Rose Lock - Chapter 57.1

After exiting Lu Nian’s white apartment, Butler Fu was already waiting outside. Seeing Gong Yan and Gong Shulan come out, he bent over to open the car door.

The sisters sat in the back seat. Gong Yan had an extra document in her hand, which she then placed aside, her face dark as she lit a cigarette.

Gong Shulan, however, crossed her legs and closed her eyes in thought. Lu Nian hadn’t revealed a single flaw this time, but she didn’t believe Lu Nian was truly unaware that Huo Suqiu was not dead. She could only say that this woman was too good at hiding.

“By the way, Butler Fu, do you have Lu Nian’s file?” Gong Shulan asked.

Butler Fu, driving in the front, took out a file from a corner and handed it over. “Miss Shulan, it contains all of Lu Nian’s information.”

When Song Shichang’s slander incident occurred, they had initially prepared to hire the lawyer Zhou to fight the case, but then this Miss Lu showed up. Even though they ultimately won the lawsuit, they still had to investigate this woman’s background.

Gong Shulan flipped through the file, frowning more and more as she read. This Lu Nian was not simple; she had served as a secret agent for two years at the age of 24, with an A-level anti-reconnaissance ability. No wonder no flaws could be found.

“Madam, Miss, Feng Hai has arrived.”

It was around nine or ten o’clock in the evening, and pleasant singing could be heard from inside the Feng Hai Dance Hall. Gong Shulan followed Gong Yan up to the second-floor room, having searched through all of Lu Nian’s documents without finding any inspiration for the next step.

“Sister, where are you going?” Suddenly, Gong Shulan saw Gong Yan stand up and leave the room. She thought her sister was going to do something, but she merely stood at the doorway, leaning against the railing of the corridor. Gong Shulan curiously followed and stood beside her, looking in the direction of her gaze.

Below the stage, a singer was performing. Her figure was graceful and captivating, with seductive curves. Her singing had a distinctive personal style, and her popularity and appeal were evident from the audience below.

Wait a minute, this woman looked a bit familiar. Gong Shulan carefully examined her under the mottled neon lights. Wasn’t this the innocent-looking girl she had seen at Lu Nian’s place today?

How did she transform into this seductive and mature, even somewhat sexy, woman here?

“Is her name—” Gong Shulan tried hard to recall. She remembered seeing this young girl at a winery during her last visit to Haicheng. “Lin Manyi?”

“Her surname is Hua,” Gong Yan corrected, her eyes fixed on the stage.

“Hua Manyi…” Gong Shulan repeated the name. Suddenly, the details connected, and a plan flashed through her mind. “Sister, I have an idea, a way to get information about Huo Suqiu from Lu Nian.”

Gong Yan’s gaze shifted from the stage to Gong Shulan.

“Hua Manyi is your person, right?” Gong Shulan asked.

Gong Yan looked at her with an expression that suggested she was an idiot.

Gong Shulan: “…”

Gong Shulan took a moment to compose herself. “Hua Manyi is learning English at Lu Nian’s, and given that the two of them are exchanging flirtatious glances and showing ambiguity, perhaps we can send Hua Manyi to gather information…”

“When did you see them exchanging flirtatious glances and showing ambiguity?” Gong Yan’s face instantly turned cold.

“Didn’t you see it today?” Gong Shulan felt confused. It was such an obvious fact, why wouldn’t her sister admit it?

Upon second thought, perhaps Gong Yan hadn’t seen clearly, Gong Shulan figured, and decided to describe the scene carefully to her. “Just when the servant led us in, Lu Nian’s finger was—”

“Shut up.”

Gong Shulan was interrupted, bewildered, but still added, “I saw it clearly, and there was saliva on it when she took it out.”

“Gong Shulan, do I not have eyes? Do I need you to remind me?” Gong Yan didn’t even smoke anymore, directly mocking her.

“But didn’t you say you didn’t see them exchanging flirtatious glances?” Gong Shulan watched Gong Yan head straight back to the room. She followed, explaining, “Why are you taking your anger out on me? They clearly were—”

“Gong Shulan, if you say one more word, you can go back to Nancheng right now!”

“…”

“Hua Manyi is just a dancer. If we can get news of Huo Suqiu from her, then perhaps we can find out Jiang Yin’s whereabouts.”

“You’re sick, Gong Shulan, you’re seriously ill. Jiang Yin is dead. Even if we find out about Huo Suqiu, so what? The Huo family has already paid for what they did to the Gong family back then. Isn’t that enough?”

Gong Yan stepped past her and closed the door, blocking out the singing outside. “You just won’t give up. Don’t you know why Jiang Yin died? Even if she were still alive, she would probably wish she had never met you.”

Following those words, the room fell into a dead silence.

The two sisters stood in opposing corners, ignoring each other. The standoff ended with Gong Shulan’s departure.

At eleven o’clock at night, Xiaoxiao watched as Mother Gong calmly came down from upstairs, pulled the drunk Hua Manyi back to her room, and took care of her. She couldn’t help but sigh to Li Zhen, “Mother Gong is too good to Sister Manyi. She always takes care of her personally.”

The person being looked after was currently crying and wiping away tears, her clothes disheveled.

“Why are you looking for me?” Hua Manyi’s face was flushed, her lips red and teeth white, and the air she exhaled carried the smell of alcohol. She looked as if the previous incident was still vivid in her mind, feeling wronged and angry. “I’m not your child. Go find someone else. Why bother with me?”

“Hua Manyi, you said you like Ian, so why were you exchanging flirtatious glances with that woman Lu Nian today and doing that?” The woman pinched her chin, inching closer.

“Is your affection so cheap? Is your liking so fickle?!”

Gong Yan pursed her red lips, suppressing her anger. On her birthday, she said she liked Gong Yan, said she had always admired her, yet two days later she wanted to elope with Ian, and today… today she did that with Lu Nian. Was there any other woman she had also said she liked?

“What do you mean fickle? Wuwuwu… I didn’t.” Hua Manyi was frightened by her angry expression, feeling a tightening pain in her chest. However, under the cheongsam, she still craved the warmth of her fingertips. Her initial struggle turned into a reluctant surrender.

Her subconscious told her not to continue. Hua Manyi felt a stinging pain in her chin, and tears welled up in her eyes, looking pitiful. “Get away… Mother Gong, I don’t like you anymore.”

As soon as the words fell, the room was quiet enough to only hear her faint sobs. The surrounding pressure made it hard for her to breathe.

“You don’t like me?” Gong Yan looked down at her furrowed brows, feeling the tightening around her. She forced a mocking laugh. “Hua Manyi, you hypocritical woman. In my thirty years of life, I only knew that women could fool men easily. This is the first time I’ve learned that a woman can fool another woman as well. What fine tactics!”

“Mmm… What are you… saying?” Hua Manyi’s ears were ringing, unable to hear her clearly. She only knew that this woman was mocking her and getting angry at her.

She was criticizing her while touching her. How could Hua Manyi bear such humiliation?

“Let go of my hand, release me…” Hua Manyi pushed her away while crying. “What have I done to offend you? Go find someone else, don’t touch Hua Manyi!”

“What is your relationship with Lu Nian! Explain it clearly to me.” Gong Yan was infuriated, losing all her usual calmness and composure. Ever since she saw that scene in Lu Nian’s apartment, her mind had been filled with the image of her sucking on Lu Nian’s finger.

Did learning English require such ambiguity?

“Did Lu Nian suggest learning English first?” Gong Yan looked at her eighteen-year-old youthful appearance, which many envied. “Was that woman Lu Nian deliberately seducing you?”

“No… I wanted to learn myself. Don’t use such filthy words to talk about her.” A hint of anger showed in Hua Manyi’s hazy, drunken eyes. “What business is it of yours, Mother Gong, who I hang out with? Anyway, you and I have no relationship…”

“You and I have no relationship?” Gong Yan was so angry that her palms trembled, her fingertips digging in. Hua Manyi couldn’t bear it and shivered, tightly grabbing her arms. The stubborn words at the tip of her tongue were swallowed back, turning into a low sob of plea, “Mother Gong…”

“Mother Gong… I’m so uncomfortable…” Hua Manyi moved against the woman’s shoulder, wrapping her arms around Gong Yan’s neck, kissing the red lips in front of her indiscriminately and slightly urgently, trying to appease the woman.

However, several times, she was on the verge of the climax and then rapidly brought down. Hua Manyi was so uncomfortable that she couldn’t stretch out, her round toes curling. “Mother Gong… you can’t treat me like this… wuwuwu.”

“Hua Manyi, explain clearly what your relationship is with Lu Nian?” Gong Yan was unmoved by her bitter pleading, even though her own breathing accelerated.

“I don’t know… Mother Gong, I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Hua Manyi couldn’t think, only trying to randomly explain following her questions.

Gong Yan sneered mercilessly, “You don’t know? You don’t know how to suck her finger? Did you, out of my sight, also use the excuse of being drunk, just like you did to seduce me, Gong Yan, to seduce Lu Nian?”

“What are you saying?” Hua Manyi seemed to be momentarily sober, unable to believe the words she heard from her mouth. “…What do you mean I seduced her?”

Silence spread in the air, only Hua Manyi’s difficult and hurried gasps could be heard. Since she refused to give, it was time to cut the losses. Hua Manyi really couldn’t bear the next round of torment, pushing the person away. “Get out…”

But Gong Yan didn’t let go, still staring at her. The crimson leather sofa sagged in one spot. The red leather of the sofa and the porcelain-like skin collided in color, with the light and shadow flickering between them.

“Hua Manyi, if you don’t explain clearly, neither of us will have a good night.” Gong Yan restrained her on the sofa, playing on the edge of the J**iang censorship, tormenting her beyond measure, and finally watching Hua Manyi’s pain and discomfort with a cold face.

Hua Manyi, disappointed after one hope after another, gradually recognized the woman’s true colors. Her throat choked up, and her willow brows furrowed in indignation. “Get lost, what you’re doing is behavior that cannot pass J**iang censorship. I’ll have Lu Nian sue you, sue you, do you hear? I, I—”

Perhaps because of the alcohol, Hua Manyi was slurring, but the word “Lu Nian,” and the reliance and confidence brought by those two words, was heard clearly.

Gong Yan watched her say those hurtful, prickly words even when her eyes were closed and she was drunk, and suddenly calmed down. She withdrew her hand, noticing a trace of stickiness. She stared at it for a moment, and then her red lips curved into a silent smile.

She, Gong Yan, was past her prime. How could she have been fooled by a young girl to this extent? Now, with the thriving Western culture, students and literati advocated for freedom of love. She had occasionally spoken some open, intimate words, especially when she was drunk, which should not be taken seriously. Yet, she had been foolishly enchanted and believed that the girl truly admired and liked her.

It was only now that she understood: Hua Manyi could say she admired Gong Yan today, elope with Ian tomorrow, and throw herself into another woman’s arms the day after.

Gong Yan closed her eyes, then opened them. “I’ll ask you one last time, why did you tattoo a rose over that gun wound?”

She, Gong Yan, also had a rose tattooed exactly at the intersection of her spine and lower back. If her words of admiration were true, if she had genuinely admired Gong Yan all along, and thus tattooed the same rose, then she… could let these things go.

Hua Manyi looked at the woman’s face so close to her. A small sliver of clarity remained in her scattered consciousness. She seemed to have heard the question, murmuring in response, “Why?”

Hua Manyi gave a bitter smile, an expression of pain and humiliation surfacing on her face. Her apricot-pink lips parted, and she self-mockingly said, “Because it’s laughable…”

Her lips were gently kissed by the red lips. Hua Manyi suddenly felt her heart skip a beat, but just as she was about to sink into it, the woman abruptly stopped.

The woman released her, stood up, and looked down at her. “Hua Manyi, this is our last kiss. From now on, our relationship is severed. You go your way, and I’ll go mine. From now on, you are just a popular and admired singer, nothing more.”

The sound of high heels echoed, becoming increasingly distant.

Hua Manyi lost her support and lay on the sofa. She closed her eyes, rubbing her legs in discomfort. As a door closed, she merely frowned, disturbed by the sound.

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