Chapter 29 Ye Mei's Invitation

Under the same night sky, someone tossed and turned in a bedroom in the Huo family's main residence, unable to sleep.

"Why……"

Ye Mei turned over for the nth time, still feeling something stuck in her mind, and couldn't fall asleep no matter what.

She gently nudged her sleeping husband beside her.

"Wenbo, Wenbo?"

Huo Wenbo was fast asleep, and he mumbled a "hmm" without opening his eyes.

"Tell me, how should I thank Miss Ruan?" Ye Mei's voice was full of distress. "If it weren't for that child today, this old man of mine would have been dead."

Huo Wenbo was half asleep, his voice muffled: "Isn't there still a lot of jewelry in the storeroom at home? Pick one and send it over."

"Tacky!" Ye Mei immediately rejected the idea, giving him a disdainful slap. "You're so insensitive. That was a life-saving favor. Giving a piece of jewelry like you're just trying to get rid of someone is beneath you."

Huo Wenbo became more fully awake, and he turned to look at his wife: "So what do you want?"

"I think..." Ye Mei thought for a moment, "I want to get to know this child better."

"That's easy." Huo Wenbo yawned. "Find some time to invite her out for a meal and have a chat."

“Having dinner is an idea…” Ye Mei’s eyes lit up, but then dimmed again. “But what can I talk to her about? I can’t just say directly, ‘I’m Huo Yanzhi’s mother, and I want to thank you for saving me,’ can I? Wouldn’t that kid be so shy? What if she’s putting on an act in front of me? How am I supposed to tell what kind of person she really is?”

Huo Wenbo is now fully awake.

He sat up, leaned against the headboard, and looked at his wife.

He knows her too well. This isn't just about thanking someone; he's clearly taken a liking to the girl and is considering her as a potential daughter-in-law.

"Then let her come over to our house more often, and she'll get to know us better," Huo Wenbo suggested, seemingly a good idea.

"That won't work either!" Ye Mei retorted without thinking. "If she knew this was Yanzhi's house, wouldn't she be even more nervous? I still can't see anything."

Huo Wenbo rubbed his temples, feeling that his wife's thoughts were truly complicated.

Ye Mei paced around the bed for a couple of steps, then suddenly stopped and clapped her hands.

"Got it!"

Her eyes lit up as she looked at Huo Wenbo. "Isn't there a charity gala early next month? I'll give her an invitation, in my own name, as a token of my gratitude."

"That banquet was very exclusive; it was attended by prominent figures in the industry. She's currently in a position where she needs to expand her network, so this gift is far more practical than any jewelry."

"Secondly," Ye Mei smiled slyly, "I happen to have a tea party that I couldn't attend that day. Aren't you going? You can be my informant and help me observe this girl."

Huo Wenbo looked at his wife's "strategic" demeanor and couldn't help but laugh and cry.

“Me?” He pointed to himself. “I wouldn’t know how to look at young girls.”

"If you can't watch, just listen and observe. Observe how she interacts with people, how she conducts herself, whether she is generous or not, and whether she is proper or not."

Ye Mei enthusiastically assigned him a task, "Don't speak, just be invisible, observe from a distance, that's the most realistic way!"

The more she talked about it, the more brilliant she felt the idea was.

"Wenbai, let me tell you, the more I looked at that girl today, the more I liked her. Not only is she beautiful, but she's also kind and well-behaved. If her character is really good..."

Ye Mei leaned close to Huo Wenbo, lowered her voice, but her tone was very firm.

"Such a good daughter-in-law, we must hurry up and match her with Yanzhi, we can't let someone else snatch her away!"

*

Huo Yanzhi's 'Goodnight' gave Ruan Yao a whole night of pink bubble dreams.

In her dream, Huo Yanzhi was no longer the aloof and unattainable figure she once was; she had returned to her appearance from her previous life.

Because of this dream, this good mood lasted all the way to the office.

At the departmental meeting in the morning, Huo Jing summarized the work of the previous week as usual. At the end of the meeting, she changed the subject.

"Last week's offline promotion event had a minor mishap, but Ruan Yao from our planning department remained calm and reacted quickly, preventing more serious consequences."

Huo Jing's gaze fell on Ruan Yao, with a businesslike approval.

"This level of professionalism and sense of responsibility is something we should all learn from."

As soon as he finished speaking, a sparse round of applause rang out in the conference room, interspersed with a few envious and jealous glances.

Ruan Yao stood up and said a few polite words.

After the meeting ended, several familiar colleagues gathered around to congratulate her, and Ruan Yao smiled and responded to each of them.

As she was about to return to her workstation, a figure walked past her, bringing with it a gust of cold wind, and she was lightly bumped on the shoulder.

She looked up and saw Zhao Yan, a senior planner in the project department.

The man walked past without looking to the side, his face expressionless, as if the collision had been an unintentional accident.

Ruan Yao thought for a few seconds and then understood what was going on.

Because Huo Jing valued her "Summer Wonderland" project, Zhao Yan's project, which had been in preparation for nearly two months, was put on hold indefinitely.

That's how the workplace is; everyone has their own role.

Once she gained power, naturally some people had to make way for her.

But what can be done?

Back at her workstation, Ruan Yao had just made herself a cup of coffee when her phone rang.

She answered the phone casually, and a gentle, apologetic female voice came from the other end.

"Excuse me, are you Miss Ruan Yao?"

"I'm Ye Mei," the other person introduced themselves. "I hope I didn't disturb your work by asking Huo Jing for your phone number?"

Ye Mei.

Huo Yanzhi's mother.

Ruan Yao's heart skipped a beat, and she gripped her phone tighter, but her voice remained calm.

"Hello, Mrs. Huo. I hope I am not disturbing you."

"Oh, my child, just call me Aunt Ye." Ye Mei's voice was filled with laughter. "Thank you so much for what you did last time. I was thinking that giving you a gift would be too formal. I wonder if Miss Ruan would be free this weekend to come over for a cup of tea?"

Go to the Huo family?

Ruan Yao's heart began to pound faster.

This invitation was exactly what Ruan Yao wanted.

Since her rebirth, she has been scheming to get close to Huo Yanzhi, hoping to make up for the debt she owed to the Huo family in her previous life.

Now, the opportunity has been presented to us.

"It's convenient, I'm free." She suppressed her excitement and replied in the most obedient tone.

After hanging up the phone, Ruan Yao looked up and met Zhao Yan's strange gaze. He seemed to have heard something, his brows furrowed slightly, and then he turned around nonchalantly and walked away quickly.