This night, the rain didn't stop.
In the latter half of the night, a ferocious wind howled, as if it were cleansing this unclean city.
Inside the hotel suite, Jiang Muwan was curled up on the window-side couch, with a computer in front of her displaying a woman giving a work report. Jiang Muwan held a cigarette between her fingers, occasionally raising her hand to take a puff, sporadically replying to her.
Her posture carried a certain decadent laziness.
"Huazhong stock prices will bottom out when the market opens on Monday," the raspy voice of the woman on the other side sounded.
That statement seemed to silently remind her of something.
Jiang Muwan's gaze slowly shifted from the computer screen to the window. Through the screen, she could see the curling blue smoke rising from the woman's fingertips.
She was silent for a long while before saying, "I've been away for too long, so long that I've forgotten this city's original appearance."
On the other side, the woman was rendered speechless.
Looking at her through the screen, mouth opening as if to say something, then swallowing her words, she took a sip of water to steady her emotions and, looking at Jiang Muwan, said in a steady voice, "What if it leads you to bankruptcy?"
If Huazhong were to pull in a strong investment and turn around to bite back, she would face bankruptcy, left with nothing.
But how did Jiang Muwan respond? She said, "Then let it lead to bankruptcy."
Some paths, once taken, cannot be retraced.
Bankruptcy?
Then let it be bankruptcy.
There are some things that should rightfully be hers.
How could she simply hand them over to others?
She could not.
In this world, there is an abundance of grudges that aren't settled until death.
If death is required,
let everyone go to hell together.
The heavy rain of this night poured down, lasting the entire night, and Jiang Muwan, on her first night back in C City, was completely sleepless.
And she wasn't the only one experiencing insomnia.
Late at night, the sound of high heels tapping rhythmically echoed in the silent hospital corridor, slow and measured steps against the floor. Listening to this sound alone, one might think someone was leisurely strolling through the corridor in the back half of the night.
After a moment, the footsteps came to an abrupt halt outside a hospital room door.
The person inside the room was in a deep sleep, and the nurse at the desk was nodding off, unaware of this apparition that had appeared in the dead of night.
With a click, she reached out, turned the doorknob, and went in.
The action startled the person watching over the night. Previously lying on the caretaker's bed, the person awoke with a start, snapped on the light, and looked at her warily.
They locked eyes, speechless for a moment.
Seeing Jiang Muwan in the dead of night, the old butler was so shocked that he couldn't regain his composure.
Facing the young miss who had left many years ago, he couldn't find the right words to greet her.
"Old Zhang, step outside," the person on the hospital bed who had just undergone heart surgery spoke up. His voice was weak, exhaling more than inhaling as if he might ascend to heaven at any second.
Old Zhang rose to his feet and, before stepping out, pulled out a chair next to the hospital bed. Each action carried the demeanor of a noble family's butler and also respect for the young miss who had been away from home for so long.
"You're back," the tranquility was broken by the elder's voice.
She pursed her lips, gave a hum of acknowledgment, and sat in the chair Old Zhang had pulled out for her.
"I'm back, and well," the elder spoke weakly.
His gaze fell on her, tinged with a trace of warmth.
"I have come to take back what belongs to me," despite the years that had passed, despite the person on the sickbed having just escaped death, she still had no patience for pleasantries or small talk with him.
"You only come to see me, a dying man, when you want something. What if I refuse to give it?" His words were flat, devoid of any emotional undertone.
"I can't guarantee that your ventilator won't stop working in the next second," in other words, no giving, then death.
"Very well," this "very well" carried a half-smile.
Among the many children of the Jiang Family, only Muwan was truly dear to him.
That relentless spirit, how much did it resemble his own in his younger years?
Having received a response, she had no desire to linger. Her coming and going was exceedingly swift.
As she prepared to rise, the old man's breathing became slightly more rapid for a moment, and he quickly interjected, "I have a condition."
After a long absence, sitting and rising in a span of just three to five minutes, the old man was in a hurry.
He perhaps feared that his time was drawing near and didn't want to miss the opportunity before him.
As the words were spoken, the room fell silent, and nobody expected the old man to have conditions. Jiang Muwan's brows furrowed slightly, clearly displeased.
The anger began to surface on her restrained face,
Just as she was about to erupt, she heard the old man say, "Should the day come when I depart this world, as the eldest grandchild of the Jiang Family, you must hold my ashes and take me to my resting place in the mausoleum."
Jiang Muwan, as the young mistress of the Jiang Family, had been the joy of the entire family at the time of her birth. Back then, she was the only younger member of the Jiang Family, and everyone had doted on her, raising her with care. She didn't deny that as a child, she quite liked the old Jiang patriarch, but neither could she deny the fact that the people of the Jiang Family were no good.
Upon hearing this, the slight anger on her face gradually dissipated, only to be replaced by a cold snort, "Rest assured, a scourge lives for a thousand years. It's entirely possible that you'll be the one to see me off."
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Isn't it clear to you better than anyone whether I'm talking nonsense?"
Once the news of her return to C City got out, those who wanted her dead would probably be enough to form a group.
Her presence was set to shake the interests of certain individuals.
In today's callous world, isn't everyone driven by self-interest?
She feared her life might not even outlast the old man's.
"They wouldn't dare," he uttered with faltering breath.
"Then you should live a few more years. Even if you're dying, wait until I've established myself firmly. Otherwise, someone else might have to hold your ashes," she was not a kind person, and while she maintained due humility and courtesy in front of her elders when necessary, she gave not an ounce of it to those who didn't deserve it.
She had been the darling mistress, spoiled with love and affection, but in the end, she rose because of the Jiang Family and fell because of it too.
Who was to thank for that?
Thanks to this household, young and old.
That night, Jiang Muwan left the hospital, and the rain outside was just about to stop.
Under the dim streetlights, the occasional car sped past, either those eager to return home or those desperate to escape.
That night, when leaving, the old man asked her if she had been well over the years.
She didn't respond.
But now, standing under the streetlight, she pondered carefully.
No, not well.
How could she be, alone?