Rumor Has It I Don’t Follow A-Class Morals - Chapter 17

Ming Muyao still remembered that back in college, one of her roommates had the same given name: An Jinyao.

At the time, both of them had “Yao” at the end of their names, so whenever someone called out “Yao Yao,” they would both instinctively turn their heads. At first, this led to a lot of confusion, but eventually, no one responded anymore when they heard it.

So their professors and friends just started calling them by their full names to avoid the mix-ups.

The two of them had gotten along pretty well in college. After graduation, they stayed in the same city, and eventually ended up working at the same company. Compared to her other college classmates, Ming Muyao had remained closest to An Jinyao.

Now, staring at the An Jinyao standing in front of her, Ming Muyao saw that although her appearance and voice were exactly the same as her old friend’s, she knew deep down—this was someone else entirely.

When she first laid eyes on her, Ming Muyao had been completely shocked. For a moment, she even thought maybe she hadn’t actually time-traveled, and this whole thing was just some wild mix-up.

But after thinking about it more carefully, she noticed something was off.

This An Jinyao looked the same, sure—but she had her ears pierced, wore makeup, and even had a mole near the corner of her eye.

These were all things her real friend never had. Not to mention the differences in background and education—they were completely unrelated.

Most importantly, Ming Muyao could feel that this version of An Jinyao seemed to really dislike her. Her words were polite on the surface, but her eyes were ice-cold, like she was looking at a slab of meat.

Ming Muyao: …Great. Thought I found someone familiar, turns out she’s completely useless.

An Jinyao didn’t think too much of it. She stood there holding a folder, reporting work to Ming Muyao. She knew full well the other woman wouldn’t actually listen, but the formalities still had to be done.

She had heard that Ming Muyao had been staying at home since her accident. An Jinyao figured maybe the crash had knocked some sense into her—maybe she had turned over a new leaf and finally started valuing life. Maybe she’d stop causing trouble.

But nope. First day back at work and she was already mingling with someone in the office, and there were whispers about her planning to go bar-hopping with some people.

And what do people do at bars? Anyone with half a brain could figure that out.

Seriously… a dog can’t stop itself from eating sh1t.

With the most professional expression on her face, An Jinyao continued her report, all while silently judging the hell out of her.

As a proper, upstanding Alpha, An Jinyao had nothing but contempt for someone like Ming Muyao—wasting her life partying, incapable of controlling herself, an A who couldn’t even hold on to basic discipline or decency. People like that were doomed to a bad end.

If everyone were more like her—contributing to society and adding value to their families—how could the world have turned into such a mess?

Once she finished her report, An Jinyao gave a perfunctory smile and said, “President Ming, is there anything else you’d like to assign?”

Ming Muyao hadn’t paid any attention to her report. She didn’t know much about the company to begin with, and on top of that, she still had to maintain her image as a clueless, hedonistic boss. So after a moment of pretending to think it over, she said, “Leave the file here. I’ll take a look at it later.”

An Jinyao rolled her eyes internally but still replied sweetly, “Understood, President Ming.”

She placed the folder on the desk and walked out of the office like she always did.

The moment she stepped out, a group of department heads and managers surrounded her.

“Well?”
“Did President Ming act up?”
“Why’d she suddenly show up at the office? Doesn’t she usually avoid this place?”

Seeing how anxious they all looked, An Jinyao reassured them, “Don’t worry, she probably just came to check in. She’ll be gone in a couple of hours, tops. No need to stress. Just carry on as usual.”

After calming them down, she returned to her own office with her assistant and got to work.

Despite the company being barely afloat, it was still a major corporation. Even if Ming Muyao was a total disappointment, there were still people like An Jinyao and various shareholders keeping things running. It wasn’t going to collapse anytime soon.

Recently, several investment projects weren’t generating the expected revenue, so An Jinyao called a small meeting with the marketing and promotions managers to discuss whether they should spend some extra cash to boost their games in the rankings.

Just as the meeting was underway, An Jinyao’s assistant quietly pushed the door open and signaled to her.

The other managers exchanged glances and asked, “President Ming came to the office today, right? Shouldn’t she be here for this meeting?”

An Jinyao waved them off. “She has her own schedule. Let’s not disturb her.”

The interruption didn’t stir up much. Once the short meeting wrapped up, An Jinyao called her assistant over.

“What is it?” she asked while tidying up. “Did President Ming leave already?”

“Not yet,” the assistant said with a slightly strange expression. “Not only did she not leave, she also called over the whole secretary team and asked to see last quarter’s reports.”

An Jinyao paused, touching her chin. “If she wants to read them, let her. It’s her company anyway. Honestly, it’s about time she started pulling her weight.”

While An Jinyao was neck-deep in meetings, Ming Muyao had locked herself in her office since the moment she arrived.

In front of her were stacks of last quarter’s reports and project proposals. Ming Muyao had made up her mind to go through all of them within three days.

With her previous work experience, she knew there was nothing more revealing about a company’s true performance than its project files and data reports. She’d already been at it for over three hours. It wasn’t until she noticed her coffee cup was empty that she glanced at the digital clock on the desk—it was already past noon.

She remembered that when she left the house this morning, Aunt Chen had said Su Yin would be bringing her lunch. She should’ve arrived by now.

Ming Muyao found Su Yin’s number and gave her a call.

At that moment, Su Yin was sitting in the lounge on the first floor of the office building, a thermal lunch box that Aunt Chen had packed resting on her knees.

She still remembered what Aunt Chen had told her: this was a meal for two, and she was to eat lunch with Ming Muyao after delivering it. Then after work, they’d go home together—no need to make an extra trip.

Her phone suddenly rang. Seeing Ming Muyao’s name on the screen, Su Yin quickly picked up.

“Have you left yet?” Ming Muyao closed the file in front of her, speaking gently into the phone. “If you haven’t, don’t bother. I can just grab something simple.”

“I’m downstairs,” Su Yin said softly. “Just got here. I haven’t gone up yet.”

“I’ll come down to find you then,” Ming Muyao said, grabbing her coat and smiling. “Stay right there in the lobby. Don’t wander off—I’m coming.”