Chapter 5: Xu Ruyan

After checking the woman's fortune, he shifted his attention, and the stirring in his groin gradually calmed down.

When he closed the fortune-reading ability, a wave of dizziness hit him, but it was a little better than yesterday when he used it for the first time. He wasn't as exhausted.

"Was it because I was in better shape today, or for some other reason?" Yang Tao wondered. But without anything to compare it to, he couldn't really be sure.

Soon the bus reached its destination. Yang Tao, like a fish trying to get back to shore, struggled his way out.

"Damn taking the bus like this every day. I don't even know how the original Yang Tao put up with it." Yang Tao shook his head. After being squeezed just now, he felt like he was about to be flattened.

The office building where the company was located was only about a hundred meters from the bus stop. Since Yang Tao had gotten up early today, he wasn't in a hurry. He walked over at an easy pace, observing this unfamiliar yet familiar social world. Around him, people rushing to work were all moving briskly, faces tense with anxiety.

It was summer now, and many young women were dressed lightly. Just then Yang Tao had seen a busty woman who was late. As soon as she got off the bus, she ran, and the two huge breasts on her chest bounced violently with gravity, stunning quite a few men who were still groggy from getting up early.

Passing a pancake stall, Yang Tao bought a scallion pancake for breakfast and ate as he walked.

Work started at nine. When he reached the bottom of the office building, it was only 8:28. After finishing the pancake, he threw the paper bag into a nearby trash can and stood with a crowd waiting for the elevator.

"Yang Tao, why didn't you come to work yesterday?" Just as Yang Tao was staring at the slowly changing numbers on the elevator and thinking, a clear, gentle female voice sounded beside him.

Yang Tao turned and saw a woman around thirty standing next to him. She wore a gray-white blouse with a pattern over the chest, and the huge breasts beneath it made the fabric stand out in a very three-dimensional way, as if the buttons were about to burst open.

On her lower half she wore a pair of casual trousers and stood upright.

Her features were delicate, her skin fair, and a slightly wavy mass of long hair hung neatly over her shoulders. The whole of her carried the aura of a mature, alluring woman.

"Vice President Xu, good morning." Yang Tao nodded in greeting. "I wasn't feeling well yesterday, so I didn't come to work."

Yang Tao's company had dozens of employees and several departments. Yang Tao was in the planning department, which fell under Manager Hu's supervision.

Xu Ruyan, on the other hand, was the company's vice president, one level above Manager Hu.

In Yang Tao's memory, Xu Ruyan was a very reasonable and rather forceful woman, but toward him she was extremely gentle and not nearly as strict or demanding.

She could be counted among the people who treated him best in the company. Even though she usually stayed in her office, whenever they met she would always say hello or ask after him. She didn't do that for the other employees.

Yang Tao couldn't figure it out no matter how he thought about it. Putting aside whether he was handsome or not, a woman as seductive as Xu Ruyan must have had countless handsome men chasing after her.

Right, Xu Ruyan was divorced too. That was something Manager Hu had let slip by accident one time when he drank too much at a company dinner.

"What's wrong? Nothing serious, right?" Xu Ruyan asked with a hint of concern.

Yang Tao turned his head and looked carefully at Xu Ruyan's face. To be honest, the original Yang Tao had a timid, weak personality and had never looked Xu Ruyan in the eye. He only ever stole glances at her.

Now that they were face to face, Yang Tao realized Xu Ruyan really was beautiful. Add in the advantage of age, and her impact on a young guy like him was enormous.

"Nothing serious. Thank you for your concern, Vice President Xu." Yang Tao withdrew his gaze and lowered his head a little. He didn't dare look too much. Before this, Yang Tao had only ever looked at her in secret; this direct glance already counted as extremely abnormal.

"That's good." Xu Ruyan nodded and said nothing more.

Then the elevator opened. It was the rush hour for going to work, and Yang Tao and Xu Ruyan were inevitably packed together. Yang Tao ended up behind and to the right of Xu Ruyan, and since there was nothing else to do, he figured he might as well check her fortune.

He had only observed the ability twice so far, and both times the fortunes had been fairly ordinary. He still hadn't seen the fortunes of anyone with real ability.

His mind stirred, and Xu Ruyan's fortune immediately appeared before Yang Tao.

Wealth luck: high.

That meant Xu Ruyan could earn at least a hundred million in her lifetime. She was only the vice president of a small or medium-sized company, so could she really make that much money? Yang Tao was puzzled.

Fortune: above average.

In the eyes of the world, an above-average fortune was already very good, surpassing almost ninety-five percent of the population. Life would go smoothly, with hardly any setbacks.

Longevity: above average.

That meant Xu Ruyan would probably only live into her seventies. It was about the same as her fortune.

Official luck: none.

Official luck like that basically didn't exist unless you were inside the system or had the intention to enter it, so that was normal enough.

Romance luck: low to medium.

That surprised Yang Tao. Such a beautiful woman had only ever had fewer than five people she had been involved with in her life. And the five here didn't even mean she would necessarily reach five; as long as it was more than one, it counted as low to medium fortune. One of them was her ex-husband.

Then Yang Tao focused his mind on the various aspects of Xu Ruyan's fortune, and a more detailed result appeared. Over the next three months, the other fortunes wouldn't change much, but there would be a huge loss in wealth luck. At a little after two this afternoon, she would lose more than twenty million.

More than twenty million!

Yang Tao was shocked to the core. In both of his lives combined, he had never seen that much money. Considering that Xu Ruyan could only earn at most about a hundred million in her whole life and that she was only around thirty now, twenty million was probably an enormous sum even for her.

If it wasn't recovered, the loss in wealth luck might even affect her fortune.

After withdrawing the ability, another wave of dizziness hit him. Yang Tao felt a little tired, but with his young body and vigorous energy, he could still bear it.

Yang Tao looked at Xu Ruyan's back with a conflicted expression, wondering whether he should tell her.

Overall, Xu Ruyan's fortune could be considered top-tier among everyone he had seen. Someone with that kind of fortune was bound to have a huge background. If he could help Xu Ruyan solve this problem, he would definitely win her favor.

If he won her favor, then the first task the system had given him would be taken care of. And with such a beautiful woman, it would be a lie to say Yang Tao had no thoughts about her. Maybe her goodwill could even deepen, and in the end he might get the chance to kiss her and pull her into his arms.

But if he told her, how should he say it? How should he do it? Although Xu Ruyan was very gentle with him right now, if he went up to her all of a sudden and said she was about to lose a fortune, she might think he was some street-corner fraud.

But if he didn't tell her, what was the use of this ability? He had to take the first step sooner or later.

Thoughts flashing rapidly, weighing gains and losses, Yang Tao made up his mind.

They reached the floor, and Yang Tao and Xu Ruyan got out of the elevator.

"Yang Tao, why does your face suddenly look so pale? Are you still feeling unwell?" After stepping out, Xu Ruyan looked at him and asked with concern.

Yang Tao gave a weak smile. "I'm fine, Vice President Xu. I probably just didn't sleep well yesterday."

Xu Ruyan frowned and didn't ask further. She just told him that if he wasn't feeling well, he should take leave and go see a doctor.

Because he had come early, there were still only a few people at the company. Xu Ruyan didn't continue talking with Yang Tao and went straight to her office.

Yang Tao also returned to his workstation. Sitting there, he was a little dazed and didn't know what to do. Even though he had some of the original Yang Tao's memories and knew what he was supposed to do every day, Yang Tao himself had never worked a job before. So this office environment made him curious, but also left him somewhat unable to settle in.

After spacing out for a while, and having just checked two people's fortunes in succession, he was mentally exhausted and his face looked poor. At a time like this, he could absolutely have leaned over and rested for a bit. But Yang Tao had his own plans; he couldn't rest yet. Instead, he needed to make himself look even weaker.

Soon it was almost time for work, and employees began arriving one after another. The office gradually grew lively.

A man sat down at the workstation next to him. "Yang Tao, where did you go yesterday? You didn't even ask for leave. During the meeting, that dog Hu flew into a rage and cursed everyone out!"

Manager Hu liked to use his authority and act like a bully because the boss was his relative, so he had always carried himself arrogantly in the company, bullying honest people. He had no real ability, but his temper was especially bad.

Yang Tao turned around. The man's name was Zhang Zhang. He talked a lot, could chat with anyone, and loved gossip. He had always felt that he and Yang Tao had the best relationship.

"I went to the hospital yesterday," Yang Tao said flatly. He had no good impression of this guy; he loved chewing people out behind their backs.

"Well, you didn't even ask for leave. Even if you didn't ask for leave, if you'd told me earlier yesterday, I could've found an excuse for you."

Zhang Zhang shook his head. "You're going to have a rough time today. Dog Hu is definitely going to make trouble for you. And honestly, what's wrong with you? You didn't even tell me in advance."

Yang Tao sneered inwardly. You're so concerned about me? Then why didn't I see you message me privately yesterday to ask how I was? You're pretty active in the company group chat, though.

"If I had told you, you probably would've added your own spin to it too," Yang Tao said. He wasn't a good-tempered person and never indulged others, so he mocked him directly.

"You..." Zhang Zhang looked at Yang Tao in shock. In his memory, Yang Tao was an obedient, introverted, timid person. His only strengths were being steady, honest, and diligent. Right, and having a very beautiful girlfriend.

Since when did Yang Tao dare talk like this? Was this some aftereffect from being sick, causing problems with his mind?

"Did you take the wrong medicine, Yang Tao? I'm concerned about you. I'm thinking of you. How can you say that?" Zhang Zhang immediately changed his expression and shouted angrily.

"Thanks."

Yang Tao gave a mocking laugh. "I can't afford your concern. Who doesn't know that once you finish 'caring' on this side, you go and add fuel to the fire on the other and report people. Who in this company hasn't been stabbed in the back by you?"

The coworkers in the company came from all over the place. At work they might only say a word or two to each other. Once they quit, who would still know who? They were all just passersby in one another's lives.

If you got along, you talked more in your free time. If you didn't, there was no need to indulge them. It was only because Yang Tao had been introverted before that the others hadn't given Zhang Zhang such easy treatment.

Zhang Zhang's face darkened, but he didn't know how to refute it. Faced with Yang Tao's sudden attack, his eyes darted around, and he realized everyone else was waiting to watch the show.

His fingers trembling, he pointed at Yang Tao. "You! Just wait!"

Yang Tao snorted. That was all that kind of person was good for, all bark and no bite.

Not bothering with him, Yang Tao just sat at his workstation spacing out and not doing any work, while his mind was thinking about other things.

Time passed slowly. In the middle, Zhang Zhang left his workstation for more than ten minutes, and when he came back he gave Yang Tao, who was still daydreaming, a cold laugh.

People like that were the most vengeful. If you suppressed them the first time you met, they wouldn't dare make a fuss. But if you spoiled them for too long, then one day when you suddenly came down on them, they'd feel unbalanced and want to get revenge immediately.

Before long it was noon. The office staff either went out for lunch or ordered delivery.

After eating, Yang Tao figured Xu Ruyan should have finished her lunch too. He first went to the bathroom to look in the mirror and practice his expression, then mentally worked out how he should open the conversation before heading to Xu Ruyan's office.

Standing at the office door, Yang Tao knocked.

The others in the company looked over at him in surprise. What was an employee doing going to the vice president's office?

"Come in!" Xu Ruyan's voice came from inside the office.

Yang Tao took a deep breath. This concerned his first real test, and it was already 12:30. Xu Ruyan's loss would be confirmed around two o'clock. He still had three hours, so there was still a chance to turn it around.

After composing his expression, Yang Tao walked in and casually pulled the door shut behind him.