition? Yuan Xiangdie could never understand. Yuan Yao’er had everything, yet still needed to put on a show before her.

“Shouldn’t you be working late at the studio, pouring over your blueprints? What are you doing here?”

Yuan Xiangdie had no idea about the major development on the international stage: the Xunfang design brand had been taken down, and Si Tu publicly declared that the quality of Xunfang’s later works had sharply declined from their early creations, taking a completely different direction.

The later pieces became increasingly unwatchable, and more fashion insiders voiced the same opinion.

Now, Yuan Yao’er was effectively unemployed at home. Being called out on this, she reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, ready to lash out.

“You! You have no ability, and yet you still make snide remarks. Didn’t you have high hopes for fashion week? Don’t think I don’t know what tricks you and Julie are up to—I see it all. Don’t think that just because you got out, you’ll go straight to the top. In the end, you’ll still have to marry obediently. You’re no better than me.”

Yuan Xiangdie had already learned this lesson in prison. Yuan Yao’er had once sent a little thug to beat her until she miscarried—a debt she’d buried deep in her heart.

Originally she’d planned to use this opportunity to suppress Xunfang. The earlier works had major flaws: they pandered to the crowd but weren’t perfect.

Now, with her improved skills, Yuan Xiangdie was certain that once her work hit the market, it would easily surpass the rest.

She calmed herself, patiently ladled noodles into the small bowl, seasoning them as she liked. The child’s tastes were so similar to hers—he liked the flavors of the south.

Though the food was sometimes heavy, he still obediently ate the green vegetables other children disliked.

In truth, Xiaowei didn’t like them at all. If he hadn’t just snuck onto the nearby tablet and logged onto the trading website while Yuan Xiangdie was cooking, he wouldn’t have discovered that Jin Yuan planned to pick him up at ten o’clock and that he had to stay by Yuan Xiangdie’s side, or he’d never be allowed to sneak out again…

For that, Xiaowei did everything he could to be endearing.

Jin Yuan drove along the old path in the residential district. The villas here could only be afforded by the earliest business pioneers. The Yuan family lived here; his car slowly entered.

He passed without hindrance, but Jin Yuan found his heart was increasingly hard to control.

He kept thinking, involuntarily, of that face in sleep, eyes tightly closed.

Now, though, he had to follow the original plan and ask each question in turn. It had taken effort to discover this news on the frosty man’s desk; now he’d have to go back again because the documents hadn’t finished printing.

“Jin…brother, what on earth happened?” It was rare to see Jin Yuan in such a state, so anxious. If it hadn’t been for that meeting that delayed him for over ten minutes, Qing Jun had no doubt the man would have sped straight home in his car.