Chapter 324 - 257: Feelings Are Mutual

After Sang Yuan’s diversion, Ni Bingyan’s restless heart suddenly calmed down.

It was a sense of peace akin to traveling through a desert. After trekking for what felt like an eternity through endless yellow sand, you finally reach a lush oasis. You check into a comfortable hotel, take a shower, and lie down on a soft bed that smells of sunshine. The pillows are fluffy, the comforter is fluffy, and even your bones feel lighter.

This feeling was new to her—something she had never experienced in her thirty-plus years.

But she genuinely loved this feeling.

Looking at things from a new perspective, what had happened before no longer seemed so unbearable.

It wasn’t so easy to judge whether the people around her were good or bad.

Ashamed of her earlier suspicions, she invited Wang Biao and Duanmu Li to her room the next day after work. She apologized and explained in detail why she had felt that way.

She was so candid, not even hiding her own ignoble suspicions, and her apology was sincere. Although they were both quite upset at first, they quickly let it go.

It was like treating a wound. Instead of covering it up and letting it fester, it was better to lance it. It might hurt for a while, but after some time to recover, it would eventually heal.

Compared to letting paranoia fester into a full-blown crisis of trust and planting seeds of disaster for the future, it was far better to be open from the start, confront her own shortcomings, and actively work to improve the situation.

"What you were thinking makes a lot of sense. If I were in your shoes, I’d have been suspicious too."

Wang Biao was the more rational one. Looking at the situation objectively, he could completely understand Ni Bingyan’s line of thinking.

But Duanmu Li was furious. "It’s good for a girl to know how to protect herself, but there’s no need to be this paranoid! To put it bluntly, you’re an open book. You never hide anything and have always lived your life out in the open. What secrets could you possibly have that would be worth me selling you out?"

’Does she really see me as some unscrupulous person who’d betray a friend for personal gain?’

That really stung.

Ni Bingyan meekly admitted her fault.

"I know you’re not that kind of person, but with the way things were, I couldn’t help but overthink. Everyone around me started to seem suspicious. It wasn’t directed at you two specifically. I’m sorry, Sister Li. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions like that."

Duanmu Li rarely said so much at once. Mentally exhausted, she just waved her hand, not wanting to talk about it anymore.

But Wang Biao chuckled and said,

"Exactly! You really underestimate us. Why would I be dumb enough to suck up to your boyfriend instead of you? To put it bluntly, if you two broke up, all my effort would go to waste, right? It makes way more sense for me to keep you happy so you’ll work hard and take on more jobs. That way, I get a bigger commission. Isn’t that a much better deal?"

Wang Biao was a capable agent with an extensive network. He didn’t work for a fixed salary; like Wei Shuojie, he earned a commission. His logic was sound.

As they took turns playing good cop and bad cop, lecturing her for what felt like ages, Ni Bingyan became acutely aware of her own character flaws. Too ashamed to even look up, all she could do was offer them some fruit.

Once they had both vented their frustrations, Wang Biao, speaking from experience, couldn’t help but add a few more words of advice.

"I’m going to say something you might not want to hear. Relationships are a two-way street. Sang Yuan treats you well, and you need to make an effort to treat him well, too. For starters, you have to learn to trust him more. He’s offering you his whole, warm heart. If you always respond with coldness, he’ll eventually grow cold, too. It’s a rare and precious thing to find someone you love and who truly understands you in this life."

Having lost the love of his life, he understood the meaning of "cherish" better than anyone.

’How important it is to cherish the one you’re with and every single moment of happiness!’

Unfortunately, many who were lucky enough to have it didn’t understand that simple truth.

Perhaps reminded of his late wife, Wang Biao’s mood soured, and he soon excused himself and left.

Ni Bingyan felt too ashamed to ask him to stay, so she just let him go.

Once Wang Biao was gone, Duanmu Li flopped onto the sofa and started in with a sarcastic tone.

"Oh, yes! After all, Brother Biao and I are just the hired help. It doesn’t matter whether you trust us. But President Sang is different. *Naturally*, he gets the upgraded treatment~"

Her tone was dripping with so much sour sarcasm it was practically overpowering.

The fact that she was still talking so much meant she wasn’t truly angry. Ni Bingyan flopped down on the sofa next to her and said wearily,

"He said people are hitting on me because they don’t know I’m taken. So he wants to get engaged, to let the whole world know how ridiculously amazing my boyfriend is, so that anyone with half a brain will feel inadequate and back off..."

Sure enough, hearing a plot point straight out of a domineering-CEO novel, Duanmu Li immediately sat bolt upright.

Don’t be fooled by her short hair and androgynous style. Ni Bingyan knew that, in private, she absolutely adored romance novels. The woman was a pure, hopeless romantic at heart.

"Engaged? When? How big of a deal is he going to make it? The *whole world* will know?"

’See? Once a woman’s passion for gossip is ignited, there’s no putting it out.’

Ni Bingyan closed her eyes slightly and shot the sarcasm right back at her. "Alas, since you and Brother Biao are just the hired help, it doesn’t really matter whether you know about this sort of thing..."

Duanmu Li instantly broke into a grin. "Oh, so now you’ve learned how to leave me hanging? I’m going to tickle you to death!"

After a bit of playful roughhousing, the matter was forgotten.

After that, Xu Bin stopped causing trouble, and Ni Bingyan cleared the air with the crew members. Her work went smoothly, and filming for the show wrapped up on schedule.

The day before leaving Cambodia, she was still agonizing over what gift to get for Sang Yuan.

She had truly taken Wang Biao’s words to heart.

Trust and affection were both two-way streets. Sang Yuan was always giving her gifts and surprising her; she ought to reciprocate. That was what it meant to be serious about a relationship.

But what should she get him?

After much deliberation, she finally came up with a plan.

With *Inheritor* wrapped, her schedule before the Lunar New Year consisted of filming a season of *Ni Bingyan’s World Travel* and attending training for *Zui Sheng Building*.

Next year, *Zui Sheng Building* would be her main focus. To have a shot at winning awards, she had a lot of prep work to do. She not only had to train her posture and deportment, but also practice several dance routines choreographed specifically for the film.

This training would continue until after the Lunar New Year.

During this period, she would be spending most of her time in Beijing, which was the perfect opportunity to nurture their relationship—an opportunity she had no intention of missing.

When it came to creating surprises step by step, she was all theory and no practice. She felt a little uncertain, but she was bold and wasn’t afraid to learn through trial and error.

Back home, she rested for a bit. Once it was past five in the afternoon, she changed her clothes and headed out.

First, she went to a junior from her old school, who had since opened a delivery station, and borrowed a bright yellow delivery driver’s uniform. Then, she hopped on a borrowed electric scooter and rode to the florist to pick up the rose bouquet she had ordered.

It was a small surprise. She wasn’t as extravagant as Sang Yuan, so she only ordered ninety-nine roses.

The pièce de résistance was a pair of custom-made platinum snowflake cufflinks, tucked secretly into the middle of the bouquet, with just a corner of the red velvet jewelry box peeking out...

Riding her little electric scooter, Ni Bingyan soon arrived at Yuan Yan Venture Capital.

But the receptionist, who had been all smiles with her before, took one look at her delivery uniform and large face mask and immediately stopped her.

She clearly hadn’t been recognized.

"Hi, you can just leave the delivery here at the front desk."

"This bouquet is very expensive. I have to deliver it to the customer in person."

Ni Bingyan made up an excuse, but the receptionist had seen this sort of thing plenty of times and wasn’t having it.

"It’s during business hours. I’m sorry, but you can’t go in. Per company policy, all deliveries are accepted by the front desk. If it’s truly that valuable, you can wait until he gets off work."

Ni Bingyan hadn’t expected to fall at the first hurdle. Her brilliant plan was about to be foiled by the front desk.

Just as she was trying to figure out what to do, she saw Sang Yuan laughing as he escorted someone out.

"Miss Liu, I look forward to working with you further. Farewell!"

’A slender figure, exquisite makeup... what a beautiful Miss Liu!’

Ni Bingyan glanced down at her delivery uniform and felt like she had already lost before the battle even began.

She quickly tugged her mask up higher, leaving only her eyes visible.

’What was I thinking?’ she cursed herself internally. ’This was such a stupid idea!’