My Online Girlfriend Has a Twin Sister

In their haste, Chen Yuan and Jiang Ning didn’t even bother with a driver. They took his car from the underground garage and headed for Mingzhu City. Leaving before eight in the morning, they were on the highway in just over half an hour.

While Chen Yuan focused on driving, he would occasionally check on Jiang Ning, reassuring her and telling her to look on the bright side, that there was a solution for everything.

At critical moments, a man had to be the pillar of support, the backbone.

In truth, Chen Yuan knew more about the situation than Jiang Ning did; he was just pretending not to.

"You don’t understand my mom," Jiang Ning said, rubbing her temples as she processed the situation. "Her way of thinking... it’s not something a normal person can understand. When I was very, very young, I decided I would never get involved in her company’s business."

"Why?"

"Because her business philosophy is something I could never agree with... And I never let Yaoyao have anything to do with it, either."

The thought of Jiang Yao.

Ningning’s expression grew even more troubled.

’I have a rough idea of what’s happening in Mingzhu City now. And while I’m rational enough to accept it... how am I supposed to tell Yaoyao?’

’How would her sister react when the time comes?’

Jiang Ning didn’t dare to imagine.

’Yaoyao is so easily swayed by her emotions and often acts irrationally. If she can’t handle it and has a breakdown, it would just be adding fuel to the fire.’

After a moment of silence, Chen Yuan asked, "I still don’t get what you mean."

"Sigh... Let me put it this way. Ever since I was old enough to understand things, my mother has held herself and us, her two daughters, to an almost pathological standard. Her outlook on life is completely twisted, mostly due to her own childhood. She believes that anyone who lacks etiquette, isn’t ’upper-class’ enough, or doesn’t come from a prominent family is just a lower-class nobody to be looked down on. Climbing the social ladder, striving for a more privileged existence, making sure everyone looks up to you—that’s been her lifelong creed."

"Got it. To put it bluntly, she’s a snob."

"Yes, a snob. And she’s ruthless, too. When I was in high school, her business was booming. The Meiruxue brand was starting to get noticed, and she opened countless branches. They sold their products directly through those branches at exorbitant prices, but the quality control was a complete mess. It led to so many beauty-related incidents... My mom never reflected on it. She’d always just throw money at the problem, because she felt that a few isolated incidents were nothing compared to her massive profits."

"But surely there were people who refused the compensation? After all, a woman’s looks are incredibly important," Chen Yuan asked, puzzled.

"That was even better for her. With all the collusion between business and government, she’d just hire the best lawyers, buy whatever connections she needed, and the other party would always be the one to lose in the end... In short, my mother is a woman with no principles and no moral compass."

As she spoke, Jiang Ning turned away, her expression pained. "When I was little," she said dejectedly, "she would even bring her lovers home. It happened more than once. Yaoyao and I would just have to hide away and pretend we didn’t know."

"..."

Chen Yuan froze, suddenly at a loss for words.

Whether it was his adoptive parents or his biological father, none of them had ever mistreated him. They had all been responsible, dedicated parents.

’He couldn’t imagine the kind of damage a mother like that could inflict on her children.’

’No wonder the two sisters gave up their privileged lives in Mingzhu City to come all the way to Lanjing. No wonder they were so beautiful, yet so fragile and sensitive on the inside, so cautious about investing even a little bit of emotion that they didn’t have their first online relationship until they were twenty-six.’

"I always told myself that she has her life, and I won’t interfere, as long as she doesn’t get in the way of me and Yaoyao pursuing a good life... But something still happened. I always had a feeling this day would come."

"So... what’s your plan this time?" Chen Yuan asked tentatively.

"From the looks of it, I’m powerless to help even if I wanted to. The company is in a state of total collapse. I just hope she doesn’t become a deadbeat and that this doesn’t ruin her life. If the company’s gone, it’s gone."

"It’s good that you can think that way, Ningning," Chen Yuan said, looking at her seriously. "A starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Even without her company, she can still live a good life. Opening a small shop or becoming a small business owner can be quite fulfilling, and she’d still be better off than most people... Look at my adoptive parents. Their salary is only a few thousand a month, and aren’t they happy?"

"Yeah," Jiang Ning said in a low voice. "But this all happened so suddenly, and I still don’t have all the facts. If she embezzled funds or provided fraudulent financial reports to the shareholders, this will be very difficult to resolve. A lawsuit would be inevitable. It all... depends on how serious the situation really is."

"It won’t come to that. At worst, she’ll just have to liquidate assets and pay whatever compensation is required..."

Chen Yuan spent a long time comforting Jiang Ning until his throat was dry. He took a sip of water and fell silent for a long while.

’Even though Zhou Cha had already given him specific instructions, and he knew he couldn’t act rashly, seeing how dejected Jiang Ning was still made his heart ache.’

It felt like a stone was pressing down on his chest.

’Zhou Cha’s plan was the right one. He had the power to resolve the Meiruxue Company crisis, but he couldn’t play his hand that easily.’

’Chen Yuan’s help had to have value.’

’He had to provide timely aid to the two sisters at their moment of greatest need.’

’Only then would Jiang Ning realize just how important he was, and what a rock he had been for her throughout this whole fiasco.’

’After this was over, it should at least break their current stalemate.’

’In the future, Jiang Ruxue wouldn’t be able to use his relationship with her daughters as leverage to make more outrageous demands on him, her prospective son-in-law.’

’Dating is a matter between two people. All it requires is mutual affection; it’s as simple as can be. But going from dating to marriage is a completely different concept.’

’You could say that marriage is the union of two families.’

’Chen Yuan’s situation was even more complicated; it was like he had every possible difficulty modifier stacked against him. Not only did he have adoptive parents and a biological father, but the women he wanted to marry were twin sisters, and their mother was anything but easygoing.’

’It was no wonder that Mr. and Mrs. Chen, and even Jiang Zhengfeng, were so hesitant about it all.’

’There were so many women in the world. With his personal qualities, Chen Yuan could have married any respectable young lady he wanted. Why did he have to insist on this pair of twins?’

Perhaps that’s just how many things in the world were.

Some people just insist on doing things their own way.

"I’ll keep this from Yaoyao. Let’s wait until we get to Mingzhu City and understand the situation first. Don’t you reveal anything to her either."

"Alright, I get it."

"We’ll meet my uncle first. He’s waiting for us next to the company building."

...

After a drive of over four hours, they finally reached Mingzhu City around noon.

The closer they got, the more Chen Yuan could sense the tension in Jiang Ning beside him. She might not have realized it herself, but when Chen Yuan glanced over, he saw her hands were clenched tightly.

As they were getting out of the car, Chen Yuan took the initiative and held Jiang Ning’s hand.

"Relax. We have a lot to do, and you can’t afford to panic right now."

Hearing his words, Jiang Ning looked down and realized her palms were slick with sweat.

"I... I will."

She took a deep breath, trying her best to steady her nerves.

After they parked and got out, they made a phone call. A moment later, a middle-aged man emerged from a car parked nearby.

"Oh, Ningning! You’re finally back." Jiang Ruzheng’s anxious voice reached them before he did.