15
The person who arrived was Diệp Huy, the son of the Ye family’s housekeeper and the current CEO of Mộng Huyễn Group.
He stared coldly at Diệp Bảo Châu. “Can you go even one day without causing trouble? I let you join the group, not so you could pass yourself off as the heiress and throw your weight around!”
Everyone froze. The office atmosphere turned icy in an instant.
Bạch Dũng was the first to react. He edged toward the door, trembling as he spoke:
“M-Mr. Diệp, isn’t she our heiress? What do you… what do you mean?”
Diệp Huy shot him a cold glance. “Who told you she was a daughter of the Diệp family? She’s my adopted sister!”
Diệp Mộng Hoan and I exchanged a look. It seemed there was nothing left for us to do here.
We stood up and headed for the door.
The moment Diệp Huy saw Diệp Mộng Hoan, he dropped to his knees. “Miss, my sister offended you. I apologize on her behalf. I hope you’ll be magnanimous and let this go. Could you pretend none of this happened and spare her?”
Diệp Mộng Hoan nudged his knee with her foot. “Why are you kneeling? The Qing dynasty fell a long time ago.”
“I only have one question: why was my jade phoenix pendant with her?”
“Did you go into my room?”
Diệp Huy jerked his head up. First he stared at Diệp Mộng Hoan in shock, then his gaze fell on Diệp Bảo Châu, filled with disbelief. “Did you steal Miss’s jade phoenix pendant?”
Diệp Bảo Châu trembled all over and knelt in front of us too. “M-Miss, I… I…”
“No more ‘I.’ Give me back my jade phoenix pendant.”
She took out the jade phoenix pendant, and Diệp Mộng Hoan grabbed it and shoved it into my hand. “I don’t have a bag. Can you put it away for me? It was a gift from my old man, after all. If I lost it, he’d make a huge fuss.”
I stole a glance at her, then quietly put the jade phoenix pendant in my pocket.
“Diệp Huy, I don’t want to ask about the details. You and your sister should pack your things and leave the Ye family home—and Mộng Huyễn.”
“Oh, right. Phó Minh Châu, I think you’re pretty capable. This subsidiary is beneath your talents. Come work at Mộng Huyễn as CEO. You’ve done well here, so I’m sure you’ll do well there too.”
Some were happy, others devastated; the office was filled with crying.
Vương Minh Tân and Bạch Tuyết Anh were crying themselves hoarse. Bạch Dũng looked as if the sky had fallen. He raised his hand and slapped Bạch Tuyết Anh across the face:
“You bitch! You offended Miss, and now we’re all getting kicked out! I’ll fucking kill you!”
It was a chaotic mess. What a headache. There was nothing entertaining about this, so Diệp Mộng Hoan and I slipped away quietly.
16
After this incident, we realized that working a regular job just wasn’t for us.
Over late-night beer and barbecue, we got carried away and decided we’d open our own studio the next day.
We meant what we said. After sleeping on it, we got started.
Opening a studio was actually easy. As long as you had enough money, everything else was simple.
In just three short days, we had our studio up and running.
We hired people and conducted interviews. By the end of the day, we had almost all the staff we needed, and we could open the next day.
“Hoan Hoan, doesn’t this feel kind of unreal? Is opening a studio really this easy?”
“Yeah, it does seem pretty easy. It’s my first time doing this too, so I don’t really know.”
“How much money have we put into this?”
“Five hundred million? Or a billion? I forget. It’s fine—as long as we get it open.”
We talked as we got in the car, stopping for hot pot on the way. By the time we got home, it was already nine at night.
“Diệp Mộng Hoan, how many times have I called you? Why didn’t you answer?”
A voice suddenly rang out. We both looked over and saw a man standing in front of the house.
He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I’d seen him.
Diệp Mộng Hoan blinked, then suddenly rushed over. “Brother, what are you doing here?”
Diệp Thiếu Thành ruffled her hair, then suddenly looked straight at me.
He moved Diệp Mộng Hoan aside and walked up to me. “Hello, I’m Diệp Thiếu Thành.”
I stared at the hand extended toward me, momentarily stunned.
Diệp Mộng Hoan put her hands on her hips. “What are you doing, brother? Why so formal?”
Diệp Thiếu Thành ignored her and fixed his gaze on me. “Ôn Ninh?”
I hurriedly took his hand. “Hello, big brother.”
He didn’t seem to like the way I addressed him. “Just call me Thiếu Thành.”
I nodded. “Thiếu Thành.”
It was so stiff and awkward.
Diệp Mộng Hoan noticed too. She opened the door and pulled me inside first.
Diệp Thiếu Thành followed right behind us.
I always felt there was something off about the way he looked at me.
But whenever I tried to examine it more closely, his gaze seemed perfectly normal.
On the third day of his stay, Diệp Mộng Hoan was getting a little fed up. “Brother, how long are you planning to stay at my place?”
“Isn’t work keeping you busy in Beijing? How do you have so much time off?”
Diệp Thiếu Thành shot her a cold glance and scooped some vegetables out of the pot:
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. I’ve been transferred here from Beijing. I’ll probably be staying long-term from now on.”
17
He said he’d be staying long-term, and he really meant it.
A month later, Diệp Mộng Hoan and I went out, had a little to drink, and got so drunk we could barely think straight. In a haze, I called him.
He arrived in no time. He carried Diệp Mộng Hoan on his back and held me in his arms as he walked us out of the bar.
When we got home, I wriggled out of his arms and flopped onto the sofa.
He carried Diệp Mộng Hoan to her room, then carried me to mine.
But as he stood up, I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back.
I must have been drunk. The alcohol gave me courage, and I looked at him through bleary eyes. “Big brother, do you like me?”
His face turned red, and so did his ears. He murmured, “Mm-hmm.”
The next second, I leaned in and pressed my lips to his. Our lips met.
“Click.”
“Brother, why are you so shy? Did we really have to push you into admitting it?”
Diệp Mộng Hoan leaned against the doorway, grinning brightly.
Diệp Thiếu Thành’s face turned even redder. His usual composure gone, he looked at me in a panic. “You both knew?”
We nodded.
We’d known ever since he arrived. The way he looked at me really was unusual.
And then there was the way he’d saved my name in WeChat.
At first, I planned to wait for him to make the first move, but he was so tight-lipped—tighter-lipped than a gourd. So Diệp Mộng Hoan and I had to use a little trick to make him confess.
After that night, Diệp Thiếu Thành and I officially made our relationship official.
At our wedding, Diệp Mộng Hoan hugged me and cried with joy. “Sweetie, thank goodness I have a brother. Otherwise, if you married someone else, we wouldn’t be able to keep living together.”
I laughed and pinched her cheek. “If you didn’t have a brother, we could find a family with two brothers someday. Two best friends marrying into the same family—that could work, too.”
Diệp Thiếu Thành’s expression darkened as he pulled me close. “There’s no ‘if.’”
THE END