The third juicy tidbit: whatever it is, take three bites
"Who knows?" Shen Yan remained wary. "There's a saying that it's darkest beneath the lamp. Maybe you're banking on that very mindset to fool us. If our Momo really belongs to the Ye Family, why would they send just a secretary to contact her? Unless..."
At that, Shen Yan paused, as though something had occurred to him, and his expression shifted slightly.
Unless... the Ye Family simply doesn't care about Ye Mo, this child of theirs who's been lost all these years.
He silently finished the thought.
Secretary Chen said, "I am indeed a secretary in the president's office at the Ye Corporation. You needn't doubt that. As for why no one from the Ye Family came..."
He looked hesitant. "There's a reason for that."
"Did something happen to my relatives?" Ye Mo's eyes widened. "Did they go lame, or break their arms? Or did they get into a car accident that left them unable to walk, so they couldn't come see me?"
Secretary Chen: ??? Is this really not a curse?
"I know, I know!" 888 rushed to answer inside Ye Mo's mind. "It's because Ye Baozhu's heart condition flared up!"
Worried that Ye Mo might not know who Ye Baozhu was, 888 helpfully reminded her, "Ye Baozhu is the girl who was switched with you, host. She was born with a heart condition. Although she later had a heart transplant... because of her condition, the Ye Family cares about her a great deal!"
"Your biological parents originally wanted to come pick you up themselves, host, but because Ye Baozhu wasn't feeling well, they could only send Secretary Chen instead!"
Ye Mo asked, "...What about the rest of the Ye Family? Didn't you say I should have three older brothers, too?"
System 888 said, "Your three older brothers had the same reason. They were planning to pick you up, too, but then Ye Baozhu got sick..."
"So that's how it is." Ye Mo sighed inwardly. Looks like neither Dad nor Mom loves me, and my brothers don't spare me a thought!
888 said indignantly, "Actually, that Ye Baozhu is faking it all. Her heart condition was completely cured ages ago, and it can't flare up again. But she's afraid the Ye Family will stop loving her because you've appeared, so she deliberately played this nasty trick!"
"That woman is really awful!" 888 fumed.
However, compared with 888's righteous indignation, Ye Mo, the person directly involved, showed little change in emotion upon hearing this.
Is she trying to put me in my place right from the start? she pondered. To let me know that even if I'm the Ye Family's real daughter, I can't shake the place she's held in their hearts all these years?
Ye Mo raised an eyebrow, but a fighting spirit suddenly rose within her-what a coincidence. She loved meeting a challenge head-on.
"Business at the company is keeping everyone busy, so the president couldn't come in person..." Secretary Chen was still smoothing things over for his boss. "They haven't had any accidents."
"Is it because business is keeping them busy, or because of Ye Baozhu?" Ye Mo asked with a smile. "I heard that just before the Ye Family was about to leave, her heart condition suddenly flared
up?"
Secretary Chen looked at Ye Mo in shock again, his expression plainly asking, "How did you know that?"
Ye Mo looked bashful. "I just know a tiny bit more than other people..."
Just a hundred million tiny bits.
Secretary Chen eyed Ye Mo with considerable uncertainty, who knew what scenarios he had dreamed up.
"Isn't the Ye Family going too far?" Shen Yan suddenly said angrily. "Ye Mo, you're their biological daughter, after all. Just because their adopted daughter's heart condition flared up, they're leaving you high and dry? Are they really your family?"
He had already automatically labeled Ye Baozhu the "adopted daughter."
"Ye Mo, I say we might as well forget about acknowledging them. What's the point of acknowledging family who don't care about you?" He looked at Ye Mo indignantly, feeling that she deserved better.
But Ye Mo said, "Why wouldn't I?"
She smiled. "That's the Ye Family, you know. Brother Shen, weren't you telling me before how many detours I could avoid in this industry if my surname was the Ye in Ye Corporation?"
Shen Yan was speechless. "How is that the same?"
"There's no difference," Ye Mo said calmly. "Think about it, Brother Shen. With the Ye Family's name behind me, won't I be able to walk sideways through this industry? Just thinking about it feels great!"
The entertainment circle, or any circle at all-as long as it was a circle, resources, connections, and background inevitably came into play. And the Ye Corporation undoubtedly offered exceptionally powerful resources and connections.
If Ye Mo could hitch herself to the Ye Corporation... Shen Yan tried imagining it.
"No, no." He gritted his teeth. "I'm not someone who can be tempted by benefits! If it means you'll have to suffer, then we might as well do without that backing!"
Ye Mo couldn't help feeling a little touched as she listened, but...
"Brother Shen, do you think I'm the kind of person who'll let herself suffer?" she asked seriously.
Shen Yan: "..." The indignation that had just begun sprouting in his heart suddenly vanished.
Right. He had forgotten: this was Ye Mo. Would she let herself suffer or lose out?
Absolutely not.
At that moment, Shen Yan suddenly calmed down, and then his manager's brain began working rapidly.
"...With the Ye Corporation backing you, we could land several opportunities. You know the brand [BN], right? They originally wanted you as their spokesperson, but because your backing couldn't compete with Xu Si's, Xu Si's side snatched that endorsement away!"
"And there's the script for [Sword]. They'd clearly already sent it over..."
A manager and an artist began "jointly planning their grand future," growing more excited the more they talked.
Secretary Chen, standing beside them: "..."
"Ahem, ahem!" Secretary Chen couldn't resist clearing his throat a couple of times to make his presence known. Otherwise, he feared these two would simply forget that he was still beside them, listening.
Seriously, wasn't it a little too familiar of them to discuss how to use the Ye Family's resources to become wildly famous right in front of him, the Ye Corporation president's secretary?
Secretary Chen's cough finally brought the increasingly carried-away Shen Yan back to his senses.
"Ahem, Secretary Chen, you're still here," he said awkwardly.
Secretary Chen smiled. "...Sorry for interrupting your conversation, but I've been here the whole time." You two simply ignored me.
Shen Yan gave a dry laugh. "...Hahaha, you're really funny, Secretary Chen."
Secretary Chen looked at Ye Mo. Seeing her smiling expression, as though she didn't care in the slightest about the so-called Ye Corporation or even her own relatives, and recalling her earlier conclusion that they were "unable to walk," his heart couldn't help giving another jolt.
"Miss Ye, would now be convenient for you?" he asked. "If you have time, Mr. Ye would like to meet you."
Shen Yan looked at Ye Mo, wanting to see what she thought. "Want to go?"
"Of course!" Ye Mo didn't hesitate at all. "If I hesitated for even a second, I'd be disrespecting money!"
She sighed. "In all my years, there's only one thing I've been absolutely certain about. Parents, relatives, and friends can betray you, but the money in my pocket will never betray me!"
Though her words were so mercenary, her expression wasn't the least bit repellent. Instead, it held a lively hint of slyness that made one smile.
Ye Mo changed her clothes and prepared to go to the Ye Family's home with Secretary Chen.
[Host, host!] Just then, 888's excited voice rang out in her mind. [I just got some juicy gossip about Secretary Chen. Wow, you have no idea. Secretary Chen actually...]
Ye Mo immediately pricked up her ears.
Chapter 3: The third juicy tidbit: whatever it is, take three bites
"Host, let me tell you, this Secretary Chen actually..."
Caught completely off guard, Ye Mo learned a piece of "juicy gossip" about Secretary Chen from 888, and she couldn't help looking at him a little strangely.
Secretary Chen, who had caught her looking at him several times: "..."
"Miss Ye, if there's something you'd like to say to me, please just say it." So stop looking at me as though you're holding something back.
At those words, Ye Mo's eyes instantly lit up, giving Secretary Chen the impression that she had been waiting for him to say exactly that. A little regret couldn't help rising in his heart-perhaps I shouldn't have said that.