Diana looked slightly taken aback. "So, you really plan to hand this juicy piece of meat over to Start on a silver platter?"
"Since they've gone to such lengths to plot for it, they can have it," Aurora replied.
"I thought you wouldn't be able to stomach this insult. After all, how many late nights did you pull for this project?"
"A mother cherishes her own child. Others can trample on my hard work, but I won't join them in ruining it. Start is clearly looking to spark a price war. We're just starting out; we definitely can't compete with their deep pockets. Cloud Shield's choice is actually quite rational. Business is a battlefield—if I were in their shoes, I'd also choose the cheaper, more efficient option."
Over the past two days, Aurora seemed to have gained some divine enlightenment, processing the situation quickly. "It's fine. If their tactics are dirty, that's on them. If I lose, at most it means I was a poor judge of character. But the one losing face certainly isn't me. My conscience is clear."
"Besides," she continued, "the capital you injected has already helped Snow clear its most difficult financial hurdles. Everyone's back pay and bonuses have been distributed. At worst, we start from scratch. Once I've recovered from this illness, I'll settle this debt with them sooner or later!"
Diana remained silent for a moment, then suddenly asked softly, "Do you remember when we first met?"
Aurora let out a laugh, a hint of color returning to her pale face. "How could I forget? You were as cold as a block of ice back then. You had a flare-up of acute gastroenteritis, and I, out of the goodness of my heart, carried you to the hospital on my back. I was busy running around with registration and fees, and what did you do? You turned around and tried to throw a stack of US dollars at me."
"That wasn't a brush-off; it was a sincere gesture of thanks," Diana corrected her seriously. "I had just been stabbed in the back by a friend I trusted most. I saw everyone as a villain and didn't want to make any more friends."
"No wonder you vanished into thin air the moment we left the hospital," Aurora nodded. "Speaking of which, I suppose I should thank my troublesome mixed-race ex-boyfriend."
At the time, Aurora's boyfriend happened to live in the same apartment building as Diana. One late night, the man had been foolish enough to send Diana several harrassing messages.
In a situation like that, speaking up feels like shaming the other person, but staying silent feels like letting them be deceived—it was a true dilemma.
After weighing her options, Diana took the risk of being misunderstood and forwarded the screenshots to Aurora, word for word.
"When you stormed up to my front door that day, I really thought you were coming to settle a score with me," Diana recalled. "I didn't expect you to grab me and drag me straight to his place. You slapped him twice right in front of me—one for yourself and one for me—and then told him to get lost without looking back."
"In that moment, I thought, This woman is so cool. I really like her personality." Diana turned to look at Aurora, her eyes shimmering with sincerity.
"I'm glad that after all these years, you're still the same Aurora—someone who can pick things up and let them go."
Aurora reached out and gave her a weak but warm hug. "Then learn a thing or two from your senior. In this life, the most important thing is to stay grounded. If a project is gone, you can find another. If a man is gone, there are plenty more out there. Don't trap yourself in a dead end."
Diana's spine stiffened slightly. For a split second, her expression looked like a closely guarded secret had been pierced. "How did you... know..."
"Just a guess," Aurora smiled like a clever little fox. "Diana, your eyes reflect the whole world, but that deepest spark of light... it seems you only give that to your brother."
When Diana returned to the Knight residence that evening, it was already late, nearly ten o'clock.
As she stepped out of the car, the phone in her pocket buzzed incessantly. The screen flashed with the words: "The Bell Residence."
One can hide a homecoming for a while, but not forever. Ever since she appeared at William Knight's birthday gala a few days ago, the news of her return to the east city had spread completely.
She had returned secretly, hiding it from the Bell family. She knew Skylar Miller would eventually demand an explanation; it was exactly as she had anticipated.
Although her surname was Bell and she was the eldest Miss Bell in name, Skylar was not her biological mother.
Having lived with the Knight family since childhood, her relationship with the Bells was cold to the point of being strangers, let alone possessing any shred of familial affection.
Five years ago, for the sake of the so-called "big picture," they had forcibly packed her off to a foreign land. That tiny bond of blood had long since withered away.
Diana stopped under the shadows of the trees in the courtyard and answered. Skylar's habitually haughty voice came through the line: "Finally decided to come back?"
"I returned last Tuesday."
"If I hadn't heard people gossiping, I would have thought you'd died out there," Skylar sneered. "You've been back for so many days and haven't set foot in this house once. Is this the etiquette the Knight family taught you?"
She claimed to be criticizing Diana's lack of manners, but in reality, she was incensed that Diana had slipped out of her control. Diana knew full well that if she did go back, she would receive nothing but cold faces and lectures.
"The project just started, I'm busy. I'll think about it once this period is over," Diana responded flatly.
"Get yourself back here this weekend."
Skylar issued a direct command, leaving no room for negotiation, and arrogantly cut the call.
Diana put her phone away and whispered to the dial tone, "Go back yourself if you love it so much."
Just as she was about to head inside, a sharp honk pierced the air.
Her shoulders flinched in surprise. Only then did she notice a car parked in the dark shadows by the road—a Koenigsegg with an aggressive silhouette, looking like a giant black beetle.
The window rolled down, revealing Jasper Sterling's unmistakable face.
Diana instinctively wanted to pretend she hadn't seen him, but her upbringing prevented her from outright ignoring someone.
So, the moment their eyes met, she nimbly averted her gaze and continued walking straight ahead, eyes fixed forward.
She attempted to play the part of a "blind" passerby.
However, after only a few steps, the man's deep, magnetic voice drifted over lazily: "Stop acting. I saw you."
Diana took a deep breath with her back to him, adjusted her expression, and turned around. "Jasper, what a coincidence. Out here enjoying the moonlight?"
Jasper flicked his eyelids. "It's not a coincidence. I was waiting for you. Come here."
Diana hovered and shuffled two small steps forward, stopping about two meters from the car door. "Is something the matter?"
She was back to using formal honorifics.
Jasper frowned slightly, looking at her posture—evasive and distant, as if he were some kind of virulent contagion.
"I'm not used to looking up to talk to people. Get in."
Diana thought this man was truly difficult to please. Now that the cooperation had fallen through, she only wanted to be as far away from him as possible.
"I just came back from visiting the hospital. I'm covered in bacteria; I'm afraid I'll pass it to you."
A mocking smirk played on Jasper's lips. "Get in and try. Let's see if you can manage to kill me with those bacteria."
"..."
Diana bit her lip and ultimately compromised, walking around the front of the car to sit in the passenger seat.
The interior was a somber palette of dark leather mixed with the cold texture of carbon fiber, feeling intensely predatory.
The moment she sat down, she was enveloped in a crisp, woody scent—a cedar-like fragrance from deep mountains, cold and stern, yet carrying a hint of... milky sweetness.
Jasper was slowly chewing a piece of hard candy, his eyes appearing exceptionally deep in the dim cabin.
"Which university did you graduate from?"
"Stanford," Diana replied, puzzled.
Jasper gave a light huff. "Did the school motto teach you to work yourself to death for your senior?"
Diana choked for a second, then said firmly, "I'm working for myself. I own half the equity in Snow now."
"Half the equity was enough to buy out the favor of the Knight family's princess? President Brooks certainly knows how to use a calculator."
Diana couldn't stand his dismissive tone. "Aurora is very good to me. I can feel whether she is being sincere or calculating."
A cold laugh escaped Jasper's throat, as if he were listening to a fairy tale.
Diana lowered her lashes. "I was abandoned by my biological mother when I was a child. I have an 'unresponsive reaction' to being exiled. When I first went abroad, my whole world was collapsing. Aurora was the only person who held onto me."
"Life abroad isn't as glamorous as you think. A 'princess' like me didn't even know how to turn on a stove, and Chinese food was expensive and terrible. To cook me a proper bowl of plain noodles, Aurora rode a broken bicycle halfway across the city in the middle of the night just to find the right seasoning."
"These things might seem cheap to you, but when it was coldest, she was the only one who handed me a fire. Now that she's in trouble, I'm pulling her up. That's called returning a favor."
Jasper, born at the tip of the pyramid and naturally cold-hearted, clearly couldn't empathize with such emotional bonds.
"If your brother knew a bowl of noodles tricked you out of twenty million, he'd probably have a heart attack."
Diana knew further explanation was useless; he simply didn't understand the fear that follows abandonment.
"The value of some things cannot be measured in money. If you're done mocking me, can I get out now?"
Jasper didn't respond. Instead, he tossed a blue folder onto her lap.
Diana looked down. It was the formal contract for the liquid hydrogen drone project, and the terms actually retained the optimal conditions originally offered to Snow.
The annoyance in her eyes instantly turned into bewilderment.
"Didn't you refuse? Start was practically begging you. Why choose us instead of taking the cheaper deal?"
With a crunch, Jasper bit through the hard candy. His tone was lazy, tinged with a hint of feigned annoyance: "If I don't give it to you, you'll cry. You have such a princess temper—if you ran back to William and complained that I was bullying a 'poor orphan and widow,' I'm afraid the entire Knight family would come for my head."
"I didn't cry..." Diana protested softly.
But on second thought, if admitting to "crying" was what it took to get this contract, she was willing to take the blame.
She also understood Jasper's logic.
He didn't necessarily value Snow, but he valued William Knight. In business, he could reject Aurora Brooks, but he couldn't truly let William's precious little sister suffer an injustice.
This contract was purely a gesture of respect toward the Knight family.
Having figured this out, Diana clutched the contract tightly. Before closing the car door, she leaned in slightly and said sincerely, "Thank you, Jasper."