The atmosphere in the kitchen was tense.
Nanny Wang closed the door and turned to face the new girl, Fang Yuanyuan. Her tone was stern.
“What’s going on with you? You’ve been here for a while now, and you still managed to mess up something this simple.”
When Fang Yuanyuan had interviewed, she’d seemed like a sharp girl. How could she have made such a basic mistake?
No matter how promising she’d seemed before, making such a basic mistake showed she wasn’t thinking straight. Nanny Wang would leave her in the kitchen doing odd jobs for now, then find an excuse to get rid of her later.
“Because of you, the kitchen has lost its bonus for this month.”
At that, even the few people who had thought it had nothing to do with them changed their expressions.
The monthly bonuses at the Ji family home were substantial.
It was rare for anyone to have theirs docked. Yet because someone in the kitchen had nodded off, everyone had lost this month’s bonus.
Zhou Jiewei was the first to speak, his displeasure plain in his voice.
“Housekeeper Wang, Fang Yuanyuan was the one who messed up. How can you dock the whole kitchen’s bonus? If anyone’s bonus should be docked, it should be hers alone.”
The others said nothing, but the looks they gave Fang Yuanyuan were sharp enough to cut.
Nanny Wang waved a hand.
“That’s not for me to decide. The young master said so himself.”
She glanced at everyone in turn.
“Even if it was Fang Yuanyuan’s mistake, are the rest of you in the kitchen blameless?
You knew Miss’s things hadn’t been taken out. Why didn’t you remind Fang Yuanyuan? Or take them out yourselves?
Did you have to wait until Miss said something?”
Then she looked at Fang Yuanyuan, her gaze cool.
“Fang Yuanyuan, there won’t be a second time. If anything goes wrong again, you needn’t come back.”
With that, Nanny Wang turned and left, pushing the door open as she went.
Everyone returned to their stations. No one spoke to Fang Yuanyuan or even looked at her.
Fang Yuanyuan lowered her eyes and glared furiously in the direction Nanny Wang had gone.
If she hadn’t come here at someone’s request, she’d never have put up with this.
Seeing that none of the others in the kitchen wanted anything to do with her, she didn’t care. She quietly went to a corner, turned her back to them, and pulled out her phone.
A chat window in WeChat, its profile picture a full moon, sat there undisturbed.
She opened it, typed a line, and hit send.
The little incident in the kitchen did nothing to dampen the Ji siblings’ moods.
In front of the garage, a white Porsche and a black Rolls-Royce Cullinan were parked side by side.
Ji Mingyu opened the Porsche’s door and got into the driver’s seat. With one hand in his pocket, Ji Mingxuan waved to her, then turned and climbed into the Cullinan.
The two cars drove out of the Ji family home in opposite directions and sped away.
Nanjing University campus.
Ji Mingyu had just gotten out of the Porsche when she ran into Lin Tongxin, who was also a lecturer.
They exchanged nods in greeting.
With an armful of papers, Ji Mingyu kept walking and gestured to Lin Tongxin. “I have to go. I still haven’t handed in the assignment Professor Zhou gave me.”
Lin Tongxin waved. “Sure. Talk to you later.”
She watched Ji Mingyu hurry away, a trace of envy in her eyes.
Plenty of people at the university envied Ji Mingyu.
She came from a good family: her father was the head of a publicly listed company, and her mother was an associate professor at the university. Ji Mingyu herself studied under the renowned scholar Professor Zhou Chongli and was also a lecturer at the university.
Lin Tongxin sighed inwardly.
If she were a man, she’d pursue Ji Mingyu without a second thought. But unfortunately, she was a woman—and straight, at that!
Holding her paper, Ji Mingyu hurried down the corridor and stopped outside Professor Zhou Chongli’s office. She raised a hand and knocked.
“Come in.”
She pushed the door open. When she saw Professor Zhou sitting behind his desk, she immediately composed herself and smiled.
“Teacher, you’re back! Did your trip go well?”
Professor Zhou gave her a sidelong look, his expression somewhere between a smile and a smirk.
“Well, look at that. My student still remembers I exist.” He lifted his teacup and took a sip. “If I hadn’t reminded your mother yesterday, would you have nearly forgotten all about me?”
Ji Mingyu hurriedly waved her hands. “No, no, Teacher. Look, I haven’t forgotten you. And I certainly haven’t forgotten the assignment you gave me.”
As she spoke, she placed the paper respectfully on Professor Zhou’s desk, then quietly stepped aside and clasped her hands in front of her, looking every inch the well-behaved student.
Professor Zhou flipped through a few pages, then looked up at Ji Mingyu, who stood off to one side, watching him anxiously.
There was a smile in his eyes.
But his words were anything but kind.
“Ji Mingyu, this paper of yours—”
He turned it over and tapped the pages. “It’s obviously been slapped together carelessly. What have you been doing these past few days? You’ve completely forgotten the assignment I gave you.”
Ji Mingyu didn’t treat Professor Zhou like an outsider.
Before she started university, she’d called him Grandpa Zhou.
She stepped closer, her voice carrying a touch of indignant grievance. “Teacher, you don’t know what it’s been like. My mom took me to meet marriage prospects these past few days.”
“Marriage prospects?”
Professor Zhou frowned and set the paper down on the desk, his voice tinged with displeasure.
“Ridiculous. You’re so young. What are you doing meeting marriage prospects?”
Ji Mingyu put on a suitably wounded expression, softening her voice. “Teacher, there’s nothing wrong with meeting marriage prospects, really. At least they’re all from families of equal standing.”
Professor Zhou glanced at her but didn’t respond to that.
After a moment, he spoke.
“Get dressed up tomorrow and come out with me to meet more people.
I don’t approve of any of the people around your father.”
Their minds were far from pure, and there was no end of trouble surrounding them. With Ji Mingyu so sweet and gentle, she’d be an easy target.
She was still so young, and they were already sending her out to meet marriage prospects. He was an old man, but he wasn’t too senile to understand what they were up to.
Hearing Professor Zhou, Ji Mingyu nodded obediently.
But in her mind, she was already calculating.
The people she’d meet if she went out with Professor Zhou wouldn’t be from just any circle. Given his standing in China’s academic world, the people he associated with were either high-ranking government officials or true members of the old-money elite.
If she could meet someone more impressive than Shengshi, she wouldn’t be opposed to it.
Her father would probably be very willing, too.
“All right, Teacher. I’ll be there on time tomorrow.” Her voice was bright, and she was as obedient as could be.
Professor Zhou gave a quiet “Mm,” picked up the paper again, and flipped through it before looking at her.
“Rewrite it. Hand it in within three days.”
The smile on Ji Mingyu’s face stiffened for an instant, but she immediately nodded and agreed.
“All right, Teacher.”
In a suite at a five-star hotel, two people could just barely be seen rolling around on the bed.