After she started working, aside from the endless English reports, the non-stop ringing of the telephone, and the bottomless pit of financial statements, Que Tang practically buried herself in her computer, feigning death. She did this to ensure the mission's success—just as she had in previous worlds—and to stay far away from the "Male" Lead so as not to compete for a woman with her top boss. She remained as low-profile and transparent as possible, treating herself like a plant that did nothing but breathe.
However, the second-generation rich of the world were all the same: "cool" (read: edgy and delusional). The more she treated him with cold indifference, the more his interest was piqued.
Within just a few days, the "Male" Lead—who had previously looked down on her as if she were the most wretched woman on earth—began to fall under the influence of the Female Lead Halo. For no apparent reason, he started approaching her. Even with the secretary right beside her, the "Male" Lead made no effort to hide his one-sided flirting.
He would always stand before her, his hair slicked back with more pomade than actual hair, one hand propped against her desk. With a sharp, chiseled jawline and handsome features like a deity's, he wore a cologne designed to trigger female hormones. He would strike up a conversation with an air of arrogance, as if Que Tang were blessed by eight lifetimes of good fortune just to have him speak to her. Occasionally, he would pretend the air was stifling, unbuttoning his shirt and tugging at his collar to "accidentally" reveal a slender (flat-chested) frame comparable to a male model's.
Strangely enough, the female supporting lead—who, in the original story, was a possessive, controlling obsessive who would eventually drag the protagonists down to their deaths—showed an unexpected lack of reaction when she occasionally encountered these scenes. One could write off the first time as a surprise, but after the second and third occurrences, the female lead continued to act as if she saw nothing. This made Que Tang a bit suspicious.
Finding it hard to stomach and increasingly nauseating, Que Tang felt compelled to maintain a stoic, paralyzed expression. She didn't want to face off against the "smile-hiding-a-dagger" female lead before she understood the situation, and she needed to avoid any suspicion of impropriety. She even started applying her makeup in an increasingly exaggerated fashion to signal her unwavering loyalty to the great General Manager Lan.
However, remembering Little Mushroom's comment about the "Male" Lead being a habitual cheater, and considering her current role and appearance, she figured perhaps the female lead simply didn't consider her a threat at all.
This allowed her to relax slightly.
"Moqi, is there nothing for you to do at your own company lately?" Lan Mi asked as she came out to give the new assistant instructions. Seeing her girlfriend in the office again, even her usually calm and placid demeanor couldn't help but ripple with a frown. Her form of address had even become distant.
Unless they had a pre-arranged date for a meal or an outing, Moqi Aotian never took the initiative to visit her at the office. Firstly, it was a public space, and Lan Mi disliked such intrusions due to her reserved nature. Secondly, Moqi Aotian didn't like appearing at her company because Lan Mi would always remind her about work. As an arrogant second-generation socialite, she couldn't stand others interfering in her life, so she wouldn't come of her own accord.
Yet, she had appeared at Lan Mi's company for several days in a row without an appointment. This led Lan Mi to suspect whether Moqi Aotian had set her sights on her assistant.
Que Tang, who felt herself "breaking character" every time she heard that name, couldn't help but roll her eyes while pretending to take notes. She truly didn't understand why the author chose a surname she didn't even know how to pronounce. Did every "Rich-Beautiful-Elite" or "Tall-Rich-Handsome" character have to have a compound surname? It was one thing for names like Dongfang, Ximen, Nangong, and Beitang to gather for a game of mahjong, but where did "Moqi" come from? Aside from adding an extra character to the word count, she really couldn't see how it was supposed to be "high-class."
"Does everything require my personal presence to be handled? I don't employ so many people just to watch them slack off like fish in a decorative tank," Moqi replied impatiently. If it weren't for the sake of reeling in this ugly duckling of an assistant, she wouldn't have bothered coming to this woman's company.
Although they were an out-and-proud couple, to Moqi, Lan Mi was merely the one she hadn't grown tired of yet among her many lovers. But she was also the most boring one.
However, she had found this ugly assistant quite interesting. The girl actually ignored her consistently; even when Moqi deliberately showed off her trained "six-pack," it didn't pique the girl's interest in the slightest. One should know that her other girlfriends absolutely loved it when she gave them princess carries.
The habitual smile on Lan Mi's lips flattened completely, leaving no trace of warmth. She looked at Moqi with a frigid gaze. "Then please show me some respect. This is my place of work, not a place for you to go into heat. Please also respect my employees' desire to work seriously and do not disturb them at will." She emphasized the word "them" with particular weight.
The wicked, charming smirk on Moqi Aotian's face froze instantly. This was the first time Lan Mi had ever embarrassed her so directly in public. In the past, even if they had disputes, they were always in private. And usually, after a fight, everything would be resolved as soon as she took Lan Mi to bed. But this time, Lan Mi had left her no room at all, slapping her face metaphorically in front of everyone.
"What do you mean? 'Go into heat'?" Her expression turned hideous, her face filled with a malevolent aura. It seemed that if the other party dared to agree, she would make things ugly immediately.
"You know exactly what I mean," Lan Mi said, completely unfazed by the faint threat in Moqi Aotian's tone. "I will only say this once. Now, please leave my company immediately."
"Say that again?" Moqi Aotian demanded loudly, unable to believe Lan Mi would treat her this way.
"I said, please, leave, my, company, immediately! Is that clear enough?" Lan Mi repeated, her enunciation perfect and her tone sharp. Her unyielding aura suggested a confrontation was imminent.
Moqi Aotian suddenly raised her right hand, but forced herself to stop halfway. "Fine. You're good. You said you don't want me treating this like a place to go into heat and you don't want me disturbing your employees, right?" She suddenly strode over to Que Tang, grabbed her, and yanked her up from her seat. "She's taking leave now. I'm taking her outside to 'go into heat'!" With that, she forcefully dragged Que Tang away.
Que Tang, who had been watching the drama with a deadpan face, suddenly found herself caught in the crossfire. She had no time to react before being dragged away by force. She could only watch as Lan Mi's figure grew more distant until the elevator doors closed and she could see her no more.
She immediately shook off the "Male" Lead's hand and hid in the furthest corner of the elevator. "M-Master Moqi, please let me go back to work," Que Tang protested in a small voice.
Moqi suddenly stepped close to her and slammed a fist against the elevator wall beside her. "What work? Didn't you hear what I said? I'm taking you out to go! Into! Heat!" Her face was flushed with rage. No one had ever treated her like this since she was a child; even her parents couldn't bear to scold her. Who did Lan Mi think she was?
"Meow. The 'Male' Lead's favorability toward the female lead has increased by ten. It is now sixty."
"...Wait, they just had a huge fight. How did the favorability go up?" Que Tang felt that life was truly difficult. She could no longer understand the human thought process.
"Because the 'Male' Lead likes being treated that way, meow! Her life has been too smooth; no one has ever resisted her or scolded her. Even the female lead usually goes along with her, which resulted in her 'I am the center of the universe' ego and her inability to trust anyone. she believes everyone approaches her with an ulterior motive and doesn't truly like her. So, after the female lead gave her a piece of her mind, she's angry, but her favorability went up instead. Meow!" Little Mushroom analyzed logically.
"Such a complex emotional shift, such a serious situational analysis... but it all boils down to two words: total masochist..." Que Tang was speechless. She looked at the "Male" Lead before her, who didn't forget to strike a pose even while angry, and could only lower her head to hide her laughter.
"It's basically the same thing. As long as you understand, meow~"
"So the strategy to help the female lead in this world is to turn her into a total sadist... I have a dangerous premonition that this is a double-edged sword..."
"In any case, please do your best, Host. Work hard and live a happy (and shameless) life with the female lead, meow~"
Que Tang chose to be selectively deaf.
"M-Master Moqi... please let me go back to work..." Que Tang said with a slight, trembling sob in her voice.
Moqi Aotian found the sound of her crying irritating. "Stop crying!" She suddenly thought of Lan Mi's dignified and graceful manner. Lan Mi had been able to stay by her side for so long because she was sensible. Even when Moqi cheated repeatedly and Lan Mi argued with her in grief, she would always return to her side obediently in the end.
Thinking this, she found this ugly woman more and more eyesore. Recalling that she had actually found her interesting earlier made her feel like she had been blind. Once the elevator reached the basement, she punched the elevator wall heavily again and walked out on her own, completely ignoring Que Tang.
"Meow~ The 'Male' Lead's favorability toward the female lead has increased by five. It is now sixty-five."
"Screw you. This 'Male' Lead is even more annoying than Ouyang Aotian." After confirming that Moqi Aotian had walked far away, Que Tang's expression shifted instantly. She irritably pressed the button for the General Manager's floor.
"By the way, has the Host been paid yet? I heard they just released a new flavor of Thai Spicy and Sour Dried Fish, meow meow meow~" Little Mushroom said excitedly.
"Little Mushroom, you know, there's something I've been meaning to tell you, but I couldn't bear to hide it from you any longer..." Que Tang ignored the question and spoke with a heavy tone.
"Meow?"
"Do you know that you're... so fat your belly drags on the ground? I don't even need to mop the floor anymore; I just let you run around on it." Que Tang spoke as if the words were incredibly difficult to say.
"..." This conversation ended with Little Mushroom's silence.
Que Tang returned to the floor where the General Manager's office was located. As soon as she stepped out of the elevator, she ran into the nervous-looking secretary, who looked at her with pleasant surprise. "Que Tang, thank goodness you're back. The General Manager was so angry she locked herself in her office."
"Locked herself in?" Que Tang tilted her head with innocent confusion.
"Generally speaking, the General Manager never closes her office door during working hours. This is so employees can enter and report at any time. But there are two situations where she closes the door: one is when she's in a very bad mood, and the other is when Master Moqi is here..."
Que Tang nodded in understanding.
"After Master Moqi dragged you away earlier, the General Manager closed the door. It's a good thing you didn't actually leave with Master Moqi, or you probably wouldn't have to come to work tomorrow."
Que Tang immediately grabbed the secretary's hand in a panic. "Then... will I... will I really not have to come to work tomorrow?"
Seeing her anxious look, the secretary patted her hand to soothe her. "It's fine. The General Manager is a very good person. As long as you came back, it's okay."
Que Tang sheepishly let go and nodded her thanks repeatedly before returning to her seat to continue working.
After Lan Mi's door closed, it didn't open again until the end of the workday.
Because Que Tang still had a lot of work to familiarize herself with, she bid farewell to the secretary—who left first—and stayed behind to study the successful sales figures of the company's previous quarter's construction projects to compare them with the financial reports. While biting into a bun, she keyed in a few numbers and suddenly noticed something strange.
Just as she gripped the mouse to enlarge the page, someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"Ah—!" Que Tang screamed, falling back onto the carpet in fright, her glasses accidentally knocked off.
Lan Mi's hand remained at its original height as she looked at her assistant's overreaction in shock.
"G-General Manager..." Que Tang looked up with her nearsighted eyes. Although her vision was blurry, she recognized who it was based on the clothing, figure, and the fact that there was only one other person in the office.
Lan Mi withdrew her hand, leaned over to pick up the glasses, and helped her up. "Are you alright?" She inadvertently met Que Tang's eyes, which were no longer obscured by glasses, and was momentarily stunned by those pure, flawless orbs.
Having been immersed in this complex society for so long, how long had it been since she had seen eyes so transparent?
"Ah, n-no, I'm fine. It was just my own clumsiness. Thank you, General Manager." Que Tang took the glasses, put them on immediately, took a step back, and bowed twice in succession.
Lan Mi snapped out of it. Seeing that she seemed truly fine, she didn't ask further. She glanced at the flickering page on Que Tang's screen and the documents on the desk. "Wasn't your goal to get off work on time? It's already eight o'clock, and you're still working. Is the workload too heavy?"
"N-no, I just wanted to get familiar with things as quickly as possible while the secretary is still here. I thought if I ran into something I didn't understand, I could ask her tomorrow," Que Tang said in a low voice, looking down.
"I see." The smile on Lan Mi's face seemed to return. "Keep up the hard work. If your performance this month is good, I'll have the HR manager give you a raise next month."
"Th-thank you, General Manager," Que Tang thanked her in trepidation.
"Alright, finish up quickly and go home. I'm leaving now."
Only then did Que Tang notice the handbag in Lan Mi's hand. "Okay. Goodbye, General Manager."
Lan Mi nodded and turned to leave, but suddenly turned back. "Moqi's rude behavior toward you this afternoon... I apologize on her behalf. Don't take it to heart."
Que Tang looked up nervously, and after confirming that Lan Mi was truly apologizing, she looked down and shook her head. "It's nothing. Please don't worry, General Manager."
Lan Mi watched the back of her head, her lips twitching slightly, then turned toward the elevator. "Then I'm off. See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow."
Only after Lan Mi had truly left did Que Tang finally relax. She immediately took out the makeup removal kit from her drawer, rushed to the restroom to wash her face, applied some lotion, and then returned to the fray.
She clicked on the numbers she had found strange earlier. After cross-referencing them with numerous reports on house deliveries and commission amounts, her brow furrowed.
Just as she was about to perform a detailed cross-comparison of these figures, her shoulder was tapped again.
This time, Que Tang was truly terrified. She crouched down and let out a loud scream.
The office was empty; where did that hand come from? She had just finished watching *Annabelle* yesterday and was still in a state of lingering fear.
"It's me," Lan Mi's voice sounded.
"G-General Manager...?" Que Tang slowly moved her hands away from her face and turned toward the source of the voice. Lan Mi was indeed standing there. Only then did she stand up in relief, saying in a small, tearful voice, "General Manager, is there something else...?"
Seeing her like that, Lan Mi couldn't help but laugh. "I just thought it wouldn't be right for me to leave while my own assistant is still working overtime. So I came back specifically to take you to dinner. However..." She looked at the makeup-free Que Tang in surprise. "Que Tang, you really aren't suited for heavy makeup..." Such a clean, delicate face, yet she insisted on piling on so many layers of cosmetics.
Looking into Que Tang's eyes again, Lan Mi was once more momentarily dazed.
"N-no need, General Manager. I'm just about finished anyway," Que Tang shook her head in panic, refusing.
"Hmm? This is an order," Lan Mi threatened with her authority as a superior.
Que Tang had no choice but to nod helplessly. She returned to her desk to pack her things and left with Lan Mi.
Sitting in Lan Mi's car, she felt that the direction of the story seemed a bit different from what was initially described. Something felt off. This question troubled her until she finished dinner with the female lead and was dropped off at home. Deciding she was probably overthinking it, she washed up and went to sleep.
"Ah, I forgot to tell the Host that the female lead's favorability toward her increased by twenty. It's now negative forty. But it probably doesn't matter, meow~" In the living room, Little Mushroom—who was currently eating the new Thai Spicy and Sour Dried Fish Que Tang had brought back—suddenly let out a thought-filled meow. However, it quickly went back to irresponsibly devouring the dried fish.
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 万俟傲天 | Moqi Aotian | The "Male" Lead. Moqi (Mòqí) is a rare compound surname. |
| 小白文 | Simple novel / Clichéd script | Literally "Little White Text," referring to web novels with simple, often clichéd plots. |
| 中二 | Edgy / Delusional | Derived from "Chuunibyou," referring to juvenile or grandiose behavior. |
| 抖M | Masochist | Slang for someone with strong masochistic tendencies. |
| 抖S | Sadist | Slang for someone with strong sadistic tendencies. |
| 欧阳傲天 | Ouyang Aotian | A reference to a stereotypical "overbearing CEO" name from another story. |
| 安娜贝尔 | Annabelle | Reference to the horror movie doll. |
