Ruan Zhining felt she had encountered the biggest trouble of her 20 years.
Three minutes ago, her little tricycle used for selling starch sausages had scraped against a Rolls-Royce.
Since she was ten, she had memorized the brands and models of luxury cars and could rattle them off effortlessly, but this one before her eyes was not on her list.
A private custom model!
Starting at least from forty million.
She remained in her sprawled-on-the-ground position, even forgetting to get up, her mind filled with one line of text: RMB -1,000,000...
Just as her brain was crashing, the driver's door opened hurriedly.
A man who looked like the driver got out to inspect.
Seeing the long, deep scratch on the front of the car, he was also shocked.
"This..."
The driver lowered his head. Ruan Zhining caught a glimpse of his coffee-tanned, square-jawed face, honest and simple.
An idea struck her. She bit her lip, and tears just started falling.
"I'm sorry... I just blacked out and fell. It's all my fault for being so useless, not as steady as you are at driving..."
The driver had never seen someone who looked so beautiful crying; the tears could actually fall like pearls, one by one, crystal clear.
The sound of her crying was soft and delicate, sweet but not cloying.
All the accusatory words the driver was about to say stuck in his throat. He found himself somewhat enjoying listening to her cry.
This delicate, pitiful crying naturally disturbed the person in the back seat.
The car window curtain was lifted a corner by a slender finger. The driver immediately, with keen perception, went over and opened the car door.
As the refreshing cool air from the luxury car spilled out, a pair of handmade leather shoes stepped out onto the rainy ground.
Custom-made Hermès from a rare leather collection, over 400,000...
Ruan Zhining's sobs hitched.
Her gaze instinctively traveled upward.
The man was very tall, at least 190cm, and extremely handsome—not the pretty-boy kind of handsome, but the noble, arrogant, aloof kind.
He stood under the black umbrella held by the driver, his thick brows slightly furrowed, asking in a deep voice, "What happened?"
"President Wen, this young lady scraped our car..."
The driver explained the situation and, at the end, surprisingly added, "Maybe the rain was too heavy, the sky too dark. It's my fault for not paying enough attention to the road."
This statement was a foolish act of taking blame upon oneself.
Wen Chongyan, as a top-tier capitalist managing a conglomerate of hundreds of thousands, understood deeply that human nature is to seek advantage and avoid harm. He saw clearly how his subordinates shifted blame onto each other every day.
In such matters, people usually shirk responsibility onto each other; how could someone speak up for another?
Wen Chongyan's gaze involuntarily fell on the woman lying on the ground.
Ruan Zhining was soaked through. Due to her position, her top had ridden up, revealing a small section of her waist, soft and slender.
It glowed whitely in the dim, rainy night.
And the owner of this waist seemed completely unaware, just staring up at him like that, her small mouth slightly agape, looking utterly stunned.
Wen Chongyan's habitually furrowed brows relaxed slightly.
Was he really that frightening?
To scare a young girl like this.
Ruan Zhining was scared—
but not by the handsome man before her, but by the head-to-toe value he represented.
His suit, seven figures;
His watch, eight figures;
His cufflinks, five figures starting with an eight...
Ruan Zhining's tears flowed even more fiercely. For her own poverty.
Wen Chongyan truly hadn't expected she would be this scared of him.
Looking at her innocent, unworldly appearance, she probably didn't even understand what a luxury car was. She likely wasn't from the city.
So beautiful—did her family feel at ease letting her out so late?
He asked, "Is your family local?"
Instant alarm bells rang in Ruan Zhining's mind.
He's asking for an address, definitely to discuss sky-high compensation!
"I... my name is Ruan Xiaocui. My home is in Ruan Family Village nearby. I usually stay home to look after the child, but the family really had no money to buy rice, so I could only borrow a villager's tricycle to come out and sell some snacks..."
Child?
She's so young, her waist so slender.
She already has a child?
Wen Chongyan couldn't help but frown. "Your husband didn't come with you?"
"My man left me and the child. He's been gone for three years and hasn't come back... I don't know where to find him either..."
"Sir, I'm sorry. I made some money selling starch sausages today. I... I'll compensate you!"
As she spoke, Ruan Zhining unzipped the backpack on her, one hand firmly covering the section holding over a dozen hundred-yuan bills, deliberately shaking the other side filled with coins...
One-yuan coins clattered to the ground.
One kuai, two kuai, three kuai...
When it reached fourteen kuai, Wen Chongyan finally interrupted her:
"Not necessary."
"Xiao Zhang, help her up and move her vehicle aside."
The meaning was clear: he wouldn't make her pay.
Ruan Zhining felt as if granted a great pardon. Overjoyed, she cried—real tears this time: "Thank you, sir! I... and my daughter will remember your great kindness and virtue for the rest of our lives! We will definitely repay you someday!"
Repaying him was an opportunity she'd never have, because she could never see this man again.
If he found out she had lied to him, it would be over!
Wen Chongyan turned and got back into the car.
The moment he sat down inside, a stray thought crossed his mind—
What nerve in her husband's brain had misfired, to abandon such a beautiful wife.
But Wen Chongyan's thought lasted only half a minute before being interrupted by a call from his special assistant:
"President Wen, are you available to come to Jinshan Hospital now? Your nephew, Wen Xiyu, went into the sea to collect shells and almost drowned. He was just rescued."
...
"Rescued? Is he out of danger now?"
Ruan Zhining had just fished her phone out from the waterproof pouch in her backpack when she was startled by this call from her roommate, Xie Lanlan.
"How would I know if Wen Xiyu is out of danger? I'm not at the hospital."
"Who knows what madness struck Wen Xiyu, going to collect shells. Probably saw one of your show-off TikToks."
"You'd better pray Wen Xiyu is okay. If he dies, I'll buy a trending topic to cyberbully you, since he's your boyfriend after all~ Heehee."
Xie Lanlan finished her gloating and hung up.
Ruan Zhining didn't know if this was another one of Xie Lanlan's pranks, as they had been on bad terms for a long time.
She immediately pulled up Wen Xiyu's WeChat.
After a moment's thought, she took a photo of the rainy night and sent it.
Caption: Doesn't it look like the moon is crying?
No reply.
Could he really be in trouble?
Ruan Zhining's heart sank.
She and Wen Xiyu had met at a gathering organized by a senior.
The other girls who went all thought Wen Xiyu was like everyone else—commoners from the bottom struggling to make it—so they treated him indifferently.
Only Ruan Zhining was especially gentle to him, added his WeChat, and showed him care from time to time.
Later, Wen Xiyu hesitantly proposed:
He needed to deal with family-arranged blind dates and asked if she could pretend to be his girlfriend. He would pay her.
Ruan Zhining agreed and didn't take a single cent from him.
Of course, all of the above wasn't because Ruan Zhining was naive and foolish.
It was because—
Ruan Zhining had known all along that he was the only young master of his generation in the Wen Rui Group.
Wen Rui, the leading enterprise in Jing City. The top of the top among wealthy families.
Why pretend to be his girlfriend for free? Because her goal was to become his real girlfriend, and, his lawful wife.
After all, who wouldn't want to date a tall, rich, and handsome man and eventually marry into a wealthy family?
Whether it's being a wealthy lady or a divorced single heiress with a massive settlement, both are excellent, excellent outcomes.
Especially for someone like her, who is desperately short on money—so much so that even topping up her phone bill relies on secretly selling starch sausages on the side.
Ruan Zhining asked a senior who was close with Wen Xiyu.
The news she got was: Wen Xiyu was not in life-threatening danger and was now at Jinshan Hospital.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
It's good that he's okay.
But in a situation like this, she definitely had to make an appearance.
She picked up the coins that had fallen on the ground earlier, wiped them clean, and put them away, then went to a phone store to top up her balance.
Next, she went to the hospital and paid the overdue balance, which was half a month late, with the hundred-yuan bills from her bag.
Then, she stored her tricycle at the fried chicken cutlet shop across from the university.
After finishing all this and returning to the dormitory, it was 8:30 PM. As expected, her roommates were all out. This was prime time for college students to party.
Ruan Zhining quickly changed out of her starch sausage selling clothes and hid them deep in her wardrobe.
She changed into an ethereal, fairy-like white maxi dress, revealing a slender section of her ankle.
On her feet were white sneakers, slightly worn.
Of course, it wasn't intentional distressing; she simply didn't have enough money to buy a new pair.
She might as well wear the old ones—it could even make her seem more resilient and stubborn.
She blow-dried her hair, letting her dark, smooth, long black hair cascade over her shoulders, and slung a canvas bag over her back.
She was the spitting image of the white moonlight first love from a romance novel.
After checking herself in the mirror from all angles, confirming her persona was firmly in place, Ruan Zhining finally left the dorm, satisfied.
After hailing a ride using a 70%-off DiDi coupon, she sent another WeChat message to Wen Xiyu:
[Xiyu, I just heard... please don't scare me]
Paired with a soft, pitiful puppy crying sticker.
Unexpectedly, the other party replied:
[Be at Jinshan Hospital within twenty minutes. I want to see you.]
For some reason, she felt this commanding tone didn't quite sound like Wen Xiyu.
Ruan Zhining's slender, pale fingers paused. She didn't reply.
Although she and Wen Xiyu were "boyfriend and girlfriend," it was currently just a facade.
They hadn't even reached the ambiguous stage; they were still in the phase where she was establishing and repeatedly reinforcing her persona in front of him.
The biggest taboo for a woman is letting a man think he can chat and flirt with you casually.
What is obtained with effort is cherished all the more.
That's why the white moonlight in novels remains unforgettable to the male lead.
As she was thinking this, the taxi arrived at Jinshan Hospital.
Ruan Zhining got out of the car, smoothed her skirt, and then walked into the hospital with graceful, somewhat delicate steps.
