~~~
Su Jinglan sat coldly in the car, found Shen Lanyan’s number, and dialed it.
“Excuse me, Designer Ning, I need to take this call.” Shen Lanyan picked up the phone and said hello with a smile, her gaze falling on Ning Jiuwei’s profile.
The hotel lobby featured a cozy resting area where numerous guests lounged, sipping coffee, chatting, or waiting for others. Ning Jiuwei glanced back at Shen Lanyan and gave her a look that said she would head up first.
Shen Lanyan reached out and grabbed Ning Jiuwei’s arm, leaning in with intimate familiarity. “Yes, I’ve arrived in Wen Hai. I happened to run into Designer Ning, and we’re heading back to her room right now.”
After several such bold advances, Ning Jiuwei had reached her limit. She pinched Shen Lanyan’s slender arm and yanked it away.
Her grip was firm, showing no tenderness toward Shen Lanyan whatsoever. Shen Lanyan let out a sharp hiss of pain, nearly dropping her phone.
“Sister, you hurt me.” Shen Lanyan’s acting skills sprang to life in an instant as she gazed at Ning Jiuwei with wide, pitiful eyes.
Ning Jiuwei offered no opportunity for the performance and simply walked away.
Shen Lanyan: “……”
Seeing Ning Jiuwei about to step into the elevator, Shen Lanyan hurried after her and slipped inside just before the doors closed, positioning herself at Ning Jiuwei’s side.
She pressed the button for the 22nd floor. Ning Jiuwei stared straight ahead, not sparing a sideways glance. The elevator’s smooth, pristine walls gleamed like mirrors, clearly reflecting the two women inside. Ning Jiuwei’s expression remained icy and inscrutable, betraying no hint of her emotions or thoughts.
The call hadn’t ended yet. Shen Lanyan spoke to Su Jinglan on the other end. “I’m heading to Designer Ning’s room to wait for you.”
Ning Jiuwei’s eyes flickered faintly. From that final remark, she could tell exactly who was on the phone with Shen Lanyan.
She had deliberately cleared out the room’s contents and stashed them in Assistant Tan’s room, hoping Su Jinglan would assume she had already left. Ning Jiuwei turned to the woman beside her. “Miss Shen, when is President Su returning?”
“You knew it was President Su on the line with me?” Surveillance cameras dotted the elevator, but Shen Lanyan had no qualms about a five-star hotel leaking her footage. She removed her mask and addressed Ning Jiuwei directly. “President Su told me to wait for her in the first floor lobby. She should be pulling up to the hotel any minute now.”
Ning Jiuwei gave a subtle nod, stepped out of the elevator, turned right, and proceeded down the corridor toward its end.
“This is my room.” Ning Jiuwei halted at the door to Room 2201 and handed the room card to Shen Lanyan. “I’m going downstairs for a cup of coffee. Would you like one, Miss Shen?”
“If Sister is treating me to coffee, how could I refuse?” Shen Lanyan’s fingertips deftly plucked the card from Ning Jiuwei’s hand. She swiped it against the door handle, and the door clicked open.
Once the card was inserted, the room’s lights blazed to life. Shen Lanyan paused briefly in the entryway, eyeing the empty coat rack, before strolling leisurely inside.
She took in the room as she went, noting two quilts neatly stacked on the bed. Intrigued, she crossed her legs and sank onto the sofa, reclining back with lazy elegance.
How intriguing—Designer Ning’s bed had two quilts. One could only wonder which president had slipped into her bed.
Ning Jiuwei rang the doorbell to Assistant Tan’s room. Tan Yushu had holed up there all day, even having the hotel deliver her meals, without once venturing outside. At the sound of the bell, assuming it was Designer Ning returning, she hurried to open the door.
“Designer Ning, here for your suitcase?” Sure enough, it was her. Tan Yushu swung the door wide. “I’ve kept a close eye on it the entire time—it never left my sight.”
Ning Jiuwei offered a gentle smile. “You’ve been in your room all day?” Without waiting for an invitation, she stepped inside. Assistant Tan saw nothing amiss, shut the door, and followed her to the desk.
“Yes, I compiled new client documents.” With no printer in the room, printing wasn’t an option. Tan Yushu handed Ning Jiuwei the tablet, pulled up the spreadsheet, and explained, “A client showed up at the company today without an appointment, asking for you. Little Zhou handled her.”
As Ning Jiuwei’s dedicated assistant, Tan Yushu managed only her affairs. Little Zhou, on the other hand, was the team’s general assistant, tackling whatever needed doing. With them away on this trip, company duties had fallen to her temporarily.
Ning Jiuwei accepted the tablet. Assistant Tan positioned herself at her side, pointing to the highlighted entry. “This is Miss Ye.”
Assistant Tan stepped back just enough to maintain perfect decorum, then continued. “Miss Ye wants a custom necklace. She shared all the details and her specific design ideas with Little Zhou—the recording’s with her. Should I have Little Zhou send it over now, or would you prefer to review it after we return?”
The distance was impeccably judged. Ning Jiuwei wasted no time in deciding. “Send it after we’re back at the company. I’ll go through the other clients’ documents now.”
Assistant Tan swiveled the chair toward her. “Please, Designer Ning, have a seat and take a look.”
Her own room was a spacious king suite, complete with an office desk and chair. Ning Jiuwei smiled and settled into the seat.
Ning Jiuwei had no intention of leaving so quickly in the first place. This was the perfect opportunity to go along with it.
“Right, order two cups of coffee and have them delivered to my room,” Ning Jiuwei instructed Assistant Tan calmly, her eyes never leaving the tablet in her hands.
The hotel offered room service. Assistant Tan retrieved the smart interactive tablet from the bedside table, navigated to the coffee options, and asked, “Designer Ning, what kind would you like?”
“Two iced Americanos,” Ning Jiuwei replied offhandedly before Assistant Tan could list the choices. She added a reminder: “Deliver them to Room 2201.”
It had nearly gone to the default room—good thing Designer Ning had specified. Tan Yushu selected the delivery room and placed the order.
The two iced Americanos were packaged swiftly and loaded into the belly of a smart delivery robot. The delivery AI rode the elevator up to the 22nd Floor and arrived adorably at the door of Room 2201, interacting with the room’s smart system and doorbell.
The doorbell chimed, and both women inside turned their heads toward the sound.
“Designer Ning’s coffee is here,” Shen Lanyan said as she went to open the door. There was no sign of Ning Jiuwei outside—just a short, chubby smart robot that looked utterly huggable.
“Your coffee has arrived. Please retrieve it,” the robot announced, spinning in place to present its compartment to the guest.
Shen Lanyan glanced down the quiet corridor, saw no one, and extracted the two cups from the robot’s belly. She turned back to Su Jinglan. “It’s takeout.”
“Where did Ning Jiuwei go?” Su Jinglan eyed the coffee but didn’t take it.
“She said she was going to buy coffee. I have no idea where she actually went.” Shen Lanyan carried the cups to the sofa, pulled them from the bag, and started sipping one.
Su Jinglan’s expression cooled as she gazed down imperiously at Shen Lanyan. “What’s going on with those hot searches? Why were you strolling along the beach with Ning Jiuwei?”
“We ran into each other by chance.” The icy stare was intimidating, and Shen Lanyan straightened up unconsciously, cradling her iced coffee with both hands like an obedient child.
An actor’s body language couldn’t be trusted—even sworn enemies could play the roles of best friends for the cameras. Su Jinglan locked eyes with her, her gaze sharp as a needle piercing the soul. “Tell me the truth.”
Shen Lanyan knew she couldn’t fool Su Jinglan. It was all or nothing—either stay silent or tell no lies. “I came here specifically to find you,” she admitted. “I happened to spot Ning Jiuwei leaving the hotel alone, so I followed her to the beach and pretended it was a chance encounter.”
Su Jinglan’s expression didn’t change as she gestured for her to continue.
Shen Lanyan took a sip of her iced coffee. “Everything after that is just like what you saw. The paparazzi caught us by accident and spun it into some scandalous fling on Weibo. Ning Jiuwei and I are completely innocent. She’s your precious designer—how would I dare have any ideas about her?”
“I think you dare quite a bit.” Su Jinglan didn’t even need the Weibo photos; she’d seen firsthand just how intimate Shen Lanyan had been with Ning Jiuwei.
Shen Lanyan shifted her position, leaning sideways against the sofa armrest as her obedient smile morphed into one laced with deeper meaning. “President Su, if I really dared… what would you do to me?”
“You can try it and find out.” Su Jinglan held the reins of the Hengsu Group—she could summon clouds with one hand and summon rain with the other.
The overwhelming pressure bore down on Shen Lanyan’s heart. Though their long acquaintance kept her from outright panic at the cold words, her pulse quickened all the same.
“I’ve dug up something,” Shen Lanyan said, propping her cheek on one hand, her fingertips tapping idly against her flawless skin. “Ning Jiuwei went to the same high school as you. Is that when President Su first fell for Designer Ning?”
Su Jinglan sidestepped the question. “You came all the way to Wen Hai just to ask me that?”
“That’s right. I wanted to hear it straight from you, President Su.” Shen Lanyan shifted again, leaning forward to tug at the hem of Su Jinglan’s clothes. She looked up at her. “Sister Su, is that when you started liking her?”
Curiosity had drawn Shen Lanyan to probe further, but Su Jinglan brushed her hand away. Her profound gaze concealed the secrets of her heart. “You have five minutes to deal with those Weibo hot searches.”
Shen Lanyan obeyed at once. “Yes, President Su. I’ll have Sister Ling take them down right away.”
She controlled her own Weibo account and password, free to post whatever she pleased. She logged in, intending to issue a quick clarification before having her agent pull the hot searches. But then she reconsidered—doing so might only bring more trouble to Ning Jiuwei. Instead, she logged out, switched to WeChat, and messaged her agent directly.
For the right price, hot searches vanished in seconds. Sister Ling had been itching to remove them anyway; she just hadn’t known what game Shen Lanyan was playing.
The moment the message arrived, Sister Ling called and yanked the offending terms from the rankings.
“President Su, the hot searches are down,” Shen Lanyan said, showing her the updated interface. “Now, shouldn’t you share a little of what I want to know?”
Su Jinglan’s thoughts lingered on Ning Jiuwei. Ning Jiuwei still hadn’t returned after all this time, and recalling how she had slipped away that morning only deepened the quiet worry stirring in Su Jinglan’s heart.
She had been chatting nonstop with Shen Lanyan, and it was only now that she noticed the suitcase was missing from the room.
Had Ning Jiuwei left?
Su Jinglan didn’t respond to Shen Lanyan. Instead, she turned and walked away.
Shen Lanyan: “???” She wasn’t willing to answer, but did she have to leave that quickly?
Staring at the half-open door, Shen Lanyan sent a message to Ning Jiuwei, asking where she had gone and when she would be back.
Ning Jiuwei saw the message and replied with a question of her own: Miss Shen, have you met up with President Su yet?
Unable to read Ning Jiuwei’s expression through the screen, Shen Lanyan had to infer her mood and underlying intentions from the words alone. She furrowed her brow for a few seconds, drawing on her professional instincts to piece together the reason for Ning Jiuwei’s departure.
“So Designer Ning deliberately left to avoid interrupting me and President Su. I’ve met up with President Su now, but she’s gone again.”
Shen Lanyan sent a voice message. Ning Jiuwei converted it to text and read it. Upon learning that Su Jinglan had left, she set down the tablet in her hand, rose to her feet, and said to Assistant Tan, “Little Tan, could you bring my suitcase to my room later?” With that, she left Assistant Tan’s room.
She had barely taken a few steps out the door when she encountered Su Jinglan stepping out of the elevator.
Su Jinglan halted right there, her gaze fixed on Ning Jiuwei as she waited for her to approach.
“President Su.” Ning Jiuwei’s heart pounded suddenly, though her expression remained perfectly composed as she greeted her calmly.
It had been a full day since they’d last seen each other. Now, at last, Su Jinglan could look at her and speak to her. She couldn’t hold back the smile tugging at her lips. As Ning Jiuwei drew near, Su Jinglan seized her wrist and murmured softly into her ear, “Teacher Ning, you took advantage of me while I was drunk last night and did that to me. You’re not planning to shirk responsibility and just walk away, are you?”
~~~
