Xuni

Xu Anyi entered the coffee shop the next morning and immediately saw Shen Lili sitting in the table in the corner near the window.

She waved at her when she saw Xu Anyi enter, and after sitting down, Shen Lili pushed the menu over to her, "What would you like to drink?"

"I'll have a warm Americano," she replied without looking at the menu.

Shen Lili raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Americano? I remember you hated anything bitter in the past."

Xu Anyi thought back to many years ago, when the old her would have certainly ordered a sweet milk tea or smoothie, and smiled, "I guess people's tastes do change with time."

Shen Lili smiled and did not reply.

After their coffee had arrived, they began talking about the idea from yesterday. Xu Anyi did not want to hide anything from her and took a quick sip of the coffee before she told her directly:

"I want to start the Xu Corporation again."

Shen Lili smiled, not very surprised, "That's what I had thought. Is that why you agreed to this?"

"Partially."

"What about the old one?"

Xu Anyi held onto the warm coffee cup with both hands, "The old Xu Corporation. . ."

"I heard the Lu Corporation took over it after. . . what happened," Shen Lili said with a frown.

Xu Anyi nodded, "I looked into it. They took all of my dad's old business partners and resources, and moved all the money from the Xu Corporation into their own company, so now it is only an empty shell. There will be no use in taking it back anymore anyway."

Shen Lili narrowed her eyes, "Those two are so evil."

Xu Anyi grinned, "So, I want to start it again!"

She leaned forward in her chair, "I won't be able to start a company right away, of course. I don't have the money, power, or ability to do that yet, but starting a clothing brand should be much easier. I already thought of a name for our clothing brand!"

"A name?" Shen Lili tilted her head to the side slightly, "What is it?"

"Xuni."*

"Xuni. . ." Shen Lili repeated, "I like it. It's simple yet intimate."

She nodded as an excited smile appeared on her face, the idea seeming more real than ever now, "I have a small office that I bought where I design my clothes and work sometimes. It's small, but it will have to do as our working place."

"Perfect!" Xu Anyi exclaimed, as she did not think that they would be able to have a working space already.

"It will take at least a month for me to finish designing the first set of clothes. . . And then we can get started with launching the business. That is how it works, right?"

Xu Anyi chuckled, nodding, "I'm not very experienced either, but we will figure it out!"

—

They ended up talking longer about many things, mostly related to the business, but when they finished, the sun was up high in the sky already.

Xu Anyi left the coffee shop and stepped into the warm sunny day.

The bright sunlight shone onto her face and she closed her eyes, turning her head towards the sunlight.

Since stepping out of prison, she knew that she wanted and needed to take revenge and get everything back, including the company.

However, she did not expect to be able to start her own brand so quickly.

It was a new start, and it was a good start.

Xu Anyi opened her eyes, which were fierce with burning excitement and determination.

She will certainly bring back the Xu family's old empire!

—

As she had decided to stop working at Yihua, she had no work, and she sat on the couch for an hour, feeling bored and lost.

She wanted to do something, she wanted to earn money!

Xu Anyi looked over at Si Mu's closed office door, as he was in a business meeting. She had asked him to start looking for modeling jobs for her, but he seemed to be quite busy recently. If so, then she should take matters into her own hands!

She grabbed her laptop, which was sitting untouched on the other end of the couch, and created a new document.

An hour later, she had finished making a resume, with a few pictures she had taken recently.

Then, she changed her clothes, and seeing that Si Mu was still in a meeting, she quietly left the house.

—

The taxi arrived in the middle of the busy city, and Xu Anyi got out of the car.

She held on tightly to a printed copy of her resume as she entered a large building that belonged to one of the major fashion magazine companies in the city.

She had seen somewhere that this company was looking for new models, and indeed, when she asked the front desk, the front desk took her to an office on the second floor.

"This is my resume," Xu Anyi gave the woman sitting at the desk.

The woman did not take the paper from her right away, and instead stood up, walking around as she examined her, "How old are you?"

"26."

The woman frowned, "You have a pretty face and a nice figure. Why didn't you think of modeling earlier?"

Xu Anyi opened her mouth but no words were able to come out, because she realized how stupid it was of her to not go after her dreams for a man that didn't even deserve it.

The woman took her resume from her and took a look at it as she walked back to her chair. However, she paused before sitting down, raising an eyebrow, "Xu Anyi?"

The woman looked up at her again, "Your name is Xu Anyi?"

She nodded.

The woman quickly scanned the resume and sat back down, throwing the paper onto the table, "I'm sorry but you aren't fit for the job."

Xu Anyi frowned, "Why?"

The woman looked at her and did not say anything, "Piner!"

The girl who had brought her into the room stepped in right away, and she seemed to have been waiting outside.

"The interview is over," the woman said as she turned on her computer and began working again.

Xu Anyi wanted to say something but the woman began typing very loudly and the worker brought her out of the room.

Xu Anyi left the building, looking at her resume. There was nothing wrong with it. . . So why did she get rejected so suddenly?

For the next few hours, she went to all the magazine and clothing companies she could find that were searching for models, but she was rejected from all of them.

She stepped out of the cold building and looked at the resume in her hand, furrowing her eyebrows together. The interviewer had seemed quite interested in her until she handed him the resume.

Just like before, when the interviewer saw her name, his attitude changed and rejected her.

The companies used excuses like how she had no experience, but none of them even agreed to let her audition after seeing her name.

Xu Anyi crumpled the last piece of paper she had in her hands and threw it into the trash can nearby. She was certain that there was something going on. . . and it probably had something to do with Xia Yiwei.