RWWAI 13

Chapter 13: Your Boss Is Getting Promoted, You Can't Not Go, Right?

Right at that moment, I suddenly caught sight of something sitting on his desk.

"Hold on..."

I said thoughtfully.

"Isn't the biggest problem right now the fact that Qin Miaomiao thinks you're in love with me and not her?"

Luo Fan crossed his arms with a slight huff and turned his head away, saying:

"No! It's that you're trying to run away!"

I hurriedly explained:

"The only reason I want to escape is because she's about to bail! But if she thinks you love her the most, why on earth would she still want to bolt?"

Luo Fan scratched his head and said irritably:

"I don't know anything about that moonlit-romance garbage, I don't do sweet talk, I can't do it!"

I waved a hand dismissively:

"Dealing with women of this era doesn't require all that much trouble."

A glimmer of hope finally flickered in Luo Fan's eyes.

"Sometimes, a person's actions are way more persuasive than a thousand words,"

I flashed a seductive wink as I said so.

Luo Fan said defensively:

"You'd better not give me any R-rated suggestions."

"How could I possibly suggest something like that?"

I pushed a document edged with delicate brocade fabric across the desk toward him.

"Do you even know what this is?"

Luo Fan nodded with a displeased expression and said:

"It's a farewell banquet invitation from Prefecture Governor Zhou, so what?"

I said with excited enthusiasm:

"A farewell banquet hosted by Prefecture Governor Zhou—translated into modern terms, that's celebrating your boss getting promoted. No matter what, you can't not go, right?"

Under Luo Fan's bewildered gaze, I continued:

"In such a grand setting, if you bring her and leave me behind, wouldn't that instantly solidify her position in your heart?"

Luo Fan squinted at me, and then, with sheer audacity, he actually muttered:

"System-sama, in a situation like this, is it allowed to bring a concubine while leaving the wife behind?"

Pointing at the empty air, Luo Fan smugly declared:

"Not appropriate!"

I immediately fired back with bitter resentment:

"I can't see your system bullet comments!"

But I knew he wasn't making it up, because right around the same time, my own bullet comments let me know that in the previous life, Qi Lu had actually brought both Liang Jingjing and Qin Miaomiao to the banquet.

Except...

It was precisely at this banquet that everyone finally saw with crystal-clear clarity that Qin Miaomiao was the absolute love of Qi Lu's life.

And it was also from that very day onward that Liang Jingjing could no longer self-deceptively believe that Qi Lu still held any affection for her.

Looked at that way, this farewell banquet was actually pretty crucial for us right now!

Why it was important for Luo Fan, I probably don't need to explain, right?

As for why it was important to me...

Heh.

At an event like this, all the high-society wealthy elites of the city would attend accompanied by their spouses.

I needed to figure out a way to buddy up with these rich wives.

Because someone like me, whose only marketable skill is roasting people, could only ever truly shine and thrive among this particular crowd.

To put on a convincing display of how much "Qi Lu" valued Qin Miaomiao, I had a lavish gown tailored for her out of the most expensive brocade, dressing her up to the nines for the day of the banquet.

Naturally, the jewelry adorning her was a glittering array of coral, agate, jade, and pearls—whatever cost a fortune, I piled it right onto her.

Qin Miaomiao was already naturally good-looking, and after all that styling, she looked utterly radiant, graceful, and dripping with opulent elegance.

Of course, I didn't plan on short-changing myself either.

Even though I knew I couldn't overshadow Qin Miaomiao's spotlight, I still happily squeezed myself into the trendiest, form-fitting lake-blue silk Hanfu of the season.

Little did I expect that Luo Fan would take one single look and deliver a lethal, hit-the-nail-on-the-head critique:

"Aren't you supposed to be pregnant?"

Damn it!

I could only frantically shove two pillows down the front of my dress, instantly destroying any fashionable vibe I had going on.

In contrast, the actual pregnant woman, Qin Miaomiao, was naturally slender to begin with, and with most of her figure concealed beneath the heavily layered, ultra-luxurious gown meant to project grandeur, you couldn't tell at all that she was already five months along.

So annoying!

With no other choice, just to keep the cover story alive, I had to suck it up!

And so, Luo Fan grandly attended the banquet with one wife and one concubine in tow.

Inside the carriage on the way to the banquet, Luo Fan leaned in close and whispered in my ear:

"So... what exactly did past-life me do to make the whole world—especially Qin Miaomiao—think I was hopelessly, deeply devoted to her?"

I nodded in tacit understanding and said:

"Don't rush, the moment the prior context playback triggers, I'll definitely let you know right away!"

Right at that instant, out of the corner of my eye, I caught Qin Miaomiao watching us whisper to one another. I hurriedly shoved Luo Fan away and snapped angrily:

"What are you doing? Why are you leaning so close to me? Shoo, shoo, get away from me!"

Luckily, Luo Fan caught on instantly.

"Such an annoying, shrewish woman!"

My peripheral vision caught Qin Miaomiao covering her mouth and giggling quietly behind her sleeve.

Ah, looks like it actually had some effect.

Upon arriving at the prefecture governor's estate, I originally planned to let Luo Fan, who got out of the carriage first, help Qin Miaomiao down, but who would have guessed that this emotionally dense piece of work would just stride straight ahead without even looking back?

He totally deserved to be single with no girlfriend!

I glared daggers of pure fury at his retreating back.

Then again, in this kind of historical setting, men all seemed to do that anyway.

Because as the other guests arrived one after another, I scanned the courtyard and didn't spot a single husband extending a helping hand to assist his wife down from her carriage.

I silently decided to wash my hands of them entirely.

Perhaps staying far away from Luo Fan and only letting Qin Miaomiao stick close to his side was already enough to project overflowing affection in this day and age.

As luck would have it, I noticed that several primary wives who had already arrived looked equally fed up with their respective husbands, standing as far away from them as humanly possible.

Turns out married women are all the same everywhere, hehe.

I drifted over and came to a halt right beside a tight-knit circle of the most jewel-bedecked, blindingly wealthy noble matrons, and my system instantly piped up to fill in their identities for me.

Among them, a noblewoman adorned with a gold-threaded peony hairpin was complaining bitterly to her surrounding girlfriends:

"That distant cousin of my husband's family—didn't she just move into the city to visit relatives a few days ago? Today I didn't bring her along with me, and she threw a massive temper tantrum at home, whining that I was using my maiden family's high social standing to look down on her. You all tell me, what kind of ridiculous nonsense is that?"

A smile bloomed across my face—it was finally time to unleash my true specialty.

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