As soon as Wen Ying stepped out of the airport, Tianjiao’s nanny van was already waiting in the car park.
She raced to the overpass Li Mengjiao had mentioned and, sure enough, the silly girl had actually listened: a bucket hat jammed on her head, long-sleeved tracksuit covering her from head to toe, wrapped up tighter than a dumpling.
If the idiot hadn’t waved first, even Wen Ying would have struggled to recognise her.
Li Mengjiao had been squatting in the shade watching Wang Shuang hawk clothes with all his might. When she looked up and saw Wen Ying climb out of the van, she broke into a goofy grin.
“Come quick, look! Wang Shuang is pathetic. He comes here every day to sell clothes on the overpass. He barely makes any money and he’s tanned like charcoal… hahahaha, he totally deserves it!”
Li Mengjiao was gloating without a shred of sympathy.
Who told Wang Shuang to fall for some random senior’s sweet talk, get all hot-headed, and blow hundreds of thousands on a start-up?
Was a senior he’d only just met more trustworthy than the whole gang of friends back in Rongcheng?
He ignored the friends who actually knew their stuff and listened to a senior who knew nothing. He deserved to suffer selling on the street!
This wasn’t Li Mengjiao’s first time coming to laugh at Wang Shuang’s stall. Whenever she had free time she popped over to watch the show. She never helped him sell, and after he packed up Wang Shuang still had to treat her to dinner~
Crouching miserably beside Li Mengjiao was her poor little assistant.
The moment the assistant spotted Wen Ying she leapt up like a drowning person clutching a lifeline.
“I—I tried to stop her, it was useless…”
She staggered and nearly fell; her legs had gone numb from squatting so long.
Wen Ying ignored Li Mengjiao’s schadenfreude and didn’t bother comforting the assistant.
She surveyed the surroundings and fury rose in her chest.
Wang Shuang had picked a decent spot: constant foot traffic, plenty of potential customers.
But precisely because there were so many people, it was a minefield for a currently popular celebrity!
If even one passer-by recognised Li Mengjiao, she would be mobbed in seconds. Not only would her own safety be at risk, it could easily trigger a stampede—bad for everyone.
Coming to a place like this, how could she bring only one tiny assistant? She needed at least two bodyguards!
It was peak commuting time. Several young women were gathered round Wang Shuang’s stall. He was busy promoting clothes and taking money, too swamped to notice Wen Ying had arrived.
Seeing Wen Ying’s dark expression, Li Mengjiao felt a twinge of fear and inched closer. “You’re upset?”
Wen Ying gave a cold laugh. “Well spotted. Any idea why?”
Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed Li Mengjiao by the scruff like a chick and hauled her into the van. The assistant scrambled in after them.
Only then did Wen Ying ring Wang Shuang. “I’m taking her away. Focus on your stall.”
“You’re taking her? Thank heavens…”
Wang Shuang sounded ready to kowtow in gratitude. “You’ve saved my life. Trying to sell and keep an eye on her at the same time—I was terrified something would happen.”
Wang Shuang really was run ragged and had no energy left to humour Li Mengjiao’s antics.
Still, his hard work was paying off. At first he had been clueless about selling clothes—his only experience was hawking crayfish three years ago. Clothes and crayfish were hardly the same thing. Wang Shuang targeted female university students and fresh office workers.
The inventory that had flopped online wasn’t faulty; the positioning had been wrong.
Wang Shuang only wanted to recoup as much as possible, not make a profit. The clothes were good quality and cheap, so his temporary stall quickly drew attention.
Li Mengjiao mocked him for turning into charcoal, but Wang Shuang had always been good-looking. Over the past couple of years, influenced by Korean dramas, pretty-boy types like him were all the rage.
Good looks plus the gift of the gab: his e-commerce venture had crashed, but on the roadside he was thriving. In the process, this straight bloke had actually picked up a fair bit of fashion knowledge.
When the sun was too fierce to sell, Wang Shuang experimented with outfits back at the company.
Tianjiao was, after all, a proper film-and-TV company—resources galore.
Hang Xiaowen thought she was the professional, but everything she knew came straight from textbooks and hadn’t been tested in the real world.
Any random stylist Tianjiao pulled out—not even the drama costume specialists, just Kiki the make-up artist—had far more than one skill. Hair, make-up, and clothing were all part of the same package!
Tianjiao had talent, professional equipment, and studio space. When Wang Shuang wasn’t selling, he bummed equipment and locations off the company.
He photographed his carefully styled outfits with pro gear and uploaded them to his blog.
This was 2007—the prehistoric era of influencers.
Even the few similar bloggers were mostly sharing outfits for fun. None had resources like Wang Shuang.
The photos his blog posted might not stun with styling genius, but the image quality was top-tier: professional gear, proper studio, and actual experts teaching him lighting.
After half a month of consistent updates, Wang Shuang’s blog already had a small following.
It was nothing compared to Wen Ying’s blog, but he had built it from zero, so he was buzzing with excitement. On the phone he outlined his next steps to Wen Ying.
“Once I shift this stock I’ll have a bit of cash. I’m planning to buy some promotion.”
This time it wouldn’t be e-commerce ads, but blog promotion.
Once his fashion blog had followers, money would follow.
Wen Ying listened to him lay it all out so confidently; her anger at Li the Idiot subsided a little. “You’re doing great. When you finish up and get back to the office we’ll have a proper chat.”
Wang Shuang swiftly changed tack. “My stuff can wait anytime. Wen Ying, go easy on her, yeah? She’s just a big kid who loves messing about. I kept a really close eye on her—she definitely won’t be recognised!”
There it was. After all that talk, he was still angling for leniency for Li Mengjiao.
Wen Ying’s tone turned icy again. “Worry about your own business. Thank goodness Auntie Dong isn’t in Shanghai yet. If she knew you were enabling certain people’s nonsense, you’d be finished!”
She hung up before Wang Shuang could say another word.
Wen Ying’s aura was terrifying. Li Mengjiao shrank back. “I was really careful, no one spotted me!”
Wen Ying ignored the idiot and turned to the assistant. “How long have you worked at Tianjiao?”
“A year and a half.”
“Happy with your salary?”
The assistant nodded hard. “Very happy.”
Wen Ying continued, “After leaving Tianjiao, do you think it would be easy to find another job with the same pay?”
The assistant was nearly in tears.
“…N-no, not easy.”
Li Mengjiao’s pupils contracted in shock.
Just because the assistant had come with her to watch Wang Shuang sell clothes, was Wen Ying going to fire her?
Wen Ying had always been the most tolerant and easy-going person—how had she suddenly turned so ruthless? Wen Ying couldn’t possibly be wrong, so Li Mengjiao could only blame herself. She raised both hands in surrender. “I was wrong, I really was wrong! Stop scaring Xiao Mei!”
Wen Ying grew stern. “You think I’m using Xiao Mei to threaten you? Wrong again. Everything I said is fact. If anything happened to you out there, Xiao Mei wouldn’t just lose this job—she’d never get another similar one. No celebrity would hire an assistant like that!”
Yes, as an assistant Xiao Mei had to obey Li Mengjiao.
But her bigger duty was to consider Li Mengjiao’s safety!
Li Mengjiao was young and playful; Xiao Mei was already a working adult. She couldn’t indulge Li Mengjiao’s recklessness without limits!
Xiao Mei bowed her head in shame, unable to meet Wen Ying’s eyes.
Li Mengjiao tried to speak up for her, but was terrified of angering Wen Ying further and actually getting Xiao Mei sacked. This was Li Mengjiao’s natural talent: she instinctively sensed that today’s Wen Ying was particularly hard to deal with. She didn’t know why, but staying quiet and obedient couldn’t hurt.
Even when Li Mengjiao behaved, Wen Ying didn’t let her off and still tore into her.
“Wang Shuang is busy with his business. Whether he lost money starting up or not, he’s trying to fix it. That’s his responsibility. You don’t have to help him, but coming to laugh at him—what’s that about? Of course, one’s willing to suffer and the other’s willing to watch. It’s none of my business. But Wang Shuang has his responsibility. Where’s yours?”
In the nanny van were Wen Ying, the assistant Xiao Mei, the driver, and a bodyguard.
If it were just the two of them, Wen Ying could scold Li Mengjiao all she liked and Li Mengjiao would only pout and wheedle.
Being scolded so harshly in front of others, Li Mengjiao’s eyes filled with tears.
Wen Ying saw her on the verge of crying, hardened her heart, and turned to look out the window.
The van pulled up at Tianjiao’s Shanghai office building.
Wen Ying strode ahead. Li Mengjiao trailed behind like a scolded little wife.
Wen Ying shut the office door. Now it was just the two of them. Li Mengjiao instantly burst into tears. “…Did you take the wrong meds today? Why are you being so mean to me!”
Wen Ying remained ice-cold. “Right now don’t treat me as your friend. Treat me as a Tianjiao shareholder, as Auntie Dong’s temporary replacement. I said you have no sense of responsibility—are you feeling terribly wronged?”
Li Mengjiao sniffled and nodded. “I just wanted to have fun. I didn’t delay any work!”
The only recent job she could think of was the endorsement interview.
Wen Ying showed no mercy. “You think whether the endorsement lands is the company’s problem, Teacher Yuan’s and Auntie Dong’s problem, nothing to do with you?”
That was exactly what Li Mengjiao thought, but she didn’t dare say it. Unfortunately her face gave her away.
Wen Ying raised her voice. “Nothing to do with you? Didn’t all of us set up Tianjiao for your sake? Take this endorsement—Teacher Yuan and Auntie Dong will negotiate, but you should put in some effort yourself… If I were you, instead of wasting time laughing at Wang Shuang, I’d go to the mall, buy things from the brand, and tip off a familiar reporter to snap some candid photos. At least show you genuinely love the brand!”
Li Mengjiao was stunned speechless.
Was this person in front of her still Wen Ying?
She had definitely been possessed by Teacher Yuan!
