"Aiya, why did she leave so soon? I thought she was brave enough to continue arguing with me." Li Meili pouted, watching Liu Ruoyan stalk away from her store, followed hastily by her assistant.

  "It's good that she left. I wasn't sure how we would deal with her." Elaine Wu finally released a breath she didn't know she was holding. She was really worried that Liu Ruoyan would actually end up making a scene in their store, chasing away their customers in the process.

  "Miss Elaine, you shouldn't worry too much about her. Liu Ruoyan came here to see who dared to invade her territory." Li Meili waved her hand to their other staff, gesturing for them to continue what they were doing before Liu Ruoyan came to disturb them.

  Liu Ruoyan probably thought that she, Li Meili, didn't have the capacity to put her in her place. How despicable. Even if Li Meili didn't have an outstanding family background and education, Liu Ruoyan shouldn't have pounced on her viciously like this.

  "You are worrying too much, Miss Elaine. You should accept that some people act that way. Some people who get easily jealous or triggered will definitely be envious and hold animosity towards people with outstanding talents." Li Meili sighed, shutting her eyes for a moment to relax. She was starting to properly see the kind of personality Liu Ruoyan had.

  Tang Moyu had once told her that some people didn't need to work too hard to get what they wanted. It didn't matter if they were talented or not, intelligent or not, as long as they were able to lure people with outstanding talents to their sides and use them to their advantage, these people would be able to keep their weaknesses hidden from everyone.

  A person's temperament could rarely lie and definitely couldn't be faked for too long. With Liu Ruoyan's personality, was it possible that those winning creations she submitted to the competition weren't hers?

  Li Meili had suspected that the woman had hired several amateur designers who weren't familiar with the fashion industry and used their works as the basis for her creations. She wondered if she should delve into this, collecting evidence that could ruin Liu Ruoyan and Golden Elegance. To be honest, Liu Ruoyan hadn't touched her bottom line yet, but the fact that Tang Moyu wanted her completely destroyed made Li Meili think that it wasn't just an act of simple revenge on the empress's part.

  Was this part of Tang Moyu's challenge for her? After all, this wasn't the first time the empress laid an intricate plan to help her learn from experience. Tang Moyu wasn't just blindly helping her with Black Nightingale, she was also teaching her in the process.

  Seeing Li Meili's serious expression, Elaine Wu wondered if she had said something wrong.

  "Miss Li…" But she didn't have a chance to complete her words as Li Meili opened her eyes and waved a hand to get her executive assistant's attention. Zhi Ruo stepped forward at once.

  "Meili, you have something in mind?" Her assistant asked, dropping the honorifics since they were discussing privately.

  Actually, this assistant of hers wasn't truly a stranger to Li Meili. Zhi Ruo was a distant relative from her mother's side. When she was seven years old, she lost her parents due to a nasty accident, leaving her on her own.

  Li Meili and Tang Moyu were already twelve years old at that time and they attended Zhi Ruo's parents funeral. After a few meetings with the two, Zhi Ruo took a great liking to the two, especially towards Tang Moyu. With the help of Li Meili's family, Zhi Ruo managed to continue her studies and chose to become Li Meili's executive assistant after the latter left her post as the Li family's heiress.

  Zhi Ruo had an impassive face that left an impression that she wasn't a person to be messed with on everyone. Even Li Meili held respect for this woman. She had this wolf-cut hairstyle that made Zhi Ruo's face more appealing in one's eyes, it also gave her an edgy look. Her bangs were cut at eyebrow length, while her face was framed with graduated layers of hair.

  "Do you think you could run a background check on Liu Ruoyan? Check and see who she has hired and terminated for the past six years. I want to check on something." Li Meili asked her.

  Zhi Ruo furrowed her brows. Li Meili should be focusing on her entry and shouldn't be bothered with Liu Ruoyan. Didn't Miss Moyu say that she wanted Golden Elegance to go out of business?

  As if sensing her thoughts, Li Meili sighed and rubbed her temple. This cousin of hers wouldn't easily let her off.

  "I know. I know. You don't have to tell me, Zhi Ruo. Of course, I will continue working on my entry. I can't fail Moyu, right?" She fought the urge not to roll her eyes. If she didn't know Zhi Ruo was her distant cousin, she would assume that her assistant was a great fan and stalker of her best friend. Did Zhi Ruo like Moyu that much?

  "It can be arranged then." Zhi Ruo gave her a nod. "But we'll need to wait for at least a week to get any feedback."

  "That's fine. I'm in no rush anyway." Li Meili stood up, intending to go back to her office to see if she would be able to save the designs she made earlier. None of the previous ones she did was ever put to waste since she would be able to alter it later when the right customer stepped in her store.

  "I'll leave the rest to you, Miss Elaine." She said, leaving with Zhi Ruo. Indeed, it was good that Liu Ruoyan left too soon because there were more pressing matters she needed to tend to.

  She would deal with Liu Ruoyan later. For now, it was important that she could find the right theme for her entry.