Chapter 36
Calm and composed, like someone with nothing to fear.
Fu Nanshuang gave her a deep look, then turned and left.
On the way back, everyone looked at Zhong Ning; the young alpha wore a bitter expression, more miserable than if she had eaten ten bitter gourds.
Zheng Xuan seemed like she wanted to speak but stopped, yet still wanted to speak.
Zhong Ning, who couldn’t read the mood, didn’t pick up on it at all. After holding it in for a while, Zheng Xuan finally asked directly, "Little Ning, do you really not remember what happened that night?"
Zhong Ning forced a slight smile. "I really don’t remember. I’ve completely forgotten."
"The Lantern Festival night..."
Fu Nanshuang, brimming with towering anger, cursed in a torrent, "If Madam Zhong didn’t always make a fuss over nothing, would your mother have gotten angry?" (Editor: there was a fight that night, original Zhong Ning got mad and drunk)
"She just seized the chance to make trouble, she's truly despicable. She clearly knew that day was..."
She suddenly shut her mouth, realizing she had said too much.
Zhong Ning froze for a moment.
What about that day? Say it! Why aren’t you saying it now?
Everyone present clearly knew, but they all laughed it off while secretly glancing at her expression.
But she really didn’t know!
This absurd feeling of having a secret that all her friends knew while she was completely clueless...
And she couldn’t even ask about it.
Zhong Ning’s expression was extremely complicated, a mix of bitterness, confusion, and sorrow. Seeing her like this, the others tactfully steered the conversation away and began talking about how they believed in her and would find out the truth.
Zhong Ning: Sometimes, you really don’t need to be this considerate. Really.
After such an incident, the gathering couldn’t continue. Fu Nanshuang had the driver take Zhong Ning straight home. After she got out of the car, Fu Nanshuang comforted her again, "We’ll definitely help you clear your name."
The others also leaned out of the car windows one after another, making the same promise.
Zhong Ning was instantly deeply moved.
By comparison, these friends indeed had more power. They were either indisputable heirs of their families or self-made entrepreneurs who had already achieved some success, with access to many resources.
Zhong Ning herself didn’t have such abilities, and the original host had no influence to borrow either.
"Thank you," she said.
There was nothing else she could say.
Zheng Xuan smiled and said, "No need to be polite, go on in."
Zhong Ning walked slowly to the villa entrance with slumped shoulders.
She really wanted to do something, but realized that there was nothing she could do.
She couldn’t give up either. In the face of adversity, she had to believe she could find a way out — this was what her mother had taught her.
She needed to stay calm, not panic, and keep thinking.
Zhong Ning took a few deep breaths and muttered to herself, "I need to think about what I can do."
She had no memories. She had already gone through the phone thoroughly, and indeed, there wasn’t much in it. The original host had a habit of regularly clearing data, and past chat records were only kept for six months. There really wasn’t anything useful.
Then she would go through the original host’s belongings again and see if anything had been missed.
Her friends’ help touched her deeply, but this was her own matter. She couldn’t just rely on others and reap the benefits without doing anything herself. She had to put in effort too.
Zhong Ning rubbed her face, feeling somewhat relieved that Xie Shiqing didn’t see her that night.
Her acting wasn’t good, and her expression looked awful. If this appearance were seen, it would definitely raise suspicion.
She didn’t want to lie, but she also didn’t want this unresolved matter to damage their relationship.
Xie Shiqing was in the study, not in the living room.
Zhong Ning let out a breath of relief, returned to her room, and went to take a shower first, washing off all the various scents clinging to her body so Xie Shiqing wouldn’t smell them.
Warm water swirled as it filled the bathtub. She stared blankly at the vortex formed by the rippling waves. The ripples expanded in her eyes, larger and larger, like a tornado, a deep abyss, capable of sucking away her entire soul.
It wasn’t until the warm water touched her feet that Zhong Ning came back to her senses and realized the tub was already full, with water constantly overflowing.
She pressed the valve, took off her clothes, and lifted her legs to step in.
Some say soaking in warm water gives a sense of security, because the human body recalls the memory of being a fetus. That was why Zhong Ning chose the bathtub, but she didn’t feel relaxed at all.
Panic clutched her throat like a lion sitting on her chest, making it hard for her to breathe.
Zhong Ning hugged her legs, resting her cheek against her knees. The light reflecting off the water shimmered in her eyes like raindrops, like tears.
Would they break up?
That thought was like a nail, embedded deep in her mind.
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Zhong Ning: Wuwuwu, I don’t want to break up with my wife.
Zhong Ning had once fantasized about what her love would be like.
How would her future lover appear? Would it be like in the movies, very romantic—meeting on the street, bumping into each other while running, apologizing, then meeting again another time, going out to eat, and slowly getting together?
Or maybe on a tour bus, she’d sit in the next seat, share earphones, watch movies along the way, whispering to each other, only to realize how well they matched, how aligned their views were.
Or perhaps a sudden love at first sight. She, like a bold lunatic, would see someone on the road, impulsively go over and ask for their contact, but accidentally blurt out "I love you" instead, then nervously try to explain she wasn’t a creep.
No matter what, it was never supposed to be like this—some delusional fantasy of transmigration, arriving in a world inside a book, falling in love with a villain. Was her life just a second-rate novel?
But this was how things had happened. Even if it was just a dream, she had fallen in love with someone in that dream.
This love, that was real and pure, not mixed with any pretense.
It had come fiercely, without any sense of reason.
Life had taught her to go with the flow. She had accepted her reality and truly believed she could have a sweet romance, only for fate to play a huge joke on her.
How could this budding love withstand the beating of stormy winds? She herself was already fragile like a sheet of glass paper that couldn’t bear any risk—how could she build a shelter strong enough to withstand a storm?