Compared to the bar that had only been briefly mentioned in the original novel, Jinye was more like an upscale private club.
Security was excellent, and the people who came here were either wealthy or powerful. Most of them were quite well-mannered.
At the very least, during the month Xiao Yao worked here, aside from attracting many customers who fell in love with her at first sight and voluntarily boosted her sales because of her overwhelming beauty, she had rarely seen anyone getting drunk and causing trouble or harassing the staff.
Of course, she also hadn’t seen the Male Lead.
Wasn’t she supposed to be following the Cannon Fodder storyline?
Where was the Male Lead?
Where had the Male Lead gone?
Still, the month wasn’t entirely without gains.
After relentlessly maintaining her presence in the follower group for an entire month, Xiao Yao’s relationship with the Female Supporting Character had grown much closer.
Just like in the original plot, they had added each other as friends.
Whenever the Female Supporting Character had worries she couldn’t share with the other wealthy socialites, she confided in Xiao Yao.
And Xiao Yao fully embraced her role as a malicious and gloomy cannon fodder.
While praising Qin Yuan and the Male Lead as a match made in heaven, she secretly slipped in her own agenda, occasionally offering questionable suggestions that couldn’t be brought into the light.
At the moment, the Male Lead and Female Lead still hadn’t crossed paths.
Without the Female Lead’s presence to stimulate her jealousy, the Female Supporting Character hadn’t begun her descent into darkness.
Yet after all these days, she trusted Xiao Yao more and more.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Xiao Yao casually inquired about the Male Lead’s recent activities.
The answer she received was that Father Ming had recently assigned Ming Jing to follow a project within the family company.
The project was currently in its final stage.
Rumor had it that he had been working overtime at the company for several consecutive nights.
He barely had time to go home, much less visit a bar.
…
Ming Jing truly had been busy beyond belief lately.
Come to think of it, he almost owed a debt of gratitude to the person who had exposed him on the forum.
Thanks to the public relations incident, Father Ming had arranged for him to gain experience within the company.
Although he still hadn’t touched the company’s core operations, the opportunity had benefited him greatly.
Inside the conference room, after a month of negotiations and back-and-forth maneuvering, the two sides finally reached an agreement.
The young man seated at the head of the table had black hair and fair skin.
His perfectly tailored suit added a sense of maturity to his excessively youthful and handsome face.
After the other party signed the contract and everything was confirmed, he stood up and extended his hand with a smile.
“Happy cooperation.”
Across from him sat the Executive President of Shengyuan Group, Jiang Yuan, and the primary representative for this project.
Jiang Yuan ignored the hand suspended in the air.
Instead, he stared at the warm and handsome face before him and said meaningfully,
“As expected, a tiger father produces no dog son. Young President Ming, I’ve learned quite a bit.”
Ming Jing withdrew his hand without changing his expression.
His smile remained intact.
“President Jiang is too kind.”
A trace of gloom flashed through Jiang Yuan’s eyes.
Ming Cheng was an old fox.
He hadn’t expected that the Ming Family’s eldest young master—known for his beauty and gentle demeanor—would also be a complete little fox.
The opening price Ming Jing had demanded had been exactly their estimated bottom line.
Shengyuan had originally hoped to negotiate further.
Unexpectedly, the other party had refused to budge by even a fraction.
They had dragged each other through a month-long stalemate.
Thinking of all the money burned during that month, Jiang Yuan felt his heart bleed.
His expression darkened even further.
Within their circle, he was famous for holding grudges.
There was no way he would simply let such a major loss at Ming Jing’s hands slide.
The special assistant who had followed him for many years seemed to notice his thoughts.
He bent down and whispered a few words into Jiang Yuan’s ear.
As he listened, Jiang Yuan openly examined the fair and gentle profile of the young man before him.
Suddenly, he grinned.
Crossing his legs, he shifted into a more relaxed position.
“Now that business has been settled, it’s time to relax in private. As it happens, I know a very good place. Tonight, I’ll be the host. I wonder if Young President Ming would honor me with his presence?”
As soon as the words fell, the expressions of the people on Ming Jing’s side changed slightly.
President Jiang had a terrible reputation.
Moreover, he had just suffered a major loss here.
An invitation to dinner was obviously anything but friendly.
“Young President Ming…”
Someone couldn’t help speaking up.
Before they could finish, another voice interrupted.
“Certainly.”
Ming Jing gently closed the file in his hand.
As if he hadn’t noticed the other’s malicious intentions at all, he looked up and smiled.
“President Jiang is being so gracious. It would be rude for me to refuse.”
…
Xiao Yao had originally been enjoying a pleasant day of slacking off.
Then the supervisor suddenly gathered all the staff together and announced with a serious expression that an important client would be arriving that evening.
Her gaze swept through the crowd before landing on Xiao Yao, the Female Lead, and several other attractive waitresses.
“You girls are going tonight. You know what should and shouldn’t be said. Whatever you do, don’t offend them.”
It was rare to see the supervisor look so serious.
Even the Female Lead and the others appeared somewhat nervous.
One girl couldn’t help asking,
“Sister Xiang, are they really that important?”
“Don’t ask questions you shouldn’t ask.”
The supervisor glared at the talkative girl.
“I know what you’re all thinking. But you’d better get those ideas out of your heads. Don’t start dreaming about becoming a phoenix by marrying into wealth. People like them have seen every kind of beauty imaginable…”
Halfway through her sentence, her eyes happened to land on Xiao Yao, who was standing nearby absentmindedly staring off into space.
The words caught in her throat.
After a brief silence, she finally looked away and continued,
“Just be careful. Alright, dismissed.”
This was Lin Xiaotian’s first encounter with a so-called major client during her month of work.
She was extremely excited.
Pulling on Xiao Yao’s sleeve, she tried to gauge her reaction.
As expected, she was greeted by the same calm, beautiful, expressionless face.
Lin Xiaotian had long since become accustomed to Xiao Yao’s composure.
Her cheeks were flushed pink, making her look especially cute.
“Xiao Yao, a big client! Do you think it’ll be one of those domineering CEOs from TV dramas? Or maybe a famous celebrity? Why aren’t you reacting at all? Aren’t you excited?”
“It’s alright.”
“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”
Listening to Xiao Yao’s deafening internal screams, the system finally couldn’t take it anymore.
“You’re such a faker.”
Xiao Yao was actually quite excited.
She had worked hard for an entire month.
The Male Lead was finally coming to advance the plot!
Hahahahaha!
The system once again reached its limit.
“You’ve been slacking off every day. How is that working hard?!”
Xiao Yao mercilessly muted the system again.
Soon someone arrived to take them to change into new uniforms.
Since they would be serving important guests, naturally they needed to dress nicely.
However, when Xiao Yao saw the neatly arranged sets of maid outfits placed before her, she fell into genuine silence.
She unmuted the system and asked sincerely,
“Does the Male Lead have any special fetishes?”
For example…
Maybe he liked certain letters of the alphabet or something.
The system was still angry.
“I don’t know! Now you know I—”
BEEP.
Muted again.
The maid outfits naturally hadn’t been arranged by Ming Jing.
They were Jiang Yuan’s idea.
He had specifically instructed Jinye to select beautiful and innocent-looking young women to serve them.
No matter how capable Ming Jing was, he was still just a young man.
Jiang Yuan refused to believe anyone could remain unmoved in the face of beauty.
He knew that someone like Ming Jing, a favored son of heaven, valued his reputation above all else.
Any scandal could destroy him.
The smoking photo incident had passed safely only because there had been room for public interpretation.
But if pictures surfaced of him frequenting bars, fooling around with women, and perhaps possessing certain unspeakable preferences…
Then no matter how powerful the Ming Family’s public relations team was, public opinion alone would be enough to drown him.
…
Although this event hadn’t been mentioned in the original novel, it was entirely possible that the storyline had changed.
After hesitating briefly, Xiao Yao picked up one of the outfits and changed into it.
In the mirror stood a girl wearing a black-and-white dress.
The design was elaborate, cinching tightly around her slender waist.
Beneath the layered skirt were a pair of long, straight legs.
Perhaps because she spent most of her time indoors and rarely saw sunlight, her skin was almost pale.
Whether it was the perfectly proportioned shape of her legs or the flawless skin covering them, every detail was so exquisite that one couldn’t help wanting to hold them in their hands and admire them.
When Lin Xiaotian emerged after changing clothes, she had even applied a bit of makeup.
Having just finished the college entrance exams, she was naturally a girl who loved looking pretty.
Ordinarily, she had neither the opportunity nor the time to dress up.
Now that she finally could, she felt incredibly excited.
She had been admiring herself quite happily.
Then she saw Xiao Yao standing outside.
Xiao Yao had merely changed clothes.
She hadn’t styled herself or added any makeup.
Yet she was still so beautiful that people couldn’t look away.
Beauty at Xiao Yao’s level surpassed jealousy entirely.
All one could do was marvel at how unfairly heaven had favored her.
That tiny waist.
Those breathtaking legs.
That flawless face…
How could a daughter be this beautiful?!
Wuwuwu!
Lin Xiaotian finally gave up pretending.
She, Lin Xiaotian, officially and publicly wanted to be Xiao Yao’s mother!
An overwhelming urge to dress Xiao Yao up suddenly surged within her.
Shuffling forward awkwardly, she asked in a small voice,
“Xiao Yao, do you want to wear makeup? Can I do your makeup for you?”