Chapter 114: Uncle Is Not a Bad Person

In the present world, on the planet Hailan, Song Yao was walking home from the Mysterious Stone Stele when she suddenly received a text message notifying her of an interview.

It was currently summer vacation, and after this summer, Song Yao would be entering her senior year of university. She wanted to use this break to find an internship, both to gain professional experience and to earn some living expenses. She had applied to many companies, but this was the only one that had sent an interview invitation: Shenghao Group.

Only a short while ago, Song Yao had seen the young heiress of Shenghao Group at the Mysterious Stone Stele. Although Song Yao had also just registered for the login test for the Xuanying Continent, the probability of being selected was likely lower than winning the lottery. Therefore, she could not afford to miss this interview opportunity. If, by some miracle, her ancestors were blessing her and she actually qualified for the login test, she could simply resign from the job then.

After returning home, Song Yao changed into the professional women’s suit she had bought but rarely worn, then hurried to the Shenghao Group headquarters. Following the instructions in the text, she arrived at the seventh floor. A female receptionist led her into a small conference room. "Wait here for a moment; the Human Resources manager will come to interview you personally."

Song Yao had not expected that she would be interviewed by the HR manager herself for such a routine intern clerk position. She immediately became incredibly nervous. A moment later, she heard the rhythmic "clack-clack-clack" of high heels approaching. The door opened, and a tall, beautiful woman walked in.

Song Yao froze. She never imagined that the HR manager interviewing her would be none other than Pei Wangshu, the heiress of Shenghao Group, whom she had seen at the Mysterious Stone Stele just earlier. The only difference was that she was now wearing black-rimmed glasses, which made her look more mature.

Pei Wangshu had only recently begun helping her father manage the family business. Her father wanted her to familiarize herself with the operations of every department, so he had her rotating through different roles. She had only taken the position of HR manager at the beginning of the month.

"I thought you, like your brother, would also be absent from today's interview." Pei Wangshu sat down across from Song Yao with a faint, artificial smile.

"My brother?" Song Yao asked, stunned. "You know my brother?"

Pei Wangshu laughed. "How could I possibly know your brother?" After all, they were not in the same social circle.

"But your brother's name is Song Ye, right?" Pei Wangshu asked again.

"Yes," Song Yao nodded.

"Your brother submitted a resume to our company a week ago. Honestly, given his mediocre resume and previous internship experience, he shouldn't have even qualified for an interview at my Shenghao Group," Pei Wangshu said. "But I thought I should give graduates from ordinary universities a chance, and I happened to be lacking an assistant to run errands for me, so I granted him an interview."

"I just didn't expect that your brother wouldn't show up at the agreed time, and afterward, he wouldn't answer his phone or reply to emails."

"So, I wanted to ask you, his sister—does your brother think that being Pei Wangshu's assistant is beneath him?" As she spoke, Pei Wangshu crossed her legs and tilted her head slightly upward. It was clear she was very dissatisfied with Song Ye rejecting her interview opportunity. After all, she was the one who usually rejected others; it was rare for anyone to reject her. More importantly, she had personally selected Song Ye from a pile of resumes and had HR send the notice. That he had missed the interview felt like a personal slight.

Song Yao hurriedly explained, "My brother is missing. He didn't intentionally skip the interview."

Pei Wangshu laughed. "Missing? You really went to great lengths to come up with such a pathetic excuse for him."

"I'm not lying. My brother is truly missing," Song Yao insisted.

"Fine, let's not talk about your brother. Don't worry, I won't hold any prejudice against you because of him. Little sister, you don't mind if I take off my shoes, do you?"

Song Yao shook her head. "I don't mind."

Pei Wangshu immediately slipped off her high heels and bent down to rub her toes, which were wrapped in 15D silk stockings. "My feet really aren't comfortable after wearing heels for so long." She then flipped through Song Yao’s resume. After a brief glance, without asking a single question, she said, "You’ve passed the interview. I hope you have a pleasant internship experience at Shenghao Group."

Song Yao had assumed that because of her brother, the internship was as good as gone. She never expected Pei Wangshu to approve her so readily. Moreover, this Pei Wangshu didn't seem like the difficult, spoiled heiress she had imagined.

...

In the Xuanying Continent, in Yan City of the Li State, Song Yan was sitting at a small noodle stall in the East Market, slurping down a bowl of noodles.

Lady Xu said to her, "Song Yan, sit here and eat your noodles. Don't run off. Your sister-in-law is going over there to buy some vegetables." Song Yan nodded. Lady Xu then asked the stall owner to keep an eye on the child, and the owner nodded, telling her not to worry.

After Song Yan finished the last bite of her noodles, she pulled a bone flute from her sleeve to fiddle with it. This flute was a memento left to her by her father, Su Nian—the Yunluo Bone Flute. She tried blowing into it a few times, producing a sharp, piercing sound.

At that moment, two tall men approached from a distance—one fat and one thin. The fat one was bald and carried a large broadsword on his back. Both were dressed in identical white robes, with a red wolf embroidered on the front.

The fat, bald man walked straight up to the noodle stall and asked Song Yan, "Little girl, where did you get this bone flute?"

Song Yan looked at the burly, bald man and pursed her lips, shaking her head.

"Little girl, don't be afraid. Uncle isn't a bad person," the fat man said, forcing an ugly smile. "Tell Uncle, where did you get this flute?"

Thinking the man was after her flute, Song Yan gripped it tightly in her hand.

The noodle stall owner spoke up to the fat man, "This girl is mute. Don't scare her."

The fat man spat on the ground. "Pah, so this little bitch is a mute. What a waste of my time." With that, he reached out to forcibly snatch the flute from Song Yan's hand.

"Cao Yue, don't mess with the child here. It's too conspicuous. Let's go," the thin, tall man said from outside the stall.

The fat man named Cao Yue nodded immediately. After they walked away from the stall, Cao Yue said to the thin man, "Wu Yi, that kid was holding Su Nian's Yunluo Bone Flute. Shouldn't we have asked her where she got it?"

The thin man, called Wu Yi, replied, "Are you stupid? She's a mute; what could you possibly get out of her?"

"Besides, this is a busy market. If you make her cry, you'll only alert the prey. And people will laugh at us, the disciples of the Murong Clan, for bullying a mute little girl."