The person mentioned so many times?
Before Zhuo Chen could react, Zhuo Yue whipped her head around. “It’s her?”
Zhao Qian nodded vigorously. “Definitely her! I’d never mistake her! Don’t let her current polished look fool you. Three years ago she was fat, dark, and totally tacky, yet shameless enough to worm her way close to Xie Qian by pretending to be ‘just a friend’…”
Zhao Qian rambled on and on, clearly still nursing a grudge about Wen Ying’s old appearance.
If she’d lost to another pretty girl, Zhao Qian could have accepted it.
But losing to a chubby, dark, country bumpkin? Unacceptable!
Zhuo Yue’s focus, however, was completely different from Zhao Qian’s.
She had never seen the Wen Ying of three years ago!
The current Wen Ying was stunning, and with the halo of bestselling author on top, it was perfectly normal for Xie Qian to favour her.
Zhao Dong had repeatedly told Sara Zhuo to take Wen Ying seriously. He believed Wen Ying was the key to defeating Xie Qian.
He’d said the same thing to Xie Jinghu, who hadn’t believed a word of it. When he told Sara Zhuo, she was only half-convinced. Puppy love among high-schoolers was called “early romance” in China. How much influence could one teenage girlfriend really have?
After the entire Xie family collectively dealt with Xie Jinghu, it became Sara Zhuo’s headache.
She rushed back to the country with her children so fast it nearly scared Xie Jinghu into wetting himself.
He thought he’d be finished under his mistress’s pressure, but although Sara Zhuo returned, she didn’t go back to the capital. She stayed in Shanghai with the kids.
Now her priority was how to “reclaim lost ground.” She no longer had time to care whether Xie Qian had a little girlfriend.
Xie Jinghu didn’t believe it, Sara Zhuo didn’t take it seriously, but Zhuo Yue did.
Last year when Wen Ying held her signing, Zhao Qian, who was abroad at the time, still spent money to hire people to cause trouble. With Zhao Qian’s brainpower she never could have hidden it from Zhao Dong; it was Zhuo Yue who taught her how to cook the books.
The sabotage seemed to have succeeded, yet also seemed to have failed. After all, it hadn’t harmed Wen Ying in the slightest.
What made Zhuo Yue uneasy was that the infamous Shanghai paparazzo who took Zhao Qian’s money to harass Wen Ying ran into “bad luck” not long afterward… On the surface it had nothing to do with Xie Qian, but Zhuo Yue was convinced Xie Qian was behind it!
This indirectly confirmed Zhao Dong’s words: that girl named Wen Ying really did weigh heavily in Xie Qian’s heart!
At this thought, Zhuo Yue couldn’t help looking out of the private room again.
At Wen Ying’s table, the couple who had stepped away with wine glasses to greet acquaintances had returned. They looked deeply in love.
The wife capable and efficient, the husband refined and scholarly.
They also had an extremely cute son.
A flicker of envy passed through Zhuo Yue’s eyes.
Actually, a family didn’t need to be filthy rich. The Zhao family level was plenty. What mattered was wholeness. A proper home should have a dad, a mom, an older brother, and her.
All four living under the same roof, not split between two countries.
All four able to go out openly together, not sneaking around.
Outside the room, the wife said something that made Wen Ying laugh brightly.
If Zhuo Yue judged objectively, Wen Ying was confident and radiant. If family background wasn’t part of the equation, she could throw Zhao Qian eighteen streets behind… No wonder Xie Qian wasn’t interested in Zhao Qian!
Zhao Qian, oblivious that her good friend was mentally looking down on her, urgently wanted to vent her indignation.
Zhuo Yue brushed her off with a few perfunctory words. Zhuo Chen, however, was puzzled.
“What’s going on?”
Zhuo Yue gave a brief summary of Wen Ying’s relationship with Xie Qian. Zhuo Chen frowned. “What does that have to do with us? Can’t I just beat him fair and square?”
Zhuo Yue instantly became his biggest cheerleader. “Of course Brother can win!”
Sigh.
Her brother was perfect in every way except he was too proud.
Zhuo Yue never doubted his ability. Put Zhuo Chen and Xie Qian on a truly level playing field, and Zhuo Chen would definitely come out on top!
But the problem was that the Xie family refused to give Zhuo Chen a fair fight. That was why she, her brother, and Mommy had rushed back to China.
In front of Zhuo Chen, Zhuo Yue hid her thoughts and even talked the eager Zhao Qian out of doing anything rash. “Don’t go picking a fight with her. Be careful or your brother will cut your allowance again. Anyway, you’re back in the country now. There’ll be plenty of chances to deal with her later.”
At the mention of allowance, Zhao Qian sobered up a little.
The three waited until Wen Ying and the Wu–Shen family of three paid and left before calling the waiter for their own bill.
Zhuo Chen, following his overseas habit, left a tip. By the time the three reached the ground floor, the driver had pulled up at the entrance. Zhuo Yue suddenly said she needed the restroom. “Brother, you and Qianqian wait in the car. Don’t stand outside, it’s so hot!”
Zhao Qian grumbled, “This damned weather is not just hot, it’s oppressively muggy… absolutely awful!”
Zhuo Chen told Zhao Qian to get in first while he insisted on waiting at the foot of the stairs for his sister.
Wasn’t Zhuo Chen afraid of the heat?
Of course he was.
But the siblings hadn’t grown up in China. This country still felt foreign to them. Zhuo Chen didn’t feel safe letting Zhuo Yue out of his sight.
Feeling her brother’s gaze never leaving her, Zhuo Yue’s heart ached as she climbed the stairs.
He really was the best brother in the world.
She absolutely could not let him lose to anyone.
Instead of going to the restroom, she returned to their private room, where the waiter was clearing plates.
Seeing her come back, the waiter smiled. “Did you forget something, miss?”
Zhuo Yue smiled back, took out a hundred-dollar bill from her purse, and placed it in front of the waiter.
“This…”
Zhuo Yue pointed outside. “That table just now, are they regulars?”
The waiter nodded, unsure what she was getting at.
Zhuo Yue placed two more hundred-dollar bills on the table. “I’d like to know a bit about them. Would you be willing to help?”
The waiter was stunned.
Why would anyone would want information on those guests?
The three bills Zhuo Yue had put down were US dollars. In June 2007, the exchange rate was roughly 1 USD to 7.65 CNY. Three hundred dollars was over 2,300 yuan, more than the waiter earned in a month!
“I… I don’t really know… They are regulars, but…”
Regulars don’t chat with the staff every day!
Zhuo Yue could see the waiter wanted the money. She patiently guided, “If you’re willing, I’m sure you can help. Guests like them usually phone ahead to reserve, right? Or maybe you or your colleagues overheard something while serving?”
A few minutes later, when Zhuo Yue came back downstairs, she wore a pleased smile.
She had obtained a phone number.
And learned that the husband’s surname was Shen and that he was a professor at a Shanghai university.
That was enough.
Thinking that Wen Ying was in the light while she herself operated from the shadows, even though she hadn’t yet been able to truly help her brother and mother, Zhuo Yue already felt radiant with confidence.
So, was Wen Ying really completely unaware?
…
Rewind the clock half an hour.
Wen Ying and the Wu–Shen family finished dinner and walked downstairs.
A car was parked at the entrance, window half-down. Wen Ying thought the driver looked extremely familiar.
Why on earth is that person here?!
