Xu Mo's thoughts drifted back to his middle school days.
Almost all students in the class came from families involved in legitimate businesses.
Only the Han family was involved in underground dealings.
In those days, one would occasionally hear news of someone being hacked to death on the street.
Or loan sharks showing up to collect debts and injuring people.
Such news would appear every few days.
Even though all these students came from privileged backgrounds,
Their minds were still immature.
They had a strong tendency to exclude others.
Believing the world was either black or white.
As a result, Han Zhiqi became isolated.
During middle school, everyone goes through a rebellious phase.
Han Zhiqi wasn't a saint, and she was no exception.
She began to hate her background!
She began to hate everything the Han family did!
She hated that it couldn't give her what she wanted.
It only made things worse.
Making herself feel more miserable.
Eventually, she developed moderate depression.
But Han Zhiqi hid it well.
No one noticed anything unusual about her.
Even Xu Mo himself doesn't know about it to this day.
Actually, that time he flirted with Han Zhiqi,
It was Xu Mo being playful, pushing his limits as a player.
He knew Han Zhiqi was one of the female protagonists in the story.
Anyway... after the plot played out, he would meet his end too.
Before meeting his end, wouldn't it be exciting to seduce the female lead and then dump her?
He could get ahead of the male protagonist, as this was before the story really began.
When the actual plot started later, it wouldn't affect anything - perfect.
He acted on his thoughts.
Xu Mo succeeded.
It took quite some effort.
The difficulty of pursuing Han Zhiqi alone was greater than pursuing the other five girls combined!
Xu Mo consoled himself: it made sense - if she were easy to pursue, she wouldn't be a female protagonist in the novel.
During their relationship,
Xu Mo carefully noticed Han Zhiqi's withdrawn nature, related to her family background.
So he started giving her free psychological counseling.
The female lead couldn't die before her time!
Dying early from depression.
How would the plot continue then?
Xu Mo didn't know she already had depression at that time.
However, under Xu Mo's guidance,
Han Zhiqi's mindset changed, no longer hating herself or her family because of others' strange looks.
Actually, Xu Mo's so-called guidance was just recycling motivational quotes he had read before, combined with his unique understanding to convince Han Zhiqi.
At that time, this world hadn't developed such terminology yet.
Xu Mo casually quoted these, leaving Han Zhiqi amazed
Things like 'You didn't choose your family, your family chose you'
'Face life's hardships head-on, even when you have n reasons to give up'
'The strong aren't born strong'
'Defeating others makes you strong, defeating yourself makes you a king!'
'Years later when you look back at your painful experiences, you'll see how they shaped who you truly are'
Before Xu Shi reported him,
Xu Mo had cured Han Zhiqi with his motivational speeches.
Though he himself was completely unaware of this.
He remembered that afternoon when they broke up, under pressure from the seven wolves.
Also because Xu Mo felt if he continued playing around, the female lead would change, making the future plot impossible to follow.
So one weekend afternoon, he actively proposed an amicable breakup.
And very pretentiously said to Han Zhiqi,
"You'll meet someone more interesting than me, and forget about me as the sunset fades away."
That was the end of it.
He remembered at that time, Han Zhiqi and the entire Han family wanted to kill him.
But fortunately, his father was influential enough.
Because the Xu family's power and status surpassed the Han family's.
Xu Mo thus luckily escaped their knives.
This proves that one's own strength matters most.
Back to reality.
Shen Manni curiously followed Xu Mo's line of sight.
She saw an incredibly beautiful girl in red looking this way.
And someone else she didn't want to see!
"Xu Mo, let's drink!"
Shen Manni suddenly tugged at Xu Mo's clothes.
Xu Mo came back to his senses, pondered the stupid woman's intentions, his smile growing brighter, "Sure!"
[666 stupid woman, you're something else]
[Even at this moment, you don't forget to use me to motivate the protagonist, unbelievable]
Shen Manni's eyelids twitched violently.
Right now she wanted to strangle Xu Mo.
And loudly question him: You paranoid bastard!
Am I really that malicious in your eyes?
Shen Manni glumly downed the champagne in her glass and held out the empty glass to Xu Mo.
Xu Mo glanced towards Lin Fan's direction.
He found Lin Fan glaring at him angrily.
Not only that, but Han Zhiqi standing beside Lin Fan also had a dangerous look in her eyes!
Xu Mo became even more excited.
The male and female protagonists joining forces, unbeatable.
What good could come to him as the antagonist?
This was the real plot.
"Come come, don't rush, after one glass there's three more..."
Xu Mo smiled while refilling Shen Manni's glass.
Shen Manni's frown deepened!
That bastard Xu Mo was cursing her again in his mind.
But besides that, she also heard some explosive news.
It seemed Han Zhiqi was also a female protagonist?
She just didn't know if the other could hear Xu Mo's thoughts!
Never mind, never mind.
To hell with the male and female protagonists!
Right now she just wanted to drink!
Xu Mo noticed this stupid woman drinking faster and faster.
Soon, she had finished three bottles of champagne.
Shen Manni's face was flushed, her beautiful cheeks rosy red, probably from the champagne taking effect.
Of course,
Shen Manni wasn't easily drunk.
You see, people of their status often had to attend company celebrations and business negotiations where drinking was unavoidable!
They had to build alcohol tolerance from a young age.
Not just the Shen family, but all four major families were the same.
As well as other second-tier families.
If you can't handle alcohol but still go out partying, you deserve to get taken advantage of.
So Shen Manni had practiced drinking since she was young.
Xu Mo was delighted inside and started drinking with Shen Manni.
But their back and forth
Wasn't having the desired effect!
Lin Fan and Han Zhiqi just stared angrily, with no actual action!
This left Xu Mo feeling dejected - come on, do something!
Don't just stare---
"Young Master Xu, Young Master Xu, I was having too much fun over there and forgot to come greet you," said a well-groomed rich second generation.
What's the standard setup for antagonists in these kinds of novels?
It's having fair-weather friends who give bad advice and can quickly ruin the antagonist's family... teammates who drag you down!
Xu Mo was no exception, seeing who had arrived.
He happily stood up, "Xiaoyi, come come, sit down quickly."
Xu Mo arranged for Tao Xiaoyi to sit in a position quite visible to Lin Fan and the others.
They could see all his little actions.
Tao Xiaoyi had severe dark circles under his eyes, rumored to do nothing but cause trouble.
It was precisely because of this that Xu Mo valued this teammate assigned to him in the novel even more.
"Oh? Young Master Xu, is that Shen Manni?"
After sitting down, Tao Xiaoyi's eyes grew wide.
Xu Mo flicked his forehead and scolded, "Call her Sister-in-law!"
Tao Xiaoyi smiled somewhat lecherously, "Hello, Sister-in-law."
This was the result of years of excessive indulgence.
He couldn't change it.
Shen Manni nodded and continued drinking.
She understood perfectly well what Xu Mo was thinking and what he was planning.
Xu Mo pulled Tao Xiaoyi close, made a rubbing hands gesture, and whispered in his ear,
"Do you have any candy or chocolate with you, anything with packaging will do."
That's right, Xu Mo wanted to make it look like he was deliberately spiking drinks!
To draw Lin Fan over directly.
Tao Xiaoyi raised his eyebrows, candy, chocolate???
His eyes suddenly lit up, and he quickly reached into his pocket.
Then he handed a small square object to Xu Mo.
Xu Mo's eyes brightened, without thinking much, he pretended to sneakily put the thing in his pocket, "Thanks brother!"
Tao Xiaoyi said cheerfully, "You're too kind, Young Master Xu."
This whole scene was witnessed by Lin Fan and the others!