Chapter 15: Is It Really Necessary?

Evening.

Chen Xiao and Tao Zi were drinking beer, pouring out their feelings—what a thrilling day it had been. Suddenly, a mighty and imposing Lamborghini Aventador pulled up to the parking spot right outside.

“Wow,” the two gossipy women formed O-shapes with their mouths, gazing on enviously, wishing they owned such a car themselves.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Thinking some wealthy, handsome man had arrived, the two women rushed to open the door together, only to find that it was Sister Feihong who had come calling.

“President Hong, what brings you here?” Chen Xiao and Tao Zi quickly adjusted their expressions in surprise.

Ni Feihong was not exactly a popular figure. She hesitated and asked, “Do I know you two?”

The two beauties found themselves in an awkward spot. Even a fool could see now that this “she-devil” was here for the crazy guy upstairs. That kid must be something else—what did he do to deserve a visit from Sister Feihong?

After coming in, Ni Feihong asked, “Is Ma Weimin here?”

“He is, he is—upstairs, playing video games,” Chen Xiao replied hastily.

“That idiot knows how to play video games?” Ni Feihong was taken aback.

Chen Xiao and Tao Zi had nothing to say. They didn’t understand how Feihong’s mind worked. “Not only can he play, he’s really good at it,” they answered.

Ni Feihong lost interest. “You seem to know me—are you with my company?”

“I’ve been there, but I haven’t officially signed a contract,” Chen Xiao said quickly.

Feihong immediately replied, “I’ll give you a task. Go upstairs and find a way to lure him down, make him submit to my authority, and I’ll sign you.”

Damn.

As unreasonable as Ni Feihong’s demands sounded, in this business, who doesn’t have to make sacrifices? Xiao Xiao saw this as an opportunity she was confident she could seize. She adjusted her top to show a bit more cleavage and went upstairs.

Feihong felt a little embarrassed by this and blushed slightly, thinking it was rather lowbrow. But expediency was key—she let it slide. The main thing was to get the job done; there was no turning back.

Meanwhile, Feihong was also cunning. She thought Chen Xiao, willing to stoop so low, was “hopelessly mediocre.” After the job was done, Feihong planned to cut her loose, not give her a contract, nor recommend her to others. She would give Chen Xiao some money and blacklist her in the industry for being so vulgar.

Alas, such is the way Ni Feihong’s mind worked.

Fortunately, things rarely go as planned. Chen Xiao came back downstairs after a while, looking embarrassed. “Sorry, President Hong. He’s not himself today—seems upset, won’t say a word, won’t see anyone. Normally, he’s sociable, especially with me.”

Ni Feihong tilted her head and thought for a moment. “Fine, give me the key to his room. I’ll consider your task complete and will give you the contract.”

And so she got the key.

This time, Ni Feihong really did decide to give Chen Xiao a contract, rather than blacklisting her. She thought, despite Chen Xiao’s lack of talent, her attitude wasn’t bad; there was a hint of genuine concern for Xiao Ma.

On her way upstairs, swaying her hips, Feihong decided she’d blacklist Tao Zi instead, because when Chen Xiao mentioned Xiao Ma’s mental troubles earlier, Tao Zi had laughed. That reminded Feihong of someone like Feng Chenchen—wasted talent, no matter how gifted.

At the door, Feihong used the key to let herself in.

She had expected to encounter some slovenly brute and a room full of sweat and stench, but was surprised to find the place tidy and the kid engrossed in his game.

How strange.

Xiao Ma’s hands danced across the keyboard with near-phantom speed, all the while fiddling with his phone—yet his gameplay never suffered in the slightest.

Even Ni Feihong was impressed.

She was not an expert herself, but had friends in the field and had heard that this keyboard technique was one of the “Invisible Hands” legends in the hacker world, and that it belonged exclusively to Xiao Ma—a unique set of shortcut keys, his own kind of code.

“Are you mad at me?” Feihong shook her head and asked.

“All are ants beneath the Devil King; I seldom get angry at others,” Xiao Ma replied, suddenly sounding perfectly normal.

Strangely, once he snapped back to normal, his keyboard skills plummeted—mistake after mistake, hands fumbling.

“So now you’re just putting on an act, huh?” Feihong said as she sat down on the bed.

She really did say it that bluntly.

“What are you here for?” Xiao Ma asked.

Feihong, halfway through taking off her trench coat, decided against it. She opened her briefcase, pulled out a contract, and tossed it over. “Sign it now.”

Xiao Ma didn’t even bother to look at it. “What happens if I sign?”

“Sign it and you’ll get some money. Even if I don’t use you, people will come flocking, crying to train you, fawning over you,” Feihong said, trying to entice him.

“But I don’t need anyone to train me,” Xiao Ma sneered.

Feihong changed tactics. “Cut the nonsense—do you dare to sign or not?”

“Fine.”

This time, Xiao Ma agreed without hesitation.

Feihong was pleased with her own dominance, grinning as she handed him her personal pen.

But as Xiao Ma was about to put pen to paper, he hesitated. “I don’t have an ID card. Is the contract still valid?”

What the—?

The contract required him to fill in his ID number by hand. Feihong’s face darkened. “Where’s your ID?”

“Due to certain unspeakable circumstances, I don’t have it right now,” Xiao Ma replied.

Feihong, ever resourceful, pulled out her phone and started recording. “Repeat after me.”

“Repeat after me,” Xiao Ma said.

Feihong scolded, “Not that! Say: ‘I, Ma Weimin, am fully aware of the terms regarding the use of my image and authorize ‘Most Glamorous’ to use my likeness, including but not limited to print media, apps, and all related partnership channels.’”

Xiao Ma, disdaining to waste time, recited the line cleanly.

Feihong couldn’t help but be pleased with his decisiveness; she even started to like this rookie a little. She showered him with praise, using a dozen adjectives, and finished by extolling his extraordinary potential.

“All right, it’s settled. The contract isn’t that important—I’ll pay you, and I won’t cheat you. Even if you tried to sue me, you wouldn’t win, and you couldn’t afford the trouble,” Feihong said as she grabbed her briefcase and prepared to leave.

Xiao Ma asked, “If I can’t win, why bother coming here at all?”

Feihong replied, “Mainly, I know things aren’t easy for you. I wanted to bring you some money and, incidentally, see you act all grateful and submissive. Pity you’re such a block of wood, so I didn’t get my wish. That’s all.”

With that, she headed downstairs.

Xiao Ma said nothing, but followed her out.

Feihong turned and looked at him. “Why are you coming out?”

“I’m seeing you off,” Xiao Ma chuckled.

Feihong eyed him suspiciously, then, heading down the stairs, wrapped herself back up in her trench coat, hiding her figure. She had noticed herself that her hips were a bit prominent, which is why she preferred trench coats over short outfits.

As Xiao Ma watched her go, he felt a bit disappointed not to see what he wanted.

When it came to showing off, no one did it better than Ni Feihong. She had arguably the best-looking hips in the world, but most of the time hid them under her trench coat. If she ever found herself at a glamorous event full of curvy women and some envious nobody sneered, “Only women with no hips wear trench coats,” well, if she took it off, the effect would be stunning.

Xiao Ma felt he still had much to learn from her.

He shook his head, knocked on his skull a few times, and wondered, for some reason, why his focus was growing ever more chaotic…