Rumor Has It I Don’t Follow A-Class Morals - Chapter 19

Su Yin didn’t recognize the person standing at the door, but since they were in the office and it wasn’t unusual for people to come looking for Ming Muyao, she went ahead and opened the door. Then she turned back to Ming Muyao, who was still reviewing documents, and said, “Someone’s here to see you.”

Ming Muyao had already looked up when she heard the knock. When she saw who it was, her smile came from the heart. “Oh, it’s you.”

An Jinyao had never seen Ming Muyao greet her with such an expression. It gave her an odd, uneasy feeling.

“I saw the office lights were still on, so I came by to see if President Ming needed any help.” An Jinyao stepped into the room and glanced around at the documents covering the desk and even the floor. She remembered the assistant had mentioned Ming Muyao took all the quarterly reports and project proposals back to her office.

An Jinyao had originally assumed Ming Muyao was just putting on a show. But now, it really looked like she was doing the real work.

She casually picked up one of the project files. It had notes in both black and red pen, with sections circled—clear signs someone had gone through it carefully.

“President Ming,” An Jinyao said in surprise as she flipped through the documents, “did you go through all of these yourself?”

Ming Muyao gave her a playful smile. “Why? If I didn’t, did you?”

An Jinyao laughed awkwardly. “Don’t take it the wrong way. I just really admire your ability to go through so many documents in one day. I know I couldn’t manage that much myself.”

“That’s because you’re a very busy person, President An. If you had as much free time as I do, you’d probably get through just as many.” Ming Muyao added with a smile, “Besides, I only focused on the important parts. I haven’t had time to read through the less critical stuff.”

“That’s still impressive.” An Jinyao didn’t hold back with the flattery and added, “But it’s already past seven. Maybe you should continue tomorrow? You should take care of your health.”

Ming Muyao glanced at her, already seeing through her little scheme.

She was the boss—if she didn’t leave work, how could An Jinyao, as the marketing director, feel good about leaving first?

Ming Muyao had initially planned to tease her a little, but then remembered this wasn’t the same An Jinyao she used to know. Joking around might backfire. So instead, she acted like they weren’t too familiar, thought for a moment, and nodded. “You’re right. It’s getting late. If you hadn’t reminded me, I wouldn’t have realized how late it is.”

Then she turned to Su Yin and gently asked, “I was so focused on reading that I lost track of time. Why didn’t you remind me?”

Su Yin, standing off to the side, replied, “You looked really focused, so I didn’t want to disturb you.”

Ming Muyao gave a helpless smile. “Next time, remind me anyway. It’s already late, and traffic’s still a pain this time of night.”

Watching the two of them go back and forth so naturally, An Jinyao couldn’t help but sneer inwardly.

Everyone knew Ming Muyao had a wife already. That pitiful woman was supposedly holed up at home while Ming Muyao was out partying and having fun. And this pretty young girl in front of her? Probably one of Ming Muyao’s mistresses.

Tsk tsk tsk.

How could such a beautiful girl be willing to play mistress to some big-shot boss?

An Jinyao just couldn’t wrap her head around it.

Still, it wasn’t her business. So she kept up her usual fake smile and said to both Ming Muyao and Su Yin, “Well, I won’t keep you then. Traffic’s bad around this time, and I’ve got other things to take care of, so I’ll head out first.”

Ming Muyao nodded and smiled politely. “Go ahead. We’re leaving too.”

An Jinyao gave Su Yin one last glance, then turned and left the office with her assistant.

Once they were gone, Ming Muyao dug through the pile of reports and found her phone. She saw that Aunt Chen had called her twice—an hour ago. But the phone had been on silent, and she’d been so focused on her reading that she hadn’t noticed.

Su Yin said, “I messaged Aunt Chen and let her know you were working late and would be home a bit later.”

Ming Muyao sighed and put away her phone. “Next time, just let me know directly.”

Su Yin didn’t respond. Ming Muyao knew she still had some lingering fear of her, so she softened her tone. “It’s fine this time. But next time, make sure to remind me.”

She stepped closer, looked at Su Yin, and said gently, “And don’t be scared of me. I promised I’d treat you well from now on. I won’t let you suffer anymore, so you don’t have to worry about upsetting me or always being afraid of me.”

Su Yin looked up at her and nodded obediently.

That made Ming Muyao very happy. Looking at Su Yin was like seeing her younger cousin. She reached out and gave Su Yin’s soft cheek a gentle squeeze, resisting the sudden urge to kiss her.

“Let’s go home,” Ming Muyao said with a smile.

The traffic on the way back was bad, and they were stuck for over half an hour. Fortunately, Ming Muyao was an excellent driver. She found a side road and took a detour that saved them quite a bit of time.

After dinner, while Su Yin and Aunt Chen were cleaning up in the kitchen, Ming Muyao sat on the couch, turned on the TV, and started watching the news.

At this point, she was like a sponge, needing to absorb as much knowledge about this world as she could. She needed to overwrite her old mindset and become more like the original Ming Muyao.

In fact, aside from reviewing reports all day at the office, she’d also looked up all kinds of old gossip about herself. The more she read, the more there was. Eventually, the news app started pushing every kind of headline with her face plastered all over it.

Su Yin placed a plate of freshly cut pineapple in front of her. Ming Muyao thanked her, then turned her attention back to the news.

Just then, her phone buzzed on the couch beside her.

She thought it was just another push notification and didn’t bother with it. But the buzzing kept going, getting more frequent, so she picked up the phone and saw that several messages had come in—from Xu Bu.

Xu Bu?

Whenever this woman reached out, it was never good.

Ming Muyao sighed inwardly and opened the chat. Xu Bu had messaged saying she’d arranged to meet Yan Wei and a few others tomorrow night at 8 p.m., in a private room at the bar.

Ming Muyao stared at the screen, propped her head up with one hand, and glanced over at Su Yin, who was sitting across from her watching TV.

“Su Yin.”

Her name caught her off guard, and she paused mid-bite, a pineapple chunk on her toothpick. She turned her head, confused.

“I’m going to the bar tomorrow night,” Ming Muyao said calmly. “If everything goes as planned, this’ll be the last time. I just wanted to tell you ahead of time so you won’t misunderstand.”

Su Yin set down the pineapple and looked at her, her eyes dark.

She was going to the bar again.

Since the car accident, Ming Muyao had gone less frequently, but the past couple of days had been an exception.

Su Yin remembered that conversation in the study, where she asked Ming Muyao if she planned to touch her again. The answer had been vague.

Maybe keeping things respectful is a better way to live. It’s still better than getting beaten and cursed at like before.

“I got it.” Su Yin looked up, forcing a small smile. “You don’t have to report everything to me. Whatever you do, I won’t say anything.”

Ming Muyao saw that bitter smile and scooted closer on the couch, gently taking Su Yin’s hand in hers. She spoke clearly, “Su Yin, I’m not going to the bar to do anything shady. I swear this’ll be the last time. I’ll be home before 9 p.m., I promise. Don’t overthink it.”

Su Yin didn’t fully understand what she meant, but she played along and didn’t push her.

The next day, Ming Muyao clocked in at work like usual and even grabbed a latte on the way.

The entire day, aside from ordering takeout through her assistant, she stayed holed up in her office reviewing documents. Occasionally, she called in department heads to ask them a few questions.

An Jinyao’s office was right across from hers. After watching her all day, she finally had to admit—Ming Muyao had really stayed in that office the entire time.

This woman is definitely up to something.

Could she be planning to embezzle and run because she thinks the company is doomed?

But if that were the case, shouldn’t she be calling in the finance team instead of all these random department heads?

An Jinyao was completely baffled.

Finally, when the workday ended, Ming Muyao stayed an extra hour before packing up and heading out. She drove straight to the Glimmer Bar.

She found a spot to park nearby. It was already 7:30 p.m., and the sky had fully darkened. Even from outside, she could hear the heavy beat of music and the energy pulsing from within.

The thick doors swung open, and deafening noise came at her from all directions.

There must’ve been some event going on tonight, because the bar was even livelier than usual. Flashing lights, wild music—it all made Ming Muyao’s head spin.

She found the same private room she’d been to before and pushed the door open without hesitation.

It was noticeably quieter inside, though still filled with blaring music. A few familiar faces were sprawled around the dimly lit room, each one wrapped around heavily made-up women.

“Ming Muyao!”

Someone called out to her and whistled. “You’re early! We haven’t even ordered a girl for you yet. Want to pick one yourself?”

She recognized the guy as one of the two men from that last time in the private room. She just didn’t remember his name.

The lighting flickered across her face as she looked at the tangled bodies around her. She walked over to the coffee table and twisted open a bottle of champagne.

“Whoa!”

Someone in the room yelled happily, “Come on, Ming-jie! At least wait till the girls get here before popping bottles!”

But Ming Muyao poured herself a full glass and, looking at all the unfamiliar faces around her, said plainly, “Tonight is the last time I’m coming here to see you all.”