Chapter 2: Trending

Leaving the hospital, Jiang Huashan went straight back to Little Shen Garden.

The estate had been a wedding gift from Shen Zhuang when she married Shen Lanxi. The old man had once half-jokingly told her that if Shen Lanxi ever dared to mistreat her or make her suffer, she should move back to Little Shen Garden and ignore him. Let him stew.

The old man had overestimated her, though. She'd been living here for three years, and Shen Lanxi hadn't stewed for a single second.

Most of the estate's servants had already drifted away. Only Zhang Ma, a driver, and a few gardeners remained.

"Madam, you're back?" Zhang Ma hurried out of the kitchen, where she'd been tending to a pot of soup, drawn by the sound of the door.

"Mm." Jiang Huashan's expression was listless.

Zhang Ma took her bag, face creased with worry. "How did it go? What did the doctor say?"

Jiang Huashan's tone was flat. "That quack said there's nothing wrong with me."

Zhang Ma only knew that Jiang Huashan had gone to the hospital for a checkup — she had no idea it was a psychiatrist. Hearing that nothing was wrong, she let out a long breath of relief. "That's good. I heard Miss Suier is also at Jinghe Hospital. Did you visit her, Madam? Did you run into Young Master Lanxi?"

Jiang Huashan couldn't be bothered to explain. She'd grown numb to it long ago, because no matter what she did, nobody believed her. They all assumed she was scheming, pulling stunts to get Shen Lanxi's attention.

Zhang Ma saw her silence and quickly clammed up. She laughed awkwardly and crouched down to help her change her shoes — then caught sight of the champagne-colored, fully diamond-encrusted stilettos on Jiang Huashan's feet, and her expression flickered.

Jiang Huashan looked down at the woman at her feet, her face flat. "Zhang Ma, you should leave too."

Zhang Ma froze. She looked up at Jiang Huashan, flustered. "Little Madam, did I do something wrong? I—"

Jiang Huashan shook her head, her tone perfectly ordinary. "No. You haven't done anything wrong. It's just that I'm tired of this world and I'll probably be dead before long. Keeping you here would only drag you down. Don't worry — I'll give you a sum of money. A lot of money. Enough to live comfortably for the rest of your life."

"Madam..." Zhang Ma had been on the verge of tears, but the words stunned her blank. "Madam, then... should I call Secretary Gao right now? Tell him you might be dying?!"

Jiang Huashan: "..."

Wrong? Zhang Ma scratched her head. She caught on a second later, looking conflicted. "Madam, it's not that I won't help. It's just — I don't have Young Master Lanxi's personal number either."

Jiang Huashan pressed a hand to her forehead, too drained to deal with her, and shuffled past. She muttered under her breath, "Who the hell came up with this character design..."

The back garden of Little Shen Garden held a sea of flowers.

Three years ago, it had been planted with rare roses from all over the world. But after the old master passed away, they'd all been replaced with peonies.

April drizzle. Peak peony season — the garden was a rolling sea of blossoms and leaves, a riot of purples and crimsons.

Jiang Huashan walked into the greenhouse, slipped off her heels, and sank into the rattan lounge chair.

This was what she loved doing most now — rocking gently in the chair, watching the peonies ripple into a sea of color in the soft spring breeze. Every time, she'd feel a deep, loose relaxation, like she could just die right here, right now, and be perfectly fine with it.

Ding-dong — ding-dong — ding-dong —

A string of notifications buzzed from the phone on the side table, shattering the quiet.

She frowned. She hadn't touched the phone in ages — she'd only turned it on and charged it to go out today, then forgotten to power it down when she got back.

She was about to shut it off when her thumb paused.

Three headlines blazed across the screen.

#BREAKING: Shen Group Head's Secret Romance Exposed!!! Spotted Leaving Barun Hotel Overnight With Rising National Sweetheart Su Yun — All Over Each Other, Never Left the Room All Night!

#Rising National Sweetheart Slammed as Homewrecker, Dragged to #1 Trending Overnight!

#Hotel Overnight Scandal — Shen Group's Fig Leaf Ripped Away! Stock Plunges Past 10%, Shen Family Loses 130 Billion in Market Value Overnight!

Su Yun?

Jiang Huashan tapped to enlarge the image. The attached photo showed only the backs of a man and woman leaning into each other, but anyone with eyes could see the intimacy went far beyond "just friends." The light in Jiang Huashan's eyes dimmed a fraction. She zeroed in on the other figure, pinching to zoom again and again.

The woman in the photo had long hair spilling over her shoulders, dressed in a jade-green qipao. Sloping shoulders, a lute-slim waist — even under Jiang Huashan's harshest, most magnified scrutiny, she couldn't find a single flaw.

"Su Yun... since when was there someone like that in their circle?"

[Ding! New character unlocked! Su Yun — true heiress of the Su Financial Group. Shen Lanxi's canon love interest.]

Jiang Huashan closed her eyes and tapped her forehead lightly. "Did I ask you to talk?"

"..."

She thought for a moment, then tapped her forehead again. "If she's his canon love interest, then what am I?"

[You are Shen Lanxi's cannon fodder ex-wife. You are more beautiful than anyone, but he remains unmoved, holding fast to his heart — until the female lead Su Yun appears, and the untouchable ice prince falls from his pedestal. As the female lead's foil, your function is to accentuate Shen Lanxi's contrast. Your stupid, vicious character traits are an essential gear in the machinery that drives the male and female leads' romance.]

"..." Jiang Huashan gave a cold laugh. No wonder. No matter how she'd tried to please and seduce Shen Lanxi after they got married, he'd refused to touch her. It turned out she was destined to be the clown in someone else's love story.

Ding-dong —

Another one.

#[HOT] Shen Family's Young Madam Jiang Huashan Suspected of Mental Breakdown — attached photo shows Jiang Huashan exiting the VIP Psychiatry Clinic.

The photo was slightly out of focus, a little blurry, but she was so impossibly beautiful that she was still instantly recognizable.

Jiang Huashan scowled. Since when was Jinghe Hospital's privacy this leaky?

#[HOT] Young Madam Obsessed With Young Master Shen — No True Love Among the Ultra-Rich: Beauty Unfaded, Love Already Gone.

The attached photo was a shot of Jiang Huashan's back as she left the hospital. The paparazzo had deliberately zoomed in on her feet.

#Caption: Mrs. Shen Wears Her Wedding Shoes to the Doctor — Love So Heavy, Schemes to Win Him Back Are Endless!

"..."

Which brain-dead editor dreamed up THAT headline?

Jiang Huashan looked at the pair of heels she'd tossed carelessly beside the lounge chair, her face full of disgust.

That morning, Zhang Ma had been busy, so she'd grabbed a pair from the closet herself. How was it this coincidental? The very shoes from her wedding to Shen Lanxi? No wonder Zhang Ma had looked so strange earlier — she thought the same as everyone else: that Jiang Huashan was still hopelessly, pathologically obsessed with Shen Lanxi.

How was she supposed to tell them that the obsession was in the past? Ever since she'd moved to Little Shen Garden, ever since she'd started hearing more and more of those voices, she'd already let it go.

Jiang Huashan thought about it for exactly one second. Then she downloaded a secondhand marketplace app and listed the wedding shoes for one cent.

If everything could have a price tag, then she'd put a price on this feeling too.