The salesgirl came in first to help Jiang Fuyue undo the straps, then relayed what that couple outside had said.
“Five times the price?”
“Mhm, that’s what the male customer offered.”
“Heh… Even if it were fifty times, I wouldn’t care. Wrap it up.”
“Eh!” Truly, the difference when you’ve got money—so blunt, so refreshing.
…
“The dress? Why haven’t you brought it out? I want to try it right now!”
The salesgirl: “I’m sorry, that lady declined.”
“What?! Did you tell her we’re offering five times the price?”
“I did, but she said…”
“She said what?”
“Uh!” The salesgirl looked troubled.
“What on earth did she say?!” The woman shrieked. The man next to her didn’t look too good either.
“She said, even if you gave her fifty times, she wouldn’t be interested.”
“Say that again?! What kind of person is she, really thinking she’s some top tycoon? Doesn’t even draft her bragging properly before running her mouth?!”
The salesgirl: “Since the other party refuses, I really can’t do anything…”
“You go tell her—one hundred times! Ask her again if she’ll sell!” the man suddenly barked.
Clearly, the one who didn’t get the dress was his female companion, yet he was acting even angrier than her, eyes blazing with fury.
The salesgirl froze.
That dress wasn’t cheap. Even on sale it cost over twenty thousand. Multiply that by a hundred and that was two million…
Oh my god.
The salesgirl almost wanted to hide the dress herself and sell it to this sucker later.
“Sorry, you’ve asked the wrong person,” Xie Dingyuan’s cold voice cut in. Behind the mask, his pitch-black, sharp eyes glinted like blades.
Their gazes locked. The man immediately felt crushed by the other’s presence, scalp tingling.
“I’ll pay one hundred times the money. Hand the dress over to my girlfriend. How about it?”
He addressed Xie Dingyuan, but his gaze clung shamelessly to Jiang Fuyue.
Just now he had only noticed her figure. Looking at her face now—stunning, breathtaking.
A restless itch spread through his heart.
“One hundred times?” Xie Dingyuan sneered. The arrogance of someone at the top spilled out. His eyes were saying plainly: Who the h*ll do you think you are?
Jiang Fuyue thought back to how he had first treated her when they met. Tsk.
Three words, a rhetorical question, and instantly the man felt utterly insulted.
“You f*cking—don’t know when someone’s giving you face—”
The last word hadn’t even left his mouth when he saw Xie Dingyuan raise his phone. The screen showed an active call—contact name: Sheng Yiming.
He lifted it to his ear: “Heard all that?”
“Apologies, President Xie. I’ll take care of it immediately.”
The man blinked in confusion. “Quit pretending with your tricks. A phone call, huh? Who can’t do that? Say a few words and you think you’re some big shot, acting like the sky’s about to fall—have you read too many overpowered webnovels?”
“I’m telling you, whether you sell it or not, today that dress will be mine!” he shouted, his lustful gaze brazenly raking over Jiang Fuyue.
Xie Dingyuan shielded her with an expressionless face. The look he gave the man was like staring at a corpse.
“You,” the man pointed at the salesgirl, “go bring that dress here. My girlfriend will try it on.”
The salesgirl: “This… wouldn’t be appropriate.”
“Do as you’re told! Want to get reported?!” The woman stuck out her crimson-painted nails, bossy and arrogant.
Then she hooked onto the man’s arm and cooed in a syrupy voice, “Darling, you’re so handsome~”
Suddenly, the man’s phone rang. He patted her hand, gentle and soft-spoken, “Let me take this call first.”
But his peripheral vision stayed locked on Jiang Fuyue.
“Seduction” wasn’t just something women did to men. Sometimes men also released signals to women.
At this moment, his entire act was nothing but a silent hint to Jiang Fuyue: Look at me. Not only rich, but gentle and considerate. Isn’t following me better than sticking with that useless poser next to you?
Jiang Fuyue: “…” Disgusting to even spare him a glance.
Much more entertaining to watch from behind Xie Dingyuan’s back.
“Hello? Ah—Manager Liu? Yes, it’s me, Little Tang! What?! Terminate the cooperation?! Why?! We had all the details nailed down, only left the signing stage—if you back out now, you’re killing me!”
The voice on the other end sighed helplessly: “You know how many companies fight to partner with our Hanqing Biotech every time we launch a new project. You got this opportunity—why didn’t you cherish it? Now that things have come to this, there’s nothing I can do.”
The man’s face twisted in disbelief: “I didn’t cherish it? I pushed aside all other projects to focus solely on Hanqing! You can’t just swap us out like this!”
“Orders from the top. Think about it—did you offend anyone lately?”
“How could I have offended—”
Mid-sentence, he froze, staring in shock at Xie Dingyuan.
The man wore a mask, his features unclear, but his height, long legs, and aura were unmistakable. Too young, though. At that age, how much status or achievement could he possibly have? At best, some spoiled rich kid. Tang Yong wasn’t afraid of that. But Hanqing had indeed canceled cooperation right after that phone call. The timing was… too perfect.
The sudden reversal left Tang Yong reeling. He no longer cared about dresses or pretty girls. If this deal fell through, his painstakingly built career was finished!
“Manager Liu, could you please put in a good word for me with the higher-ups? I’m really innocent here!”
“Sorry. You’ll have to fend for yourself.” Click.
The man exploded with curses: “What the f*ck—you think Hanqing Biotech is some treasure? Shameless b*stards!”
Meanwhile, the salesgirl had already run the payment with Xie Dingyuan’s card. With a smile, she sent the couple off: even their backs looked perfect together.
The other woman panicked as her coveted dress walked away: “Darling! The dress—my dress—”
Tang Yong snapped, finally losing it: “Shut the h*ll up already! All you know is ‘dress dress dress’! It’s already been bought, where the f*ck am I supposed to find you another? Steal it? Rob it?!”
The woman flinched at his fury, shrinking back in silence like a scolded quail.
Then, her eyes rolled, scheming: “Well, it’s only a dress, not that big a deal. A hundred times the price really wasn’t worth it anyway. Husband~ dear husband~ how about you just give me the cash instead? I’ll buy some bags, and a few sexy little dresses to please you, hmm?”
Veins popped on Tang Yong’s forehead: “Can you f*cking stop being in heat all the time? Once a whore, always a whore—no matter how much you wash, you can’t scrub away that stink. All you care about is my money! Get lost—right now!”
The woman shivered, sensing he wasn’t joking. She clammed up immediately, head down, not daring to breathe too loud.
Tang Yong racked his brain but still couldn’t figure out which Hanqing higher-up he had offended.
Suddenly, his eyes narrowed. He shook off the woman and strode straight to the cashier.
“Hello, sir?” the salesgirl greeted.
“Let me see the receipt from that couple just now.”
“This… isn’t allowed.”
Tang Yong slapped down a wad of cash. “What about now?”
“Well… what do you want to know from it? I can check for you.”
“That man’s name.”
She glanced down. “The black card doesn’t display personal information to protect client privacy. But when signing, he wrote one character: ‘Xie.’”
Surname Xie… and Hanqing Biotech again…
Tang Yong froze as if struck by lightning. His expression went slack.
Cr*p! He might have provoked some relative or clansman of that professor. No wonder a single phone call made Hanqing terminate the deal.
This time, truly… heaven falls, king breaks.
Tang Yong’s face went ashen, like falling into an ice cellar.
…
“Okay, I understand. Do it as you said.” Xie Dingyuan hung up and turned to take Jiang Fuyue’s hand.
“That man had a cooperation with Hanqing?” she asked.
“Mhm, a minor one.”
To Hanqing, dispensable. But to him, possibly a crippling blow.
Jiang Fuyue: “You just kicked him out like that. Got a reasonable excuse ready?”
Of course he had. Sheng Yiming had called earlier precisely to report the investigation results.
“He was shady to begin with. Cutting him off was only a matter of time.”
“Pfft. I thought you were really going to play some Long Aotian.”
“Who?”
Jiang Fuyue shook her head: “Nothing.”
Xie Dingyuan muttered, “I heard it. It was a man’s name.”
Surname Long…
Pfft—
“Professor Xie, why are you so cute?” Jiang Fuyue suddenly stepped in front of him, tiptoed, and reached out to squish his face.
Xie Dingyuan: “?” I’m being deformed…
