Yan Shuyu, who couldn’t figure out a solution immediately, went to work with a frown on her face. She was very dispirited throughout the day and wasn’t even in the mood to joke around with her little buddies. When Manager Yang asked her to join him in the game, she came very close to asking him for advice. He’s a man too so he should know of ways that would make other men lose interest?

But after she gave that idea some more thought, had Manager Yang had that kind of EQ, he wouldn’t still be single. So she decided against asking him for advice. She didn’t want to provide her little buddies more subjects to gossip about when she couldn't find a solution to her problem.

Yan Shuyu gave him a very loaded look and finally chose to remain silent.

Yang Zifeng had no idea what went through his little buddy’s mind, but he was able to read her “you are hopeless” look after she had looked at him a few times. He felt very unjust. “All I asked was for you to join me to fight the BOSS in a game. Is it that difficult, really?”

Yan Shuyu waved her hand. With a profound look, she said to him, “Pass. I am pondering about the meaning of life.”

Manager Yang: “……”

Her reaction was making him want to ponder about the meaning of life – was he really that bad in the game?

Just when everybody was pondering about the meaning of life, a very special guest arrived at the coffee shop. When a little buddy came to notify Yan Shuyu, she even gave her a lowdown softly, “It’s a very wealthy-looking woman with a Hermes purse and driving a Ferrari. She frowned as soon as she walked inside the shop, as though our shop wasn’t good enough for her. Her tone was very arrogant as well. She just asked whether you are here and said you had to go meet her… Well, I don’t think she came in peace.” The little buddy looked at Yan Shuyu with curiosity as she gave her the lowdown. “Say, Yanyan, how did you end up offending a rich woman like that?”

Yan Shuyu, too, was baffled. “But I don’t even know any rich woman.”

Sherry, her little buddy, thought that made a lot of sense. As she walked out with Yan Shuyu, she said to her softly, “You play it by the ear, okay? Her manner might be imposing, but there is only one of her. If she tries to get violent, you just shout loudly.”

Yan Shuyu: “……”

She felt that her little buddy was exaggerated a little bit. Nonetheless, she started to get nervous.

After walking out of Manager Yang’s office, Yan Shuyu could see the wealthy woman that her little buddy had told her about. She immediately let out a sigh of relief. Nope, she had never seen her before. Must just be a misunderstanding. Even if it wasn’t a misunderstanding, it couldn’t be that big of a deal.

Yan Shuyu, thinking optimistically, patted Sherry on her hand. Then, she turned toward Manager Yang, who was worriedly following behind them and said with confidence, “Don’t worry. I got this.”

Both Yang Zifeng and Sherry, seeing how confident she was, decided to stop worrying about her and walked away.

This was, after all, a place of business. If the other party bore no ill will, it would be rude to be too overly defensive. They were better off going back to what they were doing.

Yan Shuyu quickly walked over to the wealthy woman and greeted her politely. “Good afternoon, Madam. You are looking for me?”

She was going to address her as “Miss”, but judging from her look, as much as she was well-maintained, she was at least in her forties or fifties. That, on top of her fanciful outfit, Yan Shuyu suddenly felt that “Madam” would be more fitting.

She was also addressed as “Madam” when she went to the seafood feast with the boss, so she gathered that rich people would probably prefer that title better.

Yan Shuyu might be enthusiastic and friendly, but the graceful and solemn rich woman, sitting with her back straight, didn’t seem remotely as friendly. She lifted her chin and gave Yan Shuyu a nonchalant glance. Yan Shuyu immediately felt that she was being weighted and the outcome was obviously disappointing as there was resentment in the rich woman’s eyes.

Without even any effort to hide that resentment, the woman said, “So you are Yan Shuyu? You don’t look all that. Oh, never mind. Sit down.”

The rich woman’s I-am-showing-you-mercy-by-letting-you-have-a-seat attitude had greatly offended Yan Shuyu. She had always believed that she was extremely talented and amazing. And, now she even has an incredibly beautiful body, arguably the “fairest of them all”, so how dare the rich woman look down on her?

Plus, they have never even met before. This random rich woman coming out of nowhere just decided to belittle her for no reasons. As affluent as she might seem, it still didn’t change the fact that she has mental issues. She didn’t need to sit and chat with someone with mental issues.

Yan Shuyu took a deep breath and decided to go back to being her nonconfrontational little fairy. There was no need for her to engage with this rich woman who was obviously ill. She took a look at her and was about to turn and leave when she heard resentful words suddenly coming out of the rich woman, “Such an immature girl. I don’t get what Qinhe sees in you.”

She knew the boss? Yan Shuyu, stunned for a little, and pulled back her leg that was already heading in the other direction. Now, it’d all make a lot of sense if the rich woman was the boss’s family member. Even she didn’t feel that she was good enough for the boss, so it’s only natural that the Zhou’s family member would look down on her.

Yan Shuyu wasn’t pleased with the rich woman’s arrogant manner, but she figured the rich woman was probably here to offer her help on the subject that had been bothering her so much lately, perhaps she could spend some time chatting with her.

Yan Shuyu talked herself into taking a seat, but she was nowhere as friendly as she was a moment ago. Cold and with an untouchable air, she said, “What do you want from me?”

She was just learning it on the spot from the rich woman. Naturally, the rich woman was much better than her at being stuck up. Merely lifting her chin was sufficient for her to convey her insufferable arrogance. The words out of her were severe as well, “Yan Shuyu, born to the lower class. Had been a good-for-nothing since an early age. You’ve quit school and eloped with your gangster boyfriend. You had no skills and were also unlucky, your gangster boyfriend was killed in a street fight shortly after your child was born. Having lost that meal ticket, instead of looking for a decent job, you decided to turn to the red-light district. You can take a girl out of her elements, but you can’t take the elements out of her…”

Yan Shuyu: “……”

Was she here to offer her help or looking for a beating?

“But, you have your ways. Even so down on luck you were, somehow, still able to come into contact with Qinhe. Are you thinking that he is going to be your golden meal ticket, bring you into the upper class, and that you will never have to worry about anything else for the rest of your life once you’ve married him?”

No, that was not Yan Shuyu was thinking about. Her biggest thought at this very moment was regret. She shouldn’t have, out of her own desperation, thought that this woman was here to offer her help to her. As the saying goes, you don’t go for the jugular when you want to help someone.

This rich woman in her fanciful clothes was vicious to say the least, as if she wanted to stab her in her heart with every single word. If her age wasn’t off by so much, Yan Shuyu would second guess that she had stolen the rich woman’s man to have caused her to have such hatred toward herself.

Welp, there was no reason to go on with this conversation, so Yan Shuyu was about to get up and walk away again. Nonetheless, before she was able to act upon it, the rich woman sitting across from her chuckled. Most likely thinking that now that she had put Yan Shuyu in her place, she can now move onto her main purpose.

She tapped the table top with her index finger that has an emerald green ring on it. With a shred of impatience in her disdainful voice, she said, “Out with it, what would it take for you to leave Qinhe?”

Yan Shuyu, who was just about to walk away, sat back down docilely. She couldn't help but ask, “So you are Boss Zhou’s mother?”

What a familiar development.

A hint of annoyance caused by shame flashed past the eyes of Qin Luoyi, the rich woman.

She felt that her daughter and Boss Zhou were a match made in heaven. As long as she could take care of this little wench in front of her, she would naturally become Boss Zhou’s mother-in-law in due time. But they were, after all, not related at the moment. Yan Shuyu’s question made Qin Luoyi feel that she was being challenged and insulted.

Qin Luoyi didn’t originally think that it had to be Zhou Qinhe. With his high status, if this was to be his first marriage, even her nieces from her side of the family might not be good enough for him. But now that it was his second marriage, they would have a shot at it. She must at least try to fight for her daughter.

She did understand the concept that certain things could not be forced. She even had a talk with Xie Yuxuan while they were looking into Yan Shuyu. Had that woman been halfway decent, they would have given up. There was no need to make enemies even if they couldn’t marry into the family.

Welp, it probably would have been better had they never looked into Yan Shuyu at all. The result they had gotten truly startled them. The woman with Zhou Qinhe was not only unacceptable, she was despicable like mud that people spit on – born to the lower class, came from a poor family, barely half literate, a widow with a kid, and worked in the red-light district previously. Nevermind that this woman wasn’t good enough for Zhou Qinhe, she was too dirty to even carry her daughter’s shoes for her.

It was so obvious that a woman like that would never marry into the Zhou’s, so why should they back off of such an ideal son-in-law like Zhou Qinhe for a woman like that?

Qin Luoyi felt a strong feeling of unjust.

Even so, she didn’t need to stoop so low as to come to talk to Yan Shuyu in person. Boss Zhou wouldn’t marry her one way or another. All they needed to do was to maintain a good relationship with Boss Zhou and never needed to acknowledge the existence of this woman.

Except some additional information from Xie Yuxuan really bothered Qin Luoyi – the day of their first meeting happened to be the coffee shop where this wench had just started working at. She even acted very innocently and performed for them. Boss Zhou had never asked Yuxuan out again after that. According to their investigations, he had been visiting the coffee shop frequently since then.

What the heck was that? Did that woman just use her daughter as the springboard to steal her daughter’s man?

Qin Luoyi wasn’t going to let that slide. She might not have a great marriage and that her husband didn’t have very high status among their circle, but back in the days, she was the Qin’s Young Miss. How could she allow a wench like that to walk all over herself and her daughter?

That was the reason Qin Luoyi decided to come and meet Yan Shuyu in person.

That was, of course, only a small part of the reasons. A more important one was that Yan Shuyu had started presenting a threat to Qin Luoyi.

Naturally, Qin Luoyi didn’t know nor would she believe that it was Zhou Qinhe that was pursuing Yan Shuyu. In her mind, the fact that a woman from a background such as Yan Shuyu’s was only able to successfully hook Boss Zhou meant that, in addition to her look, she must also be very manipulative. She must have done a lot of research to be able to use her daughter as a springboard.

Women like that might aim high but nevertheless failed to analyze the situation comprehensively. She probably thought that the biggest hurdle lying between herself and marrying into the Zhou’s was the Boss Zhou’s ideal candidate, Yuxuan, whom he had gone on a date with. And that as long as she could get rid of Yuxuan, she would have nothing else to worry about.

Boss Zhou had never asked her Yuxuan out again since the last date. She figured it must be the handy work of this little wench.

As such, they couldn’t just lay down and take it. They must teach Yan Shuyu a lesson that she couldn’t just use someone else like that – and that was the real purpose of her visit.

In other words, she was here to stake her claim. She wouldn’t show a shred of friendliness and she had, since walking inside the shop, maintained her insufferable and untouchable arrogant stance.

Just as she had thought, Yan Shuyu was, indeed, as manipulative as she had expected. She had given her no reaction at all after everything that she had said. She was shameless and bold. That would explain how she was able to take advantage of Boss Zhou back when she was working at Hotel Dorsett.

Qin Luoyi was now even more worried than she was before. She felt that she had been scorned by Yan Shuyu’s seemingly indifferent words. Suppressing her anger, she made herself seem very righteous as she said to her, “More or less.”

More or less?

Yan Shuyu was a little baffled. Did the boss have a stepmom himself? She didn’t seem to recall reading about that in the book.

The rich woman sitting across from her didn’t want to engage with her for much longer. With a very fake smile, she said to her, “Little girl, it’s nice to have dreams. But let me give you an advice, greed has no end. With your looks, you can probably find a pretty decent husband if you just lower your bar a little. You will then be set for the rest of your life. However, if you insist on staying with Zhou Qinhe, you just might lose both yourself and your chance at money and end up with nothing in the very end.”

“How do you know I will lose both myself and my chance at money in the very end?” asked Yan Shuyu most sincerely.

Wasn’t she the only one who has read the script before?

Qin Luoyi’s face dropped. “Do I need to tell you the status of the Zhou’s? I am sure you have already done your own research. Even in ancient times they were nobles. The Zhou’s have businesses all over the world, and they have invested in just about every field. Many of their enterprises are listed in the world’s top 500. They can be considered as tycoons. Now let’s look at your status. Do you really think you can become Mrs. Zhou?”

Oh, so that’s what the rich woman meant. Yan Shuyu finally understood what she was talking about. As much as the rich woman sounded so convincing, she still felt a bit uncertain. “Are you sure that Boss Zhou would never marry me?”

But “she” was Mrs. Zhou for a good 20 years in the novel.