Chapter One Hundred and One: Aren't You Afraid of Retribution?

All day long, Xiaoxiao had been looking for a chance to get close to Nina, but the public relations department was too far from their office, and going over there on purpose would have seemed far too contrived. After all, this was nothing glorious, and she still had to help conceal the shame of the three people involved. There could be no noise about it.

She had thought she would have no chance to bring it up today, but as luck would have it, she ran into Nina in the elevator after work. She made up an excuse, saying she had her eye on a handbag and wanted Nina, the expert, to take a look at it. Nina was naturally delighted, declined the invitation from the other girls in PR, and left with Xiaoxiao first.

“Which brand?” Nina asked with lively interest. “It’s rare for you to finally come to your senses. I’ll do you this favor.”

The two of them went into a back lane. After a long while, Xiaoxiao finally said, “Nina, I want to ask you for another favor.”

Nina sensed that something was off and smiled with a hint of caution. Xiaoxiao asked directly, “When did you and Zeng Ziyu start?”

“So that’s what this is about.” Nina seemed to have long expected this conversation and was quite calm about it. “Come to think of it, you were part of the match too. It happened right on the day of the Grand View Tower event you planned.”

Only then did Xiaoxiao realize that the timing had not been a coincidence. At first, she had thought the two people could never possibly have been entangled, yet she had actually brought them together herself. It was only because she had poured all her attention into her feud with Lin Shuo that she had failed to notice this affection quietly taking root in the shadows. Thinking of this, she realized she had unknowingly done something unjust to Huamei. If anyone was to stand up and take responsibility, she herself was the very culprit.

“You want my help. How exactly am I supposed to help?” Nina lit a cigarette, her red lips languidly closing around the filter. A cat leaped across the roof of the dilapidated houses in the back lane. Nina exhaled a faint ring of smoke and said, “I know you look down on my behavior, maybe even despise it, but what about yourself? I thought you were so lofty, and in the end you weren’t any different, hanging on to Lin Shuo all the same. We’re all the same.”

Xiaoxiao had long known Nina was not someone to be trifled with, and for that reason she had kept her distance over the years. Only today did she realize that those alluring lips could utter such cutting words. Her last trace of goodwill toward Nina was utterly extinguished. Her gaze swept over the expensive clothes and accessories on Nina’s body, and she shot back, “At least there are some things I would never accept.”

There was still more than half a cigarette left, but Nina flicked it to the ground. The red ember dimmed little by little. In her eyes was a look of neither humility nor arrogance. “I know what you want to say. These past years, there really have been plenty of men who tried to win me over with sweet words and gifts. Women are born with no resistance to luxury goods, but I have never accepted them. As for what you see now, I earned every bit of it myself, and I spend it without the least guilt. Don’t imagine that because I’m with Zeng Ziyu, I’ll necessarily be asking him for this and that. In truth, many women don’t understand that a fine horse needs a fine saddle. If you want to stand beside an outstanding man, you must first be an outstanding woman yourself. At the very least, you have to be presentable.”

These words were strikingly similar to what had been said at the wedding banquet that day, and Xiaoxiao could not help beginning to believe that Nina truly had never demanded anything from Zeng Ziyu. On that point alone, Nina seemed even more captivating than Huamei.

“Money has nothing to do with me, but can you really do this and still feel at ease?”

“Ni Xiaoxiao, don’t make yourself out to be a saint. There are so many things you simply cannot control, so why wade into muddy water? Go back and tell your dear friend this: if she can’t keep hold of her own husband, who exactly is she supposed to blame? If she wants him, she can come and take him herself. There’s no need to find some middleman!”

Nina turned to leave. Xiaoxiao could not bear her arrogant attitude any longer, so she rushed forward a few steps to block her path and asked in a sharp voice, “Aren’t you afraid of retribution?”