Chapter 23

Shang Mingbao found the mole on her right ear, just below the rim, on the back side, small and light—darker than an eyebrow pencil mark but lighter than an eyeliner mark. She had Sophie hold a large mirror behind her to use the reflected image to locate it.

Even Sophie was surprised: “I didn’t realize there was a mole here. I’ve never noticed it before.”

Shang Mingbao brushed her hair behind her ear: “I hadn’t noticed either.”

Sophie put down the mirror and laughed: “Who pays that much attention?”

This close perspective immediately reminded her of Zhong Ping, who had caused Shang Mingbao several months of distress. Her expression changed: “Miss, are you thinking about that Zhong again? Or has he come to find you?”

Strangely, the name Zhong Ping felt like it hadn’t been on Shang Mingbao’s mind for a long time. Upon hearing it now, she looked puzzled for a moment before responding: “No, of course not.”

“Why not?” Sophie asked as she put the mirror away, still speaking in a concerned tone: “You were lost in thought all the time not long ago, unable to do anything. It’s not possible to move on that quickly. If you could get over it so soon, why did you suffer all of autumn?”

But after saying this, Sophie genuinely wondered. To her, Shang Mingbao seemed to have recovered overnight, and transformed into a completely new, cheerful person.

The past seemed to have been erased by something wonderful.

As Shang Mingbao left the closet, she gently but firmly reminded Sophie: “Don’t mention him again, especially not in front of guests I bring.”

“Especially?” Sophie asked.

Shang Mingbao hesitated: “Especially in front of guests I bring.”

Sophie laughed off her concern, thinking it was unnecessary. She wouldn’t say something so out of line.

—

The next day in New York was a typical overcast day.

Liao Yunuo, who had partied until after four in the morning, didn’t go home and knocked on Shang Mingbao’s apartment door. Sophie had the maid prepare a simple breakfast for her and helped her get a shower before letting her go find Shang Mingbao.

By mid-morning, Liao Yunuo was in high spirits and asked about her progress with Xiang Feiran.

“What progress?”

“Your progress with your ‘brother’ Xiang Feiran.”

“You know it’s ‘brother’ and still ask?”

Liao Yunuo, kneeling on the bed, laughed so hard her shoulders shook: “I didn’t know your ‘brother’ was really your ‘brother.’”

Shang Mingbao, having been teased so early, kicked her lightly. Liao Yunuo fell back onto the bed, picked up her phone decorated with dangling crystals, and asked, “So what’s on your agenda today? Are you going to Soho with me?”

“Later, I’ll be setting up a stall on 95th Street. I’m meeting Xiang Feiran at 3 PM.”

Liao Yunuo was taken aback: “A stall? Are you serious?”

Shang Mingbao nodded: “Yes, I’ve already completed the paperwork and permits.”

There’s a weekend market near 95th Street where she had arranged for a stall, having had Sophie check and apply for it in advance.

Liao Yunuo’s eyes widened: “What? What are you selling?”

“Jewelry and clothes.”

Liao Yunuo stared at her for a while, realizing she wasn’t joking: “Shang Mingbao, don’t tell me you’re taking your top-notch jewelry to a stall for people to pick through. Do you know that Christie’s will come out and accuse you of disturbing the market?”

“No, I just got some goods from Yiwu.”

Liao Yuno: “Holy shit! Are you merchants going bankrupt? How do you even know about Yiwu?!”

Shang Mingbao also didn’t know how to explain it to her.

Because the family was incredibly wealthy, the master’s statement that she had “a lot of gold but with setbacks in her fate” seemed especially serious.

The master also said that her money was not grounded and that she needed to handle more small changes, like a few cents or a few dollars, to stabilize her airy and golden destiny.

The master is indeed a high-level person. Other wealthy and famous individuals might have to wait for his mood if they want him to read their fortune, so even if what he says seems absurd or ridiculous, Wen Youyi takes it seriously and thinks it through.

Moreover, after sorting through the whole situation, Wen Youyi believes that this issue is not harmful to Shang Mingbao. She does spend money like flowing water, over a million a month without blinking, so adjusting such an indifferent attitude towards worldly suffering should be beneficial to her in the future.

Shang Mingbao only realized Wen Youyi was serious after all her credit and debit cards were suspended. With only 150,000 yuan a month to manage, she struggles to cover expenses for food, clothing, entertainment, and social interactions.

Fortunately, when she played the spoiled daughter card with her father a few days ago, he relented. He said if she could earn a few dollars on her own, he would multiply it by a hundred and give it to her—provided it was done secretly and without Wen Youyi knowing.

Shang Mingbao calculated that if she could earn a thousand dollars over a weekend, she could offset it to a hundred thousand yuan. Why hesitate? After a brief chat with some mainland Chinese students she knew, she quickly had Sophie set up a trading platform to discuss foreign trade.

Liao Yunuo, after hearing this, was amazed: “Block him, immediately block this master. Absolutely cannot let my mom get in touch with him!”

But she quickly smiled self-deprecatingly: “Forget it, she’ll only use him to predict her luck for the second half of the year, not mine.”

Brunch was ready, and they moved to the dining room.

Liao Yunuo had a bright idea: “Wait, how about I buy out all your goods? You set any price, and I’ll act as a sucker. Whatever amount you have, I’ll go all in. Then you can take the bill to bet with your dad,” she snapped her fingers, “bingo! I don’t need much, just one percent is fine. What do you think?”

Sophie, always wary of Liao Yunuo, quickly interrupted when she heard her talking nonsense.

After brunch, Shang Mingbao quickly applied some makeup, threw on a pair of yoga pants and a corduroy jacket, and haphazardly tied up her hair in a messy bun. She asked Liao Yunuo, “Are you coming?”

Liao Yunuo replied, “I’ll take a share.”

“Share, share, share.”

Downstairs, the driver had arrived, and Sophie had already had the workers load today’s goods into the trunk.

Liao Yunuo covered her mouth and exclaimed, “Oh my God, look at our three million Bentley, it’s filled with goods worth three hundred dollars!”

Shang Mingbao: “……”

Unable to tolerate it, she kicked her.

Upon arriving at the destination, she quickly pulled out various permits, tax certificates, and payment QR codes she had printed in advance. She then opened the acrylic storage boxes, setting up the beautiful jewelry display stands and plates. Afterward, she shouted at Liao Yunuo, who was busy recording, “Stop dawdling, hang up the clothes.”

Liao Yunuo was genuinely impressed: “How did you manage this?”

For someone used to these tasks or for an ordinary person, it might be straightforward, but for Shang Mingbao, it was probably as challenging as getting a beggar to correctly eat a Michelin 13-course meal at a dining table.

Shang Mingbao had also done a lot of unnecessary work and had Sophie’s help—Sophie was versatile.

Thus, she modestly said, “Just trying it out, no big deal if it goes wrong.”

She had chosen the goods according to her own preferences: colorful bead necklaces, stylish young girls’ dresses, and some matching clay dolls. The entire stall had a very cute, girlish style.

“What about the pricing?” Liao Yunuo asked.

The cost price of the clothes was only 20 RMB, which converted to less than 4 dollars. Shang Mingbao uncertainly suggested, “Five dollars?”

Liao Yunuo was ruthless: “Fifty!”

The stall was now open.

It turned out that sometimes, even when everything is prepared, things can still falter at the first step, such as attracting customers passing by the stall.

Shang Mingbao tried to attract customers with a voice softer than a mosquito’s, only Liao Yunuo could hear her.

She nudged Liao Yunuo’s arm: “You do it.”

Liao Yunuo also couldn’t take that step: “I’m not betting with my dad, so I’m not going.”

When a customer asked how much for the dress, Shang Mingbao timidly extended one hand: “……”

Customer: “Fifty?”

Shang Mingbao: “F, five……”

The customer quickly picked five items and paid via QR code. Shang Mingbao calculated on her calculator and realized she had lost: “Forgot to include tax and stall fees.”

Liao Yunuo: “……I told you it was fifty! Fifty!”

“That’s really unfair!” Shang Mingbao snapped.

“The cost of the jewelry you bought for fifty million is only five million! Not even!” Liao Yunuo was even more agitated.

When Xiang Feiran passed by with a bag of medicine and a sandwich, he saw the two of them sulking in a corner, ignoring each other.

He initially thought he must have seen wrong because Shang Mingbao didn’t seem like someone who would be involved with the average 20-dollar weekend market. The reason he came by was because he had some specimens stored at a nearby shop, and they had contacted him recently about a pine cone that had fallen off, hoping he could come by to handle it.

Xiang Feiran stood opposite her stall for quite some time, but Shang Mingbao didn’t notice.

In the past two hours, her payment QR code had been scanned infrequently, while her social QR code had been scanned over a hundred times.

This area is near Columbia University, housing many international students, especially Asians. Although Columbia is not short of beautiful women, and Shang Mingbao was dressed messily today, her red lips and white teeth were strikingly fresh and prominent, like snow in early spring.

Shang Mingbao had long been annoyed by the harassment. Initially, she greeted people warmly, but later realized that rather than buying pretty bead necklaces, these people were more likely to be interested in used protein powder and dumbbells in the second-hand groups… A waste of her time!

Therefore, when another pair of clearly male legs stood in front of her, she couldn’t be bothered to respond, keeping her head down.

Xiang Feiran crouched down. Due to his illness, his skin, bathed in sunlight, appeared quite pale, in sharp contrast to the black mask he wore.

He spoke, his voice a bit huskier than usual, “Lost, helping a friend, or social practice?”

Shang Mingbao froze, suddenly looking up and falling into his dark, mocking gaze.

Under his thin eyelids, his eyes were as dark as stars.

Seeing she was still dazed, Xiang Feiran had to pull down a bit of his mask: “Don’t recognize me?”

Liao Yunuo reacted faster, dashing over and spreading her arms in a showy manner: “Mr. Xiang?”

Xiang Feiran corrected her with a serious tone: “Just call me Feiran.”

“Oh…” Liao Yunuo pronounced carefully, “Fei-ran. Do you remember my name is Yunuo? Last time I forgot to tell you, you can call me ‘cheese,’ like in cheesecake.”

She was doing it on purpose, since Shang Mingbao was sulking and ignoring her.

Shang Mingbao was even more annoyed and stood up abruptly—her legs were too numb, and she cried out in pain, supported by Xiang Feiran.

Liao Yunuo blinked: “See, she doesn’t want me to call you Feiran, so how about adding (brother)? Feiran Brother?”

Xiang Feiran’s expression remained unchanged, and his tone was steady: “Nice to meet you.”

At the adjacent food cart selling fresh juice, he used the excuse of buying drinks for them and left calmly.

Shang Mingbao pinched Liao Yunuo’s arm: “Don’t treat him like that!”

When Xiang Feiran returned, the two had reconciled, and Liao Yunuo pushed Shang Mingbao toward him: “You two go shopping; I’ll watch over this.”

Xiang Feiran then handed over the juice.

The market was not large but had a decent flow of people. The management pre-screens the goods and categories of each stall, making it quite interesting. It was sunny in the afternoon, unlike the gloomy morning, and local residents had come out for walks and dog walks.

Shang Mingbao played with a Border Collie that had been bothering her. As she stood up, she adjusted her messy bun: “I rushed out this morning…”

She regretted wearing yoga pants; that brown corduroy jacket required makeup to look good, and today she had hardly applied any makeup, perhaps appearing rather dull.

Xiang Feiran handed the juice back to her: “So, you mean, I’ll see you in different clothes in the afternoon?”

Shang Mingbao retorted, “Of course, I’m polite.”

Finding a stone step to sit on and sunbathe, Xiang Feiran handed her a sandwich: “I guessed you hadn’t eaten.”

“Aren’t you also not eating?” Shang Mingbao couldn’t bring herself to take the lunch of someone who was ill.

Xiang Feiran’s gaze showed no sign of lying: “I’ve eaten; this is for my roommate.”

Shang Mingbao took it, unwrapping it. The smell of tuna, cucumber, and mustard was appetizing—although she had never eaten this kind of takeout food before.

Before taking the first bite, she stopped and said, “You, turn around.”

“What?”

“It’s too big; it’s not nice to eat in front of you.” Shang Mingbao said seriously, her ears reddening.

Xiang Feiran: “……Not really.”

“Turn, around.” She said coldly.

Xiang Feiran had no choice but to stand up: “I’ll go buy a coffee.”

Shang Mingbao watched him actually walk over to a coffee cart, then turned around to sit with her back to him, and ate earnestly.

Xiang Feiran specifically told the barista: “You can take your time.”

The barista, an enthusiastic Latin American, chatted with him while preparing the coffee: “Your girlfriend is really beautiful; she looks so young. Is she an adult?”

Xiang Feiran’s lips curled slightly under his mask, and he only answered the latter question: “Nineteen.”

The conversation inevitably shifted to “Do you Easterners have a potion for immortality?”

He deliberately delayed returning until Shang Mingbao had finished the sandwich, wiped her mouth, and reapplied her lipstick.

“Can we have coffee now?” He handed her a latte and asked pointedly.

Shang Mingbao nodded: “I can drink it after the surgery. Although the doctor mentioned there is a risk of recurrence, it hasn’t happened so far.”

Radiofrequency ablation is not 100% effective; many patients experience a recurrence after the procedure and need a second one, which increases the risk.

They both tacitly avoided mentioning artificial respiration.

“Feiran, how did you happen to be here?”

Xiang Feiran explained that he lived on 96th Street and that a store selling his specimen paintings was nearby. The place was not far, so Shang Mingbao followed him through the streets. The market’s noise faded, and the surroundings quieted as they finally stopped in front of a furniture store piled with various cabinets and lamps from the entrance.

The owner, a tall, thin white man, called Xiang Feiran “Felix,” and said he had already put the damaged specimen on the workbench.

Seeing Shang Mingbao, he couldn’t resist a tease: “You’re Felix’s girlfriend? You have great taste—both of you.”

Xiang Feiran walked through the dimly lit, narrow store, not responding, so Shang Mingbao awkwardly said: “No, actually I am… excuse me.”

She bit her lip and followed Xiang Feiran closely, feeling frustrated for not having time to explain.

In the back workspace, there was an upright workbench, cluttered with signs of frequent repairs. Xiang Feiran removed the glass frame and used a small dust brush to clean the debris from the fallen pine cone.

It was a three-dimensional decorative painting combining a picture and objects. The background was a detailed botanical scientific illustration, and on top were fixed plant fruits, leaves, and branches that had been treated with glue.

The room was quiet, only the sound of the brush brushing was heard. The lighting was dim, with only the desk lamp in front of the workbench illuminating Xiang Feiran’s lowered, focused eyes.

After a while, Xiang Feiran told her, “I’m about to apply glue; it has a bad smell. You should wait outside.”

Shang Mingbao sat backward on a chair: “No if I go out, he’ll just make fun of me again.”

Xiang Feiran put down the brush, inspecting the painting while not looking up: “You can explain it to him. Although being my girlfriend might get you a bit of preferential treatment.”

“What kind of preferential treatment?”

“For example, a special cocktail with a long-aged vintage. He used to be a famous bartender and won an international gold medal,” Xiang Feiran said nonchalantly.

Shang Mingbao’s heart skipped a beat, half-biting her lip: “Really? What if he sees through it?”

Xiang Feiran looked up at her, a smile playing at his lips: “We’ll talk about it when he sees through it.”

He put on gloves, plugged in the glue gun, and while waiting for it to heat up said, “Alright, off you go, Miss Becca.”

Shang Mingbao hated that he was teasing her again at this moment. With a huff, she lifted the curtain and went outside.

There were no customers in the store; the owner was indeed drinking alone behind the counter. Behind him, on the shelves, were dozens of bottles and variously shaped glasses.

Before Shang Mingbao could say anything, the owner burst out laughing: “I guessed Felix must have told you that if you were his girlfriend, I’d make you one of my classic creations.”

Shang Mingbao, quick-witted, said: “He said you’re impressive, but I don’t believe it. Do you have proof?”

The owner introduced himself and suggested she Google it, “By the way, this drink called ‘Fangdi’ was once auctioned for three thousand dollars a glass.”

Shang Mingbao said “Wow,” not touching her phone, tilting her head, and asking: “Then do I have the luck to taste it?”

The owner laughed more: “No because you’re definitely not his girlfriend. You’re just a little sister trying to scam a drink.”

Shang Mingbao’s eyes flashed, and she calmly responded: “How do you know?”

“Because he definitely wouldn’t like your type. You’re too little girl. I think a man like Felix would prefer more glamorous and sexy women,” the owner said with assurance.

He used the word “definitely.”

If it was a joke before, after this statement, Shang Mingbao was really working hard to manage her expression, trying not to let her smile look awkward.

“Well…” She couldn’t find the words and curled her fingers inside her sleeves.

“Who says she’s definitely not my girlfriend?” Xiang Feiran pulled aside the curtain and came out, wrapping his arm around Shang Mingbao’s neck and holding her closely in a very intimate manner, whispering near her ear: “Don’t be nervous, I won’t touch you.”

His mask had somehow slipped to his chin, and his lips inevitably brushed against Shang Mingbao’s ear, causing an uncontrollable blush.

Under the amused gaze of the owner, he gave a meaningful look:

“And I definitely like her type.”

He used the word “definitely” again.

The owner was convinced. Rolling his eyes and laughing, he raised his hands in surrender, grumbling as he went to make the cocktail.

Shang Mingbao stood beside Xiang Feiran, her heart still racing, and gave herself a silent count of five seconds. After five seconds, her heartbeat had not slowed down. Amidst the thunderous beating in her chest, she let herself indulge and placed her hand into his palm.

“Brother Feiran, don’t you mind acting a bit more convincingly?”