Chapter Thirty-Two: Trinkets

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With her health mostly restored, Yu Ling was finally “granted permission” to return to work. On Monday morning, she changed into her professional attire and took a deep breath as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her complexion had recovered considerably.

“Let’s go. I’ll drive you,” Zhao Chen said from behind her.

He was already dressed, still wearing the same faded jeans and simply styled shirt. He looked as fresh and clean-cut as a university graduate who had just stepped into the world. In his hand was a car key belonging to what appeared to be an ordinary joint-venture brand.

Yu Ling’s gaze lingered on the key for a second.

It seemed that fiery orange beast had truly been sealed away for good.

She nodded, unable to say whether she felt relieved or something else entirely.

The car merged smoothly into the morning rush-hour traffic. Zhao Chen drove with complete concentration. Sunlight streamed through the windows, dancing across the sharp contours of his profile. Soft music flowed through the car, filling it with a tranquil atmosphere.

“Lin Wei sent me a message yesterday.” Looking out at the streets rushing past, Yu Ling broke the silence of her own accord. “She asked how I was doing and said the project is progressing smoothly. She told me not to worry, to rest and recover properly before going back.”

There was a touch of ease in her voice, along with gratitude for her superior’s concern.

Zhao Chen’s fingers shifted almost imperceptibly on the steering wheel before returning to their natural position. He gave a quiet hum and said evenly, “Director Lin is a good person. She cares quite a lot about her subordinates.”

Yu Ling failed to notice his slight hesitation and continued, “Yes, she’s always looked after me. I was out sick for several days this time, and I feel rather guilty about delaying the work.”

“Your health comes first.” Zhao Chen turned his head and gave her a reassuring smile. “Work is never going to end. Once you’ve recovered, you’ll have the energy to deal with it. Director Lin understands that.”

His tone was calm and certain.

The car stopped beneath Genesis Tower. Yu Ling unfastened her seat belt and prepared to get out.

“Lingling.” Zhao Chen stopped her.

Yu Ling turned back.

He leaned toward her and, with an entirely natural movement, reached out to straighten a label that had folded slightly inward beneath her collar. His fingertip brushed unintentionally against the skin at the side of her neck, warm against her flesh.

Then he picked up a thermos from the center console and placed it in her hands.

“Sterculia seeds and monk fruit steeped in warm water. It’ll soothe your throat. Remember to drink more warm water and take your medicine on time.”

His eyes rested on her face, filled with undisguised concern and a trace of something else… an attachment so subtle it was almost impossible to detect.

Holding the warm thermos, Yu Ling felt the faint tickle lingering on her neck where his fingertip had brushed her. When she met his eyes, brimming with tenderness, her heart seemed to be lightly struck by something, and a warm current instantly spread through her entire body.

She even forgot that they were beneath the company building, where her colleagues might pass by at any moment.

“Mm. I know.” She answered softly, her voice gentler than she realized. “Drive safely.”

“All right.”

Zhao Chen smiled and watched her get out of the car. He kept his eyes on her as she entered the revolving doors of the building. Only when her figure disappeared from view did he slowly start the car and drive away.

Yu Ling stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for her floor. The metal walls reflected her faintly flushed cheeks and slightly upturned lips.

She lowered her head and looked at the thermos in her hand, printed with an adorable cartoon character that Zhao Chen had apparently bought at some point. Her fingertips could still feel the warmth he had passed to her.

In the car, he had leaned so close while straightening her collar. The clean, cool scent of him seemed to linger beneath her nose…

When the elevator doors opened, she took a deep breath, composed her expression, and walked toward the office area.

The moment she approached her desk, she sensed that something was wrong.

Several colleagues who normally got along well with her avoided her gaze. Their smiles looked strained. Not far away, Zhang Wei was huddled with another female colleague who loved gossiping. They were whispering about something, their eyes repeatedly flicking toward Yu Ling with undisguised contempt and schadenfreude.

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Yu Ling’s heart gave a sudden jolt, and an ominous feeling rose within her. She quickened her pace and reached her desk.

Sure enough!

Her computer monitor had been shoved roughly to one side, and the keyboard sat crookedly. Several documents lay scattered across the desktop, marked with glaring red Xs and question marks.

Most conspicuous of all was the corner of the desk, where a familiar luxury shopping bag bearing an enormous brand logo had been placed.

It was the very bag she had accidentally left in the car last Friday when Zhao Chen had picked her up in that orange Lamborghini.

Inside was the expensive dress she had supposedly “won” as the grand prize.

Yu Ling’s face instantly went pale.

This bag… How had it ended up here?

And why had it been placed on her desk in such a manner?

“Well, well, Yu Ling. Feeling better? You look quite radiant!” Zhang Wei’s sarcastic voice rang out at once.

She sauntered over, swaying her hips, and deliberately tapped a finger against the luxury shopping bag. Her voice was neither loud nor soft, perfectly pitched for everyone nearby to hear.

“Looks like being sick didn’t stop you from receiving ‘gifts,’ huh? This brand… tsk, tsk, it certainly isn’t cheap. Was it from your boyfriend?”

She deliberately emphasized the word “boyfriend,” her eyes filled with malicious speculation and provocation.

The air around them seemed to freeze.

Every colleague’s gaze turned toward Yu Ling, filled with curiosity, gossip, and even disdain.

Clearly, Zhang Wei had already spread some kind of rumor.

Yu Ling felt hot blood rush to her head. Anger and humiliation left her fingertips cold. She looked at Zhang Wei’s spiteful face, at the glaring shopping bag on her desk, at the countless expressions surrounding her…

Her body trembled faintly with rage. It felt as though something had lodged itself in her throat, leaving her unable to speak.

Just as she stood there, isolated and helpless, pinned in place by the sudden malice—

“Ding!”

Her phone rang with a crisp notification tone, jarringly loud in the dead-silent office.

Almost instinctively, with the desperate urgency of a drowning person reaching for a floating branch, Yu Ling pulled out her phone.

The screen lit up.

It was a message from Zhao Chen.

There were only two brief lines, yet they seemed like a bolt of lightning, instantly cleaving through the gloom and isolation before her:

“Don’t be afraid. I’m here. I had my assistant deliver the shopping bag. There’s a little surprise inside to help calm you down. As for the dogs yapping nonsense, they’ll be silenced soon.”

At the end of the message was a tiny knight emoji holding a shield.

Yu Ling gripped her phone and stared at those two short but powerful lines. She could feel the unparalleled reassurance and formidable sense of protection conveyed between the words.

The anger, humiliation, and helpless isolation that had swept over her moments ago were instantly soothed and scattered by an invisible hand. A powerful warmth and confidence rose from the depths of her heart, rapidly spreading through every limb.

She lifted her head and took a deep breath.

The panic and fury faded from her face, replaced by an uncanny calm and a hint of icy sharpness. She no longer looked at Zhang Wei’s nauseating face. Instead, she reached out and picked up the luxury shopping bag.

Under the curious, probing eyes of everyone around her, Yu Ling opened the bag without the slightest trace of haste.

Besides the neatly folded expensive dress, there was indeed a beautifully packaged velvet box about the size of her palm.

She picked it up and, beneath Zhang Wei’s nearly blazing glare and the bated attention of everyone present, gently opened it.

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Inside the box lay a brooch.

Its design was exceptionally simple and fluid, an abstract pair of wings outlined in pure platinum. At the center of the wings was a perfectly cut gemstone the size of a…

Wait.

It wasn’t a diamond!

Yu Ling took a closer look.

The gem, scattering dazzling flashes beneath the office lights, possessed an extraordinarily deep and captivating blue, as though an entire starry sky had been compressed into a space no larger than a few inches.

This… this was a blue diamond, wasn’t it?

And such a large one?

A wave of barely restrained gasps instantly swept through the office.

Even Zhang Wei stared at it in stunned silence.

Though many people knew little about gemstones, that impossibly pure blue and dazzling brilliance were enough for anyone to sense its extraordinary value.

It was unquestionably worth countless times more than the dress.

Yu Ling, too, was shaken by the unexpected “little surprise.” But when she remembered Zhao Chen’s words about calming her down, she immediately understood his intention.

Suppressing her astonishment, she let a smile appear on her face—one perfectly balanced between helplessness and sweetness—as though she had merely received an ordinary but thoughtful little gift.

She picked up the priceless blue-diamond wing brooch. Beneath Zhou Qian’s eyes, which seemed ready to burst from their sockets, Yu Ling fastened it elegantly and naturally to the collar of her professional attire.

The deep blue gemstone gleamed at her chest, instantly brightening her slightly pale complexion and adding an air of serene nobility.

“Thank you for your concern, Zhang Wei.”

Only then did Yu Ling look at Zhang Wei’s livid face. Her voice was calm and even, carrying a trace of polite amusement.

“But let me correct you. He isn’t my boyfriend. He’s my husband. I was feeling down because I’d been sick, so he gave me this little trinket to cheer me up.”

Her tone was so casual that it made the eye-searing blue-diamond brooch sound like something bought from a street stall.

She paused, then glanced at the scattered documents on her desk. Her tone suddenly turned cold, carrying an invisible pressure.

“Also, it seems that someone touched my desk while I was on sick leave. And these documents…”

She picked up one of the files marked with a red X. Her gaze was sharp as a blade as she directed it straight at Zhou Qian.

“Who gave you permission to scribble all over the project files under my responsibility?”

Caught off guard by Yu Ling’s sudden forcefulness—and stifled by the glaring brooch—Zhang Wei’s face shifted from red to white. She opened her mouth, but not a word came out. She only felt a chill shoot from the soles of her feet straight to the crown of her head.

The surrounding colleagues were even more silent, regarding Yu Ling with awe and complicated emotions.

A husband who could casually give someone a “little trinket” like that to calm her down…

Just how deep were Yu Ling’s connections?

At that moment, the door to Lin Wei’s office opened.

Lin Wei stepped out in her high heels, her expression stern. Her eyes went directly to Zhou Qian.

“Zhang Wei, come into my office.”

Her voice was not loud, but it carried unquestionable authority.

Zhang Wei trembled from head to toe. The color drained from her face, and terror filled her eyes as she looked at Lin Wei.

She no longer dared to glance at Yu Ling. Like a defeated quail, she followed Lin Wei into the office with her head bowed and her spirit crushed.

Before the disturbance could stir up any greater waves, Zhao Chen’s casually worded message and a single “little trinket” had silently strangled it in its cradle.

The atmosphere in the office instantly became delicate and quiet.

Yu Ling straightened her back. She felt the weight of the blue-diamond brooch at her collar and the incomparable confidence it gave her.

Then she remembered Zhao Chen’s promise: I’m here.

An unprecedented sense of security, of being firmly supported in someone’s palm, and a sweetness born of being cherished beyond measure surged through her like a tidal wave, completely engulfing her.

What one-year contract?

What mystery surrounding his identity?

At that moment, all of it seemed distant and blurred.

She knew only that she had begun to crave this warmth, this protection, everything that the man named Zhao Chen gave her—whatever might be concealed behind it.

On the scales of her heart, that cold agreement was gradually losing its weight.

She was even beginning to fear imagining the day when the contract expired a year later.

She gently stroked the cool wing-shaped brooch at her collar, her fingertips feeling the delicate texture of the platinum and the hard edges of the gemstone.

This priceless “little trinket” was like a silent medal, proclaiming her complete surrender in this game of marriage.

It also marked the moment when the first cornerstone of the fence called a “contract” came crashing down inside her heart.

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