Chapter 30: (End)

That evening, Lu Zhi washed up in Bai Lu’s room. Bai Lu, listening to the soft sound of running water, couldn’t resist messaging Zhao Fei’er.

Her heart felt so overwhelmingly full that everything was overflowing, almost suffocating her. So Bai Lu simply had to take a moment and pour out this vexation to Zhao Fei’er.

Although Zhao Fei’er admitted that Lu Zhi’s series of moves was indeed mind-blowingly cool, that didn’t mean she could accept her best friend acting so besotted right in front of her, saying the most annoying things.

“Heh, Bai Lulu! I’m telling you! Flaunting your love like this, you’ve already lost this good friend who’s been with you for twenty years!” Zhao Fei’er roared over the phone.

Bai Lu sighed. She also felt she was about to lose Zhao Fei’er as a good friend, because for several months she hadn’t really gone out eating, drinking, and having fun with her.

As fair-weather friends, without the constant wining and dining, how could they possibly maintain it!

But she had no choice. Lu Zhi had done so much for her, painstakingly wresting so many shares from the company’s other people for her, spending so much money. How could she betray her beloved’s intentions?

She could only double her efforts at work! Bai Lu secretly steeled her resolve.

After Lu Zhi finished her shower and came out, she saw Bai Lu lying on the bed, propped up with a tablet. The smooth champagne-colored satin of her nightgown clung to her pert rear, two pristine calves exposed, pink toes curling unconsciously, occasionally twitching.

Lu Zhi walked over, still wreathed in the steam from the bathroom.

“What are you looking at?”

Without even raising her head, Bai Lu sighed. “There’s been too much negative press about the company lately; I don’t even know where to start.”

Lu Zhi couldn’t help laughing and teased, “Oh wow, the ink on the documents hasn’t even dried, and you’re already acting like the boss?”

Bai Lu lifted her chin and let out a naturally smug “Mm,” but she couldn’t hold the act for two seconds before her smile grew wider and wider. She pushed herself up, kneeling on the bed, and reached out to loop her arms around Lu Zhi’s waist. Her voice was soft and sweet, as if dipped in honey: “You’re so good to me. From now on, I’ll work super hard and earn all that money back!”

“Alright, I’ll remember that.” Lu Zhi smiled as she stroked Bai Lu’s thin eyelids.

Bai Lu giggled gleefully, hugging her and acting coy for a good while. Then she eagerly began helping Lu Zhi apply lotion, blow-dry her hair, trim her nails…

“Still need to go shorter?” Bai Lu put down the dainty little file and sat like a puppy, looking at Lu Zhi.

Lu Zhi examined her fingertips. The girl’s handiwork was decent; they were filed smoothly round, without any sharp edges.

“Mm, a bit shorter.”

“Ah, any shorter and they’ll be bald.”

Lu Zhi smiled. “If they’re not bald, I’m afraid it’ll hurt you.”

“…”

Bai Lu cast Lu Zhi a glare that was deliberately fierce yet brimming with shyness and bashfulness, but her hands obediently continued filing Lu Zhi’s nails.

Lu Zhi leaned lazily against the sofa, looking down to watch Bai Lu in her nightgown, earnestly serving her with a serious expression. After finishing the nails, she used a wet wipe to clean away the nail dust from Lu Zhi’s fingers, then applied a layer of lotion, massaging it in carefully.

“Alright! Mission accomplished!” Bai Lu cupped Lu Zhi’s hand with a great sense of achievement, looking at it from side to side, her little head nodding away, clearly very satisfied with her own technique.

Lu Zhi also glanced at them and appraised, “Not bad. They’re ready for use.”

The moment she finished speaking, Lu Zhi reversed her grip, taking hold of Bai Lu’s fingers. Before the girl could even react, she scooped her up by the waist and tossed her onto the bed.

Bai Lu let out a short shriek, then quickly shut her mouth. Her dark hair spread loosely across the bed, and two burning clouds rose on her ears. Her bright black eyes looked softly up at Lu Zhi, who had flipped over and pressed down on her.

Lu Zhi lowered her head slightly, her gaze measuring each of Bai Lu’s exquisite features inch by inch. She reached out a hand still carrying a lingering fragrance and kneaded the girl’s lips, applying a little force to make those two soft, tender petals change shape.

Just that one action quickly brought a faint redness to Bai Lu’s eyes. Her lips parted, breath coming in little pants, and even her voice emerged in fragmented pleas.

“Can you… turn off the light…”

“Of course not.”

The consequence of not turning off the light was sleeping very late, and the consequence of sleeping very late was getting up very late the next day too.

Not to mention the backache, soreness, and weak legs.

Bai Lu felt she was ruined, and so hopelessly sick that the moment she saw Lu Zhi, her legs turned to jelly.

So angry at herself for being this useless!

But luckily, while her love life was down, her career was thriving.

After the equity change was completed, as the company’s number one super-majority shareholder, Bai Lu very quickly began enjoying the treatment befitting someone with great power and high status.

First, the secretarial work she used to do at the company—nobody dared let her touch it anymore. Even Father Bai wouldn’t use such small matters to temper her any longer; instead, he began letting her participate in decision-making matters.

Second, during meetings, Bai Lu could finally, as a matter of course, sit in the first seat beneath Father Bai’s. She even had a male assistant and a female assistant arranged behind her, responsible for all her work day and night along with some aspects of her personal life.

Most importantly, the senior executives in various departments began consciously trying to pledge loyalty to her. They no longer put on only a good-natured act in front of her like before; some of the internal strife of the workplace was selectively revealed to her.

Even Xu Zirui had lost all his temper in front of Bai Lu now.

The Xu family had previously been the second-largest shareholder in Yifang Group. The benefits they held were self-evident and had given them the confidence to stand against the Bai family on equal footing. But now, because of Lu Zhi’s cheat ability, the Xu family’s advantage had instantly plummeted into the valley, even becoming laughable.

Even though they steadfastly guarded against monetary temptation and didn’t sell their own shares when Lu Zhi made her move, the situation was stronger than the people. Now they had no choice but to bow their heads and submit under Bai Lu’s overwhelming presence.

But likewise, the streamlining of shareholders inevitably brought about a large loss of talent from the company.

Yet Bai Lu wasn’t worried. With a mighty financial backing, she could trial and error at will, practically spreading her wings and striking out freely.

Lu Zhi had said that most things in this world could be solved with money.

Bad debt? Just smooth it over with money.

Negative press? Solve what can be solved; for what can’t be solved, use money to suppress the news for now.

Loss of talent? Is there any talent in this world that money can’t dig up?

She also took the opportunity to decisively clean out those mid- and high-level leaders who just held on to high salaries without working.

Yifang Group had been around too long, with bloated internal positions. It was the perfect time to clear it all out. While she was at it, wouldn’t it be better to bring in some young, eager-to-learn, energetic, and useful people?

Bai Lu wouldn’t be nostalgic like Father Bai. You want to just collect money and not work? Don’t even dream of it!

Bai Lu’s mind spun fast in this area. Relying on the messy momentum of a new broom sweeping clean, she quickly fired all the company’s old hands. Each of these people considered themselves company veterans, thinking they had worked hard if not meritoriously. Borrowing a bit of face, some even complained to Father Bai.

Father Bai naturally deflected all of them. The company’s ills had been around a long time; he couldn’t bring himself to act before, but now he naturally seized this great opportunity and very conveniently, in Bai Lu’s name, ruthlessly harvested a swath of old leeks within the company.

After her senior year ended, Bai Lu smoothly assumed the position of General Manager of Yifang Group. With the Bai family now holding sole dominance in the company, no one could really trip her up. Even those relatives who had been jumping around happily before could only fall silent now.

Bai Lu was not yet twenty-three when she shouldered this heavy responsibility, but she felt no timidity at all.

She had never been tempered by setbacks, having grown up cocooned in love, with no worries about food or clothing. The one time her feelings had died halfway through, Lu Zhi’s comfort had rendered it completely insignificant. The obstacles and barriers that a woman’s love life should normally encounter had strangely become smooth and unobstructed. Even Father Bai, who should have reacted the most, adopted an attitude of not listening, not asking, and not knowing toward the entire matter.

Under such care, Bai Lu grew up with a pure, clever heart and her signature baffling self-confidence—never cowardly or afraid.

Just managing a company, wasn’t that a piece of cake! Besides, she had the old fox, Father Bai, giving her his full support.

The only downside was that Father Bai always took Bai Lu on business trips, flying everywhere.

Thankfully, Lu Zhi was a painter who didn’t need to clock in at work, so occasionally she would follow behind like a little wife. While Bai Lu worked, Lu Zhi would go out to sketch and paint, climbing mountains and touring lakes.

Once, when they went to the north, Lu Zhi attended a painting exhibition and symposium during the day. After dinner in the evening, she returned to the Mountain Villa Hotel where Bai Lu was staying for her business trip. Bai Lu’s text said she’d be there soon, so Lu Zhi waited downstairs for a while.

It was past nine at night, and the hotel entrance was brilliantly lit. Holding a cup of coffee, Lu Zhi looked up just as she saw Bai Lu, through the transparent floor-to-ceiling window, step out of a black commercial van. Bai Lu wore a dark overcoat with her hair pulled into a ponytail. Perhaps because work wasn’t going smoothly, her face carried a somewhat grave expression. She handed the documents she was holding to the assistant beside her, footsteps never pausing as she headed toward the entrance. Three men in suits followed closely behind her, their expressions tense.

Lu Zhi rarely saw Bai Lu with such a look, and actually found it rather interesting.

The doorman promptly opened the door. Bai Lu nodded her thanks, speaking to the people around her while scanning the lobby. Her gaze quickly landed on Lu Zhi beside the window. Almost visibly, her eyes lit up; the displeasure on her face hadn’t yet faded, but laughter was already spilling from the depths of her eyes.

Lu Zhi also smiled and waved her hand lightly.

Bai Lu practically dropped the group of people immediately and ran over, asking with eager concern: “Have you been waiting long?”

“No, I just got here too.”

Bai Lu let out a relieved breath, naturally picking up the overcoat lying on the back of the sofa and holding it. With a bit of apology and also a bit of grievance, she said: “Sorry, the meeting today went too late. A bunch of old men hemming and hawing, unable to decide—so annoying. But I’m free tomorrow; tomorrow I’ll take you out to have fun.”

Lu Zhi smiled and said, “Sounds good.”

That evening, perhaps out of guilt, Bai Lu let Lu Zhi do whatever she wanted, as obedient as could be. By the time it was over, her body was as limp as spring water, not wanting to move even a fingertip.

Actually, Lu Zhi herself didn’t find it hard; in fact, she could say she quite enjoyed it: beautiful scenery by day, a beautiful woman by night.

But Bai Lu couldn’t stand it. Every time she shot the breeze with Zhao Fei’er, she would always sigh at the end: I think Lu Zhi loves me too much.

This drove Zhao Fei’er to death every single time.

After Bai Lu got the hang of the company, Lu Zhi no longer paid much attention to these things. She didn’t need to care about making money, nor did she have much interest in such matters, so she soon refocused her attention back to painting.

Even though her teacher criticized her relentlessly.

Lu Zhi was somewhat helpless about this, but after holding the paintbrush for so long, she wasn’t willing to put it down easily.

Later, she thought about going back to school, re-learning everything Shen Qing had once studied with those young people. Sometimes she would go on trips with other students from the association, painting snow-covered rime forests, deep autumn maple leaves, hillsides filled with daisies, snails that crawled out after rain, and even a section of old, gnarled dead wood.

Occasionally she painted portraits, but aside from the familiar models around her, she spent most of her time on the streets, sketching passersby for very little money—or for free, if she was in a good mood.

Because she didn’t need anyone’s approval, she instead put down the shackles in her heart and nurtured some insight.

Gradually, she even produced a number of highly acclaimed works. Some familiar agents would specially come to arrange paintings, but unfortunately, Lu Zhi didn’t use this to earn money, so she sold only a few paintings each year.

Later, Yifang Group organized some charity events, and Lu Zhi contributed some paintings. The piece that fetched the highest price, “Mountain Temple,” actually auctioned for twelve million, something that made her realize its value only after the fact.

Not long after taking up her post at the company, Bai Lu moved out of the Bai Family Residence. But the two of them didn’t go to live in Shen Qing’s apartment. Instead, they carefully picked and chose, finally selecting a two-story small western-style house in a quiet yet central part of the city. It had a large courtyard, and through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind the living room lay a beautifully scattered maple forest. In autumn, it was so still, like living in a secluded mountain forest.

In this house, Lu Zhi painted a portrait of Bai Lu. The perspective was looking down from the second-floor living room: Bai Lu wore a wine-red slip dress, barefoot, lying on the gray sofa, one calf bent casually, the other resting on the back of the sofa.

She didn’t use any technical embellishments; the colors of the figure were copied precisely as the scene, one-to-one. Finally, she put oil on it and hung it in the bedroom.

Bai Lu liked it very much. She said: “When you paint me like this, I know you love me very much.”

Hearing this, Lu Zhi smiled. She didn’t say anything, just gave her a kiss.

Lu Zhi stayed in this world for a very long time, so long that sometimes she would forget where she came from. It wasn’t until one day that she once again felt the familiar approach of death. Naturally, she was not afraid; she simply looked back. Bai Lu was in the glass greenhouse, cutting a branch of azalea that had bloomed to its fullest.

Over these years, they married and stayed together, moving from the prime of youth to hair streaked with white.

Just like most lovers in this world, they could not avoid facing birth, aging, sickness, and death.

Even Lu Zhi had no way around it.

But at least in this life, she did not fail this girl’s heart full of love.