On Friday afternoon, after finishing her class, Mu Yue drove home. Once she had parked in the garage, she admired the four cars in her parking spaces. The apartment had come with three parking spaces, and she had purchased the fourth separately. One space had cost seven hundred thousand yuan—a sum that meant little to Mu Yue now. Even so, whenever she looked at that figure, she still couldn’t help sighing. For wealthy people, a single parking space could buy an entire home in an obscure small-town city.
The fourth parking space held the vintage car she had won at the auction. Mu Yue had never heard of the brand in her original world. It seemed to be an original creation from one of the worlds in this fused universe. It was a supercar, and to Mu Yue, it looked somewhat like the legendary McLaren F1 LM from her original world, of which only five had ever been made.
Seven hundred million yuan wouldn’t have been enough to buy a car like this in her original world. It probably would have cost twice that.
The trip to the auction had truly been worth it. The more Mu Yue looked at the car, the more she liked it. Even better, after spending all that money, her points had already reached over eight thousand. She only needed one-fifth of the way to the next level of her God of Wealth status—nearly one hundred million yuan—to reach Level Three.
The more than one hundred million yuan she had spent at the casino earlier had directly earned her over a thousand points. The money refunded later counted as compensation from the casino, so half of it had essentially been free.
Upon reaching Level Three, she would receive five million yuan a day. Mu Yue already found that amount rather outrageous. And after that came ten million, thirty million, and fifty million yuan a day. At that point, she truly wouldn’t have to do anything. She could simply sign in to collect money and live as the richest person in the world.
Thinking of this, Mu Yue patted her beloved car and returned to her floor with a beaming smile.
The main dishes for dinner that evening were low-temperature slow-roasted beef ribs, braised squab, and chilled phoenix clam slices. The beef ribs had taken a full ten hours to cook. Mu Yue fell in love with this method of preparation from the very first bite. The crisp exterior and tender interior were merely the basics; the abundant juices were an added bonus. But the melt-in-the-mouth texture elevated the dish to an entirely new level. Better still, after such a long cooking time, the meat had absorbed the smoky fragrance of fruitwood.
The other two dishes were excellent as well, easily matching the standards of high-end restaurants outside.
Only after thoroughly enjoying her dinner did Mu Yue ask Qianqian to contact a makeup artist and prepare her for the evening’s outing. The domineering CEO and his friends were going to a private club that night. Membership there was by invitation only, unlike the club Wen Xue had taken her to the previous week, where anyone could go as long as they were willing to spend enough money.
A private club of this kind was naturally more prestigious. It offered access to high-end social circles, an exceptional level of privacy, and a variety of personalized services. The club the domineering CEO frequented also had a wide range of entertainment facilities. In addition to the essential bar and karaoke rooms, it had a tea house, calligraphy and painting gallery, medicinal baths and wellness facilities, as well as an indoor sports center.
It was a famous social venue in A City. Having the qualifications to enter the club was itself a symbol of status. For a third-rate wealthy family, being brought in by someone else was already something worth bragging about. Ordinary wealthy families could only stand outside and gaze in, while those of even lower status had never so much as heard of the place.
As for Mu Yue, she didn’t know any of the club’s members and hadn’t been recommended or invited by one of them. Instead, she had been invited by the club’s owner himself at the auction where she had purchased the vintage car.
The owner was a die-hard sports-car enthusiast. He had attended the auction hoping to see his dream car in person. He had placed bids as well, but his offers had been far below Mu Yue’s, and he had given up after only a few rounds. The owner had not only invited Mu Yue to the club, but had also invited her to a private luxury car exhibition. The exhibition would take place around the New Year and would feature a spectacular gathering of limited-edition luxury cars.
Mu Yue had never been particularly interested in cars, but after purchasing Little Four, she felt that going to admire more beautiful cars wouldn’t be a bad idea. She therefore accepted the invitation to the exhibition. As for the club membership, that went without saying—the membership card she had been given was a specially issued one.
Such special cards were generally personally designated and issued by the owner to select members. Ordinary members who joined through a recommendation or invitation received a different card. In other words, there was a distinction between the standard version and the VIP version.
After getting ready, Mu Yue glanced at the time. It was already half past eight. The domineering CEO and his group of friends had probably started by now.
Dressed in another new outfit and driving her new supercar, Mu Yue followed the navigation toward the club at an unhurried pace.
Before long, she arrived.
Unlike the place Wen Xue had taken her to, the moment Mu Yue turned off the engine, a neatly dressed valet came forward to greet her. Two other attendants also approached with smiles and welcomed her. When she got out of the car, they thoughtfully shielded her from the surrounding traffic.
“Hello, Miss Mu. Welcome to our—”
Mu Yue listened to them as she walked toward the club’s entrance. Once inside, she found none of the chaotic, hedonistic atmosphere she had expected. Everything exuded elegance. The air carried a faint fragrance of orchids, and the walls were decorated with calligraphy and paintings. The interior design blended Chinese and Western styles.
After looking around, Mu Yue asked one of the attendants, “Is there anything special about your tea house? If I drink tea now, will it keep me awake tonight?”
“Not at all, Miss Mu. If you’re interested in visiting the tea house, please come this way. Our tea house offers…”
Mu Yue followed them to the tea house. It was exceptionally quiet, with a distinctly traditional Chinese design. Each tea room even had its own small courtyard, complete with softly flowing water. Plum trees grew in the courtyard, though the season had not yet arrived and the flowers had yet to bloom. Mu Yue could imagine how much more enchanting it would be to sit by the window and drink tea once the blossoms appeared.
Mu Yue took her seat and watched the tea master prepare the tea. At the same time, she had the System Darlings connect to the surveillance cameras in the club’s public areas.
Regardless of the entertainment facility, there were no cameras inside the rooms, ensuring the greatest possible privacy for the club’s clients. Of course, this arrangement carried certain risks, though those risks generally concerned the people working there rather than the guests who came to relax. Security personnel were stationed outside every room. As long as someone called out or pressed the alarm bell, they would enter to protect the customer.
At the moment, Mu Yue had no way to use the systems to view what was happening inside the private room where the domineering CEO was, but she could see the corridor outside, as well as its recorded footage.
At 7:40, a group of people entered the private room. At eight o’clock, the male lead, Wei Xuan, arrived. Not long after he went inside, a female server entered carrying drinks. Less than two minutes later, the door opened again.
The server’s eyes were red and swollen from crying. She kept bowing and apologizing. Through the surveillance camera, Mu Yue could vaguely see the domineering CEO sitting in the central seat, his legs crossed and his jacket already tossed aside. His upper body was outside the camera’s view, so his expression could not be seen. His friends, however, appeared extremely displeased and unleashed a torrent of scolding at the manager who had come over.
The female server’s shoulders began trembling even more violently.
Mu Yue frowned slightly. She instructed the System Darlings to zoom in on the name badge pinned to the server’s chest. After memorizing the name, she turned off the surveillance feed.
"Miss Mu?" The tea artist had stopped what she was doing and looked over inquiringly, "Is there anything you need, or is there something bothering you?"
The tea artist was a gentle woman whose looks perfectly fit the classic Chinese aesthetic. She had noticed Mu Yue frown slightly a moment earlier. She looked calm and mild on the surface, but inwardly she was quite nervous. This Miss Mu was visiting for the very first time, but the membership card she held was a custom, exclusive one. If she was dissatisfied with anything here, it would spell big trouble.
Mu Yue said, "It's nothing, I just thought of something. Do you have a server named Xiao Mei working here?"
"One moment, please." The tea artist pressed a call bell, relayed Mu Yue's request to the staff waiting outside, and roughly ten minutes later, Mu Yue saw Xiao Mei hurrying in, having rushed to touch up her makeup right before coming over.
Xiao Mei had just accidentally spilled a drink all over Mr. Wei, and got an earful from the manager. Not only had the manager threatened to dock a whole month of her salary, but also to make her pay for the ruined suit herself. She had looked it up just now, and that suit cost over 120,000 yuan. To her, that was nothing short of the sky falling down.
Just as she was at her wits' end, someone came to tell her that a Miss Mu from the tea room was looking for her. Her mind was in a total fog, and she kept racking her brains the whole walk over, but could not for the life of her recall who this Miss Mu could be.
"H-Hello, Miss Mu." She was so nervous that she stammered, and that small slip of the tongue made her face go even paler. Would she get fined for that too?
Mu Yue said gently, "Don't be so nervous. You might not know me, but I know you. You helped me out with a small favor once, and I've been wanting to return the kindness. Are you running into some sort of trouble right now?"
What? Xiao Mei jerked her head up. No matter how she looked at her, this young lady's face was a complete stranger, and she had zero memory of ever meeting her. Just as her mind was running wild, another server who had accompanied her over nudged her slightly and gave her a pointed look. She's already in such a mess anyway, right? Just say it out loud, maybe this wealthy young lady really will help.
Xiao Mei gritted her teeth, glanced at Mu Yue again, and seeing no trace of mockery in her eyes, quietly told her all about the trouble she had just run into.
As Mu Yue listened, she realized this was exactly the same situation that the original "Mu Yue" had gone through in the novel. Now that her original character was no longer around, someone else with a similar background had ended up in this misfortune.
When she finished hearing the whole story, she turned to the manager who was still waiting respectfully at the side, and asked with a confused tone, "Wait a minute, doesn't this club have any protocols for this kind of unexpected incident? Why make the employee pay for all of it out of their own pocket?"
She took a sip of the tea the tea artist had brewed for her, then said plainly, "Last time I went to a restaurant with an average per-person cost of 1000 yuan for a meal, I accidentally got an oil stain on my clothes. The server there immediately brought out a dry cleaning agent and helped me clean it right away. This club is so big, with a KTV and a bar inside, and when someone accidentally spills wine on a piece of clothing, you don't have any proper handling procedure at all? Hmph."
Mu Yue set down her teacup, looking at the manager with a half-amused, half-critical expression.
"This..." The manager suddenly felt his head throb. Of course they had a quick dry cleaning service available, but this was Mr. Wei they were talking about! And that suit was extremely expensive. This server had no connections at all, and had only started working here not long ago so she didn't know the unspoken rules. If she was forced to pay for it herself...
"Hmph." Mu Yue let out another soft laugh as she watched the manager's expression, then turned to Xiao Mei, the poor soul stuck with the bad luck. "For this kind of thing, the club has the right to dock your salary or even fire you, but there is no reason for you to pay that compensation out of your own pocket. If the club insists on making you pay, come find me. I'll help you take this to court."
The manager was completely stunned. "No no no, Miss Mu, you're making this far more serious than it is!" Sweat beaded on the manager's forehead as he rushed to explain, "We already sent Mr. Wei's suit out to be cleaned! I only wanted to make her remember this lesson so she won't make the same mistake again, that's all!"
At that moment, the voice that guided Mu Yue through her quest spoke up in her mind, "Host, host! The female lead Wen Xue has arrived!"
Wen Xue is here? Mu Yue stood up, and said to the manager, "Mr. Wei, right? Take me to see him. I'll go talk to him myself."
