A Scummy A, But Bound To A Cutesy-Appeal System - Chapter 6

On the way back, Pei Xixia mulled it over for a long time, but still could not figure out what Su Ying meant.

Had she agreed or not? What did “I’ll have to see what you’re capable of” mean? Could she not speak in riddles?

If it depended on Pei Xixia’s capability, then how was she supposed to seize power from that useless idiot Pei Xize? Although Pei Xize’s intelligence was worrying, his sense of conviction was extremely strong. He was stubborn to the point of obsession and would absolutely not let go of the power in his hands easily.

Speaking of which, she wondered how those interns were doing with the press statement. She had checked Weibo in the taxi just now, and public opinion was still continuing to ferment. Honestly, she was impressed. Several hours had already passed. Was a statement of a few hundred words really that hard to write?

“Can you walk a little slower?”

Only when she heard the slightly displeased voice behind her did Pei Xixia realize that she had been so focused on thinking that her steps had unconsciously sped up, and she had neglected Lu Yimo’s physical strength. At this moment, Lu Yimo was leaning against the company’s glass door a few steps behind her, breathing a little heavily. Her forehead was also damp with sweat, and her gaze was extremely unfriendly.

Pei Xixia froze, then quickly turned back and reached out to support her. “Sorry, Yimo. I forgot you need to rest. How are you feeling now?”

Lu Yimo straightened up and coldly shook off her hand. “Fine. I haven’t been exhausted to death yet.”

Pei Xixia: “…”

Pei Xixia felt guilty. She felt that she was not much better than Pei Xining. Lu Yimo’s body was so weak, yet she had still made her run around like this. She really was too inconsiderate.

“I just wanted to hurry and see whether they’d finished writing the statement. I was afraid that if this dragged on, it would affect you badly…” she explained quietly.

“Oh, then I’m endlessly grateful.” Lu Yimo glanced at her with a smile that was not quite a smile, then walked ahead of Pei Xixia.

Pei Xixia became completely obedient. She followed properly behind her, adjusting her pace, afraid that if she got the rhythm wrong and overtook Lu Yimo, she would make her angry again.

She had thought the three interns were dragging their feet because they were slacking off. But before they even reached the public relations office, she heard a heated argument coming from inside.

“Use my version! Mine is clearly structured, accurately worded, and absolutely a model example of public relations writing!”

“Yours is too mild. It’s not authoritative enough. Do we need to be that polite to those haters? They’ll think everyone at Jiaqi Entertainment is a pushover!”

“Both of yours are no good. People nowadays go online with magnifying glasses. The moment there’s a logical flaw, they’ll catch it right away. Look at mine. It’s rigorous, thorough, and guaranteed not to have even the tiniest mistake!”

“Don’t say anything else. Use mine!”

“Why won’t you let people talk…”

…

Pei Xixia was simply speechless. What the hell was this? They could even argue over this? Jiaqi Entertainment really knew how to gather talent from all over! She could not hold back anymore. She strode forward, pushed open the door, snatched the drafts the three of them were arguing over, and rapidly skimmed through them. She discovered that not a single one was usable.

Seeing Pei Xixia’s ugly expression, the three interns obediently shut their mouths. Consciously, they lined up in a row, lowered their heads, and waited to be dealt with.

Pei Xixia glanced at them, suppressed her anger, and sat down in front of the computer desk. “Enough. Go do whatever you’re supposed to do. I’ll write it.”

All three of them froze.

They were willing to submit to Young President Pei’s tyrannical power, but that did not mean they were willing to submit to Young President Pei’s literary talent. Although their own professional skills were average, this Young President Pei was someone who could post on Weibo without using a single punctuation mark. Surely she could not be more professional than them, right?

The long-winded guy still wanted to promote himself. “Young President Pei, did you finish reading my draft? I think I wrote it pretty well…”

Pei Xixia’s fingers had already landed on the keyboard, but when she heard this, she could not help raising her head again. “You think you wrote it pretty well? Where did you get that confidence? Putting aside whether there are logical flaws or not, the grammatical errors in your draft are already enough to make people laugh their teeth off!”

She pointed at the first line of the draft. “The very first sentence is already grammatically flawed. ‘Regarding the issue of the recent false rumors online about our company’s artist, Ms. Lu Yimo’—the sentence structure is so tangled it’s practically growing flowers. Can’t you see that yourself? Did you even graduate from elementary school?”

The long-winded guy’s face instantly turned red. He quickly took back the draft and went through it word by word on his fingers, trying to find where the structures had been tangled together.

“And this one. ‘We advise the vast number of netizens to watch their words and actions. Our company reserves the right to pursue legal responsibility.’ Who wrote this?” Pei Xixia felt her head aching. “Advise the vast number of netizens? How dare you? Who are you spraying with a machine gun?”

The authoritative guy shrank his neck and did not dare make a sound.

Next, Pei Xixia’s gaze fell on the remaining mild-mannered guy. The mild-mannered guy was indeed mild-mannered, able to bend and stretch as needed. He immediately surrendered on the spot. “Young President Pei, this humble one lacks talent. Please show mercy with your words!”

Pei Xixia was too lazy to roast him. Speechlessly, she tossed the draft aside. “Good thing you didn’t send these out. Otherwise, we’d be mocked all over again. I’m really impressed. Is public relations copy really that hard to write…”

The three interns’ faces turned ashen, and cold sweat poured down their backs. Only then did they realize that this Young President Pei, who was rumored to be ignorant and incompetent, did not seem to be quite as useless as they had thought.

Watching Pei Xixia’s fingers fly across the keyboard, they were all curious, but not a single one dared lean forward to look.

Finally, Pei Xixia typed the last period and raised a hand to beckon them over. “Come here.”

The three of them immediately gathered around.

On the screen was a statement draft that was short and concise, with precise and powerful language. It clearly expressed the company’s stance and conveyed its protection of its artist, while skillfully avoiding sensitive issues and guiding the direction of public opinion. It did not yield an inch where it needed to be firm, and where it needed to show sincerity, the attitude was genuine. One could say there was not a single wasted sentence.

The three interns looked at one another, their faces full of shock and confusion.

No one had ever told them Young President Pei had real ability!

Pei Xixia also realized that she had gotten a little carried away and gone somewhat out of character. But it did not matter. No matter how out of character she acted, the system would not deduct points. Still, to avoid suspicion, she found herself an explanation. “No matter what, I graduated with a degree in marketing. After seeing and hearing these things for years, did you really think I knew nothing at all? All right, send this out. Learn more from it in the future. The company still has to count on you.”

Only then did the three interns seem to wake from a dream, scrambling to get back to work.

Pei Xixia also let out a breath of relief. She turned back and gave Lu Yimo a sincere smile. “Yimo, don’t worry. I’ve arranged everything.”

Lu Yimo quietly looked at her. Her emerald eyes, which carried a strong mixed-race quality, were like a clear, deep pool, as if hiding unknown undercurrents within them. It was impossible to figure out her true emotions.

Pei Xixia scratched her head nervously, but inside, she felt a little restless again. Before transmigrating into the book, she did not only write scripts. She also drew character design sheets for the characters under her pen. Back when she created Lu Yimo’s character design, she had based Lu Yimo’s appearance on the image of a classic Eastern beauty: long, straight black hair, cool pale skin, a perfectly proportioned face, and a simple, casual updo, emphasizing a cold, fragile aura.

But before submitting the draft, she felt that something was missing, so she boldly changed the outline of Lu Yimo’s eyes to make them heavier and deeper. The emerald irises gave her both a lazy, lingering charm and a mysterious, fatal allure. The unhinged beauty vibe immediately came out.

Now, seeing the paper person she had meticulously designed obtain a perfect 3D model, she seemed to hear her own heart screaming: “Pei Xixia, your taste is way too good!”

Mommies who have raised cubs all understand. When we go crazy, this is what we’re like.

“You’re quite good at hiding your abilities,” Lu Yimo finally said lightly.

It did not sound particularly sarcastic, so it should be praise… right?

Thinking about it, in the original book, Pei Xining and Lu Yimo had a contractual marriage. The two of them were not familiar with each other at all, so she really did not need to worry that her behavior would expose her.

Pei Xixia relaxed, and the guard on her mouth disappeared. “This is nothing. Just a petty little trick, hardly worth mentioning. I still have a lot of surprises you don’t know about hidden away. Hehe…”

Before she could finish her “hehe,” Lu Yimo’s expression visibly turned cold and dark.

Pei Xixia’s silly grin froze at the corners of her mouth and turned into a fake smile.

Had she said the wrong thing again? Pei Xixia felt uneasy.

“Creepy.” Lu Yimo rolled her eyes at her, dropped those two icy words, then turned and left.

Pei Xixia could no longer smile at all. She even suspected that she had heard wrong.

Creepy? What part of her was creepy? She had grown this old and lived two lives, but this was the first time anyone had called her creepy!

There had not been any suggestive meaning in what she said, right? Wasn’t it just a normal joke? Was Lu Yimo being too sensitive?

In disbelief, she grabbed the mild-mannered guy beside her, who was trying to pretend he was invisible. “Was what I said just now creepy?”

The mild-mannered guy hemmed and hawed, his gaze drifting. “Um, it wasn’t exactly that sentence. The main thing is, Young President Pei, your expression was just a tiny bit greasy… Ah, no, I can’t say greasy. It just gave people the feeling that you looked kind of lecherous…”

Pei Xixia: “???”

“Are you translating English into English right now?!”

The mild-mannered guy hugged his head. “I-I’m only telling the truth! Young President Pei, please calm down!”

Pei Xixia glared at him irritably, her cheeks faintly flushing. Heaven and earth could bear witness: her love for her cub was indeed deep, but it was absolutely not romantic love between women! “Creepy,” “greasy,” and that damned “lecherous” were an absolute insult to her pure and flawless love!

Forget it. “Creepy” was something Lu Yimo had said, so she would let that one go for now.

But “greasy” and “lecherous” were unforgivable!

Pei Xixia felt that her expression just now had not been fierce enough, so she glared hard at the mild-mannered guy again.

The mild-mannered guy looked like he was about to cry. “Maybe Sister Yimo just isn’t used to you showing affection in public and got a little embarrassed. Hurry and go after her!”

That reminded Pei Xixia of something. Outsiders actually did not know the true relationship between her and Lu Yimo at all. How it was packaged depended entirely on what she said.

Right now, the most important thing was to act like an affectionate couple with Lu Yimo and block all rumors from the outside world.

She straightened her clothes. “As long as you understand. Just now, it was only because your Sister Yimo is too thin-skinned and got embarrassed. Even if I’m very… creepy, our love is indestructible. Understand?”

The mild-mannered guy nodded repeatedly. “I understand, I understand. Of course I understand.”

“As long as you understand. I don’t have time to waste talking nonsense with you. I’m going to coax your Sister Yimo. Sigh, she’s always like this. Tease her a little, and her face turns red… She’s so cute it’s almost troublesome…” As Pei Xixia spoke, even she felt that she was being a little greasy. Her voice grew smaller and smaller. All she wanted was to make a quick exit.

The moment she pulled open the door, she saw Lu Yimo standing right in front of her, her expression even more unfriendly than before.

Pei Xixia was so startled that she lost her voice. “Mo-mo-mo-mo-mo… Mo?”

Lu Yimo brushed straight past her, picked up her bag from the chair, and strode away again. “I came to get something.”

“Wait, wait for me!” Pei Xixia hurriedly chased after her.

Just then, the familiar emotionless, electronic older-sister voice sounded in her mind. “Detected that the form of address ‘Mo-mo-mo-mo-mo—Mo’ has taken effect. The target character’s hostility index has decreased. Psychological trauma value -1. Current psychological trauma value total: 85 points. Mission progress: 2/3. Host, you did wonderfully!”

Pei Xixia froze.

What the hell? What was “Mo-mo-mo-mo-mo—Mo”?

It took a full three seconds for Pei Xixia to react. How was that acting cute? That was stuttering!

Great. This was just great.