Chapter 39: The Key Part 1

Qin Zheng believed she still understood Jiang Ruoning well. From some of her expressions and gestures, she could guess what she was thinking. At that moment, Jiang Ruoning’s cheeks were flushed red, and her eyes darted around everywhere, avoiding eye contact with her.

Guilty.

She felt guilty.

Qin Zheng was quick-eyed and quick-handed. She suddenly reached out and pressed Jiang Ruoning’s neck. Jiang Ruoning was startled and hadn’t reacted yet when Qin Zheng tugged at the edge of her ointment tube. She didn’t tear it open but instead pulled at Jiang Ruoning’s shirt collar.

She flipped up the standing collar and pulled it outward.

Revealing the marks on her collarbone.

The hickeys were clear.

Qin Zheng was incredulous. “You?”

Jiang Ruoning threw caution to the wind. “I know you’re going to scold me. Go ahead and scold me.”

Her face looked mournful. “I don’t even know what happened. I must have gone crazy.”

Qin Zheng was speechless and poked her forehead. “You really did go crazy!”

Jiang Ruoning looked utterly despondent.

Qin Zheng asked, “Does your mom know?”

Jiang Ruoning’s expression flickered slightly as she shook her head lightly.

Qin Zheng asked, “What do you plan to do?”

Jiang Ruoning said, “I don’t plan to do anything.”

“What do you mean you don’t plan to do anything?” Qin Zheng said. She tugged at Jiang Ruoning’s clothes. “Do you think Shi Sui will let you off?”

Jiang Ruoning was helpless. “Don’t make her sound like some mafia boss.”

Qin Zheng said, “Don’t you know it in your heart?”

Jiang Ruoning pouted.

Qin Zheng looked at her, exasperated. “What did Shi Sui say?”

Jiang Ruoning scratched her head. “I don’t know.”

Qin Zheng got angry. “Does she want to shirk responsibility?”

Jiang Ruoning felt a bit guilty. That morning, it seemed like she was the one who had run away, blocked Shi Sui, and refused to answer her calls.

The one who didn’t want to take responsibility was her.

Qin Zheng narrowed her eyes.

Jiang Ruoning immediately confessed honestly. “She seduced me! She took a shower and smelled all nice, and she even undressed in front of me. How was I supposed to control myself?”

Qin Zheng laughed out of anger.

Jiang Ruoning hugged her arm. “Come on, let’s go. Let’s not talk about her anymore.”

Qin Zheng looked at her roguish appearance.

Headache.

A real headache.

Jiang Ruoning wasn’t the clingy type and had always been decisive about relationships, but this time, she didn’t cut it off cleanly. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to; she just didn’t know how. Thinking about Shi Sui made her irritable.

As Qin Zheng drove, she asked, “Last time you mentioned she’s the general agent for the brand you’re collaborating with. What was that about?”

Jiang Ruoning said, “You know Less, right?”

Qin Zheng knew it—a new brand. She even had colleagues do background checks on it.

Jiang Ruoning said, “She’s the general agent.”

Qin Zheng said, “Her? Isn’t her family in food products?”

Jiang Ruoning said, “This brand was launched by her three years ago.”

Qin Zheng understood. “So this brand is under her now?”

Jiang Ruoning nodded.

Qin Zheng asked, “For you?”

Jiang Ruoning exploded like a lit firecracker. “What do you mean ‘for me’? It’s not like that!” After her outburst, she wilted. “I don’t have that kind of charm.”

Although…

Although it seemed like that really was the case.

Wu Jie had been there the whole time last night. That morning, she called Jiang Ruoning and said Less had handled it internally and it wouldn’t affect her. She also mentioned that Fengshang had called and would issue a statement addressing the wardrobe malfunction from before, and they would strictly pursue the matter.

Less handling it internally and not affecting her made sense to Jiang Ruoning—after all, it was because of Shi Sui.

But Fengshang?

There was no reason for that.

She and Fengshang’s Li Jinyan had only had two meals together. They weren’t close enough for her to stand up for Jiang Ruoning like that.

Wu Jie said, “I called Director Li, and Director Li said it was arranged by President Li.”

Jiang Ruoning was even more surprised. “President Li?”

She had never even met this President Li.

Wu Jie said, “It seems because of Less’s President Shi. She has some connection with President Li. I don’t know the specifics, but Less clearly wants to get on the same boat as you.”

It was too obvious.

Almost everyone could see it.

Wu Jie wasn’t opposed. “Ruoning, I think it’s a good opportunity.”

When Jiang Ruoning first joined Del, Ai Wen had negotiated a brand endorsement for her—not too big, not too small. Later, Jiang Ruoning found out it was because the brand had given Ai Wen a lot of benefits for the exclusive deal. Friends in the industry had sighed over it back then, saying she could have had a better brand’s exclusive, so why sign that one?

She had been proud back then and thought it was fine even if it wasn’t a big brand. But within two years, the brand was investigated for tax evasion and vanished.

In the modeling world, exclusive deals were crucial. Once a model’s face was tied to a brand exclusively, other brands wouldn’t hire her. Back then, Jiang Ruoning had turned down many major domestic and international brands for that one, and later, she had no chance to collaborate with them.

After switching agencies, Wu Jie had always subtly tried to land her another exclusive.

Fengshang was the top choice.

It had good fame in and out of the industry, but negotiations hadn’t gone smoothly.

Now, there was a ready opportunity. Less had great development prospects and was so partial to Jiang Ruoning, which made it reassuring. So Wu Jie strongly approved of continuing the collaboration with Less. She told Jiang Ruoning, “President Shi from Less isn’t in Shangjing these couple of days. When she gets back, I’ll arrange a dinner. You come too.”

Jiang Ruoning’s scalp tingled, but she agreed.

At the same time, she thought of Shi Sui’s proposal from last night.

Collaboration.

It pissed her off.

Jiang Ruoning had no impression of Shi Sui’s mother at all—good or bad, just a vague emotion. But last night, Shi Sui said her mom had badmouthed her right in front of Jiang Qin. That was poking at Jiang Qin’s sore spot.

She hadn’t met Shi Sui’s mom yet.

If she did…

She’d definitely poke at her sore spot too!

It pissed her off.

Jiang Ruoning’s face turned red.

At a red light, Qin Zheng glanced at her expression and couldn’t bear to look. She said, “Still reminiscing?”

Jiang Ruoning turned her head. “Reminiscing about what?”

Qin Zheng’s gaze swept toward her chest.

Jiang Ruoning’s face immediately turned beet red. “You’re talking nonsense!”

Qin Zheng said, “If you’re not reminiscing, why is your face red?”

Jiang Ruoning pursed her lips. “I’m angry.”

Qin Zheng was puzzled. “Angry? Angry about what? Was Shi Sui bad last night? Were you two not happy?”

Jiang Ruoning reached out, wanting to strangle Qin Zheng, but held back. She took a deep breath. “I’m thinking about Shi Sui’s mom.”

Qin Zheng fell silent.

Jiang Ruoning asked, “You…” She scratched her head, wanting to ask but not knowing how. Qin Zheng understood her. “You want to know what kind of person Shi Sui’s mom is?”

Jiang Ruoning lowered her eyes, looking at the car’s air vent where cool air blew out. She placed her fingers under it.

It was chilly.

Did she want to know?

Actually…

Yes, she did.

Jiang Ruoning nodded. “Yeah.”

Qin Zheng sighed.

After thinking, she said, “Very good at disguising herself, very good at hiding.”

Jiang Ruoning said, “Isn’t that just like Shi Sui?”

She recalled their first meeting—Shi Sui had clearly recognized her but pretended not to. That acting skill could land her in showbiz.

Qin Zheng tugged at the corner of her mouth.

Jiang Ruoning asked, “Anything else?”

Qin Zheng said, “You two were discovered by her in Shi Sui’s house.”

It was a weekend.

Qin Zheng remembered it clearly.

Xu Qingqing had come to Shangjing on business and passed by Shi Sui’s place. Thinking of Shi Sui’s recent odd behavior, she suspected Shi Sui was in a relationship. But whenever she asked, Shi Sui wouldn’t say, so Xu Qingqing showed up unannounced at Shi Sui’s house to wait.

Shi Sui wasn’t home.

Not home on a weekend—probably out on a date.

Actually, Xu Qingqing didn’t mind Shi Sui dating, as long as the person wasn’t too poor, too ugly, or unambitious. She could accept it. After all, it was just college romance—who knew if it’d last after graduation? She had no intention of interfering.

Until Shi Sui and Jiang Ruoning returned to the house.

Xu Qingqing had gotten sleepy waiting and rested in the study. When she woke, she saw the two on the sofa.

Naked.

The two of them naked.

Draped only in a blanket.

Covering just their chests and butts.

The skin exposed outside the blanket was covered in marks, all screaming what had happened.

Xu Qingqing flew into a rage and splashed a basin of water on them.

“Shameless! Shameless! Utterly shameless!”

Even when Qin Zheng arrived, Xu Qingqing was still repeating that phrase.

Jiang Ruoning’s face looked like she was constipated, imagining the scene. Her toes curled.

Qin Zheng studied her expression. “Headache?”

Jiang Ruoning was just concerned. “Were we really not wearing a single piece of clothing?”

Qin Zheng said, “Probably. I didn’t see.”

By the time she got there, Shi Sui and Jiang Ruoning had already dressed, though messily and damp, but at least presentable.

Jiang Ruoning’s face darkened as she fell silent.

Too tragic.

So tragic she didn’t know what to say.

Being accidentally discovered by family in a relationship was shocking enough.

And in that scene.

Jiang Ruoning self-mocked, “I suddenly get why I lost my memory.”

Qin Zheng glanced at her.

Was that it?

She had no idea how overboard Xu Qingqing went afterward.

That was what drove Jiang Ruoning’s mother mentally unstable.

Forced Shi Sui into a corner.

And led to her own “accident.”

Xu Qingqing’s actions exceeded their understanding of a mother, leading to one mistake after another.

Jiang Ruoning shook her head vigorously, as if scared by her own imagination. Her face paled. “Can’t think about it. Can’t think.”

Seeing this, Qin Zheng asked, “How much have you remembered?”

Jiang Ruoning said, “Just some stuff from that farmhouse stay.”

The key was recalling it in such an extreme way.

She couldn’t possibly sleep with Shi Sui again just to recover her memory.

She’d be crazy.

Jiang Ruoning turned to the car window and breathed lightly. They were almost at the airport, driving slowly. Airports were always bustling with people dragging suitcases, rushing about. Qin Zheng parked inside the airport. Jiang Ruoning opened the door and said to Qin Zheng, “Stand behind me in a bit.”

Qin Zheng asked, “Why?”

Jiang Ruoning said, “To scare Yun An.”

Qin Zheng grabbed her arm and pulled her into a hug. “You showing up will scare her to death already.”

Jiang Ruoning: …

She muttered, “Am I that terrifying?”

Qin Zheng found it funny. Last night, she had video-called Yun An and said she’d pick her up with Jiang Ruoning. Though Yun An didn’t say no, her deeply furrowed brows said it all. Qin Zheng had said, “If you keep this up, I’ll have Ruoning come pick you up alone.”

Yun An pleaded, “Zhengzheng…”

Qin Zheng said, “Fine. She’s been in a bad mood lately. Staying cooped up at home is bad for her. I’m bringing her out to clear her mind.”

Who knew she was doing just fine.

Sparks were flying.

Jiang Ruoning’s personality really was one that forgot pain after the wound healed.

She hoped this time…

Shi Sui had truly resolved the issue with her mom before provoking Jiang Ruoning again.

In the car,

Jiang Nuan let out an “ah” and asked Shi Sui, “Isn’t that Miss Jiang?”

Shi Sui looked up and saw Jiang Ruoning holding Qin Zheng’s arm, standing sweetly at the airport entrance. She froze for a moment.

Jiang Nuan cautiously watched her expression. “Who’s the one next to her?”

Had she blocked Shi Sui and her that morning because Jiang Ruoning had a girlfriend?

Shi Sui didn’t speak, just stared at Jiang Ruoning at the entrance.

Very eye-catching.