Xin Qing felt an overwhelming urge to claw out Rang"s eyeb.a.l.l.s right then and there. From the very start of the visit, he had been sending her looks and chuckling to himself. It was as if he wanted the whole world to know about her current predicament.
"Are you acquainted with that Rang?" asked the woman who had stayed in the room beside Xin Qing"s last night.
Xin Qing quickly shook her head. "How"s that even possible? It"s my first time here."
"Then why"s he smiling at you?" another woman asked, looking at Xin Qing with displeasure.
Xin Qing was not happy at all with their att.i.tude. "You can go ask him," she said coldly. "I don"t know."
"Who knows if this Chinese woman had slept with the guy just to get a diamond," one of the women said softly, though everyone had already heard her words.
Xin Qing spun around abruptly and glared at her. "Keep your filthy thoughts to yourself. Don"t impose your own habits on me."
"The quality of Cardi"s designers are lacking nowadays," said Dianne, who had not spoken a word since the beginning of the tour. "It"s no wonder that Cardi can"t keep up with CK. Well, looking at you two, I guess I"m not too surprised." Her face wore a sweet smile despite the provocative nature of her words. Even her eyes were calm and serene.
"What the h.e.l.l"s that supposed to mean?" Apparently, those two women were still looking for a quarrel. Rang came over and perused the two women. "You two Misses can leave now if you aren"t interested in the tour."
The two women glared at Xin Qing and Dianne before heading to the front of the group in hurried steps. Rang nodded at Xin Qing and returned to his duties. He had probably figured out that his glances and smiles had caused Xin Qing trouble just now, because he did not smile at Xin Qing after that. Occasionally, his eyes would still linger on her for a few seconds.
By the time the tour ended, Xin Qing had got a rough understanding of the mine she owned. She had been surprised to learn that it was the largest diamond mine in the area, one with the highest production rate. Not long ago, the mine had produced a rare form of a pink diamond. Apparently, preparations were being made for that diamond"s auctioning.
Upon realizing that all that money belonged to her, Xin Qing sighed, feeling a bit emotional. She could not help the smile that had formed on her lips. All of a sudden, she heard a series of ear piercing beeps. At that point, she noticed that everyone was staring at her.
"What"s wrong?" Xin Qing asked, confused.
A scowling Rang came over and spoke to the guard. "Is this machine malfunctioning?"
"No. It just went through maintenance," the guard said, pointing a gun at Xin Qing.
Xin Qing jumped. "What"s going on?"
"You have a diamond on you," Mark said, frowning as he pointed his finger at the red device. "So the alarm went off."
"There"s a diamond on me?" Xin Qing asked. Then it hit her. They were accusing her of stealing a diamond!
Dianne looked at Rang with a somber expression. "I think there must be some kind of misunderstanding. It could be our own jewelry that had set off the alarm!"
"That"s impossible!" the guard interjected. "This device only responds to unprocessed diamonds." The guard did not notice the desperate eye signals that Rang was giving him. Instead, the guard said to Xin Qing dutifully, "Miss, please cooperate with us and empty your pockets so that I can check."
Xin Qing and the rest of them had handed over their bags before entering the mine since no bags were allowed. Xin Qing wore a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Her only pockets were the two on her jeans.
"Hold on!" Rang said, glaring at the guard. "Let"s settle this over there. Everyone else can go on ahead first."
Apparently, the two women from before were not too happy with that call. "Why force us to leave? Anyone who steals private-owned diamonds could be shot to death. We"d like to stay and watch!" said the first woman. Then, the second woman said, "If you feel uncomfortable with searching her, why don"t I do it for you! I"m a woman. I can help you empty her pockets." The woman stepped forward to grab Xin Qing.
At this point, Xin Qing would have to be a complete idiot not to realize that she had just been framed. She was still trying to work out a way to deal with this predicament when Rang took a step forward. "Oh, c.r.a.p," Xin Qing thought. Indeed, her worst fear happened. Rang shouted loudly, "Miss Xin could not have stolen any diamonds. Because she owns this entire diamond mine!"
Silence descended upon the crowd in an instant. The guard looked as if his eyeb.a.l.l.s were about to pop out of their sockets.
"Haha. You"re kidding, right?!" someone said, pointing at Xin Qing. "Hers? Then why is she even here on this tour?"
Xin Qing felt a strong urge to clog up Rang"s mouth with something. Rang even had the audacity to sound gleeful when he uttered his next words. "Our boss owns a lot of properties. This is her first time here." Rang glanced at Xin Qing. "I think the Chinese call this... undercover inspection? Right? Boss?!"
"Right your a.s.s," Xin Qing thought, pressing a hand on her forehead. She really had no idea what to say.
Back at the hotel, Xin Qing was receiving all kinds of looks from everyone. Some looked at her with curiosity, while others with reverence. The two girls next door finally knew their places as they did not even dare to look at Xin Qing. Everyone had a.s.sumed that Xin Qing was some kind of hotshot character rather than the plaything of a wealthy man. After all, no man would give a diamond mine to their plaything. It seemed to everyone that this young Chinese woman had no ordinary background. n.o.body dared to give her any trouble after that.
On the other hand, Dianne did not show much of a reaction at all, only told Xin Qing that it was a good thing to stay low-key. Mark seemed quite shaken, too. When he spoke to Xin Qing afterwards, his demeanor became careful and guarded. Xin Qing completed the trip knowing that there really was nothing more she could have done about the situation. When they parted ways at the airport, she implored Dianne and Mark to keep what they knew to themselves. Otherwise, she would have no hope left for a peaceful life in the academy.
Dianne and Mark agreed with alacrity.
There was still a month left in her break. Xin Qing decided to proceed with the vacation plans she had made earlier. This time, she was lucky enough not to have encountered anyone like Ailey. Alone, Xin Qing completed her tour in the surrounding cities, recording her thoughts and experiences during those trips in stacks of journals. She had taken lots of photos, too. She returned home a week before the academy reopened. It was then that she received a call from CK.
"Xin Qing, could you make a trip down to the company?" The voice on the phone sounded like the middle-aged man who had received her at the front entrance last time.
"Is there a problem?" After the incident with Randa, Xin Qing"s impression of CK was far from stellar. She had even thought of abandoning her plans to obtain a one-year internship at CK.
"You"ll know when you come. We"re all waiting for you. Please come quickly!" he said before hanging up.
Xin Qing frowned, stewing over the phone conversation for a long while. All of a sudden, she flinched in shock. "Oh, no. Could it be that they"d found out about the diamond mine?" she thought. After parting ways with Dianne and Mark at the airport, she had realized how pointless it was to ask those two to keep her secret. Even if they both managed to keep it a secret, there were still so many people present at the mine that day. Surely, one of the people there would end up spilling the secret. Right now, it was likely that the entire circle had found out about it. Now that she thought about it, Xin Qing did not feel as bad anymore. So what if she owned a diamond mine? That had nothing to do with the fact that she was in the academy to learn.
Having sorted through her thoughts, Xin Qing went to CK calmly. There, she was brought to the same conference room, though this time there were more people in attendance. Other than the aging woman she had met during her last visit, Xin Qing had never met the others in her life. All of them seemed rather old.
"Miss Xin!" said a plump middle-aged man, shaking Xin Qing"s hand. "Please, have a seat!"
After sitting down, Xin Qing realized that all these people were looking at her ecstatically. Frowning, Xin Qing spoke first, "What business is it that had you calling me here?"
"Miss Xin, you really are such a low-key person. You own such a big diamond mine, but yet you"re here as a mere academy student," said the old lady from before in a slightly accusatory tone.
Xin Qing threw her a strange look. "What does my status have anything to do with my pursuit of knowledge at CK?"
The plump man chuckled. "Of course not! Of course, there"s nothing wrong with that!" He shot the old lady a glare. "Miss Xin, you have entered CK through on your talent and credentials alone. I"ve seen the necklace you"ve designed for a client recently, and based on my experience, I must say that you will become a brilliant designer in the future! When the time comes, I hope you can come up with a legendary design on behalf of CK."
Xin Qing stared at the man. "If there"s something you wish to tell me, then please get to the point!"
"Miss Xin, first, allow me to introduce myself," said the plump man as he stood up. "I"m CK"s executive director. You can call me Daniel."
Xin Qing was slightly taken aback. So the person standing in front of her was the one calling the shots in CK? "Looks like they didn"t call me here to discuss trivial matters..." she thought.
"It"s a pleasure, Mr. Daniel. You can speak your mind," Xin Qing said. If someone showed her courtesy, it was only right that she returned the favor. From the way he was speaking to her, Daniel was obviously treating her as an equal.
Daniel chuckled and finally got to the point. "Miss Xin, last month, your diamond mine had produced a perfect diamond, am I correct?!"
Xin Qing nodded. "Yes. It"s a pink diamond."
"And you know that diamonds like that have always been rare. From what I"ve heard, that pink diamond weighs over ten carats. Other than the blue diamond from East Africa two years ago, yours could be considered as a diamond with the heaviest weight."
Understanding dawned upon Xin Qing. "So you"re saying you want to buy the pink diamond?"
"Indeed!" Daniel stood up excitedly. "Before, CK had failed to obtain the blue diamond. Cardi beat us to it. But now, we"ll do whatever it takes to obtain the pink diamond. That way, we won"t be losing out to Cardi."
Xin Qing nodded. "Understandable."
Cardi had used that blue diamond to propel itself to the top of the jewelry industry. CK"s ownership of the pink diamond, coupled with its unparalleled capacity and talent for design, would probably make the diamond a legendary treasure.
"Miss Xin, we are asking you not to auction the pink diamond and sell it to us instead. We would pay you ten times the auctioned price," Daniel said, shooting Xin Qing a hopeful look. "Of course, we could draw up a contract with you right now if you like. That way, you"ll become one of CK"s top designers as soon as you graduate from the academy. Also, we promise to a.s.sign the pink diamond"s design to you!"
The fact that they had offered her a position as CK"s designer had not surprised Xin Qing. What surprised her a little was the fact that they were willing to allow her to create a design out of the pink diamond. This was way too risky. Her failure would have ruined the value of the pink diamond itself. How could CK be so willing to take such a risk...?
"Actually, you could"ve obtained the pink diamond through the auction. I"m sure there won"t be too much of a difference in terms of price."
Daniel shook his head. "You don"t understand. For the past two years, people from the n.o.bility as well as wealthy businessmen have been involved in the diamond trade. They won"t miss out on an opportunity like this."
"Even so, CK will still be the first choice when it comes to the design of the diamond," Xin Qing said after some thought.
"It won"t the same," said the old lady who had been quiet all this while. This time, her tone was friendly. "If it"s like you said, then we"ll only be regarded as the designer, not the owner of the diamond. We need to buy it, make a piece of legendary jewelry out of it, and then sell it. That way, we can showcase CK"s true value!"
Xin Qing thought that these people were being far too greedy. Still, the situation before her was not something that she could outright refuse. She thought for a moment and said, "It"s not just my call."
"Understood, understood!" Daniel thought he knew the implication behind Xin Qing"s words. He thought it was impossible for such a huge diamond mine to be owned by just one person. In his mind, Xin Qing was probably just the biggest shareholder.
He was completely unaware that Xin Qing had said those words because she did not have a single clue how to handle the whole situation and how to refuse.