Won't Admit Defeat Easily

Lin Meng held the pheromone-laced perfume Su Yutang had given her before leaving, unable to bring herself to press the nozzle.

Although Su Yutang had said the pheromones were only present in trace amounts and that spraying it on herself wouldn’t affect anyone around her, Lin Meng still worried it might harm others. After all, Su Yutang had added one more condition: as long as that person didn’t get too close to her, the alpha or omega absolutely wouldn’t be affected by the pheromones.

But at work, she inevitably came into contact with colleagues.

Back then, Su Yutang had wiped down her body, then smoothed an entire bottle of golden caviar cream over her. Lin Meng didn’t like Su Yutang’s touch, but the woman had long since found the perfect excuse to rub lotion on her body... Even if those hands groped every inch of her, she couldn’t find a reason to refuse.

Of course, even if she refused, it would be useless.

Lin Meng was afraid Su Yutang might do more than just apply lotion, so she didn’t dare move recklessly.

At the time, Lin Meng had no idea that a 100g jar of that face cream was worth twenty thousand yuan—practically the price of gold! If she’d known Su Yutang was slathering gold onto her body, she never would have lain there so obediently, letting Su Yutang do whatever she pleased.

Su Yutang stroked Lin Meng’s skin, soft as fresh tofu. Lin Meng worked every day without a thought for self-care, but fortunately her foundation was good; a little face cream and she was supple again. One day, Su Yutang would lock Lin Meng in her villa and pin her down to apply face cream every single day.

At the thought, delight surged in Su Yutang’s heart. She leaned forward, pressing her breasts against Lin Meng’s fair, smooth back. “Darling, even though that beta Yun Huaizhu can’t smell pheromones either, you need to make a conscious effort to keep your distance from her, understand?”

Lin Meng was briefly stunned. So Su Yutang still believed Yun Huaizhu was a beta.

The original novel’s plot had now diverged a hundred thousand miles from the current course of events. Lin Meng hadn’t expected that by the time the original story was nearly halfway through, Su Yutang still hadn’t discovered Yun Huaizhu’s omega identity.

Of course, it was better that she hadn’t. That way, Yun Huaizhu wouldn’t have to suffer at her hands.

While Lin Meng was mulling this over, Su Yutang took her silence as reluctance to cut ties with Yun Huaizhu—as refusal. Her expression darkened instantly. She grabbed Lin Meng’s chin and forced her to look up. “Darling, did you take my words to heart? If you really have Yun Huaizhu’s interests at heart, stay away from her. I might be angry that you two are close, but I won’t take it out on you. If I find out you’ve been meeting her behind my back, though, I definitely won’t let her off.”

Lin Meng snapped back to attention and nodded quickly. “Mm, I understand.”

Her answer was mostly perfunctory, but Su Yutang chose to believe her.

In the end, Lin Meng still couldn’t bring herself to do it. She couldn’t spray the pheromone-laced perfume on herself.

Su Yutang had sworn it was harmless, but Lin Meng had read the novel. S-rank alpha pheromones were no joke; even a tiny trace in perfume could affect others.

Above all, Lin Meng feared causing trouble for others, so she tucked the perfume at the very bottom of the redwood chest where she kept her clothes. She had brought the chest from her hometown; it was carved with antique patterns.

From old chat records, Lin Meng learned that this redwood chest had been her mother Lin Yinghong’s dowry. Lin Yinghong had worried about her going to Jing City alone, with no one to rely on, so she’d told her to bring this half-person-tall chest along. If things ever got truly desperate, she could sell it for some money.

After all, it was the only valuable thing she had. Her mother hoped her daughter, far from home, would have something to fall back on.

Lin Meng didn’t know why, but lately she rarely thought of the people from her original world. She had never met this mother, Lin Yinghong. Perhaps she was very gentle, very good to her... That thought added a layer of anticipation to the idea of returning home.

Knowing there was someone worrying about her, someone looking forward to her return, waiting at home.

That was a very happy thing.

...

The company had a long holiday in October, plus her five days of annual leave—the break amounted to nearly half a month.

Lin Meng had been apartment hunting again. But after searching high and low, she discovered that nowhere near her current workplace had rent as cheap as where she lived now; and anywhere with conditions similar to her current apartment was far away, requiring over an hour of commuting each day.

Lin Meng had already gotten used to reaching the office in ten minutes. If she had to get up more than an hour earlier every day to go to work, she’d rather die.

Lin Meng counted the days on her fingers. Actually, it was only three months until the New Year. Maybe she should just hold out for three more months; when the time came, she’d scram. After all, she still wanted this year’s year-end bonus. With that money, she could lie around at home for a while longer.

Once she’d trained her mental state enough, perhaps she could open a dessert shop or flower shop in her small hometown county, or find a leisurely job, living the life of a salted fish.

Lin Meng grinned at the thought.

Just as Lin Meng was lying in bed thinking about this, someone knocked on her door. Hearing it, she quickly got up, slipped on her slippers, and hurried to the door.

When she opened the door and saw those familiar, smiling fox eyes, she froze.

That day, she remembered shoving Huo Yi into the hotel wardrobe in a panic to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. But the next morning, after Su Yutang finished applying face cream to her and went to the wardrobe for a bathrobe, Huo Yi—who had been inside—was gone.

Lin Meng had always wanted to apologize to Huo Yi. She hadn’t meant to forget Huo Yi was in the wardrobe. That night, Su Yutang had said so many things to her, and her mind had been so full that it went blank—that was how she gradually forgot Huo Yi was still hiding in the wardrobe.

When she saw Su Yutang striding toward the wardrobe, she’d actually been panicking inside. But when she saw nothing in the wardrobe except the hotel’s bathrobes, the weight in her heart lifted.

Thankfully, the two of them hadn’t met, and no misunderstanding had been caused.

Lin Meng saw the usual smile on Huo Yi’s face; she didn’t seem affected by that night at all.

Even so, Lin Meng still lowered her head in immense guilt. “Yiyi, I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to forget you that night. My mind was a mess at the time, and when I woke up in the morning I wanted to find you, but I never got the chance. Later, when I realized you’d left, I felt relieved, but either way, this was my fault. Can you forgive me?”

Huo Yi’s smile didn’t waver at Lin Meng’s words. She rested one hand on the doorframe. “Mengmeng, I have something to tell you. Can I come in?”

At this moment, Lin Meng’s guilt toward Huo Yi peaked, so she opened the door wide without hesitation. “Of course, please come in.”

Huo Yi stepped inside and sat on the sofa, watching Lin Meng slowly close the door at the entrance. Just from her back, she could tell how uneasy Lin Meng was.

Only when Lin Meng felt the most guilty, the most pitying toward others, could Huo Yi make selfish requests—because only then would Lin Meng agree without a second thought.

Lin Meng’s face was full of apology toward Huo Yi. After pouring her a cup of hot water, she sat at the other end of the sofa, deliberately keeping her distance.

She had just apologized, but Huo Yi hadn’t immediately forgiven her—that meant Huo Yi was still angry. How could she make Huo Yi feel better?

As she mulled this over, Huo Yi took a sip of the hot water she’d poured, set down the cup, and looked at Lin Meng, who was fidgeting with her fingers.

Huo Yi silently shifted closer to Lin Meng, then reached out and placed a hand over the back of Lin Meng’s. “Mengmeng, I’m not angry with you. It’s just that after that night, you’ve barely talked to me. Actually, even before that night, I knew you still minded what happened between me and Yun Huaizhu.”

Hearing that Huo Yi wasn’t angry, a flicker of light passed through Lin Meng’s eyes. She looked at Huo Yi and said hurriedly, “No, no, Yiyi, I don’t mind what happened between you and Zhuzhu. I admit Zhuzhu was wrong to act out that day, but I truly hope you two can get along—especially Zhuzhu... She has it so hard, and I don’t want her to be distracted by other things.”

In saying this, she was essentially pleading on Yun Huaizhu’s behalf.

She was secretly begging Huo Yi not to target Yun Huaizhu over what had happened.

When Huo Yi heard this, a fleeting trace of hurt flashed through her eyes.

She had known Lin Meng would say this. She should have known her place in Lin Meng’s heart was beneath Yun Huaizhu’s. Actually, that night, she had opened the hotel door wide and gently closed it behind her. In that moment, something in her heart had shifted—

If Lin Meng hadn’t brought up what happened at the hotel that night, she wouldn’t have even realized Lin Meng had forgotten she was in the wardrobe.

To be honest, Lin Meng didn’t really care about her at all. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have forgotten her just because her thoughts were momentarily in disarray.

But she had never been the type to easily admit defeat. Su Yutang could play mad and beg Lin Meng for scraps of affection—so why couldn’t she?

Her personality wasn’t as vicious as Su Yutang’s, nor as obsessive as Yun Huaizhu’s. As long as she treated Lin Meng with sincerity, there would come a moment when Lin Meng’s gaze would rest on her.

Huo Yi concealed the sorrow in her eyes and reached out to hook her arm through Lin Meng’s. “Mm... Don’t worry, I definitely won’t make trouble for Yun Huaizhu over this. Just as you like Yun Huaizhu, I like you. So as long as it’s something you ask of me and I can do it, I will.”

Lin Meng didn’t know why, but when she heard Huo Yi say that Lin Meng liked Yun Huaizhu, a faint guilt stirred in her heart. Her affection for Yun Huaizhu was the love of a friend, the admiration for a stunning two-dimensional character—so why did hearing the word “like” make her so uneasy?

She had always liked Yun Huaizhu as a friend.

But when she heard Huo Yi say she would like her the way Lin Meng liked Yun Huaizhu, something felt off.

That kind of “like” seemed different from the love of a friend.

Lin Meng suddenly remembered what Huo Yi had said when she kissed her—if a person kissed her and she didn’t dislike it, that was what “like” meant.

But how could she like so many people at once?

So her relationships with these people must be friendship.

Seeing Lin Meng lost in thought, Huo Yi knew she must be pondering their relationship.

She reached out and laced her fingers through Lin Meng’s. Lin Meng still felt guilty about forgetting her in the hotel wardrobe, so even though Huo Yi did this, Lin Meng didn’t resist at all.

Huo Yi looked at her with a smile. “Mengmeng, I heard your October holiday is combined with your annual leave this year. You know, even though I’m not angry about you forgetting me in the hotel wardrobe, I was actually very sad... because you don’t care about me at all. I genuinely treat you as a good friend, but you slept with Su Yutang so early, and you’re ambiguous with Yun Huaizhu. My sincerity turned out to be a joke in the end, but I like you too much to be angry with you.”

Her face was full of desolation as she spoke. “I always thought sincerity could be exchanged for sincerity, but in the end I can only helplessly be angry at myself. I’ve thought about it for a long time these past few days—I wonder if I was wrong to keep pestering you like this?”

Hearing this, Lin Meng’s heart felt like it was being squeezed tight for a moment. She shook her head frantically. “No! That’s not it, Yiyi. You’re a good person; it’s all my fault... I made you sad. You’re not pestering me, and I don’t dislike you. As for sleeping together, that time was truly an accident. I helped the Young Miss the same way I’d help you. The situation was urgent that day, and I had no choice but to...” Do that.

Before she could finish, Huo Yi gently pressed a finger to her parted lips. “You don’t need to explain. I understand everything. It’s me who doesn’t understand what kind of relationship we have. That’s why this time I booked two tickets to Switzerland. I’ve wanted to go skiing with you for a long time, but you always refused. And with what happened with Yun Huaizhu recently, I never got the chance to tell you. If you also want to know what kind of relationship we have, will you come ski with me?”

Lin Meng’s eyes widened in shock. She saw the utterly devout look in Huo Yi’s eyes.

Whether it was Yun Huaizhu lashing out at Huo Yi before, or her forgetting Huo Yi in the wardrobe while meeting Su Yutang this time—both were tied to her.

She didn’t like the cold, but she didn’t want to make Huo Yi sad either...

Things had come to this. Perhaps she should also think about what kind of relationship she had with Huo Yi.

She wanted to slowly distance herself from the people in Su Yutang’s circle, because they didn’t belong to the same world. But these people all wore such pitiful expressions. She could never bear to refuse others. She was truly just an ordinary person—no money, no power—so providing these people with financial security was utterly impossible.

The only thing she could offer was her insignificant companionship.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Meng nodded. “Alright...”

A flash of surprise lit up Huo Yi’s eyes. She grabbed Lin Meng’s shoulders excitedly. “Really?”

Lin Meng gave a slight nod. “Mm, but I need to be back two days before the holiday ends.”

Huo Yi, as if overjoyed, stepped forward and hugged her tightly. “Mm, I’ll arrange everything for you. Just relax.”

Huo Yi’s embrace was very warm. After being alone for so long, she liked quiet most of all, but occasionally having one or two people by her side made her heart feel warm too. Back when Yun Huaizhu slept beside her, she was silent and soundless, but she knew someone was lying next to her, warming her with their body.

She dearly hoped she was no longer alone, yet she feared emotions that burned too fiercely. She was so cold that she’d grown used to being alone, but sometimes she was afraid of being by herself.

The times she feared loneliness were few, but those moments were extremely hard to endure.

Lin Meng was stunned for a long while before slowly reaching out to hug Huo Yi back.

Just this once. Let her see her own heart clearly.

...

Yun Huaizhu walked into the top-floor conference room of the building with great anxiety. Many shareholders were already waiting for her.

Her brows were tightly knit, her expression extremely grim. As soon as she sat down, someone handed her a stack of documents. “President Yun, these are the companies that previously wanted to cooperate with us. Half a month ago, they suddenly decided not to. The companies that signed contracts with us would rather pay ten times the penalty to dissolve the partnership. Right now, aside from our overseas branch, most of the major groups in Jing City have excluded us from their partnerships.”

Yun Huaizhu flipped through the documents on those companies, then looked at the assistant standing nearby. “Did you send people to negotiate with their liaisons? What did they say?”

The assistant’s face turned troubled. “Someone from the Cen Corporation president’s side let it slip privately that she wants you to think back—have you offended anyone recently?”

Hearing this, Yun Huaizhu understood everything.

During this period when she’d been busy with business, she had only offended one person: the one who held power in the Su family, Su Yurong.

The parasites within the Yun family had long been cleaned out by her. Even if those people wanted to bite back, they lacked the courage and ability. After all, she was now the head of the Yun Corporation. If anyone in the family dared to cause her trouble, her Yun uncle’s family was their example.

It was with such ruthless methods that Yun Huaizhu had gathered all the shares into her hands in just half a year. Of course, if anyone refused to submit, she would force them to. Her mother had used the same tactics back then. Over the years, she had come to understand that as the head of the family, one’s heart must never be soft.

Now Su Yurong held absolute power in Jing City. Her last scheme against the Su family—making Su Yutang pay a sky-high price for the necklace—had already been discovered by Su Yurong. If Su Yurong truly wanted to deal with her, she could ruin her in a short time, even drive her out of Jing City like a stray dog.

But Su Yurong hadn’t done that. She had watched as Yun Huaizhu’s domestic company went public, turning a blind eye to her expansion into overseas markets.

That meant the person behind all this might not be Su Yurong, but Su Yutang.

But wasn’t Su Yutang locked up by Su Yurong?

Had she already been released?

Why hadn’t she heard a single whisper? If that were true, Su Yutang must be plotting something vicious again.

Her eyes weren’t blind; she could see at a glance that Su Yutang—that mad dog—wanted to claim Lin Meng for herself. But unfortunately, Lin Meng didn’t like that rabid dog at all.

Su Yutang was jealous that she had Lin Meng’s affection, so she targeted her at every turn.

Yun Huaizhu slammed the stack of documents onto the table in fury. “Despicable coward!”

“Then what do we do next? Without partnership funding, the projects we just started will stall. Chip products on the market update and iterate too quickly. If we lack sufficient capital, we can’t develop new products, and the company will soon face peril.”

Yun Huaizhu propped her head in her hands, thinking. After some unknown length of time, she raised her head to look at the company’s core members. “Since the partnerships in Jing City can’t be negotiated, we’ll go elsewhere. I refuse to believe it—does the Su family really have connections across the entire country? As long as our project risk assessment is low and our product quality passes, there will be people willing to work with us. Right now, investigate all companies nationwide that might be interested in cooperating. I’ll negotiate with them personally.”

Behind Yun Huaizhu, Wang Yifang, who had been silent all this time, suddenly bent down and spoke softly in her ear. “Miss, if you’re going to negotiate personally, it will take one or two months. You can send people to negotiate with the smaller companies, and handle the major enterprises yourself.”

Yun Huaizhu shook her head. “I’ll speed up the pace. I’ve been isolated by these people in Jing City. If I don’t show sincerity when cooperating with others, our outcome will only be worse. Of course, I’ll make initial contact at each location, and as long as the other party is interested, I’ll leave my assistant to handle the rest.”

Several of the people present were veteran shareholders who had followed Yun Huaizhu’s mother back in the day. Hearing this, they cast looks of admiration toward Yun Huaizhu. So young, yet so decisive—her temperament was exactly like the former chairwoman.

By now, Yun Huaizhu had already considered the worst-case scenario.

If things really didn’t work out, she would have no choice but to declare the Yun family company bankrupt. After all, a third of the annual profits from her emerging industry had to be funneled into filling the gaps in the Yun family’s old film and media company.

In recent years, the film and television industry had been declining steadily. Even popular idols and celebrities couldn’t reverse the downturn. It was precisely because Yun Huaizhu saw this that she had decisively switched industries after securing cash flow. Fortunately, things had gone fairly smoothly so far.

But if it truly came to that point, she really would have to abandon the company her mother had left her.

Over the years, she had managed to keep the old company afloat, more or less, but ever since she left the entertainment industry, it had worsened by the day. She knew that abandoning it and declaring bankruptcy was the best strategy to protect herself and all those employees—but she couldn’t bear to part with it...

Because Yun Jinyu had left her so few mementos. This massive company carried nearly twenty years of her mother’s blood, sweat, and tears. So in desperate straits, she always gritted her teeth and held on, deluding herself that she could reverse the film and entertainment company’s decline.

But times had changed after all. Modern things advanced by the day; new and novel gadgets appeared almost every month. The old entertainment business model was destined to decline.

No matter how much she couldn’t bear to let go, no matter how much that company embodied the memory Yun Jinyu had left her, she had no choice but to abandon it.

If this had happened in the past, she would have sunk into endless self-reproach, even madness. But... she had someone she loved now. Even if she gave it up, Yun Jinyu would forgive her.

She always believed she would carry her memories of Yun Jinyu and live happily.

...

After the meeting ended, Yun Huaizhu’s thoughts weren’t thrown into disarray by the barrage of problems.

There was only one Cen family in Jing City. Yun Huaizhu remembered that the Cen family was supposedly going to form a marriage alliance with the Su family. Their daughter was only two years younger than her, but that Miss Cen had never received any proper education—only feudal dregs.

If Miss Cen really did marry into the Su family, that would be walking into a wolf’s den. Not even bones would remain.

Although Yun Huaizhu didn’t think much of the marriage alliance, she was a selfish person. If Su Yutang really got married, then she wouldn’t be able to pester Lin Meng anymore, and Lin Meng naturally wouldn’t spare her a glance.

Logically, if the Cen family and Su family formed a marriage alliance, the Cen family should be on the Su family’s side. So why had the Cen family secretly leaked the news that Su Yutang was targeting her?

Just as Yun Huaizhu was musing aloud to Wang Yifang, Wang Yifang suddenly spoke. “Miss, I also found it strange at the time, so I quietly sent someone to investigate the Cen family. It turns out that the Miss Cen who was supposed to marry into the Su family, Cen Jingshu, disappeared two months ago. The Cen family has been searching frantically for two months. Their engagement banquet with the Su family is imminent, and to avoid the collapse of their cooperation with the Su family, they don’t dare let the Su family know. So they’ve been secretly searching for Miss Cen.”

Hearing this, Yun Huaizhu’s heart was filled with complicated feelings. She wanted Su Yutang to stop pestering Lin Meng, but she didn’t want an eighteen-year-old girl to jump into a pit of fire. Yet when she actually heard that Su Yutang’s engagement had fallen through, it didn’t sit right with her either.

How had she become so calculating and scheming?

If Lin Meng knew she’d become like this, would she still like her without reservation?