Long Jinjing excused herself from the party, whispering to her sister and friends that she needed to go to the women’s powder room. But the truth was that she desperately needed some time alone to make sense of everything that just happened.
Although she was a daughter of Long Tengfei, President-CEO of Long Industries, she never considered herself as someone more special or of higher status than anyone. She was just Long Jinjing, child of Sun Jingfei, owner of a small bookstore.
She wasn’t a celebrity like her sister Xiulan, nor the heir apparent like her eldest brother Hui, or even a competitive high achiever like her second brother Jian. She only studied hard because she wanted to make her mother proud and to show her father that she appreciated him paying for her expensive education. That was it.
A simple, peaceful life with her mother…then someday with her own family of a gentle, loving husband and their cute children. That was what she always wanted.
But before she knew it, she and her best friend Chen Fei declined her father’s job offer and worked for her sister’s company instead. And now she was a Chief Financial Officer right after graduating from university. Not only that, their company Orchidia Beauty was now the hottest trending topic in the beauty community. They sold out their pre-orders… Then tonight, they sold out everything in their inventory in five seconds.
FIVE SECONDS!!!!!
Her brain automatically crunched the numbers.
Just from the revenue of tonight’s sales alone, the estimated net profit of Orchidia Beauty after all expenses and taxes were deducted would still instantly make the company a million-dollar company.
“Add the revenue from the pre-order sales from before and that’s more than a million dollars in pure profit. US dollars, not RMB. And this is only from the first batch of products released in the country,” Long Jinjing murmured as she continued walking in the dark hallway. “Oh my God.”
She pressed her hand against the cold and hard wall, while her other hand clutched her chest, trying to steady her wildly beating heart. Closing her eyes, she took a few deep breaths to stop herself from having a full-blown panic attack.
An image of her beautiful sister appeared in her mind.
Iris’ existence was like the devil to Long Jinjing’s life before, especially when they were younger. She couldn’t count how many times she cried in anguish after her sister tormented her in the past. She hated and resented Iris for bullying her, yet she couldn’t make herself fight back because she felt ashamed for being an illegitimate child. She always thought that if the two of them fought, she would be always the one to lose because Iris was the legitimate daughter while she was not. So she just endured…and endured…but it hurt so much. Yet she still endured despite the pain because she saw that her mother, Sun Jingfei, did. If her mother could endure and stay strong, then she could do so too.
And it seemed that enduring for all those years paid off because her sister changed for the better after waking up from coma. Iris was no longer a malicious bully. Her beautiful face now reflected a beautiful heart.
Although the scars from Iris’ bullying all those years ago couldn’t be completely erased from her heart and mind, Long Jinjing couldn’t find it in herself to retain any lingering hatred or resentment for her sister. She didn’t how to explain it in a logical way.
“It’s as if the Xiulan back then and the Xiulan now are two completely different people,” she murmured as her eyes opened.
Now calmer, she continued to walk along the dark and empty hallway. The rhythmic click-clack of her high heels on the floor slowed down her heartbeat and cleared her mind, almost sending her into a meditative state.
She became so relaxed that she failed to pay attention to where she was walking. Her high heel snagged on a crack in the floor. She was already falling forward before she even realized what was happening.
“Aaaaah!”
Her eyes closed on instinct, waiting for the pain that was sure to come after her body crashed to the floor. But right at that moment, something wrapped around her waist and pulled her up all of a sudden. Then her back crashed into something warm and hard, knocking all her breath away.
Long Jinjing froze as if electrocuted. Her heart which managed to relax just a few moments ago began to beat wildly inside her chest once again.
She turned her head and came face to face with the devil…or at least that was what he looked like in the shadows.
“Lu Zihao,” she whispered.
“Long Jinjing,” he said.
Alarm bells started ringing like it was the apocalypse inside her mind.
Danger! Danger! Danger!
Her survival instincts were telling her to run away as fast as she could away from this scar-faced man, but she couldn’t seem to look away from his devilish eyes. They were like bottomless pits of pure darkness and mystery hypnotizing her.
“A woman shouldn’t walk alone in a dark and empty place like this,” he suddenly said, breaking the moment.
Long Jinjing regained her senses and realized that the man’s arm was still wrapped tightly around her waist while her entire back was pressed against his chest. She could feel the hard planes of his body, making her face and neck flush red in embarrassment. Fortunately, the place was relatively dark.
“Hmmm…”
He didn’t let her go right away. It took him about three to four seconds before his arm unwrapped around her waist.
Once she was free, Long Jinjing stepped away from the man until they were separated by about a couple of metres.
“Thank you for saving me back there, Mr. Lu. I appreciate it.”
Lu Zihao walked to the nearest glass window and sat on the ledge. The dim illumination from the moon in the night sky failed to soften the harsh planes of his features. In fact, it made them even more intense. He crossed her arms over his chest and looked at Long Jinjing, like a predator looking at his prey.
Something inside her shivered in fear from his intimidating gaze, but her chin lifted, refusing to back down. The man was only human, just like her. He wasn’t a monster or a god. Why should she be afraid of him? Besides, he was close to her sister. They were so close that Long Jinjing sometimes felt a little jealous that they acted more like the siblings than her and Iris.
“If I didn’t save you back there, you would’ve fallen on your face. Clearly a woman who has no awareness of her surroundings. I hope you aren’t that careless when handling the finances of my sister’s company,” Lu Zihao drawled with his lazy voice.
His insinuation of her incompetence infuriated her. However, she controlled herself from lashing out at him.
“Mr. Lu, rest assured that I’m doing my job properly as the CFO of Orchidia Beauty. The company might be owned by Xiulan but I along with Chen Fei, the Bauer siblings, and the others working for it all want to watch it grow and succeed. Not only am I the CFO but Xiulan, the CEO, is also my sister. I won’t betray my own sister nor her company that she worked so hard to build.”
Long Jinjing felt like all the hair on her body was standing up, like he was able to see everything about her. He was like the devil, sizing her up, judging her, deciding what to do with her. She couldn’t take it anymore.
“Thanks again for saving me from falling,” she said after clearing her throat. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to return to the party. My sister and my friends must now be wondering where I went.”
Then she turned and started walking away without waiting for his reply.
“She’s my sister,” the voice of the devil was soft yet penetrated her mind like a sharp sword.
Long Jinjing stopped in her tracks. She turned to face him again.
“Xiulan is MY sister,” she couldn’t help but retort.
“Woman, if we compete against each other for her affection, guess who’ll win.”
Long Jinjing’s eyes became dazed for a second when he flashed her with his blasted devilish smile. Good thing that she was able to quickly recover. Her daze transformed into annoyance. She wanted to retort again, to tell him that she and Iris were blood sisters, that their relationship was deeper than what he had with her sister. However, she already knew who would be the winner for Iris’ affection between the two of them.
She had seen how close Lu Zihao was to his sister. At first, she thought that Lu Zihao was trying to steal her sister away from Jin Liwei. But upon closer observation, Long Jinjing concluded that there was nothing romantic or sexual in their relationship. The bond between Lu Zihao and Iris was that of close-knit siblings, of a brother and sister who loved each other dearly.
This made Long Jinjing sad. She sighed.
“I’m not going to compete with you. There’s no reason to,” she told him.
Lu Zihao’s devilish smile became wider but his eyes remained unreadable. “Hmmm… A smart person knows when to withdraw. You pass. Barely.”
She frowned. “I don’t need your approval.”
“I’m giving it, anyway,” he replied.
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(This novel is a contracted work with Webnovel.com. If you’re not reading this chapter on Webnovel.com, it has been stolen. Please read this novel from the original source. Thank you! -ArriaCross, author)
