The Yandere Queen's Manual for Training Her Wife - Chapter 50

That day, Summer Mingtang arrived at the office an unprecedented half an hour early.
Employees from every department, seeing her storming in with such urgency, couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

As expected of the annual mega-contract with Chuangxiang Technology— even President Xia, who never works overtime, is now throwing herself into the grind. For the sake of her own performance, she’s pushing hard. We’d better step up too!

“Did you hear? President Xia came in early today.”

“She’s already in her office.”

“Looks like President Xia is going all in.”

…

In no time at all, the news that “President Xia arrived early” spread like wildfire throughout Xingxing Advertising, injecting everyone with a heavy dose of motivation.

If even the heiress of a billion-yuan family fortune was fighting tooth and nail, what excuse did the rest of them have not to hustle?

Summer Mingtang herself had no idea that her attempt to hide from someone had created such a wave of positive energy across the entire company.

At this moment, she sat in front of her computer— one hand on her slightly sore waist, the other typing into the search bar:

“What causes someone to have excessive controlling behavior?”

The search engine produced dozens of pages of explanations— some blamed personality disorders, some post-traumatic stress, some anxiety or OCD. In short, it was all described as a psychological condition.

She carefully noted everything down, then entered a new query:

“How to treat excessive controlling behavior?”

This time the answers were even more plentiful. She had only just begun skimming when a knock sounded at the door.

“Come in.” She quickly closed the webpage, adopting the air of someone fully immersed in work.

Only after doing so did she realize— this is the office, who would dare peek at my computer without permission?

Sigh, I’ve been oppressed at home to the point of developing conditioned reflexes.

Her assistant entered carrying a thick stack of papers.

“President Xia, this is the latest progress report from Chuangxiang Technology. Please review it.”

Just yesterday, Mingtang and Ran Shu had finalized the general framework of cooperation, agreeing that their respective assistants would follow up.

Though she didn’t need to micromanage every detail, she still wanted to keep track out of respect for the project’s importance.

Her assistant— a classmate from University J, more professionally capable than her— had always been thorough and meticulous.

Mingtang quickly flipped through the dozen-odd pages of chat logs, evaluating them with the perspective of a client. She found little to criticize.

She nodded, returning the documents.
“Looks good. Continue at this pace.”

The assistant beamed at the approval but then suddenly remembered something.

“There’s one more thing. Chuangxiang hopes we can produce a demo within a week before delivering the final product. Our company hasn’t done this before.”

For big companies and big projects, producing a demo first was entirely reasonable. Xingxing Advertising simply lacked prior experience because they’d only handled smaller contracts.

Mingtang considered it for a moment.
“This request is reasonable. I’ll meet with President Ran myself to clarify exactly what they expect from the demo.”

They arranged to meet at a café midway between their offices.

A demo wasn’t anything complicated; even if she hadn’t made one before, she’d seen enough of them.

But more than the technicalities, Mingtang wanted to gauge the other side’s attitude— and fortunately, Ran Shu was easy to talk to.

Within one cup of coffee, they had agreed on the details of the demo.

With business settled, only personal matters remained.

Truthfully, Mingtang hadn’t come all this way purely out of professionalism.

Ran Shu saw through her right away.

“The demo is settled. Did you have something else on your mind, Tangtang?”

The form of address shifted from “President Xia” to “Tangtang,” signaling a change in footing.

Mingtang held back for as long as it took to finish her coffee, then finally broached the subject.

Rubbing her sore waist, she sighed.
“Ran Shu-jiejie, you and Qin Yan… are pretty close, right?”

“If you have something to say, you can just be direct.” Ran Shu’s smile was warm.

Directness was something Mingtang excelled at.
“You’re her older sister— does she listen to you?”

Ran Shu sipped her coffee, her eyes briefly landing on the hollow birdcage pendant resting on Mingtang’s chest.

If she really listened to me, you wouldn’t be wearing that thing right now.

Following her gaze, Mingtang looked down, misunderstood, and quickly unclasped the necklace.

“Ran Shu-jiejie, if you like this necklace, I’ll give it to you.”

“No, no, absolutely not!” Ran Shu nearly waved her hands off in refusal.
“A gentleman doesn’t take what another treasures— and besides, I don’t like it.”

Seeing Mingtang’s puzzled expression, she pushed the pendant back toward her.
“Wear it. This is A-Yan’s gift; don’t talk about giving it away so lightly.”

Just yesterday she’d argued with Qin Yan about this exact necklace. She had no intention of becoming cannon fodder in this moment.

Mingtang noticed her reaction and grew even more confused.
If you don’t like it, why stare at it so much?

Returning to the earlier question, Ran Shu chose her words carefully.

“We’ve known each other since we were young. She does respect me like an elder sister. But… she’s also very strong-willed.”

Subtext: our relationship is close, but she doesn’t take orders from me.

But in Mingtang’s ears, the meaning became distorted.

There’s an old saying— “An elder sister is like a mother.” Since Qin Yan’s mother wasn’t around, surely she must listen to Ran Shu.

Believing she’d found a savior, Mingtang’s eyes lit up.

“Then jiejie, you’ve come all the way from M Country— why not stay with us a few days? That way Qin Yan and I can show our hospitality.

“If you can’t bear to part with your friend, bring her along too. There’s plenty of space at home.”

Her thought: With an elder sister around, Qin Yan won’t dare act so high-handed.

Ran Shu smiled wryly.
Do I look like a walking lightbulb to you?

She was about to politely decline when Xie An arrived carrying pastries.

Spotting Mingtang, she froze.
“You’re still here?”

That shouldn’t be. She had calculated the timing perfectly.

Mingtang was equally startled.
“Boss Xie? Aren’t you supposed to be running your bar in Cloud Town?”

“Oh, business was bad, so it closed down.” Xie An’s tone was nonchalant, as if it were someone else’s bar that had failed.

Ran Shu took her hand with a smile.
“Looks like you two already know each other. This is the friend who took me in. She’s opened a bar here in Rong City.”

Mingtang admired Xie An’s ‘fall down here, get back up elsewhere’ resilience and greeted her enthusiastically.

“In that case, since we’re all friends, about what I just suggested—”

“No way.” Xie An cut in instantly.

She had only caught the last few lines, but she understood enough.

She had waited so long for their two-person world, and now this girl wanted to add not one but two lightbulbs? Absolutely not.

Noticing Mingtang’s wounded look, she worried Ran Shu might soften, so she quickly offered an alternative.

“If you’re tired of staring at A-Yan every day, why not go stay at your family home for a while?”

Mingtang had considered that early on, but now she looked pained.
“I’d love to, but my grandmother…”

“Let me guess— she told A-Yan to keep you under control and sides with her in everything?” Xie An didn’t hesitate.

“Yes.” Mingtang nodded pitifully.

“That’s only because you don’t seem reliable in her eyes.” Xie An rested her chin on one hand, delivering her judgment.

Mingtang shot up indignantly, hands on her hips.
“How am I unreliable? I’m smart, filial, ambitious— I have countless virtues!”

Xie An smirked.
“And how exactly do you demonstrate those virtues to your grandmother on a daily basis?”

“I…” Mingtang pressed her lips together.

Silence hung heavy between them.

Xie An pressed the advantage.
“I wasn’t there, but I’d wager you’ve often asked your grandmother for pocket money. Probably haven’t treated A-Yan very nicely in front of her either. And maybe… you even like tattling behind her back?”

Mingtang: …

Does she have surveillance planted on me?

Reading the truth in her expression, Xie An spoke gently.

“So if you want your grandmother to favor you, you need to show her you’re dependable— mature, independent, decisive. Not just a kid who whines and cries. Exactly how you’ll do it, though— you’ll have to figure that out yourself.”

Mingtang’s eyes sparkled with realization.

“I get it now! Boss Xie, I never expected someone with such old-fashioned views to be so clever when it counts!”

Xie An: … Old-fashioned, huh.

Mingtang opened her arms to give her a grateful hug, but Xie An sidestepped neatly.

“No need for that. Just go handle your own matters.”

“Okay!”

Not bothered by the rebuff, Mingtang cheerfully said goodbye, her mind made up.

Watching her skip away, Ran Shu’s smile faded into worry.
“Giving her that kind of advice… aren’t you afraid A-Yan will lose her mind?”

“If A-Yan keeps this up and ends up driving her wife away completely— that’s when she’ll really lose her mind.”

Xie An set down the pastries and pulled Ran Shu into her arms on the shared chair.
“Forget about those kids. You promised me— all your free time in Rong City is mine.”

Meanwhile, at the Xijing villa, Qin Yan sat on the swing, eyes fixed on the red dot on her phone screen.

It was nearly 6:30. The tracker showed Summer Mingtang still at the Xia family estate, and she’d been there for quite some time, with no sign of leaving.

A flash of cold light passed through Qin Yan’s gaze. She was about to storm over when someone arrived at the villa.

It was Lin Auntie, the longtime housekeeper of the Xia household, whom Qin Yan had seen often recently.

She greeted her politely.
“Miss Qin, the young lady will be staying at the Xia house for the next while. She asked me to come pack her personal things.”

By “the Xia house,” she meant the family’s main estate.

Qin Yan was stunned.
“Mingtang will be staying there? What did Grandmother say?”

“The Old Madam said it’s good for the young lady to be ambitious. Since work is busy lately, living at the Xia house is closer to the office and better for her health. Once this busy period is over, they’ll talk again.”

Qin Yan: ?

What the hell?

After sending Lin Auntie off, she picked up her phone and began segmenting and replaying the surveillance recordings.

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