sincere
As she predicted, the wedding generated buzz and quickly boosted the brand's reputation. Landon, just as she had hoped, remained loyal to the company, captivated by the beautiful jewels. There was even a pleasant surprise: one of the girls' works caught Landon's eye, earning her a letter of recommendation and a year-long exchange program at a prestigious art academy in France.
Jiang Moyun vaguely remembered this girl. She often left work late and had bumped into her several times when leaving the company. The girl always carried a stack of papers, with faint pencil marks visible. After a while, Jiang Moyun even inquired whether her department bullied new employees. After receiving a negative answer, she didn't ask further; after all, it was someone else's privacy.
If Landon hadn't come to share with her so excitedly, she probably wouldn't have known any more.
I later learned that she studied jewelry design in college and initially planned to study and develop her career abroad; everything was ready. However, her family disagreed, feeling that her job was unstable and hoping she would get married and have children as soon as possible, becoming a gentle, virtuous, and modest young wife.
The disagreement naturally escalated into a major argument. Her family initially threatened to cut off her financial support, but the girl had saved some money during her university years through various scholarships and writing assignments, and insisted on leaving. When their first plan failed, her family devised another scheme: they hid her identification documents, causing her to miss her deadline.
Later, she completely broke with her family and came to work for Jiang's company. She wasn't even a main designer; she was just a low-level, inconspicuous worker, and nobody knew she had such a talent.
After thinking for a moment, Jiang Moyun had someone call her to his office.
"Mr. Jiang, you wanted to see me?"
She sized up the young girl in front of her. She wasn't tall, had a round face, and wore black-rimmed glasses that almost took up half of her face. She looked soft and delicate, like a fragile flower, but she was very poised and confident in her dealings with others, neither arrogant nor humble, though she seemed a little nervous.
She looked slightly puzzled, paused, and then asked, "Is it about the recommendation letter from Professor Landon?"
Jiang Moyun raised an eyebrow, not expecting her to be such a direct person. She decided to cut to the chase and get straight to the point. "Yes, what are your plans? You're going to stay for a whole year, and you're just auditing classes. Your job has just settled down, and I heard that HR is planning to give you a raise soon. Besides, it won't be easy to find someone to take over if you leave so soon."
She remained silent for several seconds, as if she had made up her mind. She raised her head and looked straight at Jiang Moyun. "I know, Mr. Jiang, that if I go, I will most likely lose this job, and I may not get anything in return. But... this has always been my dream, and I can't give it up." She briefly mentioned her regrettable past experience and said firmly, "I don't want to give up this opportunity."
His voice was firm and resolute, and his eyes burned with fierce passion. Indeed, one cannot judge a book by its cover; this was clearly a resilient tree, still short in stature, but its future abundance was already foreseeable.
She continued, "I'll stay for another two weeks, until the new person arrives and we've finished handing over the work..."
"Do you have enough money to go abroad?" Jiang Moyun interrupted her.
She paused slightly, then scratched her head awkwardly. "It's not quite enough, but I'll figure something out..."
“I can lend it to you,” Jiang Moyun winked playfully at her. “Study hard and make a name for yourself tomorrow, then you can consider it repayment. Of course, if you do well and are willing to come back as a designer, I would also welcome you.”
Seeing that she was still stunned, Jiang Moyun made a half-serious joke, "Don't come if you don't study well. I don't collect junk here."
"I will definitely work hard and live up to your expectations!" Her voice trembled with excitement.
Jiang Moyun stood up, walked around the table to her side, and gently patted her shoulder. "I believe in you because you are a brave child. It must have been tough before, but things will get better in the future."
The little girl sniffled a few times, replied "okay," and tears immediately streamed down her face.
Jiang Moyun simply hugged her gently and quickly let go, pointing to the inner room, "There's a rest room there where you can wash your face. I also have some tissues here. You can cry now if you want."
She remained silent for a long time before finally wiping away her tears and choking out a "thank you."
——
During this period, Lin Bairan was very busy every day.
Balancing wedding and work.
Jiang Moyun's earlier comment about him taking on two jobs was just a joke, but Lin Bairan secretly remembered it. He was indeed very talented in academic research, but he wasn't particularly attached to it. Otherwise, he wouldn't have rejected the research institute's offer after graduation and gone to work for Jiang Moyun's company. So, after his previous research project achieved a major breakthrough and passed the most crucial step, he began to study economics-related subjects.
On his way to the bookstore, he encountered a small vendor. He initially stopped out of curiosity to browse, but ended up buying five or six "masterpieces" on economics after the vendor's enthusiastic recommendation. According to the vendor, "These are our store's prized possessions!"
Lin Bairan had always been surrounded by very close-knit circles of friends. His parents were researchers themselves, rarely home, and when they did come back for a meal, there were always two strangers standing with them, and they usually left after a short while. However, Lin Bairan loved the gifts they brought each time they came back, and the rare moments of liveliness. Aside from his mother's big hugs that were so tight they made him a little breathless, and his father's rough stubble that often pricked his face, these were all harmless little things.
Lin Bairan cherishes these rare, yet enduring loves that exist solely for him.
And every time they come back, Grandma is very happy and will prepare a big table of delicious dishes.
Lin Bairan was also very happy and would pester his grandma to cook more of his favorite dishes—noodles with braised sauce, fermented bean curd, stewed cabbage… Usually, it was just him, his grandparents, and he rarely saw so many dishes, so as not to waste food. Just thinking about it made Lin Bairan feel like he could smell the aroma and his mouth watered.
"Grandma, can you make more of my favorite foods... Ouch!" Lin Bairan covered his forehead, acting out the scene in an exaggerated way, "You've hurt me! You've hurt me! Grandma, you're going to beat me into a fool!"
Grandma hadn't even put down the hand that had just flicked his forehead when she picked up a piece of freshly stir-fried meat, blew on it to cool it down, and stuffed it into his mouth.
Although Lin Bairan pretended to be in pain with his eyes tightly closed, he was actually secretly peeking through a crack. When he saw the meat coming, he couldn't care less about pretending to be in pain anymore and ate the meat that was put to his mouth with a "whoosh".
The aroma of meat filled my mouth, with a hint of spiciness, the sweetness of the sauce, and the refreshing scent of cucumber. My eyes narrowed into slits with satisfaction. If I had a tail, it would probably be wagging happily right now.
His raised hand had long since been lowered without him even realizing it, revealing a smooth forehead without a single red mark. Grandma knew he was mostly faking it, but she still looked him over carefully before letting out a sigh of relief and reaching out to tap his nose. "Is there anything you don't like to eat? You're so greedy; your drool is more than that of the little yellow dog by the door."
Lin Bairan's attention was immediately drawn. He turned his head to look at the door while asking curiously, "Who is Xiao Huang?" His thoughts raced. "Have there been any new neighbors recently? Grandma met people from other places when she went to the opera. Do they have a child named Xiao Huang? At the door? There's only..." He suddenly looked up and saw his grandmother trying her best to suppress her laughter.
The embarrassment and anger of being tricked surged up immediately. His cheeks flushed red, and he said angrily, "Grandma! You're the puppy, your whole family... no! Anyway, I'm not a puppy."
"Okay, okay, you're not a puppy..." Grandma laughed, casually picking out some words to appease him.
Lin Bairan was about to make a fuss again, but she was so charmed by the pea flour cake that her grandmother handed her that she forgot what had just happened and happily ate the cake.
He was a child who grew up in love, with a likable personality. He had excellent grades since childhood, skipped a grade, and was a few years younger than others. His teachers and classmates took good care of him, and his neighbors also liked him.
Scams, deceptions, and backstabbing? Lin Bairan certainly knew that the world wasn't entirely made up of good people, but those words weren't in his vocabulary.
...
"My books are only sold to those who are destined to read them," the shopkeeper said mysteriously.
So much so that Lin Bairan was only basking in the boss's praise of being "a destined person," oblivious to the possibility that "the boss was lying to you."
He had long forgotten about it.
While paying the bill, I noticed a book called "The Art of Negotiation" next to me. After thinking about it, I felt a surge of pride, believing this book would definitely help me achieve great things! I immediately waved my hand confidently, "I'll take this one too!"
"Alright, take care." The shopkeeper was beaming with joy as he saw him off with great courtesy.
Carrying a huge pile of books, Lin Bairan finally decided to take a taxi home. A few years ago, the taxis on the street were yellow, but recently they've all become red sedans.
He stood by the roadside, raised his hand, and casually hailed a car. Faint singing drifted out from the lowered car window; they were all currently popular songs.
Surprisingly, the driver didn't chat with the passengers, only engrossed in his singing. In the end, Lin Bairan was dropped off the bus by a deeply emotional question, "Why were you so foolish back then, wanting to marry him so wholeheartedly?" She paid the fare in a daze.
The lingering sound was truly unforgettable.
As the sun set, its afterglow swept across the land like an inextinguishable blaze. The red star above the Kremlin had gone out, but the Berlin Wall had already sounded the clarion call for freedom, and magnificent fireworks lit up the sky above Victoria Harbour.
In Los Angeles, hip-hop teenagers used rhythms to build the foundation of their street kingdom; Nirvana tore apart the emptiness of youth with their songs; Madonna's metallic bra reflected the base desires of the world for gold; and in the dilapidated speakers of Beijing's rock basement, "Nothing to My Name" was still screaming.
The old order has come to an end in this new era, burned to ashes by the twilight fire. People are still glued to their televisions, waiting for the "millipede's" doomsday declaration, but perhaps there's no need to worry, after all, reality may just be a dream with a string of green characters*.
This was the last twilight of the 20th century—1999.
However, there's no need to pay too much attention to these things; Lin Bairan only wants to occupy a tiny corner of the world with Jiang Moyun.
Lin Bairan returned home, eager to open the book, only to find some black marks on the back of his hand. He looked at them for a moment, puzzled, then suddenly realized something was wrong. Turning the book over, he saw that the price tags were indeed soaked with ink, revealing the writing underneath. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the "discounted price" given by the shopkeeper was actually 2 yuan higher than the original price—a clever reverse discount.
"Where's the destined person you promised? Liar!" He was secretly angry for a while, but still obediently picked up a tissue and wiped the ink off the back of the book little by little. He then casually stacked the books together and planned to stand up and wash his hands first.
As soon as she turned around, she was startled by Jiang Moyun behind her and fell back to the ground.
"When did you get here?" Lin Bairan's eyes widened, his face full of surprise.
"I've been watching you come in, you didn't see me yourself," Jiang Moyun said innocently, shrugging.
"What are you reading?" She glanced at the books on the floor, reading out the titles one by one, "The Wealth of Nations, An Principle of Population..." She looked through them one by one, recognizing them all as familiar names, and immediately understood Lin Bairan's purpose in buying them. Her gaze suddenly stopped when she saw the last book, "The Art of Negotiation... Hmm? You like this kind of inspirational stuff? I really didn't expect that." She had a mischievous thought in mind, and sure enough, she saw Lin Bairan's face turn bright red.
"Do you really want to learn these things?" She generously let him off the hook.
Lin Bairan nodded seriously.
He was still sitting on the ground, looking up at her, his round eyes suddenly sparkling.
Jiang Moyun rubbed his head. "Then I'll find someone to take you."
Lin Bairan smiled broadly at the warmth of the moment.
But the person who said those words ended up doing something cruel.
When Lin Bairan proposed going a step further and sharing the burden with her, Jiang Moyun remained silent for a long time. She even carefully considered the suggestion, and looking at Lin Bairan's outstanding achievements, she was almost ready to agree.
Suddenly realizing that although she was in a warm room, with the radiator diligently working by the wall, the blood in her body had turned cold in an instant. She still harbored expectations for dance, even though she had long since lost the right to dream.
Jiang Moyun despised her own shamelessness.
Calming down, Jiang Moyun suddenly realized that the power she had given Lin Bairan had unknowingly accumulated to such an extent that if it continued, it would begin to pose a substantial threat.
Deep down, she wanted to believe Lin Bairan, but she had no right to risk the company. This was a keepsake she had received from her loved ones, and her only way to atone was to fulfill their unfinished wishes.
But even that cannot erase her sins.
Jiang Moyun once thought that her life was set in stone, and Lin Bairan was an unexpected event that had never occurred in countless simulations.
She already knew that everything in this world came at a price, but she didn't know if she could afford the price required to possess Lin Bairan.
She was the shrewdest businesswoman, but even with her snobbishness, Jiang Moyun was initially only attracted to that little bit of genuine affection.
Lin Bairan said she didn't want anything, but the shareholders with their own agendas didn't care. As long as they found a loophole, they would do everything in their power to change the company's ownership, or at the very least, they would take a big bite out of her.
Many of them are merely disgusting termites on this behemoth, slowly devouring the very fabric of this building. If she were to relinquish power further, she would lose the ability to maintain stability in the face of these swarms of parasites, and all the hard work she has put into building over the years would be reduced to ashes.
They were all waiting to skin Jiang Moyun alive.
Lin Bairan's sincerity was undisguised, but sincerity is the hardest thing to gamble on in this world, and she couldn't take the risk.
So Jiang Moyun personally nurtured Lin Bairan's wings, only to break them little by little as they grew stronger. Logically, she should feel at ease, but she also felt some pain in her own body, and she felt... a little heartache.
The blankness on Lin Bairan's face transformed into a sharp knife, deftly piercing Jiang Moyun's rotting heart. The thin blood that flowed out as it stirred mixed with foul-smelling pus, flowing through her riddled limbs and bones, outlining her decaying and rotten body.
Outside the window, heavy snow fell in abundance, and the gray sky was devoid of any birds circling overhead.
She was suffering alongside Lin Bairan.
Jiang Moyun is the most hypocritical executioner in the world.
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