A man jumped down from the helicopter, estimated to be Lu Sui’s assistant.

“Miss Wu, please delete the photos you took on the island from your phone,” Mark said politely.

Wu Mangmang had originally thought she could take the photos out to show off, but apparently that wasn’t allowed.

The island’s network required a special password to access, and Wu Mangmang obviously didn’t have that privilege—Weibo and WeChat were completely silent.

Under Mark’s watchful gaze, Wu Mangmang had to take out her phone and delete the photos in batches.

“Thank you.” Mark nodded with a smile and invited Wu Mangmang aboard.

Looking down at Dream House from the air, its shape was actually the letters L and S. How narcissistic must one be to build a house like that?

Wu Mangmang looked at the emerald jewel-like small island in the azure blue sea, a slight smile curving her lips.

Standing high and seeing far, even her thinking seemed more profound.

Thinking back to how Lu Sui had actually written a check to tease her, she had been furious at the time, but now she felt surprised.

Compared to the previous times when Lu Sui treated her like a nobody, these two days had been quite a reversal.

In the end, Lu Sui had even made that kind of joke with her. Following his words in her mind, Wu Mangmang felt her face burn red—men were indeed all beasts in human clothing.

No matter how cold they appeared on the surface, weren’t they still controlled by that three-inch piece of boneless flesh?

But thinking again, Lu Sui making such jokes with her was probably a sign of interest.

Men and women in ambiguous relationships always behaved abnormally, but the undercurrents could be detected if you could step three feet outside the situation.

They say love and coughs are both impossible to hide, but interest is also easily exposed.

Wu Mangmang didn’t know what virtue or ability she had to attract Lu Sui’s attention.

Could it really be that old saying: bad girls are loved?

Or was her navel absolutely stunning?

She’d seen foot fetishists and hand fetishists—she was quite beautiful in both those areas—but Lu Sui’s obsession with navels was definitely the first she’d encountered.

The tastes of the wealthy were truly beyond ordinary people’s reach.

Although Wu Mangmang’s thoughts were somewhat conceited, she couldn’t be blamed for it—her targets had never failed to be conquered.

For slightly more difficult ones that required stealing someone’s boyfriend, she didn’t even need to lift a hoe—those walls would collapse on their own.

So men like Lu Sui, who were pursued by many but had little romantic experience, Wu Mangmang felt were completely manageable.

Just as Lu Sui would naturally assume Wu Mangmang couldn’t possibly have no ulterior motives toward him.

This was the blind spot of narcissistic men and women.

But this blind spot also caused Wu Mangmang’s interest in Lu Sui to drop significantly.

The human heart was indeed somewhat base—when others weren’t interested in you, you always wanted to provoke them, but once they showed a bit of interest, you felt they were too easy to handle and lost your enthusiasm.

Although Wu Mangmang knew this flaw of hers, she couldn’t control it.

While Dream House had added points for Lu Sui, he himself had too many landmines—one careless step and she’d be the one to die, Wu Mangmang mused.

This was exactly like falling in love with His Majesty—it was fine if he angered you, but if you angered him, well, hehe. Being with a ruler was like being with a tiger.

It would be good if they could break up peacefully in the future, but if the breakup was ugly, it wouldn’t be worth it.

In this era, money was the hard truth. Although they couldn’t directly drag you out to be executed, destroying your whole family was still a matter of minutes.

If she offended Lu Sui, her father would probably want to kill her.

This wasn’t because Wu Mangmang lacked confidence—loving was easy, getting along was difficult. She’d been dumped so many times, and the scenes weren’t always pretty.

She’d never seen any of those ex-boyfriends who praised her like a nine-heavenly fairy in their breakup excuses turn around and remain friends with her.

As soon as Wu Mangmang’s phone reached an area with network coverage, countless “quack quack” notification sounds emerged.

How wonderful indeed.

Without a network, she wouldn’t trade ten Dream Houses for it—these days had nearly suffocated her.

Opening her phone, she had to pamper each major social media site.

Among the Weibo comments, some guessed she’d been kidnapped—as a rich beauty, how could she be considered truly wealthy without a kidnapping experience?

Her WeChat Moments were also full of question marks.

Then Lu Qingqing’s WeChat messages, texts, and QQ messages all popped up.

“Why haven’t you updated your Weibo for so long?”

“Did something happen?”

“I called your mom and found out you went to work—what godforsaken place did you go to that doesn’t even have internet?”

Among all her friends, Lu Qingqing was the most enthusiastic.

Wu Mangmang felt relieved—even if she died alone in her house in the future, she wouldn’t have to worry about her corpse rotting. With someone like her, if she didn’t update Weibo for one day, Lu Qingqing would call her mother, and countless people would speculate about her being kidnapped or in a car accident. She felt so blessed.

It showed that social networks also had human warmth.

Speaking of human warmth, Ms. Liu’s call also came through: “Your cousin has returned to the country. Come home for dinner tonight.”

Wu Mangmang had only one cousin who went abroad—Dr. Xiao’s son, only one year younger than her. This one wasn’t much happier than her—his father didn’t cheat, but was so busy he could pass his house three times without entering.

Seeing Wu Mangmang’s face, Xiao Gugong enthusiastically approached and gave her a cheek kiss.

This made Xiao Shen frown deeply.

“We’re Chinese—don’t learn those foreign greeting customs. It’s neither fish nor fowl,” Xiao Shen said.

Wu Mangmang immediately stepped forward, left leg forward and right leg back, bent her knees, placed her hands folded on her knees, and respectfully performed a court greeting to Xiao Shen: “Uncle, may you have golden peace and good fortune.”

Xiao Gugong burst out laughing and put his arm around Wu Mangmang’s shoulder: “Our Mangmang is still the cutest.”

But Xiao Shen still said seriously: “Watch fewer time-travel court dramas. Is that how you perform court greetings? Go to the National Library and read more materials when you have time.”

Wu Mangmang responded with “Yes, sir.”

During dinner, Ms. Liu couldn’t help but bring up the old topic again—blind dates.

Wu Mangmang couldn’t help saying: “If only this weren’t New China. In ancient times, I’d simply marry Little Gugong—we know each other well, and it would be lively with relatives marrying relatives.”

Xiao Gugong leaned close to Wu Mangmang and laughed: “Brilliant, I said the same thing to my mom.”

Wu Mangmang pushed away Xiao Gugong’s face that was right in front of her.

The next day, Xiao Gugong mysteriously said to Wu Mangmang: “Come on, big brother will take you out to party tonight.”

He’d only been back for a few days and was already partying?

Wu Mangmang curled her lips—with Dr. Xiao as a father, what could his son possibly know about “partying”? He was just putting on airs.

Sure enough, Xiao Gugong’s so-called partying was actually his new boss hosting a welcome banquet for him.

The other party had spent a fortune to poach him from America—truly worthy of being an elite talent.

And the expensive yellow Epsom leather Kelly bag that Xiao Gugong had given Wu Mangmang wasn’t without expectation of return.

According to Xiao Gugong, there was a little beauty abroad who had been pursuing him relentlessly, and after returning home, he discovered she was actually his future boss’s sister.

A wise rabbit doesn’t eat the grass near its burrow, and the boss’s sister especially couldn’t be casually touched.

“Why ask me to help you block romantic pursuits?” Wu Mangmang shook her head in refusal. Blocking others’ romantic chances could damage her own prospects, and she was actually quite eager to marry too.

“Only you can suppress her. If I randomly picked someone off the street, she’d definitely not give up seeing someone inferior to her. Only you, my dear Mangmang, only you can instantly kill her.”

Xiao Gugong’s flattery was so skillful that Wu Mangmang decisively changed into battle attire.

A qipao with dark green background and large peony flowers the size of bowls.

Gugong should be paired with qipao, naturally.

The welcome banquet location was at Starlight.

Wu Mangmang touched Xiao Gugong’s shoulder: “Your future boss seems to value you quite highly.”

Just as they entered the courtyard chosen by Xiao Gugong’s boss, a beauty in Chanel haute couture rushed out: “William, why are you only just arriving?”

Wu Mangmang stood quietly to the side with her handbag, smiling. Although her qipao wasn’t as expensive as the beauty’s haute couture, the old tailor’s orders were booked three years in advance—it was actually harder to get than the beauty’s dress.

Women loved comparing these external things.

So Xiao Gugong asking her to come suppress the scene was absolutely praying to the right Buddha.

Ms. Shen’s hostility hit her face-on. Although she desperately wanted to show disdain for Wu Mangmang, she always felt her aura wasn’t enough.

Entering the hall, Xiao Gugong’s boss Shen Ting was also there.

Wu Mangmang had to sigh—the world was too small; she wanted to go see the galaxy.

Wu Mangmang immediately whispered in Xiao Gugong’s ear: “I’ve been on a blind date with your boss. He seemed to want to pursue me, but I didn’t return his calls.”

Xiao Gugong immediately put his arm around Wu Mangmang’s slender waist: “Good for you, otherwise I’d really worry about people saying I got into his company through nepotism.”

The dinner atmosphere was fairly harmonious. Shen Ting didn’t say much, leaving the lively atmosphere mainly to his assistant. As for Wu Mangmang, she only focused on commanding Xiao Gugong like a queen to serve her tea, pass her water, pick up food, and peel shrimp.

Xiao Gugong performed admirably—his gaze was deeply affectionate, his shrimp-peeling was diligent, and he even extended his service to picking fish bones for her.

Wu Mangmang sighed inwardly—truly worthy of being a disciple she had trained.

Originally, Xiao Gugong had wanted Wu Mangmang to act coquettish and clingy, wheedling him sweetly, but she had harshly mocked him for that.

That kind of intimacy looked fake at first glance.

Only like this—Wu Mangmang maintaining her cold queen demeanor while Xiao Gugong played the humble servant—could they properly torture the single dogs.

Wu Mangmang ate very happily throughout the meal. Starlight’s dishes were innovative and the ingredients fresh. Only occasionally did Shen Ting’s scrutinizing gaze drift over, which she treated as seasoning for her meal.

After all, everyone had dignity. Shen Yuanzi glared all she wanted, but she didn’t engage in more excessive behavior.

Only when leaving did Shen Ting’s mocking and contemptuous smile toward Wu Mangmang reveal the host’s emotions.

Two weeks later, when Wu Mangmang encountered Xiao Gugong, she asked him about the effect of that meal—had he instantly killed Ms. Shen?

Xiao Gugong stared at Wu Mangmang for a long time, so long that she thought she had vegetable leaves stuck in her teeth.

“What’s wrong?” Wu Mangmang was puzzled.

“She’s clinging to me even tighter now, vowing to rescue me from your fickle hands,” Xiao Gugong said helplessly.

“That’s not right—how can she spread rumors?” Wu Mangmang feigned anger.

“She said it was my boss who told her that you change boyfriends faster than changing clothes. In the month he’s known you, you’ve already changed three boyfriends. He also said my days are definitely numbered, and I’ll be dumped by you sooner or later,” Xiao Gugong said.

That gossip-mongering Shen Ting!