Chapter 19: The Rose of Water Mist

After a moment of stunned silence, Fu Chaoying set down her phone and closed her eyes.

In the darkness, it was as if she could see a vast ink-wash world, with that lonely, icy mountain peak standing apart from the rest.

It was a long while before Fu Chaoying slowly opened her eyes again; a faint veil of mist still seemed to linger in them.

Her fingers moved across the screen as she replied to each comment in order of posting time.

After responding to three or four, Fu Chaoying’s fingertips finally paused over Ye Jiayuan’s message. She tapped lightly on the keyboard: [Thank you for your concern, Jiayuan-jie[/rose][/rose]]

Fu Chaoying thought those two rose emojis were just right for their relationship as family friends and sisters.

A careful distance; the right amount of polite courtesy.

After replying, she turned off her phone.

She casually tossed it onto the bedside table and let fatigue and drowsiness wash over her, swallowing her whole.

When she woke again, it was already afternoon.

Sunlight slipped through the heavy curtains and cast scattered patches of light and shadow across the thin blanket; for a moment, Fu Chaoying felt a dull ache in her head.

The feeling was familiar; it was nothing more than the aftereffects of an all-nighter spent painting.

Fu Chaoying struggled to sit up. The instant she looked toward the blinding sunlight, her mind cleared a little.

She picked up her phone to check her messages and saw an unmistakable missed call on the screen, from Liu Xin, Ye Jiayuan’s assistant.

Fu Chaoying called back.

As expected, Liu Xin had called about routine business and asked whether she had time to attend a shareholder video meeting.

Fu Chaoying rubbed at her eyes and declined, citing how busy she had been with work lately.

Liu Xin said she understood, then lowered her voice and let slip a remark that didn’t sound at all like something she should have said: “Not attending might actually be better.”

That made Fu Chaoying somewhat curious, and a little puzzled. She gave a soft laugh. “Why would you say that?”

Liu Xin was silent for two seconds, as if weighing it, and then seemed to make up her mind. In a hushed voice, she said, “What I’m about to tell you is company gossip; you absolutely can’t say I told you.”

Fu Chaoying gave a quiet mm-hmm, and a faint expectation stirred in her heart.

Only after hearing Fu Chaoying’s response did Liu Xin relax and open up. “It’s just that the HR department recently had a bit of a problem. For some reason, they hired one of CEO Ye’s admirers, and in the end the whole department got docked on performance pay.”

One of Ye Jiayuan’s admirers...

Fu Chaoying froze slightly at that, a strange emotion surging in her chest. She couldn’t tell whether it was jealousy or unwillingness.

Steadying herself, she asked softly, “Was that punishment decision made by CEO Ye?”

“No, no!” Liu Xin hurried to explain. “It was President Qu; she oversees HR.”

After a couple more pleasantries, they hung up.

The line had already gone dead, but Fu Chaoying’s brow only furrowed tighter and tighter, as if a heavy stone were pressing down on her heart.

After she left, Ye Jiayuan’s blossoms were still in full bloom. Even with her gone, there was still another woman willing to stand in front of Ye Jiayuan and block those peach blossoms for her.

Ye Jiayuan didn’t need her help at all; she had peach blossoms to ward off peach blossoms.

Fu Chaoying gave a silent laugh, but bitterness still leaked from the corners of her lips.

*

After a simple lunch, Fu Chaoying’s phone rang again. This time it was feedback from Yunji’s team; they wanted major revisions, but gave no concrete suggestions at all, only a vague “it doesn’t feel right.”

The same slippery answer again.

Fu Chaoying drew a deep breath and suppressed the irritation in her heart, patiently and politely asking if they could be more specific about the changes.

But unexpectedly, the other side simply tossed over a batch of images. Fu Chaoying recognized at a glance that they were the latest gowns from their competing brand.

And the patterns and motifs on those gowns had nothing whatsoever to do with ink-wash painting.

The other team immediately demanded that she produce a revised version within two days.

Fu Chaoying forced down her negative emotions, her fingers tightening around her phone. She closed her eyes and repeated “calm down” to herself, then slowly opened them again and replied in a composed tone: “Understood. I’ll revise it as soon as possible.”

She got up at once to go back to the company and rework the draft, but just as she reached the doorway, a wave of dizziness suddenly hit her.

Aunt Wu heard the noise and hurried over to steady her, looking worried. “Oh, you’ve been running yourself ragged for days. Why don’t you just rest properly at home today?”

Fu Chaoying forced a weak smile onto her lips. “It’s fine, Aunt Wu.”

If she failed to submit the draft by the deadline, it would be treated as a breach of contract.

She couldn’t let the company be dragged into a lawsuit because of her physical condition.

Fu Chaoying braced herself and took a taxi to the company. She had barely made it to her desk before she felt sore all over; her legs were weak, her head spinning.

When Li Bingzhe saw this, she hurried over at once and reached out to check Fu Chaoying’s forehead, exclaiming, “Teacher Fu, you seem to have a fever. Your forehead is burning!”

“It’s fine. I’ll take my temperature first.” Fu Chaoying’s voice was a little weak, but there was an unmistakable note of reassurance in it.

Li Bingzhe went to get her a thermometer and stayed by her side while she took her temperature.

It was already 38.5 degrees Celsius.

The company kept fever medicine on hand. Fu Chaoying forced herself to swallow a tablet, then gathered what strength she had and kept working.

By evening, her fever still hadn’t broken; if anything, it seemed to be getting worse.

Fu Chaoying’s face was pale, her lips without the slightest trace of color, and fine beads of sweat had even broken out on her forehead.

Seeing her condition steadily worsen, Li Bingzhe couldn’t bear it anymore and suggested softly, “Teacher Fu, why don’t we talk to them and see if we can hand it in later? If you keep going like this, your body won’t be able to take it.”

Fu Chaoying gave her a strained smile and nodded lightly. “I’ll try.”

Her fingertips trembling, Fu Chaoying sent a message over, only to receive an immediate reply from the other side: [We understand Teacher Fu has had a hard few days, but we’re all still waiting for your design drafts. Please bear with it a little longer.]

Every word was full of perfunctory indifference.

Fu Chaoying let out a silent, incredulous laugh, then sighed. Her voice was calm to the point of being eerie. “Pack up and get ready to terminate the contract.”

The other side was obviously making things difficult on purpose. Even if she revised it a hundred times, they could still dismiss her with a single line: the design didn’t meet the client’s requirements.

In that case, there was no need to keep wasting time.

Shen Guannan had just gotten off work when she received Fu Chaoying’s message, and she arrived at the company in less than half an hour. The moment she saw Fu Chaoying’s bloodless face, she was startled. “Oh my god, are you okay?”

Fu Chaoying gave a weak smile. “I’m fine; I’ve taken medicine.”

Her voice was hoarse from the fever, and it sounded especially pitiful.

A trace of concern flashed through Shen Guannan’s eyes. She checked Fu Chaoying’s temperature as well; it was 38.4 degrees Celsius.

“If the fever keeps hanging on, you have to go to the hospital.”

Fu Chaoying nodded faintly to show she knew her limits, then pointed to the contract on the desk. “Help me take a look at this contract first.”

The company’s legal team and Shen Guannan carefully studied the contract together; in the end, they reached the same conclusion. The terms were somewhat vague, with plenty of room for maneuvering. If they really went to court, they might not win.

What’s more, they were in Hua Xia. Going abroad to fight a lawsuit would be no different from walking straight into a tiger’s den; their chances of winning were slim.

Fu Chaoying was standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing into the distance, her eyes empty and unfocused.

Their analysis had already been within her expectations; she simply refused to give up.

Fu Chaoying turned around and looked at Shen Guannan. “Sister Guannan, do you have any lawyer friends working in Singapore?”

Shen Guannan shook her head. “My overseas lawyer friends are usually in Hong Kong or the States.”

Fu Chaoying already had a splitting headache. After hearing that, she only felt her joints ache even more.

Looking at her weakened state, Shen Guannan sighed and then gently suggested, “Do you want to... ask Ye Jiayuan for help?”

Ye Jiayuan had great wealth and influence in Singapore, with an enormous network of connections, and the legal team at Xingye International was first-rate. Asking Ye Jiayuan for help was the simplest and most effective option.

Fu Chaoying’s body jolted slightly. She looked up at Shen Guannan, her gaze complicated and impossible to read.

After a while, she finally spoke in a hoarse voice. “I’ll think about it.”

Seeing her swaying figure by the window, Shen Guannan let out another helpless sigh and went over to support her. “Go back and rest first; your health comes first.”

Shen Guannan drove her home.

Fu Chaoying sat in the front passenger seat, her gaze fixed on the evening glow at the horizon the entire time. The sunset was so brilliant, but it could not dispel the gloom in her heart.

“Sister Guannan, is asking Ye Jiayuan the only way?”

Shen Guannan didn’t know what had happened between them, but from Fu Chaoying’s tone she could faintly make out something. “You and Ye Jiayuan... had a falling out?”

Fu Chaoying shook her head, then forced another smile at the corners of her lips. “No. It’s my problem.”

It was her wishful thinking, wanting to become Ye Jiayuan’s contractual girlfriend and turning a fake relationship into a real one.

But Ye Jiayuan seemed not to need her at all.

Shen Guannan was still about to press further and ask what had happened, when she heard Fu Chaoying let out a soft laugh. In a voice that carried a slight nasal tinge, she said, “It’s too embarrassing to explain. I’ll tell you after I’ve gotten over it.”

Just then the light turned red, and Shen Guannan stopped the car, reaching out to pat her shoulder. “Try to think it through.”

When they reached the Fu family home, Fu Chaoying asked Aunt Wu to look after Shen Guannan while she went upstairs first to take her medicine and rest.

But while she was resting, she received several calls from Singapore.

They were all rushing her for the manuscript; all pressing her for the draft.

Fu Chaoying laughed soundlessly. A contract that had originally been meant to help the company build its reputation had now become a “debt-collecting talisman.”

She turned off her phone and slept until dawn.

But all night long, she dreamed. In the dreams, she was being chased, laughed at, and abandoned, so when she woke, she felt dazed and unreal all over.

Fortunately, the fever had broken. After washing up, Fu Chaoying quickly cleared her head.

Looking at the trembling flowers of the sunward bloom outside the window, Fu Chaoying had only one thought in her mind: she was going to terminate the contract.

For herself, and for the company, she was going to get justice.

She immediately picked up her phone and dialed a number. The other side answered very quickly.

“Miss Chaoying, please speak.”

Fu Chaoying adjusted her breathing, trying her best to make her voice sound calm and gentle. “Hello, Liu Xin. I have a personal matter and wanted to ask for your help.”

Fu Chaoying briefly explained the situation, then tentatively asked whether Liu Xin knew any experienced lawyers who could help. She promised that she would pay a substantial referral fee as thanks.

There was a stretch of silence on the other end, so long that Fu Chaoying thought she had been politely refused and was preparing to smooth things over, when she heard Liu Xin’s voice come through again.

“That... Miss Chaoying...” Her tone sounded very troubled.

“Is it inconvenient?” Fu Chaoying’s heart sank abruptly, and then she smiled. “It’s fine if it’s inconvenient.”

Before she could finish, a familiar cool voice came from the other end of the line.

“Xiaoying, if you’ve run into trouble, why didn’t you come to me?”

It was Ye Jiayuan.

Perhaps from the very beginning, Ye Jiayuan had been right beside Liu Xin on this call.

At that moment, Fu Chaoying’s heartbeat seemed to lose its rhythm.

TL Note:

debt-collecting talisman (催债符) = a joking metaphor for something that makes people keep hounding you for payment or deadlines.