[She clawed her way out of a small county town, a beautiful, powerful, tragic woman with ambition. The law of the jungle, "survival of the fittest," is embedded in her bones. In her world, there is no unconditional love, only winning forever.
She says, "If love can be given without conditions, then what was the point of all my hard work to cultivate my beauty, talent, and competitive drive?]
The day I led my entire team to defect to another company, Guangzhou saw its first snowfall in ten years.
Yun Zhiyan blocked my way at the elevator. Unmelted snowflakes clung to her cashmere coat.
She crumpled the check in her fingers. "Xia Yi, don't make this uglier than it has to be."
"Ugly?" I burst out laughing. "Uglier than being put on your 'disposable list'?"
I leaned close to her ear and used the very words she'd once used to comfort me, turning them against her:
"Yun Zhiyan, what you offer me now isn't good enough for this true phoenix."
The moment her pupils contracted, I caught the familiar scent of fig on her, the perfume I'd sprayed on her black suit as a prank three years ago.
"Xia Yi, you are the most heartless, ungrateful creature I've ever met."
Later, when I finally stood above the clouds of Lujiazui, looking down at the city built on ambition, a voice surfaced like a ghost:
"Xia Yi, the phoenix your mother sees isn't worthy of your wings."
"You remind me of Scarlett in Gone with the Wind: selfish yet resilient, vain yet real, always getting into trouble but always managing to rise again."
Later still, Yun Zhiyan finally understood: Xia Yi had never been an "ungrateful wretch."
She was someone reality had taught early on that "feelings are a luxury, and I have to make sure I survive first."
Their tragedy wasn't about "who was right and who was wrong."
It was that
one couldn't afford to pay, yet hoped love would settle the debt;
the other didn't believe in love, yet still missed being loved in the dead of night.
"Zhiyan, if you love me, it has to be because I'm strong enough, not because I'm weak or because I deserve it."
This is a contest between a snow-capped peak and an ambitious woman.
Love is their only bargaining chip, and also the sharpest blade they can use to pierce each other.
Theme: A suspenseful mystery novel about women in love.
