The night air outside the Golden Dragon Restaurant was sharp with the scent of ozone and wet pavement. A light drizzle had begun to fall, turning the dusty streets of the small town into a slick, charcoal-colored mirror. Li Hua walked away from the lights of the banquet, her heart drumming a frantic rhythm against her ribs.
But something was wrong. Or rather, something was very right.
As she stepped into the shadows of a narrow alleyway, a sudden, violent shiver raced down her spine. It wasn't the cold. It was the System's reward taking effect. In her previous life, she had carried the weight of her misery like a physical burden, her joints always aching, her breath always short. Now, she felt a strange, tingling lightness.
She looked down at her waist. The red polyester cheongsam, which had been screaming at the seams only minutes ago, now hung slightly looser. The fabric didn't pinch her skin. When she moved her arms, she didn't feel the familiar, suffocating restriction of her own flesh.
Two kilograms, she thought, her eyes widening in the dark. It's not just a number. It's a miracle.
[Ding! Warning: Host's metabolic rate is stabilizing. Emotional fluctuations may affect the integration of the 'Beauty Points'. Please remain calm.]
"Calm," Li Hua whispered to herself, her voice raspy. "How can I be calm when I've turned back time?"
She reached into the deep pocket of her oversized coat the one she had thrown over her dress to hide herself and felt something crisp. Her fingers curled around a small stack of paper. She pulled it out.
Ten Yuan.
In 1995, ten Yuan wasn't just pocket change. It was enough to buy ten bowls of quality beef noodles, or a week's worth of basic groceries. It was her first seed of independence.
As she navigated the maze of back alleys to avoid the main road, the smell of expensive tobacco smooth, woody, and vastly different from the acrid smell of local cigarettes drifted toward her.
She turned a corner and froze.
Parked at the end of the muddy path was a car that looked like a sleek, black beast crouching in the dark. A Hongqi. In this era, seeing a Hongqi was like seeing a spaceship. It didn't just mean wealth; it meant power. The kind of power that could make or break a city official with a single phone call.
Leaning against the hood was a man who seemed to swallow the light around him. He was tall, his silhouette sharp and clean in a tailored black trench coat. He held a gold lighter, the flame illuminating a face that was almost unfairly handsome high cheekbones, a straight, cold nose, and eyes hidden behind silver-rimmed spectacles that looked like shards of ice.
This was Ye Feng.
In her past life, Li Hua had only known him as the "God of Commerce," the ruthless tycoon from the capital who had arrived like a hurricane to consolidate the local textile mills. She had been a beggar then, watching his motorcade pass by from the gutters.
[Ding! Target Detected: Ye Feng.]
[Identity: Third Young Master of the Ye Family, Beijing. Current Status: Investigating local 'black' textile markets.]
[System Suggestion: Do not provoke. Do not flatter. High-level characters value 'Utility' over 'Beauty'.]
He paused. He had expected to see a broken woman, a victim of the drama he had vaguely heard echoing from the restaurant. Instead, he saw a pair of eyes that were ancient, cold, and filled with a terrifyingly sharp intelligence.
"The show is over," Ye Feng said, his voice a deep, melodic baritone that vibrated in the cold air. "If you're looking for an audience for your misery, you're in the wrong alley."
Li Hua didn't flinch. She didn't blush or stammer like the girls in town usually did when a handsome man spoke to them. She simply adjusted her coat, her expression unreadable.
"I'm not looking for an audience, Mr. Ye," she replied calmly.
Ye Feng's hand stopped midway to his mouth. "You know who I am?"
"I know that a man who drives a Hongqi into a trash-filled alleyway is either looking for something he lost, or something he wants to hide," Li Hua said, taking a step forward. "And since you don't look like the type to lose things, I assume you're interested in the Xinghua Textile Mill's hidden ledgers."
The air around Ye Feng turned freezing. He straightened up, his relaxed posture disappearing instantly. The way he looked at her changed it was no longer the look one gives a stranger, but the look a predator gives a potential threat.
"Who sent you?" he asked, his voice dropping an octave.
"No one," Li Hua said, her heart hammering, but her face remaining a mask of indifference. "I'm just a 'fat girl' with a long memory and a bad temper. But if you want to know which warehouse is currently holding the smuggled silk from the South, you might want to be a little more polite."
[Ding! +50 Curiosity Points from Ye Feng! Reward: 'Beginner's Business Insight' Unlocked! You can now see the market value of any item by touching it.]
Ye Feng took a long drag of his cigarette, the embers glowing bright. He stepped closer, his scent sandalwood and cold rain enveloping her. He was much taller than her, forcing her to look up, but she didn't back down.
"You're different from the reports, Li Hua," he murmured, almost to himself. "The reports said you were a weak, dim-witted girl obsessed with a third-rate clerk."
"The reports were written by people who only looked at my waistline, not my brain," she retorted. "Goodnight, Mr. Ye. I have a family to deal with. If you want to talk business, find me when you've learned that information isn't free."
She walked past him, her shoulder almost brushing his. She felt the heat radiating from him, a stark contrast to the cold rain.
Ye Feng watched her go, his eyes narrowed behind his glasses. He didn't call her back. He simply watched the heavy, yet strangely graceful figure disappear into the gloom.
"Secretary Wang," Ye Feng said into the air.
A shadow moved near the car. "Yes, Boss?"
"Update the file on the Li family's eldest daughter," Ye Feng said, flicking his cigarette butt into a puddle where it hissed and went out. "And find out how she knows about the Southern silk. This 'pig' just grew fangs."
Ye Feng didn't move, but his gaze shifted, locking onto Li Hua as she emerged from the shadows. His eyes swept over her from her tear-streaked face to the soup-stained red dress peeking out from under her coat, and finally to her eyes.
(