Ji Mingxiao froze for a second, her eyes narrowing slightly. She hadn’t expected Ji Chanhan to actually know about Fu Youzheng’s sexual orientation.
Though, listening to the way he talked just now, he seemed to look down on Zhuo Xi completely. Tsk. Is “hating first, falling in love later” just the inevitable nature of men?
“Do you need anything else, President Fu?” Ji Chanhan asked.
“No.” Ji Mingxiao still felt like something was off. There was no good reason for a man like Ji Chanhan…who could have anyone he wanted given his status…to fall for Zhuo Xi just because she was “gentle and pretty.”
The two of them were headed to different floors. When the elevator reached the third floor, Ji Mingxiao stepped out.
Ji Chanhan remained inside, his eyes following Ji Mingxiao as she walked away, raising an eyebrow.
Someone had told him recently that Fu Youzheng was acting a bit strange lately. He hadn’t believed it at first, but looking at her now, she was different. The old Fu Youzheng was far more rigid and boring.
Ji Mingxiao ordered a glass of wine at random, found a quiet, secluded corner, and sat down. That was when her system’s hesitant, stuttering voice echoed in her mind.
“Host… it seems there was a tiny error?”
“What error?”
“Well, you know how novice tasks are usually F-rank worlds…the easiest kind?”
“Yeah.”
“So… I just realized I messed up…” System A mumbled nervously. “I accidentally gave you an A-rank world. On top of that, this world seems to have a few bugs.”
“What do you mean?” Ji Mingxiao’s expression stiffened.
“It looks like two world storylines merged together,” System A tried to explain. “In your current storyline, Zhuo Xi is the scumbag top (gong). But in Ji Chanhan’s storyline, she’s the irresistible female lead of a reverse-harem story. Once your story ends, her second storyline is supposed to kick off.”
Ji Mingxiao was speechless.
“But don’t worry! Your Female Lead Halo is way brighter than hers! If you don’t believe me, I can turn it on right now!”
Before Ji Mingxiao could even reply, she was nearly blinded by a sudden golden glare reflecting off the glass table.
Looking into the reflection, she saw a bright, golden halo hovering over her head…huge, perfectly round, and impossibly shiny. Meanwhile, everyone else in the room had drab, colorless NPC halos that looked completely faded.
“So, how does this actually affect me?” she asked.
“Um… Zhuo Xi has a Secondary Female Lead Halo. If the timeline of her second story overlaps with yours…meaning, if she connects with Ji Chanhan earlier than scheduled…it’ll have a major impact on you. Her halo might end up overpowering yours.”
Ji Mingxiao nodded thoughtfully. “So I just need to drag Ji Chanhan over to my side and speed up my timeline to bring Zhuo Xi down.”
System A: …
“Besides, I didn’t plan on dragging things out with her for too long anyway.” Ji Mingxiao already had some evidence in hand, though it wasn’t quite enough yet. What she had so far only proved that Fu Youzheng was foolish, not that Zhuo Xi was malicious.
System A gave up trying to argue: Fine, fine…
Ji Mingxiao was strikingly attractive, and sitting alone, she naturally drew quite a few men who came over to flirt. Finding it completely uninteresting, she politely declined every single one of them.
After finishing her drink, she headed straight home and sent her assistant, Tang Can, a new assignment.
Receiving the message, Tang Can looked at her screen in confusion:
“Check if Ji Chanhan’s company has invested in any of Zhuo Xi’s recent projects.”
Tang Can had a rough idea of what her boss was getting at, but without thinking, she blurted out her thought directly in a text:
[Tang Can]: President Ji couldn’t possibly be interested in Zhuo Xi, right?
The moment she sent it, panic hit her.
[Tang Can]: Boss, I didn’t mean to mock your taste! Please don’t fire me!
[Ji Mingxiao]: Just go check.
[Tang Can]: On it!
Tang Can breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Ji Mingxiao had to hand it to her…Tang Can was ridiculously efficient. Not only did she find what was requested, but she also discovered that Ji Chanhan was scheduled to visit the set of Zhuo Xi’s current drama, Yuxiao, next Wednesday. His younger brother, Ji Chanyue, happened to be playing the third male lead.
Given Zhuo Xi’s late-game “irresistible charm” attribute that the system mentioned, Ji Chanyue had probably fallen under her spell as well.
The overlap had already begun.
“System,” Ji Mingxiao mused, “doesn’t this count as gross negligence on your part?”
System A: …
“Can I report you for this?” she pressed when it didn’t answer.
“Waaah, dear host, I was wrong! Please don’t report me!” the system wailed. “How about I give you 500 bonus points as compensation?”
Ji Mingxiao raised an eyebrow. “Only 500 points? That’s it?”
“That’s a lot! Clearing an entire F-rank world only awards 500 points! I only have 5,000 points left in my entire savings!”
“Fine then.”
System A let out a massive sigh of relief.
Now that she knew when Ji Chanhan was visiting the set, Ji Mingxiao decided to travel there a day early…without telling Zhuo Xi. She wanted to see how Zhuo Xi would react to Ji Chanhan when she wasn’t around.
After all, given her own recent cold and unpredictable attitude, it was only natural for Zhuo Xi to start looking for her next target.
Ji Mingxiao traveled light and went alone. She booked a hotel right next to the one where Zhuo Xi’s crew was staying.
Once she boarded the flight, however, she glanced at the passenger sitting right next to her.
“President Ji?” Ji Mingxiao stared at Ji Chanhan, falling silent for a few seconds.
“President Fu.”
Ji Mingxiao took her seat. “What a coincidence.”
“Traveling alone?”
“Yeah.”
Ji Chanhan tapped his knee casually, looking at her. “You had someone investigate my itinerary.”
“Didn’t you leak it yourself on purpose?” Ji Mingxiao hadn’t actually thought so at first, but hearing him say that made it obvious.
Sure enough, even her own protagonist halo couldn’t help her assistant dig up the travel plans of a top-tier tycoon like him.
“My visit is tomorrow,” he said.
“And to avoid running into you, I chose to go a day early. Who knew you’d push your schedule up too?”
Ji Chanhan fixed his gaze on her. “What are you actually trying to pull?”
“I had a dream,” Ji Mingxiao said smoothly. “In the dream, Zhuo Xi found herself a powerful backer and dumped me.”
“And so you set your sights on me?”
“Well, you match the guy in my dream perfectly. Do me a favor, President Ji…stick to your original plan and go visit the set tomorrow. I want to see what she does. A woman’s intuition is rarely wrong.” Ji Mingxiao offered him a polished, corporate smile.
“I have zero interest in her.”
“I hope you remember those words and exert some self-control.”
Ji Chanhan frowned and ignored her for the rest of the flight.
Ji Mingxiao had originally assumed Ji Chanhan would be difficult to talk to, but he actually wasn’t bad…fairly easygoing, all things considered. If anyone had tracked down her itinerary and confronted her like that, she probably would have thrown them off the plane.
Two hours later, they landed.
They parted ways at the airport. Ji Mingxiao took a cab to her hotel, checked into her room, and immediately started working remotely.
She had brought various recording devices with her this time. She spent the evening studying the camera angles in the hallway of Zhuo Xi’s hotel, as well as the surveillance camera positions at the restaurant where Ji Chanhan and his party were scheduled to dine the next night.
Even though Ji Chanhan didn’t really want to engage with her, he still provided her with all the technical details she needed. Ji Mingxiao couldn’t help but admire what a good guy he was…and ridiculously rich, too. Both the hotel Zhuo Xi was staying in and the restaurant they were visiting belonged to his company.
Throughout the entire next day, Zhuo Xi didn’t call her once, and Ji Mingxiao didn’t bother reaching out either.
However, at nine o’clock that evening, Ji Chanhan sent Ji Mingxiao a message. Even through the screen, his irritation was palpable.
Ji Chanhan: President Fu, just how blind are you?
Fu Youzheng: Do you have security footage? Send me a clip.
Ji Chanhan: What are you planning to do?
Fu Youzheng: Let her learn the hard way that feelings aren’t meant to be played with.
Half an hour later, Ji Chanhan sent a video file over.
It was a clip from the hotel’s security camera.
Right at the beginning of the footage, only two people were in the frame: Ji Chanhan and Zhuo Xi.
Ji Mingxiao raised an eyebrow.