Chapter 5

Gu Nianxi had said her piece, but when she finished, she noticed Bai Jin was spacing out.

She was instantly furious: "Are you even listening to me? Bai Jin! Bai—"

A warm hand covered hers.

Bai Jin caught the hand Gu Nianxi had on her collar. That hand, startled like a butterfly, loosened its grip with a flutter, but because of Bai Jin's hold, it couldn't fly away.

"I heard you," Bai Jin said softly. "Sister said I... am a genius."

"...Good that you heard." Gu Nianxi instinctively sensed danger and tried to pull her hand back, but couldn't.

"But I don't understand, sister." Bai Jin looked up, her pale pupils once again filled with Gu Nianxi's reflection. "What changed your attitude?"

This was the question that had been circling in her mind since yesterday.

At first, she thought Gu Nianxi's protective stance was just the beginning of another game.

The naive young miss wrapped even her malice in delicate sugarcoating. She thought, "If Gu Nianxi wants to play, then I'll play along."

But soon, Bai Jin realized that Gu Nianxi's attitude toward her really seemed to have changed.

Breakfast was no longer a single dairy dish; the clothes that had been measured were expedited, reportedly to be delivered to the residence that afternoon.

Even the servants' attitudes had become more respectful. She asked Butler Ye, who hinted that it was the eldest miss's order.

—From now on, Bai Jin's clothing, food, lodging, and transportation would all be at the standard of the Gu family's second miss.

Everything pointed to a change in Gu Nianxi's attitude.

And today, Gu Nianxi had even given her that project... and grabbed her collar to say all those things...

Why did she think so highly of her? Why was she so confident in her?

What exactly had happened to change her opinion of her?

Bai Jin couldn't figure it out, so she acted.

She tightened her grip on Gu Nianxi's hand, not letting her escape, and stared into her eyes, unwilling to miss any shift in her expression.

Gu Nianxi's face flushed—perhaps from anger, perhaps from shyness.

Bai Jin thought the two appeared identical on Gu Nianxi: both rich, fragrant... and sweet.

Gu Nianxi shot her a fierce glare.

"Who's being nice to you? I didn't do anything." She tugged, but her hand remained firmly held.

The warm, enveloping touch reminded her of last night, when Bai Jin had been applying medicine, holding her leg so she couldn't move...

She thought, Bai Jin really has a strong sense of territory—just grabbing her collar once, and she reacts like this.

She had stepped on her several times last night; surely she hadn't taken that to heart too?

Better to make things clear and avoid future misunderstandings, Gu Nianxi thought.

She cleared her throat, lifted her chin: "Fine... I admit, I did have some prejudice against you before, and did quite a few bad things."

"I still don't like you now. But we'll be living under the same roof for a while, and fighting each other benefits no one."

"Don't worry, I won't inconvenience you for long. At most a few years, and I'll leave the Gu family. As for the project—hmph, don't think I'm deliberately giving way to you. I know myself; giving it to me would be a waste. Better you use it than it cluttering my sight."

She said a lot, but Bai Jin caught only one line.

"You're leaving the Gu family?"

Her hand tightened involuntarily. Gu Nianxi, probably hurt, glared at her: "What's it to you?"

Bai Jin was silent.

...Right, it really was none of her business.

She had no standing to ask Gu Nianxi, and Gu Nianxi had no reason to consider her feelings.

"Let go!"

Bai Jin released her.

Gu Nianxi rubbed her reddened hand, complaining, "Your grip is way too strong!"

She picked up the resort project, flipped a few pages to find the contractor's information, and showed it to Bai Jin: "Here, an extra piece of info: the contractor Gu originally hired has issues. Do a careful check, and don't blame me later for not warning you."

The pitfall of this project was that contractor. They embezzled funds, forged financial reports, and caused the initial investment to go down the drain. Gu Nianxi remembered Bai Jin running around like crazy for this, greasing connections at the bank to get a loan, finally getting enough cash flow.

Seeing Bai Jin still spacing out, she frowned: "Are you listening to me?"

Bai Jin seemed to snap back, letting out a soft "Mm."

Gu Nianxi found her a bit odd but didn't dwell on it. She shoved the project into Bai Jin's arms: "Anyway, from now on, don't cause me trouble, and I won't cause you trouble either. Understood?"

Bai Jin said nothing.

Gu Nianxi thought she needed time to digest this: "Alright, it's still early. I'll go out for some air, and you discuss it with your agent? Text me when you're done."

She turned to leave. Bai Jin instinctively reached out, then stopped. Gu Nianxi didn't notice; her hair brushed past Bai Jin's fingers and slipped away, and then the door closed.

Bai Jin lowered her head.

Her hand still held the lingering feel of Gu Nianxi; the air still carried her scent, but the meeting room was empty.

Sunlight fell on her, casting a long shadow across the spacious conference table.

Bai Jin's eyes darkened. She raised her hand, looked at the lines of her palm, then closed her eyes and inhaled the faint trace of Gu Nianxi, pressing a light kiss to her palm.

What she wanted to kiss wasn't some intangible scent. She wanted to kiss the real Gu Nianxi, from her hair to her toes.

Gu Nianxi was actually going to leave the Gu family.

Did she think there was nothing left to fight for since she'd come back?

Bai Jin ran her tongue along her front teeth.

If she left the Gu family, where could she run? The capital was big yet small; with a little effort, she could always find her.

But what if she went outside the capital? Or farther, abroad? Even if she weren't a Gu family young miss, Gu Nianxi still had her own assets. With money, she could flee very far...

She was so naive and fragile; what if she got hurt out there?

A delicate flower leaving its greenhouse can't withstand wind and rain.

Bai Jin let out a deep breath.

The moment she knew Gu Nianxi wanted to leave, her destructive urge swelled to the extreme, and her mind automatically conjured ways to keep her by any means.

Damn hormones, damn physiological responses, damn this out-of-control possessiveness!

Bai Jin thought, she clearly didn't like Gu Nianxi, so why was her body so dependent on her? Whenever she thought of her leaving, it was like being a creature deprived of its life-giving air, instinctively wanting to pin her down, by whatever despicable means, to keep her by her side.

Get her.

Control her.

Possess her.

She should think calmly. She should abandon these distractions and control this abnormal desire.

But the body was always more honest than the heart. Bai Jin couldn't escape; she could only stand there, despairingly watching that craving spread like wildfire, consuming her layer by layer.

*

Gu Nianxi took the elevator down.

Ah, it's all out now!

She felt much lighter, like she'd resolved a big problem.

There was no way she'd stay in the Gu family.

The Gu family only brought suffering... she'd had enough in her past life; she didn't want to taste it again this time.

Her steps were easy as she opened her phone, seeing a flood of messages that had been coming in since yesterday.

Mostly from her circle of friends—the rich young ladies and lords of the capital—from the "Drifting Emerald" private room.

The most frequent sender was Yue Wenjing:

[Nianxi, why aren't you answering? QAQ.]

She couldn't be bothered, and with a swipe of her finger, she blocked her.

For the rest, she picked out the ones important enough to sit at the same table with the Gu family and replied, essentially stating that Bai Jin was her sister, with specifics to be announced at the coming-of-age ceremony.

After replying to all, she stopped at a chat.

Xu Yushan.

The second young master of the Xu family in the capital, the youngest son of the Xu family's head, doted on without limit, and a spoiled playboy who walked sideways in the capital.

In her past life, he'd been Bai Jin's fiancé.

She wasn't close to Xu Yushan. In her past life, she'd looked down on him, thinking him arrogant and ill-educated. But when it came to marriage, in the capital, besides the four families—Gu, Lin, Xu, Wang—no one was worthy of her.

So when she learned the Gu family had matched Xu Yushan with Bai Jin and her with the eldest son of a rising family—a man fifteen years older with a divorce and a child—she'd felt so unbalanced.

She'd schemed to take Xu Yushan from Bai Jin by dishonest means. Only later did she learn that Xu Yushan and Bai Jin had formed an alliance under a fake engagement—Bai Jin to take control of the Gu family, and Xu Yushan to help his elder brother clean up the overreaching relatives of the Xu family. It was a match of mutual interest.

Xu Yushan's playboy act was all a front; like Bai Jin, he seldom revealed his true thoughts. In the later stages, he'd helped Bai Jin a lot, so in the end, they did get engaged.

The day Gu Nianxi killed herself was the day of their engagement.

She stared at the screen for a long while, then searched for another name and dialed.

The call connected quickly, a lazy voice on the other end: "Hello? Miss, what's the occasion for you to call me today? Who do you want me to take down now?"

"Do me a favor, Wang Xun," Gu Nianxi said.

After giving instructions, she hung up.

In the future, Bai Jin would discover that her adoptive parents' death wasn't an accident but a setup. On her way to investigate, she'd face the greatest crisis of her life. If Xu Yushan hadn't sent people to cover her, she would have died.

Although she'd decided to leave the Gu family, she didn't want to owe anyone a favor. She didn't know who had sent the people to kill Bai Jin's adoptive parents, but to prevent Bai Jin from dying... she'd nip it in the bud.

Another problem solved—Gu Nianxi felt even lighter.

She started wandering around this company under the Gu Group, named Hongsheng.

Hongsheng's first-floor lobby was spacious, with many display boards on the right. As Gu Nianxi entered, she saw it was a charity art exhibition, mostly works by students the Gu Group had sponsored—a form of brand promotion.

As she looked, the corners of her mouth turned down, and she fell silent.

The children's strokes were naive, the colors vibrant. Yet, around a corner, in the farthest corner of the exhibition, hung an oil painting with an ornate frame that stood out from the rest.

Light from a small lamp at the top of the display board cast a shadow around the solid wood frame.

Gu Nianxi stared at the painting, and the hand hanging at her side began to tremble uncontrollably.

She took a familiar deep breath, slowly in and out... letting the lingering fear from her past life subside, and examined the painting carefully.

It was clear the painter had little formal training; the brushwork and colors were pure inspiration. In a vast expanse of deep blue, a tiny fledgling was spreading its wings to fly, as if about to break free of the frame.

A few lines of shadow fell across the fledgling's wings, like the bars of a cage.

In the lower right corner was a signature: G.N.