The Heiress's Game

Dong Yuwei spent a month in Milan, taking courses tailored to her by Xingyao Media. In the mornings, she studied gem identification and materials science with professors from Politecnico di Milano.

In the afternoon, I spent time in a century-old workshop near the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, learning metalworking from veteran craftsmen. In the evening, back at my apartment, I had to rush to have a video conference with the design team in China, refining the details of the drawings for the next season of the Flying Apsaras series over and over again.

I'm so tired every day that I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow, but every time I open my eyes I feel like my whole being has been filled up again.

On the flight back home, she leaned against the window, watching the city outline gradually become clearer below the clouds. Half of her mind was on the design plan for the next season, and the other half was on Shen Ziqian.

The two had almost lost contact during that month; she had sent him a message the night she arrived in Milan a month earlier.

He didn't reply for a whole day, saying that his supervisor had just assigned him a national-level secret project, and that he couldn't bring his phone into the lab, making communication very inconvenient. He told her to focus on her studies in Milan and not to worry.

Dong Yuwei glanced at the message and replied without much thought, "Okay, take care of yourself too."

Later, she sent him a few more messages—it snowed heavily in Milan, and she took pictures and sent them to him;

She saw a 19th-century enamel pocket watch in an antique shop on Avenue Napoleon and thought he would like it, so she took a picture and sent it to him.

But all these messages disappeared without a trace, not even a "read" mark.

She thought, "This is probably what a secret project is all about."

After the plane landed, she and her colleagues parted ways in the arrival hall, hailed a taxi, and gave her the address of her rented apartment.

Along the way, she even wondered if Shen Ziqian's project was finished yet, and if it wasn't.

She'll tidy up the house tonight, and tomorrow she'll go to the supermarket to buy some of his favorite pork ribs to make a soup. He can just heat it up when he gets back.

They've been together for four years; their campus romance started in their sophomore year.

Although Shen Ziqian was not good with words and could not say nice things, and was occasionally a bit chauvinistic, she always felt that he was down-to-earth, reliable, and responsible.

The car was parked downstairs in that old residential building, and the roses in the flower bed were scattered by the autumn wind.

She dragged her suitcase into the elevator and pressed the button for the eleventh floor.

At the door of room 1107, she skillfully took out her key and inserted it into the lock.

The key won't turn.

She leaned her suitcase against the wall, squatted down, and looked at the keyhole—it wasn't clogged, rusty, or the key was the right type.

She tried again, shaking it vigorously from side to side, but the lock cylinder didn't budge.

She frowned, thinking the lock was broken, and took out her phone to call the landlord.

"Hello, Sister Liu, this is Yuwei. I'm back from my business trip, but I can't open the door with my key. It seems like the lock is broken. Could you come over and take a look?"

The landlady, Ms. Liu, sounded confused on the other end of the phone: "Yuwei? Didn't you move out last month?"

Dong Yuwei's hand holding the phone stiffened for a moment.

"Sister Liu, I didn't terminate the lease. I was on a business trip in Milan for the past month and just got back today. I never mentioned terminating the lease."

"But your Shen Ziqian came to complete the lease termination procedures the week before last,"

Sister Liu's tone changed from confused to assertive, "He said you two are moving out and not renting anymore. All the formalities are completed, and I've returned the deposit to him."

The apartment was just rented to a recent graduate two days ago, and she moved in yesterday. What am I supposed to do now?

Dong Yuwei was incredulous that "Shen Ziqian handled the lease termination."

"Yes, he has the contract, he signed it, and he signed the deposit slip. Weren't you together? What's the problem?"

"No problem," Dong Yuwei said. "There might have been a misunderstanding between us. Sister Liu, I'm sorry to bother you."

"Oh, it's alright, it's alright. You two can talk things out yourselves."

Dong Yuwei hung up the phone and stood in the corridor for half a minute.

She found Shen Ziqian's number in her contacts and dialed it.

beep - beep - beep -

"The number you dialed is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later."

She hung up and dialed again.

beep - beep - beep -

"The number you dialed is temporarily unavailable."

Hang up again, then redial.

She's not the type of person who breaks down when faced with problems.

She took a deep breath, pulled the key out of the lock and put it in her pocket, then dragged her suitcase back into the elevator.

Dong Yuwei dragged her suitcase to the flower bed in the community, found a bench, and sat down.

I opened my phone and first sent a message to the administration of Xingyao Design Company: "Sister Wu, are there any vacancies in the company's employee dormitory? I need to stay there temporarily for a few days."

The administrator replied instantly: "There's an empty room, Yuwei, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I just found out there was a problem with the house when I got back to China, so I'll be staying here for a few days. Thank you for your help."

"No trouble at all, you can come. I'll have the cleaning lady clean the room tomorrow."

"Thank you, sister."

She sat on the bench for a while longer, lost in thought.