In the most bustling area of downtown Brunei, three buildings stand out because their facades are decorated with white painted panels, hence the locals call this landmark the "Little White Buildings".
The Little White Building is the headquarters of the Qiaojia Jinse Group.
Jinse Group is divided into two brands: Yajin and Yase.
Yajin is the group's flagship brand and a global luxury brand. Its products include women's clothing, handbags, and jewelry. Many celebrities and socialites are long-time fans of Yajin.
Nine years ago, Qiao Rukun, chairman of Jinse Group, passed away, and the group was taken over by his eldest son, Qiao Qingchuan.
Five years ago, after graduating, Qiao An, the youngest son of Jinse Group, also joined his family's company. However, surprisingly, Qiao An did not go directly to the headquarters, but instead went to a very peripheral department.
At that time, Jinse founded a sub-brand called Yase, and Qiao An was assigned to Yase as its general manager.
Although Ya Jin and Ya Se both belong to the Jinse Group, their statuses are vastly different, like one being born of the biological mother and the other being raised by a stepmother.
Yajin is an international luxury brand with a high-end image. Yase, on the other hand, can only be considered a high-end women's clothing brand, targeting the mass white-collar class.
The two brands are not in the same league at all. Moreover, Yajin has taken up the group's best design and marketing resources, while Yase's employees are mostly recent college graduates.
Since then, rumors have circulated that the Qiao brothers were at odds, and that Qiao Rukun's widow, Jin Xizhen, favored her eldest son. Some even went so far as to speculate that Qiao An was not Jin Xizhen's biological son.
These are all unfounded rumors without any evidence, and the parties involved have never publicly responded to this issue. Over time, no one has brought it up anymore.
But Qiao An seemed to accept this unfair treatment quite well. Although Ya Se was overshadowed by his older brother Ya Jin's halo and had no presence at all, he didn't seem to mind at all.
The rumors that Qiao An's second son was all looks and no substance, but was actually a good-natured playboy, grew increasingly rampant, and these rumors were further confirmed after Qiao An married Du Xiaoruo.
Marriages in wealthy families are mostly based on mutual benefit, just like when Qiao Qingchuan married the daughter of the Xia family, a jeweler, five years ago. This powerful alliance further boosted the scale and influence of Yajin.
However, Du Xiaoruo, whom Qiao An married, was the daughter of a small button factory owner. Not only could she not help Qiao An, but she also wanted to leech off the Qiao family. Compared with his older brother Qiao Qingchuan's business acumen, Qiao An was indeed very love-struck.
It's currently the finalization meeting for ASE's new autumn/winter collection. In the pure white meeting space, ASE's two designers are arguing fiercely.
"I advocate using orange-red and turquoise as the main colors. Both colors are very autumnal and wintery, and this bold color combination is a popular trend at this year's fashion week."
Another designer projected his design drafts onto the giant screen and also stood up.
“I disagree with you. Precisely because the trend at Fashion Week is color blocking, we should find a different path and create our own unique style.”
The two designers went back and forth, neither willing to back down, and in the end, unable to reach an agreement, they had no choice but to throw the problem back to Joanne.
"Mr. Qiao, what do you think?"
Joan wore a dark brown plaid handmade suit, the tailoring of which made him look tall and elegant. The pair of antique tourmaline cufflinks on the cuffs further highlighted his extraordinary status. Those in the know could immediately recognize that the cufflinks were antique jewelry worth 20 million US dollars at last year's London jewelry auction.
He clasped his hands together, rested his elbows on the conference table, and loosely rested his chin on his index finger, as if he were thinking about something.
He did not respond.
The assistant, sitting to the lower right, reminded him, "President Qiao, Young President Qiao?"
"Huh?" Qiao An finally snapped out of her daze. "What is it?"
The assistant glanced at the two designers, neither willing to concede to the other, and whispered, "Which of Otto and Yu Pan's design philosophies do you prefer?"
Joan lowered her thick eyelashes, as if she were really thinking.
After a long pause, he looked up and asked, "Assistant Kim, Otto, Yu Pan, what do you think... if a woman vomited just because she glanced at me, what would her mentality be?"
Assistant Kim, “…” I believe you are really thinking about the problem; I am the one with psychological issues.
Otto and Yu Pan looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Young Master Qiao..."
Otto is an Asian designer who recently returned to China after graduating from the United States. Although he always emphasizes that he is a genuine straight man, his nearly 1.9-meter height and his coquettish manner are truly chilling.
Joanne reached out, her long, slender index finger pointing at Otto's chest, her languid tone laced with a murderous intent.
"If you talk to me like that again, believe me, I'll have someone kill you."
“Hello…” Seeing Joanne’s emotionless eyes, Otto swallowed the word “bad” and adopted a businesslike tone.
"Then which option do you think is better?"
Qiao An withdrew her hand. "Neither of them is good. You should go back and think about it again."
"Oh, right." Just as Otto and the others got up to leave, Joan called out to them. He raised his hand and touched his earlobe, seemingly lost in thought.
"How about you try pearl elements?"
Otto stomped his feet and clapped his hands in praise, "Autumn and winter clothes tend to have more subdued colors, but adding pearl elements would make them stand out. Little Qiao, you're awesome!"
Joan gave him a look that said, "I'll kill you tomorrow."
Otto lowered his eyes and his voice instantly became calm, "Okay, Mr. Qiao, we'll give it a try."
Du Xiaoruo spent the whole day in her room watching "tutorials," until she felt dizzy, her eyes were blurry, and her back ached. But she finally figured out one thing.
Generally, female supporting characters who transmigrate into wealthy families either come with a system and are there to complete tasks, or they transmigrate to lie low, spend men's money, date, or become mothers without pain.
She didn't fit either of those categories, which made her even more confused.
After finishing the glacial water in the room, Du Xiaoruo didn't call the maid, but got up and went downstairs to get more water herself.
It was lunchtime, and the villa was quiet. She walked into the kitchen and immediately saw the baking ingredients that had been delivered that morning.
Du Xiaoruo stared at the familiar ingredients for a while, and then an idea came to her.
She took three sterile eggs from the refrigerator, strained out the yolks, added granulated sugar and stirred until smooth, then added milk in batches, and simmered the egg and milk mixture over low heat.
While Du Xiaoruo was whipping the matcha cream, the housekeeper heard a noise in the kitchen and came in to check.
"Madam," the butler exclaimed in surprise, "what do you need? I'll go and fetch someone right away."
The housekeeper looked flustered and sluggish, but Du Xiaoruo was even more flustered than him.
She was holding a blender, looking like she'd been caught doing something wrong.
"Um... excuse me, may I use the kitchen? I might need a little bit of matcha cream and powdered sugar."
The housekeeper was completely confused by her words.
"Madam, of course you can use the kitchen, and you can use whatever you want, but what do you need? I'll go call the chef over, so please don't hurt yourself."
"Thank you, I can manage on my own."
Du Xiaoruo pursed her lips awkwardly and lowered her head to continue whipping the cream in her hands.
But her movements became increasingly unnatural, and several times the whisk hit the edge of the stainless steel butter bowl with a screeching sound.
The butler seemed to have discovered something new and watched with great interest.
Under his gaze, Du Xiaoruo became increasingly unsure of what to do, and her movements became awkward and clumsy.
The housekeeper thought to himself that the lady was probably just playing around with some cream on a whim. Judging from her clumsy movements, she really seemed to have never been in the kitchen before.
Fortunately, the gardener had finished pruning the flowers and plants in the yard, and someone came to call the housekeeper to come out and inspect them.
After the housekeeper left, Du Xiaoruo breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly whipped the cream with agile movements, then mixed the matcha cream sauce with the previous egg and milk mixture and poured it into the mold to freeze.
By the time the housekeeper returned to the kitchen to watch the commotion, Du Xiaoruo had already cleaned up the kitchen and disappeared with two bottles of glacial water.
As expected, it was just a passing fad, the housekeeper thought. Even the housekeeper thought the clean and tidy kitchen was cleaned by the servants.
Four hours later, Du Xiaoruo sneaked back into the kitchen and brought out the frozen ice cream.
She found a crystal glass, scooped out two scoops of matcha ice cream, and garnished it with Oreo wafers and cherry jam.
Then put the matcha ice cream back in the refrigerator and place a note under the crystal glass that says "I'm sorry".
Although it was a bit childish, Du Xiaoruo felt she should apologize to Qiao Lele. She almost lost him yesterday and even caused him to be scolded by Qiao An.
As Du Xiaoruo walked out of the kitchen, she saw the housekeeper sunbathing in the garden. She originally wanted to ask the housekeeper to pass on a message to Qiao Lele.
But seeing that the other person was resting, he hesitated for a moment, then took out his phone and sent a message to Qiao Lele.
There's a gift for you in the fridge.
Qiao Lele was probably in class, so Du Xiaoruo didn't reply to the message. She went upstairs to continue looking at the "tutorial".
It was a very hot day. Qiao An spent the whole afternoon at the factory looking at fabrics. After finishing work, she drove straight home from the factory.
After washing his hands, he habitually went to the refrigerator to get some ice water to drink.
As soon as I opened the refrigerator door, I saw a pretty ice cream displayed in a very conspicuous spot.
Qiao An glanced at it, but didn't pay it any mind. He continued to bend down to get water, but at eye level, he saw a note under the ice cream.
He pulled out the paper and saw the words "I'm sorry" on it.
Qiao An recognizes Du Xiaoruo's handwriting; the two had previously signed a fake marriage agreement.
Is this an apology?
What happened yesterday?
Was that an apology for forgetting to pick up Qiao Lele, or for vomiting when he was seen yesterday?
He brought out the ice cream, took a spoonful of the smooth and creamy ice cream with a silver spoon, and popped it into his mouth. It tasted really good.
The housekeeper walked into the kitchen and saw the ice cream in Joan's hand. The chubby boy had a knowing look on his face.
"Mr. Qiao, this was made for you by your wife."
"You made it yourself?" Joan raised her eyebrows in surprise. The ice cream looked and tasted amazing; it didn't seem like something someone who never cooks would make.
"Really, she spent the whole afternoon fiddling with it. It must have been really tough on her. She even watched a tutorial this morning." But the housekeeper didn't elaborate on what the tutorial was.
Joan scooped up another large spoonful of ice cream and stuffed it into her mouth, gazing thoughtfully at the colorful ice cream in the crystal glass.
Qiao Lele turned on her phone after school and saw the text message from Du Xiaoruo. Although she didn't reply immediately, she was still in a good mood.
On the way home, Qiao Lele spent the whole car ride wondering what kind of gift it would be.
A limited edition Rubik's Cube? A haunted house ticket? Or an amusement park pass?
Back home, Qiao Lele rushed into the kitchen without even putting down her schoolbag, opened the refrigerator door, and frantically rummaged through it.
Finally, among a pile of ingredients, I found a strangely shaped pumpkin. After thinking about it, this was the only one that seemed like a gift. But why a pumpkin?
Qiao Lele scratched her fluffy head and carried the pumpkin back to her room.
He ran into the butler at the corner of the stairs, who quickly helped him with his schoolbag and casually asked, "Xiao Le, what are you doing carrying that pumpkin?"
Qiao Lele blinked. "Uncle Tang, what do you mean by giving someone a pumpkin as a gift?"
The butler stopped and thought for a moment, then answered with certainty, "It symbolizes the good fortune of having many children."
Qiao Lele, “…”
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