Even when Mr. Yang felt she was at fault, he would still scold her casually without paying further attention to the laments of Bai Yan and her daughter. Come evening, he would knock on her door and bring a gift to cheer her up.
Mrs. Yang had the nature of one who returned favors and remembered the good over the bad, and she would not have been driven to such a vindictive state were it not for Bai Yan and her daughter hurting her time and again.
After that incident, Mrs. Yang, still kind-hearted, examined herself, believing she should have intervened earlier, while also feeling extremely sorry for her daughter who had been wronged,
so she suggested installing surveillance cameras.
This suggestion to install surveillance cameras had already been part of Bai Yan's scheming. Bai Yan had won over the butler, who placed the cameras in positions favorable to her and Yang Fei.
The footage that was captured instead became the 'evidence' of the wrongdoing of Yang Yuran and her mother. Presenting the 'evidence' time and again before Mr. Yang eventually broke down his trust completely.
"Hello?"
A clear male voice answered the phone, cutting through the distressing memories.
"Yingzi, have you finished your final project?"
Yang Yuran started with small talk, as her relationship with Wu Yingzi was merely that of schoolmates from different departments. At the end of a semester, she went to the library to study on her own for the exams, and after searching for a while without finding a suitable spot, she coincidentally met Wu Yingzi, who struck up a conversation by offering his seat and they added each other on WeChat as a result.
"I got it all sorted out early, at the end of March. I heard the big beauty is back in the country. Just so happens I'm planning to return too, how about we meet up for a meal next week?"
Wu Yingzi was as casually friendly as ever, creating opportunities to foster a closer relationship as if they were old friends.
Usually, Yang Yuran would find an excuse to decline the invitation and immediately end the call. Wu Yingzi, who hadn't had a girlfriend in his three years of master's studies, was the kind of man who took things seriously and was not within her considerations. But today, circumstances forced her to take advantage of the deeper contact atmosphere the other party had already created.
Taking the opportunity, she went on, "Sure, send me a message when you land next week, I'll help you settle in."
"It's a date then, oh beautiful one, you can't back out," Wu Yingzi half-joked, asking for a commitment.
Yang Yuran solemnly agreed, then made small talk for a few more sentences, steering the conversation towards the point of interest, "I remember you're quite close with the fashion master Eink, aren't you?"
Speaking of what Wu Yingzi was proud of, he immediately cleared his throat and introduced with importance, "I am Master Eink's only disciple. I participated in the finishing work on the waistband embroidery of his award-winning evening gown 'Chasing Dreams'."
Yang Yuran couldn't help but feel jubilant inside; the fish was on the hook.
She didn't try to hide her joy, and simply mixed it with a hint of admiration, exclaiming excitedly,
"Wow, that's amazing. I've always really liked Master Eink's emerald green gown from this spring-summer collection. There's a vintage store selling it domestically, and I'm thinking of purchasing it."
"I'm so sorry, beautiful lady, I don't mean to dampen your spirits, but as a friend, I feel obliged to warn you. Be careful not to spend a lot of money on a fake, that dress was sold last month to the wife of the well-known basketball player Loki," Wu Yingzi paused, his voice becoming extra cautious as if afraid of hurting Yang Yuran, "The teacher's works are seldom sold privately, and that dress attracted a lot of attention at the time, causing quite a stir in the circles. I remember I specifically posted on Moments to congratulate Loki's wife."
Despite the seemingly regretful words, Yang Yuran was overjoyed. She had just seen the damaged gown and felt it looked familiar; she had indeed found the right person.
After waiting for a moment without a response from Yang Yuran, Wu Yingzi, mistaking her silence for distress, quickly comforted her, "When the teacher's autumn and winter designs are out, I'll show them to you first. If you like any of them, I will definitely help you apply for a private reservation."
Yang Yuran replied with a slightly hoarse voice, "Okay, thank you, it's really nice to have you."
As soon as Wu Yingzi played the good Samaritan card, she became restless with excitement and kept saying, "Don't mention it, don't mention it, it's my honor to help a great beauty like you."
Meanwhile, Yang Fei arrived exactly ten minutes later to urge her on.
"Sister, dad has had a tiring day, let's try not to take up his rest time, okay? Have you finished your call?"
"I have."
Yang Yuran replied neither humbly nor arrogantly, then swiftly shifted her tone back to gentle as she entrusted Wu Yingzi on the other end of the phone, "Yingzi, my cousin doesn't believe that Master Eink's green gown has been sold to a famous athlete's wife. Could you please help vouch for that?"
With an affirmative answer, Yang Yuran reached out to hand the phone to Yang Fei.
Yang Fei accepted the phone suspiciously, and it only took three or four sentences of dialogue with Wu Yingzi before they started arguing. Wu Yingzi's voice was so loud that even though Yang Fei wasn't on speaker, the conclusive words burst into the ears of everyone present.
The argument ended with Wu Yingzi's trump card, "I'll have my teacher give you a call."
Ten minutes later, the master felt extremely irate over Yang Fei's unapologetic attitude and specifically tweeted a criticism of such behavior, spreading Yang Fei's shameful actions throughout the entire social elite circle.
Yang Yuran seized Yang Fei, who was getting ready to run away under the guise of heartache, and brought her before Mr. Yang, emotionlessly demanding a promised redemption.
"You're framing my mom with a fake skirt, apologize to my mom right now."
Yang Fei, already in complete disarray, forgot to exchange glances with Bai Yan for the next step of guidance, and murmured in panic, "Even if the gown is fake, the fact that Yang mom stole my skirt doesn't change. Besides, Yang mom just said she had never seen that skirt, and now it's turned into me framing her. This is too contradictory."
Bai Yan, feeling frustrated, closed her eyes. Before she could make an excuse for her daughter, Yang Yuran, with a fierce stance, turned towards Mrs. Yang and preemptively demanded loudly,
"Mom, I've told you before, don't try to play the good Samaritan in this house; there are too many ungrateful people."
Mr. Yang and Yang Fei were both left bewildered by her words. Yang Yuran turned her head sharply and, with a stern glare at Yang Fei, spoke accusingly, "You have been accusing my mom of stealing Master Eink's authentic dress, of course she hasn't seen it. She realized there was something wrong with that dress a long time ago and wanted to take a picture for me to check its authenticity. She did it for your sake, afraid you'd embarrass yourself at the birthday party tomorrow, but you, you just thought about smearing her!"
Yang Fei was utterly confused and blurted out, "That's not what happened, it's Yang mom who stole! The housekeeper caught her!"
"Who are you accusing of stealing? If it weren't for my mom asking me to help verify the authenticity, why would I suddenly come home?" Yang Yuran asked calmly, unshaken by the accusation.
She was so imposing that Yang Fei didn't dare to look her in the eye and only dared to weakly reiterate the evidence she believed she had, "Li Shuo came back specially for my birthday party tomorrow, you are jealous of me, it was you who had Yang mom ruin my dress. You even conspired with Master Eink to frame me, you're too mean."
"You're so annoying, all you do is cry."
Yang Yuran shook off Yang Fei's wrist, her eyes blazing as she looked straight at the person who had been watching the fire from across the bank and asked coldly, "Dad, don't Auntie and her people owe us an apology for what happened today?"
Mr. Yang cast a casual glance in Zhou Yuanyuan's direction, his eyes darkening as he commanded with authority, "Yan, as an elder, you should pay more attention to your own words and actions from now on; never make baseless accusations against anyone."