Chapter 6

Chu Corp’s building was full of people coming and going. B2 was packed with luxury cars. Brother Lin didn’t for a second think Qin Yao or Chu Yan had anything to do with Wen Jiu; he just assumed they happened to be sharing an elevator.
He was a tyrant in his own department, but outside of it he barely knew anyone past middle management. Chu Yan had only taken over Chu Corp in recent years; at the annual party, Brother Lin had seen him from a distance, but being able to confirm “that’s a person” had been the limit.
He’d thought Chu Yan looked familiar, but never connected him with the president’s position. In his mind, the president should be taking the “president’s private elevator,” not riding with everyone else.
His gaze flicked past the pair of them and landed on Wen Jiu and Lan Mingyan.
“Wen Jiu, I heard you and Lan Mingyan were taking the subway home. Did you get in the wrong elevator and end up on B2?”
His mouth kept running and his little mung-bean eyes stared fixedly at the space behind Wen Jiu.
No one was there. No one was waiting.
So whoever was “keeping” Wen Jiu wasn’t even picking her up. Honestly, it was laughable. She’d be trudging back upstairs to take the subway alone.
His grin shifted into a petty, triumphant smirk, his tone dripping with mockery. “Wen Jiu, looks like you won’t be getting that reservation at Ji Qing Pavilion after all. If your sponsor won’t even drive you home, how could they get you a table?”
Lan Mingyan was even angrier than Wen Jiu herself. Her fists clenched tight; she took deep breaths, trying to keep her temper in check.
Wen Jiu pressed her lips together.
She was trying really hard not to laugh.
From behind her, she couldn’t see the Young Lady’s expression, but she could see the way her soft hair seemed about to stand on end from rage.
“What are you, to talk to my people like that?” Qin Yao snapped.
She was the textbook Young Lady with the textbook Young Lady temper. Her eyes widened; her voice cracked out like a command.
The soft, light-blue dress she’d worn for Chu Yan’s sake had been meant to project gentleness, but at this moment, the color shifted from lake-water calm to roaring sea in sheer presence.
“You little girl, how can you talk like that?” Only when he was the one being scolded did Brother Lin finally feel the sting of someone’s words.
If Chu Yan’s face had looked familiar, Qin Yao’s did not, at all.
Pretty girls often floated around Chu Corp, trying to mingle and climb toward upper management. With his habit of viewing women with suspicion, Brother Lin instantly decided Qin Yao must be one of them.
Dressed this beautifully, dripping in expensive accessories, and still a complete stranger? Clearly some higher-up’s kept canary.
“Wen Jiu, birds of a feather flock together. I’m older than you and speaking as an elder, shortcuts don’t pay off,” he said sanctimoniously.
“Look at you: you still have to take the subway home after work. No car, nothing. But Brother Lin is a good person, if you don’t snap at me, I could still give you and Lan Mingyan a lift.”
He put on the air of a caring superior, though in reality he was exactly on the same level as Wen Jiu and Lan Mingyan.
He clicked his tongue, his small eyes flickering lazily over Wen Jiu.
She’d transmigrated into a book, being happy was the top priority. Wen Jiu suddenly didn’t feel like waiting for the Young Lady to slap him down for her.
She wanted to do it herself.
There was thirty thousand in her bank card plus twenty thousand from the Young Lady, fifty thousand total. If it came to compensation, she could probably afford it.
She stretched her fingers, carefully measuring her palm against the air, comparing it to Brother Lin’s middle-aged face.
His skin wasn’t particularly oily, but the filth in his heart made him look uniquely disgusting.
“Brother Lin, you’re older than us by quite a bit. You should know you can’t just say whatever you like, right?” Wen Jiu glanced up at the security camera. For the sake of her bank account, she decided she still didn’t want to commit an actual assault.
“I didn’t say anything wrong.”
That upward flick of her eyes made Brother Lin think she was guilty and panicking.
“Wen Jiu, if you’re being kept, then you’re being kept. With your resume, you’ve been out of school a year with no work experience. How else could you have gotten into Chu Corp?”
“In Beicheng, if there aren’t a thousand mistresses, there are at least eight hundred. So what if you’re one of them? Nothing to be ashamed of.”
The more he talked, the worse it got.
In the office, he’d only implied things and led people to gossip; now in the parking garage, he was saying it outright, as nasty as possible.
Wen Jiu looked at him like she’d swallowed a fly. Just as the Young Lady was about to explode and Lan Mingyan was gearing up to defend her, Wen Jiu spoke first:
“Brother Lin, speaking of what you just said, You’re already thirty and still at the same level as an intern like me. So many years without a single promotion… pretty impressive, in its own way.
I remember the president’s chief assistant is two years younger than you, right? Now that’s what you call ‘promising youth.’”
Chief Assistant Li’s eyes flew open in surprise.
Why was he getting dragged into this?
Wen Jiu tapped a finger against her chin thoughtfully. “Brother Lin, Chu Corp promotes people fast. You’ve been here all these years, with zero achievements and zero advancement, and you’re somehow still employed. That’s… not easy either.”
Her tone lifted at the end, as if she’d just had a revelation.
“No wonder you’re so familiar with the whole ‘being kept’ scene in Beicheng, you must be one of them. Brother Lin, did you sell your ass for a promotion and still only end up here? Is that why you see everyone as a side piece?”
Before transmigrating, Wen Jiu had always tread carefully and never dared to talk like this. Now, inside a novel, she let herself go a little, letting her true nature out.
She’d only ever seen the phrase “use magic to defeat magic” online. Turned out saying it aloud wasn’t that hard, and felt pretty great.
She finally got that breath of foul air out.
Lifting a brow, she went in for another swing, sweeping her gaze up and down Brother Lin with the same contempt he’d used on her. “Brother Lin, your patron must have… very special taste.”
This time, it was Chief Assistant Li who had to fight not to laugh. With the president right there, he didn’t dare let his expression shift; he forced himself to think of the saddest things he could to keep his face straight.
Lan Mingyan had no such restraint. She burst out laughing. “Wen Jiu, you’re absolutely right!”
Qin Yao’s opinion of her little lackey rose yet again.
Ever since that “illness” last week, the girl seemed reborn, surprising her at every turn. Not that she’d known Wen Jiu’s personality all that well before; the lackey had rarely spoken.
As long as she still knew how to flatter her, the rest was just bonus.
“Very well said,” Qin Yao added, flicking a glance up at Chu Yan, who was much taller than her.
For some reason, she suddenly felt like she stood a head above him.
Chu Corp employees: points deducted.
Chu Yan’s hawk-like gaze settled on Brother Lin. The natural authority rolling off him was like a mountain, utterly different from Wen Jiu’s verbal counterattack; this was the kind of pressure that made sweat pour down a man’s back.
It felt like facing a middle manager who wouldn’t accept flattery, only worse. The shame and panic left him unable to find his footing.
“Brother Lin, why so quiet? Don’t you like talking?” Wen Jiu’s mood felt like a roller coaster, flying up and down with thrilling dips and turns.
“Wen Jiu, you’re just a kid, and you talk like this? Don’t you know what it is to respect your elders?” Brother Lin, who’d always criticized others, had never been humiliated like this before. He was so flustered he didn’t even know how to defend himself.
“Hehe.” Wen Jiu gave him a shy little smile. “Of course I know how to respect the old and love the young. I just didn’t realize you already considered yourself ‘old,’ Brother Lin.”
“Well… retiring at thirty isn’t impossible.”
Turns out, talking back to people like this wasn’t that hard. It was actually… kind of easy.
The mountain that had crushed her from before transmigration to now suddenly crumbled. Wen Jiu felt light as air.
“You little-” Brother Lin finally dropped the act and spat a curse, completely losing his composure.
“That’s enough,” Chu Yan cut in, stopping the farce. “Li Xuan, check his performance for the past few years.”
Bad conduct and no results. He deserved to be fired.
Chu Yan didn’t say the rest; he never needed to. As his most capable assistant, Chief Assistant Li understood the subtext perfectly.
“Y-you…” Brother Lin craned his neck up, staring at Chu Yan in horror.
By the time he realized this man wasn’t simple, it was too late.
These three were actually with Wen Jiu and Lan Mingyan.
He’d gone on and on in the office, and she’d stayed silent. He thought she was easy to bully. Who could’ve guessed she was a pig disguised as a tiger, pretending to be weak.
“Wen Jiu, Brother Lin was just joking with you.”
“Haha, and these are…?” His snarl crumpled instantly under the weight of power, his face twisting into a sycophantic grin as he tried to probe their identities.
“They’re my sister and my brother-in-law,” Wen Jiu said, eyes curving. “Qin family’s Young Lady and your president.”
Lan Mingyan only put the pieces together at that moment, who Qin Yao and Chu Yan really were, and her admiration for Wen Jiu solidified into something almost physical.
When Wen Jiu had shut Brother Lin down speechless, she’d already been in full worship mode. Now that she knew who Qin Yao and Chu Yan were, her brain went straight to all the dramas and webnovels she’d ever read; her eyes shone like stars.
Face-slapping stories were real!
The domineering-CEO-meets-spoiled-young lady romance was real!
TV dramas hadn’t lied to her.
Facing Wen Jiu’s smile, cold sweat broke out across Brother Lin’s back and forehead. He wiped at it with a shaky hand, his grin so stiff it looked more like a poorly carved mask.
He didn’t need anyone to “confirm” who Chu Yan and Qin Yao were; just the president’s aura alone convinced him Wen Jiu wasn’t lying.
He’d never heard that the president was married, but if the other party was the Qin family’s Young Lady, it still made sense.
The Qin family had only one daughter, cherished like a pearl. There were plenty of news articles about her, no photos, but lots of words. Even an average citizen like him knew about her.
The Qin Group building stood directly opposite Chu Corp, a perfect, literal “door-to-door” match.
“Wen Jiu, with a sister and brother-in-law like that, why didn’t you say something earlier?” Brother Lin’s sweat didn’t stop even after wiping; it fell drop by drop, turning him into a walking puddle.
He didn’t have the habit of carrying a handkerchief or tissues, making his appearance even more pathetic.
“I did. You just wouldn’t have believed me, Brother Lin,” Wen Jiu said brightly.
Then she tugged lightly on Qin Yao’s sleeve. “Sis, can you help me book a table at Ji Qing Pavilion? My colleague Brother Lin said that as long as there’s a table, he’ll treat everyone.”
“Sure,” Qin Yao replied, already typing on her phone. She didn’t even need to call.
She didn’t bother asking how many seats they needed, if Wen Jiu was bringing people, there would be enough, no matter how many.
“There’s no need for that, really, Wen Jiu. Brother Lin was only joking,” Brother Lin stammered.
Compared with Ji Qing Pavilion’s prices, everything that had been said earlier was nothing. He’d rather be insulted and lose all dignity than open his iron-clamped wallet.
“I don’t like jokes, Brother Lin.” Wen Jiu’s smile faded; she straightened, her expression turning serious. “Not for myself, and not for any girl. That includes Lan Mingyan.”
“Got it. I understand. It won’t happen again,” Brother Lin said, sweating like rain.
“Mhm. We’ll see in future.”
“And Brother Lin, even if you leave the company, you still owe that meal, okay?”
She wouldn’t eat it, but her coworkers could. Let them torment each other.