Chapter 25

Wei Xiaolu looked at the fish in her bowl. It was crisp on the outside and looked delicious, but she couldn’t work up even the slightest appetite.

In fact, ever since she had started running around with Shen Siyan chasing debts, a dull tightness had been lingering in her chest. It wasn’t really anger at Shen Siyan. More like a gnawing frustration at how powerless she was at this stage.

She knew Shen Siyan had deeper motives for doing all this. When they went to the outsourcing company to gather evidence, she could vaguely guess that the target was Zeng Cui. But she didn’t like this kind of scheming, this hiding and laying traps. So before sunset, at that moment that seemed as if Shen Siyan was about to share information with her, she chose to joke it off and pretend not to notice.

What kind of feeling was that? Probably like her brain had already followed Shen Siyan into the “game,” while her heart was still staying in the “city” she had idealized for herself.

As expected, she still despised the adult world’s double-dealing and backstabbing.

But if even someone like Shen Siyan had to do things this way, then would the future version of herself inevitably become like this too?

With that thought, Wei Xiaolu gloomily ate all ten fried crispy fish.

After dinner, back at the hotel, Shen Siyan started planning the next day’s itinerary again. For some reason, Wei Xiaolu couldn’t summon much enthusiasm. She could only force a smile and say, “Wherever you go, I’ll go with you.”

Shen Siyan thought for a moment, then asked, “Want to go to a winery and have some fun?”

“A winery?” Wei Xiaolu wasn’t very interested.

“Mm, a very beautiful estate-style winery,” Shen Siyan said. “A friend of mine is over there. If we go, we can taste the wine for free.”

Still no excitement.

But Shen Siyan had already laid out all the background conditions; it was probably an old friend getting together. Even if she wasn’t interested, she had to go along with her.

Besides, she already didn’t dare go against Shen Siyan.

“Wow, wine tasting? That sounds kind of interesting,” Wei Xiaolu mobilized all her acting skills and sounded genuinely enthusiastic. “I’ve never been to a winery before. Following you these last couple of days has really broadened my horizons.”

Shen Siyan was looking down at her phone screen. At that, she glanced at Wei Xiaolu and suddenly laughed.

“Just visiting a winery won’t take up an entire day,” Shen Siyan said, idly twirling a strand of hair around her finger. “After that, see what else you want to do.”

Wei Xiaolu said she’d think about it, but she really couldn’t come up with anything.

She browsed nearby attractions, and the places she wanted to go were basically all escape rooms, script-murder games, and arcades; no matter how she looked at it, Shen Siyan and those kinds of places seemed to exist in completely different eras. The mismatch was almost impressively severe.

Even by the time they set off for the winery the next day, she still hadn’t decided where to go.

But the winery really was worth a visit. As the car drove into the estate, a white main building stood in the center, with neat rows of grape trellises on both sides. The whole place looked like a palace.

“It’s so pretty,” Wei Xiaolu exclaimed sincerely.

Shen Siyan picked up the hem of her long dress and stepped out of the car. Just as she closed the door, their eyes met.

Wei Xiaolu’s brain suddenly short-circuited. “You are too.”

Shen Siyan gave a lazy hum and, with a smile in the corners of her eyes, put an arm around her as she greeted the friend who had come to meet them. “Long time no see. This is the intern I brought, Wei Xiaolu.”

“Hello, Xiaolu.”

Shen Siyan’s friend was also the sociable type. While catching up with Shen Siyan, she still managed to include Wei Xiaolu in the conversation, so Wei Xiaolu didn’t feel neglected at all.

From the snippets of memory woven through their conversation, Wei Xiaolu could tell they had been graduate school classmates. But the gap between them was pretty dramatic. Shen Siyan was still building her career, while this sister was already married and currently trying to get pregnant, though she still couldn’t conceive.

Maybe her husband had a problem.

“Could it be that he has a problem?” Shen Siyan asked with concern.

“No,” the friend said. “We had him checked. It’s my ovaries, but he tells everyone outside that it’s his problem.”

Oh my god. So pure. Wei Xiaolu clicked her tongue from the side.

“Then he really does love you,” Shen Siyan comforted her, patting her shoulder. “If you take care of your body and adjust it with Chinese medicine, you’ll definitely be able to get pregnant. Besides, we’re still so young. No rush.”

“Oh, my mother-in-law is in a hurry, but you really aren’t at all,” the friend laughed. “Of the whole group, only you still haven’t gotten married.”

“My life is pretty great right now. If I want to fish, I fish; if I want to taste wine, I taste wine,” Shen Siyan suddenly tipped her chin toward Wei Xiaolu. “And I can take my little friend around to have fun.”

“Alright then, enjoy yourself first and talk about the rest later!”

“I’m rather greedy. Eighty years wouldn’t even be enough.”

The two of them laughed heartily.

Wei Xiaolu stood nearby, watching how relaxed and unrestrained Shen Siyan was in front of her friend. She didn’t feel lonely exactly; rather, she felt a slight, furrowed kind of confusion at the sight of the other side of Shen Siyan’s life laid bare.

At this moment, Shen Siyan was not the shrewd, capable leader she usually saw, nor the ambitious strategist from yesterday. Right now, she was more down-to-earth, more relaxed.

Wei Xiaolu still couldn’t understand what exactly was moving her.

Until, at some point, Shen Siyan got into a funny story with her friend and burst out laughing without any concern for image. The laugh was so real and so natural, just like what any girl would do when talking with her best friend and having a great time.

Only then did Wei Xiaolu have a sudden revelation.

Shen Siyan was not some symbolic “strong woman.” She was a living, breathing person with a rich life and many sides.

After figuring that out, when she toured the vineyard and saw the notice sternly warning Tao Wei; when, in the brewing workshop, she received word that Zeng Cui had been ordered to undergo a thorough investigation; when, during the underground cellar tour, she heard that Ai Jin had been reinstated—

She no longer felt that Shen Siyan’s careful scheming was cold-blooded. Instead, it was a flesh-and-blood person using wisdom, courage, and necessary means to navigate complicated storms and turn the situation around at a critical stage.

Seeing people she disliked fall from grace should have been gratifying, and pretending otherwise would have been false. Wei Xiaolu really couldn’t hide the joy in her heart. As soon as the sightseeing tour ended, she eagerly asked Shen Siyan, “CEO Shen, how did you figure all this out? Did you already plan everything?”

Shen Siyan was sitting by the window in the tasting room. The setting sun cast a beautiful golden light across the side of her face.

She didn’t answer right away; first, she smiled at Wei Xiaolu.

“I just put the bait in the right place. Whether they bite is up to them.” Shen Siyan said.

Stop talking in such lofty terms; I don’t understand.

While mentally complaining, Wei Xiaolu asked in confusion, “What exactly happened?”

“I had Ai Jin deliberately create a fatal project loophole in the system and set the system permissions so that, in principle, only our department head could see the error. But,” Shen Siyan raised her brows, “Tao Wei took screenshots and went to report it.”

“Huh?” Wei Xiaolu was puzzled. “How did she know about it?”

“Either someone told her, or someone gave her access,” a trace of triumphant satisfaction appeared on Shen Siyan’s face. “But whoever that person is, isn’t the company already thoroughly investigating him?”

Damn.

Wei Xiaolu clapped. “CEO Shen, that’s two birds with one stone.”

“And there’s also the matter with Ai Jin,” Shen Siyan said, taking a sip of coffee. “By the final submission deadline, she had already corrected all the loopholes. I also reported the debt-recovery results to the company today, and separately submitted some evidence that Tao Wei had fabricated against Ai Jin.”

Before Wei Xiaolu could speak, Shen Siyan went on with a smile, “She had altered the product optimization team’s weekly report in the middle, concealed the drop in product ratings, and found people to keep giving the software malicious scores continuously.” Shen Siyan paused. “Also, next time you investigate the data, you need to keep digging beneath the surface for the source of the data. I’ve always felt there was something suspicious here, so I wasn’t reassured and checked again; only then did I discover she was making little moves behind the scenes.”

Wei Xiaolu smiled apologetically and said, “Got it. It’s all thanks to CEO Shen for being so meticulous.”

“It was also because Tao Wei was too careless. She was too impatient and exposed herself too easily,” Shen Siyan sighed. “She thought that by pointing out Ai Jin’s mistakes and salvaging the losses, she could sit in the vacant product manager position.”

Wei Xiaolu suddenly understood. “No wonder she was saying bad things about Manager Ai.”

“Is that so?” Shen Siyan swirled her wineglass with obvious amusement and looked up at Wei Xiaolu. “That, I don’t know.”

Huh? Something you don’t know?

Wei Xiaolu was secretly amused when, all of a sudden, from the look Shen Siyan gave her, she understood the meaning behind that sentence just now.

What she meant was: You knew, so why didn’t you tell me?

But telling Shen Siyan about it felt a lot like tattling... Wei Xiaolu didn’t want to become the kind of person everyone hated back in middle school for snitching. But in the workplace, sharing certain information itself seemed to carry a kind of respect and trust; silence, on the other hand, could become a form of distance and a statement of allegiance.

Afraid that Shen Siyan would see through her, Wei Xiaolu quickly changed the subject. “What about Director Zeng?”

“Let the company investigate him first,” Shen Siyan rested her cheek on her hand. “Let’s see whether he has any other improper behavior. But whether or not it affects things, what we have in hand is already enough.”

Here, Wei Xiaolu could share a bit of information with Shen Siyan. “I heard the Product Interaction Department and the Network Department are going to merge. He probably worries that after the merger he won’t be able to remain department head, so he’s been stirring up trouble everywhere to make things difficult for us.”

Shen Siyan paused after hearing that, then her eyes curved. “And ended up setting himself on fire.”

After that, Shen Siyan explained the details of the whole matter to Wei Xiaolu. Wei Xiaolu realized that in her planning, Shen Siyan had not been troubled by these workplace struggles. She was neither consumed by them nor avoiding them; there was a leisurely composure and grace to her.

Wei Xiaolu then remembered what she had said yesterday about “learning to wait.” Shen Siyan probably really had waited for the moment to close the net. Now this was the celebration after the big catch.

“So,” Shen Siyan said after finishing the last sip of wine, “have you decided where we’re going next?”

“Oh, where to go?” Wei Xiaolu was thrown by the sudden change of topic and hurriedly opened her phone. “Ah, let me look again.”

“Still haven’t picked?” Shen Siyan smiled. “Then let’s go to the last attraction you liked in your browsing history.”

“Okay.” Wei Xiaolu agreed happily.

But when she opened her liked history and saw the latest entry, her expression suddenly froze.

Uh, that doesn’t seem appropriate.

“Where?” Shen Siyan asked.

Wei Xiaolu’s heart tightened. She closed her eyes and handed over the phone, leaving the final decision to Shen Siyan.

“A haunted house.”