Chapter 149: Housing a Secret Beauty? The Golden Finger Judges Loyalty and Treachery

The Bund was kissed by a gentle breeze.

Although the night in early March still held a faint chill, it was crisp and just refreshing enough to clear the mind.

As Zhang Long approached, a slender figure standing quietly by the railing, gazing out at the river scenery and letting the wind blow through her hair, came into view. She looked lost in thought, reminiscing about something, completely immersed in her own world.

No one is perfect; everyone has their flaws.

……

"I thought you wouldn't have time."

Sensing Zhang Long's arrival, Liang Xue did not turn her head, continuing to gaze at the river view instead. "A woman always has those few melancholic, irritated, and inexplicably troubled days every month..."

"Is 'Auntie' visiting Shanghai?"

Zhang Long interrupted abruptly with a soft hum. "Why were you deliberately avoiding me? I want to know the specific reason."

"I originally tried to take a step forward, but you interrupted me and said you needed to think things through. After that, there was no follow-up, leaving me hanging in limbo..."

"I want to know why?"

"Yeah, why..."

Liang Xue slowly turned her head, looking at Zhang Long with a calm yet complicated gaze. "We added each other on WeChat when Luo Man came to Shengxin to handle credit card business, and later on, we became semi-friends. During that cold war and breakup period between the two of you, I was conflicted. I couldn't just steal someone else's man."

"Later, I decided to go talk things through with Luo Man openly, but then you two suddenly made up again."

"Before it even started, it was over for me."

Zhang Long listened in silence. When things started with Luo Man and during their cold war breakup, he had been honest with Liang Xue about everything; and after getting back together with Luo Man, he had also spoken openly to Liang Xue.

Zhang Long wasn't dwelling on what happened later; he was only puzzled as to why things with Liang Xue could have started in the middle, only to be abruptly halted.

He had never quite figured it out until now. At the time, Liang Xue was mindful of her friendship with Luo Man. During a breakup and cold war, for you, Liang Xue, to swoop in and steal a man would perhaps be a bit unprincipled. Caught in hesitation and inner conflict, she let it drag on, and then there was no after. It ended before it even began.

Liang Xue was indecisive, but in truth, Zhang Long was much the same. Otherwise, if either of them had been just a tiny bit more proactive or forceful back then, they would have ended up together, instead of tangling in this endless knot.

It would have been fine if they hadn't shared a bed, but the second time, they had shared a passionate little kiss, making it unforgettable.

They couldn't start, and neither of them was willing to end it completely—perhaps that was the current state of the two of them.

"So, what do you plan to do?"

Zhang Long's gaze was steady. "You summon me out for a late-night stroll instead of going home—if you want to continue, maybe there will be a story after this; if you don't want to continue, we can completely sever ties and never disturb each other again from now on. You make the decision."

"The choice is in your hands."

……

"You want me to be your mistress?"

After a moment of silence, Liang Xue spoke softly, meeting Zhang Long's deep eyes with a faint, self-deprecating smile. "Keep it a secret from Luo Man and have a clandestine underground affair? Do you take me for that kind of person?"

"I know you aren't."

Zhang Long took a soft breath, his expression sincere. "If you were, you wouldn't have been so conflicted."

"If it were any other woman, I wouldn't have any reservations, but you were my team leader at Shengxin for two years. I also know your temperament is gentle and you don't care to fight for things. Because we're familiar, I couldn't bear to hurt you, or rather, I hesitated even more."

"It's the same with Luo Man."

"She was my monitor in college, an acquaintance, and there was a lingering trace of college-era sentiment between us, so I didn't want to actively hurt her either. After getting back together with her, I gradually kept my distance from you, Sister Xue, making sure not to cross the line."

"Both of you are important."

Liang Xue gently bit her lip, her gaze flickering. Just as her friendship with Luo Man prevented her from snatching Zhang Long, the same applied to Zhang Long's relationship with Luo Man as an old classmate.

On the left was an old classmate; on the right was a leader of two years. Both phases of life had stirred romantic feelings.

Generally speaking, it's hard to make a move on acquaintances.

Yet once you do make a move and end up together, you find yourself unable to bear hurting them or destroying the once-beautiful image you held of each other.

Strangers are different—you have no idea what they were like before, so you sleep together if you want, and break up to move on to the next one when you don't, completely devoid of an emotional foundation.

Therefore, Zhang Long was feeling conflicted as well.

"Do you like me?"

Suddenly, Liang Xue narrowed her eyes and asked, "If Luo Man and I were to compete fairly, who would you choose?"

"I wouldn't choose either of you."

Zhang Long interrupted without a moment's hesitation. "That question is meaningless. If I didn't have feelings for you in my heart, would I be standing here letting the wind blow on me, talking nonsense?"

"Alright, I think you should stop talking. Coincidentally, I recently rented a new apartment not far from here."

"When you moved, you asked me over, and I even warmed your house that day. You should warm mine too. Come up, sit for a while, and have a midnight snack. We can continue whatever you want to talk about."

Hearing this, Liang Xue looked at Zhang Long noncommittally. If she went up to sit for a while, she probably wouldn't be able to come back down.

"Come or not, it's up to you."

Zhang Long shrugged lightly and said no more, turning directly on his heel and walking away at a moderate pace.

As long as Liang Xue wanted to follow, she could easily keep up.

After a walk of ten to twenty minutes without Zhang Long looking back even once, they finally stopped for the first time right at the grand entrance of Jinxiu Huating.

"Jinxiu Huating??"

A soft whisper echoed from behind.

……

[A Golden House to Hide a Beauty]??

The moment she stepped into Zhang Long's luxury flat, the phrase involuntarily popped into Liang Xue's mind. After a brief scan of the apartment's layout and decoration, the concept of a 'golden house for a beauty' seemed even more profound, because there were practically no female items in the luxury home—everything belonged to a man.

"Did you tell Luo Man?"

At the living room coffee table, Zhang Long went to prepare some midnight snacks while Liang Xue looked around the apartment. Although there were no cooked dishes, he had stocked up on fruits, dried nuts, and various drinks over the past few days, along with beer and red wine—free for the taking.

"Uh, no, I didn't."

Zhang Long replied candidly, "I only signed the lease a few days ago. You're the first woman to step inside. I haven't had the chance to tell Luo Man yet. We'll talk about it later."

"Oh."

Liang Xue let out a soft acknowledgment and refrained from pressing further on a topic that would make them both awkward. Better to let unspoken truths remain unsaid.

"President Qian is about to pull out."

Liang Xue knew that Zhang Long had a partnership with Qian Caiying, and she was certainly clearer on this matter than anyone else. "I still haven't managed to become the Marketing Director, and I have no idea which company to follow President Qian to next. With so many things tangled together, I felt annoyed and stifled, which is why I came to the Bund tonight. Sorry."

"I guess I kind of bothered you."

"It's fine, you didn't bother me."

Zhang Long remained noncommittal, peeled an orange, and handed it to Liang Xue. "Though it's a bit of a toss-up, the next career steps for President Qian and President Ling are actually quite promising. Just follow them over when the time comes; don't overthink it."

"Yeah, I know."

Liang Xue nodded softly, though her gaze darkened slightly a second later. "It's just that I feel uncomfortable, like I'm drifting without a permanent home. My heart is lost."

"Actually, I'm kind of tired of leading sales teams. I want to find an administrative desk job that's more stable."

"What do you think?"

This caught Zhang Long slightly off guard, though he wasn't too surprised. No matter the reason for leaving a job and jumping ship, it always stirred up feelings of instability, especially when changing jobs multiple times within a few months. The members of the Blizzard team felt the same way—living precariously with floating hearts.

"You should go study accounting."

After a moment of contemplation, Zhang Long's eyes suddenly flashed. "You have a foundation and background in finance. Go into accounting and then study for the Certified Public Accountant exam; that career path is stable."

"In the future, becoming a financial supervisor, a CFO, or even getting promoted to a vice president in charge of finance is entirely possible."

"How does that sound?"

……

In truth, Liang Xue's temperament was never really suited for sales, or rather, not suited for leading teams. A stable administrative role suited her much better with lower stress levels.

If Liang Xue returned to Shengxin and no longer wanted to lead a team, moving into finance was clearly a much more fitting path.

Zhang Long always needed to cultivate his own people.

"Accounting?"

Hearing this, Liang Xue nodded faintly. Come to think of it, it was a profession with great prospects. If you wanted to coast through the days, it wouldn't be overly exhausting; if you didn't want to coast and put in the effort to climb upward, there was plenty of room for growth, and the pressure was far lower than market sales.

"You'll be at the new company too, right..."

Though she didn't know what President Qian and President Ling were plotting, Liang Xue had a premonition that Zhang Long was definitely involved and mixed up with the two executives.

That was also the ultimate reason she wanted to see Zhang Long tonight—jumping back and forth between jobs had her thoroughly vexed.

However, if Zhang Long was going to be at the new company as well, then she wouldn't be annoyed anymore; she wouldn't hesitate to follow Qian Caiying in her job hop.

"Yeah, pretty much."

Zhang Long nodded slightly, though he didn't reveal too much. "By the end of this month, everything should be completely finalized. You don't need to worry about the new company's prospects; it's going to be great."

"Okay, I got it."

Liang Xue responded with a soft hum, her heart finally clearing of hesitation and panic, and most of her depressed mood dissipated.

Yet at the same time, it felt as though they had run out of things to talk about. For a moment, the atmosphere grew quiet, somewhat strange, and charged with rising heat.

"Uh, it's getting late..."

Zhang Long suddenly gave a low, dry cough. "There are new bedding sets in the guest room. After a quick wash, you can just spend the night here. I don't have to go to work tomorrow and have nothing special on, so don't worry about it."

"Okay."

Liang Xue replied softly.

There wasn't much else to discuss. Zhang Long stood up and walked toward the master bedroom to get ready for bed, deliberately avoiding any mention of them sleeping in the same room and bed tonight. Until Liang Xue figured everything out completely and made her decision, this couldn't be forced.

To his surprise, however, a moment later:
*Click.* The door opened.

In the master bedroom, Zhang Long—who was sitting up with the bedside lamp dimly lit and had not yet pulled the blanket over his head—looked up at the sound. He saw a figure quietly stepping into the room, walking steadily over to the side of the bed, lifting the blanket in silence, and slipping right under it. What was the meaning of this?

"Let's sleep holding each other tonight."

A soft whisper drifted through the air.

Though he didn't know why Liang Xue chose the master bedroom over the guest room to sleep together, it didn't matter.

With a surge in his heart, Zhang Long turned off his phone, slid under the covers, and shifted his body closer to Liang Xue.

Ah, those annoying clothes.

Winter hadn't entirely passed yet, after all, and there were no women's pajamas here. After a simple wash and cleaning her feet, Liang Xue had crawled into bed wearing her thermal shirt and leggings.

"Mmm~, you lecherous dragon..."

Illuminated faintly by the bedside lamp, a man and a woman were wrapped in each other's arms before long, as a romantic warmth filled the air.

……

The night of March 8th, Women's Day? Oh...

……

Waking up naturally when the sun was already high in the sky.

Liang Xue, who had enjoyed a rare, deeply relaxing and peaceful night of sleep, indulged in a long lie-in. When she finally opened her eyes, Zhang Long was already gone from her side. She groggily sat up.

Yet, a faint aroma of food drifted into the room. She slipped on her slippers and walked to the door.

"You're awake?"

Hearing the movement, Zhang Long turned his head back. Seeing Liang Xue looking utterly adorable with her still-sleepy eyes, he couldn't help smiling softly. "Although it's not quite noon yet, we can practically have lunch. Go wash up and come eat."

Though the final boundary hadn't been crossed last night, the barrier between them had been completely shattered, and the friendship forged from sharing a bed three times was now profoundly deep.

"I'm going to talk to Luo Man."

A short while later at the dining table, where the dishes were exquisitely prepared and full of color, aroma, and flavor, Liang Xue suddenly spoke up after taking only a few bites, looking as though she had made up her mind. "Dead or alive, I have to take this step. I don't want to torture myself anymore."

"Alright, eat your food first."

Zhang Long paused his movements, his eating momentarily halting. "Wait until I've arranged everything else before you bring it up. No matter what the future holds, we definitely can't keep things hidden from each other; we have to be honest."

In truth, Zhang Long knew very well that constantly helping the Luo family improve their living conditions was another form of alternative compensation.

Luo Man's family rental apartment and storefront were practically settled and locked down, by the end of the month at the latest.

"Okay, I'll listen to you."

Liang Xue hummed softly. Before confessing to Luo Man, not crossing the final boundary with Zhang Long was perhaps her last shred of bottom line and self-respect. Even though she knew full well that Zhang Long and Luo Man were currently dating, she simply couldn't restrain her feelings; the more she suppressed them, the more intense they became, and the closer they came to a rebound explosion.

She wanted to cast caution to the wind and pursue it.

When a person suffers through the deep quiet of the night, tossing and turning in agony and unable to sleep, that sour bitterness is far too suffocating and hard to bear. So even if she faced Luo Man's furious scolding, she had to fight for it.

At the very least, she wanted to voice her true feelings and give herself—or give all three parties—an ultimate outcome.

Regret may have a tragic beauty to it, but it hurt far too much.

Thinking of this, Liang Xue raised her head to look at Zhang Long across the table. It wasn't without reason that matters of the heart have been deemed the hardest to see through since ancient times; even the most detached people could not escape the mundane world.

So mundane that she had become the very kind of person she once detested.

……

Zhang Shangyu's investment company was practically done being established; at the very least, the business address, the initial head count of five people, and the fifty million yuan in startup capital had all been finalized and secured.

Zhang Long was the final person, though even without him, they could have easily found a fifth head—they weren't short on people.

That night, at a certain leisure bar.

Zhang Long noticed that several rich second-generation acquaintances he knew all liked coming to these quiet bars. They weren't rowdy, and the resident singers on the middle stage performed soft melodies, pure instrumental pieces like the piano, violin, or saxophone. When there was no live performance, soft background music drifted gently from the speakers.

"Zhang Long, over here..."

Walking into the bar and glancing around to find the booth he was invited to, Zhang Long was instantly drawn to Zhang Shangyu waving and calling out softly from one of the booths. He strode over.

There weren't many people in the booth—just four.

Unsurprisingly, aside from Zhang Shangyu, there were the other three investment company partners: two men and a woman.

To put it simply, the genetic background of second-generation heirs was generally quite good. Wealthy men naturally married beautiful women with good genes, and through selective refinement, offspring progressively looked better.

The men were handsome and the women stunning, entirely living up to expectations.

Having eaten and drank well from childhood, not to mention their attire and styling, they naturally possessed a presence ordinary people couldn't compare with.

"Nie Yun."

"Ding Junchchen."

"Yang Qingshuang."

After Zhang Long sat down, he quickly got acquainted with the other three. As for Nie Yun, Ding Junchen, and Yang Qingshuang, even if they had been unfamiliar with Zhang Long's name before, once introduced by Zhang Shangyu, they weren't strangers anymore. While not everyone knew Qian Caiying personally, most of them had at least heard of her.

Different second-generation circles existed; some socialized and knew one another, while others never interacted.

Qian Caiying enjoyed a fairly prominent reputation across various circles, so Zhang Long, being associated with her?

"Alright, everyone's here."

After brief pleasantries and mutual introductions, Zhang Shangyu snapped his fingers and chuckled darkly, "The five-member investment company squad is officially meeting today. If there are no objections..."

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Zhang Long froze in place.

It wasn't because of anything problematic in what Zhang Shangyu said, but rather the moment Zhang Shangyu's voice trailed off, a string of text suddenly popped up above Yang Qingshuang's head: Negative Number!

Neither Zhang Shangyu, Nie Yun, nor Ding Junchen had it above their heads—only Yang Qingshuang did.

Good grief, even things like this could trigger early warnings?

That's legendary, my man—totally overpowered!!