The Ruined Heiress’s Canary Is A Secret Tycoon - Chapter 1

The dream was dark. The intertwined arms were covered in a fine sheen of sweat, and fingers slick with perspiration tightened their grip.

Only by throwing her head back could she stop the drowning sensation of suffocation. One red soled, diamond encrusted Christian Louboutin pump stood upright, the other lay overturned nearby, while expensive garments crafted from exquisite fabrics were discarded along the floor.

And her ex, using a silver chain to lock her neck, dragged her back into the abyss of memory time and time again. “You can’t escape my palm.”

“Ding, ding, ding!”

The coffee machine’s alert rang out.

Ye Siyu snapped her eyes open, a thin layer of sweat coating her temples.

Just now, her mind had drifted off again.

The moka pot bubbled away on the counter. Above her head, the television was turned on, and the news anchor’s voice echoed through the vintage, wood accented coffee shop.

“As the summer heat approaches, the capital market has experienced a massive earthquake. The domestic commercial giant, the Ye Group, has officially declared bankruptcy! This industry flagship, which ranked among the Fortune 500 for twenty consecutive years with annual revenues exceeding 100 billion yuan, has ultimately sunk due to a severed capital chain after its glorious journey!”

“Tsk tsk, a financial empire as massive as the Ye Group actually went bankrupt.”

A customer at one of the tables pointed at the TV screen, chatting with the person beside him.

“Doesn’t that mean the eldest miss, Ye Siyu, is bankrupt too?”

“Holy crap, Ye Siyu? That’s the wealthy socialite who was so high and mighty, whose red carpet evening gowns were more dazzling than actual celebrities!”

“Ah! That is so incredibly tragic, isn’t it?”

The voice from the television continued. “From a peak market value of hundreds of billions to its current state of insolvency, the company’s executive, Ye Siyu, has left her mountaintop luxury mansion after the liquidation. Her current whereabouts remain unknown…”

Simultaneously, a clip played on the screen.

Outside an underground garage, in poor lighting, a massive crowd of journalists swarmed like bloodthirsty ants. Ye Siyu, whose arm was still in a plaster cast, could only raise her other hand to shield her eyes, blocking out the piercing camera flashes.

Her face was cast pale by the glaring lights, a few strands of hair slightly messy around her temples. Pursued and blocked by numerous reporters with microphones practically shoved into her face, she could only turn her head half-away.

Even in such a wretched state, her profile remained strikingly prominent. Her eyes possessed two natural streaks of watery red at the rims, and her natural eye color was exceptionally vibrant.

“Your coffee, sir.”

A slender, jade white finger held the saucer of the coffee cup, placing it onto the tabletop.

The voice was gentle and very pleasant to hear.

The customer looked up, freezing for a moment.

“You, you, you!”

Another customer at the same table pointed at the TV, shouting, “You… you look exactly like the person on the…”

The girl in front of them wore the uniform of the coffee shop, her chestnut-brown long hair braided loosely into a thick plait resting over her shoulder.

She was exceptionally beautiful, with fair skin, eyebrows like distant mountains, a high nose bridge, and naturally vivid red lips. She wore no makeup, and her skin was illuminated by the sunlight outside the window, outlining a soft glow that made her skin look incredibly delicate.

With the natural, watery red accents at the corners of her eyes and her vividly striking facial features, she was a stunning sight.

“I look like Ye Siyu, right?” Ye Siyu straightened her back, the corners of her lips curving slightly, though her eyes remained entirely placid. “Everyone says so.”

“But if I were her,” she said slowly, “how could I possibly be here brewing coffee?”

“True,” the group nodded. They kept glancing back and forth between Ye Siyu and the TV screen, but the news segment had already moved on. “You have a point.”

“A starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Even if she went bankrupt, she couldn’t possibly come to our tiny, broken place to brew coffee.”

“Didn’t I hear that Ye Siyu was betrothed to that super financial empire, the Charles family? The two families were entangled for a long time. Supposedly, there was a whole melodramatic elite drama. Didn’t that mixed race heiress ex from the Charles family help Ye Siyu out in the end?”

“How could she help? Didn’t that ex end up swallowing the Ye Group in the end?”

“Your coffee. Please enjoy.”

Ye Siyu lowered her eyes, arranging the items neatly one by one before picking up her tray. The moment she turned around, the smile vanished from her eyes, replaced by a sudden spasm in her stomach.

Behind the bar counter, Ye Siyu clutched her stomach. With lowered eyes, she rinsed the filter paper and dripper with boiling water, the rising steam dampening her long eyelashes.

She placed the coffee grounds into the rinsed filter paper, holding a slender spouted kettle to pour the hot water in slow, deliberate circles.

Instantly, a rich coffee aroma wafted through the air, enveloping the entire coffee shop.

She didn’t know when it had started, but she frequently suffered from stomach aches. Ye Siyu picked up a cup and took a sip of hot coffee, the bitterness spreading across her palate.

Feeling as though she had finally found a shred of relief, she let out a long breath…

Right at that moment, the glass window was suddenly and violently pounded.

“Bang, bang, bang!”

The hazy, tranquil atmosphere shattered instantly. Ye Siyu’s hand trembled, causing the coffee to spill over, splashing onto her apron which already bore old coffee stains.

The few remaining customers and Ye Siyu behind the bar all turned their heads to look simultaneously.

A young punk with dyed yellow hair, thinking he looked incredibly cool, leaned sideways while holding a motorcycle helmet, blowing a vulgar whistle at Ye Siyu through the glass window.

“It’s that kid again. The ‘ghost fire’ teenage son of the bar owner from the next street over. He rides that illegally modified motorcycle every single night, blasting through the streets and disturbing the peace.”

A girl wearing the same coffee shop uniform emerged from the partition behind the bar, an apron tied around her waist. She carried a basin against her hip, the dirty water sloshing inside after she had finished wiping down the interior.

“How many times has this been? He’s back to harass you again! He’s about to smash the glass! How did our town end up with a creature like this? What a plague!”

Ye Siyu had cut off all contact with everyone, assumed the alias Zhou Xiaoyu, and come to this small town alone for over half a year now.

This was a coastal town called Shanhai Town, characterized by a slow pace of development and a low population density.

The only main road in the entire town backed against the mountains, sloping downward as if it could extend all the way into the sea.

The crashing sound of the sea waves served as the background audio for the daily lives of the town’s residents.

Yet, within this harmonious background sound, there were discordant noises. For instance, once midnight passed, a few ghost fire teenagers would always ride their illegally modified motorcycles through the bluestone paved alleys, disrupting the peace.

Until one day, when Ye Siyu was on the night shift, she locked the doors after closing up shop. The moment she turned around, she ran right into this punk. Since then, she had suffered incessant harassment.

Ye Siyu slowly set the coffee cup back into its original spot, adjusting its position slightly to align it perfectly with the glass jar in front of it.

She kept her eyelashes lowered, not even glancing toward the door.

Xiao Ai pushed the door open to throw out the water. The yellow haired punk got a splash of dirty water all over his pant legs and left while cursing loudly.

The young girl marched back in triumphantly with the basin tucked under her arm, leaning excitedly over the bar counter. “Hey, Xiaoyu, guess what I just saw?”

Ye Siyu’s reaction was a bit sluggish, her eyes lifting a beat late. “Hmm? What?”

Xiao Ai walked around the bar to grab Ye Siyu’s arm.

She clearly wanted to share some gossip, but she hadn’t expected Ye Siyu to flinch away as if she had received an electric shock.

Realizing that this wasn’t right, Ye Siyu immediately apologized.

“Sorry…”

Xiao Ai was warm-hearted and very easygoing. She had just helped drive that punk away, so reacting this way, even if it was a reflex, was somewhat inappropriate.

“I didn’t react in time.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Xiao Ai showed a face full of heartache. “I know. When you first arrived, you wouldn’t eat or sleep. I even accompanied you to see a doctor. Our little town doesn’t have a proper top-tier hospital. If you really feel unwell, should we go to a major hospital in the provincial capital to get checked out?”

Back then, the doctor had only prescribed some vitamins, treating her like a traumatized stray kitten or puppy. It was only after a long time had passed that Ye Siyu managed to stop having nightmares and sleep through the night.

Xiao Ai wanted to pat Ye Siyu’s shoulder, but she caught herself. “Don’t be nervous, Xiaoyu. I know you don’t like people touching you. I forgot just now. Is your stomach hurting again? Did you take your medicine? Don’t take medicine with coffee.”

Ye Siyu had never been very good at taking care of herself. She pursed her lips, a faint smile appearing on her face. “Understood.”

Xiao Ai was momentarily dazed by the smile, her earlobes turning a bit red as she quickly changed the subject. “…Haha, why did you disassemble the coffee grinder? Don’t tell me you forgot we have a staff dinner gathering tonight.”

“…Gathering?”

Ye Siyu felt a bit dazed. Perhaps her stomach ache hadn’t subsided yet, or perhaps it was due to something else.

She always had a faint, elusive illusion that she could smell the scent of cold sandalwood… It was the scent belonging to that person, constantly triggering her nerves.

“Is there a gathering tonight?”

Xiao Ai packed up the bottles and jars on the bar. “Of course! I mentioned it to you several times yesterday. Not only are we eating together, but we’re also going to have a few drinks. Tonight’s shifts have all been cleared. It’s time to get off work!”

Looking at the large pile of coffee machine parts in her hands, Ye Siyu fell into hesitation.

She was genuinely slow at chores and felt that she might not be able to leave work anytime soon.

“Oh, come on, give them all to me. My hands are fast.”

Xiao Ai snatched the pile of parts all at once and dumped them into the sink, turning on the tap as water rushed out. “Look, the customers have mostly left. Let’s go back, put on some makeup, and get ready for the party. I think you’ll look incredibly beautiful with makeup on!”

Ye Siyu’s facial features were truly striking, and her skin was exceptionally fair, but she always kept her eyes lowered, remaining quiet and silent. It was a state of zoning out, and no one knew what she was thinking. As Xiao Ai washed the parts, she peeked over. “Xiaoyu, do you know? When I went out to pour the water just now, I saw something incredible.”

Ye Siyu’s response was somewhat slow. “Hmm, what?”

Xiao Ai didn’t mind and continued, “I just saw a stretched Bentley parked at the entrance of the alley.”

“A stretched Bentley! To think a grand spectacle like that would appear in our little town. I’ve never seen such a flashy car before…”

The black, stretched Bentley was parked not far from the coffee shop. One only needed to look up from behind the bar counter to see it.

The sky over the small town had changed, a heavy layer of clouds pressing down against the dark, grayish-green firmament.

A black, stretched Bentley sat there quietly, looking as if it were lying in wait.

A wave of tension tightened in Ye Siyu’s chest, her eyes widening slightly.

Through the darkly tinted glass, the silhouette of a woman sitting in the back row was faintly visible.

The woman had long black hair cascading over her shoulders, the corners of her lips curving into an arc, painted with bright red lipstick.

But in that instant, she felt it was merely her own hallucination.

The black car looked like a solid block of darkness.

Immediately following that.

With a ding-dong sound, the phone in Ye Siyu’s pocket rang.

Her water slicked fingers slowly fished out the phone. She saw that she had received a text message on this unregistered phone number.

Tapping open the message, she found it was sent from an unfamiliar number.

Only four words were written on it, Found you at last.