Chapter 13:

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

You can buy coins here to unlock advanced chapters: https://gravitytales.com/coins-purchase-page/

One night during her sophomore year, Jiang Zhi found herself locked inside the university library, just as a violent storm hit. The power abruptly died.
Her phone, drained from hours of research, was dead.
Darkness instantly engulfed her.
Panic seized her. She felt plunged into an abyss of deep sea, fear consuming her whole body.
A suffocating pressure wrapped around her. Just as she felt she couldn’t breathe, a male student appeared.
He called her name from a distance, “Jiang Zhi, what’s wrong?” His voice, clear and deep, held an undercurrent of tension.
Hearing him, Jiang Zhi gasped weakly, “I… I can’t… breathe.”
In response, he navigated through the darkness towards her, his hands finding hers and grasping them firmly. “Don’t be afraid. You’re not alone,” he reassured her.
Knowing someone else was there in the blackness eased her psychological burden slightly.
With calm, steady instructions, he guided her to match his breathing rhythm.
Gradually, Jiang Zhi’s breathing normalized.
He wasn’t talkative, and neither was she. They sat quietly on the library floor, backs leaning against bookshelves.
In the pitch-black, silent night, the sound of each other’s breathing was unnervingly distinct.

“Feeling better?” His low, gentle voice broke the quiet.
Jiang Zhi nodded, “Yes, better now. Thank you.”
A thought struck her. “How do you know my name? Do we know each other?”
He was silent for a moment before answering softly, “In a way, yes.”
In a way?
Did that mean they knew each other or not?
Jiang Zhi, puzzled, asked, “Then… have we met?”
He shook his head. “You probably haven’t seen me.”
Haven’t seen him? Yet he said they knew each other?
Before she could question further, he continued, “It’s me. I’ve been quietly watching you.”
He paused, then shifted his body to face her more directly. His tone was earnest, “When the sun rises, and you see my face clearly… would you be willing to get to know me?”
Though surrounded by darkness, Jiang Zhi could feel the intensity of his gaze—like turbulent, surging waves.
She was stunned. Before her father’s downfall, many had confessed to her.
After the incident, he was the first.
After a long moment, Jiang Zhi found her voice, “I’m sorry… I already have someone I like.”
As the words left her lips, she felt his body stiffen.
The air seemed to freeze solid.

It took him a long time to speak again, his voice tinged with dejection. “I understand. Feelings can’t be forced.”
For the rest of the night, not another word passed between them.
Jiang Zhi didn’t know when she drifted off to sleep in the darkness.
When she awoke, a man’s jacket was draped over her, and the boy beside her was gone.
In reality, Jiang Zhi took the jacket back to her dorm.
But in her dream, he remained. She slept all night leaning on his shoulder, and she even clearly saw his face!
Jiang Zhi jolted awake, gasping for air.
Her mother had passed away during her first year of high school.
She had died in a dark basement. Jiang Zhi was the one who found her body.
Since then, she had been terrified of the dark.
Later, after becoming an agent and undergoing therapy, she improved somewhat.
Sunlight streamed through the window.
Jiang Zhi glanced around the room, the warm sunshine outside finally grounding her in reality.
I must be going mad, she thought, to superimpose Shang Chi’s face onto that boy’s.

Jiang Zhi pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to recall the boy’s voice. It did seem somewhat similar to Shang Chi’s.
But the former was warm and deep like water, the latter cold and sharp like ice.
The voice from that dream she’d had in the hospital felt closer—though that voice was deeper, steadier, lacking the boy’s youthful timbre and hint of naivety.
She got out of bed and went to the bathroom, splashing cold water on her face. It helped clear her head.
She recalled the day she went to proposition Shang Chi, his insistence that it had to be her.
His sudden flight change to rush to the Qin residence and help her.
And the interview on TomatoTV where he spoke of being rejected by a woman.
Her heart skipped a beat. Could it be…?
She turned back to the bed, grabbed her phone, and typed ‘Shang Chi’ into the search bar.
Instantly, relevant information flooded the screen.
Jiang Zhi scanned quickly, zeroing in on the detail she needed:
Shang Chi attended University X, majoring in Financial Engineering.
Seeing this, Jiang Zhi breathed a sigh of relief. She had attended University Y—miles apart.
Moreover, her university had stringent security. Access to the library required personal facial recognition.

In other words, only enrolled students could enter.
Shang Chi, not being a student there, couldn’t possibly have gained access.
Exactly, she thought. Their voices might be somewhat similar, but their demeanors are worlds apart.
Jiang Zhi simply couldn’t imagine the cold, ruthless, sharp-tongued Shang Chi speaking romantic words with tender affection.
She reasoned that her mind had superimposed his face onto the boy’s solely because of the vocal resemblance.
Having settled her thoughts, she remembered her task here.
Jiang Zhi grabbed a quick breakfast nearby before heading to a high-end home furnishing store in the capital. Using her industry connections, she met with the brand’s general manager.
Shang Chi had given her only a week to furnish the house. Custom pieces were out of the question.
That meant using readily available furniture.
Considering his status, off-the-shelf items wouldn’t suffice.
The Qin Group also dealt in furniture. Jiang Zhi knew these brands maintained exclusive production lines specifically catering to the ultra-wealthy, separate from their mass-market offerings.
She wasted no time on pleasantries with the manager, stating her requirements directly.
Professional tasks were best left to professionals. She needed a top-tier interior designer.
The manager was delighted and recommended several.
Based on her aesthetic sense, Jiang Zhi selected one. The designer quickly presented several mood board concepts for different areas.

For her own room, she made a swift decision: a design with a bright color palette.
For the living room and other common areas, she was less certain.
Ultimately, she chose two schemes featuring a cool, dark black base similar to Shang Chi’s master bedroom.
She snapped photos of the boards and sent them to him.

Jiang Zhi: 【Image.】
Jiang Zhi: 【President Shang, which concept do you prefer?】

She waited a few minutes. His reply came.
Shang Chi: 【Too dark.】
Jiang Zhi: “???”
His master bedroom was exactly that color scheme!
In fact, the two concepts she’d picked were slightly lighter than his existing room.
Resigned, Jiang Zhi picked two brighter schemes and sent them over.
Shang Chi: 【Too bright.】
Jiang Zhi: “……”
She was convinced he was deliberately giving her a hard time.
Jiang Zhi: 【May I ask what style you do want, President Shang?】
Shang Chi: 【Combine the two.】