Marrying the Short-Lived, Maniacal Eldest Miss for Good Fortune 23

Chapter 23

Zong Heng and Fang Yi’s relationship was getting worse and worse.

Even though they saw each other all the time in the same office, they seemed to have no communication.

This was a consensus throughout the entire company.

People were used to interpreting it as two kings not seeing eye to eye. It was inevitable that two geniuses on similar paths would clash.

Wang Quan had asked Jiang Qiye many times, both openly and secretly, if they should be separated. After all, they weren’t short of an office, and it wouldn’t be good to wrong either of them.

What if their constant disagreement affected their R&D cooperation?

Jiang Qiye was very firm, gently denying it every time.

While everyone was worried that Fang Yi and Zong Heng would tear each other apart, she, on the contrary, took a different path and felt that Zong Heng and Fang Yi would sooner or later become competitors, teacher and student, and friends.

The only other person who shared her view was an external cake maker—Duan Ruoxi.

After the kiss in the rain, Fang Yi began to deliberately avoid Lin Shuxing. She threw herself completely into R&D, rarely taking the initiative to find Lin Shuxing even during her breaks.

She said it was because she was afraid of disturbing her preparations for the college entrance exam. The most they communicated each day was through video calls to explain problems to Lin Shuxing.

The camera was pointed at the draft paper, so only Fang Yi’s well-defined hands could be seen. Her handwriting was as clean and neat as her personality, with beautiful curves and elegant strokes, the process concise and clear.

Lin Shuxing did not reject this slightly awkward, shy mode. It would be even better if Fang Yi didn’t call her “comrade” every other sentence.

But, could this be considered a little bit of fun amidst the high pressure of her studies?

It was strangely cute. She liked it ^^.

Although the two of them were as formal as official documents online, Lin Shuxing even deliberately changed her address for Fang Yi to “Teacher Fang.”

Lin Shuxing had to go to school, and Fang Yi had to go to work. Duan Ruoxi, who was “here to take care of this family,” built a bridge for them with small cakes.

At first, Duan Ruoxi just wanted to make cakes to share with Fang Yi, to thank her for standing up for her that day.

She was very sensible and had asked for Lin Shuxing’s permission before acting. Thus, a few small notes appeared in that basket of fragrant little cakes.

The small notes were often on unusually shaped sticky notes, with only one or two sentences of casual writing each day:

“There was fog this morning. The driver’s skills are not as good as yours. When will you take me on a road trip to the grasslands?”

On the pure white note, a car was drawn with a red pen, with a large bouquet of flowers in it.

“Teacher Fang, guess who’s first in the joint exam.”

A small dried fish sticky note, signed “Your student.”

…

A young girl’s feelings are always poetic. Even a casually written little note was excessively cute.

Fang Yi was always very careful when she opened the notes, as serious as an underground party member passing a secret code, pretending to eat a cake and swallowing all that sweetness.

But she was clearly not a very good secret keeper. She didn’t destroy the evidence, but instead, she sneakily flattened all the small notes in a book and then put them in a washed candy box.

This box was placed in the bottom locked drawer along with her mechanical hard drive full of data, as hidden as a dragon’s treasure.

Duan Ruoxi came frequently. She would often prepare many extra small cakes to share with Fang Yi’s colleagues.

“Because I made a lot, it would be a waste not to eat them. Please don’t be polite.”

“Oh? Is it delicious? I’ll make a little more tomorrow.”

Duan Ruoxi was as gentle as the small cakes she made, and everyone liked her.

She really seemed to be “joining this family.”

But the role she played was that of a sweetheart mom.

For Fang Yi’s “arch-nemesis,” Zong Heng, Duan Ruoxi would even prepare a separate portion for her, coaxing her gently, “I heard you’re very skilled in technology and also very patient. Please take good care of our Little Yi. Do you like this flavor? Is it a little too sweet?”

Without any communication with Jiang Qiye, Duan Ruoxi was rarely on the same wavelength as her, stubbornly believing that Zong Heng and Fang Yi might become good friends.

“Because you are both very gentle and pure people.”

Zong Heng: ==?

Fang Yi: ==?

System: OvO Who?

Duan Ruoxi didn’t care about their reactions. Her eyes curved, and she smiled even more happily. “See, you have such good chemistry!”

“Engineer Zong, I noticed you liked this yesterday. Little Yi likes it a lot too.”

She took out the exquisitely packaged small cake and placed it on the table with both hands.

This was the Nth day that Duan Ruoxi had been delivering small cakes, more punctual than their lunch break.

The corner of Zong Heng’s eyebrow twitched. She glanced down at the Black Forest cake, her sharp teeth rolling around once before she spat out a relatively gentle sentence: “Are you very free?”

“Yes! Because I’m a full-time wife.”

Duan Ruoxi was not angry at all. She smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear. “If I don’t make small cakes, I have nothing to do. And I like making small cakes.”

The Lin family had hired her to be Lin Shuxing’s second wife with a very high salary. If she didn’t do something, she would feel a little uneasy.

The packaging box prepared for Fang Yi was different from the others. It even had a golden light effect when opened.

Troubling Duan Ruoxi to make this trip every day, and even taking care of her colleagues, Fang Yi was a little embarrassed. “Thank you. It’s delicious. Let me give you some money.”

“You’ve already given it.”

“Hm?”

Seeing Fang Yi’s blank expression, Duan Ruoxi bent down slightly and took the initiative to explain, “It was that day in the living room. You helped me get two million.”

“I’m short on money. This money is very important to me, very important.”

She was very serious when she said this, her hand on her chest, a look of vowing. “I will always remember your kindness.”

This gesture was a bit too much. Fang Yi quickly pulled her up. “Don’t, that was the compensation he should have given you.”

Logically speaking, the Lin family’s salary would certainly not be unfair to her, but Fang Yi could see a strange kind of forbearance in Duan Ruoxi.

She believed that if she hadn’t appeared that day, even if Lin Chong had really stepped on Duan Ruoxi’s hand on the shards, she probably wouldn’t have resisted.

Because she needed this job. She was really short on money.

Clang—

Zong Heng pushed the door open and went out.

Duan Ruoxi looked at the door with her gentle eyes. After a moment, she closed the distance and asked Fang Yi in a low voice, “The wound on your face, was it Miss Shui Wuding’s doing?”

“…” Finally, someone who doesn’t care about the scratch on her face. Why did she have to ask after holding it in for a few days?

She wasn’t a celebrity who relied on her face to make a living. It was just a small scratch. What was the big deal?

“No, I fell myself. What can she do to me?” Fang Yi lied without batting an eye.

Duan Ruoxi understood and smiled faintly, lowering her voice. “The young lady said she had a nightmare last night and smashed Miss Shui Wuding’s offering table.”

“A nightmare?”

Fang Yi’s movements paused. She was a little annoyed. The Dreamstone hadn’t lit up last night. Could it be that she had missed her dream because she had gotten off work too late?

Duan Ruoxi gently reminded her of the main point, “Yes, she smashed the offering table.”

In the middle of the night, Lin Shuxing had pushed open the room where Shui Wuding was worshipped without any warning. When the servants heard the commotion and rushed over, there was only a mess left. The offerings were rolling on the floor, and the young lady’s light figure had just walked out not far away.

On the night Lin Lan came to visit, Fang Yi hadn’t told Lin Shuxing what had happened, only that she had been splashed by a thoughtless driver on the road and the scratch was from an accidental fall.

Of course, the young lady wouldn’t have overturned the offering table for no reason. She had probably guessed the cause and effect and was standing up for her.

Fang Yi laughed, almost wanting to send her a message to tell her that she hadn’t been at a disadvantage.

But when she thought about Lin Shuxing’s upcoming college entrance exam, she should be focusing all her attention on her studies, not thinking about these… random things. Fang Yi forced herself to put the half-drawn phone back on the desk.

“Then I’ll be going. I’ll bring some milk tea for you tomorrow. Drink less Coke and coffee, they’re not healthy.”

Duan Ruoxi glanced at the time and meticulously packed up the lunch boxes that Fang Yi and Zong Heng had left.

“Thank you. Be careful on the way.”

The office was finally quiet again. Fang Yi quietly pulled out a corner of today’s little card, revealing a pair of small wings.

It was a paper crane.

This paper crane was pure white and had no writing on it. It felt very thick, much larger than a normal sticky note.

The System let out an orange bubble with a hehe, and with its hands on its hips, it instructed this person who only stared and had no childhood: [If you pull its tail, its wings will move!]

Fang Yi: I know.

She carefully placed the paper crane in the iron box as usual, not moving it, for fear of breaking it.

**

Outside the door.

Duan Ruoxi had just turned the corner when she ran into Zong Heng standing by the window. She turned around, a little bit of cream on her impeccable clothes.

“Inside is the purchase list.”

Zong Heng handed her the envelope in her hand, her tone carrying a stiff, official air:

“Since you bring it every day, and we don’t have the habit of taking advantage of people, this is the afternoon tea that the logistics department hopes to purchase. If you have any objections, you can go to room 919 to discuss it.”

“Ah…”

Duan Ruoxi let out a short gasp and covered her mouth. “Did you apply for this for me? Thank you, but I might not be able to make a lot. It’s just a hobby…”

“Take it. It’s not much, just the amount you bring every day, at market price.”

“If you have no intention of accepting, you can also throw it away.”

Zong Heng just gave her the envelope, the alienation in her eyes as if she didn’t want to say another word to a human. She turned and left.

Duan Ruoxi pinched the envelope. It was thick. She went to a corner and opened it, vaguely seeing the brand new red color from the seal.

Zong Heng returned to the office and suddenly found her desk empty. She stared at Fang Yi for a long time, but still couldn’t help but raise her voice, “Where are my things?”

She had deliberately left half of it uneaten, planning to savor it when she came back.

Fang Yi looked up from her pile of code and glanced at her strangely. “The cake? You didn’t finish it. She kindly cleaned it up for you.”

Wasting more than half of it. As expected of someone from Yanjing. A great scientist with a bird’s appetite.

“…”

Zong Heng pursed her lips, the pressure in the room becoming very low.

But she seemed to always be like this. Fang Yi didn’t notice anything unusual and lowered her head to continue her work.

At five in the afternoon, Zong Heng uncharacteristically got off work on time.

Fang Yi watched her leave strangely. After a moment, she stood up and stretched.

She walked to the glass window, her gaze falling on the heavy dark clouds in the sky. Under the gray-blue halo, the city looked particularly deserted.

There seemed to be a faint smell of moisture in the air. It was probably about to rain.

The woman couldn’t help but think, Lin Shuxing should be out of school by now, right? Does she have an umbrella?

Just as the thought fell, her phone screen lit up, the soft halo reflecting on the glass.

The black-faced cat avatar lit up with a small red dot. Fang Yi put on her headphones and heard the young lady’s clear and melodious voice.

[AAA Fiancée]: Teacher Fang, are you off work?

Although this wasn’t the first time Lin Shuxing had called her that, the young lady seemed to be in a very good mood today. Her voice was light and slow, floating down to her heart like a feather, triggering a strange tingling sensation.

Especially the upward inflection at the end of her words, Fang Yi even felt a faint electric current pass through her body from the headphones.

But it wasn’t charging right now, so there was no possibility of an electric leak.

Fang Yi rubbed her reddened ears, her fingertips sliding across the screen, converting to text, then returning to the desktop, then sliding back. After confirming that no one was around, she felt she was making a big deal out of nothing, and only then did she click on the next little red dot with a sigh of relief.

Her cautious look was not like listening to a message, but like defusing a bomb that was about to explode in her hand at any moment.

[AAA Fiancée]: I bet you didn’t pull the paper crane’s tail.

[AAA Fiancée]: Pull it and see ^^.

She predicted it…

Fang Yi took out the paper crane but didn’t do as she was told right away. Instead, she first searched on her computer how to fold this thing.

Her long, slender fingers slowly covered the paper. Her heartbeat quickened with the opening and closing of the white paper. It seemed that the entire world had stood still at this moment.

She applied a little force with her fingertips, and the paper crane’s wings trembled. Then the entire structure loosened and disintegrated, turning into a flat piece of white paper, revealing the “young girl’s secret” hidden on the back.

However, when she saw the words on the paper, Fang Yi’s long-restrained expression finally loosened a little.

Her pupils shrank, and her deep breath was caught in her throat. Ripples spread from her eyes, reflecting the astronomical number on the paper.

The System let out a sharp cry: [Holy crap! A check!!!!! How many digits is that!!!!]

Unlike the black card Lin Lan had given her, this was a specific and precise number, starting with 52, followed by a long string of zeros.

Fang Yi’s fingers curled slightly, pressing the thin check into her palm. The coolness of the paper touched the pad of her finger, but it felt more like touching a hot branding iron.

What does this money mean?

Why suddenly give her money?

Someone who had never been in a relationship had no idea what this special number meant. The romance generated by the homophone was diluted by the huge amount of money. She was not used to accepting such kindness, and only a faint sense of unease remained.

Money was an important resource. Even for a prestigious family, this could not be considered a small sum.

The weight of this check was almost equivalent to an armory in the apocalypse, yet it was folded into such a cute form and sent over… Fang Yi was a little bewildered.

The melodramatic soap operas Wang Quan had played flashed in her mind: “Take this money and leave my daughter,” “Take this check and we’re through,” “Woman, is this check enough to buy your whole life?”

Fang Yi shook her head, throwing these messy things out, and pressed a hand on the bridge of her nose. After Lin Shuxing went home, did something happen?

Duan Ruoxi had said that everything was fine at the Lin family, no different from before.

In the empire controlled by Lin Lan, as long as it was something she had decided, no one could defy it. She said Lin Shuxing was her daughter, so Lin Shuxing still had the right of inheritance.

But, Lin Lan’s attitude towards them was so different. An adopted daughter and a biological daughter, how could they be treated equally?

Where did this money come from? Was the girl wronged because of it?

The phone lit up again, this time with a video call.

Fang Yi hesitated for a moment, then quickly pressed the answer button.

She was used to predicting the most dangerous scenarios to take countermeasures early. Fortunately, when the light came on, the worrisome scene did not appear.

The young lady on the screen was holding a copy of “Das Kapital,” covering her slyly smiling lips. She slowly raised her eyes, her gaze sweeping up from below, through the camera, with a subtle yet bold aggressiveness.

Her voice came through the headphones, clear and melodious, with a hint of coquettish seduction:

“Teacher Fang, don’t refuse me…”