Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Autumn Wind propped herself up and slowly approached the table, where there was a candle that was about to go out.
The candle was embedded in a half-eaten cake. Was today some important day? No wonder Liu Jian kept insisting she come home!
Autumn Wind quickly checked her notebook but found no records related to today. She breathed a sigh of relief; it was probably just a candlelight dinner arranged by Liu Jian, she thought to herself.
Under the light, Liu Jian's face was as charming as ever.
But Jolie's enchanting face floated back into her mind, starting to overlap with Liu Jian's face, eventually merging completely.
(She would never know that Liu Jian had actually planned his first proposal that night.)
When Liu Jian woke up, he did not overly blame Autumn Wind for coming home late. His tone remained gentle, but his eyes clearly reflected a hint of regret.
Autumn Wind should have felt guilty, but thinking of Jolie's comments about "childhood sweethearts" and "social status," along with her evaluation of Liu Jian's skills, made Autumn Wind feel a wave of nausea.
The more she tried to be warm towards Liu Jian, the stronger this feeling became, eventually evolving into an uncontrollable agitation every time she saw Liu Jian's body.
She convinced herself that this was a sign of caring for Liu Jian, so she worked hard to forget about Jolie.
Fortunately, in the following time, Autumn Wind's life was extremely peaceful, and the factors that could unsettle her never appeared again.
Autumn Wind was glad her self-hypnosis skills were top-notch; slowly, she really began to forget about Jolie's existence.
Unbeknownst to her, two weeks passed quickly.
However, the calmness in life eluded her. Just as Autumn Wind hurriedly drove the carriage forward, another character made an appearance.
The arrival of this character marked the beginning of all the ensuing turmoil.
He is Zhou Ringuo, the former boss of Autumn Wind.
Logically, Qiu Ruolan and Qiu Feng's new show shouldn't require a musician like Zhou Ringuo as a Special Guest. Liu Qingyuan, for some unknown reason, invited him to be a Special Guest to discuss the topic of "Who has more energy, the Big-Eyed Beauty or the Eye Beauty."
Since learning that Zhou Ringuo would participate in the recording, Autumn Wind had been fixated on the schedule. She even decided to take a day off when Zhou Ringuo was scheduled to record.
However, Autumn Wind did not expect that Zhou Ringuo's recording time would be moved up, and he unexpectedly appeared right in front of her.
Coincidentally, Qiu Feng had another recording, so the recording time here had to be delayed. When Zhou Ringuo pushed open the Dressing Room door, Autumn Wind was frantically on the phone, urging Qiu Feng to hurry over. At that moment, Qiu Ruolan happened to be changing clothes in the dressing room.
In the large Dressing Room, only Autumn Wind was present, staring at Zhou Ringuo's face. Autumn Wind guessed he probably didn't expect to see her here either.
Zhou Ringuo's slightly parted lips and flushed face completely betrayed his nervousness.
"What are you doing here?" he asked Autumn Wind in an exaggerated tone.
"Why can't I be here?" Autumn Wind nearly jumped out of her chair. The makeup mirror across from her reflected her panicked movements. "I'm obviously here for work!" She quickly shoved her phone into her pocket and continued responding.
Zhou Ringuo soon regained his composure. Once calm, he immediately adopted a smug and lewd expression. "Isn't this Qiu Ruolan's Dressing Room? Are you now her assistant? Is this your new job? Where is she?"
Autumn Wind rolled her eyes and remained silent, turning her chair to face away from him. However, he stubbornly walked around to stand in front of her with his arms crossed, wearing an irritating expression. "Is she not coming for the recording today? Has she not arrived yet?"
Zhou Ringuo blinked his eyes with a calculating look on his face—truly a nauseating sight. If this were an extremely secluded place, Autumn Wind would surely grab a stick and hit him on the head, then break it and forcefully shove it into his mouth, spit on it a couple of times, laugh heartily, and walk away.
Autumn Wind huffed through her nostrils and turned her chair back to face away from him.
Seeing that Autumn Wind was unwilling to engage with him, he shrugged helplessly. "It seems I'm not very popular!" With that, he turned around and pulled open the Dressing Room door, but just as he opened it, he stopped in his tracks.
He was deep in thought when suddenly he let out a loud laugh, "Ha ha..."
Autumn Wind was startled by the loud laughter and asked sharply, "What are you laughing at?"
"What am I laughing at... I just thought of something really funny!" Zhou Ringuo gently closed the door to the Dressing Room, turned around, and walked over to Autumn Wind.
"Aren't you curious about what I thought of?" He flashed a bright smile, showing his white teeth.
"Why should I be curious about your thoughts... Sorry, I'm not interested... If you have nothing else to do, please leave!" Autumn Wind replied rudely.
"Come on, we've worked together before. Hey, I don't want to waste time either; let's make a deal!" He squinted slightly and smiled, completely ignoring Autumn Wind's cold and expressionless face.
"A deal? What kind of deal? What could I possibly trade with you?" Hearing Zhou Ringuo say this made Autumn Wind feel a twinge of unease. Could it be related to what happened in Hangzhou?
"Of course we can make a deal. Autumn Wind, you're a straightforward person. I won't beat around the bush. Recently, my marriage has hit a snag, but I'm innocent. You know what happened in Hangzhou, but that woman insists that I have a mistress on the mainland. Can you help me prove otherwise?"
Zhou Ringuo deliberately spoke in a pitiful tone, yet despite his feigned humility, his cunning nature couldn't be concealed. Clearly, he was trying to manipulate me! Autumn Wind thought.
After pausing for a moment and scratching his head, Zhou Ringuo continued with a half-smile, "You know all about what happened in Hangzhou, and I know about your situation over there... This is a fair trade, isn't it?"
These words felt like a heavy stone pressing down on Autumn Wind's heart; his calm demeanor began to unravel. Autumn Wind glanced nervously at Zhou Ringuo, then quickly cast a sideways glance at the dressing room. Fortunately, Qiu Ruolan inside was silent and made no sound. She turned her face away and whispered, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't know? Let me tell you... You need to go back to Taipei directly; you wouldn't know anything about this... But I heard that after you left Hangzhou, you went straight to Jinan... You must have heard about that sensational news? Hey..." Zhou Ringuo took out his phone and began tapping on it. "Let me see if I still have those photos."
"What exactly do you want?!" Autumn Wind stood up from the chair and reached out to try to snatch Zhou Ringuo's phone, but he easily dodged.
A wave of panic washed over Autumn Wind, surging from his chest like crashing waves. He heard the sound of the dressing room door being pushed open but did not see Qiu Ruolan come out.
Autumn Wind immediately realized that Qiu Ruolan must have already changed her clothes and was now pressed against the door, listening to the conversation between Autumn Wind and Zhou Ringuo.
Autumn Wind thought this because eavesdropping was something Qiu Ruolan always enjoyed.
After Autumn Wind and Grandma moved back to Taipei from Pingtung, Qiu Ruolan installed telephones in every room. Whenever a classmate called, just as they were having a great conversation, they could hear another extension being picked up cautiously.
Before entering the entertainment industry, Qiu Ruolan worked as a gossip reporter for a while; she knew how to avoid reporters and how to get the information she wanted.
Of course, this had once been a source of family fun.
But at this moment, Autumn Wind was extremely afraid. If Qiu Ruolan in the fitting room was discovered by Zhou Ringuo, it would lead to an awkward scene that required holding one’s breath.
“I don’t want to do anything; I just want you to be my witness…” Zhou Ringuo put his phone back in his pocket and continued staring at Autumn Wind’s face.
In fact, at this moment, Zhou Ringuo did not appear as confident as he seemed. The idea of Shaolan taking nude photos of Autumn Wind was indeed his idea, but he had only heard it from Shaolan. Apart from those photos and videos released by Shaolan, he had never seen any others.
Looking at Zhou Ringuo’s increasingly arrogant face, Autumn Wind felt furious. She bit her lip and lightly scanned the changing room before choosing to leave the Dressing Room. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about!” she said as she walked toward the door of the Dressing Room.
However, Zhou Ringuo stepped in front of her first, saying, “Don’t go… Let me finish my words… Come on. Autumn Wind! Sit down!” He grabbed Autumn Wind’s arm and pulled her toward the makeup mirror.
His grip was strong, and he quickly seized Autumn Wind’s arm. Despite her efforts to pull back, her body obediently followed him to the vanity and he pressed her down onto a stool.
Zhou Ringuo leaned his face close to Autumn Wind, gently touching her face.
Disgusted, Autumn Wind turned her head away. Seeing that she was clearly rejecting him, Zhou Ringuo coldly retracted his previously feigned smile and continued unfriendly: “Since you’re being so uncooperative, I’ll make it brief. You know Shaolan, right? You know what she has… Just help me out as a witness, and I’ll get all the images and videos from her!”
Shaolan? A sharp pain struck Autumn Wind’s head like a heavy stick; her ears buzzed, and sparks began to flicker in front of her eyes. The photos she had seen online flashed before her like slides, but apart from feeling dazed, she couldn’t describe any other state.
Zhou Ringuo continued, "About the photo, your boyfriend doesn't know yet, right... What a talented young man he is, a lawyer, right... This is my number; call me when you've thought it over!" Zhou Ringuo pressed his business card onto the table in front of Autumn Wind.
His voice was light, as if coming from a very distant place, yet it still sounded sinister and malevolent.
"Since Qiu Ruolan hasn't arrived yet, I'll take my leave!" He gently patted Autumn Wind's shoulder and turned to walk toward the door.
Zhou Ringuo did not use much force, but Autumn Wind suddenly collapsed onto the ground, her legs feeling weak and powerless.
Sitting on the floor, Autumn Wind was flooded with memories of a dream she had countless times before—Liu Jian's desperate eyes and his retreating figure abandoning her. Then there were countless red fish like the "Little Mermaid" siblings appearing, waving flags and shouting: "Shaolan, Shaolan!"
Autumn Wind propped herself up on the stool, trying to stand, but her lower body felt as if it had been injected with lead weights, and her waist seemed to be numbed by some anesthetic, leaving her unable to exert any strength.
Autumn Wind completely broke down. She crossed her arms on the makeup stool, tears flowing out like a faucet that hadn't been turned off properly.
Suddenly feeling someone touch her, she raised her head warily. A pair of hands appeared in front of her, gesturing to help her up.
Slowly shifting her gaze, Autumn Wind finally recognized the face of the person—one she was most unwilling yet desperate to meet.
Comment 0 Comment Count