Chapter 566: Famous in Xiangjiang 1

October 27, 2023, Friday, cloudy, 22°C~28°C.

7:00 AM, the sky had just brightened.

Lin Mu Xue opened her eyes slowly, turned her head, and saw that the other side of the bed was already empty.

Clearly, the ambitious Shen Yu had begun another day of self-disciplined business travel.

She sat up, stretched, picked up the action camera on the nightstand, and switched to the front-facing lens.

A face with exquisite maintenance and three-dimensional features appeared in the lens, skin fair, lip color soft.

"Good morning~" Lin Mu Xue showed a bright smile on her face, greeting the lens: "Luna is currently on a business trip in Xiangjiang; today I'll take everyone to experience my busy day from a first-person perspective."

Switching to the rear lens, the details in the room unfolded one by one.

The electric curtains rose slowly, the morning light of Victoria Harbour shone in, the sea surface sparkled, the silhouettes of high-rise buildings on the opposite shore were hazy, and clouds flowed slowly across the horizon. Immediately after, Norah Jones's lazy jazz music played from the speakers. Lin Mu Xue stepped on the hotel's soft carpet and walked into the bathroom.

The lens swept over the bath towels, slippers, toothbrush cups, and the pillows at the end of the bed, all printed with "Luna" embroidered in fine gold thread.

Those in the know would naturally appear in the comment section of her video, pointing out that this was the top-tier treatment only super VIPs of the hotel could enjoy, allowing her to show off invisibly.

"Many sisters asked me about this hotel; the thoughtful service really has nothing to complain about~ The toiletries are also La Mer, which I often use; I suggest friends with mixed-oily skin apply this essence thickly at night; the effect is super good—"

After washing up, she put on a pure white silk bathrobe from LV, draped with an ivory-colored knitted cardigan from Chanel.

She put on makeup, recorded the whole way out of the room, and headed to the executive lounge on the 45th floor to enjoy a top-tier buffet breakfast.

There were very few people in the lounge, the Hong Kong skyline outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was as clear as a painting, and the space was quiet and elegant.

Returning to the suite, she filmed a few more clips of choosing accessories and changing clothes.

She picked up her bag, walked out of the hotel, switched her phone to a recording device, and headed to the second phase of the Central Financial Center.

The mirrored wall reflected her tall and slender figure, her high heels tapping on the marble floor, her pace light and confident.

The elevator rose all the way, arriving at the 38th floor.

She smiled and greeted colleagues of different skin colors in the hallway.

Passing through a quiet corridor, she pushed the door and walked into the general assistant's office located at the very end.

The windows were bright and the room clean, the furnishings low-key and expensive.

She skillfully set the camera on one side, adjusted the angle, and aimed it at the exquisite office desk in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

The lens finally froze on her figure as she slowly turned and walked toward the window.

The suit was slim-cut, the lines smooth, elegant, and confident.

Outside the window, the city skyline of Central unfolded in layers in the morning light, with high-rise buildings standing in great numbers.

After filming the video, Lin Mu Xue walked quickly to the camera and clicked play to check the filming effect.

A satisfied smile appeared on her face.

She then sat back at the desk, opened the computer, and began editing the video: 【173/53KG | A Day in the Life of a Female Financial Executive on a Headquarters Business Trip Vlog】.

This was her first time publicly disclosing her company information in a video.

After all, this was the financial center of Xiangjiang, the most expensive hub, and Rongliu Capital wasn't some small fry that couldn't be shown off. Revealing a bit of her identity in this office building not only wouldn't seem abrupt, but would instead highlight her status.

Looking at the video on the screen, the smile on Lin Mu Xue's face became brighter and brighter.

It was as if she had already foreseen the scene of likes and comments flooding in on social media platforms.

On this business trip to Xiangjiang, she was nominally familiarizing herself with the headquarters' operations, but in reality, it was mainly to attend the LVMH Group's activities and expand her circle.

Tang Song hadn't arranged any substantive work for her, and she was happy to be idle and at ease.

Enjoying the travel, privileges, and reverence wholeheartedly.

After ten o'clock in the morning, the video editing was completed; she stretched, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window nonchalantly, and watched the bustling street scene of Central outside for a while.

Then she opened the office door, preparing to go out for a walk to familiarize herself with the environment.

Just as she stepped out the door, she inadvertently caught a glimpse of the door to Shen Yu Yan's office next door being slightly ajar, with faint conversation and light laughter coming from inside.

Lin Mu Xue paused, her brows furrowing slightly.

She walked to the door, raised her hand to knock twice, and then pushed the door and entered.

The indoor light was soft, and the atmosphere was lively.

Besides Shen Yu Yan, there were also Financial Director Alice, Brand and Public Relations Director Vivian, Operations Director Harlan, and Senior Investment Manager Arthur.

Shen Yu Yan stood in the middle of the group, listening earnestly while occasionally adding her own insights.

Lin Mu Xue stood at the door, the smile on her face stiffening.

A strong sense of unease rose from her chest, dense like needle pricks.

It was as if rows of glaring red characters lit up in her mind: Warning! Warning! Warning!

The people in the room noticed the movement at the door and turned their heads one after another.

"Morning, Luna."

"Good morning."

Several greetings rose and fell.

Shen Yu Yan had a smile on the corners of her mouth, her tone gentle and appropriate: "Morning~ Luna, you just happened to come over; want to chat together?"

She was still wearing that gray suit that Lin Mu Xue had mocked, but her temperament was exceptionally confident and composed.

As their gazes met, it seemed as if an electric current swept through the air.

"Sure." Lin Mu Xue forced the corners of her mouth up, walked into the room, her pace as elegant as ever.

Immediately, the discussion became lively again.

"Currently, the first draft of the TS (Term Sheet) is out; the valuation adjustment mechanism clauses from the PE side in America are quite tough, but looking at it from another perspective, it's not impossible to negotiate—"

"We can design a progressive valuation adjustment mechanism to lock in the interests of the core team while setting a controllable IRR threshold."

"I see their VC background from the previous round of financing isn't bad; I estimate there's quite a bit of room for negotiation."

Shen Yu Yan smiled slightly, her expression steady and focused, both rational and relaxed.

She nodded in response from time to time, distilling key points, and occasionally adding details; her words were clear, her posture capable and confident.

Lin Mu Xue stood to the side, trying hard to maintain a dignified smile on her face, but she felt like she was sitting on pins and needles.

She could understand, but mostly it was "understanding the surface."

One reason was that she knew very little about the projects the company was currently undertaking; the other was that for many professional terms, she only knew a little from the data she had memorized before, unable to go deep, and easily exposing her shortcomings as soon as she opened her mouth.

Looking at Shen Yu Yan, she was an entrepreneur who had fought her way up from the front lines, having eaten the rice of financing and seen due diligence tables.

Even complex valuation adjustment clauses, she could quickly dismantle their core logic.

Financing rhythm, valuation anchors, IRR, buyback mechanisms, holding ratios—she spoke of them easily, and others listened naturally.

It could be called like a fish in water.

Lin Mu Xue suddenly felt a bit dazed.

It had only been the third day in Xiangjiang, and Shen Yu Yan had already stood firm in the circle of headquarters executives.

Without needing to deliberately disguise or cater, she could integrate into it with her own content and ability, mastering the rhythm and winning respect.

Instead, she, this general assistant, held a VP title but was like a decoration, a mascot.

No wonder Shen Yu Yan stayed up late to read materials and got up before dawn.

An unprecedented sense of crisis quietly rose, enveloping every inch of her thoughts.

If it developed according to this trend, Shen Yu Yan would soon truly solidify the two words "assistant."

Perhaps in the future, she would really snatch away her position bit by bit.

Although Tang Song had promised to cultivate her into his "closest private assistant," there hadn't been Shen Yu Yan at that time.

This green tea looked quite good, and was also the school beauty from Tang Song's university days, also having the bond of a best friend.

If she changed Tang Song's mind because of her outstanding performance, then—

Thinking of this, Lin Mu Xue felt a chill down her spine, a coldness rushing straight from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.

You scheming bitch!

No wonder the workplace is all about anti-involution; you are trying to mess with me, Empress Empress Mu Xue!

Absolutely cannot sit and wait for death!

But when it came to ability, she was indeed not as good as Shen Yu Yan.

In this regard, she was naturally at a disadvantage and had to change her perspective.

Lin Mu Xue's thoughts spun rapidly, gradually calming down.

Facing Shen Yu Yan, her greatest advantage was her relationship with Tang Song, as well as the connections with Tang Song's other women.

In the final analysis, Tang Song was the root.

She must firmly guard this point, providing more emotional value and life connections outside of work; this was something Shen Yu Yan could never compare to.

But this wasn't enough.

She had to make up for the lessons and catch up with the progress.

Originally, the Imperial College MBA was just a background board for her to show off her status and gild herself, and coming to Xiangjiang was even more for filming vlogs and posting on Douyin.

But now it seemed, she couldn't be too much of a salted fish.

This MBA had to be truly learned.

She had to make "Empress Empress Mu Xue" worthy of her persona.

Besides this, there was one more point that was crucial: reshaping her "sense of status."

She was not a female companion accompanying him, not a vase by the office desk.

She was a general assistant, a VP-level management layer, and Shen Yu Yan's real superior in terms of position.

Since that was the case, she had to suppress this scheming green tea's ambition with the posture of a "superior"!

She took a deep breath, her eyes clear and sharp in an instant.

Taking advantage of the brief gap when everyone changed the topic,

She spoke up nonchalantly: "Shirley, I'm quite interested in this investment project; later I want to communicate with Mr. Tang separately. You organize a complete set of materials and send it to my email before getting off work; remember, be detailed."

Shen Yu Yan was slightly stunned, but quickly reacted, nodding with a smile: "Alright, no problem."

Lin Mu Xue's expression was natural, she smiled and nodded to the several executives present, and then turned and left elegantly.

Returning to the office.

She immediately put away the camera and turned off the viewfinder; the desktop instantly returned to being calm and professional.

After sitting down, she opened the Imperial College's online learning system and clicked into the corporate finance module.

Putting on her headphones, she began to listen to the lecture earnestly.

The intense desire to win and the sense of crisis made her emotions surge, and her memory became better and better.

This was a state she hadn't had for a long time.

She suddenly remembered what she was like when she first entered Juqing Juqing Hui Jin.

At that time, she grabbed every minute of every day to memorize words, attended English intensive classes, and familiarized herself with project deal cases.

She was indeed not a talented player, but she had truly fought hard.

When did she start to slack off?

【Exclusive Credit Black Card】

It was after getting this card, with a limit of 150,000 USD per month and unparalleled VIP treatment.

During this period, her mailbox was filled with invitations from luxury brand SAs and private banking relationship managers.

All kinds of things she wanted to buy but couldn't bear to before all appeared on her and in her home.

In fact, she had already floated up to the sky.

Because of her upbringing, she was most sensitive to money, and it was also what could bring her the most "sense of security" and "satisfaction."

The appearance of this card gradually distorted some of her thoughts.

Tang Song also saw this in 【Whispers of Human Nature】, which was why he had been suppressing her growth speed.

If she were like Zhao Yaqian, financially free from the beginning, she would probably really be swallowed up by desire and thoroughly become a "socialite" who only knew how to enjoy herself.

And the appearance of Shen Yu Yan, her resume, ambition, and powerful execution forced her to wake up.

4:00 PM.

Special Assistant Office.

The skyline outside the window glowed with a pale golden halo.

Shen Yu Yan sat at the workstation by the window, her fingers moving rapidly across the keyboard.

After organizing the documents one by one and sending them to Lin Mu Xue's corporate email, she let out a long breath.

No matter what, at the headquarters, she couldn't expose any hint of discord with Lin Mu Xue.

Once the core executives at headquarters noticed, it would not only affect her personal professional image but might even make Tang Song feel displeased. She paused slightly and reopened the archived company organizational structure chart.

Staring at that organizational structure list, her gaze gradually became deep. Having stayed at headquarters for two days, she had already noticed some abnormal details.

For example, the attendance rate of the executive team was abnormal.

Theoretically, with her and Lin Mu Xue both appearing at the Xiangjiang headquarters as assistants representing Tang Song, it should have been an opportunity for the core executive layer to appear together, or at least there should have been a symbolic welcome arrangement.

But reality was far from that.

Vice President Simon in charge of fundraising, William Zheng, head of the Mergers and Acquisitions and Cross-border Investment Department, General Counsel (GC) Liu Jiachen, HRD Yao Meicun—

These seven executives she marked as "key figures" on the structure chart were all absent.

Not on leave, not rotating, but collectively out of contact without any trace.

She had inadvertently mentioned it to Vivian and others in the pantry, but the answers she got were: "Not very clear, seems like they are doing some internal transfers," "Participating in a confidential project, maybe can't disclose it to the outside."

Ambiguous, evasive.

But the more vague it was, the more it showed the unusual nature of the matter.

According to her own judgment, these people were likely temporarily transferred to participate in some extremely important, extremely sensitive capital operation or strategic project.

The project might have affected the trend of the securities market and the subsequent development of Rongliu Capital, which was why they made a "cutoff-style gag order" even internally.

Thinking of this, Shen Yu Yan's mind began to spin at high speed.

This was an opportunity.

Although she wasn't sure of the specific content, she could at least be certain that this was a very valuable information crack.

It was the key for her to break through Lin Mu Xue's shadow!

Tang Song was about to arrive in Xiangjiang.

At that time, perhaps she could use the excuse of assisting with headquarters affairs to probe and ask about it sideways.

Just at this moment.

"Buzz buzz buzz—"

The phone screen vibrated and lit up.

Shen Yu Yan looked down; it was someone @ing her in the 【Class 2, Grade 1】 high school classmate group.

Clicking into the group chat interface, messages jumped out one after another:

【Cheng Ziwei: "@Shen Yu Yan @Bai Menglin @Ji Yingying, just heard that you are all in Xiangjiang now? Wow, the three most amazing girls in Class 2 are actually going to reunite."】

【"Yingying and Shen Yu Yan also went to Xiangjiang? Are they both on business trips?"】

【"Pity I'm busy with work, otherwise I would definitely have gone too; I'm in Shencheng, so close."】

Shen Yu Yan's brows lifted slightly, and she clicked directly into Ji Yingying's Moments. Sure enough, a status popped up, posted two hours ago.

【Ji Yingying: Landed in Xiangjiang; while on a business trip, I can also see two high school friends; feeling excited.】

Below was an old photo from high school—a group photo of her, Bai Menglin, and Shen Yu Yan.

Youthful and vibrant, stunningly beautiful.

It was very obvious that this high-spirited high school rival had begun to build a stage for her own "glorious return."

In fact, her relationship with Ji Yingying had never been good.

Unlike her, Ji Yingying's family conditions were extremely affluent; her parents were both in industry, with family assets exceeding ten million.

Generous with money, loved wearing designer brands, arrogant and proud, she was a typical "little white rich girl."

In her student days, Ji Yingying was extremely concerned about "presence" and often competed with her.

After graduating from high school, the two almost never contacted each other again.

This time coming to Xiangjiang, it was clearly aimed at her.

Just at this moment, another prompt jumped out in the group.

【Bai Menglin: "@Shen Yu Yan, it's not really a business trip; she changed jobs recently and is now a board assistant at a private equity fund headquartered in Xiangjiang; she's so amazing! Right in Central's IFC; we should be reuniting often in the future."】

As soon as the message came out, the group exploded.

Shen Yu Yan's gaze flickered, and the corners of her mouth rose quietly.

Immediately after, Li Yingying replied immediately.

【Ji Yingying: "@Shen Yu Yan, you hid it deep enough; this is a great thing! Tonight my treat, the three of us will have a good reunion and celebrate for you!"】

【Shen Yu Yan: "Since it's celebrating for me, of course I should be the one to treat."】

【Ji Yingying: "I'm in charge of investor relations at the company, and I often entertain clients, so I have some resources in this regard; let me arrange it. How about 'China Club' in Central, Xiangjiang? You and Menglin are right next door."】

As soon as the words fell, there was another commotion in the group.

Many people were clearly unfamiliar with this name and went to search for it one after another.

Within a few minutes, screenshots kept flooding the group.

Looking at the classmates' screenshots and explanations, Shen Yu Yan also roughly understood the origin of this restaurant.

This was one of Xiangjiang's most iconic high-end private clubs, located on the 13th to 15th floors of the old China Bank Building in Central.

It adopted a strict invitation system, and the membership fee had once been as high as 150,000 HKD; members were mainly financial elites, tycoons, and well-known figures in the entertainment industry.

It was a typical gathering place for capital and elite circles.

After deliberating for a moment, Shen Yu Yan replied: "Alright, then thank you Yingying; you're generous."

"Buzz buzz buzz—"

A new message popped up.

【Lin Mu Xue: "Shirley, I've already read the email you sent; there are some places I'm not very clear about; come to my office."】

Shen Yu Yan glanced at the message, her lips curling, and she stood up, picked up her laptop, and walked out.

Arriving in front of the office next door, she knocked gently.

"Luna." She greeted in a gentle tone.

"Shirley." Lin Mu Xue sat behind the office desk, her posture elegant, pointing to the seat beside her: "Come, there are a few points I want to ask you about."

"Mm, alright."

After the two sat side-by-side, Lin Mu Xue really did raise questions one by one, from structural explanation to data logic, asking about everything in detail, her tone also unusually sincere.

Shen Yu Yan raised her brows slightly, observing the other party's expression while explaining, but ripples couldn't help but rise in her heart.

The previous Lin Mu Xue, although "bared her fangs and brandished her claws" on the surface, at least didn't hide things and was still easy to deal with.

Now, suddenly acting unusually, it made people somewhat difficult to fathom.

Don't know what kind of bad intentions she has.

The sky gradually darkened.

Approaching off-work time.

Lin Mu Xue closed the materials in her hand, turned her head, and smiled: "Thanks for the hard work, Shirley; tonight my treat, Lung King Heen, you'll definitely like it."

Shen Yu Yan shook her head: "Sorry Luna, today another high school classmate of mine just arrived in Xiangjiang, and we have an appointment to have dinner at China Club tonight."

"Oh?" Lin Mu Xue raised her brows, her smile unmoved: "Then forget it; I'll treat you another day."

"Mm." Shen Yu Yan glanced at her wristwatch: "I have to go tidy up my things and prepare to set off; leaving first, bye-bye."

"Bye." Lin Mu Xue watched her back, her thoughts floating slowly.

China Club?

She had heard of it long ago and actually quite wanted to go join in the fun.

Just at this moment.

"Ding-a-ling" the phone rang.

【Mo Xiang Wan】

Lin Mu Xue answered immediately: "Hello, Sister Xiang Wan."

"Good evening, Empress Mu Xue, off work yet?"

"Mm, just finished tidying up."

"It's like this." Mo Xiang Wan's voice was as gentle and steady as ever: "For tomorrow's LVMH private banquet, I've arranged for two people to accompany you to help you get to know more connections."

"Alright, Sister Xiang Wan, sorry to trouble you."

"Why be so polite; they will add you on WeChat later."

"Understood~ Thank you."

"Alright then, rest early, bye-bye."

"Bye-bye."

Not long after the call hung up.

A friend request popped up on the WeChat interface; seeing the nickname and avatar, Lin Mu Xue's heart jumped slightly.

【Bei Yuwei / Requests to add you as a friend.】 ===== CHAPTER 567 =====

A friend request popped up on the WeChat interface; seeing the nickname and avatar, Lin Mu Xue's heart skipped a beat.

【Bei Yuwei is requesting to add you as a friend.】