Phoenix A has Gone Viral Across the Entire Internet! - Chapter 18

When Jiang Zhiwan’s face turned cold, her features remained the same as usual, yet she exuded an icy aura that made people instinctively shrink back. Li Yuling was completely cowed by her, her arrogance instantly extinguished and her words failing her.

Standing nearby, Nie Lan frowned, mentally cursing her daughter for being so useless. Why be afraid of Jiang Zhiwan? She was nothing more than a sacrifice the family had easily cast out.

Jiang Zhiwan waited for a moment. Seeing that her cheap younger sister had nothing left to say, her patience finally ran out. She had no desire to waste another second in this villa.

Nie Lan intended to step in and smooth things over for her daughter, but before she could, Jiang Zhiwan coldly ordered Li Yuling to move aside. Without looking back, she walked out of the villa.

Left with a chest full of suppressed frustration, Nie Lan turned to Li Yuling with a dark expression. “Yuling, I have something to discuss with you. Follow me upstairs!”

Li Yuling did not need to guess; she knew a scolding was inevitable. As she followed Nie Lan, she felt dissatisfied with her own poor performance. How had she been so easily intimidated by a few words and a cold glare from Jiang Zhiwan?

However, the pressure Jiang Zhiwan had radiated in that moment was intense, vastly different from her usual demeanor. Li Yuling realized with a start that even her father in a towering rage did not exert as much pressure as Jiang Zhiwan just had.

Once upstairs, Li Yuling braced herself for a lecture, but Nie Lan did not seem to care about her verbal defeat. Having dealt with Jiang Zhiwan more often than her daughter had, Nie Lan knew the woman was not easy to handle. What truly concerned Nie Lan was something else entirely.

“Jiang Zhiwan mentioned your pheromones just now.” Even though they were several meters apart, Nie Lan could smell the scent of juniper wafting through the air. She frowned. “What is going on? Did you use too much of the synthetic pheromone this time?”

Li Yuling could not smell pheromones herself, but hearing her mother’s words, she realized there was a problem. Fearing a mistake, she quickly reached up and pressed a spot on the back of her neck. A tiny, skin-toned imitation gland was soon removed.

After a careful inspection, Li Yuling let out a sigh of relief and explained, “It is nothing serious. A small component just came loose.”

The tension in Nie Lan’s mind finally relaxed. She sat down, recalling Jiang Zhiwan’s expression while she was speaking, and confirmed there were no signs that the woman had discovered the truth. Only then did she stand up.

“That device needs to be checked more frequently from now on. If a problem arises, we must find and fix it early.”

Li Yuling nodded, quickly tightening the loose part before reapplying the device. She understood the stakes as well as Nie Lan did and dared not be careless. Nie Lan had managed to marry into the Li family based on a birth certificate proving Li Yuling was an Alpha and biologically related to Li Wancai. If he ever discovered that Li Yuling was a fake Alpha and her true second gender was a Beta, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Jiang Zhiwan’s words today had indirectly served as a warning: the fact that Yuling could not smell pheromones was a liability. While most people wore scent-blocking patches before going out, accidents could always happen.

Nie Lan pondered for a moment until her eyes caught Li Yuling’s wrist, giving her an idea. “Tomorrow, I will have someone buy a pheromone testing bracelet for you. You must wear it every day.”

The testing bracelet could automatically detect the concentration of nearby Alpha and Omega pheromones. If the levels exceeded a warning threshold, it would heat up to alert the wearer. This way, she would know what was happening and could react appropriately.

Li Yuling had no objections. It was just a small bracelet; with a bit of effort in styling, it would not be too conspicuous.

By the time Butler Lu arrived to fetch Nie Lan for Li Wancai, the mother and daughter had finished their conversation. Before leaving, Nie Lan did not forget to give her daughter a reassuring promise. “Do not worry. Within half a month, I will make sure you enter Yuemo Entertainment.”

She figured that if Jiang Zhiwan could get into such an entertainment company, her daughter certainly could too.

When she spoke to Li Wancai, she naturally exaggerated. “Wancai, I already boasted to Yuling. Do you want me to lose face in front of my own daughter?”

“Find a way to push Jiang Zhiwan again. No matter how strained the actual relationship is, you are still father and daughter. On the surface, things should at least look acceptable.”

As Li Wancai hesitated, Nie Lan stared into his eyes, making it impossible for him to refuse. Along with her gaze, the sweet scent of osmanthus slowly drifted toward the man’s arm, acting as a silent urge. Nie Lan was an expert at reading people; she could tell from the relaxation of his brow that even after all these years, he still fell for her tactics.

Li Wancai had maintained a fitness routine over the years, so he did not show the typical middle-aged weight gain. Setting aside his history of philandering, he had been quite handsome in his youth, with deep-set eyes and a high nose bridge that attracted many Omegas. Those who knew him then would see that Yuling shared sixty percent of her father’s youthful looks. This was something Nie Lan was very satisfied with.

People naturally favor children who resemble them, and Li Wancai was no exception. Because Yuling looked like him, he spoiled her and gave her the best of everything. Jiang Zhiwan, while beautiful, took entirely after that woman from the Jiang family. This destined her to never receive Li Wancai’s love.

Thinking this, Nie Lan felt a surge of inexplicable pleasure. In the end, Jiang Yunjin had failed to win Li Wancai’s heart away from her, and now her daughter was similarly losing out to Nie Lan’s own daughter.

As Nie Lan expected, Li Wancai finally promised to find a way to get their daughter into Yuemo Entertainment. However, despite his vast network and previous attempts to buy her a way into an audition, he had not yet succeeded. While the Li Group had capital, it could not compare to the Shen Group, and the two had no existing cooperation, making it difficult to establish a connection.

Li Wancai knew that if he wanted to achieve his goal, he would have to follow Nie Lan’s advice and start with Jiang Zhiwan. But her comment about “wishful thinking” at the dinner table clearly showed her attitude.

Convincing Jiang Zhiwan to help would not be easy. Li Wancai frowned and thought deeply for a while. When he looked up again, he finally remembered that he did have something he could use as leverage in an exchange with her.

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