Volume 1, Chapter 5: The Car Accident Was No Accident

"Are you feeling unwell?" Zhou Huaiqing asked.

Wen Li chose to lie. "Yes."

Fortunately, Zhou Huaiqing neither pressed for details nor seemed suspicious. He simply said with a darkened expression, "Get in the car."

Once inside, she caught a whiff of cloyingly sweet perfume. Subconsciously, she touched the leather seat; whether it was psychological or a conditioned reflex, she felt completely ill at ease.

"You don't happen to spend the night with people in this car, do you?" she probed.

She had heard enough rumors to know that Zhou Huaiqing was a quintessential playboy, always surrounded by women and prone to outrageous behavior.

"What kind of nonsense is rattling around in your head? Do you think I'm you, desperate for affection?"

"I've never been like that either, okay?"

Wen Li’s righteous indignation only looked to him like an attempt to explain that her own emotional life was a blank slate—clean, calm, and undisturbed. She was still harboring a death-defying obsession with Jiang Chen, dreaming of rekindling their past.

Zhou Huaiqing glanced at her from the corner of his eye and then dropped a bombshell: "Then do you want to try it? The experience might actually be quite good."

"Try it with whom? You?"

The words were out before she could stop them, and Wen Li regretted them instantly. It was too late.

"Sure," Zhou Huaiqing replied shamelessly. "I don't mind. Would your boyfriend mind?"

"I don't have a boyfriend," Wen Li said.

"Not doing well in Germany? Can't find a match?" he continued, focused on fishing for information.

"Thanks to you, I'm doing just fine."

She had stayed in Germany for a long time, initially out of a simple desire to escape. Counting the three years of the pandemic and two years of self-imposed, isolated research, she had been completely cut off from the outside world for a time.

Each day, she faced nothing but glass beakers and piles of data reports. At first, it was purely an attempt to numb the nerves in the depths of her brain that governed desire—nerves that were filled entirely with Jiang Chen—by burying herself in tedious, grueling work.

Later, she successfully made it into the project team, becoming the only official female researcher and a foreigner at that. Although the project her team worked on wasn't exactly cutting-edge, she felt a great sense of achievement.

"Then remember to give me a cut of the profits," Zhou Huaiqing said shamelessly. "I wouldn't mind a co-authorship credit, either."

"Then get ready to be arrested by the Ministry of Public Security," Wen Li retorted wittily.

Realizing that their relationship wasn't really suited for such banter, she added sternly, "Could you please just drive and stop talking?"

With that, she closed her eyes, feigning sleep to find some peace. She truly couldn't understand why the refined Wen Yang would ever be friends with him.

***

The VIP hospital room was uncharacteristically lively. Several of Jiang Chen’s close friends had rushed over upon hearing about his car accident. Shen Yuzhi was the one chatting the most animatedly.

Sitting on the sofa by the hospital bed, Shen Yuzhi peeled a piece of fruit he had brought and remarked, "You’ve driven that mountain road at the Wen estate for years. Even an amateur racer like you can trip up sometimes?"

"Don't tell me you saw an old flame, got all tangled up in your feelings, and decided to ram your car into their doorstep just to ward off bad luck."

Jiang Chen tossed an orange at him. "If I go down, I’m taking you with me."

Despite the IV drip in his hand, he looked quite rosy, nothing like a man who had narrowly escaped death. Everyone already knew that Wen Li had returned and crossed paths with Jiang Chen yesterday. They also knew that Jiang Chen had been waiting for the day of the wedding.

Fortunately, heaven rewarded the persistent; the crumbling relationship between Ling Dan and Shen Ningyuan had managed to hold on until the day of the wedding. Beyond providing a ridiculous spectacle for everyone to laugh at, it had served at least a small purpose. It was a commendable feat—she deserved a credit in the ledger of good deeds.

Yesterday, when Wen Li arrived late, everyone else had left, but Jiang Chen had refused to give up, staying at the hotel like a hunter waiting for a rabbit.

"Thanks for your sincere invitation; you didn't even forget about me on your way to the underworld." Shen Yuzhi popped the peeled orange into his mouth and pointed at Lu Jinchen, who was busy playing a video game nearby. "But I'm not ready to die yet—I'd like to live a few more years. You should take Lu Jinchen along for such a good opportunity."

Lu Jinchen, focused intently on his game, gave him a sharp jab in the ribs with his elbow. "Get lost. You have such a foul mouth; aren't you afraid of bad omens?"

Shen Yuzhi grinned shamelessly. "I'm a Party member." He sounded quite proud. "Besides, I don't burn incense, I don't worship Buddha, and I don't do evil deeds. I’m not afraid."

Amidst the joking, Lu Jinchen suddenly asked, "But, speaking of which, will Wen Li come today?"

"I bet two hundred she won't," Lu Jinchen said.

Shen Yuzhi raised a hand. "I’ll stake four hundred that she will. She has to come—otherwise, it would be a waste of my brother Jiang’s G-Wagon, which played a life-or-death drama for nothing."

Jiang Chen’s accident yesterday wasn't an accident at all—it was staged. The force had been controlled perfectly; the safety barrier at the scene had barely dented, and the airbags hadn't even needed to deploy. Yet, he had called both the fire department and the ambulance, as if he wanted the whole world to know, nearly calling a television news crew to broadcast it at their front door.

***

Seeing the other two men in the room staring at him, Shen Yuzhi sighed helplessly. "Anyway, I had Ling Dan pass the message along. Whether she comes or not is up to fate."

After all, a woman's heart is as deep as the sea; he couldn't be sure, especially with a beautiful, delicate socialite like Wen Li.

Jiang Chen asked, "Since when did you and Ling Dan get so close?"

Shen Yuzhi stretched out his legs and kicked the hospital bed. "Wipe that dirty look off your face. Shen Ningyuan’s enemy is my friend. This is what we call a revolutionary friendship forged in common hatred—it’s unbreakable."

Shen Yuzhi and Shen Ningyuan were half-brothers; Shen Ningyuan was the younger brother, and his mother was a mistress who had risen to power and was always causing trouble. Shen Yuzhi had despised that mother-son duo for a long time. This wedding farce was a case of using someone else’s flowers to offer as a gift, killing two birds with one stone, and he had even earned a small favor from Jiang Chen. It was a profitable deal—why wouldn't he do it?

Jiang Chen remarked, "Unbreakable after just one night? I didn't realize you were so 'sturdy'." The teasing tone was heavy.

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a knock at the door, and Wen Li pushed it open. She was caught off guard to see the room full of men—some sitting, some lying down, some standing.

She felt quite embarrassed. "Hello, everyone," she said, waving a hand.

The group turned in unison to look at her, replying in perfect synchrony, "Hello."

The precise, uniform movement was worthy of a national defense drill. As expected of people who hung out together, they were perfectly in sync.

Wen Li first saw Jiang Chen, who was lying in the hospital bed, let out an impatient "tsk." Then she saw Shen Yuzhi, who had been sitting on the sofa, suddenly stand up and say, "Well, I have a meeting this afternoon, so I’ll head out. I’ll come visit you another day."

Finally, Lu Jinchen, who had been standing by the window, added, "Give me a ride."

The two of them slipped past her one after the other.

Just like that, they were all gone. Shen Yuzhi didn't forget to stand behind Wen Li and give Jiang Chen a "thumbs up" and a gesture that said, "Go for it, I believe in you," before thoughtfully pulling the door shut behind them.