She thought she could negotiate with Chairman Li. Little did she know, Chairman Li had already used her as a pawn.

Mu Chen expedited the processing of a South Korean tourist visa. A week later, he accompanied Song Yunxi back to South Korea.

At the airport, Mu Chen held Song Yunxi's hand and sat next to her in the front row of seats, while Rui Huaisen sat quietly two rows behind them.

Throughout the nearly two-hour flight, Rui Huaisen kept his promise to Mu Chen. Although traveling with them, he maintained his distance, not speaking a word to them or disturbing Song Yunxi.

After leaving the airport, Mu Chen opened the back door of the taxi and let Song Yunxi get in first. He put the luggage down, then opened the passenger door for Rui Huaisen to get in. Finally, he walked around the car and opened the other back door himself.

After telling the driver in Korean that she wanted to go to Bundang Memorial Park, Song Yoon-hee stopped talking and turned to look out the window at the familiar yet unfamiliar city shrouded in light rain.

The car drove for more than an hour in the rain before they finally arrived at the cemetery nestled among lush green trees.

Today is not a public day for tomb sweeping, and because it is raining, there are almost no other people sweeping tombs in the cemetery.

The driver parked the car in the cemetery parking lot, and Song Yunxi got out of the car carrying the bouquet of white roses she had just bought from a flower shop outside the cemetery.

Mu Chen held a large black umbrella over their heads with one hand and put his other arm around Song Yunxi's shoulder, following her footsteps along the neat bluestone path into the depths of the cemetery.

Rui Huaisen followed behind them alone, holding an umbrella and also carrying a bouquet of white roses in his arms.

Raindrops fell on the bluestone slabs, splashing up sparkling water droplets that soaked everyone's shoes and washed every patch of grass. The gloomy, damp air made the already desolate cemetery even more tranquil and poignant.

Ascending the steps and passing through several interconnected paths amidst the lawn, Song Yunxi stopped in front of a tombstone.

On the black marble tombstone is a face with delicate features and a gentle smile. One can imagine what a gentle and elegant woman she must have been if she were still alive.

The tombstone bore only a few Chinese characters. The deceased's name was Song Taiying, and the inscription was signed by her filial daughter, Ruiyan. The only other words were the date.

Song Yunxi bent down and placed the bouquet of roses in front of the tombstone, saying softly, "Happy birthday, Mom."

Rui Huaisen stood to the side, and before he could even speak, tears welled up uncontrollably in his eyes.

He knelt down and placed the roses next to Song Yunxi's bouquet, then never stood up again. He started by trying to suppress his sobs, but they grew louder and louder until he broke down in uncontrollable weeping.

Song Yunxi turned around, rested her head on Mu Chen's shoulder, and tears fell silently. She hadn't intended to cry, only to say a few words to her mother, but her tears just kept flowing, soaking Mu Chen's shirt.

Mu Chen reached out and pulled Song Yunxi into a tight embrace.

After a long time, long enough that the light rain stopped, a few rays of sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone on Song Yunxi's face.

She turned to look at Rui Huaisen, who was kneeling in front of the tombstone, oblivious to the water stains on the ground. He was already soaked from losing his umbrella, and tears were still streaming down his face.

“My mother doesn’t want anyone to cry at her grave. She said that no matter how much others cry, she can’t hear them anymore, so people are only crying about their own memories. She doesn’t want me to live in the past; she wants me to live in the present and the future.”

After Song Yunxi finished speaking, she reached out and handed him a folded piece of paper. Perhaps, that paper was originally written for him.

Rui Huaisen took it, opened it, and saw several lines of delicate handwriting. It was a poem that Song Taiying had copied down before she left:

Do not weep at my grave.

I wasn't there, nor did I fall asleep.

I have transformed into a thousand winds.

Soaring in the vast sky

...

The three of them left the cemetery and took a taxi back to the hotel, arriving after 2 p.m.

Rui Huaisen politely declined Mu Chen's invitation to lunch and silently turned to return to his room. Mu Chen and Song Yunxi, on the other hand, ate a simple meal in the restaurant.

After the meal, Song Yunxi said, "I'm sleepy, I want to take a nap."

Mu Chen reached out and touched her hair. "Go to sleep, I'll stay here with you."

To catch the earliest flight, they got up before dawn. It's only natural that she was tired.

Mu Chen sat alone at his desk, turned on his computer, and processed the files Pan Zhe had sent him.

"President Mu, these are news articles just released by major domestic media outlets." Pan Zhe said, sending over a link to a news article, which included some accompanying images and key information that had been extracted separately.

Mu Chen quickly finished browsing, and before he could even think about how to tell Song Yunxi about it, he heard a rustling sound from the bed. Song Yunxi stretched her arm out of the blanket and gave a big yawn.

Mu Chen asked with a smile, "Awake?"

"Yes. Fully recovered." Song Yunxi sat up with a smile, wrapping her arms around Mu Chen's neck, who was bending over and standing by the bed, about to come and see her.

Mu Chen then sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled her into his arms.

"Should we rest a little longer, or go out for dinner?"

"Go outside. I want to see a friend."

Pei Youna had just finished get off work when she received a call from an unknown number.

She answered the phone cautiously, and a familiar, upturned voice came from the other end: "Yona, shall we meet?"

When Pei Youna rushed to the location Song Yunxi had told her about, she saw Song Yunxi and another handsome man sitting at the window seat at the far end of the restaurant.

Pei Youna excitedly stepped forward and hugged Song Yunxi: "Yunxi, when did you come back?"

"I just got back this morning." Song Yunxi smiled and hugged Pei Youna, who was her only friend at ST Group besides Li Shenghuan.

"You left without a word back then, without telling me where you were going. I was really worried about you."

"I knew you were worried, so I came to see you as soon as I got back."

Song Yunxi pulled Pei Youna to sit down and introduced her, "This is my boyfriend, Mu Chen."

Although they were speaking Korean, which Mu Chen couldn't understand, he nodded to Pei Youna when Song Yunxi pointed at him. He knew that Song Yunxi was introducing him to her friends.

Pei Youna paused for a moment, then nodded to Mu Chen in greeting.

Then she turned to Song Yunxi: "So, you didn't come back because of Mr. Li Shenghuan's matter?"

When Pei Youna received the call, the first thing she thought of was Li Shenghuan.

She had always felt that Song Yoon-hee and Lee Sung-hwan were a couple who loved each other. Ever since Lee Sung-hwan's last trip to China, everyone at ST Group knew that Song Yoon-hee had gone to the Platinum Hotel in China as a representative of the Korean side.

Song Yunxi countered, "What happened to Li Shenghuan?"

He's getting engaged tomorrow.

"Engaged? He agreed to get engaged to Jung Eun-ah?"

Although Song Yunxi wasn't so narcissistic as to believe that Li Shenghuan would marry no one but her, she had known him for many years and knew that although he appeared unruly and unrestrained on the surface, he was actually a very devoted person. Even if he eventually agreed to the marriage alliance, it wouldn't be in such a short time since he returned from China.

Pei Youna said, "It's not Zheng Enya, it's Zheng Encai, the second young lady of the Zheng family."

"The second young lady of the Zheng family?" Song Yunxi felt that she was repeating what others said a lot today, but each of these things was indeed unbelievable to her.

Everyone knows that the Zheng family, which is to be married to Li Shenghuan, only has one daughter, Zheng Enya. Where did this second young lady come from?

“Hmm.” Pei Youna nodded. “It is said that this second young lady has been studying alone in the United States since she was a child. Zheng’s parents love their youngest daughter and do not want anyone to disturb her life and studies, so they have never made any public information about her.”

Anyway, that's what she read in the news.

Pei Youna found the news report about Li Shenghuan's engagement to Zheng Encai and handed it to Song Yunxi. Mu Chen also turned his head and glanced at it a few times.

The screen was filled with Korean characters, which he couldn't understand, but the accompanying picture was the same as the domestic news that Pan Zhe had sent him that afternoon—a photo of Lee Sung-hwan and Jung Eun-chae.

He hadn't yet figured out how to tell Song Yunxi the news that afternoon, but she already knew through another friend.

The news report said that Lee Sung-hwan and Jung Eun-chae fell in love at first sight at the airport, and knew at once that they were meant to spend their lives together.

Although Lee Sung-hwan and Jung Eun-ah, the eldest daughter of the Jung family, had previously discussed marriage, they were not actually in love and had never held an engagement ceremony. To allow Lee Sung-hwan and Jung Eun-ah, who were truly in love, to be together, their parents decided to renegotiate the engagement and hold a grand engagement ceremony for them.

A business marriage based on huge interests was thus embellished into a romantic and touching love story.

Engagement should be a happy occasion for most people, but Song Yoon-hee did not want to congratulate Lee Sung-hwan.

She knew that this was not what Li Shenghuan wanted.

As a friend, she hoped that Lee Sung-hwan could find true happiness.

Pei Youna seemed to understand Song Yunxi's meaning. She picked up her glass, took a sip of juice, and then changed the subject: "Yunxi, now that you're back, you don't need to go to China anymore, right?"

"No, I'm going back to China tomorrow."

"Hmm? Are you still going? I thought Minister Cui went to China to replace you so you could come back."

Upon hearing this, Song Yunxi frowned in confusion. "Did Minister Cui go to China? How long have you been there?"

Minister Cui was the person originally intended to be sent to China for the cooperation between ST Group and Platinum Hotel.

If Song Yoon-hee hadn't used leaving South Korea as a condition to exchange her identity as the representative of ST Group with Chairman Lee, the person sitting in the Platinum Hotel now would be Minister Choi.

“It’s been almost a month,” Pei Youna said. “However, very few people in the company know about this; it’s probably still under wraps. I only found out by chance that Minister Cui had gone to China in a discarded document.”

Song Yunxi turned to look at Mu Chen, who then put more food into her bowl.

Song Yunxi looked at Bae Yoo-na again and instructed her, "Don't tell anyone that I'm going back to Korea, and don't tell anyone that I know Minister Choi went to China."

Pei Youna nodded. "Okay."

Although Song Yunxi continued chatting with Pei Youna throughout dinner, she was rather absent-minded.

She couldn't understand what Minister Cui was doing in China for a month. He wasn't there to replace her, and no one had even told her that Minister Cui had gone to China.

Therefore, Minister Cui's visit was not due to the cooperation between ST Group and Platinum Hotels.

It wasn't for the partnership with Platinum Hotels...

Song Yunxi suddenly realized: Minister Cui went to China to cooperate with other hotels.

Minister Choi was the carefully selected South Korean representative to cooperate with Chinese hotels. He returned to China two months later, perhaps for the same purpose as before—to conduct cross-border cooperation with a certain five-star Chinese hotel.

Song Yunxi laughed self-deprecatingly. She thought she had gained leverage and could negotiate with Chairman Li. Little did she know, Chairman Li had already treated her as a pawn.

President Lee probably gave up on the cooperation with Platinum Hotels the moment she asked to go to China as the Korean representative.

Business is important, but compared to the sole heir of the ST Group, the partnership with Platinum Hotels is no longer a necessity. There are other partners besides Platinum Hotels.

But there is only one Li Shenghuan.

Agreeing to her request was merely a stopgap measure, intended only to use her to keep Li Shenghuan in check.

Once Lee Sung-hwan successfully marries the Jung family's daughter a year later, Chairman Lee will turn his attention back to dealing with Song Yoon-hee.