"Sigh."
Young Master Fei of the Fei family let out a soft sigh as he lamented Chen Xiaoxiao's tragic fate.
Although these female leads were all paper-thin characters in a novel world, each of them was portrayed so vividly that they leaped off the page, as if they possessed genuine emotions and life.
Especially Chen Xiaoxiao, whose pitiful appearance truly stirred feelings of compassion in one's heart.
Even though Young Master Fei had long since resolved not to get involved with anyone outside his plotline, he couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion at this moment.
Realizing this gave Young Master Fei a fright.
Fei Yangyao, oh Fei Yangyao, how could you sink so low!
Did you still want to complete your mission and return to the real world?
Carrot... carrot... they're all carrots...
Fortunately, in his previous life, Fei Yangyao had learned a little trick while in a club.
Chanting "carrot" under his breath and picturing the person in front of him as a large radish could smooth away the distracting thoughts in his heart.
It was originally meant for dealing with stage fright, though he'd never actually used it on stage; instead, he frequently resorted to it whenever he felt nervous.
And let's be honest, it was still pretty useful right now.
After muttering to himself for a bit.
The pink skeleton—oh wait, the pink carrot—was no longer able to cause ripples in Young Master Fei's heart.
As for why he didn't feel that way about A Jiu, nonsense—who would feel that way about a little dummy!
After calming down internally, Young Master Fei opened his eyes to find that Chen Xiaoxiao was still waiting for his reply.
"Uh, then I'll take all the red flowers in this shop."
"You're taking all of them?!"
Sensing Chen Xiaoxiao's bounding emotions, Young Master Fei froze slightly.
Right, she had probably been stressing over that debt recently and hadn't noticed it just yet, but now Young Master Fei could sense the stark contrast against her previous weary tone.
That was fine, though; Ye Chen would step in later.
This wasn't something a villain should be worrying about.
"Mhm, I'll take them all. Don't trouble yourself, Boss Lady; my subordinates and I will pack them up, and we'll settle the bill together." Young Master Fei didn't want to overwork her, and more importantly, he needed to keep tabs on things, which made it inconvenient to order her around.
"Never mind what kind of flowers they are! Just load all the red ones into the truck!" Young Master Fei instructed his subordinates to get to work while he directed from the sidelines, seeing as time was tight and the task was heavy.
"Thank you!" Chen Xiaoxiao's words of gratitude were truly sincere.
"You're welcome." Missing the underlying meaning, Young Master Fei tossed a polite reply over his shoulder and continued working.
Just as they were hard at work...
"Hey, what are you guys doing?!"
A shout came from outside the doorway.
He looked up.
Young Master Fei recognized her immediately, solely because the clothes she wore were far too distinctive.
This was Chen Xiaoxiao's best friend, the true eldest daughter of the Lin Family who had been living on the streets: Jiang Anran.
Her eyes were clear and bright, maintaining a childlike innocence while simultaneously possessing a profound depth that seemed to have seen through life. Her hair was tied into a ponytail, and due to malnutrition, the ends had a slightly yellowish tint. Her figure was completely flat-chested. She wore a high school uniform that had been washed to a grayish hue, yet it still couldn't conceal her poised and elegant demeanor.
"What are you lot up to again? Didn't we already agree the day before yesterday that the money would be given in two weeks?"
Money?
Young Master Fei understood the misunderstanding instantly. It seemed Jiang Anran had mistaken the bodyguards outside for thugs, and his group for debt collectors who had come to seize flowers as collateral.
It left Young Master Fei torn between laughter and tears.
"Uncle Fu, go explain. Tell her we're just here to buy flowers; don't let her misunderstand and think we're collecting debts."
If he showed his face and his heart softened at the sight of her cuteness, solving the problem for them would be an absolute disaster.
This was, after all, the first step for Ye Chen to win over Jiang Anran.
"Understood, Young Master."
"Wait!"
Just as Uncle Fu was about to leave, Young Master Fei suddenly realized something.
No, if she saw me today, and I explained things to her so amiably, what if she found out later that I was that notorious Fei Yangyao? That didn't match the persona at all.
It wasn't good for "Fei Yangyao's" reputation as a scoundrel.
Young Master Fei figured that A Jiu didn't defend him because it made no difference either way; she couldn't tell the difference anyway.
He didn't know who possessed the highest IQ in the book, seeing as it wasn't finished yet. But Jiang Anran's IQ was definitely among the top tier in the novel.
Fearing that Chen Xiaoxiao would overhear, he pulled Uncle Fu a bit further away to a spot where ordinary people couldn't hear, and said, "Then wait a moment and fling a few hundred bills right in her face—uh, no, smashing her face up wouldn't be good."
Recalling that Jiang Anran had future plotlines, what would it look like if she went through them with a face beaten red by hundred-yuan banknotes?
"Mhm, just throw them on the ground. Toss a lot of them, and say that Young Master Fei of the Fei family does whatever he wants, and no one else has any right to interfere since I have money to burn, and that cash is just a reward from yours truly!"
"Understood, Young Master!"
Ah, this truly reflected the reputation of Young Master Fei of the Fei family.
Thank goodness, he had almost made a mistake and caused a massive disaster.
This reputation was the first impression he made on people—no, the bad impression he needed to establish even before meeting them—so he had to maintain it properly.
Future plotlines all depended on it.
If he ended up with a good reputation, it would all be ruined! Everything would be finished!
He was simply too clever for this.
Throwing money was a classic villain move in novels, one that could cement his status as a villain.
Moreover, scattering the money so she had to pick it up off the ground would surely humiliate the female lead to the utmost degree.
It avoided excessive contact with Jiang Anran while simultaneously preserving his "reputation."
Hitting two birds with one stone!
He was truly so smart that he couldn't help wanting to give himself a pat on the back!
Right! He needed to strike the right posture and expression.
Thus, Young Master Fei put on the dedicated, smiling expression of a villain, shoved his hands into his pockets, and curled the corners of his lips upward.
Naturally, it wasn't a Nike swoosh smile. Are you kidding? That was Ye Chen's exclusive smiling face, which would get him hit with a lawyer's warning letter.
Glaring at Jiang Anran on the other side of the doorway, he chanted heh heh heh heh~ in his mind.
On the other side.
Having listened to the young master's instructions, Uncle Fu felt rather puzzled by the young master's behavior.
In the past, even though the young master's bad reputation had spread from who-knows-where, as someone close to him, Uncle Fu understood best that the young master didn't actually have those bad habits of a spoiled scoundrel. Over the past two and a half years, because he had been single-mindedly pursuing Gu Xiyue, he could even be considered a good man. Most of the time, his life followed a strict triangular route, rotating back and forth between home and the company.
What did the young master mean by this stunt today?
Gazing at the impoverished appearance of this young girl, Uncle Fu instantly grasped the young master's train of thought.
The young master must find this girl pitiful and wanted to financially aid her, but didn't want to make it awkward for her to refuse?
After all, this girl didn't look like the type who would accept money from a stranger for nothing.
Yet, Young Master—oh, Young Master!
What you didn't think about was that if you just threw the money on the ground like that, there was no way this girl would pick it up!
She might even refuse to let the money be touched by so much as a finger after they left.
Right!
The young master had mentioned this morning that things felt a bit cold and deserted when there were fewer people at dinner.
It seemed having that girl from yesterday around had made things lively for the young master.
If liveliness was what he wanted, wouldn't it be great to have more human presence?
It would be wonderful if the young master could live his own life instead of being someone else's—what was that word again? Ah, a bootlicker!
It was good for him not to be someone else's bootlicker.
Like this...
Wouldn't it be great to offer this girl a job as a maid?
Not only would it add some life to the young master's household, but this girl's living conditions would improve, and she'd have money to change her clothes. Look, even her school uniform had been washed until it was pale white!
The young master's objective of helping her could also be fulfilled.
Three birds with one stone!
Uncle Fu silently gave himself a mental pat on the back.
"All right, Young Master." At that moment, the subordinates finished packing the flowers.
With Uncle Fu absent, Young Master Fei turned around to pay the bill himself.
While out of his line of sight, Uncle Fu walked over to Jiang Anran.
"Ma'am, we're simply here to buy flowers."
"Ah?! I'm sorry, I misunderstood you. I thought you guys had come to collect a debt." Jiang Anran's face turned red, and she felt quite embarrassed.
"Oh? Would you be interested in coming to work at the Fei Family? The work isn't too difficult, and the Young Master is very amiable. It's definitely a good job."
"This is an advance of one thousand and my phone number. If you come to work, this will be your prepaid salary. If you don't come, just consider it an expression of our apologies."
Wearing a gentle and amiable smile, Uncle Fu handed a stack of red thousand-yuan bills to Jiang Anran.
"Ah? No, no, I don't want it."
Jiang Anran was utterly bewildered. She had assumed they were ruffians collecting a debt, but somehow they had turned into an HR recruiter thirsty for talent.
"Please don't refuse!"
"Uncle Fu, let's go!"
Seeing that Jiang Anran remained unmoved, Uncle Fu heard a shout, glanced out of the corner of his eye, and caught sight of the young master preparing to leave. He hurriedly pulled out a few more red banknotes from the stack in his hand, tossed them about haphazardly in a messy heap, and rushed off to catch up and leave.
"Ah?!"
When had Jiang Anran ever witnessed such overbearing CEO tropes? She hastily scooped the money up from the ground and chased after them.
However, that group was in a rush to deliver the flowers, and their boarding speed was exceptionally fast; the silhouettes of the cars already receding far into the distance.
"Stop! Hey! I told you to stop!!"
Staring after the departing luxury cars, Jiang Anran was left in disarray.
Inside the receding luxury car, a flash of inspiration hit Young Master Fei, and he frowned. "Strange, I feel like something isn't quite right..."
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