“You say you don’t know Cang Xuehe? You two really aren’t close?” Ding Hongyuan looked at Xiao Youyi’s resume with doubt on his face. He hadn’t expected to conduct her second interview so soon, and his emotions were somewhat complicated.
“To be precise, Miss Cang and I have only met twice,” Si Yao paused, looking at Ding Hongyuan with a slight upward curve of her lips and a light tone. “If we’re counting, this is the third time Mr. Ding and I have met. Calculated that way, wouldn’t I be closer to you, Mr. Ding?”
These words caused Ding Hongyuan to drop his guard. His brow relaxed, and he assumed the posture of a refined gentleman. Crossing his hands, he gave Xiao Youyi a light chuckle. “In that case, it seems we share quite a bit of fate.”
Ding Hongyuan raised his hand to check his watch. “It’s already afternoon. If Miss Xiao doesn’t mind, would you like to have afternoon tea together? The hand-ground coffee downstairs at our company is quite good.”
“Wouldn’t that count as Mr. Ding abusing his private power?” Si Yao teased along, and the tense atmosphere relaxed invisibly.
“To be able to have a cup of coffee with Miss Xiao, I am willing to bear the consequences.”
On the surface, Si Yao readily agreed, but internally, she was nauseated by the “greasy” male lead aura. He was flirting with an interviewee in his office without any regard for professional decorum. When they stood up, he even made a point of coming over to support her to test her boundaries; it was clear that Ding Hongyuan was a hypocrite.
If it weren’t to farm “favorability points,” she wouldn’t want to deal with Ding Hongyuan at all.
“Actually, it’s not just the coffee downstairs that’s good; I know a restaurant with excellent foie gras. Is Miss Xiao free to have dinner together tonight?”
Inside the elevator, Ding Hongyuan calculated the distance and looked down at Xiao Youyi, his masculine scent spreading into every corner of the cabin.
Si Yao naturally understood his subtext and smiled. “Mr. Ding, won’t your wife be angry?”
Ding Hongyuan laughed heartily. He extended his left hand. “Miss Xiao must be joking. Do you see a wedding ring? I don’t even have a girlfriend.”
Si Yao put on a very surprised expression. “How could someone as outstanding as Mr. Ding not have a girlfriend?”
“It’s true,” Ding Hongyuan said with an air of sincerity. “I just ended a failed relationship not long ago and am currently in a ‘window period’ (single).”
Si Yao didn’t really want to respond to such a cliché routine, but Ding Hongyuan continued: “Your name is very beautiful. May I call you Youyi?”
“As you wish, Mr. Ding.”
Ding Hongyuan was in a very pleasant mood. As the two walked out of the elevator and reached the revolving doors, a delivery man happened to walk in carrying a large box.
“Careful.” Ding Hongyuan reached out and pulled Xiao Youyi toward him. Si Yao hadn’t expected him to move so suddenly; her footsteps faltered, and she nearly fell into his arms.
Time seemed to stand still. Seeing that she didn’t reject him, and feeling the touch of her narrow waist in his hand, Ding Hongyuan didn’t want to let go for a moment.
This scene was frozen like a shot from an idol drama. Si Yao looked up, her beautiful eyes meeting Ding Hongyuan’s, causing his heart to skip a beat.
[Ding Hongyuan’s Favorability Up]
Ding Hongyuan’s breath hitched at the sight of the woman’s pitifully moving face, and his palm unconsciously tightened.
He actually wanted to kiss Xiao Youyi.
Cang Xuehe hurried out of a taxi and took a few steps up the stairs. Seeing the scene inside the glass doors, the worry in her heart vanished.
She slowed her pace, stopped in front of the glass doors, and the revolving door began to turn as the sensor detected her presence.
This movement disturbed the two “idol drama” actors inside.
Cang Xuehe crossed her arms, a cold smile playing on her lips. To Ding Hongyuan, this smile looked like a demon beckoning him.
Ding Hongyuan felt a chill in his lower body and unconsciously took half a step back. His stunned appearance was a far cry from the “idol drama male lead” of the previous second.
Cang Xuehe walked into the lobby step by step and stopped in front of them. Looking at Ding Hongyuan with an increasingly playful smirk, she parted her red lips: “What a coincidence.”
Ding Hongyuan shuddered back to his senses. Remembering he was still at the company, he feigned composure: “W-what do you want to do?”
Cang Xuehe wanted to send him flying with a kick, but she was also constrained by the public setting. Her current identity was the daughter of the conglomerate; for the sake of the Cang Corporation, she couldn’t beat someone up here.
“I was about to ask what you wanted to do.” Cang Xuehe then looked at Xiao Youyi, her brow furrowing. “Did you forget what I told you?”
Being watched by Cang Xuehe like this, Xiao Youyi actually felt a bit guilty and averted her gaze.
Ding Hongyuan realized what was happening and said angrily: “You two teamed up to lie to me!”
Xiao Youyi wanted to explain, but Cang Xuehe cut her off.
“That’s right,” she mocked with a sneer. “You’re as stupid as a pig, falling for it the moment someone hooks their finger. Isn’t it said that men are animals that think with their lower bodies?”
As Cang Xuehe spoke, she pointedly glanced downward. “Do you think you’re ‘capable’ again?”
Ding Hongyuan’s body trembled. He clutched his crotch and backed away two steps. “Y-you… you two!” He was so angry his face turned pale and blue. Seeing more and more people looking over, he threw up his hands and hurried away without further argument.
He didn’t want to lose his job on top of everything else.
“What are you looking at? Do you want to chase after him?” Seeing Xiao Youyi’s gaze lingering reluctantly on Ding Hongyuan’s departure, Cang Xuehe spoke with a hint of sarcasm.
“I was thinking about it,” Xiao Youyi suddenly calmed down. “But chasing him now is meaningless.”
Half a minute ago, the system had announced the Main Quest Failure, causing Si Yao’s heart to turn cold.
[System]: Host, the current mission has failed. Because Ding Hongyuan’s disgust level toward you has reached its peak, this main storyline mission is now over.
She looked at Cang Xuehe’s overbearing attitude with a mix of speechlessness and helplessness. She knew Cang Xuehe had done this to help her shoo away a “fly,” but in doing so, her actions had caused the mission to fail beyond recovery.
Will I ever be able to return to the real world?
[System]: Host, a side quest is now being activated—reach a Disgust Value of 100 with Cang Xuehe to complete the mission. Once achieved, the Host can return to her original world.
[System]: Now issuing the first task—Move into Cang Xuehe’s home by legitimate means.
This sudden side quest caused her to stare at Cang Xuehe’s face for quite a long time.
Cang Xuehe touched her own face suspiciously. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Xiao Youyi shook her head. “Miss Cang, I agree to be your driver. However, I have one requirement regarding my living arrangements: I don’t want to live alone.”
“Oh.” Internally, Cang Xuehe mocked Xiao Youyi—thinking that no matter how mature she acted, she was actually just a little girl afraid of being lonely. “Then stay with me. You can have the same room you stayed in last time. I live alone anyway.”
Xiao Youyi didn’t seem particularly happy; she simply nodded slightly. “Alright.”
Cang Xuehe was about to say something else when her stomach lodged a protest, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten much all day. She said, “I’m a bit hungry. Let’s find a restaurant where we can sit and talk.”
Cang Xuehe tended to have a short temper when hungry, so she simply found a nearby tea restaurant. After quickly ordering food, the two of them were left alone again.
On the way there, she had given it some thought. Having a young girl as her driver felt a bit awkward, so she had a new idea.
“I’ve thought about it. For a driver, I still need an experienced veteran. It just so happens I’m planning to open a company soon, so you can be my personal assistant instead.”
“And the job description?”
Cang Xuehe tried to recall the daily tasks of the manager’s assistant from her previous job. Halfway through, her mind suddenly pivoted.
Wait! Why should I follow someone else’s job description? In this world, I’m the daughter of a tycoon and the boss. I decide the job description with a single word!
“When I’m happy, you’re happy with me. When I’m unhappy, you have to coax me. When I’m bored, you have to entertain me. When I’m angry, you have to soothe me. You aren’t allowed to—”
Before Cang Xuehe could finish, Xiao Youyi interrupted her, unable to bear it any longer: “Why don’t you just find a boyfriend and fall in love?”
“Shallow! Falling in love takes energy. I don’t have the spare time to waste my feelings on men!”
Xiao Youyi: “…”
“Will you do it or not? Monthly salary of fiv—” Cang Xuehe gestured with her hand, then slapped the table, making a split-second decision: “One hundred thousand!”
Xiao Youyi was stunned.
Cang Xuehe lifted her head proudly. I have money; I’m willful!
In the real world, Cang Xuehe would have nodded yes to a job with a 100,000 monthly salary with her eyes closed; she didn’t believe Xiao Youyi would refuse!
Besides, Xiao Youyi couldn’t really refuse anyway—the backup plan involving Ding Hongyuan had been completely severed by her own hand.