Chapter 1: Attention: This Girl Is Jane, This Boy Is John

Early spring, March. Girls' dormitory, S University, Haicheng.

Jiang Wan was curled up in bed early in the morning, phone in hand, racking her brain over a Facebook chat window.

Nice2MeetYou: [Babe, you can live 30,000 days. Is it really that hard to spend two of them with me?]

Lie: [No.]

The guy on the other end was, as always, a stone that wouldn't warm up no matter what.

Nice2MeetYou: [Fine. You don't have to be cold anymore. Starting today, I'm done chasing you.]

Lie: [Heh. You finally came to your senses.]

Nice2MeetYou: [Yep yep. One last thing — show me your abs (≧∇≦)]

Lie: [Scram.]

Nice2MeetYou: [Hmph (ｰ_ｰ)]

Nice2MeetYou: [You definitely don't have any!]

Lie: [Reverse psychology won't work.]

Nice2MeetYou: [Pfft (¬_¬)]

Jiang Wan slapped her phone face-down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling with a sigh.

This was so hard.

This guy was so hard to flirt with.

But it wasn't like she'd made zero progress.

After a month of relentless effort, her target had gone from not responding with so much as a punctuation mark to actually firing back a sentence or two.

Sure, nothing he said was nice — but it was still a qualitative leap.

As for why she called him "the target" — that story started a month ago.

...

That afternoon, Jiang Wan had the dorm room to herself, a rare occurrence.

She was munching on chips and watching a variety show when a knock came at the door.

"Come in."

The words had barely left her mouth when a figure pushed through the door.

Jiang Wan looked up — and her breath caught.

The person standing there was Gu Manning from the Business Administration department. Her family ran a nationwide chain

of luxury hotels. A bona fide wealthy heiress.

Jiang Wan blinked. "Can I help you find someone?"

Gu Manning looked right at her. "I'm looking for you."

"Me?"

"Yes. I have a job I'd like to commission you for."

Jiang Wan's eyes lit up instantly.

Gu Manning's family? Their kind of money?

Whatever job she was offering, the pay had to be serious.

Jiang Wan immediately set down her chips, switched off the show, and pulled out her roommate's empty chair for her to

sit.

"Have a seat, Your Ladyship~"

"Tell me — what's the job?"

Gu Manning sat down, looking slightly hesitant. "This job is... a bit unusual."

Jiang Wan waved it off, grinning wide enough to show off her dimples. "No worries, just tell me. As long as the money's

right, I can talk myself into anything~"

Gu Manning relaxed a little at her easygoing manner. "Alright, I'll be direct."

"I want to hire you to use my identity and pursue someone online."

Jiang Wan's smile froze. "...I'm sorry, what?"

Gu Manning: "You heard me correctly."

Jiang Wan: "...Okay. Pursue who?"

Gu Manning: "The heir to the Shang family — the richest family in Haicheng."

(≧∇≦)!

As a born-and-raised Haicheng local, Jiang Wan might not know every name in the city, but everyone knew the Shang

family.

Rumor had it their assets spanned the globe, with power both visible and hidden that was staggering to contemplate.

Pursue the heir of that family? Was this a joke?

She waved her hands frantically. "No, no, no — there's no way I can pull that off! Especially not over the internet!"

"Girl, you need to find someone better for this!"

Gu Manning, unruffled, dropped her trump card.

"Monthly salary: thirty thousand. Land him within three months, and there's a five-hundred-thousand completion bonus."

Jiang Wan's waving hands froze mid-air.

She slowly lowered them, blinked at Gu Manning, and flashed her most professional smile.

"On second thought, one should never give up easily."

"Darling, tell me everything about this job."

Jiang Wan had no experience pursuing anyone — and no dating experience, period.

But for the right price? She'd give it everything she had.

The money was simply too good, and she was simply too broke.

Over the next while, Jiang Wan got the full briefing from Gu Manning.

First up, her target — Shang Shixu.

Age 22. Half-Chinese, half-European. Appearance: unknown.

Currently overseas, enrolled at Harvard Business School.

By all accounts, his personality was cold and arrogant — an absolute king of cockiness.

But he had every right to be.

Heir to one of the most powerful families in the country, and brilliant in his own right.

A man at the very top of the pyramid — and she was supposed to win him over?

That was nightmare-level difficulty.

The only silver lining: Gu Manning wasn't asking her to make him fall in love with "her."

The goal was simply to pique his interest enough to get him to agree to date.

What she wanted was the title — "Shang Shixu's girlfriend."

Jiang Wan didn't understand. "Why?"

Gu Manning explained earnestly. "I won't mince words. This title is tied to my family's inheritance."

"His private Facebook account was something my father pulled strings for weeks to obtain."

"If I can't land him, my position as the sole heir to the Gu family is in jeopardy."

"My father plans to transfer part of the inheritance to an illegitimate son he keeps on the side."

"But if I'm Shang Shixu's girlfriend, I can use his name as leverage to force my father's hand and secure the

inheritance entirely."

Jiang Wan listened, and a question bubbled up. "If this is so important, why hand it to a stranger like me?"

Gu Manning bit her lip, a rare flash of embarrassment crossing her face. "I don't have another option."

"First, I'm terrible at chatting. I spent two weeks trying everything, and I couldn't get Shang Shixu to respond to me

even once."

"Second — I looked into you." She paused. "I'm sorry. I owe you an apology for that first."

"This matters too much to me, so I did a background check in advance."

Jiang Wan was understanding. "It's fine. Go on."

Gu Manning nodded. "Thank you."

"From what I found, your parents are in significant debt. They're running a small restaurant to pay it off."

"On top of school, you juggle multiple part-time jobs to help make ends meet."

"Your steadiest gig is as a gaming companion — and you have stellar reviews across every platform."

"You're outgoing, quick on your feet, and excellent at providing emotional support. You're the best person for this."

Jiang Wan blinked, not quite sure what to say.

Gu Manning took her hand, her voice serious. "Jiang Wan, I believe you can do this."

Faced with that weight of trust — and that magnificent paycheck — Jiang Wan took a deep breath and hyped herself up

internally.

She could do this!

But she couldn't over-promise.

"Alright. I'll try. But I can't guarantee results."

Gu Manning nodded rapidly. "I understand!"

No one knew better than she did how impossible Shang Shixu was to crack. The fact that Jiang Wan was willing to try was

already more than she'd hoped for.

And just like that, Jiang Wan took over Gu Manning's Facebook account.

Armed with someone else's identity, someone else's photos, she launched into a long-distance campaign to win over a man

she'd never met.

End of flashback.

Jiang Wan stared at the chat window — her last message still sitting there unanswered — and got another idea.

Nice2MeetYou: [Babe, since you don't wanna talk to me, how about you push your bros my way? I type fast — send a few

over and I won't have time to bother you anymore!]

Boston. A nightclub.

Lighting sultry. Music deafening.

A young man in a black shirt and casual pants lounged in a VIP booth, his posture lazy and effortless.

His ankles were crossed, long legs propped casually on the low table in front of him. His expression was cold and

arrogant, with a hint of reckless edge.

Long, elegant fingers turned a silver lighter over and over.

"Xu-ge, I'm gonna go dance. You coming?" Pei Heyun nudged him with his elbow.

"No."

"Then I'm going?"

"Get lost."

"Got it~"

Pei Heyun bolted.

The booth fell quiet.

Not far away, a blonde, blue-eyed beauty had been watching the man on the sofa, drink in hand, eyes locked.

She'd been watching for a while.

That face. That body. Absolute top tier.

Bagging him would be the catch of a lifetime.

She ignored the two bodyguards flanking the booth and strutted forward, chest out, brimming with confidence.

She was certain no man could resist her.

But her seductive glance was wasted on thin air.

The next second, she was being escorted out by the bodyguards.

"Crash!"

Her glass slipped and shattered on the floor, liquid splashing everywhere.

The man in the booth didn't so much as glance up.

Shang Shixu held his phone, the screen showing the latest Facebook notification.

[Babe, since you don't wanna talk to me, how about you push your bros my way? I type fast — send a few over and I won't

have time to bother you anymore!]

He stared at the message. The corner of his lips curved up just barely.

His thumb tapped out a reply.

Lie: [Trying to infiltrate my inner circle?]

She replied instantly.

Nice2MeetYou: [Babe, you're so smart!]

Nice2MeetYou: [How are you this amazing? I love you even more now (〃∇〃)]

Shang Shixu scoffed.

Love.

What a joke.

His gaze swept over the couples he didn't even know, grinding on each other in the middle of the dance floor — disgust

written all over his eyes.

Lie: [Do you even know what love is?]

The message went out. A few seconds of silence on the other end.

Then ——

Nice2MeetYou: [Yep!]

Nice2MeetYou: [My love for you is like a tractor going up a mountain — loud and passionate!]

Shang Shixu: "..."