Chapter 18

Jiang Wei no longer understood why her life had turned out like this.
She raked her fingers through her hair in frustration, trying to piece together the bits and pieces from her fragmented dreams.
How did it end up like this? Ling Ze had lost his memory. Mu Yang… she hadn’t heard a single word about him in years; it was like he’d vanished. Wen Ji was her legitimate boyfriend now, completely different from the dream.
Right, she suddenly remembered. In her dream, that man’s fiancée had gone abroad to study art. He loved her but couldn’t have her, and Jiang Wei just happened to look exactly like that fiancée.
So of course. Ling Ze was basically trying to act out some over-the-top CEO dog-blood romance.
But his fiancée hadn’t gone abroad at all. The two of them even popped up in the papers from time to time, publicly showing off their love.
So why was he still here, pestering her?
Just as she was about to tear her hair out, a message popped up on her phone:
[Agree to be with me. I’ve already acquired Ximing. From now on, they’ll only serve Ling Group. If you want to go back, you can, any time.]
After sending that message, he waited almost half a month without getting a reply.
So he sent another one, a single, glaring question mark.
He’d been blocked.
Very good. Ling Ze’s patience ran out.
For days, he’d been weirdly neurotic, asking his assistant if his face was handsome, if women found him attractive, and if he would fall in love with himself if he were a woman.
Then he’d tacked on, “Even if you already had a boyfriend?”
Assistant Dong’s usually stone–cold mask cracked. After thinking a moment, he carefully said:
“Possibly… yes…”
He knew exactly what the boss was really asking: in other words, with a boyfriend that close to her, did he still have a chance at stealing Jiang Wei away?
“Possibly?”
Plainly, that answer did not satisfy Ling Ze.
Cold sweat broke out down Assistant Dong’s back, and he promptly betrayed his conscience. “Boss, you’re rich and handsome. I think any woman would know how to choose.”
He finally got the answer he wanted, but given the environment Ling Ze had grown up in, he’d long since learned that waiting only sped up failure and death.
“Junior Wen has been abroad for quite a few years now. I imagine he must be lonely.”
As his right hand, Assistant Dong immediately understood what his boss meant.
He’d send a few pretty girls to circle around that kid. Even if Wen Ji were a proper gentleman and kept his hands clean, there were always other ways to make him “cheat” first, then, when the time was right, the boss could swoop in and take advantage of the crack.
Of course he was always doing this kind of morally bankrupt thing.
On the other side of the ocean, Wen Ji…
“Hey there, handsome. Wanna get to know each other?”
A blonde, blue-eyed bombshell in a tank top and hot pants stepped into his path.
His ink-dark brows drew together just slightly.
The seventeenth one.
Scientists are sensitive to data. Since last month, up to now, this was already the seventeenth.
Ten were Asian, three were Latina, and ten were locals from M Country. Their heights, facial features, and styles of dress were all statistically distinct.
It felt very much like… someone was trying to seduce him.
An uneasy feeling crept up on him. But whether it was Weiwei, his studies, or the progress in the lab, nothing seemed off. Even Grandma Zhao’s condition was considered very stable, Professor Jason had said she could probably undergo surgery soon.
Those were the three things he cared about most.
“Weiwei, you’ve got mail.”
Another fruitless job hunt. Up until now, she’d thought all of this was Attorney Wu’s doing, but after that conversation with Ling Ze, she knew that the real person targeting her was Ling Ze.
Sitting in her chair, staring at the dwindling balance in her bank account, Jiang Wei picked up her phone… and put it down again.
Forget it.
Her roommate walked over holding a thick envelope.
Mail? Who would send her mail? In this day and age, who still wrote letters?
Jiang Wei was baffled, curiosity prickling.
She opened it and froze.
Impossible.
Wen Ji wasn’t that kind of person. She refused to believe it.
Her breathing went ragged, her pupils constricting. She dialed that familiar number with shaking fingers, only to hear no answer.
Why isn’t he picking up?
In the photos, a completely naked woman was wrapped around Wen Ji, blowing a kiss at the camera. She was voluptuous, sultry, every curve on display.
Jiang Wei didn’t believe it. He wasn’t that kind of man. But a small, cruel voice spoke up in the back of her mind.
And what makes you so sure he wouldn’t? You haven’t seen each other in a year. Are you planning to keep staring at each other across an ocean forever? He’s a man too.
It was like two little figures had appeared on her shoulders. One insisted it was impossible, that they’d known each other for eight years, that Wen Ji was a gentle, modest gentleman who would never betray her.
The other voice said, You know what men need: money, power, and women. He’s overseas now, how can you possibly guarantee he won’t cheat? There isn’t a cat in this world that doesn’t steal a bite of fish. And he didn’t even pick up your call.
Jiang Wei forced herself to calm down. Who even sent this? The third party, provoking her? But if it really was some other woman, how would she know Jiang Wei’s mailing address? Unless Wen Ji told her, which was even more impossible.
Cheating or not, Wen Ji had no reason to hand over her address.
But apart from a third party trying to taunt her, who else would do something like this? If the purpose was just to sabotage her and Wen Ji, it didn’t quite add up either.
That night she tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Her roommate woke up, annoyed. “Weiwei, what are you doing? Go to sleep.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t overthink it. He’s abroad. Things are so open over there. A one-night stand or something is normal.”
“Lulu, what are you saying.”
Li Xiaoxiao was awake too. Hearing Zhou Yunlu say that only made the knife twist deeper.
On the other side of the ocean, in a certain apartment.
Wen Ji woke up with a splitting headache. He clearly hadn’t had that much to drink.
“Morning, Wei Ji.”
The moment he opened his eyes, there was a naked woman lying right beside him. After a brief daze, his dark eyes went completely flat, a storm brewing beneath the surface. His voice went cold. “Lucy, why are you here?”
The woman lounged against the headboard in a sultry pose, long legs on full display, every inch of her an invitation.
“Everyone drank too much last night. You have to take responsibility for me~”
“A drunk man can’t even get it up. Get out.”
“Wei Ji, you’re so heartless. Last night you clearly, ”
If it had just been those random women earlier, Wen Ji might have chalked it up to a bizarre string of coincidences. But now that someone he knew was pulling the exact same move?
He could no longer ignore it.
He stepped out for a bit, then came back. Lucy immediately sashayed toward him.
A flash of white, an icy scalpel pressed against the side of her neck, so fast it was almost impossible to follow.
“Talk. Why?” His tone was clinical. “This behavior of yours is very strange. You don’t like me. You’ve never acted this way before.”
He was certain.
With the scalpel cold at her throat, Lucy flinched. Then she remembered, normally, Wen Ji seemed mild and gentle, especially when he was talking to his girlfriend. His voice would soften, three degrees warmer.
He just didn’t like dealing with people, that was all.
So she steeled herself. “Wei Ji, I like you, ah!”
Blood welled at her neck. Her face went chalk-white, but she didn’t dare move.
“You have thirty seconds left. You know I’m the best in the lab at disposing of bodies cleanly.”
He toyed with the scalpel, gaze icy. To him, she looked no different from a lab mouse on the operating table.
She didn’t dare gamble her life against the humanity of a high–IQ researcher.
Hands shaking, she confessed that someone had paid her to sleep with him.
Paid to sleep with him?
Wen Ji lowered the blade and told her to get out, mind already racing. Who would do something like that?
Just then, his phone rang. He glanced at the screen, there were five or six missed calls from Weiwei.
He picked up.
“Where were you last night? Why didn’t you answer my calls?”
Jiang Wei blurted out the question. After so many setbacks, her mental state had been stretched to breaking; she was on the verge of collapse.
“What’s wrong?”
If she was this agitated, something had definitely happened. Thinking back to what had just occurred, Wen Ji had a pretty good guess.
Someone was trying to drive a wedge between him and Weiwei.
“It’s nothing. Don’t you have anything you want to tell me?”
She was terrified, terrified of facing the possibility that she’d been betrayed.
On the other end, his voice came through soft and wounded. “I do. Something did happen. Weiwei, you don’t know, lately all kinds of women have been showing up around me. I don’t think they like me, not really. It feels like they have some purpose, and they’re approaching me on purpose. Last night, someone even tried to drug me. If I hadn’t been thinking about you, I might not have gotten through it.”
“Drugged!?”
Jiang Wei was stunned too. Was someone deliberately trying to sabotage them? But why, why would anyone care enough to target two nobodies like them?
“Are you okay? Actually… I got some photos yesterday…”
Suddenly she didn’t even know where to start.
“Were they bed photos? Of me and other women, Weiwei?”
He nailed it in one go, sounding almost aggrieved. Panic flooded Jiang Wei. How could she not trust him? Was their trust really that fragile?
She rushed to explain. “I’m sorry. When I saw those photos, my brain just froze. I’m sorry…”
“Is this the first time Weiwei’s ever shown she cares about me this much? I’m actually happy.” His tone brightened. “I always felt like I’d never really entered your heart. But this time… it tells me you really do care.”
His words brimmed with quiet joy, leaving Jiang Wei drowning in guilt.
Thinking of how she’d started the call, aggressive, accusatory, she wanted nothing more than to turn back time and slap that version of herself.
“Mamy, look, I really think Ling Ze is being bewitched by that woman. You don’t even need to hire a private investigator anymore; his chasing her is practically public knowledge now. Do you know what everyone said about me today?”
“They said I’m the official wife who hasn’t even entered the door yet, and the mistress’s child is almost born already! Ahhh!!”
Wang Zhi Ning stormed back from that evening’s reception. She barely waited for the maid to come help before flinging her bag onto the floor in a fit of rage.
Madam Wang hadn’t been idle these days either. Back when her daughter first showed her those photos, she’d already thought the girl looked like the child she’d once had. Then she investigated… and it turned out to be true.
She’d spent a long time thinking things over, but in the end, she didn’t regret a thing. She’d been sick to death of that slum life.
As for that child, well, mother and daughter simply hadn’t been fated. She’d already decided never to seek the girl out.
But now it seemed she had no choice.
She would never allow anyone to stand in Ningning’s way.