Chapter 79

In the middle of the night, Su Qingqiu coaxed Su Xijing into bed and finished telling her the bedtime story. Su Xijing had already fallen fast asleep.

She kissed Su Xijing’s forehead, turned off the bedside nightlight, pressed a small button, and the holographic vast universe slowly filled the room. She gently touched a small asteroid floating in the air.

She left Su Xijing’s room and went downstairs.

Only a dim yellow nightlight was on in the living room. She went into the kitchen to wash the dishes, dried her hands as she came out, and noticed that the door to the guest room on the first floor was half-open with the light still on inside.

She hesitated for a moment, then tiptoed over and gently pushed the door open.

Rong Jin was still bent over her work, buried in a pile of documents.

She twirled a red pen in her hand, her brows slightly furrowed in deep concentration, as if she were making some decision. Moments later, she circled a few spots on the document, jotted down some notes, finished handling the one in front of her, set it aside, and picked up another.

Su Qingqiu saw that she was working and didn’t want to disturb her. She was just about to quietly close the door and leave.

Rong Jin happened to look up.

Their gazes met in the air.

Rong Jin curved her lips. “How come you’re here?”

Su Qingqiu stood there for a moment before pushing the door open and walking in. “I saw your room light was still on and wanted to check if you’d fallen asleep and forgotten to turn it off.”

Rong Jin rubbed her forehead and pushed the documents toward her. “Rong Corporation’s daily chemicals line profits are down a full thirteen points from last quarter. It’s giving me a bit of a headache.”

Su Qingqiu felt it wasn’t right to peek at someone else’s trade secrets out of nowhere, but Rong Jin’s unguarded demeanor toward her was too tempting to resist. She couldn’t help wanting to take a look.

Rong Jin saw her hesitation and smiled. “You’re a major shareholder in Rong Corporation now. It’s only right that you familiarize yourself with it.”

She might even be able to offer some advice.

Su Qingqiu took the stack of documents and flipped through them.

Su Qingqiu said, “Rong Corporation’s daily chemicals have always used raw materials from a niche overseas factory, and now they’ve arbitrarily doubled their prices. Naturally, profits have dropped.”

She asked, “Do you know the reason for the price hike?”

Rong Jin replied, “Part of it is due to changes in overseas tariff policies—the tariffs went up.”

She paused, then added, “But the main issue is that someone is snatching raw materials from me behind my back.”

Su Qingqiu looked up. “Snatching raw materials from you?”

Rong Jin nodded, hooking her lips into a playful smile. “Yeah, Rong Corporation’s position still isn’t stable, and there are plenty of people looking to take advantage and bring me down.”

Su Qingqiu asked, “Who do you think it is?”

Rong Jin said, “Not sure yet. Could be the Gu Family, or maybe Yang Corporation. Yang Corporation seems all amicable on the surface, but they’re the type to stab you in the back.”

Su Qingqiu offered, “Are you planning to switch suppliers? I have a supply channel for daily chemical raw materials—top quality, cheaper than market rates. I can hook you up.”

That supplier had a long-term partnership with Su Corporation, and both sides got along great—practically bound together.

Introducing the supplier to Rong Jin now was tantamount to admitting their relationship was extremely close, close enough to share business secrets.

Rong Jin naturally knew of this supplier.

She tilted her head to look at her, gazing for a while.

Rong Jin suddenly smiled. She was already beautiful, and with the warm yellow desk lamp on, the light spilled across her profile. Strands of dark hair cascaded from behind her ear, casting a faint shadow on her cheek.

Her eyelids drooped slightly, and she was wearing only a thin nightgown.

Su Qingqiu stared at the jade-like skin of her exposed neck, pale yet tinged with a faint flush.

Rong Jin let out a soft chuckle.

Su Qingqiu slowly came back to her senses, realizing she’d been staring at her for no reason, and a flush crept onto her face.

Rong Jin said softly, “Offering me a supplier too? You’re so good to me.”

Su Qingqiu slowly gripped the fabric at her side, her knuckles turning white.

It was always like this.

She wanted to get close to her.

She wanted to be intimate with her.

She wanted to treat her well.

But when Rong Jin actually drew close, she found all sorts of excuses to cover it up, hiding her feelings as deeply as possible—not wanting her to notice, yet hoping she would.

In the end, she couldn’t hide it at all.

Pretending to be calm, she said indifferently, “You said it yourself—I’m a major shareholder in Rong Corporation. The better it does, the more money I make. Why not?”

Rong Jin curved her lips.

She watched as Su Qingqiu clearly wanted to get closer, letting a bit of her feelings show, only to desperately cover them up again, as if that could keep the distance forever.

Was she really into me? she wondered.

But what if this was Su Qingqiu’s way of liking someone?

Not entirely honest, awkward, sensitive, fragile, afraid of getting hurt.

So she wanted to draw near, only to pull away again.

Seeing Rong Jin say nothing, Su Qingqiu assumed she agreed. She turned to tear off a piece of paper, grabbed a pen, and started writing.

“Here’s the supplier’s overseas contact number. The boss is Candice, a Greek woman. I’ll give her a heads-up.”

Rong Jin looked at the elegant handwriting on the paper. Su Qingqiu’s writing seemed unchanged from high school to now—not like her ruthless, cutthroat style in the business world, but more like the refined grace of a demure lady.

Rong Jin pushed the paper back to her. “Thanks, but no need.”

Su Qingqiu looked at her in surprise. Switching to a more cost-effective supplier was the easiest fix, so she didn’t understand why Rong Jin wouldn’t accept.

Was it because she didn’t want anything from her?

Rong Jin glanced at her expression and knew she’d misunderstood. She explained, “Switching suppliers is convenient, but handing over a good supplier like that isn’t my style.”

She said, “I personally went overseas to inspect that little factory. It took a lot of my time.”

Su Qingqiu asked, “So what are you going to do?”

Rong Jin hooked her lips and said, “Simple. I’ll spread word that I desperately need these raw materials. Since they like competing with me for them, I’ll use several company names to bid against them, driving the price sky-high until their cash flow can’t handle it. Then I’ll bow out.”

“Yang Corporation built its empire on chemicals, dominating most of the domestic market. I have a rough idea of their cash reserves. Plus, I know they’re working on a new technology that urgently needs a certain mineral.”

“Domestic production of that mineral is scarce, so they’ll have to buy from New Zealand. And conveniently, I need a rare metal and have some ties with their mining operations there.”

She smiled lightly. “They snatch my stuff, I snatch theirs. Fair’s fair.”

Though Su Qingqiu was infamous for her ruthless tactics and had a poor reputation in business circles, Rong Jin was no pushover either.

Su Qingqiu asked, “How do you know it’s Yang Corporation?”

Rong Jin said, “A guess. Once at a cocktail party, I ran into their youngest daughter. She snatched the bottle of wine I liked right in front of me—the last one.”

She shook her head. “Stealing people’s things must run in the family.”

Su Qingqiu lowered her gaze.

This was the real Rong Jin. After half a month of peaceful coexistence, she’d almost forgotten her true nature.

Rong Jin wasn’t one to take a loss. Over the years of clashing with her, they’d been evenly matched, and if you tallied it up, Su Qingqiu hadn’t gained much advantage.

After hesitating a moment, Su Qingqiu said, “Yang Corporation’s current chairman is a sly old fox—not easy to fool. If you need any help from me… just say the word.”

Rong Jin’s eyes curved in a smile, and she nodded. “Okay.”

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the night was deep, moonlight spilling in and falling on the polished floor.

It was nearly midnight.

The study had only the warm yellow desk lamp lit, illuminating one corner of the desk where the two sat side by side. They chatted a bit more, hashing out some details on handling the matter.

Their shadows fell on the wall, intertwined like two people leaning on each other.

Su Qingqiu watched the clock hands pass midnight, then turned to her, lowering her eyes. “It’s late. You should rest.”

Rong Jin glanced at the clock too.

She’d been about to say she wasn’t sleepy yet, had trouble sleeping, and still had work to do—she’d stay a bit longer.

But truthfully, she’d felt sleepy earlier. However, the cast on her left leg kept sending waves of itchiness and dull pain, preventing any rest. She’d lain in bed for over half an hour, tormented until all sleepiness vanished, so she’d gotten up to work.

She hadn’t planned to tell Su Qingqiu the truth.

But seeing Su Qingqiu gazing at her face with lowered eyes, so earnestly…

Her heart suddenly raced. The moonlight tangled their breaths together; she could even smell the faint vanilla scent on Su Qingqiu.

Probably from the body wash, she thought—theirs was the same.

Rong Jin closed her eyes briefly, and her resolve softened.

Wasn’t this a form of relying on each other?

“My leg hurts. I can’t sleep.”

Su Qingqiu’s gaze shifted down to her leg. “Does the left one hurt a lot? Is the cast too tight?”

Rong Jin said, “It’s not that bad. Probably not the cast. I think it’s the bone healing—the gaps feel itchy and a bit sore.”

Su Qingqiu looked up. “Should we go to the hospital again? Or I can call the doctor over.”

Rong Jin shook her head. “No need. This is fine.”

Right now, she just wanted to stay quietly with Su Qingqiu, nothing else.

Su Qingqiu was still worried. She pulled out her phone, searched seriously for a while, called the family doctor, consulted at length, then put it down. “The doctor says it’s normal—means you’re recovering steadily. Should be fine.”

Rong Jin nodded.

Su Qingqiu considered for a moment. “I’m not sleepy either. I have some work left, and some things about Rong Corporation I want to ask you about…”

“I’ll go grab some stuff.”

Su Qingqiu hadn’t said it outright—her words were vague, sounding like she wanted to discuss serious business.

But Rong Jin knew what she really meant—

If you can’t sleep, I’ll keep you company.

As Su Qingqiu got up to leave for a bit, Rong Jin watched her back and suddenly called out.

“Su Qingqiu.”

Su Qingqiu turned around.

Though Rong Jin had asked her before what she wanted, and she’d said she hoped Rong Jin would call her by name in the future…

It was still rare for Rong Jin to use her full name like this.

Su Qingqiu stood in the doorway, waiting quietly for her to speak.

Rong Jin watched as she stepped out of the lamp’s glow, half her body merging into the soft darkness beyond the door.

Like a silent shadow.

“Su Qingqiu.” She called her name again, gazing at her figure for a long moment before slowly asking, “Back then, why did you invite me to Su Xijing’s birthday party?”