Chapter 11: Ruan Mianmian’s Sharp Tongue

“Ruan Mianmian, I’m trying to talk to you nicely, and you’re insulting me again?”

Li Xiaofei’s face was ashen, and the document in her hand was about to be crumpled into a ball.

This wretched woman insulted her last Friday, and now she was at it again.

So infuriating!

“I spoke to you nicely as well. I’ve already told you three times—I’m not going to handle this business, it’s not within my responsibilities. Why can’t you understand human language? With your brains, even a dung beetle would want to roll you away!”

Muted laughter rippled through the office.

Li Xiaofei’s face flushed red. “You… Ruan Mianmian, you’ve insulted your team leader repeatedly, shown disrespect, and refused to obey. I’m docking fifty points from your performance score this month!”

Ruan Mianmian was truly exasperated!

She was about to be driven mad by her!

Ruan Mianmian had the sharpest tongue!

The sound of colleagues drawing in breath could be heard all around.

Fifty points docked!

Li Xiaofei actually dared to say it out loud.

The performance score was a total of one hundred points—losing fifty was losing half! Performance pay was twenty percent of the total salary. Who could stand to lose that much?

Everyone looked at Ruan Mianmian with sympathy.

Xu Weiwei anxiously tugged at her sleeve, hoping she would just yield to Li Xiaofei.

Li Xiaofei was petty and vindictive. She’d definitely done this on purpose, using the pretext of sending Mianmian out for the project, knowing she’d refuse.

As soon as Mianmian refused, she had an excuse to dock her score. That way, Mianmian would give in.

But going out for projects wasn’t Mianmian’s forte. If she obeyed just to avoid losing points and the project failed, Li Xiaofei would find another excuse to go after her.

No matter what, Mianmian was going to be tormented by Li Xiaofei.

Clearly, Li Xiaofei still held a grudge from last Friday when Mianmian embarrassed her.

How could Ruan Mianmian possibly back down?

She stopped typing, slapped the table, and stood up.

“Li Xiaofei, did you get your head slammed in a door or is it full of water? I’ve made it very clear I’m not taking on this business—it’s not my responsibility—yet you insist I go. What’s your angle?”

“And you dare say you’ll dock fifty points from me? I think you’re the one who should lose points—shirking your own duties and pawning them off on others.”

“Ask everyone here—does anyone actually respect you? If it weren’t for your connections, would you ever be team leader?”

Li Xiaofei looked around the office.

Everyone was watching her, but aside from her close friend Fang Yali, nobody’s gaze held approval—most looked away, not daring to meet her eyes.

She pointed at Zhao Mingxuan. “Zhao Mingxuan, tell me—don’t you think I deserve to be team leader?”

When Zhao Mingxuan first joined the company, he’d even tried to pursue her. Surely he’d speak up for her, right?

Zhao Mingxuan snorted. “You’d better ask someone else. I’m afraid if you hear my answer, you’ll have a heart attack.”

He couldn’t believe he’d once thought she was attractive.

Looking at Li Xiaofei now, all he saw was stupidity and malice, her face pinched and mean.

He must have been blind back then.

“You…” Li Xiaofei glared at Zhao Mingxuan, but didn’t have the courage to continue.

“Ruan Mianmian, just you wait!” Li Xiaofei stomped back to her seat in her high heels.

[Congratulations, host, for putting Li Xiaofei in her place. You’ve earned 50 points and 5 extra days of life.]

After driving Li Xiaofei off, Ruan Mianmian reflected on what had just happened.

Was this the plan Li Xiaofei and Li Hao cooked up to deal with her?

Li Xiaofei and Li Hao must have assumed she wouldn’t refuse—she truly wouldn’t have, before.

If she didn’t refuse, there were three possibilities.

First, if she succeeded, someone else would take credit—this had happened to her before.

Second, if she failed, Li Xiaofei and Li Hao would use it as grounds to fire her.

Third, there might be some unknown trap waiting for her during the project negotiation.

She just didn’t know what the trap would be.

If she refused, Li Xiaofei could accuse her of insubordination, dock her points, or use it as an excuse to transfer her elsewhere.

Either way, she couldn’t win.

Now that she’d refused, Li Xiaofei threatened to dock fifty points.

She wondered if they’d try to use this to transfer her or make things harder in other ways.

Losing points didn’t matter. She’d just earned fifty points—which equaled fifty thousand yuan.

Just yesterday, she’d vowed that if she earned fifty points today, she’d upgrade her system—and now she’d done it.

“007, tell me, what’s the benefit of upgrading the system?”

Fifty thousand yuan! She still wanted to know what she stood to gain before deciding.

[After upgrading, you’ll receive a surprise gift pack, and every time you put someone in their place, the points and life you earn will double compared to the basic system.]

[The higher your level, the more points and life you gain per argument. Host, you must keep working to upgrade.]

“How long does the upgrade take?”

[Twelve hours.]

“Can I still earn points and life from arguments during the upgrade?”

[No.]

“Then I’ll upgrade tonight after work. In case anyone tries to mess with me this afternoon, I won’t be able to hold back.”

Since both points and life would double after upgrading, upgrade it was.

It was a matter of life or death—might as well spend money to buy time.

No point in keeping points if you’re dead.

[Understood, host.]

As long as the host agreed to upgrade, it didn’t mind waiting a bit longer.

“Mianmian, look, Li Xiaofei and Fang Yali are whispering together—they must be plotting against you,” Xu Weiwei reminded her.

Mianmian had been amazing just now, leaving Li Xiaofei speechless.

Ruan Mianmian glanced over and said, “It’s fine. Let the storm come even fiercer!”

Maybe those two were holding back a bigger move for her.

Bring it on, bring it on!

That way she’d have even more chances to rack up points and life.

“Mianmian, I feel like you’ve changed so much. You never used to stand up to them like this.”

Ruan Mianmian sighed. “Weiwei, last Thursday I really almost died. I could hear you calling me, but I just couldn’t breathe. I was terrified, afraid death would take me at twenty-five. When I finally caught my breath, I decided I wouldn’t put up with it anymore—living comfortably matters most.”

Xu Weiwei nodded. “I was scared to death too. You don’t know how frightening it was—your eyes rolled back and you collapsed on your desk. Nothing I did could wake you.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me about it last week?”

“You were already so miserable, and then Li Baldy and Li Xiaofei kept making things worse. How could I bring it up?”

“There’s nothing you can’t say—I’m still alive, aren’t I? From now on, if anyone bullies or exploits you, come to me. I’ll put them in their place for you. I’ve got your back.”

“Thank you, Mianmian! I’ll buy you chips—let’s snack in secret.”

“Alright, let’s eat them on the sly.”

At noon, after sharing a bowl of beef noodles with Xu Weiwei, Ruan Mianmian returned to rest.

After using the restroom, she stepped out and immediately realized what scheme Li Xiaofei and Fang Yali had been plotting an hour ago.