The next day, Que Tang sat at her desk feeling listless, her head throbbing as if it were about to split. She had spent the entire night trapped in an unspeakable nightmare and hadn't slept a wink. Even her heavy makeup couldn't fully mask the dark circles under her eyes. She felt like she was one step away from swallowing an entire box of EVE painkillers as she organized the files she hadn't finished reviewing the night before.
Catching sight of that suspicious data once again, she leaned over and asked in a low, tentative voice, "Secretary-jie... does the company use a cross-reference of closed units, commission counts, total sales, and bank mortgage collateral for the final audit of construction projects?"
The secretary raised an eyebrow and looked at her with a hint of confusion. "That’s correct. However, the Sales Department organizes that data before sending it up to us. You only need to verify that the numbers match. Is there a problem? If there are errors or omissions, just send it back to the Sales Department. You don't need to modify it yourself."
"I understand. Thank you, Secretary-jie," Que Tang replied with a shy nod. She lowered her eyes, circled the problematic figures and amounts, set them aside, and proceeded with the other reports.
The moment Lan Mi stepped into the office, the first thing she saw was her new little assistant’s face. The heavy makeup was so disastrous it looked like a casualty of a world war; even Zhong Kui would have averted his eyes. Lan Mi couldn't help but let out a helpless, slightly exasperated laugh. After passing the desks and wishing them a good morning, she turned to her assistant. "Que Tang, come to my office once you're finished with those files."
Que Tang nodded, her face a mask of uncertainty.
Lan Mi had barely sat down when a knock sounded at the door. She looked back to see Que Tang already standing there, her palms nervously clutching the hem of her shirt. Lan Mi gave her a gentle, reassuring smile. "Close the door. No need to be nervous."
However, the instruction to "close the door" only made Que Tang more anxious. One of the two scenarios the secretary had mentioned wasn't happening, and as for the other... she stole a quick glance at the General Manager. She couldn't detect any sign of displeasure. Left with no choice, she sheepishly closed the door and walked stiffly to the desk. "General Manager, do you have instructions for me?"
Lan Mi didn't answer. Instead, she turned and rummaged through her handbag for a makeup pouch. She stood up, walked over to Que Tang, and pressed her down into the office chair. Dragging another chair over to sit opposite her, Lan Mi pulled out a makeup remover pad. A flicker of mischief danced in her eyes as she looked at her flustered assistant. "Que Tang, take off your glasses."
"Huh? Take... take them off?" Que Tang stammered. Her sleep-deprived brain was currently offline, making it impossible to analyze the situation. Instead, she slipped entirely back into the original personality of the "heroine."
Lan Mi’s lips curled into a smile that differed from her usual gentle expression. She reached out proactively and removed Que Tang’s glasses. Suddenly, she leaned in close. Her hand was quick, catching the assistant before she could reflexively recoil, holding her in place. She examined the skin of Que Tang's face closely. "Tsk, tsk. I wouldn't have thought your skin could stay this good when you pile on this much makeup every day."
"G-Gen... General Manager, what... what are you doing?" Que Tang was genuinely terrified now, the deep, dark shadows of her previous mission looming in her mind.
"Me? What am I doing?" Lan Mi gave an ambiguous smile and blew a soft breath against her face.
She was starting to understand why Wanqi Aotian enjoyed teasing girls so much; Que Tang’s reaction was truly entertaining.
Que Tang immediately wrenched herself free from Lan Mi’s grasp and kicked her chair back a step. There were too many precedents for this kind of behavior, making her suspect she had picked up the wrong script yet again.
"Meow. The female lead's favorability toward the heroine has increased by ten. Current favorability: negative thirty."
"Negative... thirty?" Que Tang was stunned. "Wasn't this supposed to be a simple 'silly sweet' story where I just had to get the male lead and the female lead to date properly? And isn't this female lead supposed to be gentle, generous, beautiful, and high in both IQ and EQ? Why is it still negative thirty after an increase? Wait, what was the starting value?"
"Meow~ the starting value was negative sixty!" Little Mushroom replied in a "moe" tone.
"Moe your sister! Don't act cute with me! Is a starting value of negative sixty appropriate for an assistant she just met? Tell me the truth—did you get the script wrong again!?"
"Uh... let me flip through the mission guide. Please wait a moment, Host. I'll be right back. Meow~"
While she waited, Lan Mi seemed to be enjoying herself, pulling her chair closer to Que Tang. For every step Que Tang retreated, Lan Mi advanced, until Que Tang was backed against the wall with nowhere left to run. She could only watch helplessly as Lan Mi approached with a smile. "Stop hiding. I'm just going to teach you how to do your makeup."
In an instant, the complaints in Que Tang’s mind scrolled past like the top-rated comments on a Bilibili video, moving so fast they obscured the picture. *Does teaching someone makeup require all this?* Her face remained stiff, her features twitching unnaturally. "M-Makeup?"
Lan Mi stared at her for three seconds before finally losing her composure and laughing out loud. "Yes, makeup. What were you thinking?"
"..." Que Tang was speechless.
The two returned to the desk, and Lan Mi told Que Tang to close her eyes. It took about five portable makeup remover pads to completely strip the heavy layers from her face. Lan Mi frowned slightly. "Que Tang, you're still young, and your skin is very delicate. Wearing such thick makeup puts too much strain on it. Besides, your features are more defined than most girls'; you don't need to overdo it."
"Is... is that so..." Que Tang opened her eyes and looked directly at Lan Mi.
Lan Mi hadn't expected her to open her eyes so suddenly. She was momentarily dazed by the brilliance of that gaze. Lan Mi stared blankly at those pure, flawless eyes—eyes like that had long since vanished from her own reflection.
But why was she only noticing now how bright her assistant's eyes were? If she had noticed sooner, she wouldn't have placed her right in front of Wanqi Aotian. It was no wonder Que Tang had caught Wanqi's interest.
"General Manager?" Que Tang called out, puzzled.
"Oh, right. Yes," Lan Mi replied flusteredly as she snapped back to reality. "Let me teach you how to apply it."
She took out a brow razor and carefully shaped Que Tang’s eyebrows. After patting on some hydrating liquid foundation, she pulled out several lip glosses. "This color is too bold... this one is too dark. Let's go with honey-orange." She squeezed out a bit of gloss onto her finger and, without hesitation, applied it directly to Que Tang’s lips.
"..." Que Tang felt her face burning. Having someone stare so intently at her lips was beyond embarrassing.
Lan Mi, however, seemed oblivious. She focused on smoothing the gloss out before wiping her finger with a tissue. She looked at Que Tang’s lips with satisfaction. They really did look like honey-oranges, making one want to take a bite.
"G-General Manager, is that enough?" Que Tang felt that things were going very, very wrong.
"Just a moment longer. I haven't done your eye makeup yet." As she spoke, she pulled out a liquid eyeliner. "Don't move."
"Host! I found it! The mission script really was wrong, meow!" Little Mushroom’s voice rang out cheerfully.
"Wrong your head!" Que Tang was fuming. "I knew I couldn't trust you! If you show your face, I promise I won't beat you to death! I'll let Ruan Mianmian pluck your whiskers first, then sentence you to three hundred and sixty degrees in a tumble dryer! Hurry up and tell me, what is the script this time?"
"This script is actually 'Rebirth of the Malicious Supporting Female Lead.' After the supporting female lead died in her previous life, she was reborn back to the time when the heroine first appeared. Now she wants revenge on both the heroine and the male lead. Meow~"
"No wonder the initial favorability was so low! And it's another rebirth-revenge story? Just how much do you love rebirth stories? Tell me! Tell me!" Que Tang was sinking into a hysterical breakdown, but then she froze in shock. "Wait, doesn't that mean I've walked straight into the tiger's den? You brat, Little Mushroom, just wait until I get back—I'm definitely killing you."
"Meow~"
After Lan Mi finished the eye makeup, she looked at Que Tang—who looked like a completely different person—and her mood suddenly became quite bright. Just as she was about to say something, a commotion broke out outside, and the office door was flung open.
"Lan Mi." Wanqi Aotian stood at the door. Her affectionate gaze had just landed on its target when her face instantly dropped, twisting into anger. "What are you two doing?" She saw Lan Mi standing extremely close to a girl, and Lan Mi hadn't even had time to hide the smile on her face. She pointed an accusing finger.
Lan Mi’s smile vanished. "What we do has nothing to do with you."
"Nothing to do with me? You are my woman!" Wanqi Aotian’s hair, held stiff by wax, seemed to stand on end with her rage. She strode over, grabbed Lan Mi, pulled her into a tight embrace, and moved to kiss her.
"Ahem, General Manager, I'll head out first." Que Tang, who had been ignored, spoke up softly and immediately slipped out of the office, closing the door behind her.
As soon as the door shut, she heard Little Mushroom’s notification: "Meow~ The male lead's favorability toward the supporting female lead has increased by fifteen. Current favorability: eighty."
"...Even though you got the script wrong, this actually looks like a simple mission. The favorability is being maxed out so fast. The mission should be over soon. It seems my chastity isn't in any danger this time," Que Tang remarked with feeling.
"Hehe, is that so? Meow~"
"Wait, what was that 'hehe' for?"
"Host misheard me, meow~"
"No, you definitely said 'hehe'."
"I didn't. Host definitely misheard, meow~"
"Don't give me that!" But Little Mushroom played dead and stopped responding. Que Tang frowned, sensing that things were not as simple as she thought.
She had definitely been screwed over by that trash cat again!
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
--- | --- | ---
EVE | EVE | A popular brand of Japanese painkiller (ibuprofen-based).
钟馗 | Zhong Kui | A deity in Chinese mythology known as the vanquisher of ghosts and evil beings, traditionally depicted as having a very fierce and ugly appearance.
B站 | Bilibili / B-site | A prominent Chinese video-sharing website themed around animation, comics, and games, famous for its "bullet-chat" (danmu) system.
傻白甜 | Silly Sweet | A character trope (Silly, White/Fair, and Sweet) referring to a naive, innocent, and kind-hearted protagonist.
小白文 | Silly Sweet Story | A light, simple, and often cliché web novel with a straightforward plot and happy themes.
重生之恶毒女配 | Rebirth of the Malicious Supporting Female Lead | A popular web novel sub-genre where a villainess is reborn to change her fate or seek revenge.
羊入虎口 | Sheep into the tiger's mouth | A Chinese idiom meaning to walk into a trap or put oneself in a position of extreme danger.
发蜡 | Hair wax | Styling product; used here to emphasize the male lead's overly groomed/narcissistic appearance.
贞操 | Chastity | Used humorously by the protagonist regarding her safety in the romance plot.
