Ever since he learned that Meng Zihan had returned to Jiangcheng, Ye Linchen knew that this person would come knocking on his door sooner or later.
Knowing Meng Zihan's pathetic vanity, it would be strange if she didn't swagger around in front of her after coming all the way back from Hong Kong.
If she unusually behaves timidly, Ye Linchen should be wary of whether she is plotting something even more insidious.
Ye Linchen was surprised that Meng Zihan arrived so quickly.
They had just finished a farce at the Ye family home with the debt collectors that afternoon, and now they couldn't wait to block the university gate that evening.
Can't even wait one night?
Ye Linchen sat in the passenger seat, looking quietly at the familiar yet unfamiliar figure not far away through the car window.
Meng Zihan's thoughts were obvious to her.
She simply wanted to show everyone who looked down on her that Meng Zihan had risen to prominence and was no longer the same person she used to be.
Those people from the Ye family were nothing in her eyes; the one she truly wanted to trample underfoot was herself.
This country bumpkin, whom she considered inferior to her in every way.
She probably thought that as long as she acted quickly enough, the embarrassing incident of being confronted by debt collectors at the Ye family's house that afternoon would not reach her ears.
Unfortunately, while she had a brilliant plan, she hadn't anticipated that those two boys, Ye Linnan and Ye Linbei, had already sent word.
She never expected that Gu Jingran would be with her tonight.
Meng Zihan also saw them in the car.
She stubbed out her slender cigarette, tossed it to the ground, straightened her back, and walked step by step toward the car, keeping time with the rhythmic "tap, tap, tap."
Her swaying movements and affected smile were like those of a model on a catwalk, each step carrying an air of boasting and provocation.
Gu Jingran frowned. He didn't say anything, but simply placed his hands on the steering wheel and calmly looked ahead.
Meng Zihan walked to the car, bent down, and first gave Gu Jingran in the driver's seat a charming smile.
She greeted him sweetly, "Mr. Gu, it's been a long time!"
Gu Jingran stared coldly ahead, not even sparing a glance.
Meng Zihan didn't feel embarrassed at all; on the contrary, she thought Gu Jingran was very smart.
Remaining silent in the face of the victor is clearly a wise move.
She straightened up, then swept her disdainful gaze at Ye Linchen, the corners of her mouth curving into a wider smile.
"Oh dear, cousin, you've been with President Gu for so long, how come you haven't improved at all? If I remember correctly, that shirt you're wearing is a style from last year, right? It's so out of fashion now."
Exposing Ye Linchen's wearing of old clothes in front of Gu Jingran would definitely make her so ashamed she'd want to disappear!
In Meng Zihan's mind, a woman's pride is more important than anything else in front of the man she likes.
Unfortunately, Ye Linchen's reaction greatly disappointed her.
Ye Linchen wasn't embarrassed; he simply leaned back in his chair and lazily watched her.
"Is that so?" Ye Linchen said casually, "Compared to your cropped tops and ripped jeans, they certainly aren't exactly trendy. I just wonder, how many of these 'trendy' designs that you personally oversaw have actually sold, President Meng?"
Meng Zihan's smile froze, and she blurted out, "You...how did you know?"
She regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth.
Isn't this an admission of guilt without being asked?
Ye Linchen simply smiled meaningfully and said no more.
Meng Zihan's mind raced, and after a moment of panic, she suddenly realized a problem.
Ye Linchen actually knows so much about my affairs!
What does this tell us?
This means she's jealous of me!
This means she's been secretly watching me, afraid that I'll be doing better than her!
That must be it!
Meng Zihan's initial embarrassment vanished instantly, replaced by even greater smugness.
She straightened her back, crossed her arms over her chest, and raised her chin high, looking down at Ye Linchen in the car with a victorious air.
"Heh, looks like you're paying close attention to me." She tossed her hair smugly. "Since you're so concerned about me, you must have already found out that my clothing brand is booming. In just half a month, the net profit is tens of thousands of yuan! See?"
She pointed to herself, then to Ye Linchen, her voice booming as if telling the whole world:
"What's the point of studying so hard? After you graduate from university and find a job, how much money will you earn in a year? Will it be as much as my profit in half a month? Ye Linchen, you need to face reality. In today's society, academic qualifications are not important. Being able to make money is the real skill!"
Her voice drew curious glances from several students passing by the school gate.
This is exactly the effect Meng Zihan wanted.
She wanted to publicly humiliate Ye Linchen and make her understand that the height she was standing at was something Ye Linchen could never reach in her entire life.
Gu Jingran, inside the car, had already turned cold.
He looked at Meng Zihan's smug face, his eyes devoid of any warmth.
Ye Linchen remained calm.
She slowly straightened her clothes, raised her eyes, and her clear gaze fell on Meng Zihan's smug face.
She didn't answer the stupid question about making money, but just smiled and said something that struck Meng Zihan like a thunderbolt.
"Since President Meng is making so much money now, tens of thousands a month, why not take some time to pay off the 100,000 yuan high-interest loan your father owed? That would save those debt collectors from coming to your aunt and uncle's house every few days to cause trouble and make your aunt unable to hold her head up at the factory."
With a "boom," Meng Zihan felt her brain explode.
The color drained from her face instantly, her smug smile vanished, leaving only terror.
Ten...ten thousand yuan?
Are they debt collectors?
How could Ye Linchen know?
How did she know there was a debt of 100,000 yuan?
You still know it's loan sharking?
They even knew that debt collectors had come to their door?
This happened at the Ye family's house this afternoon, how could she know so much about it?
Could it be that no sooner had she left than those two brats, Ye Linnan and Ye Linbei, came to tell her?
So what's the point of her showing off like this now?
Meng Zihan suddenly felt as if she had been stripped naked and thrown at a crossroads, all her humiliation and disarray laid bare for all to see.
Her carefully constructed image of a "successful female boss" crumbled completely in the face of Ye Linchen's few light words.
All her pride and confidence became a huge joke in the face of the words "100,000 yuan usurious loan".
"How...how did you know?"
Meng Zihan's voice trembled uncontrollably as she shrieked, "What else do you know? Speak! What else do you know?!"
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