They were already going out of their way to offer this much, just for a chance to reel Liuxian in.

Still, even if they offered him zero yuan he would have still done it.

After all, he would reap the fruit of his labor in the future.

Dear TongShu Team,

Thank you for the offer. I’d like to discuss further. I’m open to a meeting so let me know what works for you.

Best regards,

Tang XiaoYu.

After this Guiying switched to emails, it was the same, more and more deals.

But he wasn’t really open to becoming a celebrity, he only chose deals that would benefit him in the future.

The reply from TongShu came faster than expected like they had been waiting for him.

Dear Tang XiaoYu,

Thank you for considering our offer.

We’re available to meet Wednesday or Thursday.

Would either of these days suit you?

Best regards,

TongShu Team.

He stared at the email.

Wednesday or Thursday.

He looked at his schedule, which was to say he thought about his schedule, which was to say he had no schedule. He was a man who lived in a mansion, invested from his laptop, ran errands in disguise, and was home before dinner most days. He was, by any honest accounting, available every day of the week at any hour of the day.

He was a boring housewife.

He sat with that for a moment.

Then he typed back.

Dear TongShu Team,

Wednesday works for me. Please send the location and time at your convenience.

Best regards,

Tang XiaoYu.

He sent it and closed the laptop.

He looked at the ceiling.

A boring housewife who was about to sign a contract with a startup that would be worth a significant portion of the country’s luxury menswear market in five years. A boring housewife with a ten million yuan investment portfolio that was growing quietly and consistently every week. A boring housewife who had a black market informant, a flipped private investigator, and a seat at Bai Feng’s table.

He picked up his phone and opened his investment dashboard.

His Sungsing shares were up again.

He allowed himself a small, private smile and got to work.

---

His phone buzzed an hour later.

TongShu Team: Wednesday confirmed. 10am. We’ll send the address shortly. We look forward to meeting you, Mr. Tang.

Guiying looked at the message.

Then he looked at his reflection in the dark phone screen, the face of someone who had died at twenty eight with nothing and was sitting in a mansion at twenty three building something that Shen Zihao, the Xue family, and everyone who had ever looked at him and seen nothing would never be able to touch.

He put the phone down and reached for his mixed nuts.

It was going to be a good Wednesday.

Guiying pulled out a notebook from the desk drawer and uncapped a pen.

He had been meaning to do this for days.

He was almost two weeks into his new life and had not stopped moving long enough to take stock of where he actually was.

He wrote for a while, working through everything methodically.

The Xue family and the false trail sitting in Harbin.

Liuxian.

The gala.

The courthouse.

His investments, the TongShu deal and the ORF.

He wrote about Zi Sihan and felt something settle quietly in his chest.

He turned to a fresh page and wrote the date at the top out of habit.

May 19th, 2024.

He stopped.

Then looked at it.

Then he was on his feet.

Yang Limo!

His only friend.

The only person in his entire first life who had called him his friend and meant it with nothing behind it except genuine warmth.

Yang Limo who had been studying in the States for three years and had been on his way back to China on this exact date and had never made it past the airport road.

Guiying grabbed his old phone from the nightstand and switched it on with hands that were not entirely steady.

When it finally came on he ignored the flood of notifications from the Xue family and scrolled straight to Yang Limo’s messages. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

The most recent one came in yesterday at 9pm.

Limo: babe boarding now!! night flight as always you know me. see you in china tmr i missed you so much.

Guiying looked at the timestamp, then at the clock on his main phone.

7:45am.

He did the calculation quickly. If Limo had boarded at 9pm and the flight was eleven to twelve hours, he would have already landed.

And Limo had a habit of sleeping in airports when he arrived early, sitting in a corner with his headphones in until the sun was properly up before getting into a car.

He prayed that was the case today.

He called.

It rang twice before it got through.

"Baby?" Lazy, warm, entirely alive. "Baby I missed you so much!"

Guiying sat down on the edge of the bed and exhaled.

"Limo," he said. "Where are you right now?"

"Baby, shouldn’t you say you missed me too? It’s been three years, I literally—"

"Shut the crap, Limo. Where are you?"

"Geez." A pause. "I’m at the hospital."

The relief that had just settled in Guiying’s chest evaporated instantly.

-_-

"Which hospital?" he said. "I’m coming now."

"Aww, can’t wait to see you baby. I’m at Laobao Hospital."

"Stay there. Don’t move."

He hung up, switched the old phone off, and slid it under his pillow. He grabbed his main phone, threw his coat on over his indoor clothes, shoved his feet into the first shoes he saw which happened to be the bear slippers, and ran out of the room.

He was halfway down the stairs when Liuxian appeared in the entrance hall below, fully dressed for work, a glass of water in his hand.

He looked up at Guiying.

"My friend is in the hospital," Guiying said, already at the bottom of the stairs. "I need to go right now. Is uncle Wang here?"

"Not yet," Liuxian said. He set the glass down. "So I’ll drive you. Grab my briefcase."

He finished the last of his water and headed for the door without another word.

Guiying grabbed the briefcase from the rack and followed him out.