Chapter 168: Why Can’t You Let It Go?

"The temptation of this bathwater is so strong, how can I bear to refuse Anning?"

Wen Jingxing's voice was filled with laughter, and the moment Song Wanning heard it, she knew she was about to be teased again. She immediately raised her fist and punched him in the back. "You jerk! You're messing with me again!"

The blow wasn't particularly hard, but Wen Jingxing immediately put on a pained expression. "Ouch, my back hurts so much, I can't even lift my right arm!"

Song Wanning was startled. Could she have misjudged her own strength and hit him too hard? She hurriedly reached out to check his right arm.

The next second, she heard Wen Jingxing say, "My right hand is injured and I can't take a bath. Won't you help me, Anning?"

Only then did Song Wanning realize she had been played again.

"You're teasing me again! I'm not talking to you!" She shook off his hand and made a show of storming out in a huff.

Wen Jingxing quickly grabbed her. "Alright, I won't tease you anymore. Go take your bath and get some rest. If you've decided to take over the management of Qisheng, I'll give you all their documents tomorrow. The acquisition is almost complete; all that's left is the final stock transfer. Once that's done, you'll just need to meet the shareholders and sign the papers."

Song Wanning hesitated. "Doesn't that... mean I'm just getting everything for free from you again?"

"How could that be? The Wen family also holds a portion of the shares. As long as Qisheng makes money, isn't that the same as paying me back?"

"That's true!" Song Wanning smiled and agreed to the arrangement.

From now on, she would need to broaden her knowledge in this area to help Qisheng grow and thrive. Wen Jingxing never actually expected Song Wanning to do the heavy lifting, but as a former Empress, Song Wanning was already well-versed in management. To put it modestly, she had once governed an entire nation—a small company would be child's play. Song Wanning felt full of confidence.

As she opened the door, she saw the cameraman sitting alone and looking pitifully across from Wen Jingxing's room, holding his camera.

Song Wanning blinked. "Why are you sitting here?"

"Be... because I wanted to get a few more shots."

"I see..." Song Wanning remembered that the cameraman had seemed to want to come in earlier but had been scared off by a look from Wen Jingxing. "It's late anyway, you might as well clock off."

The poor cameraman, having been ruthlessly exploited, was now forced off the clock by Song Wanning. Meanwhile, Song Wanning had become the "wicked woman" in the eyes of two other women: Jian An'an and Shen Yue.

***

Jian An'an was currently taking advantage of the fact that the Jin family's relatives were busy eating to summon Shen Yue to the vicinity of the Jin house. She couldn't stay away for long; once the guests left, she would have to clear the table and wash the dishes.

Thinking about this made Jian An'an speechless. Her original task today was just to look after Jin Jianyi. It had been fine in the morning, back when Deng Jinfeng didn't know about the task. But at noon, Deng Jinfeng had made snide remarks about how the sun must be rising from the west for her to be taking care of Jin Jianyi. When Jin Jianyi tried to defend her, the woman got angry, refused to eat lunch, and couldn't be appeased by any means.

By the afternoon, a group of relatives arrived. At first, they showered Jian An'an with compliments, which she enjoyed, but eventually, she grew numb to it. Only later did she realize something was wrong. How had she ended up being led around by these people and serving them instead? Even Jin Jianyi had told her privately that it was a good thing the relatives thought highly of her and that she should perform well to win everyone's favor.

Jian An'an guessed that Deng Jinfeng must have been annoyed by her and deliberately brought these people in to wear her out. Thinking of this, she grew to hate Song Wanning even more. At the beginning, Song Wanning had been so easy to manipulate—whatever she was told, she believed. She had even convinced her to pick fights with Wen Jingxing. She couldn't figure out why someone so gullible had become increasingly difficult to handle.

Squatting in the bushes, swatting mosquitoes on her feet while checking her phone, she chatted with both Song Xin and Shen Yue. Shen Yue said she was almost there, while Song Xin was complaining about how embarrassed she and her father had been at the tea party that day. Although Jian An'an found the foolish Song Xin annoying, she still needed to use her, so she kept her patience and offered comfort.

Seeing that Shen Yue was close, Jian An'an looked at the brightly lit Jin family living room, then at the locked gate in the darkness. She glanced at the iron fence next to her and decided to climb over. She didn't have a key to the Jin house, and since she had just left under the pretense of going to the bathroom, this was her only option.

She reached the top of the iron fence and swung one leg over, searching for a foothold. "That's strange, I recall there being something here. Why can't I find it?!"

Jian An'an grew anxious. Just then, a pair of headlights swept past, and her face went pale. She didn't know who was coming, and she was terrified it might be someone important. Regardless of the lack of a foothold, she closed her eyes and jumped.

With a loud thud, Jian An'an tumbled onto the grass.

Shen Yue, who had just been wondering why there was a white-clad "female ghost" on the Jin family's wall, saw the headlights sweep by, and a gust of night wind blew, lifting Jian An'an's hair. Only then did she realize who it was.

"An'an! Why are you on the..." Before she could finish, she saw Jian An'an fall, hitting the ground with a loud bang. Shen Yue's nerves shattered. Had Jian An'an tried to take her own life?!

But the next second, she saw the person on the ground move. Shen Yue finally regained her senses; the fall wasn't high enough to kill, so she rushed over to help.

"An'an, are you okay? Don't scare me like this! Boo-hoo... An'an, don't worry... if anything happens to you, I will definitely take revenge on Song Wanning!"

Shen Yue pulled the fallen Jian An'an into her arms and shook her relentlessly, which only made things worse for the already dizzy Jian An'an. She couldn't regain her composure for a long while.

Jian An'an felt dizzy and disoriented, thinking to herself, *Which idiot is shaking me? I'm going to pass out!*

Finally, as her vision cleared, she opened her eyes. Before her was a woman in red, hair disheveled, eyes bloodshot, eyelids swollen, and cheeks streaked with tears. Jian An'an was so terrified her legs went weak; she nearly fainted again. She squinted, feigning death, before realizing—wait, was this face Shen Yue's?

Infuriated, she sat up abruptly, which gave Shen Yue another scare.

"Ah!"

Shen Yue had barely let out a scream before Jian An'an slapped a hand over her mouth. "Stop screaming, I'm fine."

Inside the Jin family living room:

"Hey, did you guys hear some kind of scream just now?"

"Did we? Maybe it was just an illusion?"

"Forget it, let's drink, let's drink!"

"Sister-in-law Deng, go check when that girl An'an is coming back. She's been in the bathroom for so long."

"Alright, I'll go take a look." Deng Jinfeng smiled in agreement, but the moment she turned her head, the smile instantly vanished.