Pampered by Short-Lived Bigshot

Chapter 1595: Chapter 924: Mastering Presence and Identity—No Need for a Real Knife to "Kill" (Part 3)

The first floor of the studio was where the finished pieces were displayed, and the air conditioning was blasting.

When Si Qingxiao walked over and stopped in front of Yu Zhen, an autumn cicada screeched outside, and Yu Zhen’s heart was already lodged in her throat. She felt she needed to greet her, but her throat seemed blocked by something—she couldn’t squeeze out a single word.

"Fourth Aunt, this is the sister I told you about, the one who gave me the present." Jiang Xiaowai suddenly spoke up.

"Is that so?" Si Qingxiao sized her up.

"Hello."

Yu Zhen felt her throat so dry it was burning. The cold air around her seemed to surge in from all directions, biting and oppressive.

There was probably nothing that could make her feel more embarrassed than she did right now.

Trying to get someone’s contact info, then getting caught red-handed by the person herself—what kind of worse crash could there be?

"You really shouldn’t have." Si Qingxiao gave her a smile and dipped her head in thanks, generous and poised.

"It’s—it’s fine." Yu Zhen panicked even more. She didn’t even know what Si Qingxiao’s smile was supposed to mean.

But then Si Qingxiao turned to Jiang Chengsi. "Mutang picking out ice cream... she took forever, you’ve been waiting a long time, huh?"

"It’s okay."

"Still haven’t seen Wanwan?"

"No."

...

Listening to the two of them talk, Yu Zhen felt like just standing off to the side was enough to make her so suffocated she was about to faint, and her assistant was even more terrified, face gone pale, clearly having no idea how to deal with the mess in front of them.

It was painfully awkward.

Right then, Chen Zhi came looking for her. "Ms. Yu, so you’re here. I’ve been searching all over for you..." He saw Jiang Chengsi and Si Qingxiao there too, but didn’t think much of it and greeted them as well.

"Manager Chen." Seeing Chen Zhi felt like spotting a savior for Yu Zhen.

"Come on, I’ll take you around for a tour."

"No need, I just remembered I have something to do. I’m going to head out first." Yu Zhen had no face left to stay any longer. If Si Qingxiao suddenly blew up, she’d be done for.

Chen Zhi had actually been racking his brain for some excuse to escort her out. Seeing her volunteer to leave, he was thrilled inside, but he still kept things polite:

"Why are you leaving so soon? Stay a bit longer, have something to drink."

"No, no."

"I’ll walk you out."

"That’s not necessary!"

Yu Zhen walked off in a rush.

"Your other assistants are still..." Chen Zhi pointed upstairs. When she came, she’d brought a whole group. There were still a few resting upstairs, yet she wasn’t even calling them—she was just leaving?

Yu Zhen looked as if some raging beast was chasing her from behind. She was in such a hurry that she almost stepped right off the edge of the step—onto Lord Wansui, who was slowly inching his way along.

She still had some pent-up anger simmering, irritable and stifled.

She actually lifted her foot and kicked Lord Wansui, flipping him over onto the ground.

Jiang Xiaowai only saw her kick something, and it wasn’t until more than ten seconds later that he suddenly realized he’d been so focused on his ice cream he’d left the turtle outside.

When he ran out, Lord Wansui was lying belly-up on the grass, all four legs pointing at the sky.

As a turtle, he really had no idea how to get himself out of this predicament.

Jiang Xiaowai picked Lord Wansui up and put him back into the glass tank. Soon, the rest of Yu Zhen’s team came out one after another, got in the car, and drove off in a hurry.

...

Tang Wan hadn’t expected her to leave that fast. She’d planned to at least save some face by walking her out, but by the time she got outside, even the car’s shadow was gone.

"Is she a very important client of yours?" Si Qingxiao asked.

"Not a client. She’s a blogger famous for filming animal videos and loving small animals. I was planning to have her host the exhibition. I thought her image was pretty good—mainly, she has a good reputation in the industry." If she wanted to invite a celebrity or a big-name host, Tang Wan was perfectly capable of finding someone. She’d mainly been drawn to this woman’s image.

"Pretty good image?" Si Qingxiao gave a faint smile.

"Mom, she just kicked Lord Wansui!" Jiang Xiaowai had already finished his ice cream and came into the studio clutching the little glass tank.

"Who kicked him?"

"That sister from just now." Jiang Xiaowai was so mad his round little face puffed up.

Tang Wan frowned. A blogger known for loving animals... kicked a turtle?

Sure enough, you really can’t believe everything you see online.

Meet them in person, and all those filters just shatter on the spot.

Tang Wan had actually already made up her mind about this collaboration. Now she felt absolutely no hesitation. She turned to Si Qingxiao. "Sis, you and Fourth Brother came over to..."

What’s meant to come will always come!

"We were just passing by. You’re putting on an exhibition, so we came to see if there’s anything we can help with." Si Qingxiao had known her for quite a while; just from her micro-expressions, she’d already guessed a few things. "You don’t seem very happy to see me here."

"No, it’s not that. Let’s go sit in my office first."

As long as they weren’t here to dig things out of her, even if they moved in to live here, she’d have no problem with it.

**

Meanwhile, Yu Zhen was about to lose her mind.

Anyway, anyone with eyes could see what she was after. Si Qingxiao rarely showed up in public, but insiders all said she was extremely capable, some even saying:

"If Miss Si didn’t have any tricks up her sleeve, how could she have tamed Fourth Master Jiang? He’s a man who has storm in his blood! Ordinary people simply can’t hold him down!"

But this time she collided head-on with Si Qingxiao, and yet Si Qingxiao hadn’t said a word. That alone was making her extremely agitated.

She felt like there was a knife hovering at her throat—you knew this knife was razor-sharp and could take your life at any moment, but you didn’t know when it would fall. That kind of burning anxiety and unease was the most fatal.

"Yu Zhen, you were way too impulsive just now. How could you just straight up ask Fourth Master for his contact info?" the assistant sighed.

"You’re blaming me now, but you didn’t stop me then either." Yu Zhen was already on edge; hearing the assistant’s passive-aggressive scolding, she got even more fired up. "I’m paying you to help me solve problems, not to sit here pointing fingers at me!"

"Don’t get mad. What matters most right now is stabilizing Tang Wan’s exhibition job. We can meet so many people at this event; we really can’t afford to lose it."

"I know. Didn’t you say this job was solid?"

"I’m just worried Fourth Master’s wife might step in and interfere, or say something to someone. If that happens, then... losing the job is one thing, but if we offend people like them, it’s way too easy for them to get us blacklisted."

For influencers like them, their livelihood depended on platform traffic. The ones who controlled the upstream resources could stomp them out without even trying.

"Why don’t we do some pre-hype marketing?" the assistant suggested.

Yu Zhen was practically unraveling at this point. She’d clawed her way up to where she was now; she absolutely didn’t want to fall back down.

...

Back at the studio

Tang Wan was helping check on Lord Wansui. Not only did this turtle have a long lifespan, its shell was pretty hard too, so it should be fine. But Jiang Xiaowai insisted it must’ve bumped into something, and no matter what, it just wouldn’t stick its head out.

"Mom, is Lord Wansui really okay? Why isn’t he moving?"

"He should be fine."

Tang Wan rummaged out some dried shrimp and put them in front of it to tease it. A few seconds later...

It actually poked its head out.

Jiang Xiaowai: "Then why didn’t it answer me when I kept calling it just now?"

"Maybe your voice is too loud and you scared him," Jiang Chengsi teased.

Just now, Jiang Xiaowai had looked like the turtle was on its deathbed and needed emergency rescue. Thankfully it was a turtle that could shrink back into its shell. Otherwise, he might really have tried to give it artificial respiration.

"Alright, stop picking on him." Si Qingxiao nudged him with her elbow.

"You weren’t mad just now?" Jiang Chengsi had been wanting to ask her.

"Of course I was. Someone asked my husband for his contact info right in front of me—how could I possibly have zero reaction?" Si Qingxiao kept her voice low, probably not wanting Tang Wan to hear. There was no need to gossip casually about this kind of thing.

"Then why did you still smile at her and just let her walk off?"

"What’s there for me to argue with her about?" Si Qingxiao smiled. "She only asked for a contact, and you didn’t even give it to her. If I made a fuss with her over that, it’d be like I’m really taking her seriously. Totally unnecessary."

"I think she’s actually terrified I’ll come after her. If I really did, she’d be relieved. But if I don’t..."

"That’s what’ll scare her half to death."

Si Qingxiao smiled with a face as harmless as a lamb, and Jiang Chengsi nodded in begrudging agreement:

Just what kind of people were around him? His bros were like this, and his wife was just as scheming.

Si Qingxiao had always understood: a knife doesn’t have to actually cut into flesh to hurt. The real pain lies in the drawn-out torture. Getting into a fight with her or giving her a warning was pointless and would only make it look like she cared too much. It was better to handle it with this kind of cold response.

Letting her live in fear for a while would count as a lesson learned.

You don’t need to literally use a knife to "kill."

"What are you two talking about?" Tang Wan had just finished helping Jiang Xiaowai "save" Lord Wansui and came back after washing her hands, seeing them chatting and laughing.

"Talking about your exhibition. Who have you invited?" Si Qingxiao smiled.

"Don’t even bring it up. I’m worried I won’t be able to get anyone..." Tang Wan wanted to invite some big shots, but those deities—none of them were easy to get to move.

Just then, Chen Zhi knocked and came in, holding a tablet. "Wanwan, come out with me for a bit."

Jiang Chengsi and Si Qingxiao both looked over. What could he possibly have to say that he couldn’t say here?

Clearly, something had gone wrong.