"Miss Xu, the other side seems to have given up." The assistant responsible for helping Xu Qingqing keep an eye on Bai Youlan's company sent her a message.
After a prolonged battle between the two sides' capital, Bai Youlan's team was the first to announce their surrender. When saying this, Secretary Zhang couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Who would have thought that Miss Xu, usually known for her love of eating, drinking, and having fun, could be just as formidable when seriously focused on a task, with her plans arranged meticulously.
Secretary Zhang had initially suspected that General Manager Xie or perhaps Chairman Xu was guiding her from behind the scenes. Unexpectedly, Xu Qingqing handled all the coordination herself. During the negotiations, she even proactively suggested some very useful ideas.
Xu Qingqing didn't just arrange for the evidence and videos. To prevent the other company's public relations team from intervening later, she specifically borrowed the PR department of the Xu Group from her aunt as a backup, spending the entire afternoon monitoring the other side's news.
Xu Youyue was extremely busy, but because she cared about her niece and was aware of her recent activities, she knew what was going on.
Upon learning that the company Bai Youlan signed with belonged to Lin Donghan, Xu Youyue frowned. "Lin Donghan, the youngest son of the Lin family's eldest branch? How did he get mixed up with Bai Youlan?"
The Lin family had a large population, unlike the straightforward Xu family. With the eldest, second, and third branches all crowded together, it was hard to keep track of everyone. Although Xu Youyue had a good relationship with Lin Jiangxue, she wasn't familiar with the rest of the Lin family. She only dealt with Chairman Lin and the head of the Lin Group's eldest branch—Lin Donghan's father.
However, because Xu Qingqing and this cousin seemed to have gotten along reasonably well in the past, the perpetually busy Xu Youyue had a slight impression of Lin Donghan.
Xu Qingqing pouted and said, "Because of love, of course."
Xu Youyue narrowed her eyes, lowering her voice. "Lin Donghan and Bai Youlan... I remember he attended your mother's funeral. He should know and recognize Bai Yaxiu and her daughter."
Xu Qingqing snorted. "Surprising, isn't it? Perhaps that's what makes their love so precious."
Xu Youyue frowned and said succinctly, "Have less contact with this cousin of yours from now on."
The fact that he could fall for the daughter of the woman who caused his own relative's death didn't make Xu Youyue feel the sincerity of Lin Donghan's love; it just made her think he wasn't quite right in the head.
Xu Qingqing was disdainful. "Of course, I stopped associating with him long ago. Last time, out of spite, I tricked him into spending 50 million on that hideous emerald brooch."
Xu Youyue nodded. She knew about this incident and had even praised Xu Qingqing for it.
After learning about Lin Donghan and Bai Youlan, Aunt Xu understood why Xu Qingqing had recently been so relentlessly targeting Bai Youlan.
Her own cousin, Lin Donghan, actually liked the daughter of the woman who caused her mother's death. Such betrayal would be hard for anyone to bear, let alone someone as vindictive and petty as Xu Qingqing, the drama queen.
So when Xu Qingqing recently kept asking her for personnel—first an assistant, then a secretary, and finally the entire company's PR team—she agreed without hesitation. She even proactively asked if Xu Qingqing had enough money.
Whether it was hiring people to secretly gather evidence, facilitating investments for film production, or spending money to buy hot search trends, these expenses were not small. Aunt Xu was well aware of her niece's usual pocket money and savings, guessing that Xu Qingqing's funds were probably running low.
So she directly had another sum transferred to Xu Qingqing's account, intending to support her.
Xu Qingqing was used to it. Her grandparents and aunt were all like this. No matter what happened, their first question was always whether she had enough money, followed by transferring a large amount to her.
Xu Youyue also knew that she and her parents were biased, but she was very open about it, favoring Xu Qingqing openly and unapologetically.
Compared to Xu Changshan's other children, she simply doted more on Xu Qingqing.
Finally, while approving the personnel, she casually advised, "Don't make too big of a scene."
Although Xu Changshan had already been cut off from the family, in the eyes of others, he was still a member of the Xu family. Any stir could cause stock market fluctuations, and some might even use it to attack the Xu Group.
Some time ago, Xie Lianqing helped Xu Qingqing vent her anger by sending Xu Changshan's family packing. While Xu Qingqing was delighted, Xu Youyue had to work overtime to deal with the mess. Because the Xu Group was implicated by Xu Changshan's affairs, she didn't get a good night's sleep for many days.
However, Aunt Xu couldn't bring herself to blame or take her frustration out on Xu Qingqing. In her eyes, her niece had suffered enough similar grievances over the years because of Xu Changshan. Chairman Xu probably felt the same way, which is why no one made a fuss about it in the end.
Xu Qingqing wasn't unaware of these things either, which is why she only told her aunt about Lin Donghan today.
After all, saying it earlier wouldn't have been useful. She couldn't explain about the system and the novel. She couldn't just use Lin Donghan's affection for Bai Youlan as an excuse to have her aunt, in order to vent her anger, rashly confront the entire Lin family.
The Xu and Lin families had been partners for many years, and there seemed to be a new project launching recently. If her aunt were that unwise, the Xu family would probably go bankrupt within days, and the whole family would end up begging on the streets.
So, while Xu Qingqing dared to use such excuses to make a scene in front of Xie Lianqing, she wasn't so brazen in front of her aunt.
Therefore, she took her aunt's advice quite well and didn't throw an unreasonable tantrum.
Lin Donghan was the eldest son of her eldest uncle and was somewhat expected to carry on the family's hopes. Not everyone dwelled on a deceased mother like she did. If she made too big of a scene, some might even cover for him and blame her for being unreasonable instead.
Since reading that novel in her dream, Xu Qingqing knew that not all relatives were trustworthy, and not everyone was like her grandparents and aunt, who cared for her unconditionally regardless of benefits.
So today, when Xu Qingqing had the PR team operate, she didn't drag Lin Donghan and Xu Changshan out for another round of public shaming. She only had the team monitor Bai Youlan's team's operations throughout. Whenever the other side tried to remove hot search topics or suppress news, they would step in, spend money to operate, and help promote the true story of Ms. Bai Youlan's experiences once again.
A few hours later, Bai Youlan's team finally announced their surrender, probably because the situation was beyond saving.
After the dust settled, reading the message on her phone, Xu Qingqing thought of something and immediately made a video call to Bai Youlan.
Today, she had helped Bai Youlan rediscover her forgotten biological father and recall the truth about her childhood piano lessons. Considering herself helpful, Xu Qingqing wanted to see Bai Youlan's expression and check if her luck points had changed.
But when Xu Qingqing dialed, she discovered she had been blocked.
She was blocked!
Xu Qingqing was stunned. As a drama queen, she was always the one blocking others. How could someone block her?
In reality, after Bai Youlan obtained the shares and assets, feeling more confident, she not only transformed into an investor but also disdained continuing to put on an act with Xu Qingqing. So, she simply blocked this annoying drama queen.
Xu Qingqing was actually blocked by someone she despised, and of course she wasn't going to take that lying down. Coincidentally, she was on a date at Xie Lianqing's house, so she immediately took her boyfriend's phone, used his account to send a friend request to Bai Youlan, and even specifically noted that it was Xie Lianqing.
Xie Lianqing watched his girlfriend's actions with amusement, patting her head.
He had never really interacted with Bai Youlan, having barely exchanged a few words with her. Xu Qingqing was using his name and account to send the request, so the other party probably wouldn't accept it anyway.
Yet, just a few minutes later, the request was swiftly approved. No one would believe there wasn't something fishy going on.
Recalling the events in the book where Xie Lianqing and Bai Youlan ended up together, Xu Qingqing suddenly remembered something. She realized that the two of them weren't completely without intersection after all.
In the book, it seemed Bai Youlan had confessed to Xie Lianqing, even going so far as to painstakingly write a love letter filled with a young girl's affection.
But no one had ever told Xu Qingqing about this. If she hadn't read about it in her dream, she wouldn't have known such a thing had ever happened.
Bai Youlan quickly sent a message, a cute rabbit with a question mark emoji.
Xu Qingqing shot a meaningful glance at Xie Lianqing beside her, the corners of her mouth lifting in a half-smile that seemed to hint she was ready to start a scene right then and there.
Xie Lianqing rubbed the tip of his nose, hesitating to speak. Of course, he had no idea that a secret from his middle school years had been exposed; he thought he was just being unfairly blamed.
As for that incident back then, he hadn't intentionally hidden it. At first, he didn't think it necessary to tell Xu Qingqing, since there were too many people giving him love letters back then—how could he possibly remember who was who? Later, he simply forgot. And after that, when Xu Qingqing said she dreamed he cheated with Bai Youlan and made a fuss about breaking up, he certainly didn't dare bring it up then.
So now, under his girlfriend's scrutinizing gaze, Xie Lianqing felt rather caught between a rock and a hard place. He rubbed the tip of his nose and asked, pretending not to know, "What's wrong?"
Given Xu Qingqing's drama-prone personality, she should have already started interrogating him in a fit of anger. However, she just looked at him with that half-smile for a moment before turning her attention back to her phone, leaving Xie Lianqing at a loss for words and even starting to wonder if he should proactively confess that tiny bit of intersection he had with Bai Youlan years ago.
Xu Qingqing had no time for him; she had more important things to do.
In response to Bai Youlan's message, she didn't reply. Instead, she directly video-called her. After a long while, just as Xu Qingqing was growing impatient and the call was about to hang up, it was finally answered.
The moment the screen changed, Xu Qingqing's eyes widened in surprise. She discovered that Bai Youlan in the video actually had lipstick on.
It was already dark outside, and everyone was getting ready to wash up and go to bed. Bai Youlan must have been out of her mind to put on makeup in the middle of the night.
In an instant, Xu Qingqing understood what the other party had been doing during that minute she didn't answer the video call.
The shock wasn't limited to Xu Qingqing. When Bai Youlan saw Xu Qingqing next to Xie Lianqing, her shy, girlish smile also froze at the corners of her mouth. She twitched her lips, trying hard to force a gentle smile. "Qingqing? Why is it you?"
Bai Youlan had already discussed with her PR team today. They concluded that, given the current situation of being targeted by Xu Qingqing, there was nothing she could do at the moment to turn things around. She could only wait patiently for this wave of attention to pass and make a comeback after the heat died down.
Bai Youlan, of course, couldn't accept this plan, but she couldn't think of a better solution herself. The fortune value above her head was still continuously dropping, and the system's prompts were like a death knell.
In her desperation, she was trying any remedy she could think of, urgently wanting to regain her fortune value. When she received Xie Lianqing's friend request, after the initial shock and disbelief, she was ecstatic. In that very moment, she saw her chance to turn the situation around.
As the male lead of the entire story, just gaining Xie Lianqing's attention and affection alone could outweigh everyone else combined.
She had painstakingly freshened up her appearance in a short time and checked her makeup. If it weren't for the lack of fortune value and time, she would have even wanted to buy a one-time full-body filter item from the system mall.
Yet, despite all Bai Youlan's careful preparations and eager anticipation when she answered, the person on the other end was actually Xu Qingqing.
Xu Qingqing didn't speak. Puffing out her cheeks, she stared intently at the string of text above Bai Youlan's head, looking it over.
Beautiful Life System binding in progress...
Fortune Value Obtained: 25/100
Overall Task Progress: 40/100
Task Reward: Inherit billions in family assets, achieve a beautiful life.
Sure enough, Bai Youlan's fortune value had fluctuated again, dropping quite a bit. It seemed her plan this time to help the other party rediscover her childhood and true past was quite successful.
Having achieved her goal, Xu Qingqing didn't waste words on Bai Youlan on the other end. She once again decisively hung up the call and then preemptively blocked her.
Anyway, her objective was accomplished. As for whether Bai Youlan would wonder why she was the one calling, Xu Qingqing didn't care and couldn't be bothered to explain.
"Ahhhhh! That bitch!" In the hotel room, Bai Youlan threw her phone and violently knocked over the bottles and jars on the table.
Her face contorted with rage as she took a deep, harsh breath. "Why is the fortune value still dropping recently? Is it broken?"
She had schemed for so long, exhausting all her cunning to whitewash her image and win favorability, yet her fortune value had only increased by five points. And now, after this afternoon's incident, her fortune value had actually dropped a whole eight points! Combined with the incident at the Xu family a while back, she had even fallen to the lowest point ever.
"Host, please do not get agitated. Our system employs the most advanced calculation system and will absolutely not make errors." A mechanical voice sounded in her mind.
How could Bai Youlan not be agitated? She shouted, "Then tell me why the fortune value suddenly dropped so much a few days ago at the Xu family old house? That old man had already agreed to give Xu Changshan the company, and I got the money too. Why did the fortune value drop?"
She had asked this question back then, but the system had always said it was not at liberty to disclose. Now, the continuous drop in fortune value had pushed her over the edge. She even suspected the system was deliberately messing with her, secretly stealing the fortune value she had worked so hard to obtain.
After all, having been bound to the system for so long, she had a slight understanding that the system placed great importance on fortune value; otherwise, it wouldn't sell various high-level items in the mall.
"Based on system assessment over several days, it has been determined that Chairman Xu has removed Xu Changshan from the will. It is inferred that Xu Changshan and his family have lost their chance to inherit the Xu family assets."
Today, the system no longer gave the perfunctory reply of "not at liberty to disclose." However, its answer only made Bai Youlan more distraught.
"What did you say?" she asked, disbelief in her voice. "Why didn't you tell me such an important thing sooner?"
No wonder Chairman Xu and his wife had acted so strangely that day, and Xie Lianqing had just watched coldly from the sidelines. It turned out only her family was in the dark, being treated like beggons given scraps, losing the big for the small. Xu Qingqing was probably laughing at them behind their backs, calling them fools.
The system is not human and cannot quickly identify human thoughts. Analysis requires time.
The implication was that this was Bai Youlan's own problem.
Current fortune value decreased by 1 point. Current fortune value: 23. Host, please obtain the affection of others as soon as possible to regain fortune value.
Bai Youlan was absolutely furious. "Our entire family has been cast out, practically thrown out with the trash. How am I supposed to inherit the Xu family fortune now?"
The system's voice was, as always, detached and unperturbed. "You only need to complete the mission. Once the female lead dies, everything will naturally belong to you."
The agitated Bai Youlan suddenly snapped back to reality and murmured, "Right... Xu Qingqing is dead. Xu Youyue has no heir, so naturally it would fall to me."
She didn't need the audience to like her anyway; all she needed was the fortune points. With enough fortune points, she could complete her mission.
That was the system's verdict.
Bai Youlan took a deep breath. She knew arguing with the system was pointless. Besides, she was currently in dire straits and still needed to rely on it.
Recalling the electric shock punishment from that day, Bai Youlan was certain that turning against the system would be a very unwise decision.
She could only redirect her anger and repeated her question, "Are you sure that after completing the mission, I will inherit the Xu family?"
Her reputation was almost completely ruined now. Continuing her previously planned path to becoming an actress queen was nearly impossible. The only thing keeping her going was the reward of obtaining the family fortune after completing the mission. With money, she could completely retire from the industry and even rehabilitate her image.
"Of course."
