A pot in complete disarray
In the afternoon, Jiang Qiao had business to attend to at the company. He wanted to take Lin He with him, but Lin He wasn't keen on going; she preferred to stay at home.
In the end, Jiang Qiao couldn't convince Lin He and had to go alone. As he was leaving, he gave a long list of instructions, from the smallest details, even reminding her where her hair tie was.
Eventually, Lin He practically pushed him out the door, jokingly remarking that he could go on for another half hour!
Internally, Lin He couldn't help but grumble—Jiang Qiao was still as long-winded as ever.
Not going with Jiang Qiao to the company, Lin He had her own plans. She watched as his car pulled away from the villa, and then called the housekeeper to her study.
"Has the housekeeper been with the Jiang family for ten years?"
"Yes, Madam." The housekeeper responded respectfully.
During lunch, Jiang Qiao had made it clear to the housekeeper that from now on, Lin He would be in charge of the household, officially announcing that she was now the rightful mistress of the Jiang family.
"How has Mr. Jiang's relationship been with the children over the years?" Lin He asked directly.
When Jiang An came over, there was no communication between father and son, which made Lin He's heart sink. How deep were their conflicts?
Jiang Qiao had brushed it off lightly, saying it was just a misunderstanding, but Lin He felt he was hiding something from her.
"Madam, when I arrived at the Jiang family, both the young master and young miss had already stopped living here. Mr. Jiang also seldom returned..." The housekeeper spoke honestly.
The house had never truly felt like a home, and the few times Jiang Qiao came back, he would go straight to the room where the previous madam stayed and spend the whole day there, leaving for days afterward.
The eldest son never stayed overnight, and the young miss and second young master occasionally came back, preferring to stay in the house near the school.
The old house really lacked warmth.
Lin He couldn't help but sigh. The situation was so fractured!
However, she had already accepted this reality. It no longer made her sad. It didn't matter; she was back now!
Not getting any useful information from the housekeeper, Lin He was about to dismiss him when she heard the housekeeper, with a tone of relief, say, "Madam, since you've come back, I've seen Mr. Jiang smile for the first time in ten years, and he's smiled so happily."
—It was like something from a CEO romance novel, though late, it had arrived.
Lin He twitched her lips, rejecting the melodramatic plot of the CEO falling in love with the heroine!
Usually, in such stories, the original wife never ends well…
Meanwhile, in a long business car on the road, Jiang Qiao sat expressionless, reviewing some documents. His two assistants sitting across from him couldn't help but feel a bit tense.
At the company, Jiang Qiao could scold his subordinates without changing his expression. He didn't even need to raise his voice. A single pointed look was enough to make anyone sweat in fear, ensuring no mistakes would be made again.
He didn't need to put any effort into exuding authority. Just his presence alone commanded respect.
What the housekeeper had said wasn't flattery; it was from the heart.
The Jiang Qiao with Lin He was a side that neither his company employees nor the house staff had ever seen.
Now, Jiang Qiao's gentleness was exclusive to Lin He. No one else could access it.
Including his own son.
Jiang Qiao called Jiang An. "Don't disturb her in the next few days."
"Heh, what are you afraid of?"
Jiang An, confused by the strange request, was about to throw in more sarcastic remarks when he heard Jiang Qiao's calm voice on the other end: "If you cause trouble, you'll make her disappear again."
Jiang An's words caught in his throat, and his face went pale.
"Until we figure out what's really going on, we can't predict what will happen."
Jiang An remained silent. His silence was the answer Jiang Qiao had been waiting for. After a brief pause, Jiang Qiao hung up the phone.
He rubbed his nose and then said in a low voice, "Notify all department managers. We'll have a meeting at 2 PM."
The assistant acknowledged the command.
Just then, Jiang Qiao's phone chimed with a new message. He immediately grabbed it to check.
["Madam asked the housekeeper questions and then went to her room to sleep."]
Jiang Qiao exhaled, looking out the window, his pupils dark as ink. Whether it was fate or human influence, he would never let Lin He disappear a second time.
No matter if Jiang An accepted it or not, he did.
When he saw Lin He crying in the bathroom, he had already believed she had returned.
The backstory behind everything still needed to be investigated, but he couldn't bear the thought of losing her again.
The two assistants exchanged glances. They didn't know the full details, but they could feel Jiang Qiao's sudden shift in energy—it was terrifying.
Back in her room, Lin He didn't take a nap. Instead, she logged into her social media accounts.
WeChat, Weibo, email...
After meeting with her eldest son, she began to organize her life.
Having been gone for fifteen years, legally, she could have been declared dead. Reappearing in the public eye couldn't be done hastily.
Talking about a time-travel situation with family was one thing, but to outsiders, she couldn't say a word. People would likely think she was insane.
Jiang Qiao had kept all her accounts intact, allowing her to log in as usual without any issues. Even her phone number was the same as it had been fifteen years ago.
She logged into WeChat and saw an unread message from Hu Die sent a week ago: "I miss you."
Hu Die had been Lin He's college roommate, and after graduation, they had started a cosmetics company together.
Lin He wondered what was going on with the company now. With that thought in mind, she logged out of WeChat and went to check Hu Die's Weibo, searching for her ID.
Hu Die's follower count had grown from 100,000 to over 5 million. Her profile said she was the chairman of North Star Cosmetics, which indicated that the company was doing well.
The two of them had been partners, though more accurately, Lin He had been an investor.
It seemed her past self had quite the business acumen!
But soon, Lin He's smile faded.
She opened the comments on Hu Die's Weibo and found a lot of curses. Following the keywords mentioned in the comments, Lin He understood what had happened.
A product from North Star Cosmetics had been recalled for various issues, and the product quality was being questioned. But the real question was, why had this scandal dragged her, the woman who had been gone for fifteen years, back into the spotlight?!
On the hot topic page about North Star's product failure, a post about the company's early history was gaining traction.
The article revealed that the faulty product had been from a formula provided by another co-founder, who had passed away years ago. Hu Die had continued to use the formula as a tribute, even though it wasn't profitable.
The post went on to insinuate that Hu Die had been horribly betrayed by her partner.
Lin He fell silent. Was this defense angle too awkward?
She had been gone for fifteen years, and now she was being dragged into this mess?
Just as Lin He finished reading the backstory, Hu Die posted an apology on Weibo, sincerely admitting the mistake. Soon after, a written interview with her also surfaced.
Though Hu Die didn't directly say it, her words aligned with the leaked post:
Hu Die was good, the other partner was bad.
Lin He: ...
She came back only to be blamed for something she didn't even do?