Chapter 189, Section 188: The So-Called Feigned Indifference to Lure the Enem

"What are you talking about?"

Shen Ying walked over from across the street, smiling at the three of them: "You're not talking about grades, are you? Then I have nothing to talk to you about."

"What do you think? When the two of them are together, they just compare who stayed up later last night," Lin Yanwan said with a smile.

Shen Ying nodded in deep agreement: "Indeed, this period of time feels even more tiring than the previous final review."

Although her daily workload is not large, in order not to fall behind, she consciously spends a lot of time learning how to be a professional operator, so that the gap between her and others will not widen.

"Boss, about the anime merchandise you mentioned yesterday, should I start promoting it right away? How long until it goes on sale?" Shen Ying whispered.

Jiang Xia immediately interrupted, "Stop, stop, let's change the subject. We're not talking about work right now."

Now that there are so many people around, whether it's Tom and Jerry or Qitian Animation, he hopes to develop and make money in a low-key manner. Not only does it bring no benefit, but it also brings a lot of messy and troublesome things.

"Boss, I haven't told anyone outside," Shen Ying quickly said.

"Yingying, you should change how you address her." Lin Yanwan blinked. "Just call her by her name when you're with people you know well."

"Okay, boss lady."

Lin Yanwan: "???"

Shen Ying chuckled and gently shook her best friend's hand, saying, "Okay, okay, I won't tease you anymore."

"Did you receive the notification?" Lin Yanwan asked helplessly.

"We agreed not to talk about grades!" Shen Ying gritted her teeth, her face full of resentment.

Of these three people, two went to Tsinghua University and one to the Central Academy of Fine Arts, all in Beijing. She, on the other hand, only managed to get into a mediocre second-tier university after giving it her all.

Although they didn't care about diplomas or anything like that, Shen Ying still felt a little inferior.

"Oh my, we're best friends."

"An acceptance letter from Chongqing University of Technology and Business." Shen Ying said weakly with worry, "I'm so far away from you guys, boss, you're not going to fire me, are you?"

"Why are you overthinking things again? Didn't we just agree last time that distance doesn't matter? We live in the information age now, and as long as you're capable, you can work from home."

"Yingying, the most important thing for you right now is to study hard. You need to know that there's a lot to learn about operations. A company's public image depends entirely on its operations."

"I will do my best!" Shen Ying nodded emphatically. Her best friend's words completely dispelled her concerns. She wanted to be a useful person to the company.

"That's more like it."

Wang Ming watched without saying a word, and through Shen Ying, he once again confirmed Jiang Xia's words.

Even close friends can experience a psychological gap. Now that I think about it, could there have been such psychological factors in Shen Ying's rejection of him?

Is the so-called unsuitability simply a fear of being a burden?

As it approached six o'clock, more and more students entered the hotel. The six classes had nearly 400 students, almost filling the entire Maple Leaf Hotel.

"Shouldn't we go in now? Otherwise we might not be able to get a good spot later," Wang Ming asked, checking the time.

"really."

The boss gave the order, and the group followed their classmates into the hotel. Coincidentally, both Class 1 and Class 6 were in the same banquet hall, but the tables were divided into two sides, six tables on each side.

"No drinking for a while, understand?" Lin Yanwan said to Jiang Xia. She didn't want to drag the drunk Jiang Xia home again. This guy was always unruly when he was drunk.

"Yes, mahjong."

Jiang Xia squeezed his wife's hand to reassure her. In fact, if he didn't want to drink, no amount of persuasion would work; instead, he would use his more than ten years of social experience to shut her down.

Ultimately, these naive high school students were no match for him.

The four people separated on the spot, with Class 1 on the left and Class 6 on the right.

After checking the seating arrangement, Jiang Xia decisively chose the table furthest from the main table. Once the food was served, she would eat in peace, avoiding any of the commotion. She would find an opportunity to toast the teachers, and then slip away after finishing her meal.

As for going to karaoke after dinner, forget it. His soul, which is almost fifty years old in total from both lifetimes, won't join in the fun.

Not long after, the homeroom teacher, Ms. Wang, arrived, along with several other subject teachers. However, they all went to their respective classrooms' tables, and would have to take turns drinking later.

One by one, the students stood up to greet Lao Wang and talked about their college entrance examination scores and admission notices.

Jiang Xia looked around and suddenly realized someone was missing—his old deskmate was gone. He'd promised to be there, but then stood him up, hadn't he?

So he took out his phone and sent a message to Chen Yao on QQ: "Where are you? You're not here yet, are you? Old Wang is already here."

Chen Yao replied quickly: "Just got off work, took a taxi here, will be here soon, save me a seat."

"OK".

His table wasn't full yet, and Jiang Xia looked at it and said to Wang Ming, "Old Wang, can you take a seat next to me?"

Wang Ming nodded: "Who did they reserve them for?"

“My deskmate.” Jiang Xia calmly took a sip of the mineral water on the table.

Why does your deskmate sit next to me and not next to you?

"I have a wife, so I have to avoid suspicion. Do you have one?" Jiang Xia said casually.

Blanch!

Old Wang's face darkened. "Damn it, what happened to our good brother? You're the one who stabs your good brother in the heart, aren't you?"

"Cheer up, I'm doing this for your own good," Jiang Xia said seriously.

"?"

"Old Wang, you know the art of playing hard to get, right?" Jiang Xia glanced at him and chuckled.

"What's the meaning."

"Don't you like Shen Ying? Yes..."

Before he could finish speaking, Wang Ming interrupted, "I don't like it anymore."

"Are you lying to me, or to yourself?"

Jiang Xia couldn't help but purse his lips. It had only been a short time since he was rejected by Shen Ying. How could he have let go of her so easily? If anyone else had said that, Jiang Xia might have believed it, but this girl was such a sentimental fool. It was obvious that she was lying.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Jiang Xia continued, "If you didn't like it, why did you drink so much yesterday?"

Wang Ming: "..."

"Listen to me, I'll give you some advice. Master Jiang will give you a good lesson today."

Jiang Xia smiled and said, "The strategy of feigning indifference to lure someone into a trap is one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems of the Art of War. It means that if you want to capture someone, you must first learn to let them go. A classic example is Zhuge Liang's seven captures of Meng Huo. In romantic relationships, the strategy of feigning indifference to lure someone into a trap is also the pinnacle of dating skills. If you use it well, your success rate in dating will not be 100%, but it will definitely increase your success rate."

Wang Ming remained silent, but secretly pricked up his ears.