Chapter 5

The Two-Way Mirror of Fate (1)

A man appeared behind Luo Wei. He was just over 1.8 meters tall, with dark brown hair, wearing a deep red suit, black shirt, and a white tie. On his chest was a classic golden badge, signifying he was a VIP client. A knight’s mask covered most of his face, but from the eyes visible through the holes, it was clear he had a pair of captivating eyes that naturally drew people in. The lips beneath the mask were pale, full, and slightly curved upward. Before Luo Wei could respond, he spoke again: “Shouldn’t you still be on the plane?”

Luo Wei touched her face, thinking her mask had fallen off. But the man quickly narrowed his eyes and said lightly, “Sorry, I mistook you for someone else.” He turned and walked away, returning to his group of friends. Xiao Lajiao glanced at him, then smiled: “He mistook you for his sister. That’s Xie Xiuchen.”

Luo Wei thought for a long time but couldn’t find any familiar names from her elementary school class. She could only honestly reply, “Who is Xie Xiuchen?”

“Luo Wei, are you serious? You know Xin Qi, but you don’t know her brother?”

“I’m a proper person, I don’t follow entertainment gossip.”

Luo Wei made a gesture as if twirling her mustache, but Xiao Lajiao pushed her head and said, “This isn’t gossip, it’s common knowledge. Haven’t you heard the saying: In Gongzhou, the most passionate man is Xie Gongzi, and the coldest man is King?” Seeing Luo Wei shake her head again, she rubbed her forehead, “You really haven’t been back in a long time. When people talk about Xie Gongzi here, they’re referring not just to Xie Xiuchen, but also to his father. And when they talk about King, they’re not just talking about the current King, but also the old King, his father. In short, the Xie family men are playboys, and the He family men are icy mafia bosses.”

“Now I understand. But he was covering his face—how did you know he was Xie Gongzi?”

“Because of his cufflinks and shoes.”

Looking again, the man was wearing a pair of grey and white Oxford shoes, and his cufflinks were white gold rose flowers. Xiao Lajiao seriously began explaining: “No matter how flashy his clothes are, Xie Xiuchen’s shoes are always the most traditional. He has a sister complex, so he wears things designed by his sister. The white gold rose is the most common element in Xie Xin Qi’s jewelry designs.”

“Xiao Lajiao, seriously, are you sure you want to deliver packages? Don’t you think being a gossip reporter suits you better?”

“Reporters can only write gossip, but delivery people can see the gossip. Which do you think is more worthwhile?”

“……”

Unfortunately, they didn’t manage to find the person they were looking for. After midnight, Luo Wei sighed and said, “I guess Xiao Ying won’t be coming tonight.”

“He often comes here to hang out. Let’s come back and check again next time,” Xiao Lajiao said.

Luo Wei nodded helplessly. It turned out that Xiao Ying was no ordinary gambler. He had mixed into the high-end gambling circles.

The next afternoon, a Lamborghini appeared like a red whirlwind, rushing down the Seaside Avenue and making a sudden stop a few hundred meters from the Zhenji Wangcheng. In the car, Xie Xinqi wore sunglasses and a red pleated halter dress. She adjusted her freshly styled chestnut-colored curls and took several deep breaths.

Having lived for more than twenty years, Xie Xinqi had always regarded men as worthless, but now, for the first time, she felt fear.

Stay calm. Stay calm. So what if it’s King? No matter how mysterious the outside world makes him sound, in the end, he’s just a man. All men like her, and she could get him. But the more she thought like this, the more unsettled she became. Especially after glancing at another photo of King, she hit her head on the steering wheel twice. She was more nervous than when she first gave a speech in front of a hundred students in an American university.

She couldn’t be like this. She was Xie Xinqi. How could she let a man see her nervousness?

She emptied her makeup bag onto the passenger seat, picked her favorite lipstick, unscrewed the cap with one hand, and expertly applied it in the rearview mirror. She pursed her lips and made a “bang bang” sound, then pressed the gas pedal, driving straight to the entrance of Zhenji Wangcheng. She opened the door, tossed the keys to the doorman, and strutted up the stairs in her high heels, looking like a warrior stepping out of a mecha from Pacific Rim. Passing a glass door, she saw her reflection inside, took off her sunglasses, pouted, covered one eye with her curls, and walked into Zhenji Wangcheng.

Twenty minutes later, she emerged from the same door, now wearing flat shoes, holding her high heels in one hand, and her hair completely tied up on top of her head. Despite this, the long hours in high heels had made her limp. She was on the phone, taking off her heavy earrings: “Bro, wait for me at home! I’m not done with you! Why have you never told me that man is a psychopath? What man? Don’t even ask me which man! His Majesty King Herson!” As she said “King,” she ripped off her Japanese-imported fake eyelashes, and when she said “Herson,” she angrily threw them away.

The daily emotions of these siblings were like an electrocardiogram. The difference was, Xie Xinqi’s was alive, while Xie Xiuchen’s was dead. On the other end of the phone, Xie Xiuchen’s voice was calm and undisturbed, ignoring her anger: “Are you late?”

“Fifteen minutes.” She glanced at her watch. “When a woman meets a man, being fifteen minutes late isn’t even considered late!”

“Have you done any research on King?”

“No, I just don’t understand why the psychiatric hospital would release him early!” As she said this, she pulled two transparent plastic pads, shaped like water dumplings, out of her bra and threw them forcefully, accidentally hitting a passerby on the head.

Here’s the situation: before returning to the country, King’s assistant sent her an email notifying her that they would meet at 4 p.m. at the Zhenji Wangcheng afternoon tea restaurant. When she entered the luxurious room, a man with a monk-style haircut and a short mustache stood up. He wasn’t the man in the photo. After some explanation, she learned that he was the vice president in charge of marketing at Zhenji Wangcheng. Because she hadn’t arrived, King had left, and he stayed behind to wait for her. “Never arrive earlier than a man” was Xie Xinqi’s life rule. However, King didn’t even have the patience to wait for fifteen minutes.

Xie Xinqi drove around the city for half an hour, trying to clear her mind. By the time she returned to the Xie family manor, it was already late. The southern island was bathed in moonlight, with only a night full of stars left. The wealthy neighborhood by the water was heavily surrounded by villas, with flower pollen floating in the air like brocade. A bright moon hung on the ancient building, filled with the sound of time. It felt like the scene from the poem, “Peach blossoms in the spring wind, a cup of wine, the river at night and the lamps from ten years of wandering.” Xie family manor was the most luxurious house on the southern island of Gongzhou. Even the classical outer walls were built using advanced nano-technology. Anyone passing by would slow down and gaze at it, while tourists would take photos in front of it. The most beautiful and fashionable girls in the city gathered in the afternoon tea restaurant here. They would order a basket of pastries, listen to the indoor string quartet, and spend four hours changing angles for selfies, uploading the best photos to their social media. They rarely interacted with their friends except when they needed to edit photos. Looking through the floor-to-ceiling windows and seeing such a scene, Xie Xinqi found it completely absurd.

Xie Xinqi parked her car and opened the door to her home. Aside from the housekeeper greeting her with, “Welcome home, Lady Xie,” the living room was silent and empty. She stepped across the marble floor and the fluffy carpet, walking to the long dining table in the dining room. The chef brought her the dinner menu, and she casually pointed to a Western dish. Sitting in the small corner of the large table, she idly scrolled through her phone’s message inbox. Without thinking, she stumbled upon the messages with “Mom.” The last message was sent several months ago: “Mom, Happy Lantern Festival.” No reply. She then flipped through the messages with “Dad,” and the last message was also from her: “Dad, I’m out of money.” The reply was: “Transferred, please check.” The previous messages, and the ones before that, were all “Dad, I’m out of money” and “Transferred, please check.” If it weren’t for the different dates, anyone would have thought there was a bad network connection, and she had to resend the same message dozens of times.

It wasn’t until they brought her the first appetizer that she put her phone down. After that, the entire mansion was filled only with the sound of plates being served, the chef softly asking which sauce she preferred, and the faint sound of her placing her knife and fork down. She finished one dish after another, and the chef brought her a small golden dish with a shell-shaped design, filled with ice cream drenched in wild blueberry sauce. She scooped a little with a small spoon and placed it between her teeth. With a sigh, she put the spoon down, wiped her mouth, and stood up. She walked towards the stairs amidst the watchful gazes, thinking of the girls taking photos at the afternoon tea restaurant. She looked around the room and realized that the corners of her house were far more luxurious than that restaurant. A sense of superiority filled her, but there was no trace of happiness to be found.

Perhaps it was because she had everything, but had lost her sense of pursuit, that she felt unhappy.

She remembered once browsing Weibo and seeing a comment that said, “Xie Xinqi’s inner strength is really impressive. No matter how many people criticize her, she’s still happy every day.” Someone replied, “Of course, she’s ‘Xie’ Xie Xinqi. If you were ‘Xie’ Xie Xinqi, you’d be happy too.”

It was true what they said. She was a winner in life, so much so that she had reached a point where life felt boring. For such a life winner, how could she not find a good man? King was perfect for her, exactly her type. To conquer such a man, who was constantly busy, if she didn’t have patience, it wouldn’t seem right, would it? While thinking this, she received a call from the vice president with the monk-style haircut. He said King would be free tomorrow night and that they could meet at the seaside. She agreed without hesitation.

This was the law of the world: there was no man who could resist her beauty, not even the coldest and most indifferent one. After hanging up the phone, she threw it aside and sat down in front of the makeup mirror to remove her makeup. However, she heard footsteps from outside. She blinked and waited, as her little dog jumped up and then, suppressing her impulse, sat back down and listened carefully. Sure enough, not long after, the sound of a metal weight scale and a soft sigh came from the study next door. She smiled helplessly and shook her head: “How much?”

“It’s definitely because I haven’t slept well these past couple of days,” came her brother’s calm voice from the study, accompanied by the sound of him taking off his coat. “Sixty-seven point five.”

“Are you only 135 pounds even with a coat on? Dare to take it off?”

If we were to talk about the differences in lifestyle between her and Xie Xiuchen, it would probably be their attitudes toward weight: she always weighed herself in the morning, after using the bathroom, and while naked on an empty stomach; Xie Xiuchen always weighed himself in the evening, after eating, and while still wearing his coat. When she sighed after stepping on the scale, it was because she had gained weight, but when he sighed, it was because he had lost weight again.

In Xie Xinqi’s opinion, this was all his own doing. He always liked to buy late-night snacks for her when he came home, almost like he had a grudge against her, buying only her favorite high-calorie foods, sweets, and pasta, while he himself had little interest in food. For him, food was just something to maintain energy, so after buying the snacks, he would mostly watch her eat, without touching his own. In the end, they both struggled with their weight. She would always complain about how devious her brother was, but when he came home empty-handed, she’d feel disappointed.

Just like tonight, she hadn’t heard the sound of a plastic bag, and even her makeup removal felt a bit tired. “Bro, I’m going to the library tomorrow, I’ll be home later.”

“If you’re meeting King, that’s fine.” She could hear the sound of him flipping through books outside.

Author’s Note:

Regarding character development, initially, I had set up the brother as abstinent and King as a womanizer. But after thinking more carefully, I realized that this setup might not be very logical.

King grew up in a non-luxurious environment and was the heir who stood out among many brothers. His career was demanding, and he wouldn’t treat women lightly. He wouldn’t let his image as a womanizer affect his reputation in the male-dominated world. So, even though he might be interested in conquering women, he wouldn’t do it openly for others to see.

On the other hand, the brother is a second-generation rich kid, with only one strong-willed sister at home. Due to his special birth circumstances, he has to be adept at reading people in order to survive. As a result, he naturally exudes a gentle aura. His own career isn’t very successful, so he lacks a strong sense of responsibility, but he has abundant wealth and resources, which leads him to develop a habit of being receptive to women and not caring about rumors of his romantic entanglements. For King, responsibility outweighs love, but for the brother, it’s the opposite. Therefore, the brother’s moral compass is weaker. A gentle man with a low moral compass—there’s a certain contrast that’s quite endearing, isn’t it?

As for Su Jiannian, he has a hidden flaw in his character that won’t be revealed until later. I won’t spoil it just yet. ^_^