novelraw Chapter 513: Oh, Anne!
Chapter 513: Oh, Anne!
Modu.
The train slowly pulled into Hongqiao Railway Station, and the platform lights streamed through the windows of the business class carriage.
Tang Song slung on his backpack, grabbed his suitcase, and exited the carriage under the guidance of the train attendant.
Following the signs in the station, he made his way through the bustling exit passage and arrived at the taxi waiting area.
After waiting briefly in line, a taxi came to a steady stop in front of him.
Once in the car, he messaged Xie Shuyu, Liu Qingning, Wen Ruan, and others to report his safe arrival.
Tang Song put his phone away and rolled the window down slightly, letting the evening breeze brush against his face.
This time of year in Modu, the temperature stays between 20–26℃ throughout the day, and the humidity is low, making it feel very comfortable.
He watched as the taxi entered the urban area.
Outside the window, the city lights were brilliant and dazzling, the flashing neon reflecting the prosperity and energy of this financial hub.As if something had just crossed his mind, Tang Song pulled out his phone and dialed Mo Xiangwan.
“Beep… beep…” After two rings, the call connected.
A low, slightly magnetic voice came through the speaker: “Good evening, President Tang.”
“Good evening, Xiangwan.” Tang Song chuckled, “Guess where I am?”
Mo Xiangwan paused for a moment, then answered in a confident tone, “Modu! Today’s already the 2nd, you should have arrived as planned, right?”
“Correct. Your reward is a kiss.” Tang Song said half-jokingly, even leaning toward the mic and making a kissing sound.
On the other end, Mo Xiangwan was clearly stunned. After a short silence, she stammered, “That… seems kind of inappropriate…”
“Alright, just teasing. Back to business. The day after tomorrow, aside from visiting the set, I also want to join the shoot as a special guest actor and do a scene with Su Yu.”
“Really?” Mo Xiangwan’s voice suddenly shot up, even a bit of a squeal.
Tang Song replied seriously, “Of course. But don’t tell her just yet—just help me arrange it. Consider it a surprise.” Content originally comes from novᴇlfire.net
“Got it! Leave it to me!” Mo Xiangwan sounded excited. “I’ll make sure it’s done right.”
They chatted a bit more on the phone about some itinerary details.
Right before hanging up, Mo Xiangwan suddenly lowered her voice and said solemnly, “Thank you, President Tang.”
9:50 PM.
The taxi slowly pulled into the JW Marriott Hotel at Tomorrow Square.
After completing the check-in process in the lobby, Tang Song returned to his long-term executive suite on the 59th floor.
In the walk-in closet, the familiar safe was still there.
Tang Song gripped the handle, thumb tapping the fingerprint reader.
Click—click— A few crisp, clean clicks later, the safe opened in response.
Inside were stacks of neatly arranged envelopes.
They were invitations to Su Yu’s past concerts, movie premieres, birthday parties, and celebration events.
In the game, he had only seen these as minor notification pop-ups, never paying them much attention.
Only when the system occasionally reminded him to maintain favorability and send gifts would he bother to appease her.
That [female idol] had always been obedient—just a few sweet words and her favorability would instantly max out.
But in reality, he now realized how cruel that behavior had been.
Now, after all this time, he could finally show up to one of these invitations in person.
After looking through them carefully for a while, Tang Song stood up and went to the minibar, casually grabbing a beer.
He sat back in the single armchair by the window, facing the dazzling nightscape of the Pudong skyline.
Drinking, lost in thought.
At present, he’d only recovered memories from his 2016 dream, while his encounter with Su Yu took place in 2017.
His memories of Su Yu were still incomplete—he was far from truly understanding her.
Up till now, he still mostly thought of her as the perfect [female idol] he personally nurtured in the game.
He hoped that through this interaction with Su Yu, he could trigger [Feather of Memory] and recover the memories they shared.
Ding-dong—
The WeChat notification snapped him out of his thoughts.
Tang Song pulled out his phone and looked—it made the corners of his mouth curl into a smile.
[Anne: “Hey, Song!… (Hey, Song! Hope I’m not disturbing your evening plans. It’s probably about 10 PM in Huaxia now, right? It’s only 10 AM here in New York. I’m about to board, and should land in Modu at Hongqiao Airport by 1:30 PM tomorrow.)”
Tang Song quickly replied: “Got it, Anne. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.”
[Anne: “Wait… are you saying you’re already in Modu?! You didn’t mention that earlier!”
Tang Song chuckled at the string of exclamation marks and replied: “Just arrived tonight. You said you’d get to Modu on the 3rd, so I planned around that.”
[Anne: “OMG, this is seriously the best surprise ever, Song! So… you’ll be picking me up at the airport, right? Say yes!”
Tang Song: “Of course, if that’s what you’d like.”
[Anne: “Amazing! See you tomorrow, darling!”
Followed by a lipstick kiss and hug emoji.
Tang Song smiled and shook his head, amused by the American girl’s warmth and straightforwardness.
That blonde-haired, blue-eyed image floated into his mind.
Truthfully, aside from Su Yu, he was also genuinely looking forward to his first real-world encounter with this [consultant].
This girl from Brooklyn, raised in Manhattan, Harvard Law School graduate—
Smart, decisive, confident, with a touch of American humor—she always left a good impression.
Of course, his feelings for her were different from those he had for his girlfriend, Su Yu.
So far, their chats had been nothing but a pure friendship, with no hidden stories.
It felt more like finally meeting an online friend he really vibed with—eager, curious, and a little nervous.
Anne was also an SSR-tier character he had personally developed, and he’d even seen her in his 2016 memories.
In a way, these game characters each represented an unfinished story.
And he was now continuing to write them.
Just then, his phone buzzed again—another WeChat message.
[Sun Jiayue: “Sorry, Tang Song, things have been hectic lately. I forgot to ask—did you make it to Modu yet?”
Tang Song took a photo of the Lujiazui night view from the window and sent it over.
Captioned: “What a coincidence, just arrived tonight.”
[Sun Jiayue: “Was this taken just now?”
Tang Song: nod.gif (emoji)
[Sun Jiayue: “Well, even more coincidental—right now, I’m working overtime in one of the buildings in your photo.”
[Sun Jiayue: photo.jpg]
Tang Song opened it—Sun Jiayue had taken a picture in an office, facing a floor-to-ceiling window.
Her reflection was visible, along with the Oriental Pearl Tower and the Bund skyline.
Tang Song couldn’t help but smile and shake his head, replying: “What a coincidence. Still working this late?”
After all, she was a former high school classmate, and in the 2016 memories he’d just regained, Sun Jiayue had shown up quite a bit. He had a strong impression of her.
So, he casually chatted with her a little more.
16th Floor, Times Financial Center, Hengyue Investment Management Co., Ltd.
Sun Jiayue finished her black coffee, set down the cup, and typed out a reply: “Let’s stop here for now. It’s already late, and you just got to Modu. Get some rest. I’ll try to get off work early tomorrow—come over to my place in the evening. We’ll have dinner together. Let me play host for once as your old classmate.”
Bzz—
[Tang Song: “Alright, see you tomorrow night. I happen to have plans during the day.”]
She sent a waving emoji and turned her attention back to the PPT.
She checked the content carefully once more, made sure everything was correct, then saved and emailed it to her boss.
She closed the laptop, tidied up her workspace, said goodbye to the colleagues still working overtime, and clocked out with her laptop bag in hand.
Taking the elevator down, she hailed a car on Didi.
While waiting, she took a deep breath and looked up at the brightly lit skyscrapers.
This was Modu’s financial center—one of the busiest business districts in Huaxia.
Hengyue Investment, where she worked, rented over 700 square meters of independent office space here. The monthly rent was over 200,000 yuan, and the office was lavishly decorated.
But in truth, the company was just a small to mid-sized private equity fund managing barely over 1.3 billion yuan.
This was the ceiling she could currently reach.
After all, in this industry, getting into a big firm required either outstanding academic credentials or a wealthy and well-connected background.
For someone from humble beginnings, making a name for herself was incredibly difficult.
She had joined Hengyue Investment’s fundraising department directly during her university internship, starting as an assistant and only getting promoted to specialist last year.
Her salary and performance bonuses had increased significantly, but the pressure that came with them was suffocating.
She had strict fundraising targets, but Hengyue lacked brand power, and she herself had no resources or network. It was tough to break into the core social circles.
She could only approach company execs or individual LPs through industry events, alumni mixers, clubs, and similar venues.
Over the past year, her initial ambition had nearly been ground down. Her work was exceptionally difficult.
Forget making it to fundraising manager—sometimes she struggled just to meet basic targets, worrying most of the time.
That was also one of the reasons she was so enthusiastic toward Liu Qingning.
An investment of over 4 million yuan wasn’t a small number for her—it would knock out a huge chunk of her fundraising goal.
Of course, there were genuine feelings involved too.
They had been close friends and dormmates for three years in high school.
Beep beep— A sharp honk startled her.
Sun Jiayue quickly snapped back to reality, checked the license plate, and opened the door to get in.
Ten minutes later.
Sun Jiayue returned home, changed into slippers, and stepped into the living room.
“You’re finally back, busy bee.” Her roommate Zhang Nuo came out upon hearing the door, smiling. “Still working overtime this late during the National Day holiday? Your company’s something else.”
“There’s a ton of stuff to catch up on after the break. No choice.” Sun Jiayue set down her laptop bag and added, “Oh right—tomorrow night, a classmate is coming over. Can you pick up some seafood in the afternoon and help me prep in advance?”
“Oh? Which classmate is worth all this effort?” Zhang Nuo asked curiously, leaning closer.
“A high school classmate. Haven’t seen him in years. He’s visiting Modu—can’t let him come without at least hosting him properly.”
Zhang Nuo’s eyes widened instantly. “Oh? Guy or girl?”
“Uh... guy.”
“Wahh! Your high school sweetheart? Old crush? Jiayue, you’re done for—I’m telling Xu Pengyuan about this!” Zhang Nuo teased dramatically.
Sun Jiayue rolled her eyes and gave her a light kick. “Don’t make stuff up. He’s just a regular classmate. We weren’t even that close. Haven’t spoken since graduation.”
“Then why suddenly invite him over? You’re taking it pretty seriously.”
Sun Jiayue paused for a moment, then said calmly, “He’s very close to Liu Qingning. You could say they’re childhood friends.”
“Wait, you mean that girl from your high school—the one who graduated from Imperial Capital University, cashed out over three million after three years of starting her own business, and now works at Qingning Technology?”
“Yeah, that’s her.”
“Well that explains it,” Zhang Nuo sighed. “So the guy must be impressive, huh? If he could win over someone like her, that’s no joke.”
Hearing that, Sun Jiayue laughed with a snort. “That’s where you’re wrong. In my opinion, he’s really not that impressive—definitely not good enough for Liu Qingning.
His family’s not well off. Graduated from an average college. He used to have a decent job but quit. Now he’s working as a programmer in Yancheng.”
“I see... so is he at least handsome?”
“Emm...” Sun Jiayue thought for a moment. “If you asked about the past, yeah—he used to be quite the looker. But he put on weight and, honestly, looks kind of rough now.”
Back in high school, Tang Song had been that red-lipped, white-toothed, tall and lean pretty boy. He and Liu Qingning had looked great together.
Unfortunately, he’d “given up on himself.”
He had no real ambition in his career—quit his job at a top internet company and went to Yancheng to live a slow life.
Logically speaking, a guy like him had no future with someone like Liu Qingning. They were completely incompatible.
Yet from what Sun Jiayue had seen so far, Liu Qingning still stuck by him. She was even considering using her equity cash-out to buy a house in Yancheng.
This left Sun Jiayue baffled—and even more determined to meet Tang Song in person.
She hoped to use this meeting to persuade him to talk to Liu Qingning. She also hoped Tang Song himself would wake up a little.
“Alright, fine.” Zhang Nuo sighed in disappointment. Then she asked, “By the way, have you figured out who to bring for the event?”
Sun Jiayue replied helplessly, “Pengyuan is still helping me look, but no luck so far. If we can’t find anyone, I might just have to drop it.”
This weekend, Modu was hosting a sizable investment circle event: Investor Night: Leading the Future.
Its focus and direction happened to align perfectly with the fund their company was currently raising.
Not only were top firms like Sequoia Capital, IDG, and Jingwu Capital attending, the organizers had also invited many active individual LPs and family office reps.
Those were Sun Jiayue’s primary targets—“individual LPs / family office representatives.”
In fact, not just her—many fundraisers across the Yangtze River Delta who focused on tech were eyeing this event.
That also meant the competition would be fiercer than ever.
Unfortunately, Hengyue Investment wasn’t exactly top-tier in any regard.
So Sun Jiayue had to find an edge elsewhere: by recruiting a “stand-in,” someone to pose as an attending LP.
This “tool person” would help her start conversations at the banquet, and ideally agree to a mock investment deal—something she could use to demonstrate her “capability” to others.
Of course, the bar for such a “tool person” was high. That’s why she was so stressed.
They had to be well-presented and articulate—preferably an actual investor.
They also needed to understand financial and investment knowledge, but not be someone well-known in the Yangtze Delta investment circle—too easy to get exposed.
This kind of grey tactic was common in the fundraising world. At its core, it was about using a low-cost “lever” to sway decisions from high-net-worth clients (LPs).
Sun Jiayue hadn’t liked using tricks like this in the past. But now, with her KPIs looming, failing to hit targets would slash her year-end bonus—and possibly get her laid off.
She had already asked friends and classmates to help find someone suitable, but hadn’t had any luck.
Actually, she thought there was one person who fit perfectly—
And she’d invited him several times.
That person was... Tang Song.
God knows how strange her expression was at that moment.
But she still graciously agreed to get in touch with Tang Song and ask his opinion.
Maybe in Liu Qingning’s eyes, this childhood friend of hers really was exceptional.
But in reality?
Compared to truly outstanding people, Tang Song was way, way behind.
Sun Jiayue smiled and shook her head, her gaze falling on her reflection in the full-length mirror.
A sharply tailored professional outfit, flawless makeup, and a firm, determined look in her eyes.
The woman she was now becoming was the very image of the financial elite she had admired since childhood—direct, efficient, confident, perceptive, action-oriented.
……
October 3rd, 2023, Tuesday, cloudy.
JW Marriott Hotel, Tomorrow Square.
After lunch, Tang Song returned to his room, tidied up briefly, changed into a sharp suit, shaved in front of the mirror, and neatened his hair.
He took the elevator downstairs.
By the time he arrived at Hongqiao Airport, there were still about forty minutes left before the scheduled landing.
The private jet terminal was noticeably quieter than the main terminals—few people, tight security.
After presenting his reservation information, Tang Song smoothly entered the VIP lounge to wait.
The environment here was elegant and private. The sofas were soft and comfortable, and the air was filled with the faint aroma of coffee.
Tang Song ordered a cup and casually opened an English magazine.
After a while—
A crisp, pleasant voice rang out: “Excuse me, sir, are you here to meet Ms. Anne?”
Tang Song looked up and saw a staff member in a red uniform walking over.
“Yes, I’m a friend of hers.”
“The Gulfstream G650 has completed its landing procedure and is parked at the designated area,” the staff member added with a smile. “Please wait just a moment longer. Ms. Anne is going through joint inspection—it’ll take about eight more minutes.”
“Thank you. Really appreciate it.”
“You’re very welcome.” The staff member gave a slight bow and turned to leave.
Tang Song closed the magazine, occasionally glancing at his wristwatch, the anticipation in his heart growing stronger by the minute.
As the time neared, he stood up, adjusted his collar, straightened his posture, making himself look taller and more composed.
Soon, a set of quick, purposeful footsteps echoed at the VIP lounge entrance.
The first to appear were two women dressed like assistants, wearing matching professional suits, with solemn, focused expressions.
Then came a tall, fiery figure striding briskly into the lounge.
She wore a sleek black women’s suit with a fitted beige undershirt beneath. The sharp shoulder lines made her silhouette look even more long and elegant.
Golden hair cascaded gently over her shoulders, and in her eyes was a barely concealed pride and confidence.
178 centimeters tall, 62 kilograms, a perfectly proportioned body with faint muscle tone.
Her flawless 90/60/90 measurements and striking shoulder-neck line perfectly embodied the “blonde hair, blue eyes, killer body” look.
The footsteps drew closer.
Anne stopped right in front of him, tilted her head slightly, and scanned him up and down with her light-colored eyes.
In her gaze was a mix of curiosity, surprise, excitement, and something hard to define...
Looking at that stunning, distinctive face up close, Tang Song gradually merged her in his mind with the [Consultant – Anne Kate] from the game and his memories.
A surreal feeling flickered through him, yet ultimately fused with reality.
A bright smile slowly formed on Tang Song’s face. He took a deep breath and said seriously in English, “Long time no see, Anne.”
His voice was deep and warm, filled with an earnest sincerity that had been missing for too long.
“It really has been a long time. Almost exactly a year,” Anne replied with a light tone that still held a trace of complaint. “Honestly, if Jin hadn’t stopped me, I would’ve flown to Yancheng for your birthday last year. You have no idea what kind of crazy gift I prepared for you. I even pissed off Jin and my father because of it.”
Tang Song blinked, curious. “What kind of gift?”
Anne leaned in—her high nose nearly touching his—and the warmth of her scent hit him directly.
Her lips curved into a smile as she whispered, “You once said in an email that you admired a few American adult film stars. So around your birthday last year, I bought an entertainment agency—
—and it just happened to represent those stars you liked.”
“Uh…” Tang Song’s eyelid twitched, his mouth slightly open.
He had browsed the Western zone before, and there were a few adult actresses he admired, but he definitely didn’t remember talking about that with Anne in the game.
That must’ve been the version of him in the dream running wild. That wasn't him—not the real him.
Seeing his reaction, Anne chuckled softly and said, “Song, you really have changed from before. I think that means I can be a bit more inappropriate now—and you probably won’t get mad, right?”
As she spoke, she opened her arms and gave him a giant hug, planting a loud kiss on his cheek.
At 28, she had a fully matured body and an exotic allure that pressed in with full force, making Tang Song’s heartbeat quicken.
Anne boldly squeezed his waist—then moved her hand downward.
“Whoa! I can feel your muscles now—so firm! You’re way sexier than you used to be. This is amazing.”
In his mind, Tang Song silently shouted: Oh, Anne! Don’t do that!