In the stillness of Ji Yanluo's private study, moonlight seeped through the tall glass windows, pooling across the polished floor like silver silk. Bai Zhiqi stood near the bookshelf, arms crossed, her gaze distant but sharp.
Ji Yanluo leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled under his chin as he studied her. "So," he finally said, voice low and deliberate, "you said you're ready."
Bai Zhiqi nodded once, her eyes hard and unwavering. "I've waited three months. Letting the dust settle, watching from a distance. But it's time."
"And your plan?" he asked, his voice unreadable, but eyes glinting with curiosity.
She turned to face him fully, the light catching the determination etched into her features. "I want her to come to me."
"Bai Lanyue?"
"Yes," she said calmly. "Not through force. Not through confrontation. But through curiosity."
Ji Yanluo tilted his head slightly, intrigued. "How do you plan to achieve that?"
"With netizens," Bai Zhiqi replied, the edge of a smile pulling at her lips. "I need a public space. A busy one. A piano. And a veil."
His brow raised. "A veil?"
"I want mystery. Intrigue. People are drawn to what they can't fully see. I'll wear a traditional Hanfu, veil included. I'll play as if no time has passed. And the internet—" she gave a small chuckle, "—the internet will do the rest."
He considered her for a long moment before standing and walking to the window beside her. "You're using the same tactic that destroyed you… to resurrect yourself."
"Yes," she said softly. "Let them spread my name again. Let the videos circulate. Let the public wonder who I am, where I came from, and why I play like someone who once used to be called a prodigy."
Ji Yanluo looked over his shoulder at her. "And Lanyue?"
"She'll see it. She'll feel it," Bai Zhiqi said, eyes burning. "She'll either come to prove I'm not who she thinks… or to confirm her worst fear: that I'm back."
Silence stretched for a beat before Ji Yanluo spoke again. "What do you need from me?"
"A location," she replied. "Somewhere open, but intimate enough for a piano to sit. Somewhere influencers and livestreamers wander. Somewhere the sound will carry and the eyes will follow."
He nodded slowly. "Leave it to me."
As she turned to go, he asked, "You're not afraid?"
She stopped in the doorway, glancing back with a cold, amused expression. "I spent five years in darkness for a crime I didn't commit. The only thing I fear… is wasting this second chance."
And then she was gone, the shadows swallowing her like a phantom.
Ji Yanluo remained still, a littlestrange feeling unfurling in his chest. She wasn't the broken woman the world expected. No—she was fire disguised as ash, and this was only the beginning.