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“Zhou… Miss Zhou’s gift?”
Ming Zhao narrowed her beautiful eyes and asked each word slowly.
Manager Chen sensed something was off, but there was no time to investigate further. Hesitantly, he replied, “Yes… yes, I’m truly sorry. Would it be possible for you to wait another two months?”
Ming Zhao took a deep breath.
Wait? When did she ever have to wait to buy something?
She really wanted to kill Zhou Tingyun.
Ming Zhao opened her bag and began rummaging through it, the sound of her lipstick, headphones, and small mirror clattering loudly. Finally, just before her patience ran out, she found the black card.
She took out the card, gritted her teeth, but maintained a smile as she handed it to Fiona.
“Go ahead and swipe. Swipe until you can become the store manager.”
Fiona looked panicked. “Miss Ming…”
“And you,” she turned to Manager Chen, “Take your bag and leave. I don’t want to see you right now.”
…
In the system’s backend, Manager Chen’s face instantly changed upon seeing the name of the primary cardholder.
Though he wasn’t unfamiliar with the Ming family in the capital, he never expected that this young lady had already returned to the country.
Having just taken up his position, he had already found himself in such a mess. A bitter taste filled his mouth, and sweat poured down his face. But still, he still held onto a sliver of hope.
What if no matter how spoiled she was, she was still an outsider? In those noble families… they should know what matters most.
Meanwhile, a stream of transaction records kept popping up, causing Fiona’s hands to tremble.
[Your card ending in 1234’s supplementary card made a payment of 1,532,900 yuan on October 25th, 15:13.]
[Your card ending in 1234’s supplementary card made a payment of 5,736,000 yuan on October 25th, 15:14.]
[Your card ending in 1234’s supplementary card made a payment of 2,579,000 yuan on October 25th, 15:15.]
On the right-hand side, the phone screen continued to light up.
Zhou Tingyun glanced at the flood of deduction notifications, then casually looked away.
The atmosphere in the meeting was serious and quiet. Aside from the department reports, all that could be heard was the rustling of pens on paper.
At that moment, an abrupt vibration interrupted the manager’s speech.
Such small disruptions didn’t attract much attention. The speaker paused, holding the documents and quietly waiting for the superior to silence his phone.
Seeing the man raise his hand, the speaker lowered his gaze and glanced at the next line, just about to continue the report.
But then they heard—
“Sorry, everyone. The meeting is paused. Please take a few minutes to rest.”
The senior executives present were momentarily stunned. On the surface, they remained calm, but inwardly, they all began speculating about what urgent matter could have caused the interruption.
Zhou Tingyun picked up his phone, and in the only pinned chat that hadn’t been set to “Do Not Disturb,” the red dot notification number rapidly increased.
He clicked into it.
[Zhou Tingyun, you bastard!!!!!!]
[I’m going to kill you.jpg]
[I’m going to kill you.jpg]
[I hate you!!! Liar! Traitor!]
[You’d better move your luggage out today! You are not welcome in my house!]
Zhou Tingyun frowned, started typing a response, but the message failed to send.
Without hesitation, he immediately dialed the number.
The meeting room was even quieter than before, the serious expression on the superior’s face caused everyone’s hearts to tense up.
…
Inside the VLC room.
The ringtone rang once, and Ming Zhao hung up each time.
Lin Zhiwei picked up a small piece of cake and fed it into her mouth, finding it too sweet, so she drank some tea to wash it down.
Ming Zhao, frustrated, glared at her.
“Lin Zhiwei, why aren’t you reacting at all?”
Confused, Lin Zhiwei raised an eyebrow. “What kind of reaction do you want me to have?”
“He actually bought a gift for someone else!” Ming Zhao was both angry and aggrieved. “Didn’t you hear that person say, ‘It’s a gift from Young Master Zhou to Miss Zhou~’?”
“What about me? Am I just some pawn of their little play?”
Lin Zhiwei shrugged, not at all convinced that Zhou Tingyun would do something like that. Not to mention how busy he was—serving her alone was probably enough of a task in his life.
But to prevent Ming Zhao from crying into her handkerchief, she decided to say something.
“Wow, he really is being too far.”
“…..”
Ming Zhao stared at her in silence, not saying a word.
Lin Zhiwei quietly shifted her gaze, focusing on her phone screen. “Well, how about you let him… uh, I mean, let him explain himself?”
Ming Zhao reluctantly agreed to the suggestion.
It wasn’t until the sixth ring that she finally answered the call.
“Zhao Zhao?”
The steady and gentle voice was as calm as ever. “What happened?”
Ming Zhao pressed her lips together, initially planning to explode the moment she heard even a hint of impatience in his tone.
But before her anger could fully ignite, it was swiftly doused. She paused for a moment and then regained her composure.
“Zhou Tingyun, how could you secretly be keeping another woman behind my back?”
Lin Zhiwei nearly choked on her tea.
Wait, the way she phrased that…
But then again, when you think about it, ‘behind my back,’ ‘outside,’ and ‘another woman’ weren’t entirely wrong.
The beauty of the Chinese language—it’s truly profound.
There was a brief pause on Zhou Tingyun’s end before he responded, “Who am I keeping?”
The people in the meeting room watched as their superior suddenly stood up and left, their hearts sinking. The atmosphere didn’t lighten with his departure; it only became more tense.
“Who else could it be?” Ming Zhao mockingly imitated. “Manager Chen even said it—this is a gift from Young Master Zhou to his sister, Miss Zhou~”
Zhou Tingyun was momentarily confused by her words and asked, “Did you change your last name?”
“……”
“I’m talking about Zhou Siyu!”
Zhou Siyu?
He furrowed his brows and quickly realized that someone must be using his name to deceive others.
“Why would I give her anything?” The man sighed. “Zhao Zhao, you know I’m not that free.”
She was just the second house’s daughter, a trivial cousin—why would she deserve all that attention?
Ming Zhao was stunned. “You won’t give it to her? The foggy blue Birkin? Don’t lie to me! If you lie, I’ll really get mad.”
Her anger flared up quickly but faded just as fast. Her voice softened, turned sweet and coquettish.
“……”
There was a brief silence on the other end before he suddenly chuckled.
His deep voice held a magnetic quality, with its subtle graininess brushing against her ears, faintly lingering with a touch of intimacy.
For some reason, the tips of Ming Zhao’s ears burned, and she couldn’t help but feel a mix of both embarrassment and anger.
“What are you laughing at?”
“I’m not laughing, Zhao Zhao,” Zhou Tingyun smoothly lied. Then, he asked if she had cooled down by swiping the card and where she was shopping.
“I don’t need you to worry about that.” She hung up the phone without hesitation.
When she looked up, her eyes met Lin Zhiwei’s knowing gaze, sending a chill down her spine. She crossed her arms, shivering as goosebumps rose on her skin.
“What’s with you? What kind of look is that?”
It was a bit unsettling.
“I suggest you take a look in the mirror,” Lin Zhiwei said, her tone laced with meaning.
Confused, Ming Zhao pulled out her small mirror and checked her face from left to right. “What’s wrong?”
Her lipstick hadn’t smudged. She looked at her lips closely—they were still perfect.
Lin Zhiwei spoke slowly, “You were just on the phone with your brother… so why’s your face red?”
What do you mean my face was red?
Ming Zhao froze for a moment, her gaze falling back on her reflection in the mirror.
“……”
The vibrant color was quite noticeable.
It stretched from her earlobe to her cheek.
With a snap, she closed the mirror.
“It’s just that the heating is too high in here,” Ming Zhao calmly explained.