Sitting in a bathrobe on her bed Zhou Hua Fan played with the jade ring in her hands. The young girl was seemingly lost in thought as if debating something. The jade ring was obviously a male thumb ring, and though it was white in color matching Hua Fan's pale skin. It still did not seem right for a girl like her to have something meant for a man. It would not match anything she wore nor would it look right hanging from her neck like a necklace.
Hua Fan was a like delicate doll, having something that was masculine on her would be too eye-catching. Her brows furrow before smoothening over quickly, picking up her phone Hua Fan sent a text message to someone. Even though it was late she received a reply almost immediately, the phone light shining on her face. Her expression eases, taking a photo of the ring she sent the photo before she could think and regret her actions. Hua Fan changes into her nightgown after drying her hair before laying under her cover holding the ring tight to her chest as if afraid it would disappear suddenly. The ring was smooth but because she held it so tight it dug into her palm yet she subconsciously refused to let go.
Closing her eyes with the ring in her hands Hua Fan was tense and afraid, but still, unlike other nights alone Hua Fan felt comforted by the ring's presence so she could breathe normally. Although she still feared what was to come the ring gave her the courage to not feel like she had to run. In fact, it reinforced the reason she needed to stay. The person she came back for. Ye Ye is the one she must love most and repay her unfilial dept to, but the reason she came back, was still hard for her to truly accept. With this ring in her hands, it suddenly made everything scarily real. It is the closest she had been to him in this life besides when they "first met". It was real.
HE is real. The uncomfortable feeling in her stomach returns with those thoughts. A sudden chill above her made her hold her breath and grow pale under her sheets, Hua Fan did not dare to open her eyes as her eyelashes shook and her lips tremble. A ghostly hand attempts to comfort her by caressing the top of her head but it only made her shudder. "You did well." It spoke softly, only she could hear its deep never-ending voice. Like a dull echo in the silent darkness. It repeats itself as if she did not hear it the first time. "You did well...."
~
"-an get it to us by tonight." Hua Fan absent-mindedly plays with the jade ring in her right hand while holding the phone in her left hand. Dressed in a casual outfit while leaning on her balcony doors Hua Fan was only half paying attention to whoever was speaking to her. She seemed almost bored with a bland glazed look but could still respond appropriately. The person on the phone pretends to not hear her disinterested and absentminded replies. Li Chen Ai spoke in a similar monotone voice that can be heard from the phone in Hua Fan's hand patiently. "Although we don't have enough of the original pieces to be able to fully make a new ring. We can redesign the new ring and add something else to fill in the gaps." Hua Fan hums and glances at the ring in her hands for a second before saying.
"Use blue jade." Li Chen Ai does not ask her why blue but obediently wrote down her instructions. "Does Miss Zhou wish for a specific design?" Zhou Hua Fan's response was nonchalant and almost dismissive and if it weren't for the fact that the girl brought it up personally Li Chen Ai would have thought it wasn't an important matter. "It doesn't matter. As long as some of the original pieces of the jade are used you can design it however you want." Li Chen Ai pauses in thought and did her best to not question why Hua Fan was so attached to that piece of jade. It isnt my job to question what it was Zhou Hua Fan was thinking, I only need to listen. "...As you wish." After hanging up Hua Fan spent another five minutes staring into space while playing with the ring till she was called out of her daze by someone outside her room. "Young miss, the designer has arrived." "Mm, I will be out soon."
Soon my days won't be so leisurely anymore. A puff of warm air exits the snow-skinned child as if she was sighing over the loss of something. Her eyes glaze over momentarily in a rare display of powerlessness. Will she be able to admire this view peacefully ever again after she goes back to that dark world? A dark gloom sets over her, as she knew her time was scarce but the time she spent living as a worry-free girl was even shorter. It was not as though she was afraid of society. It was more like she was reluctant to turn in her freedom. That was the price everyone who enters their world had to pay. Beauty, riches, the spotlight, the admiration and acknowledgment of common people. She had not realized back then the cage she had willingly walked into was so hard to escape.
She was suffocated within the walls that were closing in around her with each step she took. Turning her attention away from the view Hua Fan held in a rare sigh. Not like I ever experienced much freedom in the first place, besides living life as a spoiled brat I didn't even get to enjoy the days I was ignorant of company matters. Back then I was just a stupid rich kid, and even those days felt short and bitter. These days Hua Fan spent most of her time studying her grandfather's paperwork to learn about to condition of the company. Hua Fan had not gone to events with her grandfather because he was afraid she would be scorned by the public. And she had agreed with him it was better to let the news scatter before showing up again in social gatherings.
It was not hiding away but rather a tactical retreat. Although Feng Meng was wary of her waking up and taking her shares from his hands, he had not put his guard up quite yet. At the moment Hua Fan was merely using her grandfather as a shield without fully using his power so to Zhou Feng Meng she was still having a small fit and would get over it eventually before crawling back to him and Yun Yi. But once she stepped into the spotlight again without returning to that house, there was no doubt he would start realizing that her grandfather was seriously planning on making her inherit the company before him. His plans would become rushed and he would make sloppy mistakes.
Not only him but even those who wish to trip up her grandfather would make mistakes and stop targeting Huang Gou Heng and target her instead. Only those with a heavy grudge against Zhou Feng Meng would target Huang Gou Heng after tonight. Which would in turn ensure his safety from bigger fish. Who knew there would be a day I would willingly offer myself as bait to keep Huang Gou Heng safe? Hua Fan ridicules herself. She had been steadily gaining her grandfather's people's trust too these past few days, and although it took her a long time Shuang Hui Ning could now smile at her without being suspicious of her. And even Assistant Wan listened to her every request without asking with a stern and guarded glance asking Does the Chairman approve? Even the maids under her no longer report her every move to Hui Ning so she had a bit more freedom in her movements.
One of the biggest parties for the end of the year was happening later this week and Hua Fan would officially debut there perfectly in time with her grandfather being less strict with his reservations towards her bolder ideas. She knows that she isn't smart, and the way she handles matters was brash and thoughtless. But to Zhou Hua Fan, the only way she could compensate for her brainlessness was to be a bit crueler, cunning, and rasher compared to her opponents. There was no need to pretend to be smart if she can blackmail, there was no need to go around in circles if she could hold a gun to their heads.
So even if Zhou Jian Kong wasn't happy with her way of dealing with things, what he doesn't know won't hurt him since she didn't have much time left to coax and placate him for every little thing she was planning on doing. The girl reenters her bedroom and shut the balcony doors strolling toward the nightstand Hua Fan places the ring back into its box before shutting it resolutely. Then her heart wavers, and a flicker of emotion enters her eyes for a second. Hua Fan felt conflicted for only a moment remembering the man in her past life who caressed her picture with eyes full of bitter burdening emotions. For ye ye I will do anything. She unconsciously brushes her finger across the box, "...."
Shutting her eyes Hua Fan took a deep breath, and when they open the hesitation was gone and she shut the drawer without looking back. That Huang Gou Heng is dead, and he won't come back. Zhou Hua Fan enters her bathroom stiffly. A few hours later Hua Fan had sat in front of her mirror reading her book in an almost bored manner. Behind her many people were coming in and out of her room with different fabrics, the designer had brought with her. The designer was a young woman who, although she was not well-known Hua Fan liked her old-fashioned but modern style.
It was unlike the simplicities of other people and she knew how to make use of Hua Fan's looks to the fullest. The young designer at the moment though was making a small ruckus and grumbling about not being able to find something to fit Hua Fan's hair. Only when Hua Fan heard a small exclamation of excitement and felt something be clipped into her hair did she look up from her book. At the same time, she looked up a young girl also raises her head to meet her eyes in the mirror. The girl was pale-skinned and petite with an asian doll-looking face and large brown eyes, she was very cute.
Long lashes emphasize how beautiful her simple colored eyes were melting hearts. When one meets this doll's eyes and expected them to be innocent, instead they were hard and icy. Hua Fan's attention wanders over to her dress for the event a few days later and her vanity was satisfied. Mm, it was worth the extra money. Unlike other girls who would be wearing the most recent famous western-style dresses, Hua Fan would be wearing a simple and elegant blue and white qipao. To cover her exposed arms from the cold a white fur shawl that was soft on the inside and outside was wrapped around her shoulders. Its color helps to emphasize Hua Fan's face value rather than body shape. After all, she was still basically a child, what need does she have to show off a flat body? Her hair had long been cut but due to her grandfather's hints, Hua Fan had refrained from cutting it again. She would only occasionally go to the barber to get rid of any split ends.
After two months her shoulder-length hair had grown a full two inches and was currently pinned up into a bun, and on the right side of her head, a lovely white jade rose was clipped on. Hua Fan faintly confirmed it was this item that had made her head feel a bit heavier but she did not mind. Once she turned sixteen there was no doubt her grandfather would add another item to the list of expensive jewelry. Although she disdained this type of jewelry back then for not being shiny or expensive-looking, now that she had come back with a better pair of eyes. To her, these jade ornaments and jewelry her grandfather gifted her were much easier on the eyes. It was not that she disdained a good set of diamond earrings but if she had to choose between a jade bracelet and a sapphire one it was obvious she would choose the jade one now.
Without makeup Hua Fan was still pretty so they simply added a bit more color to her face and let her go. It was only a tryout and not the real date anyway, Hua Fan vainly admired herself a bit more before uttering a simple "Good job." to the anxious young woman behind her. The woman gave a relieved sigh before flattering Hua Fan sincerely with envious but good-intentioned compliments. "Miss Zhou looks so beautiful anyone who sees the young miss would fall to their knees and worship you as a goddess!" Hua Fan's lip quirked up on one side and she glances at the woman with a half-amused and half-lazy smile. The woman almost swoons being blessed with such an alluring glance from her rich patron, Really makes people envious... "I lack a person to make me clothes."
Her tone was casual and held a trace of teasing that was very charming to the ears. "Although I can use grandfather's people it is inconvenient I have to be second on the list all the time." Hua Fan hints at a maid who quickly gave the woman a piece of paper with Hua Fan's number. Before Hua Fan even finished speaking the woman was already almost in tears. Being the exclusive designer to a rich person was something she never expected to be! If I have the opportunity to always dress such a beautiful person my friends would be jealous enough to die!! It's like a novel! "Two days from now I have another event I'm going to be attending." Hua Fan took a photo of herself and scrutinizes her photo-taking skills before becoming unsatisfied and taking another.
When Lee Li Wei sees this photo I wonder if he will take the final step and fall in love with me... She bemuses to herself, almost laughing out loud anticipating the people at the party's reaction. If he's stupid enough to do so then it'd be rather troublesome in the future. She still spoke to the woman as she did this vain and playful act of wanting to mess with people's hearts. "Although it's not as extravagant as this one it is still a gathering of future generations. Miss Cui should understand what I mean." "Of course!"
Though the girl was hardly in her teens her mature attitude and way of speaking made it hard to treat her like a child. So after bowing her head many times in thanks to her, the woman left excitedly. "Young miss is it proper to have someone so unknown design your clothing? They don't even know young miss's style of dressing and preferences as well as the old master's." Hua Fan waved a hand dismissively towards their concern and protests. "Ye Ye is always attending dinner invitations and different social events so he cannot be stalled because of my own clothes. This woman although hardly out of college is a better choice than those snobbish people who raise the price just because they have a little master backing them. If she knows her place well and can see past the wool covering the public's eye then she is already ten times smarter than those idiots."
Hua Fan originally did not wear traditional clothes to events and was like those other girls who liked expensive western dresses. But now she lived with her grandfather and was being raised by him and naturally wanted to dress according to his likes. Shuang Hui Ning had hinted that her ye ye preferred girls to be dressed in oriental clothing because her grandmother liked this style the most too back then. She had not said much to the designer when they first met, all she told her was that she needed something to wear to a formal event in the city.
So it was the woman herself who had designed to have Hua Fan wear a qipao and picked from her assortment of accessories to match it surprising and pleasing Hua Fan immensely. Most likely she had taken in the style of her grandfather's home and took inspiration from it while at the same time, she also understood Hua Fan's feelings towards the home and recognized her respectful attitude towards her grandfather. She gave one last look in the mirror and smiled to herself after sending the photo to Lee Li Wei and Li Chen Ai. "Toss the other dress away. From now on I will only wear the ones she makes for me."
Hua Fan had a spare made in case things did not go the way she planned, but now that she was happy there was no need for the spare. The maids don't say much and tossed the pretty dress in the trash just because Hua Fan had said to. Seeing the mischievous sparkle in her eyes Hua Fan gave a mad giggle. What she would give to see the face of her "father" when she reenters society by Ye Ye's side. Would he grow wide-eyed and demand she goes back? Hua Fan almost snorts at the ridiculousness of that thought, it was entirely possible he would do something stupid like that.