“Oh my! Make sure to hold onto that camera lens, it’ll be sensational!” Now’s the chance! She maneuvered through, rushing to Wei Zhanyi’s front, pressing her recorder and moving close to his mouth. Yes! Just in time to record his thoughts about the entire incident. He looked down at her; her burning gaze almost piercing through him, urging him to speak. His thoughts were very short, truly brief, just four words—
“No comment.
Wish?” he roared. “Let me tell you what a ‘sole wish’ is! I embraced my ideals and entered the journalism world, hoping to one day become the chief editor of a famous newspaper. I struggled for thirty years and ended up only managing to become the editor-in-chief of a second-rate magazine that can’t even be called ‘professional’, dealing with a reckless little brat like you—”
He forcefully wiped his “Mediterranean” head with a handkerchief. “Wanting to achieve your sole wish at twenty-three? Go back to dreaming!”
Just as he finished speaking, suddenly, an even more furious voice exploded from behind the crowd—
“The editor-in-chief I personally promoted is calling my magazine ‘second-rate’?”
Everyone turned around. Oh no! The big boss had arrived!
“Qing Yan, don’t fight with them anymore,” said Xiao Ke.
The news interview van was parked on the roadside. Xiao Ke and Qing Yan got out together, carrying heavy equipment.
“A second-rate magazine is a second-rate magazine, even the car is a piece of junk,” she looked at her watch. “You have thirty minutes to fix it, otherwise we’ll have to abandon the car and take a taxi to the interview.”
“We should… be able to fix it, right?” Xiao Ke’s tone was very uncertain.
“No wonder our magazine is monthly. Running news in this ‘copper can’ of a car. If we were weekly, everyone would have dispersed by the time we arrived, what interview?”
“Don’t be so combative!” Xiao Ke started fixing the car, softly trying to persuade her.
“This isn’t being ‘combative’, it’s ‘being disappointed in iron that won’t become steel’,” she cursed while reviewing the interview materials.
Xiao Ke opened the hood, tinkering around and stealing glances at her.
“You clearly want to do your job well, so why are you cursing left and right?”
“If we don’t criticize each other, how will we improve?”
“You even scold the boss!”
“He’s useless, of course I’ll scold him.” She was righteously confident.
“Aren’t you afraid of being fired?”
“Being fired would be better. I’ll find my next place.”
Actually, she understood she was a bit arrogant, but if her words weren’t reasonable, she would have been fired eight hundred years ago, how could she still be hanging around here?
“Qing Yan, you’re so brave!” Xiao Ke looked at her with admiring eyes.
“Hmph!” She returned to her materials, and suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she saw an expensive car parked on the roadside, and a tall man stepping out. Hmm, he looked familiar!
She rubbed her eyes—
Wei Zhan Yi! It was Wei Zhan Yi!
He walked into “Bruno Restaurant”, an extremely expensive and high-end restaurant. She watched him, mesmerized.
“Xiao Ke! Hey, Xiao Ke!” She desperately nudged his elbow.
“What? I’m almost done fixing the car, don’t rush!” Xiao Ke was buried in the hood.
“Wei Zhan Yi just went into Bruno Restaurant.”
“And then?” Fixing the car was more important.
Her mind raced. “Go in and ask if he’s a regular customer.”
Xiao Ke helplessly turned to look at her. “The waiter will only answer ‘no comment’.”
“Then slip some money to buy information!” Her tone was barely concealing excitement.
Xiao Ke hesitated. “That’s something only third-rate paparazzi would do!”
“Less nonsense, how professional is our magazine? Go ask quickly!”
She pushed, and Xiao Ke wiped his hands on his pants leg and walked over, muttering.
“I really don’t know why you’re so obsessed with Wei Zhan Yi.”
Yeah! Why was she so obsessed with him? Like a star-chaser, unable to look away from him, unable to detach her thoughts, as if she’d been cursed by a spell called “Wei Zhan Yi” for over a decade.
Despite many years passing, she still remembered that autumn wind, those fallen leaves, that year of… their first meeting.
He stood very straight, his eyes bright and sharp, firmly refusing his father’s attitude, neither servile nor overbearing, with an air that was like… like a lord wearing commoner’s clothes, which, even if dim, could not hide his arrogant temperament.
She remembered this image, along with his story and everything written in the report. She pestered her father to introduce her to every detail about the young man.
At that time, she knew that this young man would clear his father’s name and restore the family’s reputation, so she had always longed for any information about him and even more desired to meet him face to face and have an in-depth conversation.
Wei Zhanyi, fourteen years after she first remembered him, people began to call him – the Prince of Revenge!
“Welcome, Mr. Wei.”
Ding Qingyan, wearing Bruno Restaurant’s uniform, stood at the reception desk, quickly pressed a record on the computer, and immediately came forward.
Hearing an unfamiliar voice, he looked at her especially.
This strange woman seemed somewhat familiar. “Who are you?” He was used to seeing Alice’s steady smile.
“I’m the substitute waitress Jamie,” she offered a sweet smile, trying to hide the emotions in her eyes. “Alice is on vacation. From today, I’ll be serving you.” Seeing him still staring at her with a thoughtful expression, she couldn’t help but feel nervous. “Is there… any problem?”
“Have I seen you before?” This face looked increasingly familiar; he was certain he had seen her.
Qingyan’s heart raced. Oh no! This CEO was busy with countless matters, with thousands of employees. Surely he wouldn’t remember the commotion she caused at the New Chuan Manor’s entrance half a year ago?
“Probably not,” she recited the prepared lie. “I just came up from the south to work.”
He narrowed his eyes. Is that so? A familiar feeling swept over him again. When she looked at him, it was like a hunter seeing prey, with both excitement and greed in her eyes.
“Your seat is ready. Please follow me.”
Qingyan’s turning motion was slightly too quick, leading him to his usual seat.
“Would you like an aperitif?” After seating him, she asked.
“No.”
“Then I’ll step back.” She retreated to the side, waiting to help serve.
With just a few clicks on the computer, the chef knew Wei Zhanyi had come to dine.
Bruno Restaurant was a place absolutely inaccessible without money, dealing exclusively with regular customers. There was no menu; each dish was freshly prepared by the chef using that day’s ingredients. The chef knew each customer’s preferences and tastes perfectly. Because of this, regulars would prepay a million in cash, never needing to swipe a card, as if everyone collectively maintained a personal chef.
A position in such a restaurant, even cleaning, was originally completely out of her reach. But she used all her connections and finally replaced a waitress who was traveling abroad for half a month.
The person who helped her get the job warned her earnestly: “High-end restaurants especially value customer privacy. You cannot report anything you see or hear in the restaurant.”
“I know, I know,” eager to achieve her goal, she nodded vigorously. “I’m just looking for an opportunity to get close to Wei Zhanyi. I won’t reveal what he likes or dislikes to eat, or that some big shot likes to add salt or vinegar to their coffee.”
She swore three hundred times before the intermediary agreed to let her work at Bruno Restaurant, working three days a week, which coincidentally were the days Wei Zhanyi would dine here.
She had never observed Wei Zhanyi so closely before. He was taller, more robust, more handsome, and more…
