Weiran Flower Shop

The afternoon sunlight shines through the large glass windows of Weiran Flower Shop, dividing the interior into geometric shapes of light and dark.

Tiny dust particles floated in the air, dancing slowly in the beam of light.

Chu Wei was bending over to sort out a bucket of newly arrived violets, carefully trimming off the excess leaves. Her fingers were stained with some plant juice, and her fingertips were faintly green.

Someone pushed the door open and entered, and the lingering sound of the copper bell echoed softly in the quiet flower shop.

She straightened up, her customary business-like smile on her face, and said in a gentle voice, "Hello, what flowers would you like to see?"

When her eyes fell on the guest who came in, her smile froze for a moment, then became brighter, as if she had adjusted the focus: "The flowers just arrived this morning, they are very fresh." As she spoke, she wiped her hands inconspicuously with her apron.

The woman who came in didn't respond immediately, as if she hadn't heard her greeting.

She paced slowly in the flower shop, her high heels making a light and regular sound on the old but clean wooden floor.

The woman's eyes casually swept across the rows of blooming flowers, passing by the plump sunflowers, the delicate red roses... and finally stopped in front of a tube of white lilies that were about to bloom.

She stretched out her well-maintained fingers, picked up a lily, lowered her head and sniffed it.

Chu Wei took this opportunity to look at the other person carefully.

The woman had carefully groomed long black wavy hair, which was abundant and shiny. The curl of each strand of hair seemed to have been precisely calculated, falling perfectly on her shoulders.

She wore a rich ivory cashmere coat, tailored to her figure, the fabric looking soft and expensive.

She wore an orange Hermès scarf around her neck, which stood out against her plain coat, like a bonfire suddenly lit in the snow.

A dark chocolate brown H-buckle leather belt was tied around her waist, and black stockings tightly wrapped around her slender calves, which were immersed in a pair of black suede short boots made of material that looked very expensive. The metal buckles on the boots shone with a cold and hard light.

Even though Chu Wei didn't know much about luxury goods, he could recognize that the orange shiny crocodile leather handbag that the other person casually placed on an empty flower stand next to him was the Hermès Kelly that often appeared in magazines.

That seemingly simple outfit, from the hair to the heels, reveals its meticulousness and expensiveness, silently but clearly telling of the owner's strong financial resources.

Is it necessary to dress like you're going to the grand finale of Paris Fashion Week just to buy a bouquet of flowers? Chu Wei muttered to herself, this whole posture is as if he wants to kill her with money.

Silence permeated the flower shop, with only the occasional faint sound of cars passing by on the road outside the door.

"What is your relationship with Zhou Jianxing?"

The silence was suddenly broken by these words.

Wen Lingyi was so direct that it was almost rude. She had originally rehearsed a more roundabout and respectable way of testing the waters, but her eagerness and impatience made her feel that there was no need to waste time on such a tactic.

Zhou Jianxing? Chu Wei frowned and stopped pruning the branches.

Her attention finally shifted from the other person's eye-catching brand name clothes to the person himself. People always respect the clothes first and then the person, and she was no exception.

She is about 1.75 meters tall, with a slender figure but still feminine charm, long hair, and impeccable makeup. She exudes the aura of a mature woman wrapped in money and good upbringing.

In a flash, Chu Wei suddenly understood. This was the person.

The rich lady who played with Zhou Jianxing and then dumped him.

To be fair, this face is indeed beautiful and her figure is well managed. From a purely visual perspective, her little star is not at a disadvantage.

It's a pity that such a superior appearance given by God hides an ugly heart that doesn't match it.

"Are you here to buy flowers, or...?" Chu Wei felt a slight disdain and vigilance in his heart, but the smile on his face remained.

When she opens a business, she meets all kinds of customers. She still has this basic professional quality and superficial skills.

"I can give you some money." Wen Lingyi's perfectly curved eyebrows showed a slight wrinkle. She felt a little impatient with the current situation that required bargaining and was not straightforward. She omitted all the preparations and said, "Leave Zhou Jianxing."

"Yo huh?" Chu Wei almost burst out laughing, but luckily he covered it up with a cough.

What is this? A real-life version of the domineering CEO literary plot?

Why didn't she just pull out a check with the numbers filled in from that expensive Kelly bag and slap it on her wooden workbench covered in dirt and water stains?

To be honest, there was a moment when Chu Wei was even a little curious about what price the other party could offer without hesitation.

"Are you Lingyi?"

On the night when Zhou Jianxing was drunk and broke down crying, these two words were the ones he kept repeating over and over again. Occasionally, he would cry out the three words "Sister Wen" vaguely, feeling aggrieved and dependent, with a heavy voice.

The woman in front of him, although her dress and temperament tried hard to be mature and steady, but looking closely at the details between her eyebrows and the condition of her skin, she should be a few years younger than him. Chu Wei couldn't bring herself to call her "sister", which was a shame.

"How much do you think Zhou Jianxing is worth?" Chu Wei was a little amused, so he simply went along with the other party's words, acting as if he could really sit down and negotiate the price.

She wanted to see with her own eyes how much Zhou Jianxing was worth in this woman's heart.

Wen Lingyi was a little surprised when her name was called out so naturally by this strange woman who was obviously hostile and scrutinizing. In addition to disgust, she was also a little surprised.

But she quickly concealed her emotions and spoke calmly, even adopting a business-like tone: "As long as I can bear it, it's fine. However."

She paused and added, "You need to sign a formal agreement, one that's legally binding. If you violate the agreement and contact her privately again, the transaction will be automatically void and the payment will be fully refunded."

She knew that she couldn't be the first to reveal her cards at the negotiation table. Even though she was a love-brained person, she wasn't that stupid.

"Five million?" Chu Wei deliberately quoted a figure that seemed astronomical to her, testing the other party's reaction with a playful attitude.

"Sure." Wen Lingyi's expression remained unchanged, even her eyelashes didn't tremble, and she answered without any hesitation, as straightforwardly as if she had only asked for five hundred yuan.

Oh no! Chu Wei suddenly beat his chest and stamped his feet, secretly cursing himself for being too narrow-minded and asking too conservative a price.

If she had known that Zhou Jianxing was so valuable in the heart of this beautiful but ruthless rich woman, she would have had the courage to ask for tens of millions of dollars.

What a mistake! What a mistake!

"You think too much." Chu Wei raised the corner of his lips.

Although at that moment Chu Wei really wanted to pretend to be Zhou Jianxing's current girlfriend and then extort a lot of money from this unscrupulous rich woman, her reason and bottom line told her that fraud was an illegal act, and she could only quickly satisfy her desire in her mind.

Her tone returned to seriousness. "She and I are just ordinary friends. Besides," she emphasized, looking at Wen Lingyi calmly, "I'm not interested in women."

After saying this, Chu Wei clearly saw the man's expression relax a little, his facial features immediately stretching out, the corners of his eyes raised into a crease that seemed about to fly, like a hibernating snake suddenly twitching its tail under its skin. The coldness floating in his pupils dissipated, revealing a spring of water that could draw people in.

So beautiful... When Lian Chuwei himself said, "I'm not interested in women," he inexplicably felt a sense of guilt.

"I'm sorry, my attitude just now wasn't very nice." Wen Lingyi restrained her previous arrogant demeanor and softened her tone a little. "I want to ask," she chose her words carefully, her voice tense, "is she...dating someone now?"

What did this mean? After hurting someone so badly, he was unhappy and wanted to go back to her? Chu Wei's anger suddenly flared up again.

"This doesn't seem to be any of your business."

Chu Wei remembered Zhou Jianxing's tears during those dark days, her rapidly losing weight, her cheeks and chin almost without flesh, and the way she often stared at the air, silent as a sculpture.

The anger that had been suppressed for so long suddenly surged up, and his tone became hard: "Since you chose to break up and completely cut off contact, please have mercy on her and let her go now."

Wen Lingyi had no heart at all to hurt Zhou Jianxing so badly.

"Do you know how much pain she's been going through during this time?" Zhou Jianxing didn't betray Wen Lingyi, but he didn't expect her to come to him on her own accord. Chu Wei finally had an outlet for his pent-up anger. "You're not worthy of her at all. Not worthy of her kindness, and certainly not worthy of the suffering she's endured."

To outsiders, Zhou Jianxing may just be an ordinary, even somewhat inconspicuous maintenance technician, who wears oil-stained work clothes every day, runs around every corner of the city, doing inconspicuous work.

But in the eyes of these friends who know each other well, Zhou Jianxing is their most precious sister, a star that still shines even when covered in dust, a little sun that can dispel the haze, and the person they want to do their best to protect.

During the most difficult period when this flower shop was first starting out, Zhou Jianxing used his break time after work to help with the plumbing and electrical wiring, and the installation and maintenance of various equipment.

Even when she was in financial difficulty, he did not hesitate to use his meager savings to support her.

If it weren't for Zhou Jianxing, this Weiran Flower Shop would never have survived until today.

Seeing Zhou Jianxing in pain, she couldn't remain indifferent, nor could she stand idly by.

Last time, she failed to notice in time and stopped Zhou Jianxing from rushing into the wrong relationship, leaving her with a bloody head and a broken heart. This time, she will never give anyone the chance to hurt her again.

Chu Wei's words made Wen Lingyi feel a little breathless, and her fingertips felt slightly cold.

But the selfishness and possessiveness in human nature ultimately overwhelmed the guilt and reflection that had just emerged.

Even though she knew in her heart how deeply she had hurt that pure and clear-minded person, she still didn't want to let go so easily. She didn't want to watch Zhou Jianxing completely leave her life and run towards another unknown embrace.

"I'm sorry," Wen Lingyi rarely bowed her head to apologize to others in her life, but at this moment she still apologized to this strange woman whom she met for the first time and whose name she didn't even know.

"I was... I saw her going to a jewelry store with a man and picking out a ring, and I thought..." she tried to explain.

Chu Wei instantly understood the crux of the misunderstanding. She almost rudely interrupted Wen Lingyi, her tone filled with incredible sarcasm: "What do you think? What's the point of your mouth? Can't you just speak directly and ask Zhou Jianxing clearly?"

She remembered Zhou Jianxing's excited look when she said she would help choose a wedding ring, and she felt that the woman in front of her was ridiculous and pathetic.

"She hasn't done anything to wrong you," Chu Wei sneered. "It's you who never truly, wholeheartedly trusted her from the very beginning! Your love for her is only this deep!"

"So, people like you," Chu Wei said, looking Wen Lingyi up and down without any hesitation, "are like rats in the gutter, with heads full of selfish, dark calculations and speculations. They will die the moment they see pure, unreserved light."

Despite being scolded so harshly and mercilessly, Wen Lingyi did not say a word to defend herself.

Only the corners of her eyes drooped a third, like a flower on a branch overwhelmed by its weight. Her eyelashes cast a fine shadow on her eyelids, like sparse sunlight filtering through a bamboo curtain.

"You're right," Wen Lingyi said calmly, "but I really like her, and I haven't had a good time these past few months."

"Like her?" Chu Wei glanced at her mockingly. "So your love means you want to give up on her as soon as you encounter problems?"

"Not having a good life? Judging from you, you seem to be doing very well!" Chu Wei's eyes wandered over Wen Lingyi.

She is so glamorous, how can she not be living a good life?

Wen Lingyi felt ashamed. In order to give this "rival in love" a warning today, she had indeed spent a long time dressing up carefully.

"You're already married, so take care of your family." Seeing Wen Lingyi remained silent, Chu Wei grew more courageous. "If you want to have fun with someone, to seek some excitement, find someone else. There are many people like you in this world."

"Zhou Jianxing is not suitable for you, and she can't afford to play games like yours."

"I'm serious about her." Wen Lingyi only left this sentence before leaving.