Chen Keqiao clearly had no good impression of Ye Wantang. She said flatly, "She has a terrible reputation. Spoiled and willful, doted on by the Ye family, with a domineering personality. Doing something so shameless was bad enough, but she even conspired with her lover to bring down the Huo family. Since their daughter's conduct was improper, the Ye family had no way to explain themselves to the Huo family, so they had to give up the shares they were fighting over."
"..."
"Not long after, the Ye family was defeated by several competitors. The Ye family went bankrupt overnight. Old Master Ye couldn't take the blow and jumped to his death. Ye Wantang begged the Huo family for help, but she didn't think about what she had done—why would they still want her? So, with her bad character, she went mad and tried to kill Huo Jinyan. Madam Huo rushed in and took a knife for him, but she didn't die."
"..." An Ruo frowned. "What happened next?"
Song Weiwei sat quietly nearby, her expression indifferent, listening as Chen Keqiao recounted these dusty past events.
"She still thought she was the noble Miss Ye. Killing someone naturally comes with consequences. Even though it was attempted murder, the evidence of premeditated murder was confirmed. Later, the police locked her up." Chen Keqiao thought carefully. "I heard she went to prison, but the news didn't say how many years."
An Ruo sighed softly. She hadn't expected the past of these four great families to be so tragic.
As a listener, she didn't know who to feel sorry for.
"What about the Mu family?"
Song Weiwei suddenly clenched her fists, her deep eyes barely restraining her emotions as she forced herself to stay calm.
"Nine years ago, the Mu family was wiped out—over a dozen people died in a fire. It shocked every corner of Shencheng at the time. But we were too young then; I only heard about it from others." Chen Keqiao couldn't help but sigh heavily, her tone regretful. "The Mu family was once the most prestigious pharmaceutical factory in all of Asia. What a pity—in one night, everything was gone."
An Ruo nodded lightly, her eyes also full of regret.
A whole family—over a dozen people, plus servants and bodyguards, at least a thousand—all dead in that fire. What a waste!
It seemed that being born into a wealthy family wasn't happiness. Take the Shen family, the head of the four great families—they looked glorious on the outside, but internal strife was especially severe.
And...
An Ruo bit her lip. Shen Xiaoxing, as a junior and an illegitimate son, had suffered so much just to survive, having to tread carefully every step of the way.
"I suspect Old Master Mu offended someone. Otherwise, how could such a big family all die in one night?" Chen Keqiao said firmly. "He must have offended someone he shouldn't have. In the business world, everyone cares about interests. Look at any entrepreneur—are their hands clean..."
"Impossible." Song Weiwei couldn't help but speak up, her calm face devoid of any smile. "Old Master Mu loved doing charity in his lifetime. The Mu family had been in pharmaceuticals for generations, saving so many people when the virus spread across the country. Who could he have offended?"
"Not necessarily. Even if Old Master Mu didn't offend anyone, you can't guarantee that those petty people whose interests were affected wouldn't harm him."
Song Weiwei's eyes were resolute. "He was framed by someone!"
Her strong stance made An Ruo and Chen Keqiao curious.
"You seem... to know a lot about the Mu family."
Song Weiwei's clenched hands suddenly relaxed. She curled her lips into a slow smile. "The news of the Mu family's incident was huge at the time. I just read about it and found it interesting..."
The two girls didn't suspect anything. After all, who would think that the Mu mansion, which they said had no survivors overnight, still had a living person—and that person was sitting right next to them!
"In short, the Mu and Ye families have faded away over the years, almost never mentioned. The current four great families are thriving, and people quickly forget those sensational big news stories."
Song Weiwei pursed her lips and said nothing. The other two continued discussing something, but she had no heart to listen anymore and found an excuse to leave.
...
After seeing Chen Keqiao off, An Ruo returned to the villa feeling light and carefree.
Butler Xu greeted her as usual, asking if she was tired from work, if she was thirsty, and instructing the servants to wash some fruit for her.
Now that Shen Xiaoxing doted on her immensely, any servant working in the villa could see it if they had eyes.
And with her around, Shen Xiaoxing's temper was much better than before. Some servants who had been afraid of him were grateful for An Ruo's arrival.
The villa's rules were now very relaxed. As long as it wasn't a major issue of principle, with the young mistress putting in a good word, the young master basically didn't interfere.
An Che was busy with his studies. Hearing from the servants that he was doing practice problems, An Ruo didn't disturb him and went straight upstairs.
She tiptoed to the study door. The man had a habit of not locking it, but she always knocked before entering before. It was just because she was new and afraid of upsetting Shen Xiaoxing, so she politely knocked every time she came in, though she rarely entered the study.
Inside the study, the man was in a video conference. The girl crept in slowly, saw him hunched over the desk doing something, and suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck from behind.
"Hey!"
Getting closer, she realized he was in a video conference. On the screen sat two rows of employees in uniform suits, with one standing in front presenting project data. They all froze like a paused video, staring blankly at her!
An Ruo was startled and immediately jumped off the man's back, slapping her face in annoyance. How embarrassing!
The man's expression didn't change. He said in a deep voice, "Let's end the meeting here. Chen Yan, send the results to my email later."
The assistant named Chen Yan responded, "Yes, Mr. Shen."
Snap, the man mercilessly closed the laptop.
An Ruo wanted to leave, but he hooked her slender waist and pulled her into his arms.
His voice was low and magnetic: "Mrs. Shen, that's not very ethical. Planning to tease me and then run?"
"Aren't you busy? I won't disturb you..."
That moment was awkward enough. She leaned against his chest, not daring to look up.
"Waiting for Mrs. Shen to get off work was too boring. I had nothing to do, so I called a quick meeting. Now that my soft wife is back, who wants to stare at a bunch of old men on a computer?"
He really knew how to flirt. Every time, he teased her like a child. There were no sweet, tender words, but he had a way of making her blush.
His long fingers combed through her high ponytail. Suddenly, his eyes darkened, and he pulled off the hair tie holding her hair.
The girl's ink-black hair cascaded down, spreading over her shoulders...
His eyes shook violently.
"What are you doing?" An Ruo tried to grab the hair tie from his hand.
The man smirked and dodged, slipping it onto his wrist instead. "Don't move. This looks best."
With her hair tied up, she looked youthful and vibrant, full of the flavor of youth. With it down, she was both charming and pure, stirring his heart and slowly filling his eyes with desire...
But then he thought about how she had worked all day and must be tired now. He couldn't bear to exhaust her further.
His distinct, bony fingers threaded through her hair, his voice low and husky: "Did anything interesting happen on set today?"
An Ruo was in a good mood and told him about the amusing things she'd encountered on set. Even the most ordinary, boring details, he listened to with great interest.
[Suddenly realized I used the wrong name earlier. The assistant by Mr. Shen's side is called Chen Yan. Sob sob, I kept typing Yunli. I'm dead! Yunli: Are you treating me like your twin?!]