Rumor Has It I Don’t Follow A-Class Morals - Chapter 22

After assigning An Jinyao a task, Ming Muyao didn’t leave. She stayed in the car, waiting for a reply from the head of the legal department.

Sure, asking a legal director to dig up personal information was a bit overkill, but professionals have their connections. For something like this, which wasn’t exactly top-secret, the info came through quickly.

Yao Jiang, Omega, twenty years old.

She’d been an orphan since she was little and lived with her older sister, Yao Ling. A month ago, Yao Ling started working as a hostess at the Twilight Bar to make ends meet. At first, the money was surprisingly good—some nights she earned enough to support both sisters for a whole month.

Unfortunately, easy money goes just as fast. Not long ago, Yao Ling died tragically in the alley behind Twilight Bar. Her clothes were disheveled, and there were bruises on her neck. The police concluded she had been assaulted and then strangled to death.

As for why Yao Jiang decided to poison those people, the reason was simple—the group she targeted was the last group her sister had served.

Ming Muyao looked through the file. She vaguely remembered Yao Ling. When she first saw her in a video, she thought the girl bore a slight resemblance to Su Yin. But when they met in person at the bar, she realized the similarity was minimal. She hadn’t thought much of it at the time and even handed her a pack of candied chestnuts before leaving.

Thinking back now, that was the first and last time she ever saw Yao Ling.

An Jinyao had also seen the information. She sat in the front seat, constantly sneaking glances toward the back, her face full of unspoken thoughts.

Ming Muyao noticed but pretended not to. Her expression remained grim.

Seeing Ming Muyao’s face, An Jinyao was having a mental meltdown. Her mind was spinning.

This woman is definitely hiding something!

Look at her—face pale like pig liver. She’s clearly up to no good!

People always said Ming Muyao was into playing around with Omegas, changing women every three days. An Jinyao had just thought she was a player, nothing more. But now… maybe she was hiding something much worse.

She might’ve even taken a life!

A total scumbag Alpha!

An Jinyao cursed her out silently, but kept her expression under control. She turned to the back seat and said, “President Ming, it’s getting late. Why don’t I take you home to rest? Let’s not go back to the office today. Once this whole situation settles down, we can figure out our next steps.”

Ming Muyao rubbed her throbbing head and replied, “Get Yao Jiang the best defense attorney. If there’s a chance to reduce her sentence, take it. If not, make sure her family is taken care of.”

An Jinyao nodded. “Alright.”

She really is feeling guilty.

After dropping her boss off safely, An Jinyao said, “President Ming, I’m planning a business trip in a few days. I’ll be negotiating some potential investment deals for the company.”

That reminded Ming Muyao—her company was basically on the verge of collapse.

“Oh?” She finally showed a bit of interest. “Handle it well. I’ll give you full authority. If anything feels uncertain… just decide on your own. Whatever happens, I’ll take responsibility.”

An Jinyao glanced back at her in surprise, seemingly deep in thought. After a while, she said, “Okay, then I’ll do what I think is best. I’ll make sure to bring you some good news.”

After she got out of the car and watched it drive off, Ming Muyao suddenly remembered she still had documents at the office she hadn’t reviewed.

But seeing An Jinyao leave, she sighed. I can’t keep bothering her for every little thing. I do have assistants and secretaries, after all. I’ll just ask them to bring the stuff over later.

As she turned around, she saw Aunt Chen and Su Yin standing at the door. They must’ve heard the car and had come out to greet her.

Su Yin was the kind of person who kept things bottled up inside, but Ming Muyao could still see the concern in her eyes.

Aunt Chen, on the other hand, immediately started chattering the moment Ming Muyao stepped inside. She asked all about the police station and let out a long sigh when she heard what had happened.

“What’s wrong with people these days?” Aunt Chen said with a frown. “I saw that news too. Poor girl just gone like that. Her family must be devastated. I get that people want justice, but what if the poison had hurt innocent people instead?”

Seeing how worried she looked, Ming Muyao took the warm water Su Yin handed her and said, “It’s not something we can control. The police will investigate thoroughly, don’t worry.”

She didn’t mention the part about hiring the best lawyer for Yao Jiang—no point in worrying them further.

That afternoon, her assistant arrived at the house carrying a massive pile of documents, panting and drenched in sweat from the effort.

Ming Muyao didn’t let him leave right away. She had Aunt Chen serve him some iced tea and then told him to visit Yan Wei and the others in the hospital the next day, together with the girls from the secretary team.

For the next couple of days, she focused on reviewing the materials and didn’t return to the company.

After dinner, Ming Muyao locked herself in the study and got lost in work.

At first, the files were a headache to get through, but once she figured out the patterns, everything became much easier. In one night, she got through nearly half the stack. She figured another day and she’d finish it all.

But running a company isn’t just about reading documents. Right now, the biggest issue was money.

Ming Muyao stared at the deficit on the financial reports and circled a few key projects with her pen.

In simple terms, there were only two solutions—cut costs and raise revenue.

That meant shutting down departments that weren’t making money, while also bringing in new investors.

When it came to investment, the Ming family had their own idea—marriage fraud. They wanted her to marry into wealth and use the dowry to plug the financial hole. Meanwhile, the company side preferred courting investment institutions and bringing in new shareholders.

Both had pros and cons. Personally, Ming Muyao sided with An Jinyao and the others.

Using a dowry to cover company losses was just… shocking. It was the modern era. Heiresses weren’t stupid. Who would agree to just throw money in like that?

As for bringing in investors, people like Ming Zheng and the other small shareholders were against it.

Because new investors meant giving up shares—and to them, it felt like giving away money that was already in their pockets.

Ming Muyao decided not to worry about that just yet. First, she needed to find someone actually willing to invest. Worrying without a lead was pointless.

As for cutting costs, there were several consistently unprofitable departments. She planned to give them two options: Option One: Shut down, with the company providing severance and compensation. Option Two: Spin off from the company and go independent. No more subsidies or investment. They’d survive—or not—on their own.

This would need to be discussed in a meeting. After all, every decision impacted the livelihoods of hundreds, maybe thousands. She had to be extremely careful.

After pouring over the materials for hours, her eyes were starting to sting and her back ached. It was already past 2 a.m.

Completely losing track of time once I start working… that’s not good.

Ming Muyao sighed, closed her laptop, stood up and stretched, rolling her neck before heading off to freshen up for bed.

Just as she opened the door, she noticed a faint light in the hallway.

She looked closer and realized it wasn’t just the hallway light—it was a small glow seeping through a door crack.

Su Yin’s room?

Curious, Ming Muyao walked over. Her bedroom was on the opposite side of the study, farthest from the hallway. Su Yin’s room was on the other side, separated by the study and a bathroom.

It’s already this late and she’s still up?

Feeling puzzled, she walked up to Su Yin’s door and knocked gently.

In the quiet villa, the sudden sound was oddly jarring. Ming Muyao waited for a while before hearing movement inside. But after a moment, it went quiet again—like Su Yin hadn’t heard the knock at all.

She stood there for a long moment, still feeling uneasy. She reached out and tried the doorknob—only to find it locked.

She locked her door? At home?

Ming Muyao suddenly had this weird feeling, like a parent catching their kid secretly staying up to play on the computer—only to find the kid had locked the door.

She let out a long sigh and knocked again. “Su Yin? Are you still up? It’s already two. The sun will be up in a few hours.”

Her voice wasn’t stern at all—she could understand Su Yin. With nothing to do all day, what else could she do besides stay up late?

After a while, just as Ming Muyao was about to knock again, the door clicked open from inside.

Su Yin stood there in her pajamas, face pale, her expression dazed.

“What’s wrong?” Ming Muyao noticed something was off immediately. She reached out to touch Su Yin’s cheek—it was cold. Her eyes were unfocused, like she was still half-asleep.

Pushing the door open wider, Ming Muyao led her inside and sat her down on the bed.

“Did something happen?” she asked softly. “You look terrible. Did you have a nightmare?”