Lady

Sheng Qijing spoke very quickly, and just as he finished speaking, Jiang Yiying pushed open the door.

From her perspective, Ju Hui's eyes were red, and her mouth was slightly open, clearly stunned. Although their relationship was debatable, the two were now very far apart, with no ambiguity, only helplessness after the door was suddenly opened.

Jiang Yiying raised her eyebrows. "Brother Jiaping is leaving. Should we see him off?"

Ju Hui took half a step forward, and Sheng Qijing also approached, blocking her way. His gaze was direct, not to obstruct her, but to urge her to stay alert.

Ju Hui couldn't bear to look at him, quickly walked past him, and took Jiang Yiying's arm, "Let's go, I also need to go to Yun Que..."

The two figures, along with hope, vanished completely.

After burning incense at Yunque and the red spots subsided, Ju Hui decided to stay at the hotel that night. After taking a shower, she contacted Ao Jiangxian on WeChat.

She was still awake too, and replied: "President Sheng has been in Ruobei recently."

However, it's almost the end of the year, so I'll sign another contract in Ruobei next Thursday, and then fly to Shanghai next Friday morning. [Photo]

Ao Jiangxian sent Sheng Qijing a screenshot of his flight booking, complete with seat number and departure time.

Ju Hui: [Okay, I was just asking.]

Ao Jiangxian: [I won't say anything either.]

Ju Hui laughed out loud at the screen, wanting to end the conversation, but Ao Jiangxian immediately sent another message.

Ao Jiangxian: [I've already informed Bai Yangjia to return to Mochen.]

Ju Hui still didn't understand: 【What does "回墨皴" mean?】

Ao Jiangxian: [President Sheng said he wanted to find a more experienced assistant for the teacher, so he was transferred back to Mochun.]

Ao Jiangxian: [He said it's good that it's over, helping Teacher Ju with his work was really nerve-wracking haha]

Ao Jiangxian: [Should I return the Loft keys to you first, or give them to the new assistant?]

Ju Hui was in a bad mood, but she didn't say much on WeChat. She said that the key could be delivered to the loft, and that she didn't need a new assistant anymore because her agent would be returning to China soon. She added a smiley face at the end of the message.

Ao Jiangxian agreed and said goodnight to Ju Hui.

The next day, Ju Hui received the key, but it was delivered by Ao Jiangxian herself. Mo Chun lived not far from the loft, and she had also come here to feed the cats.

It was a clear winter day, but she seemed to have arrived at the wrong time; she saw two workers standing at the door changing the locks.

Ao Jiangxian asked in surprise, "Teacher Ju, is it because you don't have a key that you can't get into your house?"

Ju Hui put the old key in her pocket: "No, I'm just changing the combination lock. The old lock is too old and should be thrown away."

Ju Hui blocked Sheng Qijing. She asked Ao Jiangxian to tell the homeowner, President Sheng, about changing the locks, and that the lock money didn't need to be paid back.

Ao Jiangxian nodded blankly, but shortly after she returned home, Ju Hui still received the transfer in her Alipay account.

Payment received: 52,000 yuan

Ju Hui looked as if she had been licked by a toad.

She quickly added his Alipay account to her blacklist as well.

Blocking and changing the locks are all superficial retaliations. The only way she could think of to counter the shameless Sheng Qijing's strong resistance was to work hard, to work hard to achieve the bet.

Without an assistant, the project encountered some inconveniences, and she repeatedly urged Kan Yu to return to China as soon as possible, since the Chinese New Year was approaching.

He readily agreed and said he would go back this weekend.

But it wasn't until Wednesday afternoon, six days later, that Kan Yu landed at the international airport and asked Ju Hui to pick him up.

He was quite arrogant, daring to make Ju Hui, who was busy handling a million-dollar project, personally drive for half an hour even when he was late.

He said he had good news to tell her, and that she should come soon if she wanted to know.

On the way back, Kan Yu was driving. There was a bit of traffic, and the heater wasn't working well, so he opened the window for a while.

Sunlight streamed in, and a cold wind blew by.

Ju Hui, who was sitting in the passenger seat, found a ginkgo leaf in the crevice of the storage box and bent down to pick it up.

Opening the storage box in front of her, sure enough, last year's ginkgo leaves were still inside. This year, Ju Hui only belatedly realized how amusing it was, took a picture, and posted it on her WeChat Moments for the first time.

Kan Yu leaned her elbow against the window and asked her, who was looking down at her phone, "Sis, if the modern art exhibition at the end of the year doesn't go well, why don't you exhibit your new series of designs in Europe?"

Ju Hui paused slightly, but did not answer immediately. The car quickly started moving.

This isn't good news; it's a realistic suggestion.

For a female creator, this is the only option. Sculpture requires a high investment and has a long cycle. She is in her prime, and no one knows how much longer she will be. The virtuous cycle cannot be broken by this modern exhibition.

Ju Hui nodded, "Okay, then let's go back."

Ju Hui posted meaningless content on her WeChat Moments without setting up any groups.

Within a minute, the data was refreshed. Qin Haoman was the first to interact, followed by Jing Kuan, who asked her to record a voiceover. Comments popped up at the same time, forming a continuous paragraph.

Qin Haoman: [[Starry eyes][Starry eyes] So many!]

Jing Kuan: [He's practically a god who controls the apricot leaves!]

Ju Hui wasn't going to reply for the time being, so she continued scrolling down. She saw that Qin Haoman had also posted a nine-grid photo collage of beautiful pictures of himself at the exhibition half an hour earlier.

Wang Kehui gave it a thumbs up.

Kan Yu felt relieved. "I know you wouldn't turn down money."

He remembered very clearly how he almost missed out on collaborating with Qin Haoman; Ju Hui's actions couldn't always be like that... risky.

Kan Yu continued, "I recently stored all the works in your warehouse and met with several collectors and media professionals. They are happy to hold a major exhibition for your new series."

Ju Hui tilted her head: "What's the point of keeping those scraps? And where did you get the money?"

"It was approved by President Sheng. You're his employee, shouldn't he be responsible for you?"

Ju Hui leaned back in her seat, speechless.

He helped her in everything, but he also bypassed her in everything and didn't ask for her opinion.

"It was President Sheng who reminded me to meet with the collectors; it's always good to plan ahead."

"Why is it him again?"

The doubts that had just arisen gradually intensified, and Ju Hui frowned and asked him, "With Qin Haoman around, is he not confident in the Modern Exhibition?"

"Of course they regret letting you hold the exhibition in China. President Sheng even said that if they weren't happy, he would pay for it and use his connections to help you hold the exhibition in Europe, and he even asked me to be the curator, haha. I didn't agree. I told him with my head held high, 'Let's talk about it when we get back to China!'"

"..."

Kan Yu had just returned to China and hadn't yet adjusted to the bright sky, repeatedly marveling at how wonderful the sun was. Ju Hui, who was scrolling through her phone, suddenly blurted out: "It's going to snow in the north tomorrow."

"That's fine. You were urging me to come back and be your assistant, so the snow won't stop me from going to the studio."

"You think you can work after a 20-hour flight?"

Ju Hui exited the confirmation page on her phone, and her flight information to Shanghai for tomorrow morning flashed before her eyes.

“Let’s change the navigation, we won’t go to the courtyard,” Ju Hui tapped the car’s screen. “I’ll take you home, and you can rest tomorrow. I’m going to Shanghai to see someone.”

-

Wang Kehui sneezed in the gym's locker room.

He muttered to himself, "It must be because it's almost the end of the year, and my relatives back home are nagging me to introduce them to potential partners since I have the highest annual salary."

Thinking of this, Wang Kehui gagged, and slammed the cabinet door shut with a deafening crash.

When Wang Kehui first came to Shanghai, he was dissatisfied. There were many young and handsome men here, but they were also really poor.

But he quickly comforted himself that he had plenty of money to support himself, and his mood improved a lot. Recently, his target has been Xiao Qi, the personal trainer at this gym.

Wang Kehui usually arrives around 10 PM, being Xiao Qi's last student. At this time, the 24-hour gym is still bustling, making it convenient for them to maintain their enthusiasm and have a late-night snack together on a spontaneous evening, then go home and have some fun.

After leaving the locker room, Wang Kehui walked straight to the dumbbell area and smiled inexplicably.

He wondered, if his relatives from his hometown suddenly appeared here and saw him and Xiao Qi holding hands, would Xiao Qi turn green with embarrassment, or would the relatives turn green with embarrassment?

The metallic clanging sound became clear and pleasant.

Wang Kehui stood in front of the dumbbell rack but didn't see Xiao Qi. He silently warmed up by rotating his wrists and looked around. Finally, he saw him in the barbell area not far away.

He was instructing someone, and the woman in white looked familiar.

"Yes, you've got the right point of leverage, keep going."

Wang Kehui frowned, while Xiao Qi's smile was almost overflowing.

After finishing a set, Ju Hui put down the barbell and looked up, as Wang Kehui walked towards her from the front.

"Mr. Wang."

Ju Hui was pleasantly surprised and greeted him, "It's Thursday today, and you're still working out so late on a weekday!"

Sweat streamed down her shoulders. Ju Hui got up from the stool, took the towel from Wang Kehui, and hesitated to wipe herself.

He said with a half-smile, "It's clean. Miss Ju just arrived and she's already pushing 12.5? Pretty impressive."

“When Mr. Wang praises this weight to Coach Qi, it makes it seem like Coach Qi isn’t teaching well,” Ju Hui teased Wang Kehui, then smiled at Coach Qi, “I’ll go out and chat with Mr. Wang first.”

"Oh well."

After walking past the two mirrors, Wang Kehui turned on the main light in the yoga room. He held his water bottle and leaned against the side door, his boredom undisguised.

He waited for Ju Hui to speak first, and then he would leave after they finished talking.

His face was sour, and Ju Hui's face was even more sour. In order not to alert him, Ju Hui came here entirely because of that photo on his WeChat Moments.

She rushed over in the afternoon to wait for someone, and stayed there until 10 p.m. She didn't want to stay overnight, but she had no choice but to return to Ruobei the next day.

"Mr. Wang, are you getting used to life in Shanghai now?"

"Did Teacher Ju come all this way just to ask me how I'm doing?"

Wang Kehui turned her head, rolling her eyes as she did so. "Just say what you want to say. Also, isn't this outfit a bit too sexy? I don't remember the gym in Ruobei being this warm."

Ju Hui glanced down; it was just a sports bra and a jacket.

She pulled the zipper up as tight as possible. "Mr. Wang, I was just worried that you were transferred to Shanghai by President Sheng because of me. I let slip about that bet, but it's not true, right?"

Ju Hui asked him earnestly, indicating that if it wasn't true, given her friendship with Sheng Qijing, she could plead for him to be transferred back to Ruobei.

Wang Kehui gave her a deep look and sneered.

“I’m not a child. Why would I make up an agreement out of thin air? You believed it anyway, and you even signed a contract with Tera a while ago.”

"You know about inside information that hasn't been officially announced?"

"I came from within, is there anything else?"

Wang Kehui made a move to leave, but Ju Hui took a half-step to the side and blocked the glass door with lightning speed.

But his elbow slammed into the invisible handrail, and the sound made Wang Kehui suspect that the door frame was about to break. He stepped back and noticed that someone outside the door was looking in his direction.

"What's your rush!"

Wang Kehui sighed, realizing he wouldn't be staying long tonight.

Ju Hui felt a burning pain in her left arm. She took off her coat, looked at it, and pressed the red spot. "President Wang, tell me, did Sheng Qijing calculate that the Modern Exhibition results wouldn't be good and that he wouldn't be able to win the bet? That's why you were willing to stay at Mo Chen, right?"

What are you talking about?

Ju Hui frowned. "I won't do anything if you tell me the truth. But if you don't, the first thing I'll do when I leave this room is tell Sheng Qijing that you invited me to Shanghai today... and that you hit me."

Wang Kehui maintained a smile in front of outsiders, lowering his voice: "Ju Hui, there are surveillance cameras here, why would I hit you?"

"Who knows? Maybe it's because you're not very bright. Who told you to be so carefree when you knew that winning the bet meant you'd be fired? You're about to lose your job, so why are you acting like this? It's just that you're not smart enough."

Ju Hui could even squeeze out a couple of tears at this moment, depending on Wang Kehui's performance. "You asked me to help President Sheng time and time again, and you worked so hard. Was it his request that you do this?"

Are you sick in the head?

"Speak quickly."

Tears welled up in her eyes. Unable to resist, Wang Kehui pleaded with her to get dressed, saying, "Because I like President Sheng, okay? I have no connections back in China, and I'm asking for your help in the hope that President Sheng will remember this favor and let me stay. Is that a good reason?"

"real?"

"real."

Ju Hui gave him a cold look, glanced at him from head to toe, and then turned and left.

Because of love?

This is the most outrageous lie Ju Hui has ever heard!

The taxi door slammed shut, the lingering heat from the gym throbbing in Ju Hui's left arm as the car sped past in the dim light.

Half an hour later, she arrived at Sheng Qijing's single-story building.

Ju Hui passed through security with practiced ease, took the elevator upstairs, her hurried steps particularly clear in the dead of night.

She quickly typed in the password, but it was wrong the first time. She immediately thought about how to call a locksmith, and luckily, she entered it correctly on the second try.

She had booked a hotel in advance, near the gym in the opposite direction, and originally did not plan to set foot in the area.

She came here looking for that shady agreement.

Ju Hui pushed open the door, and the room was pitch black.

She stood there and called out Sheng Qijing's name, but there was no response.

The house was quieter and darker than usual. Ju Hui calmed down and realized that she was alone and could do things that involved digging into other people's privacy.

The familiar living room was completely obscured by floor-to-ceiling windows, the city silhouettes hidden behind them. Ju Hui glanced at it, but didn't bother to turn on the dark, oppressive lights. She simply switched on the softest light, click—

The phone suddenly rang.

Ju Hui was startled; it was Yun Aonan calling.

She took a deep breath and answered the phone: "Ao Nan?"

"Xiao Hui," Ju Hui said, relieved. It was Yun Aonan who spoke, not Sheng Qijing or Bian Jiaping. "Will you be spending the New Year with Ruobei and Brother Jiaping this year?"

"Jiaping and I have made up."

"Oh, don't be angry. I just wanted to ask if you would like to come to my house for a meal after the New Year."

Yun Aonan chuckled foolishly on Sheng Qijing's desk, his voice seemingly able to penetrate downstairs when played aloud. Ju Hui squatted in front of the low cabinet, flipping through folders, but did not answer immediately.

Yun Aonan then realized she was tacitly agreeing, and, through a series of unreasonable demands, set a meeting time, promising to have someone pick her up then.

The call was disconnected, and the room fell silent.

But almost immediately, the ringtone came again.

As Ju Hui predicted, this time it was Sheng Qijing.

The first thing she did upon entering was to carefully check the surveillance cameras in each room. She wasn't afraid to make eye contact with Sheng Qijing through the red dots; on the contrary, she hoped they would function properly so that all the secrets would be exposed.

Unfortunately, the guards were cut off.

Ju Hui answered without thinking much: "What's wrong?"

Sheng Qijing took a breath: "Are you at Loft?"

If Ju Hui has paranoia, it's because Sheng Qijing forced her to be.

In college, he hid the truth from Mo Chen, lying to her that Loft was Pei Yao's home, and secretly suspected her relationship with Bian Jiaping. In the end, however, a lie is a lie. All his self-righteousness backfired.

Ju Hui shoved the document back: "What do you think?"

Half a minute passed, and no one spoke.

Just as Ju Hui thought they were locked in a tense stalemate, Sheng Qijing sniffed almost imperceptibly and asked, "I'm not in a good mood. Do you have time to talk?"

Ju Hui paused.

Her arms ached so much that Ju Hui let out a soft groan as she stood up, which made Sheng Qijing think he had received affirmation. He had no choice but to let her listen until the middle of the night.

That night, everything went wrong for everyone. Ju Hui put everything aside, lay down on the large bed that was filled with his scent and body heat, and quietly listened to his drunken complaints.

The contract was changed at the last minute, the weather was bad and the itinerary had to be changed, the only thing that remained unchanged was the endless socializing. He spoke with emotion in his voice, and Ju Hui casually suggested that he listen to some light music. Sheng Qijing immediately called out the speaker to play random music as background noise for their chat, and Ju Hui laughed.

Sheng Qijing asked her, "Are you feeling better?"

"Me? We've been talking about you the whole time."

"Hmm, but hearing that I'm not happy should make you feel better, right?" Sheng Qijing's speech became slurred. "If you need more, pull me back on WeChat, and I'll tell you..."

As the piano played softly, accompanied by his hypnotic ramblings, Ju Hui's tightly clenched insteps gradually relaxed, her body naturally slid down, and she fell asleep peacefully.

The next day, Ju Hui was awakened by the sound of a door opening downstairs.

The unique "incorrect password" voice prompt of the combination lock was like a final warning from the homeowner. The parasite Ju Hui hurriedly got up, and the creases of the bed instantly became flatter than the floor.

Ju Hui pressed herself against the bedroom door, her heart pounding. She forgot that she didn't need to worry about explaining the rationale for being there; she was just preparing to wait for Sheng Qijing to appear so she could confront him face to face with the agreement in hand.

Just as things were getting chaotic, a clear sneeze broke the deadlock.

Looking down from the railing, Aunt Ye pulled back the tightly closed curtains, and dust particles floated and swirled.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the morning light generously streamed in. Aunt Ye turned around and saw that the tall, black-haired woman in front of her was Ju Hui. She exclaimed and covered her mouth with both hands, asking with a smile, "Miss Ju, you're here."

Ju Hui reminded her to just call her Xiao Ju, and asked, "Aunt Ye, did President Sheng send you?"

"Yes, Mr. Sheng will arrive around noon. I'll leave as soon as I've prepared lunch."

Ju Hui saw Aunt Ye looking for tissues, so she went downstairs and handed her hers. She also searched the living room but found nothing. She sat down and thought for a moment.

She turned to Aunt Ye and asked, "Can Aunt Ye come and clean even though President Sheng isn't here? Can she clean the study too?"

Aunt Ye was preparing vegetables, and nodded with a smile, "Yes."

Ju Hui turned to the side and said okay, declining Aunt Ye's breakfast offer. She sat for a while longer, then went upstairs, closed the study door behind her, and headed towards the walk-in closet in the opposite direction.

During that argument, Sheng Qijing deliberately soaked Ju Hui's clothes to prevent her from leaving. Since her silk pajamas were too heavy to wear outside, she had to go to the dressing room to find an outer garment.

At that time, she noticed that there was a separate jewelry display case at the very back of the dressing room.

There was a padlock on the cabinet.

That shiny cabinet is all for showing off; it's obviously where he keeps things he hates.