"What's going on?" Su Mei, also known as the Witch, looked absolutely furious.
This was the first year she had taken over the auction house, and she had taken every possible precaution from the very start, yet a problem still slipped through the cracks. The staff member beside her was so anxious that cold sweat dripped down his forehead. He hurried Su Mei toward the private room where Mu Yue was waiting, quickly explaining the whole incident as they walked.
The gem had been brought out from their facility, with guards watching over it the entire time. No one had gotten within a foot of it, and there had not been a single suspicious figure along the whole escort route to the client.
Mu Yue's private room was quite spacious, and quite a few people had already gathered there. Aside from the few people who had delivered the gem, the auction house's appraisers and security personnel were all in the room, every one of them wearing a grim expression—because that ruby was indeed a fake.
The people tasked with delivering the gem had already been fully stripped and searched, every single item on their person repeatedly checked, and nothing out of the ordinary was found. If nothing had gone wrong in any intermediate step, then the problem was far more serious than any of them had imagined.
When Su Mei arrived, she spotted a young woman sitting on the sofa in the room, eyes closed to rest, a faint look of impatience tugging at her brows. The manager, who had been bending over nonstop to speak to her until his lips were dry and flaky, let out a huge sigh of relief the moment he saw Su Mei walk in. He turned to Mu Yue and said, "Our Boss Su is here, honored guest."
Su Mei stepped forward and gave Mu Yue a slight nod, her tone full of apology. "We are terribly sorry, Miss Mu. Regarding this matter..."
Mu Yue opened her eyes to look at her. Su Mei was undeniably stunning, and when attending to clients, she conducted herself perfectly—she had a bewitching appearance, and she handled matters without any unnecessary delays. First she apologized sincerely to Mu Yue, then immediately laid out several compensation plans, determined to make sure Mu Yue did not leave feeling disappointed.
The people here had been keeping an eye on Mu Yue ever since she first came to their underground casino. Her behavior back then had been so casual and unconcerned, treating sixty million RMB like it was nothing. Coupled with the aura she carried around her, and the way she had spotted the fake ruby at a single glance that very day, it was obvious she could not possibly be from an ordinary background. What was more, that 130 million RMB she had paid for the ruby was completely legitimate—she had actually transferred the full sum.
Their casino was no ordinary establishment, and all transactions at their auctions were settled on the spot. It was a bold way of doing things, but their business ran entirely on integrity: once the money was paid, the goods were supposed to be handed over without a hitch.
Now they were facing a huge problem: they had taken the client's money, but the item they were supposed to deliver was a counterfeit.
Su Mei would never be foolish enough to offend such a high-value client. Not only could she not afford to upset her, she had to do everything in her power to make amends and keep this top-tier customer for the casino. After listening to several plans Su Mei proposed, Mu Yue finally agreed to one of them, albeit reluctantly.
First, the auction house would refund half of the 130 million RMB. Then there was the matter of the gem. That ruby was exceptionally large and extremely rare, and the auction house did not currently have any item of equal value to replace it, so they compensated Mu Yue with two slightly smaller but equally precious blue and pink diamonds.
These two diamonds were still remarkably large, both extremely rare treasures, and their combined value already exceeded 130 million RMB. But since this was the auction house's fault, giving items that were only worth the original price could hardly count as proper compensation. On top of all that, Su Mei personally added a collection item worth more than 30 million RMB as an extra gift.
The total value of everything added up to nearly 200 million RMB.
But even after hearing all that, Mu Yue's expression still did not soften, and she said the one thing Su Mei had dreaded hearing the most: "I came all the way here specially for this, and now it's all just a waste of my time."
That was the part about big clients that was both wonderful and infuriating. They were incredibly wealthy, so willing to travel thousands of miles and spend fortunes on items they truly wanted. But if something went wrong and they ended up unable to get the exact thing they had their heart set on, they would never be satisfied—because they did not care about the money, they cared about getting that specific item.
You think your compensation far exceeds the original price? Please, I don't need that extra cash. If I don't like what you're offering, no matter how much you pile up, it's all just useless junk to me.
The fact that this young heiress accepted Su Mei's compensation plan was not a testament to how skilled Su Mei was. It was simply because the young woman was well-mannered, or perhaps just impatient, and did not feel like making a big fuss or wasting any more of her time stuck here.
Su Mei did not want to let Mu Yue leave just like that. As she walked Mu Yue out, she kept trying to salvage the situation, asking if Mu Yue had any spare time left, if she was interested in experiencing the local culture and customs, or if there was anything she was fond of—whether it was taking in breathtaking scenery, trying out thrilling recreational activities, Su Mei could arrange it all, and she would even keep Mu Yue company for meals.
"No, thank you. The National Day holiday is almost over, and I have to head back to school for classes," Mu Yue replied in Chinese, politely turning down her invitation.
Su Mei could only respond with a smile and did not press the matter further. The second Mu Yue was gone, she immediately ordered her subordinates to pull up Mu Yue's full profile. Even though they were operating overseas, she had not expected looking into Mu Yue's background to be that difficult—but the results they got still gave her a huge headache.
Mu Yue's life for the first eighteen years had been completely unremarkable, but this year her circumstances had changed beyond recognition. And the way Mu Yue spoke and carried herself did not match that of a girl raised in an ordinary family at all. Worst of all, there was no trace of information about the powerful family Mu Yue actually came from anywhere in their records.
Su Mei cursed under her breath. She knew perfectly well that the higher-ups were not going to go easy on her for this mess. But she still could not wrap her head around it—every single step of the process had been checked and rechecked, no loopholes anywhere. When on earth had the ruby been swapped?
The answer to that question had nothing to do with Mu Yue at all. After she left the underground casino, she sat in the car with a completely blank expression the whole ride back. It was not until she stepped into her room, completely alone with no surveillance cameras around, that she finally burst out laughing.
She had gotten nearly 200 million RMB worth of goods for just over 60 million! She had hit the jackpot this time!
The two huge colored diamonds were so dazzling, the solid heavy weight of them in her hand made Mu Yue sigh to herself in amazement. She never in her wildest dreams imagined that one day she would get to hold diamonds worth tens of millions.
But these things really were too extravagant. It would be such a waste to just leave them sitting on a shelf gathering dust. When she got back to school, she would find a top jewelry designer to work on them, and find opportunities to show these little treasures off to the world.
As for the whole business with the fake ruby, it was incredibly simple. The second Mu Yue laid eyes on the gem, she had used a special item from her system. She had not pulled off some sneaky heist to hide the real ruby in her bag—that was unnecessary, and would only have caused her trouble later on.
She never had to have that specific ruby, and besides, with her Divine Rich System, there was no need to stoop to petty theft. The real ruby had been transformed into a fake one by her system item, but that effect was not permanent. Sooner or later, the real ruby would turn back to its original self, as long as no one destroyed it in the meantime.
Right now, this fake gemstone is a boulder weighing heavily on the Witch's mind. There used to be one real and one fake, but now both are counterfeit. Where did the real one go?
The auction house turned every inch of itself inside out, but the item was gone no matter what. After layers of investigation, the trail unexpectedly led to Su Mei. The genuine article was under tight 24-hour surveillance, and no outsiders were allowed in, yet there was one exception: Su Mei had brought Wang Jian there.
This result made Su Mei's father, the second-in-command, snort with exasperated laughter. He never thought his daughter could be this foolish, or perhaps overly arrogant to the point of losing all basic vigilance, bringing a total outsider to see such a high-value treasure. What on earth had clouded her judgment?
Su Mei was also overwhelmed with regret. Deep down, she had assumed Wang Jian would never dare to pull such a stunt, but now she couldn't help but suspect him. His appearance had been far too coincidental—right when she needed someone to authenticate a batch of goods, he just happened to show up. After all, she herself had planted women to seduce her business rivals, so there was no guarantee others wouldn't plant a man by her side.
As for her father, he was even more determined: no matter if Wang Jian was actually involved in the gem theft or not, that man could not be left alive. First, in just two or three days, he had already wrapped his daughter around his finger so thoroughly that she had lost her senses. Second, he was indeed a prime suspect. Third, arresting him would give them a scapegoat to account for the missing gem, and a little hardship would also teach his daughter a much-needed lesson.
Meanwhile, Wang Jian had slept like a log. When he woke up, he ran into the Tang family's youngest granddaughter. Fresh off a painful breakup with his so-called true love, Wang Jian was quickly cheered up by the playful, lively girl, and his mood lightened considerably. She led him out to play in the sea, surfing and diving, and the two had a wonderful time together. Eventually, they were caught red-handed by Su Mei on a deserted island.
Su Mei knew who the Tang family's granddaughter was, and knew how old she was too. Her auction house had done business with the Tang family before. Seeing the two of them, a man and a woman alone on a remote island, chatting and laughing with obvious romantic tension in their eyes, she spat at Wang Jian and called him a "worthless sleaze!"
In that moment, she hated herself even more—how could she have been so blind?
Wang Jian was startled when he saw Su Mei, but he kept his composure on the surface, only looking a little surprised. He was about to ask what she was doing there, when Su Mei's face turned cold, and she gave a sharp, icy order: "Take him away!"
Wang Jian's heart was pounding like a drum, but he still tried to keep calm. All the way he tried to talk to Su Mei and ask what was going on, but she didn't say a single word. It wasn't until he was dragged to an underground casino and roughly forced to his knees before the man seated in the main seat that he no longer dared to harbor any delusions. Oh no, he was in huge, terrible trouble this time.
He kept racking his brains trying to remember what he had done wrong, but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't figure it out. He waited for the man in charge to interrogate him, but that man didn't even bother to ask a single question. He just waved his hand, and Wang Jian was dragged away. The dark passage they led him down was damp and reeked of a foul, fishy stench, and Wang Jian's legs began to tremble uncontrollably.
Up in the sky, thousands of meters above the clouds, Mu Yue yawned as she flipped through the in-flight shopping brochure the airline had provided. Some of the items were limited-time specials, others were duty-free. Mu Yue went through the whole booklet, ordered a few silk scarves with unique, distinctive patterns, then yawned lazily again.
Long flights sure made you sleepy, she thought. Since she had plenty of time left, she might as well get some sleep first.
Just as she was about to put on her eye mask, she noticed a system notification pop up showing her points had arrived. There were two messages: one adding 500 points, the other 800 points.
The first 500 points came from the Witch. Mu Yue was a little dissatisfied with that number—it was way less than what she had gotten from the first wife. Logically, for a sultry, red-hot rose character like the Witch, 500 points should have been way too low.
Mu Yue stroked the dial of her watch, hissing softly to herself. She guessed that the Witch probably hadn't completely cut off her ties with the male lead yet.
As for the other 800 points, they came from physical harm inflicted on the male lead. It was obvious he was being tortured right now. Mu Yue didn't want to look at all that gory, messy stuff on a perfectly fine sunny day, so she didn't pull up the live feed, and just made her guess based on the point value.
With 800 points, his life was definitely not in danger, but it was easy to tell he wasn't having an easy time either. The last time, the humiliation he went through was as much psychological as it was physical, but this 800 points was all from pure, unadulterated bodily harm.
Mu Yue nodded, taking a moment to appreciate the gains from her points this time.
Perfect, she thought. The male lead suffers, and the villain rakes in the rewards.
