Mu Shanyi had just happened to run into Miao Zhu, which was why she took her back to Moon Reflection Villa. She treated Miao Zhu like family only because of her, this little sister, and was willing to offer her some care. As for Grace and Princess, it was simply that Miao Zhu was likable to fluffy creatures—who wouldn’t like Miao Zhu? Returning the necklace was just a minor thing, not worth mentioning… And the scarf, couple’s slippers, bite mark, shawl, and so on were nothing but her own ridiculous associations, with no real evidence.
At this thought, the furrow in Sheng Xingran’s brow relaxed. The “red heart” was just a friend who was very close to Miao Zhu, right? Friends used terms like that all the time! Yes, yes, it had to be that!
She adjusted to a more comfortable sitting position and told herself there was no need to miss tonight’s beautiful starry sky over meaningless overthinking. If there were questions, she could just ask Miao Zhu when she got back, couldn’t she?
Sheng Xingran immediately stopped her inner turmoil. She lifted her head to admire the meteors, her eyes following their trails—one minute, two minutes…”In a meeting.” Where had Mu Shanyi been on her business trip these days? Did the time zones line up?
Her heart, which had just barely calmed, pounded again. Sheng Xingran pulled out her own phone and typed Mu Shanyi’s name into the search engine.
A webpage popped up with a set of real-time news photos updated just over ten minutes ago, taken at the venue of an energy exchange conference in some country. Mu Shanyi sat on a sofa, propping her chin as she listened to the speaker.
She really was in a meeting… Sheng Xingran zoomed in on the photo. Mu Shanyi wore subdued black, with only a warm jade bamboo knot brooch pinned to her chest.
Was it a coincidence? Among the jewelry Mu Shanyi wore daily, designs related to bamboo seemed quite common—the jade brooch, the jade band ring… Sheng Xingran’s heart plummeted. She remembered the jade peace amulet hanging in Miao Zhu’s car.
Jade had never been Miao Zhu’s preference. Why would she hang a jade peace amulet in her car? Had she bought it herself? Or had someone given it to her?
Wait…
The day she discovered the jade peace amulet was when Miao Zhu was ill, in a hospital room at Pearl Hospital. Li Baozhu had specially brought lunch for Miao Zhu… That wasn’t strange in itself. As dean of Pearl Hospital, Li Baozhu wouldn’t need to be so attentive even to an acquaintance, but what if it was at Mu Shanyi’s behest? She would certainly give Mu Shanyi face.
That day, to take care of Miao Zhu, she had learned from Aunt Huang at Moon Reflection Villa how to wrap goldfish dumplings and squeezed fresh orange juice for her. Miao Zhu had been on the phone in the living room at the time—who was she talking to? “A friend.” She knew all of Miao Zhu’s friends. Which friend couldn’t even be named?
Sheng Xingran irritably closed the news photos and scrolled randomly through the webpages, trying to find other clues.
Most of Mu Shanyi’s information was tied to Mu Group’s activities. Sheng Xingran suddenly remembered the World Future Energy Summit that both Miao Zhu and Mu Shanyi had attended. She immediately pulled up the Cloud City Symphony Orchestra’s public schedule for the past six months and compared it point by point with Mu Shanyi’s.
No other overlaps, at most two instances of being in the same province, which proved nothing.
As she browsed, a post from two months ago on the Capital University forum caught her eye.
Mu Shanyi had given a lecture at Capital University, and a bunch of students were swooning over her—nothing unusual there. But one ID was using the post to fish for info.
[Big Face Cat: Fishing! Asking the senior sisters and junior sisters who went to the lecture today—does anyone know which department the black-haired beauty in the strapless dress standing outside the tiered classroom belongs to? Such refined, luxurious vibes! Cold yet seductive, simply! Gorgeous! Divine! Descent!]
The replies below were mostly meaningless chatter. Sheng Xingran skimmed through until—
[momo: Not from our school, she’s President Mu’s girlfriend. Don’t ask how I know, got shame, specially made a throwaway to post this.]
[My CP Is Just One Step Away: Verifying for upstairs momo, pics or it didn’t happen, [photo]]
Sheng Xingran held her breath.
The photo was clearly a hasty snapshot, the lens shaky. Mu Shanyi stood by the car window, showing only her back to the camera. The window was half-down, and she had spread her five fingers, perfectly blocking the face of the person inside the car. From this Angel, only a segment of silky black hair like satin and a beautifully pale shoulder and neck were visible.
Mu Shanyi had a girlfriend? Since when? Why had it been kept so airtight that no one in the family knew?
Was it inconvenient to go public?
Could it really be Miao Zhu!?
But was Miao Zhu Mu Shanyi’s type? …It wasn’t impossible. Mu Shanyi had never really talked about her ideal type.
Sheng Xingran’s heart raced up and down, pounding wildly in her chest. She switched back to WeChat and dug through her chat history with Miao Zhu from the same time period.
She had been in France then. On the night of Mu Shanyi’s lecture at Capital University, Miao Zhu had gone incommunicado, only messaging the next day to say she’d gone to bed early due to her period.
Situations where she couldn’t reach Miao Zhu at night had actually happened several times upon closer inspection!
!!
When Miao Zhu had returned to the country early from France without a word, was it really because she was upset about her and Flora? Mu Shanyi’s private jet, transfers, bodyguards… had they been prepared specially for her little sister, with Miao Zhu just tagging along, or were they actually for Miao Zhu from the start?
