After leaving the Apple Livestream Anniversary event, Hang Zikun went to his usual entertainment club and stayed until midnight. He wasn’t used to sleeping over there, so he drove himself home.

Driving his luxury car worth hundreds of thousands back to his spacious 150-square-meter apartment in the city center, Hang Zikun felt elated. He thought about the car Su Yiran’s family drove—it wasn’t even worth 100,000 yuan, just a shabby little thing.

Ah, how the tables had turned.

Hang Zikun was thoroughly pleased. He put on some soft music, opened a bottle of red wine, and leisurely enjoyed the feeling of being a winner in the upper class.

After finishing a glass of wine, he turned off the music, ready for bed.

As sleepiness started to overtake him, his phone suddenly rang shrilly in the dead of night. Just as he was about to drift off, the sound jolted him awake. He irritably groped for his phone and hung up without even looking.

But the call came again immediately. Hang Zikun forced himself awake, glanced at the screen, and saw it was his friend Da Ming, a senior executive at Weihua Financial. He repressed his anger and answered: “Hello? Da Ming?”

Da Ming’s nervous voice came through: “Why did you ask me to check up on that guy Gu Yuanting at our company the other day? What were you trying to do?”

Hang Zikun was confused: “Didn’t you check and tell me that there’s no such person in your company? Why are you calling about this in the middle of the night?”

“There was a mix-up!” Da Ming sounded regretful. “I only looked at the employee roster from HR and didn’t see him there, but just recently, our company was acquired by a new boss named Gu—the very low-key President Gu. I just learned his name—Gu Yuanting!”

Remembering Hang Zikun’s ominous tone when he asked about this before, Da Ming hurriedly warned: “What were you planning with that info? I’m telling you, this President Gu is not someone you can mess with. His wealth—I don’t even dare estimate it. Don’t drag me into anything stupid. It took me years to climb to where I am—I’m not getting taken down by you.”

Hang Zikun barely heard the rest. The words “acquired a Fortune 500 company” and “Gu Yuanting” made his mind blank, buzzing in shock.

Same name? It must be just a coincidence, right? How could it be!? How!?

Hang Zikun’s mind was a mess when another call came in—it was his business partner, President Chen. He forced himself to calm down and answered: “Hello? President Chen?”

President Chen’s voice was furious: “Hang Zikun, what’s going on? That annual project you swore was rock solid is falling apart!”

Hang Zikun was clueless: “What are you talking about? Isn’t the project fine?” This project was their key to getting listed and growing. He’d poured his heart into it for over a year.

President Chen was even angrier: “You’re pretending? The product’s adulteration has been exposed! Yuteng and Jiahua are pulling out overnight!”

“What?” Hang Zikun shot up from bed, rubbed his face in disbelief, “What?”

---

The next day, Su Yiran went to his dessert shop as usual.

The employees all congratulated him: “Boss, congrats! Number one on the trending list!”

Su Yiran smiled and thanked them. The hashtag “Yiting” was still trending high on Weibo even though the hype had cooled a bit since the livestream.

His “Yiting” dessert shop had gone viral once again.

Honestly, Su Yiran hadn’t expected that just showing his face at the anniversary event would have such an effect.

Regardless, it was great news. He had sent out red envelopes in the staff group chat last night and now announced that all desserts in the shop today were free for staff to enjoy—celebration! Everyone cheered happily.

After the excitement, everyone got back to work. By 2 PM, Su Yiran finally had some downtime.

He strolled to the front to check on customer satisfaction when he spotted a familiar face in the booths. Recognizing him, he walked over with a smile: “Mr. Li?”

Mr. Li looked up and smiled back: “Boss Su, your shop is so popular now. I brought my girlfriend to try it out.” He introduced the woman sitting across from him.

Su Yiran greeted her politely and said to Mr. Li: “Thanks for the support. I’ll give you a discount today.”

They exchanged a few pleasantries when Mr. Li suddenly asked, “By the way, I haven’t seen your Gu boss at our company lately. Did he quit finance?”

Su Yiran was taken aback: “He’s still in finance. He officially joined your company—you haven’t seen him?”

Considering they were in the same department, this didn’t make sense.

Mr. Li was the team leader in the marketing department at Weihua Financial. It was through his connection that Gu Yuanting became a part-time consultant before. Su Yiran had met Mr. Li a couple of times.

Since Gu Yuanting had formally joined Weihua Financial as a department head, Mr. Li should’ve known him.

Mr. Li was also confused: “Officially joined?”

Su Yiran felt uneasy: “Yes, as a senior in the marketing department.”

Mr. Li shook his head: “I’ve been working there all along, on those two floors. I’ve never seen him. I thought he quit finance.”

Su Yiran’s heart sank. He remembered what Hang Zikun had said the day before.

He asked, “Has your company recently had any overseas assignments in D-country?”

Mr. Li shook his head: “No.”

Su Yiran forced a smile: “Maybe I got it wrong. Sorry.”

Mr. Li sensed something was off but didn’t press further. They wrapped up the conversation, and Su Yiran went to the back of the shop.

He instinctively picked up his phone to call Gu Yuanting but paused when he saw the contact “Ting Ge” at the top of his list.

Yesterday, he had already asked.

“I didn’t lie to you. I am indeed an employee of Weihua.”

Su Yiran stared blankly, not even registering when staff talked to him.

Seeing his pale face, a staff member asked, “Boss? Are you okay?”

After being called a few times, Su Yiran forced a smile: “I’m fine. I’m just stepping out for a bit. Hold down the fort.”

The employee replied, “Okay. If you’re not feeling well, maybe see a doctor. We’ve got the shop covered.”

Su Yiran left and drove to Weihua Financial.

He wanted to confirm things for himself.

Arriving at the impressive front lobby, he remembered waiting here before when Gu Yuanting was still a part-time consultant.

He went to the front desk, where the receptionists’ eyes lit up at the sight of his good looks: “Hello, how can we help?”

“I’m here to find Gu Yuanting from your marketing department. He’s my partner,” he added, “His phone might be dead. I have something urgent.”

The receptionists sighed a little—so handsome, but already taken. One asked for his ID, and the other prepared a visitor form.

After checking his info, one called the internal line.

Su Yiran watched her expression change to something odd.

She hung up and said, “There’s no one named Gu Yuanting in our marketing department. And I got scolded just now because of this.”

She returned his ID, softened by his looks: “Did you get the wrong company? This is Weihua Financial. Maybe your partner’s company is a different one?”

Su Yiran took his ID back, numb inside. He barely registered what she said, vaguely muttering “Okay” before walking out.

The cold air outside hit him, and he stood dazed, not knowing where to go.

He wandered until he found a barren plaza, sat down on a narrow step against the wall, and stared blankly at the grey sky.

He felt cold.

Time passed, and he remained there, staring vacantly at the busy road.

Suddenly, his phone rang—it was a special ringtone.

He didn’t answer. The ringing stopped, then started again. It rang many times.

In D-country, Gu Yuanting held his phone, calling over and over, anxious and desperate.

---

Author’s Note:

(First stage of the mask falling)