Chapter 6: Accept your fate or fight back.

Qingyan Group Headquarters, President's Office.

Just as Yan Tingnan's pen was hanging on the last page of the acquisition case, his special assistant Jing Huai knocked on the door and entered.

"You've found out everything?" Yan Tingnan didn't even look up, his voice indifferent.

Jing Huai nodded and handed over the tablet.

"Su Ruan, 22 years old, graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts."

"The girl who should have been surnamed Su was mistakenly labeled as a member of the Wen family in the maternity ward incubator; she was an unlucky baby switched at birth..."

After hearing about Su Ruan's background, Yan Tingnan's eyes narrowed slightly.

"The Wen family doesn't want it, and the Su family won't accept it?"

"A pathetic creature caught between two worlds?"

"Yes." Jing Huai pushed up his glasses, his tone calm.

"The one that both companies are now eyeing with envy is Wen Wanwan, who got straight A's at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management."

Yan Tingnan closed the pen case and looked up at Jing Huai.

What's going on between her and Yunye?

Jing Huai slid the tablet to the next page and said cautiously, "Miss Su went to the same high school as the young master. She chased after him every day, bringing him breakfast in the rain and sneaking him sketchbooks over the wall."

"On the night of his high school graduation, the young master, drunk, replied in a teasing tone, 'Come on,'"

"The young master met Wen Wanwan at the Tsinghua University welcome party and left Miss Su aside as an ornament."

"The young master disliked her for being clingy, but he kept her hanging on as a pastime. They had known each other for six years and dated for four. Miss Su was used as a prize in gambling and a source of amusement at drinking parties. People in the circle laughed at her for being shameless and low-class."

Yan Tingnan's eyes darkened, and a mocking smile curled at the corner of his lips.

"Four years..."

"He's quite tolerant."

"Has the matter from last night been investigated thoroughly?"

Jing Huai lowered his head and reported: "Last night in Nebula, the young master celebrated Miss Wen's birthday. Miss Su suffered some grievances and was forced to drink half a bottle of tequila."

Yan Tingnan tapped the table lightly with his knuckles, and his gaze behind his glasses suddenly turned cold.

"Half a bottle?"

"Yes, after Miss Su was made drunk, the young master asked her to go and buy clothes for Miss Wen."

Jing Huai hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

"She fell into the elevator just as you were finishing your social engagement and preparing to go upstairs..."

Upon hearing this, Yan Tingnan let out a cold laugh.

Last night, when she was clutching her tie, was she using herself as a lifeline?

He knelt and licked for four years without even getting a bone fragment, but he learned to tear Buddhist prayer beads with his teeth.

This girl has quite the ambition.

Jing Huai continued, "This afternoon, Miss Su took the initiative to go to see Madam Lin, and the two seem to have reached a cooperation agreement."

Upon hearing this, Yan Tingnan's brow twitched slightly.

"When she's not being a simp, she's actually quite clever and knows where to start."

"After Mrs. Lin finished investigating Su Ruan's information in the evening, she recommended her to the HR department for the position of curatorial assistant, directly entering the collection department."

"Curatorial assistant?"

Yan Tingnan gave a cold sneer, his voice low and deep.

"Lin Xuqiu certainly knows how to pick a spot."

The collections department was located on his office floor, which meant they were putting people under his nose.

Jing Huai tentatively asked, "President Yan, should we intercept it?"

Yan Tingnan raised her hand and interrupted decisively.

"Why should I spoil Aunt Lin's fun by handing her the knife?"

He knew Lin Xuqiu's thoughts all too well.

The woman whose life was ruined by the Yan family's arranged marriage hated the Yan family and this marriage in name only.

Now, she wants to use Su Ruan to sabotage the second marriage alliance between the Yan and Lin families.

This suited him perfectly.

As for whether that little wildcat will touch the old man's sore spot...

She chose this path, so she can't blame him for standing by and watching coldly.

"Let her come."

Jing Huai was slightly taken aback: "You mean..."

"Tell HR to give her the position."

He paused, his eyes growing cold: "Don't let her have it too easy."

Jing Huai understood: "I understand."

Yan Tingnan got up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the city lights below.

"Jinghuai, what do you think a kitten driven to the brink of despair would do?"

Jing Huai pondered for a moment, then cautiously replied, "Either accept your fate or fight back."

Yan Tingnan's lips curled slightly, the dim yellow light from the window reflecting on his cool profile.

He wanted to see what this little wildcat was like...

How did they use their claws to slowly scratch open the Yan family's door?

...

At 10 p.m., just as Su Ruan pushed open the apartment door, Song Shengsheng jumped up from the sofa with a skewer of squid in her mouth.

"Disappearing on your birthday?"

"12+ unread messages on WeChat, I thought you'd been drowned by that idiot Yan Yunye."

Su slumped into the sofa, her long legs resting on the armrest.

"They pulled off a big one."

Song Shengsheng's gaze swept over Su Ruan's collarbone, then he squinted and leaned closer, suddenly pinching her chin and turning her towards the light source.

"Holy crap! Those teeth marks are really wild!"

Song Shengsheng poked the red mark on her neck with her fingertip.

"That coward Yan Yunye hasn't dared to touch that forbidden zone for four years, which brave warrior broke the taboo?"

"His father is Yan Tingnan."

Su Ruan slapped her hand away and pulled a cushion over her collarbone.

"Holy crap! You slept with the 'Buddha' of Beijing's elite circle?!"

Song Shengsheng slammed the wine bottle on the coffee table and grabbed her shoulder.

Wow!

"Sleeping with his dad and cheating on his son, this is a bombshell!"

"Tell me more! What are the details? Was the Buddha panting heavily? Was his abs digging into his back?"

"Is it true, as some netizens have said, that a fire in a traditional, austere old house burned through a fire hydrant?"

Su Ruan grabbed the iced beer from the coffee table, and the pull tab snapped away.

"He just slammed on the brakes too hard, wasting that strong, muscular back."

Song Shengsheng deflated and shook her head: "Tsk, bad review!"

Su Ruan smiled and poured the beer from the can into her mouth.

"Brake? Next time I'll just..."

Just as Su Ruan was about to reply, her phone, which was on the coffee table, buzzed with a notification.

The pop-up banner with the four characters "[Qingyan Group]" jumped into Song Shengsheng's afterglow.

With lightning speed, Song Shengsheng grabbed her phone and shoved it in front of Su Ruan's face.

"Holy crap, this icon... is it Qingyan's offer??"

Su Ruan swiped open the email with her thumb, and the gold logo of the job offer made Song Shengsheng's pupils dilate.

"Curatorial assistant in the Collections Management Department? Qingyan Headquarters? This is practically a VIP elevator that goes straight to his waist!"

"Wait a minute, did you submit your Qingyan Group application eight hundred times before and it all disappeared without a trace?"

"Could it be Yan Tingnan?"

Su Ruan tossed her phone onto the coffee table and leaned back lazily.

"no."

“It was his stepmother, Lin Xuqiu.”

Su Ruan briefly told Song Shengsheng about her meeting with Lin Xuqiu today.

After hearing this, Song Shengsheng slapped her thigh.

"Lin Xuqiu wants you to stir up a hornet's nest in the Yan family?"

Su Ruan nodded: "Each takes what they need."

Song Shengsheng shoved his thumb in front of her eyes.

"We should have gone this crazy a long time ago!"

"Thinking about how you've been chasing after that simp Yan all these years makes me want to punch you."

Su Ruan tapped her fingertips on the beer can, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.

"It's better to make him kneel down and call me 'stepmother' than to lick his boots."

Hearing this, Song Shengsheng got excited.

"However, you'd better be smarter this time."

"When pursuing Yan Tingnan, you must not do it like you did when pursuing Yan Yunye, by being direct and persistent."

Su Ruan rested her chin on her hand, her eyes crinkling into hooks.

"Who said I was going to pursue him?"

She already had a plan in mind.

"The best fishing technique is to first scatter the bait, then lure the fish in, so that they will bite the hook on their own."

"Three parts fishing, seven parts endurance."

"A man like Yan Tingnan, you could lift a corner of his shirt and he'd build ten firewalls, but if he himself were to unbuckle his belt..."

Song Shengsheng burst out laughing, then bumped his beer can against Su Ruan's.

"Wow, the strategy has been upgraded!"

Looking at her, Song Shengsheng suddenly felt a pang of emotion.

"Ruan Ruan, you've really changed."

In the past, she was led by the nose by the plot, chasing after Yan Yunye like a puppet on a string.

But now it's different; she's going to act out this scene the way she wants!