Chapter 38

A night passed. Early morning, seven a.m., in the dorm.

“Did the patch work? Is your neck better?” Jiang Luoying asked, staring at the dark circles under Cheng Yan’s eyes.

Cheng Yan peeled the patch off and threw it in the trash. She pressed on her neck and said, weakly, “It’s better.”

Jiang Luoying: “That’s good. I thought the patch didn’t work and you were in pain half the night, unable to sleep.”

Cheng Yan asked, “Are my dark circles really obvious?”

Her skin was fair, and she rarely stayed up late, so if she slept poorly, it was very clearly reflected on her face the next day.

And the reason for her poor sleep…

Thinking about refreshing her Moments feed half the night, Cheng Yan felt a headache coming on.

Jiang Luoying nodded. “Pretty obvious. You can catch up on more sleep. No need to get up so early.”

It was Saturday. No classes anyway.

Cheng Yan picked up her toiletries. “Forget it. I have something today. I have an appointment at the studio to choose jewelry.”

The studio Cheng Yan was going to was the one she had introduced. Leaning against the doorframe, Jiang Luoying watched her wash up and asked, curiously, “Why the sudden interest in jewelry? I’ve never seen you wear any.”

Cheng Yan glanced at her through the mirror, her voice muffled as she answered concisely. “A gift.”

Jiang Luoying had guessed that. But her heart was still dying of curiosity.

Who exactly was it for?

She’d never seen Cheng Yan have anyone particularly close.

Could she be dating someone?

Jiang Luoying suddenly remembered a morning when Cheng Yan had come back from outside to attend class. Sitting next to her, when Cheng Yan tilted her head, she’d accidentally revealed little red marks on her neck.

She felt like she might have stumbled onto the truth.

In the bathroom, Cheng Yan closed the door, shutting out all prying eyes.

She turned and stared at her neck in the mirror. A tiny flicker of regret crossed her face.

Why did it have to heal so fast?

She couldn’t post on Moments about it today.

Forget it. Even if she posted, no one might look.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror for a few seconds, quickly tidied herself up, grabbed her bag, and headed out.

Following the GPS to her destination, Cheng Yan took the elevator all the way to the twenty-second floor.

The entire twenty-second floor of the bustling office building belonged to a private jewelry customization studio.

Before Jiang Luoying recommended it, Cheng Yan had specifically researched this studio.

The major owner was a wealthy heiress with billions in assets and numerous properties. This studio, dedicated to private custom design, was clearly one of the heiress’s assets. The studio boasted several excellent jewelry designers, all graduates of internationally renowned institutions and somewhat famous in the design world, making them very trustworthy.

“Are you Miss Cheng, with an appointment?”

“Yes.”

After the receptionist confirmed her identity, she was led inside.

Cheng Yan found the designer she had booked, the one recommended by Jiang Luoying’s aunt. She had communicated with this designer on WeChat and found that the designer could quickly grasp the design she wanted, so she had settled on her.

The designer’s surname was Ming, aged thirty-five. After exchanging a few words, Cheng Yan changed her form of address from the awkward, formal “Designer Ming” to “Sister Ming.”

“What you had in mind, we already communicated about earlier. Here are my sketches. Take a look, see if this is the feeling.” Sister Ming handed her a portfolio.

Cheng Yan opened the booklet. Inside were the designer’s hand-drawn drafts—the front, back, and side views of the brooch. All the details were perfectly placed. Although just a sketch, it was already a preliminary design with an exceptionally high degree of completion.

Extremely efficient work.

And it was indeed based on the suggestions and requirements she had raised.

A light smile appeared on her face. Cheng Yan said, “This is exactly the feeling.”

Sister Ming offered her a cup of tea. “I mentioned on WeChat before, the brooch you want requires a very high clarity for the main diamond to achieve the effect you’re looking for. Have you found a main diamond?”

Cheng Yan nodded and took a box out of her bag.

She opened the box. A fancy deep grayish blue diamond greeted the eye, clarity extremely high, radiating brilliant sparkle under the light.

She asked, “Will this work?”

Sister Ming immediately nodded. “Absolutely.”

Cheng Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

Realizing she couldn’t pick a satisfactory diamond from the studio’s inventory, she had asked Jiang Luoying to contact her aunt, entered an auction, and acquired this blue diamond for 2.35 million yuan.

It was the one she’d set her sights on at first glance.

Cheng Yan asked, “So, I just need to pick out some accent stones now, right?”

Sister Ming said, “Yes. You can come with me and have a look here.”

Cheng Yan followed Sister Ming to the collection room. She picked accent stones according to her needs, then sat down with Sister Ming to finalize all the design details. By the time they finished, it was already noon.

Leaving the studio, carrying her bag, she suddenly felt a little unwilling to go back to the dorm.

But when she opened her phone and saw the WeChat notification she was still waiting for, nowhere to be seen, Cheng Yan pressed her lips together. Her lowered lashes covered a hint of dimness. When she looked up again, all her emotions were tucked away.

Not showing up, huh?

You don’t move, I don’t move. Let’s see who can outlast who?

She thought, a little stubbornly.

And for the remaining day and a half of that week, she buried herself in the library and laboratory, carrying that mood with her.

Monday morning, she got up early and called Aunt Wu at the villa. It was breakfast time there.

Cheng Yan asked, “Was President Jun at the villa over the weekend?”

Faced with the same question, Aunt Wu glanced at the person eating at the dining table. She answered, “Yes. Miss Cheng, will you be coming over tonight?”

So that meant a certain someone was indeed eating breakfast. Cheng Yan said, “I’m not coming over. I’m incredibly busy. I don’t have time for the next couple of days.”

“Just calling to let you know, so you don’t have to prepare my meals. No point wasting food.”

“…” Aunt Wu said quietly, “Alright, Miss Cheng.”

The phone hung up. The person dining attentively at the table looked up, her gaze falling on Aunt Wu.

“President Jun, it was a call from Miss Cheng,” Aunt Wu explained. “She says she won’t be coming back for the next couple of days. Just instructing me about some things.”

Hearing this, Jun Jianqing didn’t even twitch an eyebrow. She lowered her head again and said calmly, “Mm.”

Watching President Jun’s placid expression, Aunt Wu felt a chill run down her spine.

She wasn’t the only one feeling this way these past two days. All the servants working in the villa felt uneasy. Even though President Jun never shouted at or hit the servants, and was even extremely generous…

Not a single one of them wasn’t afraid of her.

After all, President Jun had no bad personal habits. Everything just followed the rules. The pay was so high, and in this fiercely competitive job market, you couldn’t find a job like this even with a lantern.

But President Jun’s personality was also unfathomable, as if she could never be angered. Precisely because of this, they were terrified that one wrong move might displease her and get them dismissed from the villa, making it impossible to find such a good job again.

These past two days, they’d been speculating in their group chat whether President Jun and Miss Cheng had a conflict, which was why the atmosphere in the villa was so oppressive.

[Every time I get near President Jun recently, I’m so scared. Even though President Jun wouldn’t scold or hit anyone even if she’s in a bad mood, it still feels terrifying.]

[I get it. It’s called presence.]

[Sigh. President Jun and Miss Cheng had a fight, right? Feels like there were signs a few days ago, and none of us noticed.]

[When exactly will they make up? Please, please, make up soon. The atmosphere’s been so stifling these two days.]

[Rumor has it, from Aunt Wu’s reply, Miss Cheng said she’s not coming to the villa for the next couple of days.]

[Ah— No! Miss Cheng, please come back soon! We need you!]

[Am I the only one curious who will apologize first if these two fight?]

[What’s there to be curious about? Definitely Miss Cheng. After all, that’s President Jun.]

[It’s hard to say, though. Seems to me President Jun usually really dotes on Miss Cheng.]

[No matter how much she dotes on her, she wouldn’t be the one to bow her head, right? Is President Jun the type to bow her head to anyone?]

[Truly not. President Jun bowing her head? Outrageous fantasy. So, my bet’s on Miss Cheng making the first move.]

[But it feels like Miss Cheng is sulking, saying she’s busy and not coming back.]

[Then I’ll still bet on Miss Cheng making the first move. Even wondering if we should guess whether President Jun will forgive her or not.]

[Makes sense.]

[Makes sense.]

[Makes sense.]

…

Messages in the internal group chat were flooding the screen after President Jun’s departure.

And Cheng Yan suddenly appeared near the villa at nine o’clock at night.

“Miss Cheng?”

A servant trimming the greenery nearby spotted a swaying figure. Looking closely, it was actually Miss Cheng, who just this morning had said she was busy and wouldn’t be back for a couple of days.

She let out a small gasp of surprise, immediately dropped her tools, and jogged over to support the unsteady Cheng Yan.

“Miss Cheng? Miss Cheng?”

Cheng Yan looked up. “…Mm?”

“How much did you have to drink?” The servant helped her walk inside, wanting to mention that President Jun seemed to dislike heavily intoxicated people, but seeing Cheng Yan’s dizzy state, she kept her mouth shut.

This wasn’t her place to meddle.

And… Miss Cheng probably hadn’t been feeling well these two days, drowning her sorrows?

But how did Miss Cheng, this drunk, even manage to get back?

“My head is spinning so much. Why is the ground swaying?”

“Where are you taking me?”

“Why are there… one person, two people… so many people?”

Another servant ran over to help support her. Together, the two guided her into the villa. Aunt Wu, seeing this scene head-on, immediately said, “Help Miss Cheng sit down on the sofa. I’ll have the chef prepare some hangover soup.”

“‘Sober up’ what? I didn’t drink. Not drunk!”

The person leaning crookedly on the sofa heard the key words and immediately raised her head, declaring loudly.

“Alright, alright, you’re not drunk,” Aunt Wu soothed.

The person who had been standing by the window, looking outside for who knows how long, left the room and appeared at the top of the stairs. Looking down at the bustling living room, and the person leaning on the sofa, only the back of a head visible, she frowned and asked coldly, “What’s going on here?”

Aunt Wu looked up at Jun Jianqing, whose expression was not good, and said, troubled, “President Jun, it’s Miss Cheng. She’s drunk.”

Cheng Yan leaned against the sofa, pulling at her clothes, her features scrunched up tightly. Her voice was muffled. “I feel awful… so awful.”

The person behind her couldn’t see her expression, but just from her voice, the suffering in it was clear.

Jun Jianqing’s frown deepened.