Behind her trailed nine fiery red tails, impossibly alluring.
The moment she appeared, she became the center of attention.
Especially with her naturally innocent face and those limpid, doe-like eyes that seemed utterly naive and bewildered, as if searching for someone.
“Tata, can I take a photo with you?”
Someone stepped forward to strike up a conversation. The character Lu Tao was cosplaying had the nickname “Tata.”
Before Lu Tao stood a handsome young man wearing a kasaya that draped over both shoulders, leaving his right shoulder bare. The bronze muscles of his chest were sharply defined, blatantly eye-catching.
He was cosplaying a martial monk, one hand raised before him in a single-palm greeting.
His face was sharply chiseled, with thick brows and large eyes—so handsome it was almost criminal.
His entire demeanor radiated righteousness and imposing dignity.
No wonder people said that shaving a handsome man’s head was the true test of whether he was genuinely good-looking.
“Sure.”
Lu Tao agreed without a second thought.
The martial monk beamed like a kid in his twenties, asking his friend cosplaying the White Dragon Horse to take photos for him. Naturally, a handsome man’s friends were handsome too.
Seeing how easygoing Lu Tao was, others flocked over to take photos with her as well.
Lu Tao patiently struck a series of nine different poses.
—Peace signs, puffed cheeks, cat paws, heart hands, face-framing, OK signs, shushing lips, chin rests, and phone calls.
At the venue entrance—
“President Gu, this way, please.”
All the mall’s executives were dressed in identical black suits, standing in two neat rows on either side.
Walking beside Gu Xingzhi, his face frozen in a smile, was Manager Zhao, the general manager of this mall.
Hearing the commotion, Gu Xingzhi followed the sound with his gaze.
Where his eyes landed, there was a little red fox. She switched poses and expressions at lightning speed, like a ruthless photo-taking machine.
She accommodated almost every request, smiling as sweet as honey whenever the camera came out.
Gu Xingzhi’s gaze deepened. A hint of amusement curled at his lips.
A drama queen, indeed.
Manager Zhao followed Gu Xingzhi’s line of sight, barely masking his shock. “President Gu has an interest in this?”
Before Gu Xingzhi’s inspection visit, he had already thoroughly researched this big boss’s preferences.
Aside from work, his after-hours routine was hitting the gym, swimming, and reading. He had other hobbies too, but those were the ones only the wealthy could afford.
Things like racing, skiing, and horseback riding. Most notably, shooting—he’d already reached national team standards.
This was a rich young master built to the highest specifications.
And he actually liked anime culture? That down-to-earth?
Gu Xingzhi kept his hands in his pockets, gaze unwavering, casting him a cold sidelong glance. “Is that a problem?”
“No, no, of course not!”
Manager Zhao discreetly wiped the sweat from his neck. He’d thought his own young master had been hard enough to please ever since his eyes changed, but this little uncle of his was even more unpredictable.
He’d better tread carefully!
Meanwhile, Lu Tao was still basking in the atmosphere of being “surrounded on all sides.”
This place was practically paradise on earth.
Her huge, fluffy pink paw gloves were currently resting on the six-pack abs of a cosplayer portraying “Qin Chuan”—a popular otome game male lead.
Though they couldn’t compare to Gu Xingzhi’s eight-pack, and weren’t as nice to look at either.
Still, they were top-tier.
Especially Qin Chuan, the otome game’s beloved male lead. True to his name, he was gentle and courteous, and his true form was also a nine-tailed fox.
After the photo, the two fellow fox-kind shook paws. “Thank you, sensei.”
Lu Tao’s limpid eyes sparkled. “You’re welcome.”
She just wondered where her bestie had gone. If she remembered correctly, the costume Fu Zhi had grabbed was a sleek black motorcycle outfit with a pair of purple demon horns on the head and a little black whip in hand?
She raised a hand to her forehead, scanning the area.
Odd. A chill kept running down the back of her neck. Why did it feel so drafty?
She turned around—”Ah!”—and immediately grabbed her fox tail, spinning on her heel to flee. The high-slit skirt revealed her long, straight legs moving like spinning wheels.
She grumbled inwardly: Her makeup was so thick even her own mother wouldn’t recognize her.
There was no way Gu Xingzhi could recognize her, right?
Behind her, a man’s unhurried voice suddenly rang out. “I want a photo with her.”
A girl nearby thought he meant her and froze for half a second before being shyly pushed forward by her friends.
She’d just heard—this was the CEO of Huating!
His empire spanned nearly ten industries, all of them top-tier, forming a massive business conglomerate.
Was she about to soar to the heavens?
Some people desperately wanted this opportunity, while others desperately wanted to avoid it.
Lu Tao half-covered her face, chanting inwardly: Can’t see me, can’t see me.
But Gu Xingzhi said calmly, “Not you. That nine-tailed fox young lady over there.”
His tone was impeccably polite, carrying that innate aristocratic aloofness of old money, a legacy passed down through generations.
Born at the summit, he exuded an air of effortless control, as if power were a toy in his palm. His gaze merely grazed Lu Tao, yet it weighed a thousand pounds.
All eyes in the venue converged on one spot.
There were many foxes, but only one nine-tailed fox.
Lu Tao’s figure trembled slightly. She clutched her fiery red skirt and turned around stiffly, bare shoulders exposed, eyes shimmering with unease.
She found herself face-to-face with Gu Xingzhi, who was dressed in an all-black suit like a demon of the night.
Their eyes met, and she swallowed lightly, clutching the two fox tails tightly.
She’d been called out—running now would only make it more obvious.
With a quick shift of thought, she could only pitch her voice higher and put on an innocent look. “Hello, I’m a college student here for a part-time job. It’s time for me to clock out now, so I’m afraid it’s not convenient.”
The string in Manager Zhao’s mind snapped with a sharp crack. He didn’t dare look at Gu Xingzhi’s expression. The mall was relatively cool, but his shirt was soaked and clinging to his back.
This little ancestor—how was it not convenient?
He pulled Lu Tao aside and lowered his voice. “Part-time college student, right? I’ll give you overtime pay. Five thousand.”
Lu Tao: “…”
In the past, she would’ve taken it without hesitation, but now that she was pulling in ten million a month, she wasn’t all that interested.
Manager Zhao’s face twisted into a bitter grimace, rubbing his hands together like a nervous fly. “I know you’re part-time. Please, please—this concerns my whole family. I’m begging you.” Who told him the President Gu had taken a liking to this young beauty?
Lu Tao’s heart softened. “Fine.”
She hadn’t expected Gu Xingzhi to have such a hobby.
Gu Xingzhi raised an eyebrow.
According to Butler Song, she’d been generously subsidizing the Lu family before.
She hadn’t had a good life at the Qiao household—since she didn’t look like the Qiao family members, they poured most of their love and attention into her younger brother.
When she returned to the Lu family, she thought things would be different, so she gave all her savings to them. But the Lu family still treated her poorly.
The bags she used were all hand-me-downs from Qiao Zhixing, and the meals set out on her table every day were all dishes Qiao Zhixing used to love.
On the surface, she was the legitimate eldest daughter of the Lu family, but the Lus still pined for Qiao Zhixing, subjecting her to cold indifference. Even the household servants didn’t treat her like a true young miss.
So that ten million she’d received this month—she’d given it to the Lu family too?
Was she really that desperate for money? Desperate enough to take odd jobs on the side?
Posing for photos with Gu Xingzhi, Lu Tao’s movements were extremely perfunctory, her face expressionless. The moment the shutter clicked, she quickly withdrew her hand, looking all business.
A stark contrast to the enthusiasm she’d shown when posing with “Qin Chuan” earlier.
Gu Xingzhi glanced at the young man in a white suit with silver, slightly long hair standing across from them—the “Qin Chuan” she’d taken photos with before—and then thought of Chi Yuan, the man she was head-over-heels for. He curled his lip.
Not only was she bad at reading people, her taste in men wasn’t much better either.