A Willing Mistake, My Lady – Chapter 117

Modern AU Extra 11

New Year’s Eve

With five days left before year’s end, and since Shen Hetang still needed to return home for the holidays, Jiang Chenyu had no intention of lingering in City A. She decided to wrap up the Linxing Group investment matter within two or three days.

            

As it happened, “Young President Lin” had been calling nonstop these past two days, saying he wanted Jiang Chenyu to show him around the company.

She had her company’s finance department look into Linxing Group’s background. Since Wu Daoyuan claimed it was an out-of-town company, the investigation would take at least a day or two.

Shen Hetang had nothing to do these days either, so she simply tagged along with Jiang Chenyu as they wandered about.

            

When they arrived at the agreed meeting spot, Young President Lin saw two girls standing there hand in hand. He thought to himself—who brought a third wheel¹?

Secretly irritated, he kept a cheerful grin on his face.

“Miss Jiang, sorry to keep you waiting. And this is?”

            

“This is Miss Shen. She’ll be joining me in hosting President Lin today.”

Shen Hetang studied this rather refined-looking man. Something felt off. His gestures and demeanor appeared gentlemanly enough, but his eyes carried a shifty, calculating quality that was thoroughly jarring.

“Then how about I treat you both to lunch first? After all, Miss Jiang’s friends are my friends.”

            

At this shameless, overfamiliar presumption, Jiang Chenyu’s eyes widened slightly, and Shen Hetang’s gaze turned outright hostile.

This guy’s brain must be broken. Remembering how Jiang Chenyu had mentioned a suitor in passing yesterday, Shen Hetang understood now—she had assumed Jiang Chenyu was just saying it casually, but there really was a pursuer. How many days had Jiang Chenyu even been back? That was fast.

Seeing “seeking a mate” written all over his face, Shen Hetang said slowly, “Mr. Lin certainly knows how to joke. Our Chenyu has always been the warmhearted type. You have come from afar as a guest, so of course we will be the ones hosting.”

            

“Then I’ll trouble you both today. Another day, I’ll host—how about I take you two skiing?” His eyes drifted toward Shen Hetang as he spoke.

Jiang Chenyu keenly caught on to Young President Lin’s intentions. Her face immediately fell. The nerve of this man, daring to set his sights on anyone he pleased. She did not absolutely need Linxing’s investment, and the look she gave Young President Lin was already laced with disgust.

“We’ll talk about another day later. Let’s head to the restaurant first?” Shen Hetang asked Jiang Chenyu. She loathed the man, but she did not want to ruin Jiang Chenyu’s arrangements. Besides, with her right there at her side, nothing would happen to her.

            

“Okay.” The two of them got into Young President Lin’s car and headed to the prearranged restaurant.

Just as Young President Lin was rambling on with nonsense, Jiang Chenyu received a phone call. She glanced at it and declined, then started typing a message.

Reading the message, she was shocked yet unsurprised. Given Wu Daoyuan’s capabilities and Jiang’s enterprise’s current situation, anyone rushing to invest was either a fool or a lunatic. As the saying went, pies did not fall from the sky². And Wu Daoyuan could not even put on a convincing act—one investigation and his scheme fell apart without the slightest effort.

            

She concealed the disdain and coldness in her eyes, then said with a smile, “Let’s not go to the restaurant we booked. If Xiao Lin-ge wants to ski, I know a restaurant with a snow-view. I suddenly feel like going there—the food will be prepared for us. I just don’t know if Xiao Lin-ge would do me the honor?”

Jiang Chenyu suggested this with feigned innocence. Hearing her address that slick, pomaded man so familiarly, Shen Hetang frowned, slipped one arm around her waist to pull her close, and looked at her with a face full of question marks.

Jiang Chenyu gave her a look that said patience, so she let it go—only quietly lacing their fingers together and playing with her hand, silently staking her claim.

            

Jiang Chenyu turned her head, lips curling, eyes sparkling with little stars. Young President Lin, assuming she was warming up to him, cheerfully agreed to switch restaurants.

The new restaurant was a specialty farmhouse-style eatery out in the suburbs. When they arrived, there was no snow in sight.

The owner found them a spacious private room. Young President Lin asked a casual question about it but did not think much of it.

            

Once inside the private room, Jiang Chenyu surveyed the surroundings, shut the door, and immediately dropped her soft, sweet demeanor. She said to Young President Lin: “What did Wu Daoyuan promise you to make you put on this act in front of me? Even to the point of fraud?”

“Miss Jiang, what are you talking about? I don’t understand.” A flicker of surprise crossed Young President Lin’s face, but he did not lose his composure—clearly an old hand at this³.

“Wang Hao, twenty-eight years old, unemployed, living off your successive girlfriends. I don’t want to say it that harshly, but I’m not willing to be the big sucker⁴ either. So what exactly did you and Wu Daoyuan conspire about? You had better come clean!” Jiang Chenyu stared down the man whose real name was Wang Hao with considerable authority.

            

Wang Hao realized his cover was blown. But he had already taken Wu Daoyuan’s money—even without the final payment, he still had the deposit. If he spilled the plan, would Wu Daoyuan not claw back the advance?

“Nothing of the sort. What’s a little girl like you doing poking into this? I’m not saying a word. What are you gonna do about it?” Once exposed, he dropped the act entirely, becoming a stubborn mule who would not budge⁵ no matter what.

Only now did Shen Hetang realize that Jiang Chenyu had an ulterior motive—and that this man was actually in league with her stepfather. She could not bear to imagine what might have happened to Jiang Chenyu if she had not been here.

            

“Little sister, maybe you keep me company, and I’ll tell you that old coot’s plan. Otherwise, even without me, he’ll find someone else to scheme against you.” The man now revealed his true colors completely, dropping all pretense. Figuring this secluded spot was perfect for some fun, an unsettling smile crept onto his face as he inched toward Jiang Chenyu. Two teenage girls—he did not take them seriously at all.

Shen Hetang was so furious at his death-defying antics she almost laughed. Just as he shamelessly reached out to touch that smooth cheek, a hand blocked him. His wrist was seized in an iron grip—and with a crisp crack, it snapped. He howled in agony.

Moving fast, Shen Hetang grabbed a stack of napkins and stuffed them into his mouth to muffle his screams. Wang Hao tried to resist, but a solid kick to the gut sent him tumbling backward—chair and all—rolling to the far corner of the room.

            

“I’d advise you not to scream, or I’ll break every last one of your ribs.” Shen Hetang looked at him with complete nonchalance, as though beating him was the most natural thing in the world.

“You… aren’t you afraid I’ll call the police?” Wang Hao was genuinely frightened now. This girl had not even broken a sweat, yet she had kicked him to the ground and left him unable to get up.

“Go right ahead. You have committed fraud, kidnapping, attempted r/ape—we were only defending ourselves. Oh, and I forgot to mention—I can hire a lawyer with an undefeated record. If you want to take this to court, I’m happy to oblige.” Jiang Chenyu smiled, but her words landed like knives piercing Wang Hao’s heart.

            

He watched helplessly as Jiang Chenyu took a length of hemp rope, bound his wrists, and photographed him with her phone’s location enabled. Then she took scissors and tore his jacket open, taking additional photos.

Wang Hao tried to lunge forward to stop her, but Shen Hetang swept his legs out from under him with one long kick.

“I don’t have much patience. Tell us the entire plan right now, or else even if I cripple you today, you won’t get a single cent of compensation.” Jiang Chenyu simply wanted to record his confession. Her photos might not hold up in court, but they were more than enough to scare this fool.

            

“Not talking? Then don’t blame me!” Shen Hetang raised a stool over her head.

Wang Hao’s legs went weak. He widened his eyes and shouted, “I’ll talk, I’ll talk! Please let me go, great-aunt⁶! I was just doing what I was paid to do. I don’t have any grudge against you!”

“Cut the nonsense. Get to the point.”

            

“Okay, okay!” Wang Hao nodded frantically.

It turned out that Wu Daoyuan, seeing that Jiang Chenyu had grown wary of him and that he could not easily get his hands on her property, had devised an indirect approach⁷—he wanted her to fall for Wang Hao, then in a love-addled daze⁸ hand everything over to him.

If he thought everything would go as he imagined, he would be invincible. That brain of his was not cut out for business.

            

Or perhaps he assumed she was as love-addled as her mother—that with enough sweet talk, she would hand over everything. This time, he was sorely mistaken.

She would make sure Wu Daoyuan ended up with chickens flying and eggs broken⁹.

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After leaving the private room, the two got into their hired car and drove off. Wang Hao limped out and asked the restaurant owner whether there were cameras in the private rooms.

            

The owner shook his head frantically, saying he would never dare install cameras in guest rooms—not even in the hallway or at the entrance.

Wang Hao had no choice but to drive himself back, deflated and miserable. Afraid that both Wu Daoyuan and Jiang Chenyu would come after him, he decided to lay low for a while.

After returning to the hotel, Jiang Chenyu met secretly with the company’s accountant to ask about the company’s true financial situation. There were no actual losses, but revenues could only just cover workers’ wages. The money left in Wu Daoyuan’s hands was no longer enough to sustain his lavish lifestyle.

            

He had already started messing with workers’ pay—some had been laid off, others had their wages cut. In short, he had run the company into chaos.

Jiang Chenyu instructed the accountant to make the company’s books show a loss. Once Wu Daoyuan could no longer sustain things, he would naturally look for a way to sell the company.

But she could not just hand money to Wu Daoyuan. The company had to return to her hands in the form of debt—that way, the money she invested would eventually flow back into her own pocket.

            

In other words, if Wu Daoyuan made the first move, she would make the last¹⁰. She did not know much about finance, but she could hire a professional to draw up a plan: first become a creditor of Jiang’s enterprise, then force Wu Daoyuan to surrender the company to pay off the debt. This would prevent the company from going bankrupt and being auctioned off to someone else.

Wu Daoyuan would take her money to cover the company’s supposed deficit—but there was no real deficit, only the illusion created by the accountant. So that money would eventually come back to her.

And the company’s operations were on a downward slide. Plugging one hole would not bring it back to life. Eventually, Wu Daoyuan still would not be able to repay the debt, and would have no choice but to sell the company to the creditor.

            

That way, both the money and the company would return to Jiang Chenyu’s hands. Of course, she could not act directly—she would need to find a professional manager to act as the front.

This was called giving him a taste of his own medicine¹¹. Or you could say if the upper beam is crooked, the lower ones will follow¹². In any case, there was no amicable resolution between her and Wu Daoyuan. Ever since he married into the Jiang family, they had treated him with the utmost generosity!

And how had he repaid the Jiang family?

            

Though she had this plan, implementing it would not be as easy as flapping her lips. Everything needed careful, long-term planning. She could not rush—she had to proceed step by step, steadily. Impatience would not let her eat hot tofu¹³. Just wait and see…!

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As for Young President Lin’s disappearance—when Wu Daoyuan could not reach him no matter what, he assumed the man had taken the money and run. With no other options, he had to shelve his plan.

Jiang Chenyu followed Shen Hetang back to her hometown for the New Year. She had no family of her own, so at least Ah Tang should get to reunite with hers, right?

            

Seeing how hard the two elderly folks worked, she brought plenty of health supplements this time: sea cucumbers, ejiao¹⁴, protein powder, fish oil, plus lots of easy-to-eat snacks and fruit.

“Why did you buy so much? Some fruit would have been plenty.” Shen Hetang felt a bit embarrassed seeing her come out laden with bags, but still reached out to carry them.

“This is nothing? This young lady has standards. If you are going to be by my side, you will have to get used to it sooner or later.” Jiang Chenyu stood with hands on her hips, chin raised arrogantly.

            

Seeing that both her hands were full, she deliberately kissed her on the lips and said with grand generosity: “As long as you stick with me, I’ll buy you whatever you want!”

Shen Hetang looked at her—arrogant yet adorable—leaned down, and whispered in her ear: “I want you… how about that?”

Her voice was so low it tickled Jiang Chenyu’s ear and flushed her cheeks red.

            

“That depends on your performance. It won’t be that easy.” With that, she turned and got into the car first, leaving her behind.

Watching the door slam shut, then glancing down at the gifts in both hands, she saw the car speed away in a puff of exhaust.

She stood dumbfounded. Sweetheart, I haven’t gotten in yet…!

            

Jiang Chenyu had already told the driver to go before she remembered Shen Hetang had not gotten in. She hastily told the driver to stop and back up, then got out trying hard not to laugh.

She saw her standing there, both hands full of boxes, hair wild in the north wind, her pale cheeks blown red by the cold.

“Oh dear, darling, I’m so sorry—I forgot about you!” Jiang Chenyu widened her innocent eyes and cupped her face to warm it.

            

“No worries. Just compensate me with a kiss and we’re even.” Shen Hetang calmly made her demand.

“That’s easy, isn’t it?” She leaned in toward her face.

“Not in broad daylight—it will have to be tonight…!” Her eyes sparkled with scattered light, as if scheming something.

            

“Fine, tonight it is.” Jiang Chenyu pulled her by the arm into the car.

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Today was the day before New Year’s Eve. When Grandmother and Grandfather Shen heard that Jiang Chenyu was coming to celebrate the New Year with them, they welcomed the idea with both hands raised. Elderly folks loved having company, and their household was small. Having a friend of Shen Hetang’s willing to visit naturally delighted them.

Two days earlier, they had already gone in with another family to split half a pig. Everything was prepared, just waiting for their esteemed guest to arrive.

            

When they saw the gifts, they said, “You should have just come, no need to buy anything.” But the joy at the corners of their eyes and brows—like a child receiving presents—was impossible to hide.

Grandfather Shen was much more practical. He could tell at a glance that these items were expensive, and quietly told Grandmother to prepare a generous red envelope¹⁵ for the girl.

As a result, on the last day of the year, Jiang Chenyu received a big red envelope containing one thousand yuan. Shen Hetang benefited from the association and scored one too—though she usually only got two hundred yuan a year.

            

“Thank you, Grandpa. Thank you, Grandma. It has been a long time since I received a red envelope.” Since her maternal grandfather passed away, few people in the family ever remembered to give her one.

That evening, sitting on the still-warm kang¹⁶, Jiang Chenyu tried to leave the red envelope for the elderly couple, but Shen Hetang stopped her. So she obediently kept it.

Over winter break, Shen Hetang had worked part-time for Coach Cui, earning four thousand yuan in twenty days. Wanting to give her a gift, and now that they had made their relationship official, she bought a pair of matching plain gold band rings.

            

Retro design, polished surface, a satisfying heft, engraved inner bands. Jiang Chenyu certainly lacked nothing, but she still wanted to express her own joy.

Though many young people nowadays disliked gold, she wanted their relationship to be like gold—permanently holding its value. Perhaps not overwhelmingly dazzling, but enduring without question.

Of course, the four thousand she had earned was not enough, so she added two thousand of her own savings.

            

The bedding was all newly made by Grandmother. Quilts stuffed with fresh cotton were different—so fluffy and soft.

After washing up, Shen Hetang came inside to find Jiang Chenyu sitting at the foot of the kang, wrapped in the thick quilt, one bare arm extended as she used a small wooden stick to slowly scrape at the window frost patterns¹⁷ for fun.

Though the kang was very hot, the windows farther away still had thick frost patterns. They clustered like overlapping feathers, with scattered ones like tiny snowflakes dotted here and there—quite a sight to admire.

            

Shen Hetang slipped under the covers with her and discovered she was wearing only her underwear. Her pink-white skin, set against the water-green fabric, looked so tender it seemed you could squeeze water from it.

She sat kneeling, long hair cascading down her back. Her figure, rivaling an anime character’s, made Shen Hetang blush, unsure where to look first.

“Why aren’t you wearing pajamas? You’ll catch a cold at night!” Yet her words came out as sternly proper as an old cadre¹⁸.

            

“The kang is too hot, and the quilt is new—I can’t stand wearing anything. But it feels so nice against the skin like this.” She half-buried herself in the quilt and went back to scraping the frost, listening to firecrackers outside, occasionally catching glimpses of colorful fireworks.

Shen Hetang set a bunch of washed grapes on the windowsill, then wrapped her arms around her from behind. They sat together at the window watching the frost patterns, and every so often she would feed her a grape.

After a while, she quietly took her hand and slipped a brand-new ring onto her middle finger.

            

Jiang Chenyu sensed it and looked down. A gleaming gold ring sat on her finger—on her slender, pale hand, it carried a solemn beauty.

“So beautiful. I love it.” The delight in her eyes could have been drawn as two little hearts. She tilted sideways against her shoulder, her voice sweet and coy.

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

            

“Yes…!”

“Then help me put mine on too.”

“Wow, they’re a matching pair.”

            

“Of course.”

Jiang Chenyu held Shen Hetang’s hand, pressing their palms together. She looked at them left and right for a long time. Perhaps because of their fair skin, or because their hands were beautifully shaped—even ordinary gold rings took on an air of high fashion.

On New Year’s Eve night, the room was bright, the quilt was warm, the person was beautiful, and the kiss was sweet.

            

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