After the Bankrupt Heiress Married into a Rich Family - Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Singing Bowls

[Part 2] Rong Zhao was moved.

Inside the police station.

Rong Zhao held Mingzhu’s hand and spoke to the police officer: “It’s quite alright. They didn’t know better, so we won’t press charges. We’re sorry for the trouble we caused you today; thank you for your help.”

Rong Zhao’s voice was gentle, her attitude polite, cultured, and humble. Faced with such a temperament, the officer couldn’t remain stern. He turned to Zhu Sishao and barked, “Well? Apologize! Is that your horse? You just have to try and snatch what belongs to others?!”

Zhu Sishao was already dripping with sweat. He bowed repeatedly, his voice shaking. “I am truly sorry, President Rong. Please don’t be angry. I’m just an outsider, new to the city. I really didn’t know the Rong family was the Rongke Group. I—if I had known she was your wife, I never would have acted out. It’s all our fault.”

Mingzhu gave a very soft “Hmph.”

Rong Zhao squeezed Mingzhu’s palm slightly and asked coldly, “First, this matter has nothing to do with the Rongke Group. Second, are you suggesting, President Zhu, that it’s acceptable to snatch a horse as long as it belongs to someone else?”

“No, no!” Zhu Sishao blurted out. “That’s not what I meant. No matter whose horse it is, we shouldn’t have tried to take it. It’s our fault.”

Mingzhu spoke up at the right moment: “Alright, Rongrong, let’s go. We shouldn’t keep the officers from their work.”

Rong Zhao cast a chilling glance at Zhu Sishao, thanked the officers, and led the group out.

However, after the two cars driven by Rong Zhao and Xiang Qian turned the corner away from the station, they didn’t continue. They pulled over to the curb.

Rong Zhao stepped out of the car and locked Mingzhu’s door from the outside. She leaned down toward the window. “It’s hot out. Stay in the car.”

There was no way Mingzhu would listen. She scrambled across and exited through the driver’s side door, standing beside Rong Zhao and taking her arm.

Soon, Zhu Sishao’s car caught up. He scrambled out, the weather now heating up significantly. Beads of sweat rolled down his pale face. “President Rong, today was truly a misunderstanding.” One look at Rong Zhao’s eyes told him this wasn’t over.

His mistress, Wang Jiajia, still hadn’t grasped the gravity of the situation. She walked over to pull him back into the car, huffing, “Old Zhu, enough already! Even if she’s the boss of Rongke, the police have let it go. What can she do to you? Besides, she doesn’t look like the boss; she’s so young, she’d need another ten or twenty years to get there. Let’s go.”

“Go where? Let go!” Zhu Sishao shoved her away.

This short-sighted vixen! He was fuming. If she hadn’t insisted on that horse, would he have offended the Rong family? On the surface, he was from Nanyu; he could just leave Jiangyue and never deal with them again. But business didn’t work that way. Rongke had countless partners—how many people did they support just by maintaining stable cooperation?

If word got out that he offended Rongke in Jiangyue, and he ever wanted to enter the electronics business, who would work with him? With so much at stake, if he wanted to keep making money, he had to swallow his pride.

Zhu Sishao fawningly offered his business card, his fleshy face tight with anxiety. “President Rong, I have several shops in Nanyu. If you ever visit, just call me, and the drinks are on the house… No, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just so sorry for bothering your wife and making you come down here. How about this? It’s lunchtime—let me treat you all to a meal.”

Xiang Qian stepped in, her face full of disdain as she blocked the business card so it wouldn’t accidentally touch Rong Zhao’s clothes.

Rong Zhao looked up. The sun was fierce, but her gaze was frost. “Does President Zhu discriminate against homosexuals?”

“No!” Zhu Sishao turned pale with shock. “That’s not it! I respect them! Really, I do!”

Mingzhu’s face hardened. She despised people who used slurs and discriminated, especially since Rong Zhao had come out in high school. She could only imagine how many people spoke vulgarly or cursed her behind her back. Even if Rong Zhao’s stable personality meant she didn’t care, Mingzhu felt hurt for her.

Mingzhu turned slightly, her palm gently stroking Rong Zhao’s back. Her hand was warm, her movements soft, comforting her over and over.

Rong Zhao’s eyes softened as she glanced at Mingzhu. She was surprised that Mingzhu, who was the one actually bullied, was comforting her.

Mingzhu looked past Zhu Sishao. “Your wife doesn’t seem to share that respect,” she said coldly, her voice like a sudden winter wind.

“Get over here, d*mmit!” Zhu Sishao roared, turning around.

Wang Jiajia approached reluctantly. Forget Old Zhu—she found lesbians disgusting too!

Zhu Sishao grabbed the back of her neck and forced her into a bow alongside him. “Please don’t be angry, President Rong. We respect everyone. This will never happen again.”

Wang Jiajia, in pain from the grip, apologized through tears: “President Rong, Miss Bai, I’m sorry.”

Rong Zhao didn’t say a word. She took Mingzhu’s hand and got back into the car. Secretary Qian understood then: what President Rong had said about making Zhu Sishao go bankrupt wasn’t just to pacify her wife. A man who insults women, keeps a mistress, discriminates against others, and spits in public—why should he deserve a life of luxury?

This time, Mingzhu and Rong Zhao sat in the back, Su Yujian sat in the front, and Secretary Qian drove. Mingzhu coaxed Rong Zhao in a low voice: “Don’t be angry anymore. It’s not worth it. Let’s go eat. Are you hungry?”

Rong Zhao looked at the comforting Mingzhu, and those two lines Su Yujian had shown her flashed through her mind. She turned her hand over to lace her fingers with Mingzhu’s.

“Alright. As long as you aren’t angry.”

Su Yujian watched them in the rearview mirror. Whether those two had realized the affection in each other’s eyes or not, she could see it clearly.

After lunch, Rong Zhao went back to work while Mingzhu and Su Yujian returned to the stables. Mingzhu had intended to help Su Yujian clear her head, but they had ended up at a police station instead. After lunch and a short rest, they went back.

Mingzhu’s golden horse was truly a sight. When she rode it, her red hair flying in the wind as the horse kicked up dust against the sun, it was a masterpiece of a scene. Despite her heartbreak, Su Yujian enjoyed watching the beauty.

They parted around 4:00 PM. Su Yujian wanted to find a lounge that served as a restaurant by day and a bar by night. Seeing that her friend was in a better mood, Mingzhu had Xiang Qian recommend a few spots before she went shopping.

When Rong Zhao returned from work in the evening, she slowed her pace before she had even changed her shoes. A sound was coming from the living room—the clear, resonant ring of a singing bowl, vibrating with a tone that induced instant calm.

Rong Zhao lowered her lashes with a smile, changed into her slippers, and stepped inside.

The coffee table was covered in sound-healing instruments: singing bowls, crystal bowls, and rain sticks. Beside the table were nut-shell chimes, and behind the sofa sat a specialized “monochord” bed. Once, when her department was under extreme pressure and her nerves were frayed from work, she had taken a lunch break to try sound therapy.

In the living room, Mingzhu had tied her red hair into a bun on top of her head. Dressed in moon-white linen clothes, she was kneeling before the coffee table, poking at a mallet and studying an iPad and a manual with a look of serious confusion.

Rong Zhao washed her hands in the guest bathroom; when she came out, Mingzhu was still so engrossed she didn’t realize she was back.

“What are you playing with?” Rong Zhao asked.

Mingzhu looked up, startled. “When did you get back?”

“Just now,” Rong Zhao sat on the sofa, leaning in to look at the gear. “New?”

Mingzhu nodded with a grin. “I’ll let you try it in a bit. From now on, I’m your sound therapist. If you’re ever in a bad mood, I’ll heal you.”

Rong Zhao might not have cared about today’s incident, but Mingzhu did. Words couldn’t quite comfort Rong Zhao enough, so after parting with Su Yujian, she had gone out to buy all of this. Her first instinct had been to cook, but then she thought: Rong Zhao doesn’t like me like that. Cooking for someone is only special if they like you. So she settled on this.

Mingzhu picked up a rain stick and tilted it slowly. The sound of rushing water filled the room. She asked with bright eyes, “How is it? Do you feel better?”

Rong Zhao leaned in to listen, her gaze locked on Mingzhu’s face. After seeing Su Yujian’s note at the police station, she had been trapped in a state of uncertainty. She was usually confident in everything, but when it came to feelings, she couldn’t pin Mingzhu down. Sometimes she felt Mingzhu liked her; other times she realized Mingzhu just liked spending money. She was constantly swaying between hope and fear.

That afternoon, she had received another message from Su Yujian. One was a reminder of the two things Mingzhu was brooding over: the birthday bunny plush and the fact that she always scored higher. The other was: “However, Mingzhu might not even know she likes you yet.”

Looking at Mingzhu trying so hard to cheer her up, ripples of emotion stirred in Rong Zhao’s heart. “Much better.”

The sound of the rain stick was like a stream in a lush forest. Rong Zhao’s heart skipped beats as she asked casually, “Weren’t you the one who was unhappy today? Why are you giving me therapy?”

Mingzhu put down the rain stick and moved to the nut-shell chimes, creating a low, soft ringing. “I don’t know. I just wanted to do it for you, to help you relax. If you aren’t in a bad mood, then consider it a thank you. Just relax.”

Mingzhu turned and pointed to the bed behind the sofa. “That’s a monochord bed. After dinner and a shower, you lie on it, and I’ll play the strings underneath. It’s very relaxing.”

Then, Mingzhu turned back, lowered her head, and scratched the tip of her nose. She muttered in a very small, muffled voice, “By the way… the limit is all spent.”

Rong Zhao: “…”

Originally, the limit was 100,000. It had dropped by 50,000 in a flash, so she had topped it up. Then she raised it to 200,000. Later, she gave Mingzhu her primary card to buy bags and a school bus. Now, when Mingzhu said the “limit” was spent, she probably meant the 200,000.

“I see. It’s fine. I’ll raise it for you.”

Mingzhu looked up, her face beaming. she bypassed the chimes and lunged at Rong Zhao. “Rongrong, why are you so good to me!”

Rong Zhao didn’t know that earlier that day, Mingzhu had told Su Yujian that Rong Zhao was more mature and perfect than her. The next sentence she had almost blurted out was: “She loves me more than I love myself.”

It was a casual comparison. She didn’t actually believe Rong Zhao loved her. She just meant that while she already loved herself a lot, Rong Zhao treated her so well it felt like she surpassed even that.