Strike Back, Proud Goddess! Novel

Although he said this, he stared straight at Tang Xi as if he wished he could put his eyes onto her body. Fortunately, Tang Xi had seen much of the world and had become inured to such gazes.

He Wanyi and He Wanzhou were dumbfounded as if they had seen an alien, and they asked in unison, “Why did you come here?”

Not realizing how shocked they were by his arrival, He Wanning frowned and replied, “Why can’t I come here?”

“No.” He Wanzhou got up excitedly. “When we asked you to hang out with us, you never agreed!”

He Wanning frowned. “When did you call me out?”

“We…” He Wanzhou tried to recall it, but he had forgotten when he had called his second brother and asked him to come out and have fun. “I remember I called you.”

“I suddenly felt like coming here today.” With that, He Wanning went to Tang Xi. No longer as calm, indifferent and cold as usual, he greeted Tang Xi shyly, “Hello, Miss Xiao, we meet again.”

He Wanyi dared to swear it was her first time seeing her second brother being so shy and lovely. Why could she only see him like this when he was talking to another girl?

Tang Xi smiled at He Wanning demurely and said, “Hello, Director He, you can call me Xiao Rou.”

He Wanning immediately blushed to his ears. He scratched his head and said softly, “Hello, Xiao Rou!”

Tang Xi nodded with a smile.

“I think he is going to have a love affair!” Yang Mukun squatted there, looking interestedly at Tang Xi and He Wanning. “Although I don’t have a good nose, I can still smell it.”

Even Ning Yan blew a whistle and said like a scamp, “I feel it too. This guy must have come here for Rourou!”

“How can you call her Rourou?” Xiao Sa got angry. How could he call her so intimately?! Only they could call her that! And… “What do you mean by ‘love affair’? This is only the second time they are meeting, okay?!”

Xiao Jing strongly agreed with Xiao Sa’s words. “Yeah, watch your tongue!”

“Can you two behave normally?” He Wanzhou couldn’t bear it anymore. “Yes, you have a sister, but is it necessary for you to show off like this? I also have a sister, okay?” With that, he put an arm around He Wanyi’s shoulders, and looked at Xiao Sa and Xiao Jing with a smug face. “And my sister is an international star. Can your sister be compared with her?”

Xiao Sa and Xiao Jing immediately rolled up their sleeves to defend their sister.

Tang Xi silently held her glass and sat far away from the two childish men. He Wanning didn’t want to sit with those noisy people either and followed Tang Xi. Seeing them go to the corner, Ning Yan picked up his glass and followed after them. “Do you mind if I join you?”

Tang Xi shrugged and shook her head. “Of course not.”

Ning Yan directly sat beside them and said, “Don’t mind me. I won’t bother you.”

Tang Xi raised her eyebrows and thought, ‘Come on, man, you are sitting right here. How can we pretend you’re not here?’ However, what she wanted to talk about with He Wanning was no secret, so she looked at He Wanning and asked, “President He, have you brought the contract with you?”

Gazed at by Tang Xi, He Wanning blushed again. He nodded and took out the draft contract. “This is the draft contract I prepared. You can have a look at it. If you don’t have any problem with it, I’ll take it back and have our lawyer work out the formal contract, and we’ll sign it on Saturday.”

Tang Xi nodded, took over the contract and began to read it carefully. Although she knew she could believe in He Wanning’s ability, this was the first contract she was taking after becoming Xiao Rou, and also her first endorsement. She had to take it seriously.

Spotting the words ‘TV Commercial Contract’ on it, Ning Yan raised his eyebrows and couldn’t help but ask Tang Xi, “Are you going to shoot a TV commercial?”

Tang Xi smiled and didn’t answer him. He Wanning explained, “I accidentally took a photo of Xiao Rou yesterday. I think she is very suitable for our new product, Magic Butterfly, so I invited her to become the endorser of our latest season TV commercial.”

Ning Yan looked at Tang Xi in surprise. Tang Xi was beautiful. By merely standing there plainly dressed, she looked even more dazzling than some dress-up stars. However, he didn’t think she was outstanding enough to make He Wanning take such a big risk and choose her, a newcomer, to shoot the TV commercial!

As far as he knew, a well-known luxury company like OLS would usually hire famous stars for as long as they could. Although they had used newbies before, the ones they chose had had at least one or two works. They never hired someone like Tang Xi.

Besides, didn’t this Tang Xi stay in the countryside before? Could she really handle a TV commercial like this one?

She had just come back to the Xiao Family one month ago. Even if she was educated by Yang Jingxian, it was impossible for her to have become a noble and elegant fair lady in such a short time.

“Have you decided to take a risk?” Ning Yan asked He Wanning.

He Wanning smiled and replied, “I think that what is really risky is to use Xiao Jinning. I think Xiao Rou can live up to my expectations.”

“You know it is impossible.” Unafraid that Tang Xi might hear him, Ning Yan said seriously, “Xiao Rou is beautiful indeed, but I know the theme of Magic Butterfly—like a dream, yet not a dream. This is not easy to present. Even if you don’t like Xiao Jinning, you should find an actress with acting skills. Even if she doesn’t have the temperament of a princess, she can act like one.”

In his eyes, Xiao Rou didn’t have that princess-like temperament. Bullied by Xiao Jinning, she was more of a Cinderella. A girl like this could never be the princess the TV commercial required!

Except for when it came to the people she cared about, Tang Xi was not quite talkative, so when she heard Ning Yan’s words, she continued to read the contract expressionlessly. She always believed that when you were doubted, the best way to defend yourself was to show them your strength. She didn’t need to ‘act’ like a princess—she was born a princess!

However, He Wanning was reluctant to hear Ning Yan denigrating his princess. He frowned and said, “Mind your own business! I never teach you how to direct, so don’t poke your nose into my business! I know what kind of heroine my TV commercial needs, and I can tell you clearly, Xiao Rou is the princess of our Magic Butterfly series. She is exactly the endorser I want. It wasn’t easy for me to persuade her to accept the job. I hope you won’t mess it up.”

Ning Yan shrugged nonchalantly. “Whatever, do as you like.” After all, he had made his suggestion to He Wanning from the perspective of a professional director. Since he didn’t want to listen to him, he would just wait to see the result.

Something then suddenly occurred to Ning Yan. He frowned and looked at Tang Xi as he asked, “Why did you take this endorsement?”