Yan Shuyu’s intention wasn’t to be facetious at all. Quite the contrary, she really wanted to know what Qin Luoyi has in mind to prevent her from becoming Mrs. Zhou.

Nevertheless, from Qin Luoyi ‘s perspective, she thought that Yan Shuyu was being stubborn and didn’t care about what she had said at all.

Qin Luoyi was very angry. She figured that now that this girl had associated herself with Boss Zhou, she was just like a dog who had its teeth sunk into a bone. There was no way to make her let go of it.

She snickered and said, “Am I sure? Can it be more obvious? Never mind about anything else, Zhou Qinhe’s ex-wife, who is Zhou Yi’s mother; you have met Zhou Yi, right? She was a beauty in our circle. Your look might be above average among commoners, but it doesn’t come anywhere close to Zhou Qinhe’s ex-wife’s look.”

Truth be told, Qin Luoyi didn’t really think that Boss Zhou’s ex-wife was all that. At least in her mind, her daughter was the best and the perfect match for Zhou Qinhe. But, even if Boss Zhou’s ex-wife wasn’t as perfect, she was still someone out of Yan Shuyu’s league.

That being said, Boss Zhou’s ex-wife’s look and family background were certainly impeccable, even when compared to her Yuxuan. Which was why Qin Luoyi praised her repeatedly in front of Yan Shuyu, wanting to force Yan Shuyu into backing out.

“Not only was she the prettiest girl in our circle, she was also multi-talented and the favorite of the Lin’s. Their marriage was coined a match made in heaven. And if someone like Ms. Lin wasn’t able to hold onto the position of Mrs. Zhou, what makes you think that you will be able to?”

Hearing her describing the boss’s ex-wife like she was a fairy right out of a story book, Yan Shuyu was dumbfounded – her look was about her best trait, but she wasn’t even the prettiest woman that the boss has seen. His ex-wife was prettier and more fairy-like than she was. So… what was it that he saw in her then?

But she didn’t spend too much time mulling over that. After all, Yan Shuyu didn’t have too many feelings for the boss. At most, there was some vanity in her. Meaning that she wouldn’t experience any inferiority complex after listening to Qin Luoyi’s description. She thought of it more like listening to a story.

The male lead’s birth mother, the boss’s ex-wife, wasn’t even mentioned in the book at all. No offense, but she had just assumed that she had died prematurely. But from what the rich woman was saying, it sounded like she had merely divorced the boss?

Now Yan Shuyu was full-on curious. “Why did Boss Zhou split with his ex-wife?”

Whatever happened to the match made in heaven?

Qin Luoyi: ……

Why did she suddenly feel that she had given her opponent a lot of information?

But she was already here. Rest be assured, she wasn’t going to call it quit now. Qin Luoyi continued working on knocking down Yan Shuyu’s confidence. She said to her coldly, “Irreconcilable differences at the end of the day. Not every woman can take that spot next to him. Do you really think he’ll marry you just because he’s somewhat interested in you right now?”

What a shame. Yan Shuyu did think that up until the point that the rich woman showed up. She assumed that the boss was courting her, so she could become the male lead’s stepmom.

Now that she had listened to the rich woman’s analysis, Yan Shuyu suddenly realized that she had overthought this – the boss was only pursuing her because her technique was somewhat decent, and they were compatible in bed. He merely wanted a casual relationship. His family still has a very high standard. The only reason the stepmom in the novel was able to become his wife was because she had spent a lot of time and effort working on the boss and the male lead. In other words, as long as she didn’t work so hard on it, the boss would not voluntarily bring up marriage.

Once she had that figured out, she smiled brightly and nodded at the rich woman. “Okay, I get it now.”

Qin Luoyi was very baffled by her abrupt change in attitude. She squinted and asked, “What do you get?”

“That Boss Zhou won’t marry me.”

Qin Luoyi naturally didn’t believe that the person who was very stubborn just a moment ago would suddenly gain this sort of self-awareness. And, even if she did, she shouldn’t have looked so happy. Probably this girl just didn’t want to offend her and was just saying it. But that’s alright, as long as she was willing to feign that she was backing off in front of her, she could make it real.

Qin Luoyi harrumphed and said, “I’m glad you can see that now.”

Immediately after that, Qin Luoyi pulled out the legendary checkbook. Looking down at Yan Shuyu from her high and mighty position, she said to her, “I am glad we can reach an agreement. Now name your price.”

As long as she accepted her money, she wouldn’t be able to pull any more stunts. She knew her ways around gold diggers like them.

Naturally, Yan Shuyu had no idea what was going through the rich woman’s mind but the dog blood inside of her was roiling. Oh sh*t, here comes the check. She took back all of her doubts about the rich woman earlier. The rich woman was, indeed, an altruistic person. She was such a great sidekick. Not only did she help her analyze her situation, and now she was offering her money. She was so generous that even Yan Shuyu was starting to feel a bit of a guilty conscience.

But, knowing that this was her golden opportunity to become rich, Yan Shuyu had no heart to turn her down. Even though the rich woman ended up helping her out, Yan Shuyu wasn’t dumb enough to miss the fact that the intention of her trip was malicious.

As the rich woman’s intention was malicious toward her, then it didn’t seem entirely bad to take some of her money to treat herself, right? Yan Shuyu mulled over it for a bit before she said decisively, “Okay, what do you need me to do?”

“Stay away from Zhou Qinhe. Specifically, move, quit your job, preferably move to a different city altogether. Should be pretty easy to do, right?”

Yan Shuyu hesitated for a little bit. The rich woman’s requests weren’t that difficult to do at all: Moving -- she’d love to move as soon as she has money; preferably a comfortable 2-bedroom place. Her instant son would be starting grade school in a couple of years. He’s a boy and she’s a woman, he should have his own room. Quitting her job would be even easier – she was already going to leave Sunshine House to go to Male God Liu’s place anyway. Moving to a different city was a different story. She had already made a lot of little buddies here and finally found that cozy job with status that she had been looking for, not to mention the group of free talent teachers for her instant son. Things were going so well that she didn’t want to give them up.

But that last one wasn’t her biggest hesitation.

As long as she didn’t have to marry the boss, she was very interested in dating him. The boss was handsome and skillful in bed. He was the perfect lover who came right out of her dreams. If only she could have a relationship with him without having to actually marry him, then this transmigration would be totally worth it!

Alas, one could never have the cake and eat it too. Struggling between the handsome guy and the check for a few seconds, Yan Shuyu finally picked the check to her dismay. “I can quit my job and move, but I will not move to a different city. I have my life here; I can’t nor do I want to move to a different city.”

Yan Shuyu confidently bartered with the woman. If they could not reach an agreement, then she could go and have her little romance with the boss.

Qin Luoyi seemed to have seen through her as well. Naturally, she would not let her have that opportunity. She thought about it for a few seconds. Giving Yan Shuyu a profound look, she said, “I hope you can keep to your words.”

Yan Shuyu nodded with confidence, “Don’t worry. I have very good work ethics.”

Qin Luoyi, “……”

So this wasn’t her first time, thought Qin Luoyi to herself in contempt. Then, she asked nonchalantly, “Okay, name your price then.”

She was about to become instantly rich. Yan Shuyu rubbed her hands together nervously and said, “500,000 yuan!”

What she really wanted to say was 5 million yuan. That way even if the rich woman discounted her by 50%, she’d still end up with 2.5 million yuan. That still wasn’t a shabby amount.

Alas, poverty had truly limited her imagination. She had never seen 5 million yuan in her two lives combined. She was intimidated and knocked off one zero when she spoke.

500,000 yuan wasn’t bad either. With that kind of money, she wouldn’t need to work too hard to be able to support herself and her instant son. Sweet. And that was how Yan Shuyu comforted herself. She then saw a look of contempt flashed through the rich woman’s eyes.

The rich woman said in a very merciful tone, “I’ll give you 2 million yuan. I hope you can stick to your words.”

Yan Shuyu, “……”

She never expected that the rich woman would voluntarily up the amount for her. Did she think that 500,000 yuan was such a small amount that it was an insult to her?

She wasn’t too far from the truth. Qin Luoyi felt that 500,000 yuan wasn’t even worth her wasting a check on.

She hadn’t expected that Yan Shuyu, who had been around Zhou Qinhe for such a long time now, would be so shallow that she was willing to give up on Boss Zhou for just 500,000 yuan. What would Boss Zhou think when he found out? Even just for Boss Zhou’s sake, she couldn’t possibly pay an amount that was so paltry that it was only fit for a beggar.

Before Qin Luoyi went there, her budget was as high as 10 million yuan. She was willing to pay a lot as long as her daughter could marry Boss Zhou.

Yan Shuyu obviously had no idea what kind of money she had missed out on. She held onto the 2-million-yuan check like she had all the wealth in the world and gave the god of wealth, er, the rich woman her most sincere gratitude.

Looking at Yan Shuyu’s loser look, Qin Luoyi snickered, grabbed her own purse, and left.

Yan Shuyu waved excitedly behind her and said, “Have a safe trip back!”

As soon as the rich woman was out of sight, Yan Shuyu couldn’t contain herself anymore. She brought the check with her to Manager Yang and even made a point to lock the office door behind her before she pulled the check out like it was some sort of a treasure and presented it to him. “Manager, do you know how I can cash this check?”

Instead of answering her question, Manager Yang asked her nosily, “What is going on?”

“Oh, the rich woman offered me a check to leave Boss Zhou.” Yan Shuyu summed it up briskly for Manager Yang.

To her surprise, her little buddy was also very good at grasping the main point. “Leave him? Since when have you two been a thing?”

“We are not.” Yan Shuyu was still hoping that Manager Yang would accompany her to cash the check so she only briefly described her relationship with the boss. “He’s courting me but I didn’t accept it.”

“If Boss Zhou was courting you, why did the rich woman ask you to leave him? Shouldn’t she be asking him to leave you?”

“Oh! You are right!” That was the first time Yan Shuyu noticed that the rich woman’s logic was somewhat flawed. But she was her god of wealth, so she was able to quickly find a reason to defend her. “Perhaps Boss Zhou was already too far gone and beyond reasoning. The rich woman had no other means other than coming at me?”

Manager Yang asked profoundly, “How is she related to Boss Zhou?”

“I asked her if she’s Boss Zhou’s mother and she said ‘more or less’. So I figured she was either his stepmother or someone from an older generation in the family?”

Yang Zifeng, “……”

“You didn’t even know who she is and you just accepted her check? Are you crazy?”

Yan Shuyu felt very righteous when she replied with, “I am going to turn him down one way or another anyway, why should I feel bad about accepting a check that was offered up to me?”

“Alright. You won.” Convinced, Yang Zifeng finally nodded. He took the check over from her, took a look at it, and snickered. “It’s just 2 million yuan. Sheesh, you made it sound like it was such an astronomical amount.”

Now it was Yan Shuyu’s turn to be stunned. “2 million yuan is not a lot of money?”

Yang Zifeng finally acted like the Second Generation Rich that he was and said casually, “Depends on the situation. Given Boss Zhou’s status, to have you ‘leave’ him, the starting price should at least be 5 to 10 million yuan.”

“Is 1,000 yuan the synonym for 1 million yuan for you rich people?” Yan Shuyu clutched her chest and felt her heart ache. “I guess I don’t have what it takes to become a parvenu riche.”

Seeing the painful look on her face, Yang Zifeng had no heart to tell her that she may not even be able to pocket this 2 million yuan. After all, the identity of that rich woman was quite questionable. It’d be better if she truly was Boss Zhou’s family member. If she isn’t, Yan Shuyu was getting excited over nothing.

Thinking about that, he decided to ask her in a roundabout way. “Did you want to go and cash it as soon as possible?”

Yan Shuyu nodded as quickly as she could. She had already lost 5 million yuan. She could only feel relieved after she had deposited the 2 million yuan.

Nevertheless, Manager Yang made a suggestion out of the blue. “I think you should wait on this. You have ten days to cash this check. A couple of days won’t make any different. This concerns Boss Zhou after all. Perhaps you should give him a heads up first.”

Yan Shuyu looked dumbfounded. “What am I supposed to tell him? That I sold him for money?”

“Oh, so now you have a guilty conscience?” Yang Zifeng teased her. But he, nonetheless, helped her analyze the situation. “You accepted her money to solve a problem for her, right? Wouldn’t it be better if you cash the check after you have reached an agreement with Boss Zhou?”