Si Yiheng saw Shu Yu's message and dialed her for a video call.
When Shu Yu suddenly saw Si Yiheng's video call coming in, her finger quietly hovered over the reject button. She closed her eyes for a moment before finally pressing accept.
In Si Yiheng's video feed, Shu Yu cautiously opened her eyes, as if hoping the video call was just a hallucination.
As she opened her eyes, her long, thick eyelashes fluttered slightly.
She looked very much like a cat whose wish had just been denied.
Si Yiheng tried his best to suppress the corners of his lips from curving up.
Si Yiheng: "I'm coming to pick you up."
Shu Yu nodded, then asked him, "Can I bring Ningning?"
Si Yiheng: "..."
Si Yiheng: "No, Ye Ning has to go home."
Hearing that she couldn't bring Ye Ning, Shu Yu's world crumbled a little. Hearing that Ye Ning had to go home, her world crumbled a little more.
Shu Yu took her phone and went to find Ye Ning. "Ningning, are you going home?"
Ye Ning abruptly turned her head. "Huh? When was I going home? How come I don't know about this?"
Si Yiheng's cool, lazy voice came through the phone. "Now you know."
Ye Ning: "..."
Ye Ning: "Bro, you're not even going to pretend? Have you no shame?"
Making her go home just so he could have some alone time with Shu Yu.
Si Yiheng: "Your mom is calling you home."
Ye Ning looked at Shu Yu. Catching the signal immediately, Shu Yu picked up the phone and leaned close to the screen, her beautiful face instantly magnifying on the display.
Shu Yu: "Brother, is your house really small? So small that it can't fit both me and Ningning?"
Si Yiheng: "..."
Who said Shu Yu was a silly kitten? She was acting very smart right now, bundling herself up with Ye Ning to force his hand.
It was as if she knew no one could ever refuse her.
Si Yiheng's tone was calm. "It can't fit Ye Ning."
Shu Yu: "..."
Iron Egg: [Si Yiheng has rejected your bundle deal, and he only wants you.]
Si Yiheng patiently explained to Shu Yu, "Having Ye Ning go home is for her own good. Her parents are investigating the brake failure incident, and they all want her back home."
Si Yiheng didn't mention that he was the one who suggested Ye Ning's mother call her home.
Si Yiheng: "If you want to hang out with Ye Ning, you can do it after the matter is fully investigated."
Si Yiheng's explanation left both Shu Yu and Ye Ning with no way to argue, so the two could only accept it.
Shu Yu: "Then come pick me up tomorrow. I want to play with Ningning for one more day."
Si Yiheng: "...Okay."
Shu Yu sat obediently beside Ye Ning and said to Si Yiheng, "Goodbye, brother."
Si Yiheng: "Mm."
After hanging up, Si Yiheng sent Shu Yu another message.
ATM: I will pick you up at ten tomorrow.
To ensure Shu Yu would see the message...
ATM: Transferred 1,000,000.
Shu Yu accepted Si Yiheng's transfer in seconds.
A Little Fish Swimming Around: Okay, okay.
Si Yiheng had originally planned to go pick up Shu Yu, but now he turned around and headed back to his office.
Just as Si Yiheng returned to the office, Assistant Wang walked in with a document.
Assistant Wang: "Vice President Si, this is the company that Miss Ye and Miss Shu are signed with. There is reliable information that their upper management is having issues, and their equity is undergoing changes. Vice President Si, should we acquire shares in this company?"
Si Yiheng flipped through Assistant Wang's acquisition plan, which was written very clearly.
So this was the company where Shu Yu and Ye Ning had found their kindred spirits?
Assistant Wang spoke again. "Miss Shu and Miss Ye's collaboration has been incredibly successful, making the company's financial report for this quarter look very good. If it weren't for the problems in their upper management, we probably wouldn't have this opportunity. Entering the market now will be highly profitable."
Si Yiheng: "Mm, go ahead and do it."
Si Yiheng: "Put a little more pressure on their upper management and secure over half of the shares at the lowest possible price."
The corners of Assistant Wang's mouth lifted. As expected, Vice President Si was totally love-struck.
Having guessed Vice President Si's intentions, combined with his own exceptional business skills, he would surely be promoted to Special Assistant in three years and Executive Assistant in five.
His future was looking so bright.
Xie Mengying had also created a social media account and started taking on some drawing commissions.
Her starting point was already very high, but with Fishbait suddenly appearing out of nowhere, Xie Mengying looked at her own achievements and felt they were barely satisfactory.
Innate talent was truly a terrifying thing.
All of this made Xie Mengying feel somewhat unbalanced.
For the first nineteen years of her life, Xie Mengying had experienced smooth sailing; she could get anything she wanted.
Although her family wasn't extremely wealthy, her parents loved her dearly.
She had good grades and was beautiful. The friends she made all revolved around her, and she knew many people adored her.
She only needed to show a wronged expression, and someone would stand up for her, helping her get what she desired.
Because of her past experiences, Xie Mengying always felt she was the chosen one—as long as she wanted something, she could have it.
Lately, however, none of her desired outcomes had been met. One of the fish she had been stringing along even slipped away; after ignoring her last time, Shen Qinghan had simply vanished into thin air.
All of this made Xie Mengying feel irritable.
Seeing Xie Mengying's restless state, Gu Yunjing felt a bit of heartache for her.
Gu Yunjing: "Mengying, what's wrong? Don't be unhappy."
Xie Mengying lowered her eyes and smiled self-deprecatingly. "It's nothing. I just feel like I'm not excellent enough."
Xie Mengying was currently looking at Fishbait's profile page.
Gu Yunjing immediately comforted her. "I think this Fishbait's drawings are just average. She just got lucky and stumbled upon a good adaptation opportunity. If you had the chance to collaborate with Golden Corn, you would definitely be more popular than this Fishbait."
Xie Mengying felt comforted by this.
She was just having a bit of bad luck lately, that was all.
Gu Yunjing: "Besides, wasn't there a rumor going around that Fishbait is a student at a third-rate university? Her grades definitely can't compare to yours."
Gu Yunjing looked at Xie Mengying again. "She hasn't revealed her face on social media yet. Her looks might be very ordinary too."
Xie Mengying: "Really?"
Gu Yunjing: "Really."
At this moment, another one of Xie Mengying's fish sent her a message, informing her that Si Yiheng was preparing to acquire the equity of the company Fishbait was signed with.
Gu Yunjing: "Mengying, does Si Yiheng know you're taking on drawing commissions? He must be acquiring the company to pave the way for you."
Xie Mengying was a bit hesitant. "Could that be?"
Gu Yunjing: "It has to be. Si Yiheng is definitely secretly keeping an eye on you from a corner you don't know about. He and Shu Yu will break up sooner or later. Everyone likes people who have both talent and beauty."
Gu Yunjing suggested, "You should go ask Golden Corn if you can collaborate."
Xie Mengying also felt she shouldn't let such a great opportunity for viral fame slip by. When there is an opportunity, you have to seize it, right?
Shu Yu and Ye Ning finished their work. The two of them huddled together, playing on Ye Ning's phone. As they scrolled through their private messages and saw the compliments, they would let out silly giggles from time to time.
Ye Ning: "She understands my little clever details!"
Shu Yu hurriedly raised her hand. "I, I, I understand too!"
Ye Ning rubbed Shu Yu's head. "Alright, alright, you understand. Let's look at the next one."
How could she be this cute? She really wanted to take Shu Yu home with her.
Mom would probably really like Shu Yu too if she saw her.
Ye Ning opened the next one and saw a new message.
—Hello, great Golden Corn, I am Brother Heng's junior schoolmate.
