Xu WanZhi froze on the spot. She didn't know how to answer that question.
Who was she?
She was a fox demon who had cultivated for 500 years but failed to transform; she was the little fox that he held in his hands and praised that it knew who its owner was; she was also the one who had the godly viewpoint of the book and knew all about his fate in the days to come.
She has many identities. Which one was he asking about?
Or… did he just think she was someone else because he was drunk?
Another lightning sliced through the sky and, immediately after that, a thunder roared from nowhere. She was so frightened that she just wanted to get away as quickly as possible.
Finally, she took a deep breath and said softly, "I… I am WanWan."
She was little fox WanWan before she had transmigrated. It was not entirely a lie.
Mu ZhenYu paused for a bit after he heard that. It seemed he believed her. He mumbled her name, "WanWan, WanWan…"
"Mmm." Strangely, she felt more relieved all of a sudden, as though a big weight had been lifted off of her. She sat back down on his bed and said, "I am right here."
Feeling her closeness, the corners of his mouth lifted in content. He mumbled to her, "WanWan, I have deposited the first month's payment already."
She was baffled. "What was that again?"
"Your $50 million. I have transferred over your first payment into your account."
That's when it dawned on her that he was referring to her payment of being his contracted lover – her work ethic was so strong that she had completely forgotten about it!
50 million yuan, split into six payments, that's over 8 million yuan each installment.
She looked up at the ceiling and did the math in her head. Regardless of whether he was drunk out of his mind, she said to him excitedly, "You mean we have $8 million? Do you think we will be able to buy the mansion back then? Pay for the down payment and slowly pay it off? Will $8 million be enough? Your mansion wasn't that close to the center of the city, maybe that will be enough…"
He rolled over to face her. His head on her thigh. "You like the mansion that much? It's so big and empty. What do you like about it?"
When he was drunk, his words were dragged out and she found that oddly cute. For a brief second there, she almost felt that it was easier to communicate with him now than normal.
Stroking his hair lightly, she said, "I don't really care either way, but you are so big and huge. You make this place seems so crowded. The house seemed to be filled to the brim whenever you are home. It seems… you are better able to stretch out over at the mansion."
She looked down at him and chuckled. "But, $8 million probably isn't going to be enough. That house looks to be very expensive."
He was listening to her quietly and didn't respond for a long time. She thought he was asleep and was going to take her hand back and leave.
He chuckled all of a sudden. "You silly girl."
Outside of the window, the rain was pouring down along with gusts of wind and thunders that had never stopped. She looked out the window, slightly frightened. Her palms were clammy.
He laughed for a long time before he stopped. "Have you forgotten? I can survive in a garbage dump. Let alone an apartment like this."
Half wind and water; half smoke from the mundane world. Then there was her, and a little fox.
Xu WanZhi was speechless. The words "garbage dump" made her heart ache.
And, at the same time, she felt a sense of warmth through her heart.
Another thunder roared. She shuddered and reflexively wanted to shake his hand loose, run back to her own room, put in her earplugs, and hide under the blanket.
As though he had felt her fear, he tugged at her wrist and pulled her toward him. He dragged her into bed with him and put his arms around her.
She could hear his voice coming from over her head. "It's alright WanWan. There's nothing to be afraid of."
She relaxed and closed her eyes.
She was woken up by her cellphone the next morning. She opened up her eyes abruptly and sat up… only to notice that she was sleeping in her own bedroom.
Didn't she fall asleep in Mu ZhenYu's room last night? Her head was jumbled up. For a moment there, she couldn't tell what was real and what was a dream.
The call was from Xiao Yuan. "Hello, WanZhi-jie. How did you sleep? Mr. Mu said you were up late last night and that I should give you a call to wake you up."
"Mu ZhenYu?" Xu WanZhi rubbed her temple. If he said she stayed up late, then what happened the night before must be real? And that he remembered them as well?
Xiao Yuan then said, "Oh, Mr. Mu went to Italy on a morning flight. He said he has some business matters to take care of."
Xu WanZhi pouted a little and grumbled, "He went to bed the same time as me last night. How was he able to get up so early to make morning flight? And, he has already gone bankrupt. What business matters are there to take care of? And all the way in Italy at that…"
"Well, that I am not sure." Xiao Yuan chuckled. "Mr. Mu is so nice to you. I will bring breakfast with me when I go pick you up shortly. You should get up and get ready soon!"
Xu WanZhi finished her breakfast in the car. When they arrived outside of the studio, she saw Fang Lin, her agent.
Ever since she had become the stockholder of her own company and Fang Lin had become her new agent, she had never seen Fang Lin again since that very first day. Fang Lin usually would call her when they needed to talk.
What was going on today?
Xu WanZhi got out of the car, straightened up her clothes and walked up to Fang Lin quickly. She addressed her courteously. "Fang-jie."
When Fang Lin saw Xu WanZhi, her eyes lit up. "WanZhi, long time no see. Why do I think that you are getting prettier by the day?"
Because she was a fox demon and they specialized in keeping themselves pretty. That was why.
Xu WanZhi smiled and said, "You are being too nice. How come you have time to swing by today, Fang-jie?"
"Something important of course," said Fang Lin as she waved to her assistant behind her. The assistant immediately handed over a stack of documents. "Good important."
Xu WanZhi took over the document dubiously. When she flipped it open, she saw the jewelry mogul Brand B's huge logo and the captions below: China spokesperson.
Xu WanZhi couldn't believe her own eyes – Brand B has always been the #1 brand in the jewelry field. For someone of her status, she wouldn't be quality to be the spokesperson for even one of their series, never mind being their China spokesperson.
She had heard about Brand B looking for a China spokesperson a few days ago. Except she heard that from Jiang YueXian's crew next door to them. Words on the web was that Jiang YueXian had been in negotiation with them. So how was Fang Lin able to land this invitation to be their spokesperson.
That was too unbelievable.
"Don't be so surprised. This invitation is an affirmation of your ability." Fang Lin then took over a delicate wrapped, large gift box tied with a silver ribbon and opened it up in front of Xu WanZhi.
Inside of the box was Brand B's most classic Rainbow series. The hand-mounted diamonds glistened under the sun, dazzling everyone.
Fang Lin held onto the box carefully. Looking at the priceless jewelry inside of it, her eyes beamed. "We will go over to take care of the screen test photos after work this evening. Even if you can't win the spot as the spokesperson, just this set of jewelry was worth your effort."
Having said that, she picked up an earring and held it up under Xu WanZhi's curly hair. She even moved her head closer so Xu WanZhi could see the reflection off of her sunglasses. "Look. Isn't that just dazzling?"
Looking at her own reflection reflected off of Fang Lin's sunglasses, her lips curved upward and she said, "I still think that it is a done deal that Jiang YueXian will be Brand B's spokesperson. I don't think they'll switch him out all of a sudden… he is, after all, the film emperor with many good works under his belt."
"A jewelry company is not the same as an entertainment company. They don't care about box office performance. As for his stardom… with Brand B's status, they don't care that much about that either. What the designers care about was more the model's temperament and how much they mesh with their designs," said Fang Lin as she patted Xu WanZhi on her shoulder. "Jiang YueXian and a few other actors/actresses will be there tonight as well. Be prepared to show them who's the boss, girl."
While they were still filming in the day time, the news about Brand B sending out audition invitation for the role of their spokesperson broke on Weibo. Someone even started a poll to have the netizens vote on which of the celebrities that had been closely associated with Brand B as of late would win this title at the very end.
Seductive warm man Jiang YueXian was the one who received the most votes.
In the comments, a bunch of his female fans cried and groveled for Jiang YueXian to get the role:
[The spokesperson of Brand B, what kind of a breakthrough would that be!!]
[I have already saved up 3-months' salary for their cheapest ring to help boost JiangJiang's sales.]
[The student gang cried so much that we are going blind. There really is no way for us to be able to support him.]
[JiangJiang is the best!]
[Brand B has very few male spokespersons in other countries. I think JiangJiang's best shot will be becoming their spokesperson for their watch series. The China spokesperson most likely will be an actress.]
[I don't care! I root for JiangJiang. If he gets the role, I will have instant noodles for three months in order to support him!]
[Especially because the spokespersons in other areas are all female that will make our JiangJiang stands out even more! If he did get the role, it will for sure be an acknowledgement of his status.]
[Jewelries can move me. JiangJiang can move me even more!]
[Setting a new goal for myself – buy something every 3 months in support of JiangJiang!]
Among all the speculations, the call for Jiang YueXian went up and up. The discussion of who'd become Brand B's spokesperson intensified.
After work that night, Xu WanZhi went over to the audition location by car. The audition has not yet started, but the list of celebrities who'd be partaking in this audition has already been posted on Weibo.
Jiang YueXian and a few other actresses' names were expected. It was when everyone saw Xu WanZhi's name when all hell broke loose.
[You are kidding me, right? It has got to be a joke. Who the heck is this Xu WanZhi? How come she was invited?]
[If Xu WanZhi ends up with the role, how much strings did she pull behind the scene?]
[If this list is real, I will eat my keyboard.]
[I'd think her being there alone had already lowered the prestigiousness of the event.]
[An 180th tier actress like Xu WanZhi who was already on her way to be phased out can take the role from a lineup of 1st tier celebrities? No way in h*ll!]
[Does Brand B not care about their sales anymore? Their plan is for their company to go belly up?]
[Can we please just let our quiet JiangJiang can be his pretty self and not have Xu WanZhi within 500 meters of him? Thank you.]
Amidst all the discussions, pictures of the celebrities arriving for the audition outside of the hotels had been leaked online. Xu WanZhi walked behind two top-tiered actresses but not only was she able to rival them in her look, she was arguably better looking than they were.
The face of Jiang YueXian's fan who said she'd eat the keyboard was slapped swollen.
At this very moment, Xu WanZhi was sitting in the waiting area flipping through a Brand B brochure, hoping to be able to gleam the criteria Brand B used to select their spokesperson.
Right then, Jiang YueXian walked over with two bottles of water and handed one over to her. He even went as far as twisting open hers for her before he handed it over. "WanZhi, I am glad to see that you are doing so well."
Xu WanZhi took the bottled water from him and took a sip out of it. "I am guessing you were the one who highly recommended and raved about me?"
"Oh, it's nothing." Jiang YueXian wasn't trying to hide anything. "I felt that it's a very good opportunity for you. So no worries. Just be your best self."
Xu WanZhi scooted over a little bit and gave him some room to sit down. "You are getting ideas about my fox again?"
Her words made Jiang YueXian felt a little bit awkward. Finally, after much struggling, he squeezed out a line in English, "I owe you one, girl. I won't have ideas about your fox anymore, okay? Love is about sacrificing and not possessing or asking for returns."
His self-indulged look made Xu WanZhi shuddered with goosebumps.
After a fierce competition, Brand B announced simultaneously on their Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook that Brand B would open up a whole new chapter along with Ms. Xu WanZhi. Also being announced at the same time was the news that Jiang YueXian would be the spokesperson for their new men's wristwatch series. The two of them would be invited to partake in the unveiling event of their new designs in three weeks.
With Xu WanZhi being the China spokesperson and Jiang YueXian only the spokesperson for men's wristwatch series, the difference in their status was unmistakable. Weibo exploded all over again.
Almost all other jewelry companies worldwide required their spokesperson to have on a full set of earrings, necklace, two to three rings, two to three bracelets, and a large broach. Preferably putting on every single new design that they have for the season and the one picture would be blindingly dazzling.
But in Brand B's picture, Xu WanZhi had on a white dress with a standing collar and just a pair of sparkling diamond earrings, a ring, and a light-colored watch. Along with her simple and elegant makeup, her entire person exuded a noble feel.
Like a princess inside a crystal palace and meshing together with dazzling jewelries, she was completed separated from ostentatious vulgarity of gold and silver jewelries.
In the pictures, Xu WanZhi looked straight at the camera. Even though there were only three stills. But in the pictures, she looked like she had just broken out into a bright smile and the lights and movements of her eyes seemed to leap right out of the pictures.
Having been reading about the waves and waves of progressively worsening abusive words about her on Weibo, Xu WanZhi had really wanted to take the role of becoming the spokesperson. She had been suppressed for way too long for mistakes that wasn't made by her. As much as she had given it her best at updating her Weibo and acting, she could never convince those who refused to see the truth that had been revealed in front of them.
This time, she straight up used her fox demon's ability charm others. This was the kind of magic that was second nature to a fox demon. Xu WanZhi had always thought that it'd would only be effective if used in person but decided to give it a shot in front of the camera. Her magic worked better than even she had anticipated.
Not only did it move the designers of Brand B, it also dazzled many passersby. Even through the big screen, anyone who had seen her pictures were charmed by her.
Such was the real ability of a fox demon. At the same time, the tune on Weibo started to change:
[Risking being attacked by you all, why is it that I suddenly find Xu WanZhi very attractive?]
[Grandma, I felt that this big sister is smiling at me! Do you think she can talk with her eyes?]
[I felt the same way… has a spell be casted on me?]