Chapter 4: The Celebration Party

At gatherings like this, it was always the same familiar faces. Holding a glass of wine, Richard was chatting with a few old acquaintances when the stage lights suddenly flared up. "We warmly invite our new board member, Ms. Rachel, to come up and say a few words."

He looked up toward the stage. The radiant, high-spirited woman standing up there was an entirely different person from the one he remembered—always timidly cowering behind her husband. He raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Thank you all. Standing here today, the very first person I want to thank is my dear friend and brilliant attorney, Victoria. Victoria, please come up here."

*Victoria*—that name sounded awfully familiar.

A sudden, low murmur rippled through the crowd. What was wrong with these people? They were acting like fans at a celebrity concert. On stage, Rachel gestured invitingly with an excited expression, prompting everyone in the audience to turn in unison toward the same direction. Being tall gave Richard a clear advantage; looking over the heads of the crowd, he saw a slender figure rise where the spotlight converged.

*What is she up to?* As she walked up the steps in a few brisk strides, Rachel rushed forward to embrace her.

"This is way too dramatic. You know I hate this sort of thing; we agreed I was only going to stay for a little while," Victoria murmured softly into her ear.

"I just couldn't help it, Victoria! I wouldn't be where I am today without you." Overcome with emotion, Rachel was practically on the verge of tears.

*Sigh, go on and wipe them.* There really was no reasoning with her.

A camera flash went off in the audience, followed by a female reporter's voice ringing out, "Ms. Rachel, may I ask you and your legal counsel a question?"

*How did a reporter manage to sneak into an event like this?* Richard cast a cold glance at the corporate executives standing nearby. *Did you guys pull this on purpose?*

Sure enough, those executives all looked away, the atmosphere growing slightly awkward.

The female reporter pressed on regardless. "Yesterday, in Hong Kong, Mr. Zhu accepted a media interview claiming that after all these years, he only recently realized how much of a stranger his wife was to him. He said that while he originally still had hopes of reconciliation, he has now completely given up. He also stated that to this day, he still can't figure out whether the outcome was due to Ms. Rachel being too clever or himself being too foolish. May I ask what your thoughts are on his statement?"

"I—" With tears still shimmering in her eyes, Rachel turned pale.

"Miss," unable to bear it any longer, Victoria gave a slight nod in the direction of the voice. "Are you married?"

"Not yet," came a wary, defensive reply.

"A woman doesn't have many states to choose from after getting married: either she pretends to be clever, or she pretends to be foolish. Pretending to be clever and getting deceived, or pretending to be accepting of deception while acting foolish—both are miserable fates. Now that the other party can't even be bothered to keep up the polite facade of deception anymore, are people really going to turn around and blame her for it?"

As soon as she finished speaking, dead silence filled the room. The lights cast their glow directly onto Victoria. Despite the formal nature of the party, she wore a tailored pantsuit; the tailored blazer had a sleek, slender waist, and a delicate, intricate lace collar peeked out from beneath the formal lapels. Her fair, slender neck was held high like a swan's, completely bare of any jewelry, yet her sheer presence effortlessly overshadowed all the wealthy wives and socialites draped in designer gowns and heavy gems.

A smattering of applause broke out—an elderly matron who ignored the annoyed glare of the man standing beside her. Moments later, applause swept through the hall like a tidal wave, with several young women even excitedly pushing their way toward the front of the stage.

*Victoria...*

As the scene threatened to slip out of control, Richard, standing quietly in the corner, finally remembered where he had heard that name. Andy's miserable wails echoed once more in his mind: *"Victoria, I curse you, I curse you—"*

He chuckled softly. *Victoria, you really are something else. No wonder everyone remembers you so vividly.*

Chapter 5: Midnight Snack

Having eaten practically nothing all evening, Richard suddenly felt his stomach rumbling on the drive back to his apartment. Even at this late hour, both sides of the West District streets were blazing with neon lights, lined with Hong Kong-style *cha chaan tengs*, Chaoshan snack shops, and Taiwanese night-market stalls, their glowing signs glaringly bright.

Richard casually parked his car in front of one of the eateries. Through his side mirror, he noticed a red Volvo S40 cut in at an angle, sliding smoothly into a spot with a single swift maneuver, the car aligning perfectly and pulling right up against the curb—a display of expert driving.

Starving and paying no attention to her surroundings, Victoria walked straight inside.

It was an old, well-established Taiwanese pie-and-congee shop that had been in Shanghai for years, boasting a massive regular clientele. Even at midnight, the dining hall was still bustling with noise and excitement. At a round table right in the middle of the room, the owner and his entire family were gathered, their loud, accented Taiwanese Mandarin carrying across the space.

"Victoria! What brings you here?" The owner's wife suddenly spotted Victoria eating quietly in the corner, her voice filled with pleasant surprise.

"Just grabbing a midnight snack before heading home."

"Always by yourself. Sigh, just yesterday I was betting with my husband on when we'd ever see you walk in here with a guy."

Victoria gave a faint smile, her gaze sweeping over the owner sitting nearby, whose broad, square face broke into an exaggerated grin as he nodded at her.

*Relax, your wife and I are barely acquaintances.* Amused, Victoria put down her chopsticks and stood up. "I'm done. Pack two beef pies to go, please, thank you."

The moment she stood up, a young waitress hurried over, handing her a steaming hot bag. "We already had them ready, Ms. Victoria. Be careful, they're hot."

Glancing over casually, Victoria slipped back into her coat—a beige, double-breasted, military-style trench that suited her impeccably. *This woman radiates absolute authority wherever she goes,* Richard thought to himself as he walked back outside, climbed into his car, and turned the ignition. The street was mostly empty now, the curbs packed with vehicles belonging to nocturnal creatures hunting for a midnight meal. Just as he shifted into gear to pull out, someone tapped on his passenger window.

Startled, he turned his head to find a grimy, soot-stained little girl with two small braids peering through the glass, saying something to him.

*Why did she run up right as I was pulling away? That's way too dangerous.* Such a young child, working out here in the middle of the night—he instinctively reached for the loose change resting in his center console cup holder.

Just as he reached to press the window button, the child suddenly turned and ran off. Following her line of sight, he saw someone calling out to her from the entrance of the restaurant.

*Wait... is that her?*

The imposing Victoria—the Queen-tier Victoria, the woman who made heavy-hitting corporate executives break out in cold sweat at the mere sight of her—was standing outside a restaurant at midnight, crouching right there on the pavement, holding open a paper bag and smiling warmly as she coaxed a begging little child...

With his car still angled toward the road and his foot pressed firmly on the brake, Richard froze in disbelief.

"Are you still out this late?" came a remarkably soft voice.

"Eat slowly, it's very hot. Don't be afraid, I'll wait right here until you finish." Watching with patient eyes as the child wolfed down the food, Victoria cast a sweeping glance toward the dark alleyway beside them.

Giving money was useless; those wretched adults lurking behind the scenes would snatch it away in a heartbeat. Even this food had to be eaten right under her watchful eye, or it would never make it into the child's stomach. The reality of it all was raw, cruel, and freezing cold. The most she could do was watch the little girl finish two small pies.

The restaurant's sign blazed bright and large, rings of colored light bulbs flashing in sequence, casting a glow far into the dark night. She crouched there for a long time, the hem of her trench coat trailing slightly onto the dust-covered paving bricks, completely oblivious to it all.

She simply kept her head bowed, focusing intently on the dirty little girl eating her meal, her expression remarkably gentle. Once the child was finished, she carefully took the empty paper bag back, walked over to the curb, and tossed it into a trash can.

With that done, Victoria walked back toward her car with effortless poise. Little did she know that a man in the car right next to hers had been watching her intently for a long time. And even less did she know that starting today, her life was about to take a dramatic turn—heading down a path vastly different from anything she had ever imagined.

*Vastly different*—a distance so immense that even the legendary Monkey King would need to catch his breath just thinking about it.

Chapter 6: The Unplanned Inquiry

That night, Richard suffered from insomnia. Of course, he wasn't the kind of raw, uninitiated male who would stay up all night pining or get all worked up just because he laid eyes on an attractive woman—*wait, typing that out made him sweat a little; wonder if it'll get censored by the web police.*

By the time he actually fell asleep, it was already past midnight. He had spent the majority of the post-midnight hours plotting how to handle that stubborn little Japanese negotiator, Yamada. It wasn't until dawn broke that he finally closed his eyes for a brief nap. Yet even in that short window, his brain somehow started calculating the theoretical compatibility between himself and a certain woman.

Years of high-pressure training had taught him how to function on just an hour or two of sleep, but his brain had simply overworked itself this time, and he couldn't quite snap out of it. By the time he got up, his head was still a total mess, prompting him to chug black coffee the moment he walked into his office. Downing the mug, he scanned the stack of documents on his desk and handed the empty cup straight to his secretary standing nearby. "Get me another refill, no sugar."

Daisy cautiously gauged her boss's expression and was about to turn away when he stopped her. "Hold on. Look up the address and phone number of a law firm for me."

The best way to cure a messy mind was to cut through the confusion with decisive action; his style had always been brutally straightforward.

"Ah? Mr. Richard, do you have a name for it?"

"I have the name of an attorney. Her name is Victoria."

"How do you spell it in Chinese?"

*How do you write it in Chinese?* Now that was a tough question. He was a banana—fluent enough in spoken Chinese, but reading and writing... *Truly, you only realize how little you know when you actually need to write.*

"Would you like me to look it up and leave it on your desk?" Why was she getting dragged into such a tedious puzzle so early in the morning? Touching upon his sore spot, his eyes narrowed.

When Daisy stepped out of the office, she leaned back against the door panel, letting out a sharp gasp of air. Outside, everyone was craning their necks with anxious, hopeful looks, but the moment they saw her expression, their faces completely fell.

*It's over. Looks like Mr. Richard is really pissed this time.*

And he *was* somewhat annoyed. Between the insomnia and morning grouchiness, the moment Yamada stepped into the boardroom, Richard started smiling—a flash of white teeth gleaming, causing Manager Sun beside him to wipe away sweat continuously. By the time the meeting wrapped up, everyone's legs felt a bit shaky, forcing Richard to good-naturedly reach out and grab Yamada by the arm. "Mr. Yamada, to celebrate our continued pleasant cooperation, let's grab a casual bite together."

*Please, no.* Yamada just wanted to escape and lick his wounds. Standing a full head shorter, Yamada looked up with a bitter, strained expression under Richard's towering gaze. "Mr. Richard, let's skip it for today. We can host a banquet to invite your company another day—"

"That simply won't do. You know how little time I have in Shanghai. Since today went so wonderfully, Mr. Yamada simply must honor me with his presence."

Yamada was left speechless while everyone else bowed their heads in silent mourning: *When this guy smiles at you, you don't dare refuse the honor.*

In the car, he received a call from Daisy. "Mr. Richard, I've forwarded the address and phone number of Attorney Victoria's firm to both your email and your phone. It's located right next to the restaurant we booked for tonight, so you should be able to see it when you head over for dinner."

*Got it. Perfect.* She even sent both Chinese and English versions—this little secretary was truly a quick learner. Satisfied, he smiled, prompting Vice President Li, who was sitting beside him, to ask with burning curiosity, "Richard, what's got you in such a good mood?"

Glancing over at the Toyota Crown trailing behind them, Richard reached out and patted Li's shoulder. "We just successfully fended off an economic invasion. Isn't that cause for celebration?"

*Sweat droplets.* *We're a multinational corporation, okay? Besides, you're not even a genuine local—what's with this bizarre overseas-Chinese patriotism?*