She is the most beautiful rose

Chapter 345 He's investigating you

The tea house's event scheduled for the eve of the Lunar New Year has concluded its final rehearsal.

He Jia brought out two cases of cocktails and placed them on a round table laden with fruit and melon seeds, inviting the young people who had been specially invited to participate in the performance.

When he took a few bottles to the stage and handed them to Shen Manzhi, she refused and gestured to him with the water in her hand.

He Jia laughed, seeing her sitting on the edge of the stage with one leg bent, "What's wrong? You don't even want to drink anymore?"

"We'll be driving away in a bit."

“Okay,” He Jia said, “when it comes to the other’s personal matters, they both tacitly agree not to ask too many questions. He Jia reminded her, “Come over early tomorrow.”

Shen Manzhi nodded.

The group of young people were dressed in fashionable and avant-garde clothes, chatting and laughing while gesturing wildly, exuding youthful energy.

Shen Manzhi watched for a while, and when she looked away, she bumped into the person who had squatted down next to her at some point.

"..."

"Sister Zhi," Afei said meaningfully, his eyes half-closed, his gaze shifting between her and the group of young people, "are you looking at handsome guys?"

Shen Manzhi glanced at him dismissively. "What, feeling inferior?"

Afei pouted, "I'm so talented, I don't need to compare myself to them."

She nodded approvingly, "Yes, when it comes to ballet, they definitely can't beat you."

Ah Fei, who had studied ballet for eight years as a child, was furious, saying, "How could you... expose my shortcomings?"

Shen Manzhi was surprised, "Can't you tell this is a compliment?"

Ah Fei was too lazy to argue with her. This person was either aloof and didn't like to talk, or she could make people speechless with anger when she spoke.

He crossed his arms and hummed a couple of lines, "My forte is music, I won't steal your thunder."

"Maybe if you dance ballet tomorrow, you'll trend on social media."

"..."

Ah Fei was initially speechless, but after thinking for a moment, he asked seriously, "Can I dance while wearing a mask?"

Chen Lin walked past them with a cocktail in hand, glanced at him, and said, "I just said a few words of praise to you, why did you take it so seriously?"

Ah Fei pretended to be angry and swung his fist in mid-air.

He turned around and was drawn to Shen Manzhi's hand, which was resting on the edge of the stage.

Her slender, porcelain-white ring finger wore a simple band ring with a tiny pink diamond set inside the band, understated yet luxurious.

"The ring is quite pretty; I've never seen you wear it before."

Shen Manzhi tilted her head back, took a sip of water, and smiled. "Wedding ring."

Ah Fei suddenly realized and glanced at her a couple more times.

I don't wear a ring because it's inconvenient for doing things, and it might easily reveal my identity in some situations. I'm too lazy to keep putting it on and taking it off, so I simply don't wear it. Also, I didn't take this marriage seriously before, but after realizing my feelings, even though I don't wear it, I take the ring and its box with me wherever I go.

That night, Qin Yanfeng found the ring box she had left in the corner from somewhere, took it out and put it on her finger, asking her if she didn't like wearing a wedding ring and if her love for him was just something she said casually, while he kept contradicting her.

Shen Manzhi was both angry and weak, so she bit him hard.

And then he never took the ring off again.

With one hour left before the museum opened, the group of young people came over, greeted a few people, packed up their things, and left one after another.

Shen Manzhi stepped off the stage on her toes and waved to He Jia.

He Jia approached and saw her serious expression. "What's wrong?"

"Tomorrow, limit the number of people allowed in the tea house, and everyone must register their detailed information."

He Jia hesitated, "Won't this cause some trouble?"

The tea house is just an ordinary quiet bar, open regularly at 6 pm and closes at 2 am. Only the twice-yearly routine events make it lively and energetic.

Most of the customers are nearby students and young people. The management is not strict, and nothing major has happened over the years. Even when inspections come from higher authorities, the business is often recognized as a model business.

Shen Manzhi's two sentences surprised him somewhat, and he thought that perhaps because there were many people on the eve of the Lunar New Year, she was afraid that something might happen.

"We announced our Lunar New Year's Eve event a month ago. Given how popular last year's tea house event was, we expect even more people to attend this year."

He Jia paused after speaking, "Are you worried that there will be too many people and you won't be able to control the situation?"

"That's not the reason."

Shen Manzhi turned her head to look at the three people who were still sitting together on the stage discussing the performance for tomorrow night's event.

She casually crushed the mineral water bottle in her hand. "Has Xu Qiu come to see you recently?"

He Jia was slightly taken aback. "It has something to do with her?"

Shen Manzhi shook his head and said slowly, "It's just a guess."

Helandai knew that she was on good terms with the people from the tea house. That night, she came to the East District to provoke her face to face, saying that she would not touch these people, but Shen Manzhi knew that she could not risk them.

Since the Xu family and Helandai are in cahoots, they are bound to get involved with each other, and Xu Qiu is the easiest to be taken advantage of.

Thinking of this, Shen Manzhi looked at He Jia again.

He Jia frowned. "She's come twice, this month, I think. We broke up in Beijing last year and haven't been in contact since, so I haven't gone to see her... Is there something wrong with her?"

This month also happens to be the time when Shen Manzhi returned.

She relaxed a bit, didn't answer his last question, but teased him instead, "A good man is afraid of a woman's persistence."

He Jia raised an eyebrow. "A breakup is a breakup. Besides, I'm not a good person. Why would I choose her when there are so many other women out there?"

Shen Manzhi smiled and said, "Brother Jia is still too charming."

He Jia chuckled, then said seriously, "Tomorrow I'll have someone register the customers' identities, limiting it to no more than one hundred, okay?"

The tea house is considered one of the larger bars in the area, with an average capacity of nearly two hundred people. Shen Manzhi nodded, "About right. I'll arrange the rest. You just need to lead them in preparing for the activities."

The rest of the arrangements were nothing more than precautions and security. He Jia didn't ask any further questions, just said okay, and went to prepare for opening the shop that evening.

Shen Manzhi came out of the dressing room, changed into a thin sweater, put on a gray hooded sweatshirt, and was about to leave when Jiang Yue jumped off the stage and called her back, handing her the spare jacket he had left at the tea house. "It's snowing outside, it's very cold."

Shen Manzhi was slightly taken aback. "It's snowing?"

She parked her car in the back square. It only took a minute or two to get from the Blue Bay underground parking garage to the tea house, so she didn't wear a down jacket because she thought it was too much trouble.

I arrived for rehearsal at 10 a.m. and six or seven hours passed by the end. The whole thing was indoors, so I didn't notice anything outside.

Her phone vibrated; a message had just come in.

"It's snowing! It's snowing!"

Ah Fei ran in excitedly from outside, shouting, "Let's go out for hot pot tonight! It looks huge, maybe we can even build a snowman and have a snowball fight after we eat!"

Several people looked at him in the direction of the voice, but after Ah Fei belatedly finished speaking, no one responded.

He suddenly looked at the person standing to the side who was about to leave, "Sister Zhi, aren't you eating with us again?"

Shen Manzhi smiled and said, "Didn't we just eat that last time?"

“It’s been almost a month since the last time!” That was when Shen Manzhi had just returned from abroad.

Out of habit, they clearly forgot that the other person was already married.

Shen Manzhi didn't mind and said with a smile, "Tomorrow night, definitely tomorrow night."

Ah Fei wanted to persuade him to stay, but then he thought that everyone would definitely have dinner together after the event tomorrow, so he said, "Okay, it's a deal then."

Shen Manzhi glanced at the message, which was from Qin Yanfeng, and hissed softly, "Alright, you guys go ahead. I'm leaving now, see you tomorrow."

Jiang Yue finally took the coat back from his hand, still feeling a little uncomfortable.

Chen Lin flicked A Fei's tuft of hair, "Sister Zhi is married now, so don't keep bothering her and having her with us all the time."

Ah Fei opened his mouth to refute, but then remembered that it was true, but...

He hesitated for a moment, "If I get married... should I reduce my contact with friends?"

The remaining people did not speak.

Actually, it hasn't decreased; it's always been like this.

Previously, Shen Manzhi was elusive and no one knew what kind of job she had. They only knew that she came from a wealthy family and was very rich, and that was all.

So even though I don't see her often, I've gotten used to it. Now that I know she spends all her free time with her partner, the contrast is striking, and it's hard for me to adjust.

After all, the overlap between friends is only a small part. Beyond that, there is more of one's own private sphere, involving career, family, hobbies, freedom, and so on.

Even friends need to maintain boundaries and not interfere too much.

Moreover, Shen Manzhi always valued boundaries, so most of the time they wouldn't pry into her affairs. They all knew that although she seemed carefree, she actually valued the relationship very much, so there was no need to worry about it collapsing.

Jiang Yue had also worried about this.

It was indeed wrong for the child who was most cared for by Shen Manzhi to have such inappropriate thoughts. Jiang Yue once thought that their relationship would become cold and distant from then on.

He felt powerless and was in great pain.

But later, Shen Manzhi personally found him and casually repaired their relationship, as if nothing had happened and he was still the child she had always taken good care of.

Ah Fei was simply simple-minded and didn't think that deeply.

After all, Shen Manzhi had never mentioned these things before. As soon as she left the teahouse, she called the owner of the tattooed arm.

Rather than spouting platitudes and emotional rhetoric, she prefers to take concrete actions.

Minglan hadn't received a message from her in a long time and was a little surprised. "It's rare for you to take the initiative to contact me."

Shen Manzhi got into the car, turned on the air conditioning, and used the windshield wipers to clear the snow from the windshield. "I need to borrow some people from you."

Minglan noticed her voice trembling, so she first asked about the number of people, noted down the time and location, and then asked her why she was shaking.

"It's snowing outside, and it's a bit cold."

He chuckled, "With your fashionable and stylish outfits, you're dressed rather lightly today, aren't you?"

Shen Manzhi looked down at the fleece-lined, thick sweatshirt she was wearing, and thought it was alright.

She glanced at the time and started the car. "That's enough chatting, let's drive."

"Hey, wait a minute, there's something I need to tell you."

"I'm driving."

"I rarely feel like saying this, so please let me. Otherwise, I might never have the chance to say it again."

Shen Manzhi turned and stopped on a slightly sparsely populated street, glanced at the time, and said, "Five minutes."

Minglan acted swiftly, saying, "Around November, your boss came to the boxing gym and asked me for your video..."

Shen Manzhi interrupted him, "What video?"

"These are the videos of you fighting in the ring over the years. You know, every ring match is recorded and saved. I just wanted to ask you, it's okay to give them all to him... right?"

He sounded somewhat guilty, after all, he hadn't gotten anyone's permission beforehand.

Not hearing any response from the other end, Minglan's heart skipped a beat. She explained, "I originally wanted to tell him that this could only be released with the consent of the person involved, but I couldn't handle the pressure from him, so I gave it all to him. He also told me not to tell you..."

"Is there anything else?"

"what?"

When Shen Manzhi first met Si Ming, she was well aware of his intimidating presence, so it's no wonder Ming Lan reacted this way. "Did he ask you for anything else?"

“That’s all,” Minglan walked into the office and closed the door. “Later in December, I overheard people in the underworld saying that someone from Beijing was investigating you. I guessed it might be him. Mainly because you wouldn’t let me contact you, and besides, he’s your boss. I thought he wouldn’t harm you, would he?”

Shen Manzhi slightly raised her eyelashes, and another layer of snowflakes accumulated on the windshield. They were small and transparent, and quickly turned into water and slid off.

Si Ming began investigating her after she left Huaicheng in mid-November of last year.

At that time, Si Ming already knew that she had been arrested abroad and injected with drugs to become a test subject.

We need the video of her ring match, we need to investigate her activities in Huaicheng...

However, her past was thoroughly investigated from the very beginning.

"If you hadn't contacted me this time, I wouldn't have remembered. I thought I'd tell you anyway, so we can deal with any situation in time."

Shen Manzhi asked calmly, "Aren't you afraid he'll cause you trouble?"

Feeling relieved after giving her explanation, Minglan returned to her usual lazy demeanor. "More than that, I'm worried about you getting into trouble."

Shen Manzhi clicked her tongue lightly, which was taken as acceptance. "Alright, I understand."

As for how to handle it afterward, that was Shen Manzhi's own business. Just as she was about to hang up, a mocking tone came from the other end, "Knowing men by their own standards, your boss treats you..."

“Minglan,” she warned coldly, “first of all, I’m married. Secondly, he’s no longer my boss; we’re just business partners.”

Minglan raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

Fortunately, he was just joking casually and didn't have a penchant for digging deeper, so he toned it down a bit, saying, "Okay, let me know if there's anything I can help with."

Shen Manzhi hung up the phone but still didn't start it. She squinted and looked through the glass window at the empty point in the air.

Was Si Ming checking her symptoms after the injection?
Her phone vibrated, and she lowered her eyes, her expression softening slightly.

[A difficult puppy to appease: It's snowing, the roads are slippery, shall I come pick you up?]

This was the previous message; she didn't have time to reply before the new message came in.

[Difficult puppy: Your coat is still hanging on the hanger. What did you wear today?]

Shen Manzhi stared at the messages for a while before replying one by one: "No need to pick me up. I'll be back late tonight, so don't wait for me."

Winters in Huaicheng aren't actually that cold once you get used to them. She typed, her fingertips slightly curled, "Wearing thick clothes when I went out."

The other party was typing, and although the message appeared several times, no message came for a long time.

Shen Manzhi looked at the nickname she had given him in her contact list, a slight smile playing on her lips. "I'll call you when it's over."

After a while, the other end replied with "Okay".

She put away her phone, her gentle demeanor fading, plugged in her Bluetooth earphones, tapped twice, and after hearing the voice from the earpiece, she started the car and drove out of the East District.