n

nHer plan to live the life of freedom that she always wanted needed a lot of resources. It wouldn't hurt to earn extra cash by doing some freelance work.

nBesides, Jin Liwei was filthy rich. A million was just pocket change for someone like him.

nDing!

nJin Liwei:

"Deal.

"

nOh? He agreed quickly. Fine, then. She switched to her new, more secure e-mail account and typed.

nLong Xiulan:

"This e-mail address is more secure. Pay up first.

"

nShe sent him her bank account information.

nShe moved to another computer and worked on creating a new, personalized music software which would make it easier for her to compose music.

nAfter a couple of minutes, her phone received a message. It was from the bank informing her that her account received a 5 million RMB deposit.

nShe raised an eyebrow. The man acted fast. She might as well work since he already paid her.

n

n

nJin Liwei:

"OK. But if 3 days pass and you have nothing or what you send me is useless, I want a full refund plus interest. 10 million RMB.

"

nThief!

nLong Xiulan:

"Fine. Don't bother me in the meantime.

"

nJin Liwei:

"I'll be waiting, Long Xiulan.

"

nArrogant bastard.

nShe went to work immediately by turning on all of the computers in the room. With all of them working at the same time, it was an impressive sight. In truth, she only needed a night to gather all information about the five companies, from what was made public to the most classified ones.

nAs long as there was an electronic trace, she would be able to find anything no matter how obscure. But a mountain of disorganized information was probably not what the arrogant man wanted. Thus, she told him to wait three days.

nFor the initial step, she let the software she created herself to automatically gather information. She didn't even need to oversee the process personally.

nLooking at the time, she left the room for dinner, letting the computers complete the tasks she inputted by themselves.

n

n

nSo Dom tried cooking and it was a disaster. He had no culinary skills whatsoever. If the cook was any second later, Dom would've burned down the entire penthouse. The cook promptly kicked him out of the kitchen. Dom redoubled his whining afterwards. The cook couldn't take it anymore, so she especially researched and practiced cooking some Filipino dishes. Dom was, of course, ecstatic.

nAfter a hearty dinner, Iris enjoyed a couple cups of hot white pearls tea 1.

nAfterwards, she composed music at her recording studio, until her phone received a notification informing her that some of the computers already finished the tasks they were assigned.

nFor the next two days, she spent almost all her time inside the computer room, only going out to eat, exercise a bit, and answer nature's call. After a lot of hacking and verifying accuracy, she translated the information into Chinese and organized everything into shockingly detailed and comprehensive reports about the five companies.

nInformation that even the companies themselves may not know were included in the reports. What Iris was about to send Jin Liwei were something that would completely destroy the companies, if given in the wrong hands.

nShe also included a recommendation for two of the companies, giving them a

"clean

" rating. As for the other three, well, if Jin Liwei had any decent judgment, he would not have any dealings with them.

n53 hours since she started working on this job, she finally sent an e-mail to the arrogant man.

nLong Xiulan:

"See attached files. Send 590,025.73 RMB to my account for the expenses accrued while gathering information. See attached invoice. The original 5 million payment was only for the final reports.

"

nShe looked at the time. It was almost midnight. She stretched, yawning. Then she walked around the room, shutting down the computers one by one.

n

n

nIt was a message from the bank notifying her that 590,025.73 RMB was deposited to her account.

nIris smiled. Turning off all the lights, she left the computer room, making sure that the door was closed, before heading to her bedroom to sleep.

n###

nFootnotes:

n1 Not actual sea pearls, but a tea made of white peony leaves shaped into little balls by hand.

n