Chapter 5

The door to the guest room wasn’t locked. As long as she had permission, Su Jinglan could simply open it and come in. Ning Jiuwei said nothing as she slipped her discarded pajamas back on, buttoning them from top to bottom one by one before going to open the door herself.

To her surprise, Su Jinglan hadn’t left. She had also changed into pajamas—ink-blue fabric embroidered with intricate white-feathered cranes, her long hair cascading over her shoulders, giving her an otherworldly air of aloof detachment.

” I thought Designer Ning had already gone to bed,” Su Jinglan said. Her smile remained gentle, her manners as thoughtful and considerate as ever. “Do the clothes you changed out of need washing? I can take them to launder with mine.”

Fearing a misunderstanding, Su Jinglan quickly added, “In the washing machine.”

“No need, thank you.” Standing face-to-face with Su Jinglan, Ning Jiuwei felt as if vines were slowly wrapping around her heart, bringing a suffocating sense of struggle. She ended the conversation abruptly. “Goodnight, President Su.”

Without waiting for Su Jinglan to return the goodnight, she shut the door.

It wasn’t her imagination.

Her heartbeat quickened again, the suffocation growing ever clearer. Ning Jiuwei clutched her chest and, after locking the door, leaned against it, head bowed as she gasped for breath.

She returned to the bedside and gazed at the nightlight on the nightstand. Then she turned off all the bedroom lights, leaving only that single glow in the darkness.

The sole light in the shadows.

Ning Jiuwei sat rigidly on the edge of the bed, staring quietly at the little nightlight. Her gaze gradually lost focus, threatening to pull her back into the past. She stopped herself just in time, warning herself not to dwell on those memories.

The sound of the lock clicking echoed clearly in Su Jinglan’s ears. Once a guest checked in, the room’s ownership temporarily transferred to them, and whether to lock it was entirely up to their habits. Su Jinglan smiled and headed to the study, her faint cherry blossom scent trailing behind her.

Once immersed in work, Su Jinglan lost track of time. By the time she finished handling all her emails and reviewing the Film and TV Division’s new investment proposal, two hours had passed.

She glanced at her wristwatch and checked tomorrow’s schedule.

In the morning, there was a conference on AI ecosystem partnerships at the Wan Jun Hotel’s executive conference room. In the afternoon, as president of the Design Division, she had a routine meeting with the directors from each of its branches.

Su Jinglan’s eyes lingered on the routine meeting. Ning Jiuwei, as chief designer of HS Jewelry Design, wasn’t required to attend.

“Fengmian.” Su Jinglan called her assistant and gave instructions. “For tomorrow afternoon’s Design Division executive meeting, require the chief designers from each branch to attend as well. The reason? The new division president wants to meet the design elites and key talents from the branches.”

Lin Fengmian had been about to fall asleep when her phone rang. Seeing the caller ID, all traces of drowsiness vanished.

She jotted down the president’s orders and immediately began notifying the directors.

Beyond its core departments, the Design Division included multiple specialized branches like jewelry design, interior design, and advertising design. These varied in size, with differing resource allocations. There were over a dozen directors in total. Lin Fengmian drafted a message and sent it to the executive group chat.

Once she confirmed every director had received and acknowledged it, she reported back to the president.

Su Jinglan had returned to the bedroom by then. She had just lifted the covers when the assistant’s message came through.

She leaned back against the headboard, pulling the smooth sheets up to her waist. The thought that Ning Jiuwei was under the same roof at that very moment made Su Jinglan’s lips curve into an involuntary smile.

She found it hard to sleep.

Su Jinglan replayed every moment of their encounter that day. Ning Jiuwei apparently hadn’t recognized her and had kept the proper distance of a subordinate toward her superior.

A deep-seated joy welled up from the bottom of her heart—like a candle flame in a dark, cold night. It was light, and it was warmth.

Su Jinglan lay flat, staring at the empty pillow beside her, imagining what it would be like to share a bed with Ning Jiuwei.

With anticipation and fancy filling her mind, she drifted off to sleep. Ning Jiuwei truly appeared in her dreams.

Adult dreams often carried a tint of color. Spring hues invaded her slumber, making Su Jinglan’s heart pound. A voice she could scarcely contain—shattered, alluring—wrapped around her, teased her, through clouds and rain until dawn.

The alarm blared, shattering the dream.

Still immersed in it, Su Jinglan woke reluctantly.

Last night’s dream had felt so real, as if it had truly happened. Ning Jiuwei’s gentle voice had turned fervent and urgent under the heat of passion—a side she had never shown in public. It was captivating, intoxicating.

Su Jinglan sat up, immediately realizing she needed a shower.

After bathing, she slipped into her slippers and stepped into the walk-in closet, selecting her outfit for the day from the wardrobe.

Today, she swapped her usual floral perfume for a woody one—with a white musk base note just like Ning Jiuwei’s. The fleeting top note was a subtle lily fragrance, detectable only if one got very close in the first hour.

Su Jinglan went to knock on the guest room door.

Just like last night, there was no response from inside.

After waiting a moment, she knocked again and tentatively pressed down on the door handle.

She remembered that the door had been locked from the inside last night. If Ning Jiuwei was still in there, the handle wouldn’t turn.

But it depressed smoothly, without the slightest resistance.

Su Jinglan hesitated for half a second, then called out politely, “Designer Ning?”

The guest room was so quiet it might as well have never hosted a visitor. Su Jinglan pushed the door open and stepped inside. The curtains were drawn, casting dim shadows across the bedroom, but her gaze toward the bed clearly revealed that no one was sleeping there.

She drew back the curtains and turned to survey the impeccably made bed. The sheets were as pristine as they had been the night before—the quilt laid out neatly and evenly, the two pillows nestled side by side without so much as a hint of having been used.

When had Ning Jiuwei left?

The walls were exceptionally well soundproofed; footsteps from outside would have been inaudible. And before her alarm had gone off, Su Jinglan had been fast asleep, oblivious to any sound of the door opening or footsteps departing.

She wanted to send Ning Jiuwei a message, but then remembered they hadn’t added each other on WeChat. She did have her phone number, but firing off a text at this hour to check in would come across as overly concerned.

Wasn’t concern exactly what she wanted to convey?

Su Jinglan wavered for two seconds before deciding to send the message anyway.

She typed out a full string of words, only to delete them one by one right before hitting send.

After leaving Su Jinglan’s home, Ning Jiuwei had returned to her own place still wearing yesterday’s clothes.

She changed into a fresh outfit and layered a trench coat over it, as always—warm and wind-resistant.

Assistant Tan had arrived at the company bright and early. She sorted through the client documents, culled the best ones, and delivered them to Ning Jiuwei’s office for her to select the next customer.

“Little Tan, prepare the contract,” Ning Jiuwei instructed as soon as she reached the office, summoning her assistant to handle the signing. “Find time today to deliver it to Miss Shen.”

Custom contracts came with standard templates; they only required filling in the design fee and the timeline for sketches and delivery. Tan Yushu had long been Ning Jiuwei’s trusted deputy, and the fees she charged every client were virtually identical, as were the timelines.

“Right away.” Tan Yushu’s own salary wasn’t tied to these custom contracts, but Designer Ning received a commission, which made her just as pleased.

“Hold on.” Considering Shen Lanyan’s status, too low a fee wouldn’t do justice to her prominence, so Ning Jiuwei added, “Keep the timeline the same as before, but multiply the design fee by ten.”

Assistant Tan: “…”

It looked like Shen Lanyan had truly gotten under Designer Ning’s skin.

Tan Yushu acknowledged the order and went off to prepare the contract.

Once everything was in order, she returned to Ning Jiuwei’s office with three identical copies. Ning Jiuwei reviewed them, found no issues, and signed her name in the Party B space.

Ning Jiuwei always wrote with a fountain pen. Her signature flowed with elegant vigor, infused with her distinctive design flair—bold and commanding.

Whenever Tan Yushu saw it, she couldn’t help but feel her heart skip a beat.

Beautiful handwriting, just like the woman herself.

“By the way, Designer Ning, how did you get home last night?” Tan Yushu clutched the contracts to her chest and asked from across the desk. “Did President Su drive you?”

“No.”

Ning Jiuwei lowered her head to peruse the documents, but the words before her dissolved into memories of her morning departure.

She had slept fitfully through the night. Upon waking once more, she checked her phone: just two in the morning.

Forcing herself back to sleep had only lasted until then. She set an alarm for five-thirty and spent the next three-plus hours with her eyes closed in quiet meditation.

Leaving without a word felt impolite, so after rising, Ning Jiuwei straightened the bed—fluffing even the two pillows to give them a naturally settled look—before slipping out of Su Jinglan’s home.

The sky was a dull gray, the night’s chill clinging to the shadows beneath the trees. Ning Jiuwei started her car, cranked the heat, and lingered inside for a few minutes.

Traffic was sparse on the roads, and the wide lanes cut her commute down to just over ten minutes.

They lived so close after all. There had been no need to stay over.

“Designer Ning, we have a meeting this afternoon.” The Design Director came in person to inform her, her eyes darting toward the office across from Ning Jiuwei’s as she spoke.

In her forties, the Design Director moved with the refined grace of a mature woman. She had shifted from design to management in a mere handful of years.

“Director Zhang.” Ning Jiuwei closed the documents in her hand and turned down the invitation. “I have to meet a client this afternoon. I won’t be able to attend.”

“I haven’t even told you what the meeting’s about, Jiuwei.” Zhang Xiaoyue leaned against the desk, drawing closer to Ning Jiuwei, her eyes—softened by moonlight and brushed by breezes—gazing at her with captivating allure. “The new president is holding her first meeting today. She’s called for all chief designers from the Design Division to attend. And as the chief designer of our Jewelry Design Department, you have to be there.”

Director Zhang kept addressing her with polite “yous,” but Ning Jiuwei had grown accustomed to it. She offered a mild smile yet rejected the request without mercy. “Thank you for the trouble, Director Zhang, but there’s no need to promote a temporary Chief Designer. I can recommend someone suitable—Designer Qi would be perfect.”

“Alright then, if she won’t come, she won’t. It’s not that important a meeting anyway.” Director Zhang knew full well how dull routine meetings could be. Insisting that the Chief Designer attend was merely a show of importance—a ploy by the President to win hearts and minds.

No one showed up from the office across the hall. The Design Director retreated to her own office. Promoting a new Chief Designer on the spot was out of the question. Ning Jiuwei’s professional prowess was beyond words; she was someone no one could afford to offend.

Even if the new President issued a task that morning demanding a new product by tomorrow, Ning Jiuwei’s presence alone would ensure it was completed by evening.

In the afternoon, Ning Jiuwei drove Assistant Tan away from the company.

A flicker of doubt stirred in Assistant Tan’s mind, questions only Ning Jiuwei could answer. Delivering a contract was such a trivial errand—why had Ning Jiuwei insisted on handling it personally this time? Why tag along?

Was it because the other party was Shen Lanyan?

Could Designer Ning have fallen for Miss Shen? Love at first sight?

Tan Yushu kept stealing sideways glances, dying to ask but too afraid to speak.

Su Jinglan, descending from the Group President’s Office on the top floor, timed her return to the office just right. She spotted the empty Chief Designer’s Office across the way, suppressed the smile tugging at her lips, and headed straight for the conference room.

~~~