After Saving My Cannon Fodder Omega - Chapter 5

When it came to his little sister, Chi Tu was, in most cases, a man of zero principles.

Besides, for a department head, finding a task for a low-level assistant three tiers down was as simple as moving his lips. Hearing Chi Wei’s request, Chi Tu agreed almost without a second thought.

The siblings reached a pleasant cooperation, finished lunch at a restaurant near the company, and immediately waved their goodbyes.

Before leaving the office, Chi Wei’s phone had been fully charged with her brother’s help. The moment she turned it on, the WeChat group notifications started bubbling up like boiling water.

Had Chi Tu not used their elder sister as an excuse to force her to finish her lunch before letting her go, she would have bolted the second she saw the messages.

Among the long stream of notifications, Ming Rui firmly held the top spot, having sent messages relentlessly during that forty-minute lunch. Chi Wei tapped in and scrolled up; there was a message roughly every ten minutes.

In a strict sense, this wasn’t quite a “saturation bombing,” but compared to Feng Zhi and Xie Yueyue—who only sent a message or two every hour—this level of concern was genuinely sincere.

Facing Ming Rui’s dozens of WeChat messages, Chi Wei thought for a moment and replied with an “I’m fine” emoji.

On the other end of the network, Ming Rui, who had been waiting all morning, was currently eating sushi at her desk. Seeing that Chi Wei had finally replied, she immediately dropped her chopsticks and initiated a video call.

When Chi Wei answered, she was walking along the curb, her neck wrapped in a thick, milk-tea-colored scarf her brother had bought her before lunch.

In the video, Ming Rui had clearly just touched up her lipstick; there was no trace of the fact that she had been wolfing down sushi seconds ago. She smiled into the camera and apologized: “I’m so sorry, Xiaoyu. I got a call from my dad last night and had to head back to the office early to work overtime. I didn’t know you fainted and went to the hospital. I only saw Feng Zhi’s message when I woke up this morning. Are you okay?”

Standing in the bright sunlight and biting cold wind, Chi Wei gave a small smile: “I’m fine. Thanks, Sister Ming, for calling Big Sister for me.”

“Oh, I just told the truth. Big Sister is the type who’s tough on the outside but soft on the inside. As long as you don’t play mind games with her, she’s very easy to talk to. You don’t need to be so afraid of her.” In the video, Ming Rui’s eyes were curved, staring unblinkingly at Chi Wei.

Chi Wei noticed Ming Rui’s gaze—the kind that always looked like she had something left unsaid. She felt a bit awkward as she smiled in response. Seeing another notification pop up at the top of her screen, she guiltily waved at the camera: “Feng Zhi is calling me, I have to hang up now!”

Ming Rui clearly hadn’t expected Chi Wei to hang up so quickly and called out: “Xiao—”

Chi Wei felt her skin crawl under Ming Rui’s gaze; she had a gut feeling it wasn’t a good sign. Without giving her a chance to finish, she poked the screen to end the call, replied to Feng Zhi, and walked quickly toward a ride-share car pulling up to the curb. She headed back to the hotpot restaurant.

The moment the car door closed, all the cold was blocked out.

Chi Wei let out a soft sigh, pulled down the scarf her brother had tied for her, and opened her chat with Feng Zhi. She replied with three words: Coming right now.

Haidilao was one of the top hotpot restaurants in F City, both in terms of price and service.

In her previous life, Chi Wei had been shackled to her desk while sick, so this incident hadn’t happened. Having been reborn, she didn’t have much experience with this specific situation.

But reflecting on it carefully, that alcohol truly had tasted different than usual. The flavor was slightly off, but the feeling of drinking it was similar—except the post-drink headache was absolutely ridiculous.

Because of other factors, Chi Wei couldn’t say for sure if her headache was due to the alcohol, but Feng Zhi said her head hurt too. Since they were the only two who had shared that bottle of Wuliangye last night and had similar symptoms, there was clearly a problem.

Chi Wei only arrived after lunch, so naturally, she missed the spectacular moment of Feng Zhi making a scene at the restaurant.

Stepping out of the car, Chi Wei finished reading the accumulated messages in the group. Returning to her chat list, she saw a message Xie Yueyue had sent three minutes ago. She tapped the reply bar and began typing while looking up at the road.

She hadn’t even finished reading the message when she spotted Xie Yueyue herself, walking out carrying a crate of alcohol. As for Feng Zhi, she was following alongside, beaming with joy.

Chi Wei: “???” What’s the situation? They got bribed?

In her daze, a radiant Feng Zhi spotted the idling Chi Wei and rushed over: “Xiaoyu, you took way too long to get here!”

Smelling the overwhelming scent of tomato broth, Chi Wei curled her lips: “You guys ate another round of hotpot?”

Xie Yueyue put the crate into the trunk and looked back: “The manager’s treat. Plus, they gave us a crate of genuine Wuliangye as an apology.”

Feng Zhi raised her eyebrows triumphantly at Chi Wei, then turned to look at Xie Yueyue with her nose in the air: “See! I told you there was a problem!”

Chi Wei was shocked: “It really was fake alcohol?!”

“Not exactly ‘fake,’ just low-quality substituted for premium. Otherwise, would that manager really be so generous?” Xie Yueyue explained, pointing to the trunk.

Chi Wei nodded thoughtfully: “Understood. I’m heading out.”

“Heading out where?” Feng Zhi hooked her arm around Chi Wei’s neck, pulling her back.

Xie Yueyue shot a look at the incredibly forgetful Feng Zhi: “Back to work, obviously. You too—everything’s settled, why did you call Sister Chui over?”

Feng Zhi: “…” She had completely forgotten about that part.

When she had been angrily accusing the manager of selling fake alcohol and received an unexpected apology and gift, her ego had inflated so much that she completely forgot about Chi Wei’s… predicament. She only thought about sharing the wealth and had hurriedly called her over.

Seeing Feng Zhi’s guilty look, Chi Wei was about to explain her current situation, but she was afraid that the party-loving Feng Zhi would tie her down if she knew she was free. She immediately nodded in agreement with Xie Yueyue.

Feng Zhi let out a dejected sigh, withdrew her arm, and patted Chi Wei’s shoulder: “My poor Xiaoyu.”

Xie Yueyue remembered the morning’s events, her expression becoming awkward: “Big Sister… she didn’t get angry, did she?”

Chi Wei’s eyebrows shot up, a smile on her face: “It was fine. After all, my brother dotes on me.”

Feng Zhi and Xie Yueyue exchanged a look; they had almost forgotten that Chi Tu was also at the company.

Seeing that the atmosphere between the two had returned to normal—no longer cold and stiff like last night and this morning—Chi Wei smiled, brushed the hand off her shoulder, and walked toward the ride-share car waiting at the curb.

Feng Zhi immediately chased after her: “Where did this car come from? Why don’t I drive you back?”

Without looking back, Chi Wei got into the car and waved through the lowering window: “Don’t drive for now. I saw a DUI checkpoint on my way here.” She then pointed at Xie Yueyue standing behind her, the meaning clear—be a good girl and hitch a ride with Yueyue.

Feng Zhi: “…”

Behind her, the corners of Xie Yueyue’s mouth suddenly curled upward.

Chi Wei didn’t linger and had the driver take her back to her own apartment.

Since she had decided to meet Xuan Nian early, she certainly couldn’t go wearing clothes that smelled like hotpot broth.

However, the thought of seeing the person she had dreamed of countless times made her lose control over her nerves; even her right hand holding the phone began to tremble.

The windows of the expensive ride-share car were tinted black. Chi Wei, her eyes turning red, pressed a tissue against them and breathed deeply, trying to force back the tears that were about to fall.

The driver, focused on the road, noticed her distress through the rearview mirror and grew nervous: “Ma’am, are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Chi Wei waved him off. Clutching the tissue, she looked out the window into the sunlight.

The driver was skilled, and it wasn’t long before the car came to a steady stop at her apartment building. After confirming the payment, Chi Wei got out. Passing through layers of security and the smiling concierge, she took the elevator directly to the top floor.

In F City, where land was worth its weight in gold, this apartment took up an entire floor. At 560 square meters, by the time of Chi Wei’s death—two years from now—the price per square meter would soar to 180,000.

Presently, Chi Wei spent most of her time living with her family, only staying here occasionally. But because of those “occasions,” the house was fully stocked with everything she needed.

She rested her cool fingertip on the fingerprint scanner. She happened to look down, suddenly remembered the price of this specific lock, and froze in place.

She was starting as a design assistant in the Design Department. A design assistant makes 8,000 a month. Wait, doesn’t that mean I’ll earn exactly enough for one door lock a month?

Big Sister had said that once she started working, no one was allowed to secretly give her allowance. Meaning… until she became a full-fledged designer, she only had 8,000 coming in?!

Ah! That’s not even enough for food!

Comparing it like this, maybe going to the Marketing Department for those high commissions would have been better!

But her word was already given… forget it. She had saved up a good amount of money over the years; if all else failed, she’d just live off her savings.

Chi Wei let out a soft sigh, opened the door, and stepped inside. Slipping into a pair of fresh slippers, she went straight to the bathroom to shower, wash her hair, and change.

However, this “quick” refresh turned into an entire afternoon of grooming, makeup, and coordinating an outfit. By the time she finished her final step—spritzing her favorite perfume—it was dark outside.

She remembered clearly from the book: Chu Shirong and Xuan Nian met for the first time at 9:15 PM at the Starry Sky Bar on Hexi Street.

It was currently 6:30 PM. Nearly three hours to go.

Standing in front of the mirror, Chi Wei looked at her lit phone screen. Steeling her heart, she picked a Porsche key from her keychain and headed downstairs.

The drive from the apartment to Hexi Street’s Starry Sky Bar took an hour. Xuan Nian’s family restaurant, Xuan’s Tavern, happened to be at the midpoint. Chi Wei followed the navigation for thirty-five minutes, and upon seeing the familiar intersection, she pulled over without hesitation and drove toward the restaurant she had visited countless times in her past life.