“Not going.”
She had originally been planning to enjoy her retirement, only to be forcibly reassigned to the Romance Department at the last minute. Since she was stuck here, relaxing and enjoying life in these mission worlds sounded like a fine alternative.
“Dad, how about letting Little Sister come with me? The subsidiary company happens to be short-staffed right now.”
Su Chen hadn’t entered the main Su Corporation directly; instead, he was gaining experience at one of its subsidiary companies first. In truth, Su Chen was already a formidable titan in the financial sector over in Country M—gaining “experience” was merely a formality.
It was just that Su Father remained completely in the dark about it.
Working under Su Chen…
It would probably be pretty relaxed—at least she wouldn’t have Su Father breathing down her neck every second of the day.
At that thought, Su Mu nodded decisively.
“Dad, then I’ll follow Brother’s lead and start by learning from him. If there’s anything I don’t understand, I’ll ask you later.”
Without giving Su Father a chance to object, Su Mu turned and darted upstairs.
“This child…”
Su Father let out a helpless sigh as he watched Su Mu slip away, though a warm, gratified smile soon spread across his lips.
“She’s finally willing to go to the company. This works out well too. Xiao Chen, you make sure to guide your sister properly. She’s usually a very sensible child…”
Su Father continued to chatter endlessly with Su Chen, his words brimming with deep worry for Su Mu.
Completely oblivious to the fact that her father was worrying his heart out over her, Su Mu was upstairs filling out her internship report for her academic advisor.
At any rate, she had nothing going on at school, so going to the company was fine.
Besides, the primary mission this time was to make the male lead obsess over her while being unable to have her.
In that case…
If she drove him into complete bankruptcy, wouldn’t he obsess over her out of pure, burning hatred all the same?
Male Supporting Lead Number Two, Su Chen, was going to have to pull his weight!
Oh, right—if she wanted Su Chen to help her, she had to snip away his connection to the Little White Lotus female lead first. Otherwise, what if he got hooked by her all over again?
Su Mu wasn’t particularly satisfied with Su Chen as a tool, but if the alternative was doing the heavy lifting herself, she’d much rather drag Su Chen along as her hard labor.
Although Su Chen lost his moral compass after meeting the female lead, he still possessed a shred of principle in certain areas.
Reflecting on this, Su Mu carefully recalled the timeline: When did Su Chen first cross paths with the Little White Lotus female lead?
It seemed to be… the day before the company’s recruitment drive. The two had met by pure chance, and her “unyielding resilience” combined with her “indifference to money” had struck a unique chord in Su Chen’s heart.
Unyielding resilience? Indifferent to money?
“Little Cutie, tell me—how is someone who can roll around in bed with her friend’s fiancé considered ‘unyieldingly resilient’? In this world, people come and go for profit and fame. Just how many people do you think are genuinely unmoved by money?”
Su Mu’s eyes flickered with a trace of subtle irony, as if recalling something amusing.
w-444: “Mumu, what about you? Are you moved by money?”
System w-444 was genuinely curious. Its host always appeared completely uninterested in system reward points, which made her seem utterly indifferent to wealth.
“Why do you think I was pulled out of a perfectly good retirement and shoved into the Romance Department?”
w-444: “…”
So just what kind of grand reward did its host receive to come here so willingly?!
Word had it that the Slaughter Department always looked down on the Romance Department for being so slow and indecisive—dragging out things for over a decade when a single strike could settle it…
Sob sob sob~
It wasn’t as if us poor little systems could control any of this!
Su Mu remained busy in her room until evening. After grabbing a quick dinner, she headed back upstairs to finish up her internship paperwork.
Once she finally cleared her schedule, her thoughts drifted back to the recruitment drive. Walking down the hall, Su Mu knocked on Su Chen’s door.
“Brother, when does your company start hiring—”
Before she could finish her sentence, Su Mu froze. The door swung open to reveal Su Chen standing there wearing nothing but a simple towel wrapped loosely around his waist.
His strong arms were casually folded across his chest, boasting just the right amount of lean, sculpted muscle.
Eight crisp, defined abs gleamed under the soft light, with faint droplets of moisture condensing along the contours before slowly sliding downward…
Su Mu raised her eyes in mild surprise, catching sight of crystal-clear water drops trickling gently down the tips of Su Chen’s damp fringe. Within his deep eyes lay a lazy, relaxed luster, shielded by a fine mist of water vapor that rendered him unnaturally alluring—not to mention the faint, subtle smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
“What did you want to ask?”
His deep voice brushed against her ear, finally reminding Su Mu of her original purpose.
“When does your company’s recruitment drive start?”
Su Mu’s face showed not the slightest trace of shyness or embarrassment; her eyes remained as clear and composed as ever.
The man across from her pondered for a brief moment before speaking.
“The day after tomorrow.”
Su Mu: “…”
Wouldn’t that mean Su Chen was bound to cross paths with that Little White Lotus female lead tomorrow?!
“I’m coming with you tomorrow.”
Su Chen didn’t press for reasons; he simply nodded with a gentle glint of humor in his eyes.
Seeing him agree, Su Mu didn’t linger any longer. She turned to walk away, but on an odd whim, she blurted out one last sentence before stepping out.
“Your abs look very nice.”
With that, Su Mu made a swift exit and darted straight back into her room.
She left Su Chen standing in place, letting out a soft chuckle as he watched her hurried, flustered retreat.
The next morning, Su Mu didn’t take Su Chen’s car to the company. Instead, she rode a small electric scooter.
The electric scooter…
Had been bought by her mother.
All under the glorious pretense of “experiencing life at the bottom.”
Her adoptive brother had been sent abroad for eight full years. Aside from a single visit when the original host went overseas five years ago, the two had practically no contact. Thus, among the elite circles in City A…
Chances were very few people actually recognized him.
For this trip to Su Chen’s subsidiary, both of her parents had strictly forbidden her from slacking off by relying on her brother’s status.
Su Mu: “…”
With the original host’s parents issuing such strict warnings, what else could she do?
If she truly slacked off and Su Chen filed a complaint back home, it wouldn’t do if her father grew so furious he suffered a heart attack.
Riding her little electric scooter, she coasted casually along behind Su Chen’s car.
It happened to coincide with the morning rush hour; no matter how luxurious the vehicle was, it remained hopelessly stuck in traffic all the same.
Leisured and unbothered, Su Mu zipped past Su Chen’s luxury sedan on her scooter. Just as she prepared to cross the green light, her sharp eyes caught sight of Xiang Qing—who was also riding an electric scooter—preparing to execute a turn from the opposite direction.
Seeing this, Su Mu halted her scooter and pulled over to the side of the road.
Inside his car, Su Chen noticed Su Mu pulling over and was just about to ask what was wrong when his vehicle lurched to a sudden stop.
“Boss, we hit someone!”
The driver panicked and scrambled out of the car to check the situation. Su Chen knit his brows slightly, his eyes darkening as he caught sight of Su Mu nearby, holding up her phone to record the scene.
A moment later, raised voices echoed from the front of the vehicle. Su Chen stepped out of the car to see an electric scooter lying on the pavement ahead, with a young woman fiercely arguing with his driver.
From the looks of it, she wasn’t injured at all.
“What happened?” Su Chen asked in a low voice.
Xiang Qing turned toward the sound of his voice and froze for a brief second. What an extraordinarily handsome man—his entire presence and regal demeanor were not a single bit inferior to Yeyi’s.
“Boss, it seems this young lady’s electric scooter scraped against our car,” the driver replied cautiously. Today was his very first day driving for his new boss, and he never expected such an incident to occur right out of the gate.
Xiang Qing had already been fuming after being knocked over, but seeing the car owner step out so late—and hearing the driver’s words imply that the fault lay entirely with her—the slight favor she had felt toward the handsome owner instantly transformed into a blaze of anger.
“What do you mean my scooter scraped against your car?! Your car clearly ran into me! Do you people have any sense of reason at all?!”
Xiang Qing stood with her hands on her hips, shouting at the top of her lungs. Yet to an outside observer, her performance merely made her look like a cute, feisty young girl acting impetuous.
“Dong’an, give her the money.”
Su Chen offered no unnecessary words, directly ordering his driver to pay compensation. As the driver turned back toward the car to fetch the cash, Xiang Qing’s face flushed with indignance.
“Who wants your stinking money?! You think having money makes you so special?! You think having money means you can do whatever you want?! Hmph!”
Xiang Qing turned her head away with a look of righteous fury, while Su Mu—watching the entire theatrical performance from a short distance away—rolled her eyes back into a magnificent, flawless glare.