Ziyue raised her eyebrows. She kept her anger to herself.
"It's totally fine if you're happy being Gricy's dog, but please don't group us all together with you. I'm sure we'd much prefer staying human."
Ziyue's sharp wit left a wound in Hanyan's pride.
Hanyan glared at her, "You are nothing more than a quick tongue. Besides that, what else can you do? You're nothing without Muchen!"
"That's where you're wrong. Even without Muchen, I am Su Ziyue." Ziyue stared at her head on, quieting the burgeoning anger in her chest.
Whatever the situation she was in, be it richer or poorer, Ziyue was always aware of who she was.
One must never lose sight of themselves. Do not be led astray. Do not hide who they are. And always be their true selves.
Hanyan wasn't wrong. Without MUchen, Ziyue may have never risen to popularity that quickly. She won't be known as the wife of LK Group's chairman. She may never have gotten a chance to enter Mogwin Castle. She probably would never hear of Gricy nor get involved with them. It was unlikely she'd meet someone like Aika too.
But even living a life of normality without Muchen, she was proud of who she was. She was Su Ziyue, and there was nothing wrong with that.
Hanyan, on the other hand, had succumbed to her desires and had driven herself deeper and deeper into the darkness.
She had lost sight of herself. She probably couldn't even recognize who she was anymore.
Women's conversations were full of passive aggressiveness. This was how toxic women could be.
Hanyan was sly. She picked up what Ziyue had meant without any prompting.
She'd thought among them, Ziyue would be the one to get upset by her taunts. To Hanyan's surprise, she was the one who was triggered.
"That's quite the bark you got there!" She sneered.
"Thanks for the compliment, but…" Spinning a pen within her fingers, Ziyue said breezily, "Just say what you came to say. I have a company to run."
Cutting to the chase, Hanyan told it to her straight, "Go to Country J if you want to find out what happened to Chuan."
"No can do. I'm too busy." Ziyue denied her outright.
"Didn't you just say they were different from me? You'll abandon them when they cease to be useful to you!"
Besides Muchen being absolutely in love with Ziyue, Hanyan hated her for her upright, unswayable moral compass.
It was as if she had never felt any guilt for doing anything wrong ever.
Hanyan did not believe that was possible. Everyone must have done something wrong at least once in their lives. It was one of the reasons she hated Ziyue. Hanyan thought her to be a hypocrite.
"You must have spent so long under their thumb that you've forgotten all about free will. Should I go to Country J just because you told me to? Why do I have to do as you say? Have you also been suckered into believing Gricy is all-powerful?"
After a slight pause, Ziyue continued, "That's right. Who exactly are you speaking for? Gricy? Or…"
She stared unblinkingly at Hanyan. A long silence ensued before Ziyue broke it once more, "Or did you come on behalf of the Earl of Augsburg?"
Hanyan immediately tensed up.
Ziyue threw her pen aside and clasped her hands together. "I have an appointment. There's the door." She said coolly.
She picked up a phone and called her secretary, "Please escort Miss Gu out."
The order was so direct that Hanyan could not take it as any other meaning but for her to 'Get the f*ck out.' Her pride was already in shreds, and the person escorting her out had also arrived.
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