Ji Silin didn’t notice that himself.
It was just that after his grandfather’s fuss, his awkwardness was gone.
He replied by voice message too. “We’ll have dinner together tonight.”
So something was up after all.
Meng Mian didn’t ask why. She answered quickly. “Sure.”
A meal for a million. What a deal.
And even without the million, she would have played along.
She’d taken so much of his money, after all.
After finishing her chat with Ji Silin, she counted it up. Not including what he’d transferred to the original owner, Ji Silin had now transferred her seven million in total.
Meng Mian’s eyes curved into crescents.
She quickly changed every contact name she had for Ji Silin to “God of Wealth.”
With this much money, she had even less reason to work hard!
After returning to the company, Meng Mian threw herself into work.
The HR department’s work wasn’t hard, just plentiful.
She was busy right up until nearly quitting time before she finished.
Seeing everyone packing up to leave, Meng Mian started packing too.
Yao Ting had already packed her things and was chatting with someone.
The moment she spotted Meng Mian packing too, and saw how pretty and well-behaved the current Meng Mian looked, not the least bit annoying, she felt a knot of irritation.
Seeing that the manager and supervisor had both already left, she had no reservations.
She immediately changed tack and said to the person beside her with a laugh,
“Some people just love to lie about being the Ji family powerholder’s girlfriend.”
“If she really were, then yesterday when the powerholder himself came, she deliberately bumped into him. Did he say a single word to her?”
“President Ji helped out yesterday and then just left. He didn’t even come see her.”
“Ha, it’s hilarious.”
“I heard some people even rode an electric scooter to work today. A few days ago she was bragging every day about how much money President Ji gave her!”
“She can’t even lie convincingly. Let’s see how she digs herself out of this one!”
The colleague she was talking to looked extremely uncomfortable. She had no desire to get dragged into a war between coworkers.
She hurried to smooth things over. “Yao Ting, you must have misunderstood. Meng Mian probably wasn’t lying. This morning I even saw Assistant Du tell her to deliver a document to President Ji.”
Yao Ting sneered, and got even louder. “If she really were President Ji’s girlfriend, would Assistant Du dare make her run errands and deliver documents?! He’d be worshipping her, not the other way around!”
The intern Xiao Su was already anxiously explaining to Meng Mian. “Sister Mianmian, about what happened in the lobby yesterday, I didn’t say anything, you have to believe me!”
Xiao Su was really panicking.
Yesterday, only she and Sister Mianmian had carried the display board to the lobby.
When Sister Mianmian bumped into President Ji, she was the only one in HR who saw it.
She just wanted to get through her internship peacefully. She didn’t want to make enemies with anyone.
Seeing Xiao Su so panicked, Meng Mian had no choice but to soothe her first. “Lots of people saw it at the time. It was never a secret. It’s normal she heard about it.”
Xiao Su had been too flustered just now. Once Meng Mian soothed her, she remembered. There really had been a lot of people in the lobby.
Not to mention anyone else, there had been several people at the front desk alone.
Only then did Xiao Su settle down, no longer panicking.
Only then did Meng Mian turn to Yao Ting, looking perfectly well-behaved, every word striking straight at the heart. “You really are uncomfortable, aren’t you? No wonder your jealousy is spilling out.”
That made Yao Ting so angry she stepped forward. “You!”
She couldn’t understand how the current Meng Mian could stab her so precisely, making her furious.
Before, even when Meng Mian fought back and wouldn’t give way, it had been harmless. She couldn’t out-argue her at all.
But now, one sentence from Meng Mian turned her into a clown.
And she was terrified of anyone learning she was just as vain and money-worshipping as Meng Mian.
She kept her face composed, putting on a rather lofty tone.
“I’ve noticed. You don’t just love to lie, you love to talk nonsense. This is the second time!”
“What would I be jealous of? Jealous that you graduated from a third-rate university? Jealous that you don’t even know how you got into this company?”
“Jealous that you’re clearly not President Ji’s girlfriend, yet you lie and tell everyone you are!”
“You’ve really got nerve, daring to say I’m jealous of—”
Before Yao Ting could finish, the HR department door was lightly tapped twice.
Everyone immediately looked over.
Lu Chen stood there, utterly formal.
When he saw them looking, he smiled at Meng Mian and said, with extreme courtesy and respect,
“Miss Meng, are you off work? Our President is already waiting downstairs. You have dinner plans with him.”
Everyone knew Lu Chen was Ji Silin’s special assistant.
Yao Ting’s face flushed bright red in an instant.
As if she’d been slapped hard across the face.
However unwilling Yao Ting was to believe it now, she knew Meng Mian really was the girlfriend of the top-tier wealthy family powerholder, Ji Silin.
Especially with her colleagues sneaking glances at her expression. She wanted to sink through the floor.
Meng Mian didn’t pay Yao Ting any more attention. She just immediately checked the time on her phone.
Seeing it was exactly quitting time, she picked up her bag. “Mm, I’m off work. Let’s go.”
Lu Chen led Meng Mian toward the underground parking garage.
He looked businesslike, but couldn’t help sneaking glances at Meng Mian.
So this is what “completely different with and without makeup” means. Now I’ve seen it.
No wonder his younger brother had come back from delivering the guarantee that day, endlessly praising their President’s girlfriend’s looks.
At the time, he’d thought his brother’s taste was off, that he liked women with heavy makeup.
Meng Mian didn’t know what Lu Chen was thinking.
But she’d originally planned to wear light makeup to work.
Everyone at the company wore makeup, so she’d felt she should be a bit more formal too.
But she was already born with red lips, white teeth, and big, bright eyes.
Her skin was especially good too. No need for concealer at all.
Light makeup actually looked worse than none.
Without it, she looked more energetic and dewy.
This was fine too. It saved her from having to get up early to do her makeup every day.
Besides, it was August now and the weather was hot. She rode her scooter to and from work. Not wearing makeup kept her face comfortable and able to breathe.
Out of the elevator, the moment she reached the underground parking garage, Meng Mian saw three black luxury cars parked there.
Bodyguards stood in front of each car.
The moment they spotted her, the bodyguards hurried to open the door of the Rolls-Royce in the middle.
When the door opened, Meng Mian saw Ji Silin sitting inside.
His profile was cold and severe.
A laptop sat in front of him. His long, well-knuckled fingers were tapping away at it, clearly still working.
Only when she had gotten in and sat down beside him did his cold eyes glance at her.
He asked her lightly, “Chinese food or Western?”
Since he was letting her choose, she wouldn’t be polite.
Meng Mian hugged her bag. “Chinese food.”
Ji Silin said nothing.
Outside the car, Lu Chen was already on the phone, making arrangements.
The nearest Ji Group hotel would do.
Only then did the bodyguard close the car door.
The car headed toward the hotel.
Ji Silin was still focused on his work, without a trace of expression.
Meng Mian didn’t look at what he was working on, and didn’t disturb him.
She just put in both earbuds and buried herself in short videos.
Occasionally she couldn’t help pressing her lips together in a silent laugh.
If she’d been alone, not disturbing anyone, she definitely would have laughed out loud. She wouldn’t have held it in.
Only when they were nearly at the hotel did Ji Silin finish and close his laptop.
The car was so quiet that he’d forgotten someone else was sitting beside him.
He only turned his head then and saw Meng Mian.