Chapter 082: Is This Helping Myself or Digging My Own Grave?

Chapter 082: Is He Helping or Sabotaging Me?

The two of them made their way to the front, just about to get into the car, when suddenly several sports cars sped into the parking lot outside the Red Moon Manor Hotel. A group of flamboyant girls jumped out, each with heavy makeup and hair dyed in a riot of colors, clearly not the sort of girls one would call proper—every one of them looked like a little street punk.

“Hey, Handsome Master!”

As soon as the girls got out, they quickly gathered together, ready to rush into the hotel. Suddenly, one of the girls let out a surprised cry and broke away from her friends, running towards them.

Hearing the odd address “Handsome Master,” Chu Fei immediately knew who it was.

Miss Xiao Mimi.

Only she would call him something so absurd.

“Handsome Master, it really is you! What are you doing here?” Xiao Mimi zipped over to Chu Fei, grabbing his arm with an excited expression.

Chu Fei frowned, taken aback by the drastic difference between this Xiao Mimi and his previous impression. Before, though her style was rebellious, he could still recognize her original appearance. Now, her makeup was so exaggerated—smoky eyes, a trendy jacket, fishnet stockings, and hair dyed in every color imaginable, like a peacock or a turkey. If not for her calling him “Handsome Master,” Chu Fei wouldn’t have recognized her at all.

“Handsome Master, it’s me, Xiao Mimi. Don’t you recognize me?” Seeing Chu Fei staring in confusion, she moved even closer, batting her eyes at him.

“Uh, I really almost didn’t recognize you,” Chu Fei replied, his mouth twitching.

“Ha ha.” Xiao Mimi laughed delightedly, showing off her smoky-eyed smile with pride. “So, how do I look? Don’t I seem lively and adorable?”

Chu Fei almost gagged.

Adorable? Lively?

Looking at her face, now unrecognizable under all the makeup, Chu Fei realized he must be getting old. He couldn’t see what was adorable about it—frightening, maybe. He was sure if someone saw such a face in the middle of the night, even someone as brave as himself would be startled. If a timid person ran into her, they might drop dead from fright.

Xiao Mimi caught on to his thoughts and pouted. “Tsk, Uncle, you’re so out of touch. This is the latest vampire look! It took me over an hour to get it just right.”

Chu Fei said nothing. Vampire look—the mere name made his skin crawl.

“If you don’t need anything, I’ll be going,” Chu Fei said, preparing to leave. He felt the generation gap between himself and Xiao Mimi was too vast.

“Don’t go!” Xiao Mimi grabbed his arm again. “Handsome Master, you won’t go back on your promise, will you?”

“What promise?” Chu Fei was momentarily confused.

“Seriously? You’re such a grown man, how can you eat your words and deny everything? You’re breaking my heart!” Xiao Mimi exaggeratedly acted pitiful.

Beside him, Blood Fox perked up his ears. Ever since Xiao Mimi appeared, he’d been puzzled—when did Chu Fei start flirting with this little street punk? Hearing her lament, Blood Fox’s mouth twitched. Thinking to himself, Chu Fei really has no standards, not even sparing a street punk—and now denying it? Maybe next time he should pretend not to know him; it’s too embarrassing.

“You mean teaching you martial arts, right? Of course I haven’t forgotten,” Chu Fei replied, sweating profusely as he suddenly remembered.

“Ha ha, I knew Handsome Master was a real man, a true hero. He’d never break his word!” Xiao Mimi brightened instantly, her mind quick to recover from any setback.

Chu Fei sweated even more. Xiao Mimi’s words were too ambiguous—real man, true hero? Someone might think he’d done something to her!

“I know you’re busy, so I won’t bother you now. Tomorrow’s the weekend, you’ll definitely have time, right?” Xiao Mimi now acted sensibly.

“We’ll talk about tomorrow when it comes,” Chu Fei replied, knowing she meant learning martial arts and not dodging the question.

“Ha ha, then I’ll wait for tomorrow. Handsome Master, I’m off now, I’ll contact you then!” Without further pestering, Xiao Mimi darted forward, planted a quick kiss on Chu Fei’s cheek, and raced back to her group. Whatever she said made the girls burst into giggles, then they swept into the hotel like a whirlwind.

Chu Fei finally withdrew his gaze, only to find Blood Fox staring at him oddly. He paused. “What’s with that look?”

“Chu Fei, I have to admit it—you really can charm everyone, from young to old, even street punks aren’t safe. Truly impressive…” Blood Fox shook his head, giving him a thumbs-up. Before Chu Fei could explain, he added, “But I have to admit, that girl had a pretty nice figure—especially those headlights, wow…”

“If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll sew your mouth shut,” Chu Fei interrupted coldly. One Xiao Mimi was headache enough, now Blood Fox was adding fuel to the fire.

“Alright, alright…” Blood Fox shrank back, quickly turning to start the car, though his mouth still twitched in amusement.

Chu Fei had no mind to argue further; he was busy thinking about how to handle Ximen Lu’s wrath when he got back.

—

Chu Fei’s method of dealing with Ximen Lu was straightforward.

Before returning to Star Moon Plaza, he called Bai Yanchu to confirm several office floors, then dragged Ximen Lu along to scout new company locations, finally settling on one.

“Chu Fei, are you joking? All this office space is ours?”

Ximen Lu was stunned by the first floor they saw—it was enormous, a whole floor, and just walking around it took more than ten minutes. Her anger at Chu Fei was forgotten; she felt like she was dreaming.

“Is it really that big? Didn’t you say our Fei Lu would soon take off? Expansion is necessary, so we might as well do it all at once, instead of looking for new offices every time we grow.” Chu Fei smirked, feeling satisfied by Ximen Lu’s exaggerated surprise.

“But this is way too big—even if Fei Lu expands, we don’t have nearly enough people.” Ximen Lu was still in shock. With so much space, not only could every employee have their own office, even giving each a whole workspace wouldn’t fill a quarter.

What if it’s haunted?

Ximen Lu muttered internally.

It had to be said, Ximen Lu and Chu Fei were truly old classmates—they had the same thoughts.

Chu Fei ignored her shock, dragging the stunned beauty boss to look at several other floors. Bai Yanchu was meticulous, arranging five floors with different layouts for Ximen Lu to choose from.

By noon, Ximen Lu was still in a daze, numb by the time she saw the last one.

“Chu Fei, are you kidding me? How could our company possibly need a whole floor? Four workspaces—no, really, just four would be plenty,” she said, sitting in a café sofa, finally coming to her senses, though still feeling unreal, frowning at Chu Fei.

Currently, Fei Lu’s office is just a corner of a workspace, not even half a workspace. According to Ximen Lu’s calculations, even if Fei Lu grew rapidly, three or four workspaces would be more than enough—ten times their current size.

Just four workspaces? Your ambition is way too small,” Chu Fei scoffed.

“It’s not about ambition, it’s reality. Fei Lu is just a small advertising company—how much could it possibly grow? Besides, Fei Lu isn’t like a construction firm; our staff are supposed to be elite, and even four workspaces might never be filled.” She was being realistic—the company’s nature determined its size and composition.

“But I already promised them—what should I do now?” Chu Fei shrugged, making things up. He knew exaggerating would make Ximen Lu back off.

“What?” Ximen Lu froze. “What did you promise? Don’t tell me you’ve already paid a deposit?”

“You’re really clever,” Chu Fei praised her.

“No way! You actually paid a deposit? How much?” Ximen Lu’s face darkened.

“Not much, just two hundred thousand. I mortgaged my apartment,” Chu Fei replied casually.

“You—” Ximen Lu’s eyes widened, her hand trembling so much her teacup nearly hit Chu Fei’s face.

Two hundred thousand?

Not much?

And he mortgaged his house?

Is he insane?

She stared at Chu Fei’s face. “Chu Fei, tell me you’re joking.” Though shocked, she couldn’t quite believe it was real.

“Do you think I’d joke about this? You gave me the important task of finding a company address, of course I gave it my all. Not only did I find one, but five floors for you to choose from. I’d say I’ve exceeded expectations, wouldn’t you?”

Ximen Lu felt a murderous impulse.

“Why do you look so unhappy—are none of the five floors to your liking?” Chu Fei asked.

“Chu Fei, do you think I should be excited right now?” Ximen Lu’s eyes were oddly intense.

“Shouldn’t you be? We’ve solved the first big hurdle in the company’s development…”

“Excited, my foot! Chu Fei, go get the deposit back, right now!” Ximen Lu suddenly shouted, startling Chu Fei and drawing the attention of several nearby diners.

“Are you joking, Ximen Lu? It’s a deposit; I can’t get it back,” Chu Fei grinned.

“I—” Ximen Lu collapsed onto the sofa, nearly coughing up blood. Two hundred thousand—before mortgaging the company, she hadn’t cared, but now everything was different. The company was mortgaged, and though there was some money, every penny had a designated purpose; none could be touched.

She looked up at Chu Fei, thinking he really was her nemesis. Was he helping her or sabotaging her?

Finally, Ximen Lu sighed, drained of energy, and asked, “Alright, let’s forget the deposit for now. Tell me, what’s the rent for each of these floors?”