Wu Мangmang didn’t knоw whаt Ning Zhеng wаs imрlying with his words, and instinсtivеly retоrted, “Universitу А is аlsо а gоod schоol.”
Ning Zheng smiled, “I never said Univеrsitу A wаsn’t goоd. Вut thе mаjor уоu сhоsе cоuld just as well be а hоbby.”
In rеality, Wu Mаngmang had nеver treаtеd hеr wоrk аs а hоbby.
Ovеr thе yеаrs shе had bеen wоrking, аside from tаking lеavе to see Wu Yоng for treatmеnt, shе hаd alwаys been diligеnt аnd рunctuаl—until shе mеt Lu Sui, аftеr whiсh manу сhangеs oсcurred.
“Вy thе wау, what mаdе уоu decide tо study at University A? Тhere arе plentу of gооd schоols in this city with your major,” Ning Zheng said, looking into Wu Mangmang’s eyes.
Wu Mangmang didn’t avoid his gaze. She understood his implication. “Oh, so now that you think you’re clear-headed, you see everyone else as muddled, is that it?”
Ning Zheng shrugged. “Why do you seem a bit like you’ve been exposed and are lashing out in anger?”
His words nearly choked Wu Mangmang.
She was indeed somewhat angry and embarrassed, because she had long since blurred the original reason for choosing to study at University A.
“Can’t be bothered with you,” Wu Mangmang turned her head away.
Ning Zheng looked at her face, flushed with anger, even the corners of her eyes tinged with a light red.
So-called beauty—whether annoyed or joyful—was captivating in every way.
“How boring. Since you’ve been with Lu Sui, you’ve become just as dull as him,” Ning Zheng teased.
His words struck a chord with Wu Mangmang. In truth, she also felt life had become rather dull, devoid of any fun.
“Right, who could be as interesting as you, your brother, and Shen Yuanzi?” Wu Mangmang, having been hit where it hurt, lashed out without any grace.
“Why are you eating?” Lu Sui walked over, glancing at his watch. It was already past eight in the evening.
Wu Mangmang immediately put down the food in her hand. Only upon hearing Lu Sui’s words did she realize she had broken her rule of not eating after eight—all because Ning Zheng had angered her into confusion.
“Oh, I was a bit hungry just now,” Wu Mangmang covered up.
Lu Sui glanced at Wu Mangmang, then at Ning Zheng, before saying to her, “Auntie is looking for you.”
Wu Mangmang gave an “oh” and hurried off to attend to Empress Dowager Lu Jianan.
“Let’s go. Didn’t you want to collaborate with Lan Yue?” Lu Sui said to Ning Zheng.
With Lu Sui acting as the intermediary, Lan Yue and Ning Zheng seemed to have a pleasant conversation.
Tonight’s leading lady, Shen Yuanzi, slowly walked over to Wu Mangmang and smiled. “Ning Zheng is trying to persuade Lan Yue to help promote his products. But Lan Yue really does take good care of herself. At forty, she still has a baby face. If she’s willing to help Ning Zheng, it would be quite convincing.”
Wu Mangmang lowered her eyelids, unsure what Shen Yuanzi was trying to do.
“Actually, Lan Yue has some history with Ning Zheng. If it weren’t for Lu Sui mediating, she would never help him. But she definitely won’t help him unconditionally.” Shen Yuanzi paused, twirling the wine glass in her hand, and glanced sideways at Wu Mangmang with a raised eyebrow. “It all depends on how Lu Sui persuades her, don’t you think?”Wu Mangmang smiled back at Shen Yuanzi, thinking to herself that her attempt to sow discord was far too clumsy. Trying to get her to sabotage the cooperation between Lan Yue and Ning Zheng?
Wu Mangmang glanced up at Lu Sui and Lan Yue. Lan Yue was naturally beautiful and poised, radiant and dazzling. But if someone like Lu Sui truly wanted to be with Lan Yue, there would be no place for someone like Wu Mangmang.
Wu Mangmang saw it clearly: a man like Lu Sui never allowed accidents in his life. Everything was under his control, and he knew exactly what he wanted and what he didn’t. Lan Yue definitely had no chance.
"Lu Sui is a very persuasive person," Wu Mangmang said, following Shen Yuanzi’s lead.
Shen Yuanzi had thought Wu Mangmang didn’t understand her hint, but when her gaze met Wu Mangmang’s eyes, she realized she was the one making a fool of herself. She responded with a cold sneer. Such an arrogant and underestimating woman—she wouldn’t even know how she’d end up dead.
Wu Mangmang watched Shen Yuanzi’s retreating figure with some regret. Back at the grassland villa, she had even given Shen Yuanzi a thumbs-up. Who would have thought she’d bring herself to such a state now?
She considered offering a few words of advice, but her relationship with Shen Yuanzi wasn’t that close. Besides, Miss Shen looked down on upstarts like her who rose to prominence halfway, and might even suspect ulterior motives.
So Wu Mangmang obediently stayed by Lu Jianan’s side, socializing and benefiting greatly from it. However, wearing high heels for too long was truly painful, and she urgently needed someone to rescue her.
Somehow, Wu Mangmang found herself thinking again of that first love she rarely recalled over the years but had been remembering frequently this year.
She remembered how he had carried her up a mountain while she wore three-inch high heels. What a pitiful guy, but his stamina was truly impressive.
Perhaps it was the champagne she’d had a bit too much of, or perhaps she was distracted by memories of the past, but as Wu Mangmang followed Lu Sui downstairs, the slender heel of her high heel accidentally got caught in the elevator gap. She stumbled forward awkwardly, but fortunately, Lu Sui reacted quickly, saving her from the embarrassing situation of falling flat on her face.
Even so, the next day, as Lu Sui’s girlfriend, Wu Mangmang’s "elevator fall" video went viral online, reaching half a million views in just half a day.
The video was taken by a hotel guest who happened to capture it on their phone and uploaded it to a famous video-sharing site for everyone’s amusement.
The Lu family reacted promptly that day, and by the afternoon, the video had been withdrawn by the uploader and disappeared from the internet.
Falling down is actually quite normal, but when it happens to a celebrity or a socialite, it becomes something ordinary people can laugh and clap about.
Even celebrities’ shoulder straps slipping during conversations make headlines in the media, let alone Wu Mangmang’s fall.
Although the video was withdrawn, some resourceful individuals managed to save it on their computers, editing it into various parody clips for their own amusement.
Because of this incident, Lu Jianan didn’t give Wu Mangmang a single friendly look for an entire week and temporarily suspended her social activities.
Misfortunes never come singly. After her fall, Wu Mangmang caught a cold again, this time coughing severely. At night, her whole body felt feverish, but her forehead was cold. An X-ray revealed she had pneumonia and needed intravenous drips at home.However, being sick aside, Wu Mangmang actually found herself quite content, as it gave her the perfect opportunity to focus on completing tasks and upgrading her game equipment. She had already fallen out of the top twenty on the equipment leaderboard.
Wu Mangmang played games in secret, as Lu Sui strongly disliked her gaming habits. He believed that wasting precious time in the virtual world was a squandering of life and particularly harmful to the eyes.
For Wu Mangmang, however, she couldn’t help but lose herself in the virtual world, finding it safe and comforting. Any unpleasantness could be completely forgotten while gaming.
This was the chasm between them, one that could not be bridged.
Since Lu Sui hadn’t come up to check on her for an hour, Wu Mangmang found it a bit odd. She tiptoed downstairs, intending to bother him in his study.
However, the study was empty, and instead, a rather loud female voice came from the guest parlor. Wu Mangmang pricked up her ears and heard her own name mentioned by Lu Jianan.
"You’re just spoiling her. She can’t even walk properly. I really don’t know what goes through her mind all day long," Lu Jianan said, sounding rather exasperated.
"Auntie, don’t be angry. Just teach her a bit more," Lu Sui tried to soothe Lu Jianan.
"How much more can I teach? I’ve never worried this much in my entire life. Even a pig could be taught by now. She’s simply beyond help. If your mother were still here, Wu Mangmang would never have been allowed into the Lu family."
Wu Mangmang held her breath, puffing her cheeks out to the size of a pig’s face. So she was beyond help after all, and Lu Sui had lied to her, claiming that Lu Jianan actually liked her.
"Mangmang is very clever. She’s just young. Please be patient with her," Lu Sui said.
"Young? She’s just not putting her heart into it," Lu Jianan said, massaging her temples in frustration. "I don’t think she needs to pursue that master’s degree. It’s not particularly useful anyway, and it’s not even in this city. If she really wants to improve herself, she should be sent abroad for a couple of years to study. Her academic credentials aren’t particularly impressive."
In truth, Wu Mangmang’s undergraduate university was among the top-tier institutions in the country, though it couldn’t compare to places like Yale, Harvard, or MIT.
Whenever people around her started sentences with "When I was at Yale…," Wu Mangmang couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed.
Eavesdropping wasn’t a good habit, especially when others were still speaking ill of her. Wu Mangmang turned around and tiptoed back to her room, reopening her game. She spent three thousand in-game currency to render a brand-new outfit that had just been released.
Currently, she was the only player on the entire server wearing this outfit, attracting endless attention and shouts of "Goddess, please go out with me!" wherever she went.
These people didn’t care about her academic credentials.
At nine o’clock, Lu Sui came upstairs on time. Wu Mangmang genuinely felt sorry for herself. Because she was sick and couldn’t engage in any intimate activities, she still had to go to bed at nine, earlier even than Wù Dàndàn.
"Professor Guo’s newly admitted graduate students have already arrived at the university and started assisting with experiments. Last time I spoke with him, he mentioned he’s researching a new technique for restoring gold leaf on Buddha statues. I’d like to go and learn about it first, okay?" Wu Mangmang said, looking at Lu Sui in the darkness.
"Next month, I plan to take you to stay at a winery in France for a while. There’s no rush to go to school until the semester starts," Lu Sui said, his hand gently stroking Wu Mangmang’s back."Oh." Wu Mangmang turned her back to Lu Sui to show she was a little upset.
But Lu Sui behind her showed no intention of changing his mind, nor did he try to comfort her as she had hoped. After all, everything was decided by him. Wu Mangmang opened her eyes wide in the darkness, feeling somewhat lost.
Even before the trip to France could happen, Wu Mangmang began a cold war with Lu Sui.
Or rather, Wu Mangmang initiated a one-sided cold war. As for Lu Sui, he would tease her when he had free time, and when he was busy, he would leave her alone, ignoring her even when her pout could hang an oil pot.
Mr. Lu clearly understood the principle that women should not be spoiled too much.
Wu Mangmang simply had no way to deal with Lu Sui. This man was impervious to reason; if you threw a tantrum or started a cold war, he would pat your head as if you were a child, letting you reflect and grow on your own.
As for Lu Jianan, Wu Mangmang’s attitude was even more passive. This was one of Wu Mangmang’s flaws—she simply couldn’t get along with people who didn’t like her.
Although this little aunt didn’t like her, Wu Mangmang had to admit that she was really putting effort into teaching her. So, Wu Mangmang wasn’t ungrateful, and because of Lu Sui, she endured everything from Lu Jianan, treating her words as sacred decrees, almost to the point of developing hemorrhoids from the stress.
But perhaps because she was too disengaged, Lu Jianan’s patience with her finally ran out. On this day, just as Wu Mangmang finished her IV drip and was about to go downstairs to stretch her legs, she saw the furious little aunt storming straight into Lu Sui’s study.
Wu Mangmang was a bit surprised. Like Lu Sui, Lu Jianan was someone who rarely showed her emotions, always maintaining the grace of a socialite. This was only the second time she had been so flustered—the first time was when Wu Mangmang eavesdropped on them.
Wu Mangmang hesitated for a moment, but curiosity got the better of her. She turned back to grab a glass, pressed it against the door of Lu Sui’s study, and leaned her ear against it to eavesdrop.
"Lu Sui, I wouldn’t interfere no matter who you liked. But do you really understand Wu Mangmang?" Lu Jianan seemed to have thrown something to Lu Sui for him to see.
"I already know all of this, Auntie," Lu Sui’s voice was calm.
"Do you know she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital when she was eighteen?" Lu Jianan’s voice rose slightly.
"Mangmang is completely fine now, no different from an ordinary person," Lu Sui said lightly.
"Completely fine? She’s been seeing a psychologist all along," Lu Jianan retorted.
"Auntie, who doesn’t have some psychological issues in modern society? You’ve spent so much time with Mangmang—do you think there’s anything abnormal about her?" Lu Sui said calmly.
"Lu Sui, Wu Mangmang is absolutely not suitable. I know you—ordinary women don’t interest you, but you don’t have to find someone with mental issues just for novelty and excitement, do you?" Lu Jianan hit the nail on the head.
"Auntie, I’ve always respected you, but please don’t interfere in this matter. I know my own feelings," Lu Sui said coldly.
"Lu Sui, if you marry Wu Mangmang, someone will eventually dig into her background, and nothing can be hidden then. Your eldest aunt won’t agree either," Lu Jianan softened her tone, seeing how firm Lu Sui was."Lu Lin has already given us endless worry, must you be the same?"
Wu Mangmang couldn't be bothered to listen to the rest. She placed the glass back where it belonged and returned to her computer. As soon as she logged in, Nuan Yang pulled her into the team.
"I've been worried sick, looking for you for ages. Today we're tackling the new dungeon for the first time—let's go for the first clear. Can you leave me a contact? That way I'll know if you're online next time we form a team," Nuan Yang said to Wu Mangmang over YY (voice chat software).
After a moment's thought, Wu Mangmang gave Nuan Yang her phone number.
Tackling a new dungeon for the first time was truly a test of both physical and mental endurance, but Wu Mangmang and Nuan Yang cooperated seamlessly, making the journey relatively smooth.
What went even more smoothly was that at nine in the evening, Lu Sui didn't come to urge her to sleep as usual. Wu Mangmang happily continued playing her game.
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