Scarlett found herself blindsided by Zhou's unexpected disclosure. The keys nestled in her purse suddenly felt like a ticking time bomb, their presence both a blessing and a curse. To reject them now would be akin to a slap in his face, a gesture she was not ready to make. After a moment of contemplation, she managed to utter, "I appreciate this, Mr. Zhou."
As the clock struck eight, Zhou dropped Scarlett off at her office, right in the heart of the morning hustle and bustle. His sleek, black Bugatti, parked nonchalantly by the curb, was an eye-catcher, and it didn't take long for the sharp-eyed passersby to spot Zhou in the driver's seat.
The office employees, having only heard tales of Zhou, were now privy to his presence, thanks to Scarlett's recent association with him. As they filed into the building, they couldn't resist sharing the juicy tidbit with their colleagues upstairs, "Guess who just arrived? Scarlett, and she was in Lucius Zhou's car!"
The gossip spread like wildfire. "Really?" came the incredulous responses.
"Really. Just wait, Scarlett will be here in five minutes."
Indeed, Scarlett's arrival was no secret. By the time she made her way upstairs, the office was abuzz with speculation about her early morning rendezvous with Zhou - was it at his home or a hotel?
Qi, aware of Scarlett's early arrival, chose to sit back and enjoy the unfolding drama, making no effort to quell the rampant rumors.
Scarlett had barely crossed the threshold when Ryan followed suit. As he brushed past her, her phone screen lit up with a new message.
It was from Ryan: "How did you end up in Lucius Zhou's car?"
"Where did you see me?" Scarlett retorted.
"Downstairs. Not just me, there were four or five others. Probably the whole company knows by now." Ryan replied.
Scarlett responded nonchalantly, "Let them know. I'm not bothered by it."
Ryan probed further, "Where were you last night?"
Scarlett sent him an eye-rolling emoji, "Did you forget? We went upstairs together last night!"
Ryan confessed, "Oh, I remember now. I drank a bit too much and blacked out. The toilet in the bathroom was leaking all night, I couldn't sleep."
Recalling her initial days in the city, when she had to live frugally, waiting for her first paycheck, Scarlett asked, "Do you want to move?"
Ryan immediately replied, "You finally decided to move?"
"A client offered me a new place." Scarlett said.
"Which client? Lucius Zhou?" Ryan asked.
Scarlett sent back a nodding emoji. As expected, Ryan blew up, bombarding her with questions. Scarlett calmly replied, "I'll ask Mia if she's free for lunch. We can discuss everything then."
She had learned her lesson about explaining things one by one, so now she preferred to deal with everything at once.
As Scarlett was messaging Mia, Ryan was also reaching out to her. When Mia found out that Zhou had given Scarlett the keys to a new apartment, she was eager to meet up for breakfast, let alone lunch. The gossip was more important than the food.
When it was time for lunch, Scarlett and Ryan went down to the restaurant where Mia had been waiting. She was eager to know what was going on, "What happened? Tell me quickly, I've been on edge all morning."
Scarlett replied with a straight face, "Mia, on one hand, you say this is an opportunity I've earned by walking into the lion's den, on the other hand, you're wasting it with your idle chatter. Do you think that's fair?"
Mia quickly retorted, "Hey, when I say I can't work, I mean it. It's just an exaggeration."
Ryan interjected, "Don't get sidetracked by her. Hurry up and tell us. I'm the one who's really been unable to focus all morning."
Once they had placed their orders and the waiter had retreated, Scarlett finally began to unravel the events of the previous night and that morning. Mia and Ryan listened with rapt attention, their expressions growing tense as they heard about Young Song's intrusion.
"Do you know where he lives?" Ryan asked, his face stern, his jaw muscles twitching with anger.
He was asking about Song. "Forget it, don't get involved. Zhou will deal with him." Scarlett said.
Mia also looked serious, frowning as she said, "I heard about a handsome guy bothering you, but I didn't take it seriously. I never thought he'd be such a scumbag. Zhou should deal with him. Even sending him to the police would be too good for him."
"Who's the woman? Can we just call her out and be done with it?" Ryan asked.
Scarlett said, "I don't know her. Her name is Jingyun Feng . I can tell she likes Zhou, but he can't hit her. He embarrassed her in front of me, which is a kind of resolution. I can't pursue it any further."
Ryan was about to say something when Mia frowned and asked, "What did you say the woman's name was? Jingyun Feng ?"
Scarlett nodded, "I heard Zhou call her once. Why?"
"Could she be the second daughter of the Deputy Director of Deep City Customs?" Mia said.
Scarlett and Ryan were both confused. They were both from out of town and didn't know much about the local officials, let alone anyone else.
Mia took out her phone to search. After a while, she turned the screen to Scarlett and asked, "Is this her?"
The photo wasn't a full-face shot. It was taken at a ribbon-cutting ceremony and had accidentally captured half of the woman's face. However, Scarlett recognized her immediately and nodded, "That's her."
Mia was taken aback. Ryan, however, didn't seem to care, "So she's a second-generation official. Is that supposed to be impressive?"
Mia said, "She's not just an official's daughter. She's also accomplished in her own right. She graduated from the prestigious Loughborough University's architecture program and participated in the auxiliary design of several landmark buildings in the UK during her studies. You might not be familiar with those, but she was the chief designer of the new Trade Building in Deep City last year. When her impressive background was revealed, it made headlines for a day. However, it quickly disappeared, and you can't find a clear picture of her online. I guess the Feng family prefers to keep a low profile."
Ryan said with a cold face, "No matter how impressive she is, she's still a scheming woman. The news headline praised her for being aloof and low-key, but they should really expose the dirty things she does behind the scenes."
Scarlett was calm, analyzing the situation rationally, "I suspected she wasn't ordinary. So her family is in the government. That explains why Lucius couldn't do anything but slap her in the face."
Ryan was unhappy, "You were visibly hurt, and she just got a red face. Is that fair?"
Scarlett said, "You don't understand. Being humiliated by the person you like in front of someone you despise is far more painful than physical injury. If you asked me to choose, I'd rather scrape my knee than have someone stab me in the heart."
While the two of them were debating who got the short end of the stick, Mia suddenly said, "Looking at it now, we definitely need to move. Let's give Feng a taste of her own medicine."
"I agree. Besides, I can't stand the toilet in our current apartment anymore."Ryan replied.