The most beautiful space

20 Xie Mingyuan's Memoirs

No wonder Zhou Jun said, "You don't need to do this to become famous." It turns out that Su Tong had already become an internet sensation without her even knowing!

With a cold expression, Su's mother clicked the search bar. The first result was a photo of Su Tong wearing that pure white ancient costume, resting on the floor of the dance studio. Then, even a winning photo of Su Tong from a youth dance competition many years ago was dug up. The "Jinghong" training center was also found by netizens, who used an empty picture of classroom number three for comparison. Below that were comments like "experts prove this picture is not real."

The only thing missing is Su Tong's name and address. Many online forums have dozens of pages of posts asking someone to reveal Su Tong's contact information.

"Tongtong, what exactly happened?" Su's mother asked angrily.

"I really don't know." Su Tong said as she continued scrolling down, and soon found the original source of the picture provided by the netizen, a screenshot of "Silent Ice's" Weibo post.

The Weibo post said:

"I met her today. I secretly took a lot of photos of her while she was dancing. This is one of them."

I really don't know what to do. I'm asking netizens for help. I really like her, but I don't know what to do.

She's my sister's friend, a few years older than me, a graduate of a prestigious university, and has always worked away from home. Although people say there's nothing wrong with relationships between older women and younger men these days, she's just so beautiful.

As for me, I don't have any outstanding talents or much money. I'm not bad-looking, and although some girls like me, I know I might not be good enough for her. But I really like her. What should I do?

Actually, I know it's unlikely! But I..."

The Weibo post was long and disorganized, but Su Tong immediately recognized who wrote it.

When Su Tong saw that high-resolution photo, she immediately remembered that Li Qiang had a camera with him that day. Now, seeing this Weibo post, she was completely certain that Li Qiang had taken and posted it. He probably never imagined it would circulate to this extent when he posted it. No wonder Li Li said Li Qiang had been acting so strangely these past few days.

If Li Qiang were older, Su Tong might have realized his feelings for her much earlier. But he's so much younger than her, and now that her photos are circulating so widely, trouble is practically inevitable. However, Su Tong still can't find a reason to blame Li Qiang; after all, in her heart, he's still a child. Besides, Li Qiang's recent unease is likely largely due to his feeling of being the cause of trouble.

Seeing Su Tong's calm demeanor, Su's mother became angry again and said angrily, "Tongtong, what's wrong with you? Now that the photos are circulating so widely, it's probably only a matter of time before someone finds out your personal information!"

But there's nothing that can be done now. Su Tong just lamented that if she hadn't become beautiful, she wouldn't be in all this trouble. But things can't be undone, so Su Tong smiled and gently stroked her mother's arm. "It's okay, it's already like this, Mom, there's no use in worrying. Let nature take its course. There are so many so-called internet celebrities, it'll all be over in a few days."

She found it strange. Since photos of her from so many years ago had been found, there was no reason why her name couldn't be found. Although her appearance had changed a lot, people who knew her should recognize her in the photos. In the internet age, with the power of netizens, is it really possible that her name and contact information haven't been found after the photos have been circulated so widely?

A thought suddenly popped into my head: Could it be that someone is preventing me from investigating?

***

In fact, Su Tong's guess was correct; the person who wouldn't allow the investigation was Xie Mingyuan.

On the day Xie Mingyuan went to inspect the branch office, he was led out of the elevator by Manager Li the Bald. There he saw a woman in a simple black and white striped dress, holding a stack of documents, standing quietly with her head bowed. She had a long, slender neck, fair skin, and long, dark eyelashes that cast shadows on her eyelids, giving her an indescribable serene beauty. Xie Mingyuan was immediately struck by her beauty and exclaimed, "Hey, Lao Li, when did such a beautiful woman join the company?"

Unexpectedly, it turned out to be Su Tong, the newly promoted HR manager of their branch office, whom I knew before.

Upon hearing her words, Su Tong raised her eyes and glanced at him indifferently before lowering her head again.

Xie Mingyuan felt embarrassed at that moment. He was handsome, had a strong background, and was rich. He had always been successful with women. This was the first time he had felt so embarrassed in front of a woman. He subconsciously sped up the inspection and left the branch company.

As he drove to the intersection, he was still thinking about the indifferent look Su Tong had given him earlier. Feeling a little irritated, he looked around and suddenly saw Su Tong sitting in the passenger seat of a car on his left.

She kept her head down, her profile soft and beautiful, completely unaware that Xie Mingyuan was looking at her. Xie Mingyuan spent a few seconds considering whether to call her, but when he saw that the person sitting in the driver's seat was actually a young man who wasn't bad-looking, he instantly decided to call her. He had only just uttered one word, "Su...", when the car suddenly drove away, leaving Xie Mingyuan bewildered in the wind created by the car starting up.

The cars behind him honked to urge Xie Mingyuan on, and only then did he realize that the red light had turned green. He angrily slammed his fist on the steering wheel, but still had no choice but to start the car and head towards his home.

Xie Mingyuan stayed at home for two days. During that time, he tried working like crazy, doing the work of three days in one day; he tried going to nightclubs, and even a beautiful woman with a devilish figure took the initiative to flirt with him, but it didn't motivate him; he tried having sex, exhausting a charming lover to the point of near death; but in the end, he still couldn't forget Su Tong, so he had no choice but to call Li the Bald.

After learning that Xie Mingyuan's call wasn't for official business, while Xie Mingyuan was still figuring out how to broach the subject, Li the Bald chuckled twice and, as if he could read Xie Mingyuan's mind, asked, "President Xie, are you trying to ask about Su Tong?"

"Okay!" Xie Mingyuan replied immediately, then realized he seemed too eager and added, "Um, I was just asking."

Although Li the Bald was over 40, he was still young at heart and still loved looking at beautiful women. Su Tong was already beautiful, but after getting the space, she became almost the most beautiful in their branch company. Xie Mingyuan praised Su Tong's beauty when he first saw her, so naturally he asked about her now. However, Li the Bald explained with a "I just want you to be able to see her but not have her" attitude: "She resigned."

Xie Mingyuan was utterly stunned. Although he had never been without a girlfriend since junior high school and was now widely considered a playboy at 24, all his girlfriends and lovers had either confessed their feelings to him or approached him because of his wealth and status. This was the first time he had paid such close attention to a girl, but he never expected that she had already resigned. He asked, almost angrily, "Don't we have to give a month's notice before resigning at our company? When did she resign?"

"Oh, it was right the day before yesterday when you left, and she resigned and left. She submitted her resignation and left. I tried to persuade her, but she wouldn't listen. She left without taking last month's and this month's wages."

—It almost seemed as if she had been scared away by Xie Mingyuan. Even if Xie Mingyuan did intend to do something to her, he hadn't even started yet, so why did Su Tong suddenly resign?

Xie Mingyuan was still wondering when Baldy Li spoke up again, this time in a tone that was clearly seeking credit: "However, President Xie, I have her address saved. Would you like it?"

Xie Mingyuan got the address and immediately went to the garage to get his car. He sped off like he used to when he was racing cars in college, arriving at Su Tong's apartment in Shanghai. But what awaited him was an empty house and an enthusiastic landlord: "Mr. Xie, you've come at the perfect time! The previous owner, Ms. Su, just moved out and is heading back to her hometown. She left just over an hour ago. If you pay now, you can move in immediately!"

Even the slightest interest in a man can easily intensify when he can't have it, let alone Xie Mingyuan, who already had a strong interest in Su Tong. So he called Li Tuzi again and asked him to find a female colleague of Su Tong's at the company, and got Su Tong's private phone number and the city where her hometown was located.

To his dismay, Xie Mingyuan couldn't get through to Su Tong even after dozens of calls, which frustrated him so much that he lost all motivation to do anything.

Xie Mingyuan had a habit of going on a trip after his semi-annual branch office inspection. He searched online and discovered that Su Tong's hometown was actually a small tourist city. On a whim, he abandoned his original plan to travel to Sweden and changed his mind to going to Su Tong's hometown instead. And he just went without hesitation, booking the fastest flight.

Even in a small city, the population is still several hundred thousand. Xie Mingyuan found the most famous local tour group, and the owners took him on a tour around the city, but they didn't see a single trace of Su Tong. Xie Mingyuan was furious, mainly because he couldn't forget Su Tong. That night, he went back to the travel agency owner's house and drank a lot of baijiu, beer, red wine, whiskey, and champagne, getting completely drunk. He then spent two more days sightseeing, but still didn't encounter Su Tong.

Boss Zhang Shaokai realized that he had come to look for someone and asked Xie Mingyuan who he was looking for, saying that he had some connections and could help find him. Xie Mingyuan thought to himself, if we can find him, then we are destined to meet; if we can't, then we'll pretend we never met. Without telling anyone, he returned to Shanghai.

He thought that was the end of his relationship with Su Tong, but when he accidentally saw Su Tong's photo on Weibo one morning, all his self-deception collapsed.

By then, the photo had already been shared nearly 60 times, with comments asking for the photographer's name and phone number.

But once you see the girl in that photo, all the doubts about the high number of reposts disappear. The girl in the photo is dressed in pure white and is as beautiful as a dream.

When Xie Mingyuan was searching for Su Tong, he didn't ask anyone for help. But now, seeing Su Tong, who was even more beautiful yet still possessed the same charm he admired, Xie Mingyuan no longer wanted to miss her. With so many people wanting to know who Su Tong was, he didn't want them to know at all. To conceal all of a person's information and prevent any media outlets from publishing it—only someone with the power and influence of the Xie family could do that.

Xie Mingyuan made up his mind and dialed the phone number of his second uncle, Xie Chengjing.