"Miss Li, allow me to deal with Liu Ruoyan. You don't have to bother yourself dealing with her," Elaine Wu said nervously. Of course, she knew by now what kind of attitude that woman had. She had witnessed it first hand at that Xiao Xing's inauguration banquet she attended with Li Meili before.

  Li Meili didn't say anything in return and only stared at Elaine Wu, making the woman and the other staff member more nervous. In the end, Li Meili sighed and twisted the cap of the refreshing drink Elaine Wu bought for her earlier. She needed enough energy for this confrontation she would have with Liu Ruoyan.

  "No need. I will deal with her myself," she said with finality. "Moyu might be too lenient for letting her go unscathed last time, but since Liu Ruoyan was dumb enough to poke her nose on someone else's business, I do hope I wouldn't lose any brain cells by talking with her today."

  Li Meili walked out of her office with Elaine Wu following her. The sudden change in Li Meili's aura reminded Elaine Wu of the empress. No wonder the two were able to get along well because they both had this kind of presence that was domineering enough to impose their authority over someone without saying anything.

  Between the two women, Li Meili had an outgoing personality while Tang Moyu had a cool attitude that made people unavailable to ignore their presence. Because of this, Elaine Wu found inspiration from their experiences.

  Both women were forced by their families to be married off, forbidding the two to chase after their own dream. However, Tang Moyu and Li Meili managed to free themselves from those binds keeping them down and proved that they didn't need a man to be happy and secure their future.

  Elaine Wu wanted to be like them. Fierce but compassionate, strong-willed but kind. For an heiress and only child of her family, Elaine Wu refused to be tied down to marriage and rely on her future husband throughout her life. She also feared that if she made a mistake in marrying the wrong man, her aging parents would suffer through their remaining years on Earth… when they should be happy, enjoying their lives after their retirement.

  For this very reason, she proposed to her father that she intended to inherit the company and manage it herself. It didn't matter how long it would take for her to gain enough experience as long as she would be named as her family's successor, not her future husband.

  When the three women arrived at the showroom, there weren't a lot of customers around as the store was about to close for the day as Elaine Wu had said. However, Liu Ruoyan had indeed paid attention, causing trouble to Li Meili's store attendants. How could they not know that Liu Ruoyan would be their boss's rival for the upcoming competition as the best designer of the year?

  "So these are the clothes made by the Black Nightingale, huh?" Liu Ruoyan's eyes checked the dresses one by one, with her tone full of mockery. "It's tasteless." She sneered.

  She heard rumors that the Black Nightingale will participate in this year's competition. One could only imagine her shock when she came back from Shenzhen when her assistant reported that the said designer had just opened up its store just across the street.

  If this wasn't a blatant mockery from the Black Nightingale, she wouldn't bother to come here and see the Black Nightingale's creation for herself. Once she arrived with her assistant, she easily noticed that there weren't many customers inside the store, which was quite laughable in her opinion.

  How dare the Black Nightingale step inside her turf? Didn't that person know that this was her territory, and it's only natural that people would be more familiar with her works and would buy her creations?

  "No wonder you don't have many customers even though you've opened your store for a few weeks now." She laughed with sarcasm.

  "It's because my creations aren't as cheap as yours, Miss Liu." Li Meili announced her arrival, effectively dispelling the nervousness from her staff.

  With her around, they were confident that Liu Ruoyan would be properly dealt with. Their Boss Li might be happy-go-lucky sometimes, but she was really scary whenever she was mad. All of them learned this the hard way during their earliest days with Li Meili.

  Liu Ruoyan turned her head to see who it was, her eyes dramatically widening in shock when she recognized who it was.

  Wait. Wasn't this woman Li Meili? The woman known as the empress's wing-woman? She would have never thought that the person behind the Black Nightingale was none other Li Meili.

  "Miss Li, I'm merely stating the obvious. An amateur like you, who knows nothing about clothing, managed to open up a store like this? My, I have to give it to the Li family. They were really good at popping business up like rabbits on steroids." She chuckled once she recovered from the shock.

  Liu Ruoyan had still hadn't forgotten how Tang Moyu humiliated her in front of everyone. Not only that, but Feng Tianyi also hated her now to the point where he forbade her from showing her face in his presence ever again.

  So knowing that this woman was related to the empress, it was only natural that Liu Ruoyan felt animosity towards Li Meili.

  "Ah, I think Miss Liu didn't understand what I meant." Li Meili's lips curled up, crossing her arms and checking her well-manicured nails nonchalantly. How dare this cheap woman imply that her achievements were only made possible because she was a Li? Liu Ruoyan must be talking about herself!

  "My creations are intended for only one person. Don't be too proud of many people who want your products. After all, cheap products have many buyers. My creations are rare. Only the right person can get a piece and own it."