Chapter 129 – Take Off Your Clothes

Xingyue Spa was a high-end establishment catering exclusively to women.

It was located in the center of Jiangzhou City—a standalone, six-story building.

Anyone who could afford to come here was either quite wealthy or somewhat famous.

Jiang Ning had heard of the place in her previous life. She’d heard the interior was extremely luxurious.

How luxurious? Even the toilets were gold-plated.

At the time, Jiang Ning thought that sounded like total nonsense. Gold-plated toilets? Wouldn’t that mean sitting on them would dust your butt with gold powder?

Turned out, she was overthinking it.

The toilets were indeed gold—gold leaf, to be exact. And when you sat on them, there was even a pleasantly warm sensation, as if they had built-in heating.

But in this era, smart toilets didn’t exist yet, so Jiang Ning was thoroughly fascinated by this butt-warming feature.

She stayed in the restroom so long that Li Mingyu had to knock and call from outside.

“Princess Jiang… Did the water sweep you away?”

“Want me to come in and rescue you?”

Realizing she’d dawdled too long, Jiang Ning flushed red with embarrassment and called out, “Coming…”

She put her pants back on, stepped on the foot-operated flusher, waited until the gurgling sound finished, and then walked out of the stall.

The moment she stepped out, she was met with a teasing look from Li Mingyu.

“What’s this? You’re a millionaire now and still fascinated by a gold-plated toilet?”

As she said that, Li Mingyu raised a finger to her lips and added playfully, “Ah, I get it. Your money’s stuck in the bank. Can’t take it out, can’t spend it, right?”

“Giggle giggle…”

Watching the elegant older woman laugh like a blooming flower, Jiang Ning’s face darkened.

She wanted to retort, but realized anything she said right now wouldn’t have much bite. So instead, she simply reached out—aiming to pinch that slim waist.

Li Mingyu had already anticipated the move. With a quick motion, she caught Jiang Ning’s hand between her own, leaned in, and breathed softly against her:

“Alright, alright. Let’s stop messing around.”

“Let’s take off our clothes.”

???

Huh?!

Take off… take off clothes?!

———

Jiang Ning hadn’t expected this spa to include private bathhouses, each with a different type of bathing pool—spring baths, medicinal baths, even milk baths.

When she arrived at the spring bath, wrapped tightly in a towel, Li Mingyu was already soaking in the water.

The warm pool outlined her graceful figure in full detail. The image instantly brought Jiang Ning back to the shocking scene in the changing room moments earlier.

Completely naked!!!

Truly, not a single piece of clothing!!!

Even though over ten minutes had passed, that world-class masterpiece of a sight was still fresh in Jiang Ning’s mind.

She was sure that for the next few nights, Li Mingyu’s bare body would haunt her dreams.

As for the teasing that had happened while changing, Jiang Ning chose to erase that from memory—Jiang Ning only kept the parts that worked in her favor.

“Come on in. Why are you zoning out?”

Li Mingyu looked at her with gentle affection—her cheeks flushed like lotus petals, arms like jade lotus roots tightly holding the towel in front of her.

“My little Jiang Ning,” she said with a sigh, “why were you born so beautiful?”

“Big sis really likes you, you know?”

Jiang Ning knew this “like” wasn’t the kind she wanted it to be. She rolled her eyes, hesitated a moment, then took a step forward and dipped her feet into the water.

The temperature was just right. She let out a soft breath, then removed the towel, revealing a modest one-piece swimsuit underneath.

Even though she had guessed it would be like this, Li Mingyu still sighed with admiration.

“Skin like congealed jade, breath like orchid’s fragrance…”

“A lotus blooming from clear water, untouched by artifice…”

“Eyes curved like phoenix wings, lips like cherry blossoms…”

“Little Jiang Ning, the ancients didn’t lie.”

Jiang Ning couldn’t be bothered to respond to this poetic outbreak from the cultured older woman. She simply closed her eyes and enjoyed the comfort of the hot spring.

After a long while, Li Mingyu suddenly spoke up.

“Little Jiang Ning, there’s a banquet tonight. Will you come with me?”

“Tonight?”

Jiang Ning blinked, then remembered something.

“Oh, is it that event for Outstanding Youth of Jiangzhou?”

“You know about it?”

Li Mingyu’s voice lit up with delight. Jiang Ning opened her eyes and saw a pair of hopeful eyes looking straight at her.

She simply shook her head.

“You know me. I’m just a high school student—I’m not big on the spotlight.”

“Besides, my cousin’s going. There’s no point in me showing up too.”

“Aw…”

Li Mingyu pouted, clearly unhappy.

Then Jiang Ning seemed to remember something. A sly smile spread across her face.

“Mingyu-jie, I heard events like that are full of celebrities and beauties.”

“My cousin’s a bit of a goody-two-shoes, so I’ll need you to keep an eye on him for me, okay?”

Li Mingyu didn’t respond. She simply leaned in, turned her face slightly, and tapped her own cheek with her finger.

The meaning was clear without words.

Faced with such an obvious request, Jiang Ning wasn’t about to be shy.

She cupped the older woman’s face and planted a loud smack right on her cheek—mwah!

Unfortunately, she overdid it.

The two of them toppled right into the water, splashing everywhere.

———

Two hours later, Jiang Ning was dropped off at her mom’s shop.

Before parting ways, Li Mingyu told her a joke.

Well, I suppose you could call it a joke.

On the day the second-in-command was taken away, seven other leaders from different departments and positions were also taken away.

Then just yesterday, one of them—and the only one—was released.

His name was Yu Honghai.

Apparently, it was because they couldn’t find any economic issues with him.

At first, Jiang Ning was quite surprised.

If there were no problems, then why was he taken away?

Later, Li Mingyu explained:

There were no financial problems, but they did uncover a whole mess of issues with his private life.

With his secretary, with subordinates…

There was even something with the security guard auntie.

Hearing that, Jiang Ning laughed so hard she nearly fell over.

Because she could already imagine what Yang Mei’s reaction would be when she found out.

———

Sure enough.

The next day, Yang Mei didn’t show up in the morning. She called in sick again.

After the last incident, none of the classmates were surprised this time.

Those who were supposed to self-study, studied.

Those who needed to do exercises, did exercises.

Those memorizing texts, memorized texts.

Those spacing out, spaced out.

Only Jiang Ning knew that Yang Mei’s life had already veered onto another path.

Maybe…

This was the reason she had been reborn.

Jiang Ning turned her head slightly, gazing out the window.

The morning sun was dazzling, its platinum-colored glow reflecting off the senior-year building not far away.

The light glinting off the glass gave her a faint feeling of vertigo the longer she looked.

Yang Mei’s situation didn’t stir up much of a reaction in the class.

To be more precise, barely anyone in the entire school knew she had gotten divorced—probably fewer than five people.

So when Yang Mei came back in the afternoon, the class carried on as usual.

Some students were laughing and messing around, others were studying.

Only Jiang Ning, watching Yang Mei’s slightly haggard face, had a look of quiet sympathy in her eyes.

But to be honest, Jiang Ning didn’t feel the need to worry too much about Yang Mei.

They were all adults.

And with the worst already avoided, she believed Yang Mei would get through it.

As for academics…

No need to brag, but with Jiang Ning’s current grades, she was firmly in the top 50 of the entire grade.

And that was before the classes were divided.

After the division, Jiang Ning was basically the goddess of the science class.

So now, most of her attention was on her businesses.

Ever since the Jiangzhou Restaurant Association had been dismantled, Shi Ning Ji’s business had been booming—like it had finally been freed from its shackles. Sales were steadily increasing every day.

Just in the past few days alone, Rich Lady Jiang’s bank balance had doubled again.

That was why she had been going to bed with a smile on her face every night lately.

And at this rate, even if Jiang Ning did absolutely nothing else for the rest of the year, by this time next year her account balance would easily hit several million.

However…

While several million is a significant sum for the average person, it was still far from enough to take down a corporation worth billions.

Which meant Jiang Ning had once again started considering her expansion plan.

This time, though, she wasn’t limiting her sights to just Jiangzhou.

She was already looking into a few neighboring cities.

Of course, the location of each store needed to be chosen carefully.

Staffing had to be considered as well.

After all, each store needed a capable and reliable general manager.

And if she was opening in a different city, the manager’s loyalty would become an even more critical factor.

Sigh.

Not an easy task.

Jiang Ning rubbed her temples.

She took the grapes Qi Wen handed her and gently popped one into her mouth.

With a single bite—

Fresh and juicy.

“Mmm, delicious.”

She praised it softly, and Qi Wen beamed with joy.

By then, it was already dusk.

As the warm, glowing sunset cast its light over Qi Wen’s bright and beautiful face—

For a fleeting moment—

Jiang Ning felt as if she were seeing her two years in the future.

Her heart trembled slightly.

“Qi Wen.”

“Hmm?”

“You’re really beautiful.”

(End of Chapter)