Chapter 17

Su Xingwei’s gaze fell on the bandage on her hand, and she pressed her lips together.

Ever since the accident that night at the villa, after the photo frame had been shattered, neither of them had brought it up again.

Su Xingwei looked a little unnatural as she picked up a file. She flipped through it twice, then set it back down, as if she were very busy; yet even she didn’t seem to know what she was busy with.

“Does your hand still hurt?”

Her tone was somewhat stiff, as if she had turned that sentence over countless times in her mind before finally forcing it out.

Mu Wanyan lowered her head and glanced at the bandage on her hand, then shook her head. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Su Xingwei didn’t move. Her gaze shifted away from Mu Wanyan’s hand and to the window. She was silent for several seconds.

“What happened that day...”

She paused, as though choosing her words carefully. “I didn’t mean to lose my temper at you.”

Mu Wanyan blinked, then realized Su Xingwei was apologizing. The apology was especially awkward; the words came out haltingly, and her gaze never quite landed on Mu Wanyan, but it was indeed an apology.

“It’s okay.”

Mu Wanyan curved her lips into a faint smile, her brows softening.

Su Xingwei looked over almost reflexively. Her gaze lingered on that smile for a moment. Looking at the gentle arc of Mu Wanyan’s brows and eyes, she felt a complicated emotion flash through her heart, so quickly she couldn’t even catch it herself.

Then she changed the subject, assigned a few tasks, and sent Mu Wanyan out.

It wasn’t until near the end of the workday that Mu Wanyan was called into Su Xingwei’s office again.

Su Xingwei sat behind the desk, still not looking at her. In her hand was a wine-red gift box tied with a ribbon, which she casually pushed across the desk.

“Birthday present.”

Mu Wanyan froze for a few seconds, then took the box and opened it. Inside was a watch. The wine-red dial with a leather strap was simple and elegant, exquisitely made. The strap bore the abbreviation of some luxury brand; one glance was enough to tell it was expensive.

She looked up at Su Xingwei, who was staring at her computer screen with a detached expression, as if she had only given away something insignificant.

“Birthday?”

Mu Wanyan muttered blankly.

“You don’t even remember your own birthday?” Su Xingwei raised a brow. “The date on your ID card is today.”

Only then did Mu Wanyan remember that today was the original body’s birthday. She had completely forgotten.

She hadn’t expected Su Xingwei to have noticed.

“Thank you, Young Miss.”

She put the watch back into the box and tucked it away properly.

“Wear it when you get back.”

Su Xingwei tossed out the words, lowered her head, and continued flipping through documents, gesturing for Mu Wanyan to leave.

Mu Wanyan carried the box out of the office and paused in the corridor for a moment, looking down at the gift in her hands, her emotions in turmoil.

After work, Mu Wanyan returned to the residential complex downstairs. The streetlamp by the entrance was still dim. Just as she reached the building entrance, she saw a figure coming out from inside; the click of high heels sounded especially sharp in the shabby corridor.

Su Yueluo wore a dark coat and had clearly been waiting for a while. When she saw Mu Wanyan, she immediately put on a friendly smile, though like the rest of her, it was fake.

“Assistant Mu, I’ve been waiting for you.”

Mu Wanyan stopped and looked calmly at the uninvited guest.

Su Yueluo walked up and stopped in front of her, letting her gaze sweep over Mu Wanyan’s face before settling on her eyes.

“I’ve never liked beating around the bush.”

Her voice was gentle, but the calculation in her eyes was already impossible to hide. “I’ve taken a liking to you. Come to my side; name any conditions you want.”

Mu Wanyan knew full well that this so-called taking a liking to her was only because of Su Xingwei’s attention toward her.

She looked up at Su Yueluo, still wearing a polite smile. “President Su, I have no plans to change jobs.”

Su Yueluo smiled, but there was no warmth in her eyes.

“I’m not discussing this with you.”

She took a step forward, closing the distance between them, and lowered her voice. “I have solid proof that your resume was falsified. Tell me, if my dear little sister finds out, do you think she’d still keep you by her side? She hates liars the most. And according to company policy, you’d be fired too.”

Mu Wanyan slowly clenched her hand inside her pocket, but her expression remained steady.

Su Yueluo put that gentle smile back on her face. “Think about it carefully. I have plenty of time; I’ll wait for your good news.”

With that, she turned and left. Her heels struck the cement with crisp, tapping sounds. Her figure gradually disappeared at the entrance to the complex, followed by the rumble of a car starting up.

Mu Wanyan stood where she was, watching the direction she’d gone in, and only after a long while did she turn and head upstairs.

The weather had suddenly turned to winter, as if the season had changed overnight.

Just the day before, it had still felt like clear autumn skies. By the next morning, the cold wind was stabbing straight down the neck as soon as the door was opened, making the whole body shiver. A layer of white frost covered the road, slick and hard to walk on.

Mu Wanyan changed into a dark gray turtleneck sweater and wrapped herself in the camel-colored coat Su Xingwei had bought her earlier. Shrinking her neck down and pulling up the collar, she headed quickly for the subway station.

By the time she reached the company, her hands were nearly frozen stiff. She rubbed them for a while before finally turning on the computer to organize the day’s schedule.

Su Xingwei arrived half an hour late, bringing a chill with her when she stepped out of the elevator.

“Make tea.”

She took off her coat and draped it over one arm before walking straight into the office.

Mu Wanyan answered and got up, heading to the pantry for hot water and tea leaves. Her mind kept circling back to what Su Yueluo had said the night before. Distracted for a moment, she moved half a beat too slowly, and the boiling water tilted, spilling all over the back of her hand. She jerked her hand back sharply; the cup tipped over on the counter, hot water splashing everywhere, tea leaves scattering across the floor.

Mu Wanyan bit down hard on her lower lip and made no sound. The back of her hand was already red, and the searing pain was rising. She turned on the faucet and held the burned area under cold water. The biting chill slowly eased the burning sting.

After rinsing for several minutes, she turned off the tap, dried her hand with a tissue, made another cup of tea, and brought it into Su Xingwei’s office.

Su Xingwei took the teacup and her gaze swept over the back of Mu Wanyan’s hand. Her brows immediately furrowed.

“What happened to your hand?”

“It’s nothing; I accidentally burned myself.” Mu Wanyan instinctively hid her hand behind her back.

Su Xingwei set down the teacup, stood, and caught her wrist, pulling it in front of her. The back of her hand was red and swollen, with several tiny blisters rising on the fair skin, glaringly obvious.

“You call this nothing?” Su Xingwei’s voice turned cold.

She opened the cabinet, took out the first-aid kit, and found a tube of burn ointment. After unscrewing the cap and squeezing out some ointment, she carefully applied it to the back of Mu Wanyan’s hand. Her movements weren’t especially gentle, but every reddened patch from the wrist to the back of the hand was covered evenly.

A cool sensation spread over the back of her hand. Mu Wanyan secretly glanced at the person beside her but said nothing.

“All right; be more careful.”

Su Xingwei put away the ointment, closed the first-aid kit, and turned to look at Mu Wanyan. “You’ve got something on your mind?”

Mu Wanyan drew her hand back and shook her head. “No.”

Su Xingwei stared at her for two seconds, then stopped asking. “If nothing’s wrong, go back to work.”

By lunchtime, Mu Wanyan’s phone vibrated several times. It was a message from Xiao Ting; the last one was especially direct: “I’m downstairs at your company. If you don’t come down, I’m coming up.”

Mu Wanyan looked at the screen in silence for a moment, then grabbed her coat and went downstairs.

Outside the office building, Xiao Ting was leaning against the wall in a black coat, his neck tucked against the early winter wind. When he saw Mu Wanyan come out, he straightened up, a playful smile on his face.

“Cousin, lend me two hundred thousand.”

He got straight to the point.

Mu Wanyan looked at him, as calm as ever. “I don’t have it.”

In a voice only the two of them could hear, Xiao Ting said, “So this big company actually hired a sickly cripple just like that. Turns out you falsified your resume. You think you don’t have evidence? Your heart condition is right there in the hospital records. If you don’t give me the money, I’ll expose this to your company’s upper management and see how you keep working there.”

Mu Wanyan understood instantly. No wonder Su Yueluo had suddenly come looking for her.

“I’ll say it again; I don’t have two hundred thousand.”

Mu Wanyan spoke evenly.

Xiao Ting’s face immediately darkened, revealing a vicious look. “Who are you trying to fool? The chairman’s assistant at Xingsheng makes more than ten thousand a month. It’s fine if you want to keep pretending to be poor, but don’t come crying later.”

As soon as he finished, he turned and left, his back looking somewhat disheveled in the wind.

Mu Wanyan watched him go, then tightened her coat and turned back upstairs.

She really had concealed the original body’s medical history, not only because of Xingsheng’s hiring standards, but more importantly because the date of the original body’s successful surgery was the same as Gu Xi’s death anniversary. For a heart patient to go from the brink of death to waking up as if by miracle and recovering like a normal person, it would be hard not to arouse suspicion.

The next day, Mu Wanyan went to the company as usual. Just after she arrived at her desk, her phone rang; it was an unfamiliar number. After she answered, the other side claimed to be a police officer from a local precinct and informed her that Xiao Ting had been arrested on charges of extortion and that the case would be transferred back to his place of origin for handling. They were calling to notify her.

Mu Wanyan hung up and stood frozen for a moment, sorting through her thoughts.

When she walked into the office, Su Xingwei was already at her desk, head lowered as she reviewed documents. At the sound of footsteps, she looked up.

“Got the call?”

She said it as casually as if asking about an everyday errand.

Mu Wanyan looked at her; the answer was already in her heart. “It was you.”

Su Xingwei folded her hands in front of her and looked at her. “Do you think I handled it too harshly?”

Mu Wanyan shook her head. “He brought it on himself. Thank you, Young Miss.”

Su Xingwei gave a slight nod. The office fell silent.

After a while, she stood up and walked over to Mu Wanyan.

“You can rely on me.”

Su Xingwei fixed her gaze on her, speaking each word clearly and forcefully. “You don’t have to force yourself to carry everything alone.”

It seemed as though someone had once said the very same thing to her before.

Mu Wanyan pulled her thoughts back. “I remember.”

Su Xingwei made a quiet sound of acknowledgment and returned to her computer to continue dealing with company matters, though her eyes would occasionally sweep toward Mu Wanyan from the corner of her vision.

There had once been someone who carried everything on her own and refused to burden anyone else, right up until the end, when she took that car crash in her place. She didn’t want to see a second person follow the same path.

That night, Mu Wanyan accompanied Su Xingwei to a business cocktail party. It was held in the banquet hall of a hotel in the city center, crowded with guests and clinking glasses. Inside the hall and outside it felt like two different seasons altogether. Everyone at the event was dressed in formalwear; Mu Wanyan had only just changed into the white evening gown Su Xingwei had prepared for her.

Su Xingwei was stopped by several business partners, exchanging pleasantries and socializing. Mu Wanyan stood in a corner with a glass of juice, waiting.

Then Su Yueluo came over with a wineglass in hand, still wearing that signature friendly smile.

“Assistant Mu, we meet again.”

She stood beside Mu Wanyan and turned her head slightly to look at her. “So? Have you thought it over?”

Mu Wanyan held her juice and did not look at her. “President Su, I already told you my answer. Please don’t waste your breath anymore.”

Su Yueluo’s smile didn’t change, but her eyes turned colder. “I think you know I’m not talking about work.”

Mu Wanyan turned and met her gaze directly. “Whatever you’re talking about, I’m not interested.”

Su Yueluo tightened her grip on the stemmed glass and stared at Mu Wanyan for a moment. The smile on her face faded. Just as she was about to speak, a figure stepped directly between them and shielded Mu Wanyan behind her.

“Cousin, President Wang over there wants to talk to you about something.”

Su Xingwei lifted her glass toward the other side of the banquet hall, as if she truly were only discussing business.

Su Yueluo looked at Su Xingwei, then at Mu Wanyan behind her, and laughed softly. “You can protect her for a while, but not forever. Do you really think your little assistant is hiding nothing from you?”

With that, Su Yueluo turned and left, disappearing into the crowd.

A melodious symphony played in the banquet hall; laughter and the clink of glasses intertwined, lively and bustling. Su Xingwei turned around, her gaze landing on Mu Wanyan’s face.

“Let’s go outside for a walk.”

The two of them put on their coats and left through the side door. The corridor instantly fell quiet; the lighting was dim and yellowish, and every so often a waiter would pass by pushing a cart, glancing over briefly before hurrying away.

Su Xingwei walked in front, while Mu Wanyan followed silently behind. Suddenly, Su Xingwei stopped and turned to face her.

“What did she mean just now?”

Su Xingwei spoke in a low voice, her expression unreadable. “What weakness do you have in Su Yueluo and Xiao Ting’s hands?”

Mu Wanyan stood before her, her fingers slowly curling inward.