Speaking of having her monthly allowance taken away, Wu Mangmang could no longer afford to lose her only source of income. She put away her phone and took the subway directly to the Municipal Museum.
Back when she was rich and willful, she chose an extremely unpopular major. Fortunately, after graduation, Wu Mangmang’s mother used connections to get her into the Municipal Museum. Government institutions were like that—they wouldn’t let you starve, but you’d never get rich either, not even enough to afford a mortgage in this city.
However, Wu Mangmang quite liked her job. She looked at her watch—it was lunchtime, so she went straight to the cafeteria without hesitation.
“Uncle, give me another spoonful of rice. Look how skinny I’ve become—like a skeleton—and you’re still treating me so harshly?” Wu Mangmang complained, tapping her labor-camp-prisoner-series stainless steel tray with a spoon.
“Don’t you girls all clamor about dieting?” the uncle said, but still added another spoonful of rice for Wu Mangmang.
“So much rice with so little food—how am I supposed to eat this?” Wu Mangmang pushed her luck.
The uncle glanced at Wu Mangmang, his ladle not moving an inch. “Beauty, this cafeteria is contracted out.”
Wu Mangmang had no choice but to surrender. She couldn’t fight with the domineering cafeteria uncle whose face was covered in grease, nor could she use her acting skills in her workplace—she had to accept her fate.
Wu Mangmang walked with her tray while fantasizing that if someone came up to her right now and said, “Darling, I’ve reserved the entire cafeteria for you—eat all the braised pork and chicken legs you want,” she’d immediately prostrate herself at his shoes.
Perhaps the future fantasy was too wonderful—Wu Mangmang was in a daze the whole way. Only after sitting down did she realize the woman next to her, picking scallions out of her food with chopsticks, was actually her old nemesis—Ms. Nie Jingjing.
Honestly, Nie Jingjing wasn’t really qualified to be Wu Mangmang’s nemesis, but unfortunately, this Ms. Nie went into full jealousy mode every time she saw Wu Mangmang, which annoyed Wu Mangmang terribly.
Actually, Ms. Nie wasn’t married yet and reportedly didn’t even have a boyfriend, but Wu Mangmang felt that just looking at her figure, she obviously had the physique of a married woman who’d given birth. She really couldn’t bring herself to call her Miss Nie with a clear conscience.
“You’re wearing a Cartier diamond bracelet on your hand, yet you have the nerve to argue with that uncle over a spoonful of beef and potato stew until your face turns red?” Nie Jingjing leaned over, seemingly focused on studying whether the bracelet on Wu Mangmang’s hand was real or fake.
There was clearly no argument—where did the red face come from? Her face was red entirely because of her earlier fantasy about Mr. Dream, okay?
Wu Mangmang couldn’t be bothered with Nie Jingjing and started eating large spoonfuls of rice.
“Tsk tsk, hasn’t anyone told you that girls should eat by counting grains, while men eat by force?” Nie Jingjing said in an affected tone. She was also a connection hire, but her connections weren’t as solid as Wu Mangmang’s, so seeing Wu Mangmang take leave every Thursday morning made her particularly unbalanced.
Wu Mangmang swallowed the rice in her mouth before saying, “Then you take your time counting. You’ll be done when it’s time to get off work.” With that, she stood up with her tray that only had vegetable soup left.
Nie Jingjing made a “tsk” sound at Wu Mangmang’s back, then turned to Little Lin beside her: “I really don’t know what those men like about her. She has no image at all when eating.”
Little Lin took a bite of food and advised, “Sister Nie, hurry up and eat. After lunch, we can save some time to lie down for a while.”
Nie Jingjing didn’t argue and started eating large spoonfuls with her spoon. Eating was indeed important, but compared to a nap, it could be overlooked.
Wu Mangmang was quite energetic. She put on her white coat, twisted her hair into a bun at the back of her head, and picked up a carving knife, immediately feeling like she was playing a doctor’s role. She walked to the workbench where a pile of ceramic fragments lay.
Wu Mangmang’s main job at the museum was cultural relic restoration, with her specialty being porcelain restoration.
Wu Mangmang loved all kinds of antique porcelain. Every time she held them in her hands, she couldn’t help but imagine whose hands this famille rose bowl had once been held in, what interesting stories its owner had experienced, and then she’d mentally act out the whole thing first.
So Wu Mangmang could calm down and stay for three years without changing jobs in the cultural relic restoration room that was as quiet as an ancient tomb and as cold and eerie as a ghost movie set. Not only her parents, but even she herself was greatly surprised.
When working intently, her phone was set to silent as usual. By the time Wu Mangmang got off work, it was already 7 PM with dusk falling. She tilted her head back to rub her aching neck, took off her shoes, supported herself on the ground with both hands, and did a one-minute handstand with her feet against the wall.
Wu Mangmang only remembered her phone was on silent when she was on the subway. She took it out and saw seven or eight missed calls—two each from her parents, and the rest all from Lu Qingqing.
Wu Mangmang was somewhat troubled. Lu Qingqing, this “best friend,” came with quotation marks.
In their social circle, Lu Qingqing could indeed be considered Wu Mangmang’s best friend—they liked each other’s posts an average of three times daily.
But in the three-dimensional world, Wu Mangmang could count on ten fingers how many times she and Lu Qingqing met in a year.
Wu Mangmang wasn’t really close to anyone in the three-dimensional world. After all, most people couldn’t accept her performance addiction. Rather than have others despise and shun her in the end, it was better to keep distance from the start.
But this time, Wu Mangmang really couldn’t refuse Lu Qingqing.
Wu Mangmang’s trouble with the Limited Edition Gentleman was resolved thanks to Lu Qingqing’s mediation, which finally led to the Limited Edition Gentleman agreeing to settle.
Reportedly, the Limited Edition Gentleman was Lu Qingqing’s relative.
Wu Mangmang looked at her watch—only 7:30. After thinking for a moment, she squeezed out of the sardine-can-like subway car and transferred to the opposite direction.
By the time Wu Mangmang made it to the club, it was already 8:30.
This club occupied the top three floors of Binhai Tower, but even people working in Binhai Tower didn’t know there were three more floors at the top. There were no buttons showing them on the elevator, and no one was bored enough to count floor by floor whether Binhai Tower was actually forty-six or forty-nine stories.
Haichen Club had its own entrance and exit. Wu Mangmang searched for half an hour without finding the entrance. Finally, Lu Qingqing came out to meet her personally, leading her through a maze of turns to an inconspicuous elevator door.
When the elevator opened, it was truly dung on the outside, gold and jade within.
“Why are you just getting here? Fortunately, the God of Wealth is still upstairs playing mahjong, or you would have missed him,” Lu Qingqing said very quickly.
“I came by subway. The transfer station was too crowded—I waited for three trains before I could squeeze on,” Wu Mangmang said.
“Subway?” Lu Qingqing suspected she’d heard wrong.
Wu Mangmang shrugged. “My dad sold my Hummer to pay the compensation as punishment for my mistake. By the way, who is this God of Wealth you mentioned?”
Lu Qingqing looked at Wu Mangmang like she was from another planet, then seemed to realize something was wrong before saying, “Oh right, you probably don’t know him. Go ask your dad when you get home—he definitely knows. God of Wealth—what kind of person is he? Naturally someone who brings financial fortune. People in this city who want to get rich all have to worship the God of Wealth. But that’s secondary—it doesn’t matter if you worship him or not. But if you offend the God of Wealth, then you can only leave penniless.”
Wu Mangmang’s heart sank, and she looked at Lu Qingqing with suspicion.
Lu Qingqing returned a look that said “exactly what you’re thinking.”
Wu Mangmang silently cursed “Oh my god.” No wonder her father didn’t care about her usual crying, making scenes, or threatening suicide this time—she had really gotten into big trouble.
“Come on, I’ll take you to apologize. Don’t think paying money settles everything—my uncle isn’t short of cash,” Lu Qingqing said.
Wu Mangmang grabbed Lu Qingqing’s arm. “He’s your uncle?” This was truly finding light after dark—close relatives were easier to talk to.
Lu Qingqing embarrassedly rolled her eyes. “I’m quite distantly related to him. I only call him uncle to get closer to him.”
Wu Mangmang thought, then please don’t speak with such intonation next time, okay?
Lu Qingqing led Wu Mangmang into a suite with a two-story layout. Outside was a nearly fifty-square-meter terrace with a small pool for parties, and standing on the terrace, you could overlook the sea.
The sea wind blew Wu Mangmang’s hair wildly, so she quickly covered her head and went inside.
Lu Qingqing told Wu Mangmang to go to the bathroom first to touch up her makeup and tidy her clothes before coming out.
Then the two went straight upstairs.
The second floor had an even broader view—270-degree ocean views. A mahjong table was set up in the hall. Mahjong only needed four people, but there were many spectators.
Each of the three male players had one or two beauties sitting beside them.
They were truly beautiful—plump and slim, pure and charming, lacking nothing.
And the only person with an empty seat beside him, Wu Mangmang recognized at a glance—who else but the Limited Edition Gentleman?
Wu Mangmang also recognized another person—the Lawyer Jiang who had given her nightmares.
“Hey, isn’t this the girl who was pregnant with your child last time?” Jiang Baoliang joked, looking at Lu Sui.
Wu Mangmang had no good feelings toward the aggressive, overbearing, intimidating Lawyer Jiang, and mentally retorted: You’re the girl, your whole family are girls.
Only then did Lu Sui look up from his cards, squinting slightly at Wu Mangmang.
His subtle squinting expression made Wu Mangmang feel she was smelling those male hormones that could disrupt her endocrine system again.
Lu Qingqing pushed Wu Mangmang from behind, and only then did she come to her senses and stumble forward a step.
Good thing Wu Mangmang had changed into canvas shoes at the office earlier, or she would definitely have been pushed into an embarrassing fall by Lu Qingqing.
Lu Qingqing was definitely doing it on purpose, though with good intentions.
Wu Mangmang’s offense against Lu Sui—even if Lu Sui didn’t care, the people around him would naturally try their best to curry favor. The Wu family’s small factory wasn’t even enough to fill teeth gaps—easier than stepping on ants.
Wu Mangmang naturally understood this situation, which was why she swallowed her pride to come apologize.
If Wu Mangmang had fallen embarrassingly right now, amusing everyone in the hall, it might very well turn a big matter into a small one, and a small matter into nothing.
But Miss Wu was under an “unlucky star” today—she who wore three-inch heels nine days out of ten was wearing canvas shoes precisely at this moment.
Lu Qingqing stepped forward two paces, walking to within one meter of Lu Sui ahead of Wu Mangmang, with an ingratiating smile: “Uncle, Mangmang heard you were here and came specially today to apologize to you.”
Wu Mangmang was incredibly grateful to Lu Qingqing. This wasn’t the time to be pretentious—the more people like them understood that pride and self-respect meant nothing. Others could squeeze you lightly and make you shit yourself, and then you’d truly have no dignity left.
“Uncle,” Wu Mangmang followed Lu Qingqing’s lead, also wanting to get closer and show she was a junior asking the God of Wealth to show mercy.
“Oh, playing my grand-niece today?” Lu Sui sneered lightly.