Chapter 16: Killing the Heart

“Qiu Yan, it's so late, what are you doing?” Seeing Qin Hao walking toward her, Fan Shengmei could only brace herself and greet him, as he was her boss after all.

Qin Hao smiled. “Oh, I was just heading to the supermarket to pick up some things. Sister Fan, who is this?”

“Oh, Wang Baichuan, my college classmate,” Fan Shengmei said, introducing him to Wang Baichuan.

“This is my friend's older brother. He's incredibly impressive—he's been carving out a path in Shanghai all on his own and already has a net worth of tens of millions. I'm currently undergoing training at his company.”

Hearing this, alarm bells rang in Wang Baichuan's mind. “Mr. Qiu is truly young and promising. I hope I'll have the opportunity to learn from you in the future.”

“Don't listen to Sister Fan exaggerating. I'm just a small-time boss. Mr. Wang is in business as well, right? Let's keep in touch and exchange ideas in the future,” Qin Hao said with a smile, shaking his hand.

Fan Shengmei's heart skipped a beat. She secretly prayed for Qin Hao to leave quickly, but to her surprise, Qin Hao simply said, "You two chat," and began walking out of the residential complex.

Wang Baichuan had originally intended to escort Fan Shengmei upstairs and perhaps get a sense of her home, but Fan Shengmei didn't dare let him follow. After a few excuses, Wang Baichuan assumed it was just feminine reserve and didn't mind, walking out of the complex reluctantly.

Watching Wang Baichuan's retreating figure, Fan Shengmei breathed a secret sigh of relief.

However, at the entrance of the complex, Wang Baichuan ran straight into Qin Hao, who was returning with fruit.

“Mr. Qiu, what a coincidence.”

Qin Hao teased, “There's only one road into the complex; it's perfectly normal to run into each other.”

Wang Baichuan gave an awkward, sheepish laugh.

“Since you're Sister Fan's friend, don't be so formal. You can just call me by my name, and I'll do the same,” Qin Hao said, shrugging his shoulders.

Wang Baichuan hesitated for a moment before following suit. “Alright then, Qiu Yan. Here is my business card.”

“Sorry, I don't have the habit of carrying business cards. Just take down my mobile number. If anything comes up in the future, you can call me directly. More friends mean more opportunities,” Qin Hao said, reciting a string of numbers.

“Alright. It's getting late, so I'll head back first. Let's find an opportunity to sit down and have a few drinks sometime,” Wang Baichuan said.

“Mhm, it's a deal. Give me a call before you come to Shanghai next time. Of course, if your schedule is too tight and you only have time for a private rendezvous with a beauty, just pretend I never said anything,” Qin Hao joked.

“How could that be?” Wang Baichuan's face flushed red, but at the same time, he felt slightly relieved. It seemed this Qiu Yan didn't have any special relationship with Xiao Mei; otherwise, he wouldn't be joking about their relationship.

***

The next day, while Qiu Yingying was at work, she ran into that scumbag Bai again. Unaware that he had already been exposed by Qu Xiaoxiao, he still had the audacity to shamelessly approach her.

Qiu Yingying pulled out photos and lashed out in anger, “Didn't you say you were going to help a friend move? It turns out you were helping Qu Xiaoxiao move her company! Look how happy you were! At a single phone call from Qu Xiaoxiao, you came running like a lapdog. My brother was right—you're nothing but a sleazy creep!”

“Get lost! Don't let me see you again. Just looking at you makes me feel sick!”

The scumbag Bai was instantly stunned. This was at the office, and everyone was watching them with strange expressions.

Watching his retreating, fleeing figure, tears welled up in Qiu Yingying's eyes. The moment her outburst ended, she desperately wished he would explain himself, but he didn't. He ran away as if avoiding a plague.

“Qiu Yingying, don't cry. You can't let Brother and Guanguan be disappointed. You're not a child anymore!” Qiu Yingying strained her neck, attempting to hold back the tears, but they still uncontrollably slid down from the corners of her eyes.

On the other side, Qin Hao was editing videos at home.

【Ding! Completed Qiu Yingying's Wish #2: Help Qiu Yingying improve her emotional intelligence. Obtained 4 Luck Points.】

The task was completed so unexpectedly? Qin Hao was somewhat puzzled. Had something happened while Qiu Yingying was at work?

“System, besides being used to travel through various film and television worlds, what else can these Luck Points be used for?”

【System: When the Host's Luck Points reach 20, the Luck Mall will open. Before each descent into a film or television world, the Host can purchase a 'Luck' from the Luck Mall.】

Alright, no wonder they were called Luck Points.

Ending the conversation with the system, Qin Hao picked up his phone and dialed Detective Liu's number.

“You can move now.”

Detective Liu said with a wicked grin, “Great! I've been wanting to teach that bastard a lesson for a long time.”

After hanging up, Qin Hao didn't stay idle. What Old Liu could do at most was cause the scumbag Bai to suffer social death within his circle of acquaintances. To truly ruin him, he would need social media.

Thus, a short video titled *“On How Scummy a Scumbag Can Be: Why Girls Are Becoming Increasingly Realistic”* was officially produced.

However, Qin Hao didn't release it immediately. He had to let Old Liu make the first move. He would wait until the scumbag Bai was fired and thought he could just move to a new place to start over as a scumbag before exposing him—to truly crush his spirit.

Meanwhile, Qiu Yingying finished work as usual. Her colleagues were looking at her strangely. Suddenly, she felt very wronged; she was the one who had been deceived by a scumbag, so why did these people show no sympathy? Remembering what Qin Hao had said, she thought: *Brother was absolutely right. This is the attitude of strangers watching a spectacle. Truly, only Guanguan and the others treat me with sincerity.*

Arriving at the company entrance, just as Qiu Yingying was about to squeeze onto the subway to go home, a voice suddenly called out to her.

Qiu Yingying turned around, her tears finally breaking loose, and she ran toward Qin Hao.

“Brother, why are you here? *Sob...* I scolded that scumbag in front of so many colleagues today, and they were all laughing at me.”

Qin Hao gently patted her back to comfort her. “Now you know how good Guanguan and the others are to you, right?”

“Mhm...”

Qin Hao took out a tissue to wipe away her tears. “Alright, stop crying. It's all in the past. Your brother is here.”

“Brother, why are you here? Did you come specifically to comfort me because you knew I was in a bad mood?” Qiu Yingying asked through sobs.

Qin Hao rubbed her small head and smiled. “I'm not a fortune teller; how could I know you were in a bad mood? I was just meeting a client nearby, so I came to pick you up from work.”

“Brother, I miss your cooking.”

“Alright, I'll cook whatever you want to eat.”

“Brother, it's so good to have you.”

“Silly girl.”

The scene of Qiu Yingying getting into the Audi Q7 happened to be captured by a colleague and began to spread among the staff.

When a young girl gets into a stranger's luxury car, it inevitably invites wild speculation and all sorts of rumors.

The scumbag Bai naturally recognized Qin Hao from the photo, but he wouldn't say so. Instead, he added fuel to the fire, guiding his colleagues to think in that direction to prove he wasn't the scumbag.

However, just as the scumbag Bai was feeling smug, thinking he could clear his name, he had no idea that a massive net had already been cast, waiting for him to stumble into it.

(End of Chapter)