Chapter 25: The Ruans

Xander Ruan’s face turned ashen.

This Seren Thorne was simply talking nonsense!

His eldest and youngest brothers clearly only had sibling affection for Mabel. If they all liked her, how could he not have noticed at all?

As expected, it was just as Mabel said—this girl had grown wild and wicked living with those kids in the orphanage. She looked harmless on the surface, but her heart was filthy!

"Seren Thorne, stop spreading rumors! Mabel is not a bad girl!"

Seren: "?"

"Which eye of yours saw me speaking? Did you forget to take your medicine today and start having a fit?"

Xander choked, wanting to defend himself but having no place to start. After all, Seren truly hadn't opened her mouth. He wasn't even sure if what he just heard was a hallucination.

He clenched his fists, and although he shut his mouth, the smoldering anger in his eyes did not dissipate.

Everyone present had different expressions, while only Mabel Ruan stood aside, bewildered. She had finished speaking quite a while ago, so why was no one paying attention to her? Shouldn't the focus be on her going to work at Vane Corp?

Her third brother was truly something else. He clearly came today to help her get a job, but before the main business was discussed, he suddenly started acting crazy. Indeed, not a single person in the Ruan family had a functioning brain.

Hiding the disdain in her eyes, she asked softly, "Third Brother, what are you and Sister Seren talking about?"

Hearing Mabel’s voice, Xander tried his best to maintain his usual image of a gentle elder brother. Softening his voice, he said, "It’s nothing. I just spaced out for a moment. Let’s keep talking about your work."

Having said that, he looked toward Alaric Vane. "Alaric, regarding Mabel working at your company, is it convenient on your end?"

Alaric didn't look for excuses to stall like the old man did; he refused directly: "It's not convenient."

Xander hadn't expected the Vane family to be unwilling to arrange even a simple assistant position for Mabel. He felt somewhat displeased.

"What’s inconvenient about it? Is someone whispering wicked things in your ear and badmouthing Mabel?"

As Xander spoke, he looked toward Seren, his words laden with implication.

Sensing his meaning, Alaric’s gaze turned slightly cold. He said icily, "There are no 'wicked whispers.' It’s simply that Mabel Ruan’s educational background is too low and her professional ability is lacking. She doesn't meet the threshold for me to hire an assistant."

The moment he spoke, Mabel’s eyes instantly welled with tears. "Brother-in-law, I understand. I was overestimating myself. I’m not worthy. I’m sorry for making things difficult for you."

As she spoke, she squeezed out two "cat tears," looking as if she had suffered a great grievance.

Alaric, however, had absolutely no intention of being a gentleman. He said indifferently, "You are indeed unworthy. Self-awareness is perhaps your only merit."

Mabel froze. Her fake crying turned into real crying. She never imagined that in the eyes of the man she loved, she was such a useless person.

Seren sat on the side, eating fruit while enjoying the gossip, watching the show with great interest.

{I thought the dog man only snapped at me, but I didn't expect him to be so heartless toward Mabel Ruan as well. Tsk tsk tsk.}

{But Mabel’s acting needs improvement. That 'green tea' vibe is still too obvious. She should go to Ethan Hart for some advanced training.}

To the side, Xander felt immense heartache seeing his sister's tears. In the past, though Alaric was sharp-tongued, he still maintained some level of chivalry when speaking to women. To be targeting his younger sister like this now—if it wasn't Seren Thorne whispering in his ear at night, who would believe it!

He held Mabel’s hand to comfort her with a few words and then looked indignantly at Alaric.

"Mabel is a top graduate from a Project 211 university. How high can the threshold for an assistant be? You are clearly targeting her!"

Alaric said calmly, "My last assistant was a postgraduate from Cambridge. The one before that was from Tsinghua with five years of relevant financial experience.

"Mabel Ruan, on the other hand, used her family connections to enter your own company to loaf around right after graduation. Besides a degree from a 211 school, what else does she have?"

Xander choked. When compared like that, Mabel’s qualifications were indeed a bit lacking. But he was still unwilling to give up. Just as he wanted to argue further, he heard Seren’s voice again:

{A 211 degree is indeed good, but unfortunately, Mabel’s degree is a forgery. She only scored a hundred or so points on her college entrance exam; she didn't get into university at all.}

{To maintain her image as a well-behaved overachiever, she bribed the girl in her class with the highest score, claiming that girl's score and degree as her own to deceive the Ruans. During those college years, she wasn't studying at school at all; she was just renting an apartment nearby to waste time.}

{Once that girl graduated, Mabel took the other girl's certificate and made a counterfeit copy with her own name on it.}

{To be honest, this scam is quite clumsy. But since the Ruans pampered and loved her so much, they didn't even bother to verify her credentials when she joined the family business; they just let her start working.}

{Over the past few years, Mabel has been loafing around the company, pushing all her work onto her teammates while using her family's power to act like a tyrant. Many colleagues have been dissatisfied with her for a long time.}

{Her recent resignation wasn't because she wanted to train in a better position. It’s because she messed up a project and framed a colleague to take the fall. After the truth started to come out, she was afraid the news would reach the Ruans, so she resigned voluntarily.}

After hearing this, the look in Arthur Vane's eyes as he watched Mabel was full of disdain and contempt. Previously, the Ruans had bragged everywhere about how capable and talented Mabel was. Even outsiders believed them, thinking she was a kind and proper lady from a prestigious family. As it turned out, she was a scheming, dishonest, and dark-hearted person.

Xander felt Seren was slandering Mabel. He had personally visited Mabel’s university before, and the classmates and teachers clearly knew her. Mabel couldn't have bribed all those students and teachers, right?

However, since Seren said those words in her heart, he couldn't refute them even if he wanted to. He could only hold his breath and stand up.

"Forget it. Since you look down on Mabel, there’s no need for us to keep pushing our luck.

"Mabel, let's go! I'll arrange another job for you, I guarantee I'll find you something even more respectable!"

Seren criticized silently: {If she goes to work at another company, the truth about her forged degree will be exposed. There’s no way she’ll go with you.}

{In a moment, she will definitely say: 'Don't be angry, Third Brother. It's my own lack of ability; it's normal for Brother-in-law to look down on me. I'm willing to start from the bottom, as long as Brother-in-law can arrange a suitable position for me.'}

Xander let out a cold snort. Did Seren Thorne think she was some kind of prophet? Could she predict Mabel’s thoughts so precisely? Besides, Mabel had always been a girl with integrity; she would never pester the Vanes so shamelessly.

However, in the next second, he heard Mabel speak: "Don't be angry, Third Brother. It's my own lack of ability; it's normal for Brother-in-law to look down on me."

After saying that, she turned to look at Alaric, her gaze sincere and earnest: "Brother-in-law, I'm willing to start from the bottom. Please arrange a suitable position for me. Vane Corp's business is so extensive, there must be a role that fits me. I hope you can make an exception for me for my sister's sake."

The moment she finished, Arthur Vane and Seren couldn't hold back and burst out laughing. Even Alaric’s expression nearly cracked.

He had to admit, this "bargain wife" of his was quite accurate at reading faces and fortunes, and she certainly had a way of identifying "green teas."