Chapter 39 Part 1

A black car sped swiftly through the night. Because she was worried about Jiang Yueyi’s situation, Ah Man had been praying she wouldn’t hit any red lights along the way. Fortunately, luck was on her side this trip—all green lights, no obstructions.

After she arrived at the police station, the moment she pushed the door open, she saw Jiang Yueyi sitting on the long bench, head lowered as she fiddled with her fingers. She had no visible external injuries. This allowed Ah Man to breathe a sigh of relief, as if a weight had been lifted.

Yu Jialin heard the footsteps, looked up, and saw Ah Man’s resigned expression. She nudged Jiang Yueyi and whispered, “Yiyi, President Jiang is here to get you.”

Jiang Yueyi’s twiddling fingers stopped. With a fawning smile plastered on her face, she looked up stupidly at Ah Man.

She looked innocent and naive, charmingly adorable, like a delicate and gorgeous rose—even with her long hair slightly disheveled, it couldn’t hide her beauty.

Ah Man didn’t scold her. She ruffled her hair and then crouched down, asking gently, “What happened? It even came to the police station.”

Jiang Yueyi ducked her head. Normally, if Ah Man ruffled her hair like this, she would have bristled immediately. But today, knowing she was in the wrong, she didn’t have the nerve to resist Ah Man’s teasing. She poked her fingertips together pitifully, acting all wronged, nearly on the verge of shedding pearly tears. “Ah Man, Ah Man, today’s incident really wasn’t my fault. Who told that woman to provoke me first?”

The more Jiang Yueyi spoke, the angrier she got, her limbs flailing again as if she wished she could go beat that woman up once more.

Ah Man pressed a fingertip to her forehead to stop her and said flatly, “Be good here. I’ll go talk to the police officer. Once everything’s settled, I can take you both home.”

Jiang Yueyi complained, “That woman already settled with us, but the police officer wants me to call my family. They clearly just gave us a verbal warning, so why do I still have to call my family?”

Ah Man pressed her lips together in a smile, nodded a greeting at Yu Jialin, and got up to find the police officer.

Here, Ah Man ran into someone completely unexpected—Guan Jingsong.

She was talking to the officer. Standing behind Guan Jingsong was a woman with obvious slap marks on her face. Ah Man raised an eyebrow. Looks like our side had superior fighting power.

“Jiang Man?”

Guan Jingsong also noticed Ah Man not far away. Displeasure flickered in her eyes, but because of their required social politeness, she grinned broadly at Ah Man. She even tried to pat Ah Man’s shoulder, deliberately attempting to close the distance between them.

Ah Man sidestepped, her expression distant and cold. “Your person?”

Her gaze fell on the woman behind Guan Jingsong. Sensing Ah Man’s sharpness, the woman nervously clutched the hem of Guan Jingsong’s clothes.

This woman recognized Ah Man. Before her family went bankrupt, when she accompanied her parents to banquets, she had met Ah Man a few times.

A top-tier elite like Ah Man was someone she could only seek to curry favor with. Back then, she also wanted to befriend Ah Man, but Ah Man always seemed icy cold and intimidatingly authoritative, so Ah Man had scared her off then.

Her name was Li Niantao. The women Guan Jingsong took an interest in were all rare, great beauties, and Li Niantao possessed a bold, striking beauty. But in Ah Man’s opinion, the mean-spiritedness between her brows was enough to ruin any beauty she possessed.

Ah Man’s words made Guan Jingsong uncomfortable. Everyone in their circle knew about her engagement to Qiao Shijian. Playing around on the side was common practice for many, but these were all private indiscretions. After all, Guan Jingsong also cared about face and often pretended to be a loving couple publicly with Qiao Shijian. Now, caught red-handed by Ah Man, no matter how thick-skinned Guan Jingsong was, she felt her face burning.

“Ha, we just knew each other from before, so I wanted to look out for her a bit. Niantao, this is Jiang Man. Aren’t you going to greet Sister Man?”

Ah Man sneered and bluntly rejected Li Niantao. “I can’t accept that, and I don’t want another random ‘sister’ like this.”

Guan Jingsong felt humiliated. When she looked at Li Niantao now, the deep affection from before was gone; she just seemed like a troublemaker who dared to provoke anyone.

But now that they’d run into Ah Man, she couldn’t just gloss over the matter. After all, it was Li Niantao’s cheap mouth that had provoked the powder keg, Jiang Yueyi.

It’s also truly bizarre. Jiang Man actually came to the police station for Jiang Yueyi.

“Jiang Man, this matter was my girl’s fault. She’s young and has a blunt personality. I’ve told her off several times, but she can never fix this problem. Sigh, I really can’t do anything about it either. But Jiang Man, I can guarantee Niantao had absolutely no ill intentions. She apologized to Jiang Yueyi as she should, and besides, she’s already been slapped a few times. Just for my sake, let’s settle this matter amicably. What do you think?”

Guan Jingsong was worried Ah Man would take her anger at Li Niantao out on her, which was why she patiently spoke these conciliatory words.

In truth, Li Niantao targeting Jiang Yueyi was mainly Guan Jingsong’s fault.

In private, she hadn’t held back complaining to Li Niantao. Because she loved freedom and hated being shackled by marriage, her business marriage with Qiao Shijian made her especially miserable—as if a heavy burden had suddenly been placed on her shoulders.

She had absolutely no interest in Qiao Shijian. To express her dissatisfaction with this marriage, Guan Jingsong even used Ah Man and Jiang Yueyi as an example to her family. The two of them were also a business marriage, hadn’t even held a wedding—that alone demonstrated the conflict between them.

Guan Jingsong also threatened her family: if they dared force her to marry this year, she’d follow Jiang Yueyi’s example and go abroad so no one could find her. Because of Guan Jingsong’s threats, the Guan and Qiao families were currently only engaged.

Guan Jingsong looked down on Jiang Yueyi, believing the Jiang family was too snobbish, marrying off their daughter just to cling to Jiang Man’s coattails. She considered Jiang Yueyi nothing but a puppet.

Moreover, Guan Jingsong thought she knew Ah Man fairly well. That person was essentially a working machine, devoid of emotion. So Jiang Yueyi would get no benefit from this marriage—it was practically living widowhood.

Her disparagement of Jiang Yueyi and the Jiang family led Li Niantao to believe Jiang Yueyi was just like her former self, except luckier to have married Jiang Man. So when they crossed paths at a club, Li Niantao couldn’t hold her tongue and made sarcastic remarks at Jiang Yueyi.

Hearing Guan Jingsong’s words, Ah Man’s cold face showed a hint of a smile. She patted the shoulder Guan Jingsong had failed to touch earlier and said sarcastically, “Your face isn’t worth a single cent to me. You should be grateful this woman apologized to Jiang Yueyi first, instead of waiting until after I arrived for her to apologize.”

Ah Man took a step forward, facing Guan Jingsong directly, and smiled faintly. “You know my methods.”

She bumped past Guan Jingsong’s shoulder without sparing either of them another glance, walking straight to the police officer and gently inquiring when she could take Jiang Yueyi home.

Guan Jingsong’s face immediately darkened. She had always had a bad impression of Ah Man, perhaps because they were close in age but worlds apart in achievement. Ah Man had always been the “model child” her parents talked about.

Guan Jingsong was jealous of her, and also envious, but more than that, she felt resentful. She didn’t think there should be such a huge gap between them. Whatever Ah Man could do, she could do even better.

Guan Jingsong clenched her fists and said coldly, “What are you standing there for? Hurry up and leave!”

She thought she could surpass Ah Man, yet seemed oblivious that all her efforts over the years were in vain—because she’d always only put the most effort into running her mouth.

Li Niantao timidly followed behind her, tears welling in her eyes. When she saw Jiang Yueyi sitting on the bench, she angrily wiped them away and turned her head aside, refusing to look at her. Clearly, she was still furious at Jiang Yueyi.

Jiang Yueyi no longer showed the guilty unease she had around Ah Man. She lifted her chin high, expressing her displeasure and contempt towards Guan Jingsong and Li Niantao.

Yu Jialin watched them warily but, remembering they were at a police station, smiled smugly, baring her teeth.

“Miss Jiang, Miss Yu, for the distress Niantao caused you today, I will offer you compensation.” Guan Jingsong spoke amiably, her attitude completely different from earlier.

Jiang Yueyi gave a cold snort. Guan Jingsong’s blatant favoritism—I’d have to be an idiot not to notice.

Just thinks the Jiang family isn’t as good as her, right? We might not match you now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t catch up to you, Guan Jingsong. Besides, now I have Ah Man as my backer. Who do you think you are?

“No need. Keep your money for your little mistress’s plastic surgery. It’s my fault for hitting too hard earlier—I slapped your mistress’s implant crooked.”

Jiang Yueyi’s mockery successfully drove Li Niantao’s eyes red. She sobbed, deliberately showing her still-swollen cheek, hoping to earn Guan Jingsong’s pity.

“Miss Jiang! I advise you to be kind.”

“Guan Jingsong, I advise you to shut up!” Jiang Yueyi stood up, expressionless as she shot back.

What Guan Jingsong hated most was this kind of willful, unreasonable princess who acted like the whole world was her mother and everyone had to spoil and indulge her.

“Jiang Yueyi, don’t push your luck. I just offered you compensation out of consideration for our acquaintance. Don’t be too headstrong.”

“She’s headstrong? I spoiled her that way. Got a problem?”

Ah Man, arriving a bit late, smiled gently. Only the smile was a bit cold. For no reason at all, Guan Jingsong felt her momentum weaken. She said, “Jiang Man, you really need to teach her properly. With such a bad temper, she’s not likable.”

Jiang Yueyi’s volatile temper instantly flared up. Badmouthing me right in front of Ah Man? Do you really think I won’t hit you?!

Seeing this, Ah Man grabbed her by the collar and hauled her into her embrace. “You don’t need to worry about that. My wife can do whatever she wants. It’s fine if she’s not likable to you—as long as she’s likable to me.”

The bristling kitten was instantly soothed. In Ah Man’s arms, she blinked her wide, adorable eyes. Clinging tightly to Ah Man’s waist, she made a funny face at Guan Jingsong, so infuriating that Guan Jingsong’s face turned even more ashen.

Ah Man tapped Jiang Yueyi on the forehead and said to Yu Jialin, “We’re leaving.”

Yu Jialin watched her figure and suddenly understood why Jiang Yueyi had agreed to Ah Man’s proposal of dating back then. Her charm is simply too powerful, impossible to resist.

A mature, domineering older sister who is only gentle with you—who could resist that?

Forget Jiang Yueyi, even Yu Jialin now desperately wished she could find an older sister to dote on her.

She hurried after Ah Man in small steps and naturally sat in the back seat. Through the car window, she watched Guan Jingsong and Li Niantao, hearing Guan Jingsong blame her, even seeing Guan Jingsong raise a hand against her. Yu Jialin’s eyes widened. She pulled her neck back in and stopped looking at the two of them.

Women like that, the further away I stay, the better. When I get back, I absolutely have to gossip with the other girls about Guan Jingsong’s true character.

Guan Jingsong truly can’t hold a candle to Jiang Man. It’s a good thing my buddy didn’t run into a total scumbag, or else with her personality, she’d be bullied to death, wouldn’t she?

You could say Jiang Yueyi is a paper tiger. She might seem fierce and menacing on the surface, but actually, she’s only tough within her own den.

“Tee-hee-hee-hee.”

Ah Man glanced sideways, amused by Jiang Yueyi’s silly giggling. She shook her head helplessly and fastened Jiang Yueyi’s seatbelt for her. “This whole mess today was an injustice for Jiangjiang. What kind of compensation do you want?”

Jiang Yueyi never imagined that after ending up at a police station, such a good thing awaited her. Resting her chin on her hands, she said, “I want that limited edition bag that L brand just released. Linlin, hurry, show her the picture on your phone. Don’t let Jiang Man buy the wrong one.”

Ah Man raised an eyebrow. She took Yu Jialin’s phone and was instantly blinded by the pink, sparkly, bedazzled bag. Frowning, she pretended nonchalance and said, “Alright, I’ll buy it for you.”

Seriously, what’s so good about this bag? Gaudy like this, only Jiang Yueyi could like it.

Ah Man withdrew her gaze, her smile involuntarily deepening. She started the car. After passing the security barrier gate, she suddenly added, “However, for today’s incident, Jiangjiang needs to write a self-criticism essay. No fewer than two thousand words.”

Jiang Yueyi immediately put on a mask of agony and asked with a scrunched-up face, “You just said I was the one wronged! Why do I still have to write a self-criticism? Jiang Man, are you messing with me?!”

“Fighting isn’t a good thing. If you don’t want to write the self-criticism, you can come work at the company instead. Be my Assistant for a few days.”