Chapter 14 — My Best Friend's Older Brother Took Responsibility for Me

Wen Ruyue smiled faintly. "I just wanted to remind you—in this industry, reputation matters more than seniority. Rising through connections means falling just as fast." "Thanks for the reminder. When you specifically came to me for styling last time, was it because of my connections or my skill?" Her smile vanished. I continued, "The blind date photo you're using right now was taken by me. The makeup you praised was done by me. Miss Wen, using my work for your blind date and turning around to question my competence?" Her face turned pale briefly. Unable to counter, she grabbed her bag and walked off. Xiao He exhaled beside me. "Sister Wan, that was badass!" Qiu Nian at the opposite desk glanced at me without speaking, but her attitude seemed less hostile than before.

That evening at home, I sat on the balcony taking the evening air. Li Hangzhi returned early today, reading documents on his balcony next door. "Wen Ruyue came to my company today." He kept flipping pages. "I know." "When did you become a major shareholder of this company?" "Acquired a stake three years ago." "Did you know before I started working here?" He closed his binder. "The night you submitted your resume, the HR Director called to report a new candidate passed the interview—named Lin Wan." "..." "I told him to assign you to Styling Team 3—the team furthest from my office." "Why furthest?" "Feared if you saw me, you wouldn't come."

I stared at him for a few seconds. "So that night at the bar door, you calculated everything?" "Not at all." He looked toward the distant mountains. "When you pulled my hand, I thought for exactly two seconds." "Thought what?" "Thought what the consequence of refusing you would be. Then I decided not to refuse." "Just two seconds?" "Two seconds is enough to make a decision you won't regret." My ears felt warm again. This man truly knew how to charm someone—not with hollow words, but laying out every step and making it reality: Buying shares three years ago, knowing my name during interviews, standing at the bar door for me to drag him away, registering marriage the next day, and being open at home. Everything was steady, deliberate, and undeniably sincere.

"How much wealth do you actually have?" "Need to report to you?" "No need. Just curious." He thought for a moment. "Currently primarily managing group affairs. One listed company, three holding companies, and several investment projects." I nearly slipped off the balcony... "Is your wealth far beyond my imagination?" "Depends on how much you imagined." "..." I decided not to think about it anymore. Thinking too much would cause insomnia at night.

Wen Ruyue still wouldn't give up, choosing a more cunning method. Wednesday afternoon, the internal company system notified me that my submitted design proposal had issues. I opened it and froze: The edit history showed the last operation was at 2 AM yesterday. But I was asleep at 10 PM! Scrolling down, I found the core design had been completely altered—style overturned, colors chaotic, layout rough, a far cry from my original.

In the morning meeting, the General Manager reviewed this version, frowning at me for a long time. "Lin Wan, did you do this?" I opened the original draft saved on my laptop, flipping through page by page for him. "This is my original draft. The system version was tampered with by someone." The GM compared the two. "They are indeed different. Are you sure you didn't edit it yourself and forget?" "100% sure." "Then who?"

I didn't know, but I knew it wasn't simple. Xiao He helped me check the system login logs: The account logged into the system at 2 AM belonged to Qiu Nian. I brought the access logs to Qiu Nian. She sat in her seat with an indifferent expression. "What do you mean? Maybe my account was hacked."

"2 AM, using your account, altering my file. Qiu Nian, how do you explain?" "I don't need to explain! You're a newcomer here for less than a month, yet your orders exceed mine and your clients are more VIP than mine. You think that's normal?" She finally spewed her pent-up resentment: "You relied on connections! The whole company knows the boss personally chauffeurs you—what right do you have to compete on ability with me?"