As an innocent-looking girl (Note: In Chinese internet slang, this refers to a woman who appears pure and naive but is actually manipulative), I found Adrian Evans, the head of the Evans family, too tough to handle. So I decisively chose his playboy nephew instead. To marry into this wealthy family as soon as possible, I deliberately pretended to be drunk and flirted with the campus heartthrob, making Jason both jealous and guilty. Unexpectedly, it was that cold-hearted family head who came to pick me up when he received the call. “Miss Lily, shall I help you sober up?” Adrian asked. I had lived a life of luxury for seventeen years. But suddenly, I fell back into poverty. All of this happened because my dad, who worked in finance, was made the scapegoat by his company. He was an honest man who didn’t dare tell my sick mother the truth. Instead, he resorted to taking out online loans. I had a feeling something was wrong. People’s attitudes towards us changed drastically. On the day I received my college admission letter, my father invited close relatives and friends to celebrate. According to our hometown custom, guests were supposed to give red envelopes for a child’s college admission celebration dinner. The money he had given out on previous occasions should have been enough to cover my first year’s tuition and living expenses when returned. But to our surprise, no one showed up, and we were left with two tables of wasted food. By ten o’clock, with the oil congealing on the dishes, still not a single person had arrived. My dad started drinking alone, his eyes turning red. After settling the bill, he said he wanted to go for a walk. Worried he might do something rash, I followed him. He walked for a long time with a hunched back, reaching the city center where his new company was located. He stopped a car at the exit, saying nothing at first, and then just knelt down. Looking both pathetic and miserable, he explained that his violation of rules was arranged by Mr. Stern for the company’s benefit. He went on about how difficult his life had become, not even having money to buy a burial plot for his wife, and his child about to start college. He said he could barely survive… After he finished speaking, a cold voice came from inside the car. “Oh, aren’t you living quite well now?” The person in the car raised a hand, and a security guard came over, kicking my father’s things aside and roughly dragging him away. The food my dad had been carrying in takeout boxes spilled all over the ground. As he tried to pick it up, he started crying. On our way back, my dad “accidentally” fell into the river. After the accidental death insurance payout came through, we cleared all our debts, with only a small amount left as my living expenses. I was going to college on my father’s blood and sweat. He had done all he could for me, and now I had to do what I could for him. These people who drove him to his death – I wouldn’t let a single one of them off the hook.
During the summer break of my sophomore year, I found a part-time job at a coffee shop below that office building. Soon enough, I met Mr. Stern, my father’s former superior. He was in his forties, well-dressed, and smug with his newfound success. I caught his attention by upgrading his coffee to a large size. He had originally intended to take it to go but ended up staying to drink it in the cafe. Watching me busily working, he came over to place another order. I smiled and said, “Your stomach isn’t good, so it’s not advisable to drink too much iced coffee. How about switching to a hot drink?” He agreed readily and asked how I knew about his stomach issues. I explained that I had seen him holding his stomach when he came to buy coffee last week. I guessed that he probably didn’t have time for breakfast, rushing to work in the morning. Mr. Stern’s eyes lit up slightly. When he looked at me again, his gaze held a deeper meaning. As he took the milk tea, he casually touched the back of my hand. I didn’t shy away, only pretending to be embarrassed as I averted my eyes. Three days later, with Mr. Stern’s help, I entered Tiansheng Company, where my father used to work, as an intern. I heard that he personally delivered my documents to the general manager’s office to open the back door for me. Tiansheng Company’s successful acquisition couldn’t have happened without the “hard work and cooperation” of Tiansheng’s old finance team. But in the end, while others got promoted, only my honest father became the scapegoat, forced to resign and even had to pay compensation. Mr. Stern was now flying high, often talking about how “people should cherish their reputation and integrity.” Huh, just wait until I strip you of your feathers. As an intern in the general affairs department, I quickly memorized the HR system password. But when I logged in, I couldn’t find any of my father’s past records. I was told that due to a system upgrade, some data had been lost. Coincidentally, during the office move, two boxes of financial records were accidentally damaged. And of course, it was my dad’s portion. How incredibly convenient. Interns usually do odd jobs, and my “naive and cute” persona quickly won everyone’s favor. Especially Mr. Stern’s. He was clearly getting ahead of himself, thinking his “mature man” image had attracted an innocent young girl. Yet he was reluctant to invest too much, buying me a bunch of fake bags and clothes as gifts. On the day of the company’s summary meeting, I changed into the uniform cheongsam for receptionists and applied light makeup. Mr. Stern’s eyes lit up when he saw me. During the departmental reports, Mr. Stern came out for a drink of water. I deliberately waited for him on his way back. As he approached, I looked at him innocently. There was no one around, and behind me was the general manager’s office. Not a soul would come by. Sure enough, the moment I touched his palm with my finger, he couldn’t resist and pushed me into the general manager’s office. I only slightly hooked my arms around his neck, and his body immediately reacted. He pushed me to sit on the sofa, grinning as he placed his hand on my knee. I remained motionless, and his hand slowly moved. “You little minx,” he cursed, but with a smile on his face. His hand trembled as he reached for my zipper, which was already loose and suddenly broke completely. At that moment, I burst into tears. Mr. Stern was dumbfounded. I looked at him with a cold smile but cried even louder. Finally, male colleagues burst in, draping a jacket over me, while a female colleague slapped Mr. Stern across the face. Curses, angry shouts, and sounds of scuffling completely drowned out the stunned Mr. Stern’s attempts to explain. I just cried, not needing to say anything. Everyone was on my side. As Mr. Stern left in disgrace, I threw the fake bags and clothes with tags still on them that he had given me at him. Utterly humiliated, he reached out to hit me but was dragged away by security. I lowered my head and cried as the HR girl gently comforted me. “What a scumbag. Always talking about cherishing one’s reputation and integrity, and then he does something like this. Disgusting. He’ll definitely be disciplined for this.” Disciplined? That’s not enough. Just then, the assistant said the general manager wanted to see me. This general manager was Adrian Evans, the new boss from the acquiring company, the one my dad had begged that day. Heh, I’m coming right away.
Adrian Evans wasn’t old, but he had a cold heart. I heard he even snatched his brother’s position to dominate the family business. In the month since I’d been here, I’d seen him three times. Once for coffee, twice for documents. The day before the summary meeting, when I brought him coffee, he took a sip and said he didn’t want sugar. I took the cup back and drank a sip: “But it tastes really good.” Adrian looked up at me. “Really,” I said, looking at him innocently. He had thick eyelashes and deep-set eyes. I just held the cup and kissed him directly. Outside was the bustling corridor. When there was a knock on the door, I said I was momentarily overcome with emotion. He remained expressionless at the time and didn’t pursue the matter further. Then this incident happened the next day. I entered the general manager’s office. He sat in his chair, fingers interlaced, looking at me expectantly. I sat down in the chair in front of the desk, separated from him by the large office desk. On the desk was a photo of him with his family members. My gaze fell on the photo, and I immediately memorized it, a talent from my liberal arts studies. “I’ll help you settle your salary until the end of the month. Take a good rest at home tomorrow.” This was a veiled dismissal. In this matter, I was the perfect victim. All the events captured by the security cameras in the office corridor showed that I was innocent and coerced. How cold-blooded. I thought he would at least comfort me, his little employee, first. “I only want what I deserve,” I said, biting my lip. His gaze fell on my lips. The lipstick was applied just right, along with my shoulder-length short hair and slightly red eyes, presenting a pitiful image. Adrian looked at me for a while, then leaned back in his chair. “Don’t push your luck. Stern is lecherous and bold. But you’re not simple either — newly painted nails, right?” He smiled. “They left marks on the back of his neck. In that position, it’s hard to believe you were forced.” He truly was sharp-minded and ruthless. I had thought that kiss yesterday might have had some effect. I said, “I don’t understand what Mr. Evans is saying, but if this matter gets out on the internet, it will surely have a negative impact on the company…” Adrian thought for a second and chose to fire me. “Now that he’s been fired, at least no one in this industry will hire him. Half a lifetime of work has turned to nothing. Is that enough to satisfy your anger?” Not enough. On my way in, I had anonymously called his wife. She should be downstairs by now. I let go of the model I had been playing with in my hand, stood up supporting myself on the desk, my body seeming to go weak and swaying slightly. The jacket on my shoulders rolled off to one side, half draped over my arm. I stood up and walked straight towards the door. Suddenly, his voice came from behind. “This is an exception. Come back to work after resting for two days.” This was a concession. But I had a new plan now. I watched Mr. Stern’s pathetic beating from the corner window of the coffee shop downstairs. After his futile pleas at Adrian’s car window, he started cursing loudly, accusing Adrian of being ungrateful and abandoning him for a little slut. He asked how they could have easily covered up such a big hole without his suggestion. Security chased Mr. Stern away. Adrian’s car passed by the coffee shop, the window slowly lowered, and the person inside turned to look in my direction. I didn’t flinch, holding my coffee and taking another sip with a smile. Is that enough to satisfy my anger? Not at all. The real show is just beginning.
I returned to school and changed my phone number. After a long time, one day I suddenly received a call from the HR department of Tiansheng Company in my dorm room. They asked about my current situation and said there was a new internship vacancy, considering if I wanted to go back? It was the kind that could be converted to a full-time position after graduation by signing a tripartite agreement. I laughed and said they had the wrong number. The HR manager on the other end was stunned for a moment, saying it shouldn’t be wrong, that the name and photo matched. During the less than two months I worked at Tiansheng, all the addresses and contact information I provided were fake. To be able to call my dorm room, they must have put in quite some effort. But Adrian was too tough to handle, so I decided to choose his weak spot instead. As I was about to graduate from university, I met Jason’s parents once. Jason was known as the campus playboy and was the only son in his family. His mother was no match for him. After a bit of fuss from Jason, she softened and agreed to our relationship. She probably thought it was just dating anyway. Jason liked me for three reasons: first, my face; second, my grades; and third, my innocence. He said I was the only girl he had met who was this beautiful yet had such a clean record when it came to hotel stays. I was also the only beautiful girl he had seen doing such hard work as supermarket promotions. Of course, if I hadn’t known he would go to that supermarket to buy things, that his off-campus apartment was right next to that supermarket, why would I waste half a day doing promotions there with natural makeup? From before I met Jason, I knew exactly what I was doing. He loved to play around, a butterfly among flowers, hating constraints and calculations. He thought he had spent countless efforts to pursue me and cherished me immensely. Little did he know that those chance encounters and perfectly timed meetings, even the image of me that he liked, I had studied carefully beforehand. I planned to find a way to settle the marriage when he graduated, and then meet all of his family. But things happened a bit earlier than expected. One day, I was having dinner with Jason at a restaurant when his phone suddenly rang. He answered it, looking around, then waved to someone on the other side. Following his gaze, I saw his uncle, my former boss, Adrian Evans, who had his arm around Jason affectionately in that photo. Adrian was dressed formally tonight, with a well-dressed female companion. His gaze moved from his nephew Jason to me. Jason hurriedly introduced me. I looked at Adrian and smiled gently. He made a sound of acknowledgment: “Oh, so it’s Miss Lily?” His female companion asked him with a hint of jealousy: “You know each other?” Adrian said: “I happened to hear from my sister-in-law that Jason has a very beautiful girlfriend surnamed Jiang.” This was a cover-up. Jason’s mother hated me to death, and probably only cursed me as a vixen and schemer when she mentioned me. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Adrian and his companion prepared to leave. Jason said to me: “That’s the uncle I told you about, the one on the magazine cover last time.” I shook my head, pretending to be clueless: “Oh, I don’t remember.” Jason pinched my face and laughed: “Well, you’re face-blind. You probably don’t remember anyone except me.” Adrian’s footsteps slowed for a moment.
Leaving the restaurant, I decided to speed up the marriage process while Jason was still infatuated. According to the schedule, Adrian should be about to expose me, so I planned to settle things in two days, racing against time. Jason is usually most infatuated when he’s drunk, jealous, and feeling guilty. So I agreed to the class president’s invitation to a high school reunion this Friday. Conveniently, Jason had an unavoidable dinner engagement on Friday. His cousin, who he grew up with, had returned to A City from studying abroad, and it would surely be a night of wild partying. With many beautiful women present, Jason wouldn’t want me to go with him. On Friday afternoon, I dawdled in the dorm, carefully changed my clothes, didn’t wear any jewelry, just used a hairband to tie up my slightly curled hair. As I went downstairs, I ran into two junior students. I heard them discussing: “That’s Lily, isn’t she? She really is pretty.” Such comments had long become commonplace. The beauty of a young body always presents itself doubly, but it’s all just fleeting fireworks. I took a two-hour taxi ride to A City. More people came to the class reunion tonight than I had imagined. As soon as I appeared at the door of the private room, I heard the commotion inside. “I told you she would come, but they wouldn’t believe me,” the old class president came over first, looked at me with a smile, and pointed out the reserved seat for me. I recognized the boy sitting next to the seat, a cold academic achiever who I heard had already signed a very good job. His face was slightly flushed with alcohol. I went over and sat down without showing any emotion. As usual, there was old classmate sentiment, as usual, there was the clinking of glasses, as usual, there was subtle showing off and discreet probing. Everyone talked about youth, about the future, and it was quite harmonious. I sipped my drink slowly, controlling my alcohol intake. The academic achiever helped me fend off several rounds of drinks. “That’s right, if she drinks too much, Lily’s boyfriend will worry,” the class president said with a smile. The academic achiever immediately looked at me. I timed it just right, ignoring their probing, and just reached out to hold my forehead: “My head is a bit dizzy. I don’t want to drink anymore.” I needed this perfect slight tipsiness. Taking the opportunity to go to the restroom, I called Jason back. Sure enough, he asked why I didn’t answer the phone. It was noisy on his end, like he was still at a drinking party. So I said I was dizzy and whined for him to come pick me up later. He immediately got a bit angry: “You’ve been drinking?” In his mind, I had very low alcohol tolerance, he knew that. The background noise from the phone was chaotic, with young girls’ coquettish laughter. “Aren’t you drinking too?” I said and hung up the phone directly. I knew Jason would always come.
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