A few attendants stood at the exit of the hall. Seeing them heading this way, they politely pulled open the doors for the two.
Zhou Xiaoying seemed like she didn’t want to draw attention. As the spotlights shone on the stage, she kept her head down the whole time, trying to blend into the shadows.
The two deliberately walked a bit farther away, finding an empty corner. Only when they were sure no one could overhear did they start talking.
Chu Susu lifted her slightly dragging skirt hem and stopped, asking, “What do you want to say?”
She saw the complicated expression on Zhou Xiaoying’s face. After a pause, the latter cut straight to the chase: “You already know about Han Xuan and the Fucheng heiress’s relationship, don’t you?”
Chu Susu frowned, surprised in her heart. “…Yeah. Le’er told you?”
She hadn’t shown those photos to anyone else back then. Could Li Le’er have spilled it? But Li Le’er was loyal to her friends and wouldn’t casually leak something like that.
Even if the other person was also a friend.
“Of course not.” Zhou Xiaoying shook her head and said, “Didn’t you ask me to look into it before? Later, I asked a friend I know well and learned some things.”
“What things?”
Zhou Xiaoying went silent for a moment. “I thought you already knew.”
Since the other had put it that way, Chu Susu stopped hiding it and simply came clean. “Before this, Xia Zilu wanted to make up with me and had someone tail Han Xuan. She sent me the photos, and that’s how I found out.”
“Photos of Han Xuan and… that heiress?”
“Yeah, they were in a car together,” Chu Susu said. “I didn’t deliberately hide it from you before, it’s just…”
Zhou Xiaoying patted her shoulder. “It’s fine, I understand.”
As she spoke, she put on a grave expression.
“What my friend dug up is a bit… unexpected. It’s best not to spread it around, or it could bring trouble. I thought you and Han Xuan had no contact anymore, so I didn’t tell you.”
Zhou Xiaoying’s voice gradually lowered. “But now it seems like you’re still pretty close with her, right?”
“What exactly is it?”
“The Fucheng CEO and his whole family, from top to bottom—there’s something off about all of them here.” Zhou Xiaoying furrowed her brows tightly and tapped her temple with a finger. “They have some serious hereditary mental illness.”
Chu Susu incredulously opened her mouth. “What?”
Fucheng Enterprise’s business was booming, and their CEO was famously an elite in the industry, known for his decisive and ruthless decision-making.
And his heiress, whom everyone had just seen, wasn’t just poised and elegant—she was young but already held an important position in the family business and was quite skilled in commerce.
It was completely unimaginable that such an outstanding family would have mental illnesses.
But she keenly caught one detail. “Weren’t you asking friends from the art academy about Han Xuan? How did you learn about this?”
“By a stroke of luck, I guess.” Zhou Xiaoying gave a helpless smile. “If you don’t believe me, you can ask your dad. Uncle should have plenty of connections and must have heard similar rumors.”
Before Chu Susu could respond, she quickly continued:
“Also, the Fucheng CEO is extremely superstitious.”
“That’s normal. Businessmen are all superstitious.”
From what she knew, Chu Zhen would go pay respects to Lord Guan and the God of Wealth before starting any big project, just to seek blessings and peace of mind.
“No, his kind is the scary type. Not only does he often hold rituals at home… but he doesn’t discriminate—he invites everyone from foreign priests and mages down to those Southeast Asian little ghost shrines and Fox Immortals, whatever’s out there. It’s seriously creepy.”
Chu Susu pressed her lips together. “Did he do something shady? Normal businessmen wouldn’t go that far.”
“His original wife, the heiress’s mom, died under really bizarre circumstances back then.”
Zhou Xiaoying spoke until even she herself started feeling chills.
“So I seriously think you should stay away from Han Xuan. That family looks all glamorous on the surface, but they’re all not quite right. Han Xuan getting tangled up with them won’t end well for her either.”
As she spoke, the two walked back toward the hall along the way they came.
After saying all that, Zhou Xiaoying clearly saw Chu Susu go silent for a good while, looking a bit down. So she patted her shoulder again.
“It’s okay, cut your losses in time.”
Chu Susu forced a smile. “Alright, no need to comfort me.”
She patted Zhou Xiaoying’s hand in return. “You don’t need to say it—I never had a chance with Han Xuan anyway.”
After all, their license plates matched.
“As long as you think that way, it’s good.”
“But.” Chu Susu sighed, not even sure herself why, but she still defended Han Xuan. “Those things about their family are pretty scary, sure, but they have nothing to do with Han Xuan, right?”
The doors were right in front of them, but Zhou Xiaoying oddly stopped in her tracks. “How is it not related?”
“How is it related?”
“Wait.” Zhou Xiaoying realized there seemed to be some misunderstanding between them. “What did you think her relationship with the Fucheng heiress was?”
Chu Susu tilted her head slightly, sensing the same issue, and softly said, a bit uncertain:
“…Lovers?”
The attendants inside the glass doors had already opened them for them. Right then was when the Fucheng heiress herself was giving her speech. She stood at the center of the stage, shining brightly, her soft voice flowing into everyone’s ears like a gentle stream.
On the big screen, her starry eyes narrowed slightly, then she broke into a flawless, perfect smile.
This time, the one incredulously gaping was Zhou Xiaoying. She leaned into Chu Susu’s ear, not forgetting to keep her voice low and urgent: “No, Eldest Miss, what are you thinking?”
She gestured with her eyes—one side was the birthday banquet banner, with the birthday girl’s name clearly written below.
—The Fucheng CEO’s only daughter, Han Yao.
Han Xuan, Han Yao.
Same surname, both single-character names.
An unbelievable guess suddenly exploded in Chu Susu’s mind. She stared dazedly at the birthday girl Han Yao on stage, unable to tear her gaze from those eyebrows and eyes so similar to someone else’s.
Of course she knew the Fucheng heiress’s name, but there were tons of people surnamed Han. She hadn’t paid attention at first.
Even when she and Li Le’er spotted that Han Yao was the one in the photos earlier, their preconceptions had kept them from thinking about the connection between their names.
Zhou Xiaoying pulled her from the back around to their seats. She didn’t dare talk about this in such a sensitive setting—if someone overheard, it would be disastrous. She could only type a line on her phone—
“Legitimate daughter from his first marriage? No—illegitimate daughter, half-sister from the same father, never publicly acknowledged.”
Han Yao’s speech was nearing its end, and the hall echoed with enthusiastic applause. But Chu Susu just sat there in her chair, stunned and slow to recover.
So that’s how it was.
So they were sisters. The intimacy in those photos that she’d taken at face value was all a misunderstanding.
And the bank card in Han Xuan’s hand made sense now too.
A wealthy family’s illegitimate daughter who was never publicly acknowledged—only occasionally getting money from her half-sister when she remembered. That was perfectly normal.
Han Xuan had explained it to her clearly: the marks on her neck were from a big dog at the pet shop bumping into her.
But why hadn’t she believed it?
A strong wave of guilt and disappointment suddenly washed over Chu Susu. The vivid color drained from her face in an instant, leaving her utterly despondent.
She and Chu Zhen had argued for so many years; she knew how awful it felt to be misunderstood and distorted. She understood even better how much damage groundless alienation could cause.
Yet no matter what she did to Han Xuan, the other girl always showed her a smiling face without a hint of resentment.
Zhou Xiaoying, seeing her face clouding over, lightly kicked her under the table and sent a message.
Zhou Xiaoying: “Hey, what are you thinking? You’re not… feeling sorry for her over this, are you?”
As expected from an old friend of many years—one sentence hit the nail on the head.
Zhou Xiaoying: “Just looking at the facts, I don’t recommend getting involved with someone whose family has a history of hereditary mental illness. Plus, the Han family is too creepy—better not to mess with them.”
Creepy, huh.
Chu Susu stared blankly ahead, lost in thought. She’d already witnessed creepy stuff the day she was dragged into that garage.
In the speeches from Fucheng’s executives that followed, she didn’t hear a word, just sitting there in a daze, her mind wandering.
Bits and pieces of her time with Han Xuan kept swirling in her mind and heart. With one glance down, Chu Susu could almost see her in those slightly worn boots, biting her lip and smiling at her.
Li Le’er eyed her suspiciously, then turned and whispered to Zhou Xiaoying, “Hey, what did you say to her?”
Zhou Xiaoying shrugged without a word.
Tch, seriously—not even telling her. Li Le’er pouted, her gaze casually drifting to Qiao Qian beside her.
Come to think of it, Qiao Qian had looked out of it ever since coming back from the bathroom earlier. What was up with everyone?
After the long-winded speeches, the host announced an exciting segment—the masquerade ball was about to begin.
Guests could pick up masks from the dressing rooms, and attendants would soon set up the dance floor for everyone to enjoy.
This segment was naturally just for show, to cover for other things.
After all, many of the guests today were middle-aged businessmen. Their goal was the bidding—why would they care about dancing?
Of course, they’d use the dance to negotiate business with Fucheng.
“Let’s go.” Li Le’er grinned mischievously at the group, baring her teeth. “I’m gonna dance—who wants to keep me company?”
Her gaze swept over the table of young ladies, only to see Chu Susu take a deep breath before shaking her head. “You guys go ahead. I’m not going.”
“That won’t do,” Li Le’er said anxiously. “Aren’t you here to talk business too? Look—isn’t that your client over there?”
One had to admit, her memory for faces was extraordinarily precise. She’d only glanced once at the client info on Chu Susu’s phone, yet she recognized the person right away.
Chu Susu looked over and sure enough, it was.
“Consider this me begging you all. Come on.”
Li Le’er dragged and pulled at them, wheedling both softly and insistently, pushing the three of them toward the makeup room.
A line had already formed there, with people dazzled by the array of lace masks.
Li Le’er excitedly scanned them, muttering now and then as she asked Qiao Qian which one would suit her best.
Zhou Xiaoying pinched Chu Susu’s arm and softly reminded her, “Don’t think about that stuff anymore. Buck up—aren’t you supposed to cozy up to the client?”
“Mm, yes.”
She snapped awake like from a dream, though the clarity was still absent from her upturned eyes. She nodded woodenly and murmured lowly, “You’re right.”
Beneath the long apricot-colored sleeves, Chu Susu viciously pinched her own palm, forcing herself to focus and stop thinking about Han Xuan. She listened to Li Le’er’s chatter while mentally rehearsing what she’d say to the client later.
“…Xiaoying, look—this mask has stars on it!” Li Le’er said with a smile, holding it up to her face. “So pretty.”
For some reason, those two words yanked her back out of the thoughts she’d only just sunk into.
“Stars(Xingxing).”
Chu Susu murmured the words, repeating them.
The clients were queued up not far ahead. In the gap as they turned their heads, they suddenly caught sight of her face. They squinted at her for a moment before recognizing her.
“You’re… the girl from your project team who gave that report, right?”
“Ah, yes.”
Chu Susu put on a professional look of surprise, pretending she had no idea who they were. “And you are…?”
They exchanged glances and smiled. “We’re from XM. That legal platform project from before? It was one of our people’s responsibilities.”
XM was Chu Susu’s company’s client.
They held pretty high positions at the company and normally wouldn’t have time to pay attention to partnership details. But after Chu Susu got attacked last time and still insisted on giving her report—only to end up with a concussion—the incident had become too famous.
XM’s leadership had held her up as a model employee, urging everyone to learn from her spirit of selfless dedication. The whole company had ended up watching that report recording.
These few counted as minor leaders, and they had a favorable impression of such diligent, hardworking staff.
One of them spoke up. “We’re getting on in years, so we’ll head over to the side later and skip the dancing. If you want, you can come join us, grab some food, and chat casually?”
It was as good as tossing her an enticing olive branch.
Right before Chu Susu could reply, a stranger’s whisper from behind drifted into her ears.
“Look at that person’s clothes.” Maliciously, mockingly. “Who the hell wears something like that to an event like this?”
“Can’t even tell the brand. Probably some street stall knockoff.”
Just then, a commotion broke out up ahead, like an argument starting.
Chu Susu looked up, but all she could see amid the dazzling swirl of skirts was a familiar flash of black.
Today was the birthday celebration of Fucheng’s precious young lady, yet over there, a slender figure was dressed in a black gown with inauspicious connotations.
She was like Cinderella without her crystal shoes—ragged and out of place, barging into the palace.
Several people had gathered around Han Xuan. It wasn’t clear what they were saying to her, but she lowered her head helplessly before suddenly turning her gaze—meeting Chu Susu’s eyes.
In that moment of eye contact, she pursed her lips helplessly and parted them habitually, as always.
Silently mouthing “Susu.”
Zhou Xiaoying, standing behind Chu Susu, naturally saw the whole scene too. Her eyes went wide. She never expected the illegitimate daughter to dare show up at the legitimate Eldest Miss’s birthday banquet. What the hell was this?
She immediately yanked hard at Chu Susu’s sleeve, signaling her to hurry off with the clients and not get dragged into this mess.
“So, what do you say?”
The clients smiled amiably and asked again. “Come on—we can chat about the next project.”
Chu Susu forced her gaze away from Han Xuan’s pitch-black eyes. But even after doing so, that deer-like expression still clung to her like quicksand, pulling her in deep, impossible to ignore or escape.
She stared at the clients for a moment before finally speaking.
“I…”
