She stood frozen in place as muddy water streamed down her cheeks and trickled inside her collar, icy cold.
The car stopped.
A black Rolls-Royce. She recognized the license plate.
Su A 88888. Tao Xin's car.
The rear window slowly lowered, revealing a familiar face.
Tao Xin wore a custom dark gray suit, the top button of his collar undone, a cigarette between his fingers.
He tilted his head and glanced at her, the corners of his mouth slowly curling up. "Well, well, isn't this the former chief designer of Jinhua Jewelry? What, you just got out and already ran into rain in Sucheng? Guess your luck's not great."
Tang Min said nothing.
She stood in the rain, muddy water still dripping off her, while her fingers dug into her palm.
Her nails sank into her flesh. The pain traveled up from her fingertips, suppressing the breath rising in her throat.
The woman beside Tao Xin leaned forward. She was heavily made up, with a jade necklace around her neck, its green stones gleaming in the light.
Tang Min recognized the necklace.
Pearl of Zhenhai.
She had spent four whole months designing it.
From the first sketch to the final step, she had gone over the placement of every gemstone more than a dozen times.
She had drawn the necklace's design at her workstation at Jinhua Jewelry, working countless all-nighters.
She remembered the night she finally finished the last version of the design. Before she had time to save it, she discovered the next morning that the files on her computer had been wiped.
Then an identical design appeared in the company's internal system, bearing Tao Xin's name.
She was accused of plagiarism.
Tao Xin produced the design he claimed was his, along with several "witnesses" to back him up.
