Wild Crimson Rose: Beloved Handyman Prince’s Courtesan Wife

"Alright. I'll try my best to find one." The male voice on the other end answered.

"Ah, and just put the paycheck on my tab." She replied, getting through the turnstile aboveground.

"Understood, Lingwen." Kurama answered. After for a few more details, he excused himself and cut the line. 

Xuan Lingwen put her phone back into her pants pocket and adjusted the shoulders trap for her bag that she was wearing across her shoulder. 

Feeling something strange, she glanced out of the periphery of her vision, but just like before, she didn't see anything. Despite feeling like she was being followed even after getting off the train at her stop, she didn't see anyone suspicious following her every time she looked back. 

She went to her morning classes and talked with some friends. Unfortunately, Bai Yaoxuan was in another major so they didn't have nay classes together. Even so, they were able to meet up for lunch. They met each other midway and went off campus to a nearby Asian restaurant. After ordering some simple dim sum, the two of them sat down and chatted about their day. When they were returning to classes, Bai Yaoxuan got up to pay the bill but was stopped by the waiter coming over with a paid receipt. It turns out, Xuan Lingwen had already paid earlier. As they left the restaurant, Xuan Lingwen felt the mass of bad intention that had been following her seemed to intensify for a single moment. But all she saw were waiters busying about and customers chatting and eating their food. No one was paying attention to them. She narrowed her eyes in thought but was called by Bai Yaoxuan.

On their way back, Bai Yaoxuan complained about Xuan Lingwen being sneaky while the other laughed the whole way. They separated for their afternoon classes and promised to meet the next day. Xuan Lingwen only had one class for this afternoon. After her class, she left the campus and took the train elsewhere.

Unbeknown to her, the black will-o-wisp that was skilled at hiding started to shift and change. The hazy black thing started to stretch and transform...

Xuan Lingwen stopped in front of a big commercial building near the center of the city. Despite not being at the center, there was a hoard of people in suits coming ang going from the entrance and the first floor. 

"Uhm... It seems busy today. Looks like I won't be getting in easily today." Xuan Lingwen said to herself as she took out her phone and phoned the person from that morning. 

She stepped to the side to avoid the mass of people as she waited for him to pick up. 

"Hello? Kurama, can you come down and get me? Or send someone to do it? The building seems pretty busy today. I'm afraid the front desk and security won't let me through so easily. I can wait in the front lobby." 

"Ah, you're here already? I got it, I'll come down to get you right now." Kurama answered from the other side of the phone and hung up. 

Shen Tianyu also put her phone back and entered the building. Without going to the front desk to register like the other people, she sat down at one of the couches in the lobby, close to the elevator, and waited. 

Noticing a young person had entered, and not even in proper business attire at that, people began staring at her. Those that came with a companion and the ones at the front desk began gossiping among each other.

"Who is that? Someone's child?"

"She's a bit too old to be called a child... someone's, you know, side person... maybe?"

"Shhh! How could that be the first thing to come to your mind?! Besides, if she was, would she be so bold?"

"Hey, you don't know that. Maybe she thinks she's actually that person's girlfriend or something."

Even hearing their whisperings clearly, Xuan Lingwen didn't show any reaction and kept flipping through the magazine in her hand. 

In a dark corner of the lobby, hidden from the fluorescent lights, the black shadow that was now in the shape of a head without any of it's features stared at her. Despite not having any eyes, it faced her direction and didn't move, merely floating in place.  .

... 

On the other hand, Xuan Lingwe acted nonchalant as she glanced over the whole lobby but didn't recognize any of the faces there. Meaning, the person that had been following her either could change their faces or was not there.

*Ding*

The sound of the elevator arriving sounded next to her. Xuan Lingwen looked over at the man exiting the lift. 

He was a middle-aged man with slicked-back hair and wearing a crisp tan suit and shiny, black shoes. Despite the deviation from the usual black, the suit still looked good on him. Though he was middle-aged, it was hard to tell if he was early or late middle-aged. 

As soon as he caught sight of Xuan Lingwen on the couch, his stoic face let out a respectful smile and walked over. Just as he was opening his mouth to call her, however...

"Uncle!" Xuan Lingwen jumped up from the couch with a bright smile on her face, haphazardly throwing the magazine that had been in her hand onto the coffee table in front of her. With a skip in her step, she ran over to the stunned man who looked like he wanted to cry but couldn't.

"Uncle? Am I that old?" He whispered to her when she reached him. Though it was more of a question to himself said under his breath.

"Just go with it for now. I'll explain later." She whispered back, the bright smile not fading in the slightest. 

The two went to register at the front desk and get her a pass, with the personnel praising her filial piety while trying to get more information from their interaction. However, Xuan Lingwen just played dumb and they didn't dare bother the man too much. Thankfully, because she had posed as a relative, the workers at the front desk didn't even blink an eye when they requested the highest access badge for her. 

...

As the two of them went into the waiting elevator, the head shaped black figure that had been watching Xuan Lingwen immediately rushed into the cramped space before the doors closed. Those that reacted only saw a black blur fly past. But when they rubbed their eyes and looked again, they saw nothing. The people immediately chalked it up as their eyes seeing things and continued about their day.

... 

As soon as the elevator doors closed, Xuan Lingwen's cheery attitude disappeared as if it was never there. She returned to her cold and stoic expression.

"You know, some of those people were calling me someone's mistress or side hoe. Honestly, those people have quite the guts, saying something like that when the person was right there. I can tell they won't get far in life." Xuan Lingwen explained, unprompted.

"Ah... that is indeed problematic. But, you only called me uncle because of that and nothing else, right?" The man asked, a bit of anxiety in his voice.

"You're really conscious about your age, huh, Kurama? You're not even that old, is there a need?" Xuan Lingwen side-eyed him and asked off-handedly.

"It matters! Do you know how hard it is to find a partner as you get older? Ah... some people ȧssume I'm young because of my looks but as soon as I tell them my real age, there's this flash of disappointment and betrayal as if they've been scammed you know?"

"Well, isn't it a good thing? You can use it to your advantage and weed out the bad ones, lest something like 8 years ago happens again." 

They continued their banter until the elevator sounded, signaling they were at their destination. On the top floor of the building were many employees seated in groups and in lines, all silently typing away on their keyboards. They greeted Kurama as he came through, who responded with an answer or nod of the head. Xuan Lingwen greeted them in much the same way, and the two went into the President's Office at the end of the hall.

Kurama closed the door and locked it while Xuan Lingwen went to the big table in the middle of the room and sat down on the big office chair behind it naturally.

"So? These are the ones you want me to go over and give approval to?" She picked up one stack of documents at the center of the mahogany table and spoke.

"Yes. The first one is..." Kurama came over to her side and stood by like a butler as he explained the background of the documents in her hand, one-by-one.

Some partnerships with companies that Xuan Lingwen already knew about were easily passed. Those that she didn't know well, she put them in the "On Hold" pile while they searched for more background information. As for the plans proposed by employees, she seriously thought of the benefits and demerits before she made a decision. Poorly decided proposals, even if eloquently written were rejected, with her writing a sticky note on why it was unfeasible. On the other hand, even if sloppily written, as long as she saw the proposal had promise, she would allow it to pass. Though she still put a sticky note on them telling the employee to write proposals better. As for the companies with bad reputation and useless proposals, there were none. Kurama had already skimmed through the documents and these five piles were the ones he was unsure what to do with.

... 

Both Xuan Lingwen and Kurama were too absorbed in their work to notice that, in a corner of the room, a dark shadow was warping and shaking. The "face" of the head-shaped shadow was beginning to take shape, it's eyes nose and mouth starting to take shape and solidify.. It was shaking up and down as if cackling but no sound could be heard from the mouthless, voiceless, mass.