Chapter 53: Blinded Part 1

Shi Sui had taken some cold medicine before coming to the company, and her fever had broken, though she still felt a bit dizzy. She hadn’t eaten breakfast either, so she stuffed a piece of bread into her mouth during the gap when Jiang Ruoning went for the photoshoot, washed it down with more cold medicine, and didn’t forget to ask Jiang Nuan for some candy. Jiang Nuan looked at the hand she extended and cautiously placed her own hand in it. Shi Sui turned her head to stare at her with a constipated expression. “What?”

Jiang Nuan looked even more conflicted than she did. “Why’d you suddenly reach out like that?”

She had thought Shi Sui wanted to hold her hand.

Shi Sui said, “Candy.”

Jiang Nuan replied, “Where would I get…” Then she rummaged in her pocket. “Actually, I do have some.”

She had just grabbed them from the company pantry. It was especially busy today, and she was afraid she wouldn’t have time to eat lunch, so she needed to replenish her sugar levels. Jiang Nuan grumbled, “How did you know I had any?”

Shi Sui said, “I saw you take them.”

Jiang Nuan: …

She pitifully handed the candy to Shi Sui. As Shi Sui unwrapped it, the blueberry-flavored candy released its fragrance into the air. Just as Jiang Nuan prepared to leave, her phone vibrated with a friend request. The profile picture looked familiar—it was from someone who would absolutely never add her proactively.

Jiang Nuan asked Shi Sui, “Is this Lin Wei?”

Come to think of it, it was pretty unreasonable that she, as a special assistant, didn’t have the vice president’s contact info. But she really didn’t. If it weren’t for occasional work calls, Lin Wei would have been the first person she blacklisted, so there was no way they were WeChat friends. Shi Sui glanced sideways at the picture and nodded. “It’s her.”

Jiang Nuan stared at the avatar. “Why is she adding me?”

Shi Sui just asked her, “Don’t you know why?”

Jiang Nuan looked innocent. “How would I know?”

Shi Sui said, “Then accept it and ask her what she wants.”

Jiang Nuan felt like there was something off about those words. While she hesitated, another friend request popped up. Perhaps because she hadn’t accepted the first one right away, Lin Wei had lost patience and sent another. This time, Jiang Nuan clicked accept. On the other end, the ever-aloof Lin Wei sent: [?]

Jiang Nuan: ????

She stared at the question mark, utterly baffled. Lin Wei had added her first—why send a question mark like that?

Jiang Nuan replied in confusion: [??]

The response came immediately: [????]

Jiang Nuan couldn’t take it anymore: [What do you mean?]

Lin Wei got a hundred and twenty percent annoyed just looking at her. If Xu Qingqing hadn’t asked her to get close to Jiang Nuan before leaving and gather some evidence about Shi Sui and Jiang Ruoning, she wouldn’t have bothered with this person at all. She’d given her a chance to add her, but she took forever to accept and then sent question marks? Who even was the vice president and who was the assistant—did this woman even know?

She took a deep breath and instructed Jiang Nuan: [Come to my office later.]

Jiang Nuan stared at the message and showed it to Shi Sui, who was sucking on the candy and looked down. “What’s up?”

Jiang Nuan said, “She’s asking me to go to her office.”

Shi Sui said, “Don’t you go to her office all the time?”

Jiang Nuan nodded. “Yeah, but that’s just to watch the drama.”

Lin Wei hated her showing up in her office. Ever since she’d gotten slapped there last time, she’d been banned from entering. Now she was inviting her proactively? Something was fishy, but Jiang Nuan was curious enough to want to see what it was. She replied: [Okay, Vice President Lin.]

Lin Wei gritted her teeth at the title.

Everyone else called her President Lin, but Jiang Nuan always said Vice President Lin. So deliberate, so mocking.

Lin Wei suppressed the urge to block her, turned off her phone, and told her assistant, “Book me a private room for tonight…” Before she could finish, she said, “Forget it.”

Did she even deserve a private room? She could just get her drunk on some booze and pry everything out of her.

Jiang Nuan said to Shi Sui, “I’ll head over first.”

Shi Sui nodded. “Be careful.”

Jiang Nuan was stunned by the sudden concern. “Careful of what?”

Shi Sui said, “You said yourself that her reaching out never means anything good. Just be cautious.”

Jiang Nuan felt warmed by it. “Don’t worry.” Lin Wei was no match for her at all. Before going abroad, she’d been afraid of getting bullied and learned some self-defense for a few years. Later overseas, she’d worked at a boxing gym and picked up the basics. The first time Lin Wei hit her, she knew she deserved it, so she hadn’t fought back. Otherwise, with those skinny arms and legs, Lin Wei couldn’t have touched her.

Shi Sui watched her leave the room with some files. Soon after, she heard Jiang Ruoning and her manager’s voices outside, low and fragmented, discussing something. Jiang Ruoning sounded unhappy.

Wu Jie asked her, “You two—are you dating now?”

Xu Qingqing had gotten involved, and plus, Jiang Ruoning had flown to Linping last time. From Jiang Nuan, she’d learned that Shi Sui had been there those few days too. No need to say it—she’d gone to find Shi Sui. So her suspicions made perfect sense.

She didn’t actually approve of models dating too early. She’d seen plenty who started relationships young, got married and had kids within two years, and never showed up at events again. She found it regrettable. But Jiang Ruoning was different; she wouldn’t have marriage or kids holding her back. Dating that didn’t affect work? She had no objections.

Besides, Shi Sui treated her really well.

Jiang Ruoning looked at Wu Jie and pouted. Was Shi Sui some kind of succubus? Even Qin Zheng, who used to hate her guts, stopped badmouthing her after she came back. Those friends who used to never mention Shi Sui’s name were now all “Shi Sui this” and “Shi Sui that,” trying to create opportunities for her and Shi Sui right in front of her.

And Sister Xiao Man was even worse—she hadn’t told her the truth at first, hiding it from her.

If those friends believed in her because Shi Sui had been good to them before, fine. But Wu Jie? She’d only interacted with her a few times—why was she so convinced Shi Sui was a good person?

Bewitching hearts. She was right—Shi Sui bewitched hearts. Now even Wu Jie was speaking up for her.

Jiang Ruoning spread her hands and told Wu Jie, “We’re not dating.”

They just occasionally slept together to relieve physical tension and help her recover her memories. Beyond that, they had no relationship whatsoever.

With the hardest mouth on her entire body, Jiang Ruoning pushed open the changing room door. No one was there—Shi Sui was gone. She instinctively wanted to pull out her phone to message her but stopped herself when she touched the case. Wu Jie said, “President Shi hasn’t come back? I’ll contact Assistant Jiang to check.”

Before she finished, the changing room door opened, and Shi Sui stood in the doorway. Wu Jie immediately straightened up. “President Shi.”

Shi Sui nodded and walked in. Wu Jie, very tactfully this time, said, “I’ll go check if the photographer needs anything.”

Jiang Ruoning watched her retreating back and sighed. Wu Jie had slipped away. She felt oddly betrayed. She glanced at Shi Sui, who was selecting the next outfit from the rack. The room was very quiet; neither spoke. Suddenly, someone knocked on the changing room door, followed by Zhao Miaomiao’s voice. “Ning-jie, are you in there?”

Jiang Ruoning said, “Yeah.”

Zhao Miaomiao pushed the door open and beamed at Jiang Ruoning. Then she spotted Shi Sui beside her, and her smile froze. She immediately turned obedient, lowered her head, walked to Jiang Ruoning’s side, and handed over the coffee. “Ning-jie, your iced Americano.”

Jiang Ruoning had almost forgotten. She said “oh” and lifted her chin. “Put it there.”

Zhao Miaomiao set the iced Americano on the table and said to Jiang Ruoning, “I’ll go see if Wu-jie needs any help.”

With that lame excuse, Jiang Ruoning didn’t call her out. She nodded, and Zhao Miaomiao greeted Shi Sui before twisting away and closing the door tightly behind her. Jiang Ruoning watched her restrained expression as she left, then glanced at Shi Sui. She could understand Zhao Miaomiao fearing Yun An—Yun An’s work and perceptiveness scared most people. But fearing Shi Sui? Shi Sui was so approachable. She even thought Shi Sui was too easy to bully.

Shi Sui took a new outfit from the rack and walked over to Jiang Ruoning in three strides. Without looking at her, she stared at the cup in front of them. “Iced Americano?”

The cup’s surface glistened with cold condensation. Jiang Ruoning made a soft sound of acknowledgment, picked up the cup, and sniffed it. Still that bitter scent she hated most. Seeing Shi Sui still staring at her, Jiang Ruoning casually pretended to take a sip, but Shi Sui snatched it away. Jiang Ruoning yelped, “Hey, hey, hey!”

Shi Sui said, “Iced?”

Jiang Ruoning said, “Of course it’s iced.”

Room temperature would be even more bitter; at least the ice diluted it a bit. Shi Sui tossed it onto the other table. “Then don’t drink it.”

Jiang Ruoning was surprised. “Why not?”

Had Shi Sui figured out her scheme? Was she afraid of being made bitter?

Shi Sui said, “Your stomach’s bad. What if you get diarrhea or stomach pain? Will we finish today’s shoot or not? Miss Jiang, please be professional.” She waved the professionalism flag with a straight face, leaving Jiang Ruoning dumbfounded.

It was clearly concern, but why did it sound so grating? Be professional—who wasn’t being professional? Her stomach didn’t hurt right now anyway. And she was just going to take a tiny sip, not chug it. How did this woman talk? And what was with “Miss Jiang”?

Had her mom called pressuring her again?

Or threatened her?

She had looked a bit off when she came back from that room earlier. Jiang Ruoning swallowed the concern bubbling to her tongue, huffed a laugh, took the clothes from Shi Sui’s hand, and walked behind the changing curtain. Just as she went to pull it closed, Shi Sui squeezed in. Jiang Ruoning frowned. “What are you doing?”

Shi Sui said, “Helping you change.”

Jiang Ruoning pushed her out. “I can do it myself.”

Shi Sui said, “You don’t have eyes on the back of your head. Adjusting the back would be such a hassle.”

Jiang Ruoning didn’t buy it at all. She might not know company management as well as Shi Sui, but dressing and walking the runway was her expertise. Shi Sui just wanted to take advantage, with such a righteous excuse. Arms full of clothes, she stared down Shi Sui, who leaned close with an expression of utmost propriety.

She really wanted to rip off that facade.

Jiang Ruoning set the clothes down on the inner rack, then took off her outer layer. As she lifted her inner top, exposing her abdomen, she noticed Shi Sui’s gaze drop, a scorching stare landing directly on her bare skin—more blatant than if she were fully naked. Jiang Ruoning had wanted to make Shi Sui crack and get herself all hot and bothered, but she reached out and shoved her while she was distracted. Shi Sui’s eyes were full of that glimpse of pale skin as she stumbled out from behind the curtain. She tried to push back in, but whoosh—the curtain closed tight in front of her.