Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 34: Chapter 32 Old Acquaintance

After hanging up the phone, Huo Sining remembered that even though the price had gone down, she still couldn’t afford it.

The 3.6 million she had from selling the pearls, plus the 120,000 from the Rainbow Fairy Fish, and the money she made before in Rongcheng totaled only 3.75 million. She had spent quite a bit during this time, and the remaining money wasn’t enough.

Huo Sining’s gaze fell on the large pearls inside the cabinet.

No woman could resist the lure of jewelry; she had wanted to ask Su Jinyuan to help her process those pearls into a necklace for herself, but now she had no choice but to let them go.

She didn’t want to miss out on such a good shop, and after much internal struggle, she finally took out a box with seven quail-egg-sized white pearls from the cabinet.

These round and lustrous Eastern Pearls, if sold, would likely never come back into her possession again, would they?

Huo Sining bit her lip and, still reluctant to part with them all, she picked out three slightly smaller pearls and stuffed the rest back into the cabinet.

The pearls from before, which were over ten millimeters in size, were worth eighty thousand a piece; there was no reason why these larger pearls couldn’t fetch a good price.

She only needed to gather four million. If Su Jinyuan wasn’t willing to pay even three hundred thousand for the three Eastern Pearls, she would firmly refuse to sell them.

There’s no need to bother two parties when one will suffice, and Donghua was known to be a wealthy customer; Huo Sining had not the slightest hesitation.

But when she was ready to sell, she realized that she seemed to have lost the business card Su Jinyuan had given her.

Huo Sining was on the verge of despair as she rummaged through her things but couldn’t find the card. Out of options, she could only take a taxi directly to Donghua Company to find someone.

Upon arriving at Donghua Company, Huo Sining had just entered the lobby when she saw a woman pestering the reception desk.

Huo Sining didn’t think much of it and, clutching her bag, made a beeline for the elevator entrance.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she reached the elevator, the woman who had been arguing with the receptionist dashed over, grabbed her hand, and asked persistently, “Receptionist, why is it that this person can go in directly without a staff badge?”

The receptionist had been trying to stop the woman but had failed to notice Huo Sining. Now, looking up and seeing a strange face in Huo Sining, she frowned, “Miss, may I ask who you are looking for?”

Huo Sining was taken aback and answered, “I’m here to see Mr. Su, Su Jinyuan.”

Before the receptionist could respond, the woman who had stopped Huo Sining snorted disdainfully:

“Nine out of ten people who come here want to see Mr. Su. But I advise you to give up, little sister. With your dehydrated radish figure, Mr. Su won’t spare you a glance. You might as well save yourself the effort.”

Huo Sining understood the implication perfectly and turned around, her smile not quite reaching her eyes as she looked at the woman:

“Do you think with an offer like yours, of self-promotion to the bedside, Mr. Su would accept? I suggest you wash off that thick makeup from your face, so you don’t scare people. When the foundation is poor, no amount of paint can help!”

“You!” The woman was furious, glaring at Huo Sining with wide, vicious eyes.

The receptionist couldn’t help but laugh. Having to deal with all these people harassing the CEO every day, she was fed up. Hearing Huo Sining’s piercing mockery, she struggled to contain her laughter, and her impression of Huo Sining improved significantly.

“Miss, our Mr. Su is currently in a meeting and will not see guests momentarily. If it’s urgent, please wait in the lobby,” said the receptionist politely to Huo Sining.

Huo Sining felt frustrated. She could wait for Su Jinyuan, but she couldn’t afford to waste more time.

She had already delayed too much time at Cai Jianxin’s place that morning; it was already past twelve o’clock, and she had to sign a contract with Cai Jianxin in the afternoon.

The price was pushed so low that Huo Sining was worried about unexpected complications; arriving too late might result in Cai Jianxin backing out of the deal.

But no matter how anxious she was, she had to wait. After all, it was her own carelessness that lost the business card given to her.

Huo Sining felt anxious and helpless, only able to sit in the lobby and patiently wait, praying in her heart for that damn meeting to finish quickly.

Perhaps Huo Sining’s prayers had an effect; she had only waited for over ten minutes when the elevator doors opened, and a group of people came out.

Walking at the front, Su Jinyuan was still in a suit, but his face unusually carried a smile, looking as if he was in a good mood.

Huo Sining was about to walk over when, within that group of people, she suddenly caught sight of a face.

Past memories of humiliation and shame surged in her mind, and Huo Sining froze on the spot.

That year, through some stroke of dumb luck, she had been hired as the assistant to the general manager at a subsidiary of Shengtang Group, and she gradually became acquainted with Zhao Mingcheng, the deputy general manager.

Then one day, Zhao Mingcheng launched a charm offensive. As a young woman in her early twenties who had never seen such grandeur, she was completely unworldly. Under Zhao’s relentless pursuit, her defenses fell swiftly, and she became a captive to love.

Not long after, during the company’s annual gala, Zhao Mingcheng brought her to the headquarters of Shengtang Group.

Huo Sining did not drink, nor had she ever seen such a spectacle, so she only dared to hide in a corner and sneakily eat during that evening’s banquet.

Unexpectedly, not long after eating a plate of food, she felt terribly wrong throughout her body. She staggered out of the banquet hall, and before getting far, she was surrounded by a gang of thugs.

In the chaos, her dress was torn to shreds, and just at that critical moment, a man dropped from the sky and rescued her.

But by that time she was already delirious, feeling an intense discomfort all over; she felt as if she was on fire.

Carried in the man’s arms, she instinctively felt an extreme thirst. Without any control, she reached out, held the man, and kissed him.

Unexpectedly, he threw her to the ground and slapped her hard.

The slap brought her momentarily to her senses. The man looked at her with incredulous eyes, as if there was something dirty about her.

That look, sharp as a dagger, made Huo Sining feel utterly disgraced; a flood of shame and revulsion overwhelmed her.

Yet, deep inside, those embarrassing desires kept welling up irrepressibly, beyond her ability to suppress.

The man probably realized something was off, as he stood frozen for dozens of seconds. Finally, with a sigh, he picked her up from the ground and took her back to his place.

There, she was thrown into a bathtub full of cold water.

She curled up in the cold water until the family doctor, called by the man, arrived to give her an IV. He busied himself all night long until her body temperature returned to normal.

That incident had always been Huo Sining’s most shameful secret; if it hadn’t been for Wu Jingyi revealing the hidden truth before her death, she might have never known she had been drugged by Wu Jingyi that time.

Knowing the truth, she felt even more grateful to the man who had helped her. If he hadn’t intervened that day, Huo Sining did not dare to imagine what might have happened subsequently.

She had thought that with her rebirth, there would no longer be an opportunity to repay that kindness, but she had not expected to run into him here.

Huo Sining stood there dazed, her gaze fixed intently on the man.

Perhaps sensing Huo Sining’s stare, the man suddenly turned his head, sweeping his gaze across the lobby, which eventually landed on Huo Sining’s face.

Their eyes met, and Huo Sining was taken aback, feeling her heartbeat skip a beat. Under his piercing gaze, she frantically lowered her head.

“Mr. Su, thank you for your cooperation and sincerity. I’m confident that the collaboration between Shengtang and Donghua will definitely bring more splendid achievements and effects. I’ll have my deputy handle the specifics of our cooperation with you, as I have other matters and will take my leave first,”

Gu Xu retracted his gaze from the lobby and shook hands with Su Jinyuan. He then nodded slightly to Song Hui standing beside him before turning to leave the lobby.

In the moment he stepped out of the door, his gaze lightly and briefly fell upon Huo Sining, his eyes flickering slightly.