Beyond surprise, there was more of a sense of bewilderment.

Perhaps because there was no response, Chen An added, “I was passing by after returning to the company from Qirui.”

Qirui is a new energy vehicle company, with its production line located in Qingbei County, which is south-west of Heze. To get there, one must take the Sanrao Expressway and pass through Huaxing Trading.

Thinking back to the discussions at the class reunion about Chen An, people said that regardless of the size of domestic electric vehicle companies, everyone was desperately trying to sign contracts with him to use Chuangyuan’s batteries.

Ying Ni let out an “Oh,” and lazily grabbed the small round mirror that was stuck in the corner of the table.

Qiao Juan left, and the crowd gradually dispersed. Lightning tore through the dark sky, and thunder mixed with the lowered voices of the discussions. The surrounding air was noisy and suffocating.

She opened the mirror and lifted her hair. Her jaw, neck, and earlobe were marked with several bloody scratches, cruelly dug out by Qiao Juan, looking unbearable.

Ying Ni wiped away the blood with the pad of her finger and after a moment said, “I’m not at the company.”

A blatant lie.

Chen An did not question her but instead asked, “Where are you?”

He stopped his actions, and his brows furrowed. Ying Ni was already impatient: “I’m at the ends of the earth.”

Chen An was easygoing: “Alright, we’ll talk another day.”

Ying Ni snapped the mirror shut.

“But I’ll need to go to Qirui tomorrow, probably come back around this time.” He paused, “If you’re not at the ends of the earth… you can come get it then.”

Ying Ni: “…”

Chen An: “I’ll contact you then.”

Before she could respond, the stiff beeping sound cut through, leaving no room for rebuttal. Ying Ni listened for a second, then lowered the phone from her ear.

“Do you need to go to the infirmary?” Xiao Wen handed over a pack of tissues and gestured towards her face. Seeing Ying Ni ignore her, she retracted her hand, her face darkening. After standing beside her for seven or eight seconds, she hesitantly spoke, “You should apologize to Qiao Juan.”

Ying Ni turned her head to look at her, as if seeing a person with some problem.

Qiao Juan was a key account and had just been promoted to team leader. Anyone who crossed her would not end up well.

Xiao Wen was trying to help Ying Ni and pulled on her arm: “I’ll go with you.”

Ying Ni shrugged her off.

Xiao Wen lost her balance, staggering twice before bumping into the table, scattering papers and pens all over the place, making loud noises.

“What kind of person is she, always hitting others?”

“Xiao Wen, come over here. What’s there to say to her?”

“Yeah, she’s really got a problem!”

Ying Ni scanned the room with a fierce look in her eyes. The people who had called her crazy immediately lowered their heads and fell silent. They looked like they had seen the King of Hell.

People like this didn’t even provoke her competitive spirit; they were all talk, but their entire being was cowardly. Even worse than Qiao Juan.

Huaxing had its clock-out at six, and it was already past five now, so they were half an hour from finishing work.

Fearing any more quarrels or the possibility of losing control of her emotions and making a scene in the office, Ying Ni decided to grab her bag and leave.

There had been two thunderclaps earlier, and the rain began to fall lightly. When the elevator doors opened on the first floor, Ying Ni was still debating whether to go back and grab an umbrella.

On one hand, she didn’t want to get wet and catch a cold, spending money on seeing a doctor; on the other, she deeply resented returning to that suffocating, airless workstation.

Luckily, as she stepped out of the lobby, the puddles on the ground were small. The heavy dark clouds had cleared away a lot, and a faint orange light began to filter through the sky.

The rain had mostly passed, the temperature dropped a bit, and it wasn’t as stuffy.

Ying Ni retracted her gaze, lifted her bag over her head like a small umbrella, and started running toward the subway station.

But after a few steps, her foot caught sight of a black G-Wagon, blocking her path.

It was parked on the side of the road, under a tree that was trembling from the rain. It didn’t match at all with the dust-covered construction nets and the uneven, bumpy road from passing trucks on the other side of the street.

The rugged lines of the vehicle gave it the strong look of an off-road car. No matter where it was parked, it always looked like it was speeding across the vast African savannah.

Every time Ying Ni saw this model on the street, her gaze would always linger.

Besides being beautiful and grand, it reminded her of a sunny afternoon from many years ago.

…

Lin Rongyuan, who suffered from vertigo, had failed her driving test again. She spent the entire afternoon sulking, and Ying Ni, who had just returned from a trip to Japan and was resting at home, didn’t dare to speak, fearing she would be scolded.

When Ying Junyu came back from a business trip and saw the situation, he quietly asked Ying Ni what was wrong.

Ying Ni stuck out her tongue: “Failed the second part of the test.”

Ying Junyu: “How did you fail?”

Ying Ni laughed: “First time, I buckled the seatbelt on the passenger side, second time, I crashed into a tree on the S-curve.”

Ying Junyu frowned.

“Good thing I didn’t pass,” Ying Ni clicked her tongue. “Otherwise, your wife would’ve become a road killer.”

“Stop talking nonsense,” Ying Junyu shot her a glare. Both of them went downstairs to comfort Lin Rongyuan.

Lin Rongyuan was at the top of the family food chain, Ying Ni was second, and even the pet dog had higher status than Ying Junyu.

In the business world, Ying Junyu was eloquent, but when facing Lin Rongyuan, he was speechless. Ying Ni watched the drama unfold. Once Lin Rongyuan had vented, she was smiling again.

However, as they talked, she sighed, “We shouldn’t have bought that car. Even if we bought it, we can’t drive it.”

Ying Junyu comforted her, “We have a driver at home, and we can let Meimei drive it.”

Hearing this, Ying Ni turned her head with disdain: “I don’t want it. It’s so ugly.”

The red Cayenne.

Most people would find it good-looking, but Ying Ni thought it looked tacky.

“What car do you want then?” Ying Junyu remembered what his friend’s daughter had mentioned about her new car. Probably, young girls liked a few models: “911? Panamera?”

Even tackier.

Ying Ni put down her phone, her expression serious: “I want to drive a G-Wagon.”

“A girl driving a G-Wagon?” Ying Junyu laughed.

Ying Ni was defiant: “Why can’t I drive one?”

The neighbor had one parked in their yard, and Ying Ni often admired it from her bedroom balcony.

Big, tall, and so cool!

Ying Junyu: “That’s too much.”

“I don’t care. I just think it’s cool. The first car I want is a G-Wagon!” Ying Ni exclaimed.

“Alright, alright, for your birthday this year, I’ll buy you a G-Wagon.”

Ying Ni was looking forward to it, but her birthday hadn’t arrived yet. At that time, the company’s construction site in Huaixi had run into financial troubles, and Ying Junyu was so busy that he was running all over, trying to get funds transferred from other projects. Lin Rongyuan was also running around with him.

That year, Ying Ni spent her birthday alone, and the G-Wagon plan was temporarily shelved.

Her parents’ faces grew increasingly worried. She looked around the city, the suburbs, even the towns—every available piece of land was covered with high-rise buildings. She couldn’t help but ask, “Will all these houses even be sold? People can’t keep buying, right?”

Faced with her concern, Lin Rongyuan was also somewhat speechless: “The leadership has changed, and the payments are delayed, but your dad’s sorting out the paperwork. It’ll be fine once that’s done.”

At that time, Ying Ni was at the airport, about to board her flight to the UK.

Lin Rongyuan hugged her and smiled: “Don’t think too much. Take care of yourself. The land in Huaixi has natural hot springs, and your dad decided to dig it up and build a villa. When you come back, we can vacation there.”

Ying Ni nodded, smiling as she showed her two tiger teeth: “Then we’ll have the class reunion at the resort next year. I’ll treat everyone.”

Lin Rongyuan affectionately patted her head: “Okay, we’ll let Meimei invite anyone she wants.”

But little did they know, less than two years later, their hopeful plans burst like bubbles.

Ying Junyu had invested everything, a total of 280 million, and got nothing in return.

…

Her thoughts slowly returned.

Ying Ni blinked slowly, as if shaking off all the unpleasant memories. The rain had lessened again, soft and continuous. She lowered her hand, holding her bag, and walked ahead in the rain.

“Ying Ni.”

Someone called her, but when she turned around, there was no one in sight.

Only a fallen leaf was swept by the wind, floating down slowly.

“Here.”

Ying Ni turned toward the sound.

Their encounters always seemed to follow a pattern. It was always him inside the car, her outside.

Through the car window, they silently looked at each other.

Before she could even think about why Chen An hadn’t left yet, her subconscious steps led her toward the car.

Since he was still downstairs, she thought she would take the opportunity to grab the earring.

Just two steps away from the car, the door of the driver’s seat opened. Chen An held an umbrella with one hand, and with the other, he closed the car door. Ying Ni stopped in her tracks, watching his movements.

The rain alternated between heavy and light, making sharper sounds as it hit the ground.

Chen An walked over briskly. As the umbrella shielded her from the rain, the visibility suddenly dimmed. The fine rain ran down the umbrella frame, creating a sparse, foggy curtain of rain.

It felt like…

She had just detached herself from the muddled memories and now entered another space, isolated from the surrounding world.

Her gaze naturally fell on the back of his hand holding the umbrella, his wrist bone jutting out, and the veins subtly bulging.

“Why are you still here?”

Chen An: “Something urgent, needs immediate attention.”

The windows of the car had privacy film, and you could only see inside clearly when standing close.

The driver’s seat had been pushed far back, the backrest laid flat, and a laptop was casually placed on the armrest.