Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Zhao Mengqi’s words were laced with pain and regret. She had tried sending him a text before, but Xiao Luo didn’t respond. He kept his distance, even treating her as if she were an unknown stranger. There was no way for her to return by his side.

  Ma Linger sighed in sympathy but didn’t know what else to say.

  Just then, the door to the guest area opened. Zhao Mengqi and Ma Linger were stunned to see Xiao Luo walk out with the store owner, Sun Jiannan, who was escorting him towards the exit. As things came to pass, this confirmed the adage: “Sometimes encounters are completely unexpected.”

  “Xiao……Xiao Luo? What is he doing here?” Ma Linger thought to herself, letting out a gasp in surprise.

  Zhao Mengqi was utterly dumbfounded. Her mouth slightly open, she was rooted where she stood. She stared blankly at Xiao Luo, walking by with both hands behind his back, her mind empty.

  He came closer as they walked towards the exit, almost within an arm’s reach.

  As he approached, she became more nervous, and she could feel her heart rate rise appreciably, almost to the point her heart would burst out of her chest. Her whole body froze up in anxiety, and she felt a tightness in her chest and a sense of breathlessness.

  Walking right past Zhao Mengqi, Xiao Luo didn’t see her at all as Li Zimeng, walking to his left, was blocking his line of sight. He was there to inspect the store and didn’t pay much attention to the customers milling around.

  “President Xiao, don’t worry. I will definitely study more about the 5S theory and promote it within the store.” Sun Jiannan said respectfully.

  Xiao Luo nodded. He had majored in IE at college and specialized in production management. The guiding principles were to operate at the highest efficiency and at the lowest cost in funding and labor to maximize profitability. The 5S theory was the foundation of his major, but it remained very much theory only within academic circles. Globally, the 5S approach hadn’t been fully adopted and implemented by large corporations and manufacturers, and very few managers were of it.

  As she watched Xiao Luo walk by without even a glance at her direction, Zhao Mengqi was overcome with despair. She felt as if her whole soul being ripped out of her body that very instant. “The most familiar stranger……”: she finally understood what this phrase meant.

  “Xiao……”

  Ma Linger attempted to call out to Xiao Luo but held herself as she suddenly realized that there was a fine looking woman next to him. She was an outstanding beauty with a well-limbed, slender figure, dressed in chic clothes that looked quite expensive and carried herself with an air of self-confidence. She looked like a woman of high status, perhaps even Xiao Luo’s girlfriend.

  As such, Ma Linger didn’t call out to Xiao Luo for fear of putting Zhao Mengqi in a very awkward situation.

  She turned and looked at Zhao Mengqi, who now appeared overcome with gloom. She looked a pitiful sight! Ma Linger held her gently to console her and said, “It’s okay, don’t feel upset. He’s only clinging onto the woman beside him for her wealth. It’s not worth chasing a man like him that’s easily influenced by power.”

  “No wonder he was so generous in handing out the $100,000. This character flaw must be the reason why.” Ma Linger reasoned to herself, as she let out a deep sigh. In her mind, she screamed, “Xiao Luo, I was wrong about you!”

  \r \r \r

  “How upsetting, I purposely went to the restroom to fix my makeup, and the big boss didn’t even lay his eyes on me.”

  “You should probably stop having unrealistic expectations and get back to work.”

  “Right, you’re right. Work hard and try to become a department head so that big boss might give you a look, hehe……”

  A few part-time girls had gathered at a counter and were discussing aloud as they looked out the storefront.

  Big boss?

  Ma Linger was taken aback for a moment. She then went walked and waved towards the girls, “Excuse me!”

  “Hello!”

  A girl responded enthusiastically with a smile, switching from gossip mode back to her professional, “at work” mode. She was courteous and offered Ma Linger a sweet, genuine smile.

  Ma Linger was curious about what they had mentioned about their big boss earlier and asked, “Can I know if the big boss you ladies were discussing earlier was that Xiao Luo person that just walked out?”

  The girls that had gathered there before came up to her as they heard her. Gossip, after all, was a woman’s nature.

  “That’s right. He’s the big boss of Luo’s Workshop.” One of the part-timers answered.

  Ma Linger frowned, “Wasn’t the boss of Luo’s Workshop called Fang?”

  “Yes, it used to be Mr. Fang until a month ago. President Xiao, who is now our big boss, bought up Luo’s Workshop.”

  “Right, if the big boss didn’t buy out Luo’s Workshop, the whole workshop would’ve gone bankrupt for certain.”

  “Big boss sure is amazing. He managed to bring back Luo’s Workshop within just one month and even took down its main competitor, Taste Buds.”

  The part-time girls were all gooey-eyed and mushy when they talked about Xiao Luo, and their eyes were filled with the most profound admiration for the man.”

  Ma Linger was shocked and stood there staring wide-eyed, in disbelief.

  Zhao Mengqi reacted in the same way, but after the initial shock, she slumped into a depression, filled with painful regret that gnawed down to her bones.

  “No way, how did Xiao Luo get the money to buy up Luo’s Workshop?” Ma Linger asked without lowering her voice.

  “We don’t know, but it seems that he has an excellent relationship with the boss of Chongshan House, Mr. Chu.”

  “Right, I heard about that too. Luo’s Workshop was originally taken over by the Chongshan house, and the big boss later bought it off the hands of Mr. Chu.”

  “Anyway, these aren’t important. The most important thing is the big boss is highly skilled and extremely handsome, whoever can be his partner must be the luckiest woman in the world.”

  The part-time girls swooned dreamily.

  Does he have a good relationship with Chu Yunxiong from the Chongshan House? How is that even possible?

  Ma Linger’s mind was a total blank; it was as if a bomb had blown up in her head, leaving nothing behind but an empty void. Chu Yunxiong was an influential businessman who had significant business networks internationally, and to have someone with his stature be friends of Xiao Luo was simply unbelievable.

  Wrong, it’s all wrong!

  She blushed at the thought of her earlier assumption that Xiao Luo was merely clinging on to the daughter from a wealthy family to gain position and fame.

  As she looked towards Zhao Mengqi, she saw a lonely figure weighed down by her gloom. She just looked out of the store blankly as tears streamed down the corner of her eyes.

  “He did it. Just as he said, he would. One day, everyone will look up to him, and they’ll all say, he did it, hahaha……” Zhao Mengqi laughed cynically, mumbling incoherently to herself.

  Ma Linger frowned, she empathized with her sister Zhao Mengqi and wished she could do something to make her feel better.

  If Zhao Mengqi had not given in to temptation back then, this incredible man would still be by her side. Unfortunately, nothing can be done about that. If it were Ma Linger herself, she would’ve been so remorseful that she’d probably she could run into a wall and smash herself up!

  1She walked up and lightly tapped on Zhao Mengqi on her shoulder. She tried to console her friend, and confessed, “Be happy for him. You know, that $100,000 wasn’t from my family. It was from him!”

  Paper can’t cover fire, and $100,00 wasn’t a small amount. In the end, she couldn’t hide the lie and decided to confess the truth.

  Zhao Mengqi froze on the spot. ……

  7:00 P.M., Xiao Luo, and Zhang Dashan was speed on the road heading towards the Guangming area. Xiao Luo would never forget that he had promised Sun Yu that he would be going to watch her at their Mid-Autumn night festival. His sister, Xiao Ruyi, had already called him a number of times to check on his whereabouts. He wished he could immediately teleport to the festival’s location.

  After getting off work, Feng Wuhen and his group were also asked to attend, and they followed reluctantly. But a single car couldn’t accommodate everyone, so Feng Wuhen everybody off the vehicle, aside from Xiao Wu. As it turned out, he and Xiao Wu, plus Xiao Luo and Zhang Dashan, were the four persons that finally sat in the car. It was to be a comfortable ride.

  “Zhang bro, your car is pretty comfortable to sit in.”

  Xiao Wu touched the leather seats and began praising Zhang Dashan, “This must be genuine leather, it feels like it’s a woman’s skin, smooth and beautiful.”

  “Can you g*ddamn shut up for a bit, you took all my lines already so what else am I supposed to say!?” Feng Wuhen slapped him hard at the back of his head.