Font Size:
Through the cold barrel of the gun, Lin Keying’s eyelashes fluttered lightly. In her blurred vision, a tall man with broad shoulders appeared. Beneath his crisp black suit was a slightly loosened tie and a broad white shirt. As her gaze shifted, it met directly with the man’s indifferent eyes, their sharp and chiseled features perfectly complementing each other.
The sudden danger made her heart jolt, but it also made Lin Keying quickly analyze the situation.
The man was tall and handsome, exuding nobility. His clothes alone made it clear they were expensive, and his appearance here in the middle of the night clearly suggested he was the master of the house…
Lin Keying’s mind raced. Her cherry lips parted slightly as she tried to speak:
“Eldest Young Master?”
Her original body’s fiancé was born in mainland China and only came to Hong Kong with his family in his teens. If this was really him, he would surely understand her words.
Sure enough, the man’s gaze shifted slightly, scanning Lin Keying from head to toe, his eyes finally settling on her outdated floral dress that clearly didn’t match current Hong Kong fashion. He seemed to understand.
Before he could speak, the front door of the living room swung open. Aunt Hua and Uncle Zhong, who had woken up due to the commotion, entered and brightened upon seeing their Eldest Young Master.
“Young Master, you’re finally back! You haven’t eaten, right? I’ll make you some soup!”
“Miss Lin was brought here by Young Master Chen. He said that…” Uncle Zhong found it absurd but didn’t dare question it openly.
A hint of displeasure flashed across Cheng Wanting’s eyes and brows.
“That man, really…”
Without his consent, he had directly sent his child bride here.
Lin Keying couldn’t understand the conversation, but she could see Aunt Hua and Uncle Zhong’s loyalty to the man, which only confirmed her suspicions — she was right. This man was indeed the villa’s owner and her original body’s fiancé, the Eldest Young Master!
With this realization, her heart settled.
Cheng Wanting relaxed his grip on the gun slightly, though his eyes still scrutinized her coolly, his gaze sweeping over her delicate features.
Finally, he stared straight into her calm apricot-shaped eyes and asked in Cantonese,
“What did you just hear?”
Confusion rippled in Lin Keying’s eyes. Not understanding Cantonese at all, she replied again in Mandarin:
“Eldest Young Master, I don’t speak Cantonese.”
Cheng Wanting stared at her for a moment, seemingly assessing the truth of her words. After a pause, he decisively folded his hand and withdrew the gun before turning to leave.
++++
After a good night’s sleep, Lin Keying felt in high spirits, thinking that since her fiancé had shown up, the one million yuan compensation must be within reach.
She muttered to herself, “I wonder if they’ll give me the money today? Should I pretend to be a little reluctant when the time comes?”
The villa had become lively again with the return of its master. Aunt Hua was busy in the kitchen making soup, determined to nourish the Young Master properly. Uncle Zhong led the servants in meticulously tidying the spotless villa, ensuring everything was perfectly clean for their fastidious master.
While Lin Keying ate breakfast, her gaze frequently drifted to the study on the second floor. After gesturing and asking around, she learned that the Eldest Young Master had been busy in the study since early morning and hadn’t left. She pondered when she could speak with him about dissolving the engagement.
Downstairs, as Lin Keying was scheming, the two men in the second-floor study were also discussing her.
At the rosewood desk, Cheng Wanting casually tossed aside a dossier his secretary had compiled about Lin Keying’s past 20 years in mainland China and resumed his work, finally confirming the price of Kowloon Wharf stock.
After giving Secretary Yang a few instructions on tracking stocks, he called his uncle, Chen Guosheng.
Secretary Yang, listening to the call, recalled that the Chen family, textile tycoons, had arranged for Cheng family’s shipping company to transport 2,500 tons of clothing to Africa to open a market there. It had been a regular business transaction. Yet, after a brief exchange of pleasantries, Eldest Young Master suggested that Young Master Chen Songxian accompany the shipment to Africa.
Secretary Yang’s eyelid twitched. With just a few words, his master had effectively “exiled” Young Master Chen to Africa for a month.
“Young Master, knowing Chen’s temperament, if he really goes to Africa for a month to oversee the textile market, he’ll probably get sick from boredom.”
After hanging up, Cheng Wanting frowned slightly and said coldly,
“He’s got too many ideas of his own. Better to make him focus on proper business.”
Secretary Yang realized that this was clearly punishment for Chen taking it upon himself to send the child bride to the Mid-Levels villa.
He couldn’t help but click his tongue at Chen’s audacity.
Fortunately, the Young Master hadn’t lashed out and driven Miss Lin away. After all, anger aside, the matter still needed resolution. He wondered how devastated Chen would be once he learned of his month-long exile to Africa.
“Young Master, I confirmed with Uncle Zhong and Aunt Hua — Miss Lin has been well-behaved these few days and indeed doesn’t understand or speak Cantonese.”
Cheng Wanting didn’t even lift his head.
“Mm.”
“What do you plan to do about Miss Lin?” Secretary Yang asked again.
Having a woman suddenly living in the Mid-Levels villa — and a child bride at that — naturally needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later.
Cheng Wanting picked up a contract to read, unconcerned:
“After a month, send her back to the mainland. Have Chen Songxian pay her compensation out of his own pocket. But don’t tell him it’s settled until then.”
Secretary Yang understood. They were going to keep Chen anxious for a month.
This was the price of offending the Young Master!
With his master’s orders in hand, Secretary Yang went downstairs to meet the child bride.
Since Cheng Wanting’s mother was from the mainland, he spoke fluent Mandarin. Having worked with him for years, Secretary Yang could also manage with somewhat clumsy Mandarin.
He politely addressed Lin Keying:
“Miss Lin, you can stay here peacefully for now. As for the old engagement — that’s just a relic of feudal times. Young Master Chen won’t be able to fulfill it. But don’t worry — the engagement will be annulled, and you’ll receive HK$200,000 in compensation.”
Lin Keying’s heart leapt with excitement. She locked onto the key phrase:
It’s here, it’s finally here! The compensation is coming!
However, her face showed no joy — instead, she appeared slightly sad.
“I came all the way from the mainland to find my relatives… I want to stay in Hong Kong…”
Secretary Yang didn’t comment, simply following orders:
“Miss Lin, Hong Kong now values free love. How can feudal marriages bring happiness?”
Lin Keying pretended to be heartbroken and lamented a few words to Secretary Yang. Once he left, the smile she’d been suppressing finally emerged.
She remembered the novel’s plot. At first, the fiancé intended to dismiss the original Lin Keying with HK$200,000. But since the original was infatuated and clingy — speaking of love and even engaging in some physical contact — he eventually got so fed up that he repeatedly raised the compensation, ultimately handing over HK$1 million to sever the engagement decisively.
Lin Keying glanced up at the closed study door upstairs and resolved to follow the novel’s plot exactly.
—
Cheng Wanting stayed at the Mid-Levels villa only half a day. By afternoon, he left hurriedly with his secretary. Aunt Hua had made sure to have him drink a bowl of her long-simmered soup before letting him go, smiling brightly.
“You all drink the rest of the soup. No need to overwork yourselves in the villa,” Cheng Wanting told them. He usually lived at the Deep Water Bay villa with family and rarely visited this private estate.
A lot of soup remained, which — as usual — was consumed by the villa’s butler and servants.
Oh, and this time, Miss Lin too.
The pigeon soup with Chinese yam and poria had been simmered for hours, making it fragrant and delicious, nourishing the spleen and stomach.
Lin Keying had long heard of the fame of Cantonese soups and, after tasting a sip, could only marvel that the reputation was well-deserved.
Aunt Hua chatted rapidly with maid Amei. Though Lin Keying couldn’t understand, she vaguely caught words like “Young Master.” She gestured and pointed at the study from the morning, asking when the Young Master would return.
Aunt Hua understood. Though she didn’t know what relationship this girl had with Young Master Chen or why she’d been sent here, Secretary Yang had instructed them not to ask questions, so she dutifully explained:
“He’ll definitely be back in a few days.”
After all, every year on Madam’s death anniversary, the Young Master would leave Deep Water Bay and come alone to the Mid-Levels villa.
Knowing she’d see her fiancé in a few days, Lin Keying felt reassured. Since Secretary Yang hadn’t specified the exact date of the annulment, she wasn’t worried. After all — the compensation hadn’t increased yet!
Thinking of the one million she’d soon receive and the chance to overlook Hong Kong from above, she explained painstakingly to Uncle Zhong that she wanted to go out for a walk.
Since she’d come all this way, how could she not see the bustling Hong Kong of the 1980s?
Guests were guests, and the Young Master hadn’t ordered them to restrain Miss Lin. Uncle Zhong thoughtfully found her a map of Hong Kong and watched as her out-of-place figure disappeared along the tree-lined road from the Mid-Levels villa.
Hong Kong had rapidly risen in recent years and had already become one of the Four Asian Tigers — with skyscrapers everywhere and flourishing prosperity.
The Mid-Levels villa was on Hong Kong Island. After leaving, Lin Keying used a 50 HKD coin Uncle Zhong had given her to take a taxi.
The taxi dropped her off at Queen’s Road, costing her 12 HKD.
Though Hong Kong’s stock market had been hit hard by a crash seven years ago, it had slowly recovered. The Hang Seng Index was steadily climbing, and citizens’ dreams of wealth hadn’t dimmed.
Lin Keying weighed the remaining 38 HKD in her hand and decisively walked into the Far East Exchange.
As Hong Kong’s first Chinese-run stock exchange, the Far East Exchange was bustling. Not only did elites and officials frequent it, but countless housewives, security guards, and market vendors were equally enthusiastic about stocks.
The entire city was stock-crazed.
Although she planned to leave after receiving the compensation, Lin Keying still wanted to make a little money in the meantime.
After all, her original body only had a little over one yuan — and in RMB, useless here.
The exchange was as noisy as a marketplace, with countless retail investors confirming stock information with red-jacketed brokers, each inching closer to their dream of riches.
Since she didn’t have a Hong Kong ID, she couldn’t buy stocks herself. As she scouted around, she noticed a housewife hesitating in front of the blackboard displaying stock info, awkwardly asking other women about stock trends in broken Cantonese.
Clearly, many full-time housewives dreamed of stocks — but which one to follow was a dilemma.
Once the woman was alone and indecisive, Lin Keying approached and cautiously asked,
“Sis, are you from the mainland?”
From the few words she’d overheard, Lin Keying had already guessed 80–90%. The woman’s Cantonese was clearly learned later, with a heavy accent.
He Xiuyun, who had secretly crossed into Hong Kong twenty years ago, was startled but soon warmed to Lin Keying after chatting and bonding over popular Hong Kong TV dramas.
He Xiuyun and her husband were both illegal immigrants. They had only managed to settle into low-paying labor jobs. Later, her husband did hard labor, she ran a street stall selling desserts, and they squeezed into a tiny public housing unit, raising two children.
Now, with her daughter gravely ill and no money left to borrow, the couple had decided to take a gamble, clutching their last HK$500 to the stock market.
Lin Keying understood the desperation of people cornered into gambling. She turned to look at the blackboard’s stock info again.
She remembered her former boss lamenting that, back when he did business in Hong Kong, he regretted not buying Kowloon Wharf stock, which surged in early June.
Calculating the time and glancing at the board showing Kowloon Wharf stock at HK$10 per share, she made up her mind and handed over her 37 HKD:
“Sis He, buy Kowloon Wharf. I’ll pool my 37 dollars with yours.”
She left herself just one dollar for the bus.
If the villa weren’t so far away, she wouldn’t even have kept that.
He Xiuyun, cautious and nervous on her first stock purchase, wrestled mentally before finally agreeing:
“Alright!”
They confirmed the stock purchase with the broker and handed over the cash.
Meanwhile, in the VIP room on the second floor of the Far East Exchange, large shareholders were gathered.
In a closed room, Secretary Yang was reporting to Cheng Wanting:
“Young Master, one million shares of Kowloon Wharf stock have been quietly acquired.”
“Mm.” Cheng Wanting stood by the glass window, his gaze catching a glimpse of a familiar deep-blue floral figure in the distance. His eyes flickered.
“Liu Zhigao is about to make a move. Kowloon Wharf stock will soar soon.”
Although he planned to let Liu Zhigao and Jardine Matheson fight first, Cheng Wanting wasn’t going to sit idle — making an early profit was always good.
After parting ways with Sister He, Lin Keying, with only one HKD left, set off to find a bus stop. But amidst the bustling, car-filled streets of Central, luxury cars caught her eye.
What drew her attention even more was the tall man in a sharp suit getting into a car — who else could it be but her fiancé!
“Young Master!” Lin Keying called out joyfully, trotting over.
According to the plot, she needed to interact with her fiancé more, express her affection, and make him so annoyed he’d increase the compensation to HK$1 million.
But right now, she was even happier that she might have a ride — saving her that last dollar!