Two Women, One Stage

At the Shen Corporation, Shen Manni had just returned to her office.

She barely had time to settle into her seat when her female secretary hurriedly entered, "Ms. Shen, you have a phone call."

"Don't you know how to knock?" Shen Manni was in a foul mood.

"Ah..." The secretary was taken aback.

The door hadn't been closed, and she thought the call was important, so she had instinctively walked in.

Shen Manni, still maintaining her composure, vented her displeasure briefly before quickly adjusting her attitude.

"Who's calling?"

The secretary, relieved, quickly replied, "It's from the Zhou Family, CEO Zhou Qiaoqiao."

Shen Manni furrowed her brow slightly, deep in thought. She extended her slender, pale finger and pointed at the rosewood desk.

"Put it here."

"Certainly." The secretary respectfully placed the phone on the desk and then excused herself.

Shen Manni, with her legs crossed in an alluring pose, gently tapped her fingers on the desk surface.

After a moment's consideration, she picked up the phone and dialed the most recent number in the call history.

"Get to the point. If you're calling to mock the Shen family, I'm hanging up," Shen Manni said coldly.

Zhou Qiaoqiao: "I don't have such a twisted sense of humor. Your heart isn't as pure as it appears on the surface, is it?"

Shen Manni: "How boring. I'm hanging up..."

Zhou Qiaoqiao: "You can hear Xu Mo's thoughts, can't you?"

Shen Manni's body tensed slightly. Suddenly, as if realizing something, she counter-questioned, "Are you saying you can hear them too!?"

Zhou Qiaoqiao didn't try to hide it at all, admitting frankly,

"That's right!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Manni's expression darkened. She said, "So you used the thoughts you overheard to set things up in advance and turn the tables on my Shen family. What a clever move!"

Yesterday's events and why Zhou Qiaoqiao had acted so unusually suddenly made sense.

At this thought, both women were momentarily stunned.

They couldn't tell others about hearing Xu Mo's thoughts.

Yet they could chat with each other about it without any obstacle.

Perhaps there was some commonality between them.

Zhou Qiaoqiao took a small sip of red tea to moisten her throat, then reminded her,

"The mess your company's security guard Lin Fan made, how can you blame that on us?"

Suddenly, Zhou Qiaoqiao raised her fair, slender hand to her small mouth, exclaiming in surprise,

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't speak ill of that man since he's your true love..."

"Shut up!"

At the mention of Lin Fan, Shen Manni trembled with anger. Especially when she involuntarily thought of Lin Fan's crooked smile, she felt the urge to throw the phone across the room.

"If you're going to keep talking about these trivial matters, I'm hanging up."

Shen Manni's tone was ice-cold.

Zhou Qiaoqiao put aside her playful attitude. It was fun to tease, but not too much. She knew when to stop.

"Since we can both hear Xu Mo's thoughts, why don't we work together? Play along with his act. You should be incredibly grateful for this, shouldn't you? His feelings for you are fake, and you don't want to spend your days with someone who annoys you."

Shen Manni raised an eyebrow, suddenly feeling a sense of emptiness inside, as if she had lost something.

She had no shortage of suitors.

To be fair, Xu Mo was the only one who would disregard his own company's interests and losses in pursuit of her.

Even if it was fake, just an act.

But knowing the truth now.

Shen Manni felt a bit hurt.

Her current state of mind was probably that the unattainable is always alluring, while the favored take things for granted.

"What you say makes sense, but why should I agree to work with you? Ms. Zhou Qiaoqiao, I don't think your memory is that poor! Have you forgotten about yesterday's Hongtu incident?" Shen Manni held onto her grudge.

Zhou Qiaoqiao lazily narrowed her eyes.

"Of course I remember. Let me clarify, the main reason for that incident was Lin Fan trying to win your heart by setting up a trap for the Xu family. It just so happened that he ended up shooting himself in the foot."

"You..." Shen Manni's face flushed with anger and embarrassment.

Zhou Qiaoqiao continued without hesitation, "Whether you agree to cooperate or not doesn't make much difference to me and my little man. I think that security guard Lin Fan is quite a good match for you. It wouldn't be a bad thing if you two got together."

Click...

As Zhou Qiaoqiao hung up the phone,

She could clearly hear an angry voice.

She smiled, her beautiful almond-shaped eyes gazing out the floor-to-ceiling window, "The weather is so nice today, it's putting me in a good mood. Come to think of it, it's my first date with my little wolf pup at noon. Where should we eat? Somewhere grand, or somewhere more romantic..."

She crossed her long legs.

An indescribable aura emanated from her.

Bang!

Shen Manni violently threw the phone to the ground.

"Damn it! Do they really think my Shen family is so easy to bully?"

Shen Manni felt inexplicably irritated.

She and Zhou Qiaoqiao had never gotten along, and after being set up this time,

Their conflict had only deepened!

All her anger was focused on Lin Fan.

As for Zhou Qiaoqiao and Xu Mo, it was a different kind of inexplicable anger.

Seeing those two get along well just made her upset!

"Manni, I heard you went to Xu Corporation. Hey... who upset you?" Shen Cheng asked as he entered, noticing the phone smashed on the floor.

The screen was completely shattered.

"Dad, why are you here?" Shen Manni stood up and asked.

Shen Cheng came to his senses and repeated, "You went to Xu Corporation today, did you see Xu Mo?"

Shen Manni nodded, embarrassed and angry, "I did!"

A chrysanthemum-like smile bloomed on Shen Cheng's old face.

"That's great! That young man likes you so much, he'll surely buy some of our Hongtu shares for your sake. Daughter, just listen to your father for the next few days. Ask him out more often, have dinner, go shopping, watch movies together..."

Shen Manni smiled bitterly, interrupting him and offering an excuse she had just made up.

"He's ignoring me."

The smile on Shen Cheng's face froze. "That can't be right? Doesn't he like you very much? He's been pursuing you for so long."

It was all fake!!

Even if it were all true, your daughter wouldn't lower herself to beg him.

Shen Manni's heart was full of bitterness that she couldn't express.

Finally, Shen Cheng was persuaded to leave.

Before leaving, Shen Cheng cursed Xu Mo.

The gist of it was:

If he can't even help with such a small matter, no wonder my daughter won't accept his pursuit.

After Shen Cheng left, Shen Manni sat exhaustedly in her executive chair.

Every time she thought of Xu Mo's false pursuit,

Shen Manni couldn't help but feel angry.

"If I can't be happy, neither will you! You want to upset me? Well, I'll make sure to infuriate you too!"