Michael Reed said to Little James, “Little James, tonight I’ll treat you to karaoke. Want to come?”

“Why are you only inviting Little James? We want to go too.” Charles Henry immediately chimed in.

Everyone knew that both Michael Reed and Henry White were interested in Little James. Both were single and secretly competing to pursue Little James. When Henry White heard that Michael Reed wanted to invite Little James to karaoke, of course he didn’t want Little James and Michael Reed to be alone together—he was taking the opportunity to stir things up.

Although he was unhappy inside and understood Henry White’s intentions, Michael Reed still pretended to be generous and said, “No problem, anyone who wants to go can come.”

Little James glanced at William Harris and said, “Let’s wait until Brother Harris’s head injury heals before we go.” As she spoke, she added with concern to everyone, “Brother Harris’s head is hurt, and the loud singing might affect his injury—it wouldn’t be good for his recovery.”

That was just an excuse to decline—why drag me into this! Only then did William Harris realize that Little James wasn’t exactly a saint. She clearly didn’t like those two, and knew what they were thinking, but instead of directly refusing, she found this excuse. Wasn’t she pushing me into the volcano? This little woman! She couldn’t possibly be genuinely concerned about me—she was just using me as a shield.

Sure enough, as soon as they heard this, both Michael Reed and Charles Henry looked at William Harris with a new expression, full of jealousy.

“Haha, don’t worry about my head injury. I don’t have any plans tonight anyway. As long as you don’t make me drink, I’ll go sing with you. Michael Reed, you can sing that ‘Heavenly Match’ duet with Little James.” William Harris laughed heartily, shifting the focus.

Hearing William Harris’s words, Michael Reed immediately brightened up, looking at William Harris with gratitude, while Henry White’s face instantly darkened.

“So, Little James, you have nothing left to say, right? Even William Harris is willing to go to karaoke with an injury—are you really going to turn us down?” Michael Reed seized the chance to urge Little James.

Jessica James felt quite frustrated. She had planned to use William Harris’s injury as an excuse to decline the outing, but unexpectedly, William Harris turned things around. She could only smile and say, “Since Brother Michael is treating, I guess I can’t refuse. Let’s go, but sorry to make you spend money.”

“It’s nothing. As long as a beautiful lady is coming, what’s a little money?” Michael Reed said grandly.

As everyone was chatting and laughing, David Carter walked in with a stern face and said to William Harris, “Little William, the secretary made a few changes to this document. Take it and rewrite it.”

Taking the document from David Carter, William Harris sat down and looked it over carefully. He really wanted to curse— the parts the secretary changed were exactly the sentences David Carter had added. After all the back and forth, it ended up back at his original version. No wonder David Carter looked so unhappy when he came in.

He sneaked another glance at David Carter, who was gulping down water.

How could this happen?

William Harris noticed a faint white official aura appear before his eyes. It was so faint that if he hadn’t been paying close attention, he might have missed it.

It turned out to be William Harris’s own official aura. William Harris felt like crying—so he actually had some official aura after all!

But it was so faint! And it seemed like it could be blown away at any moment.

His official aura was different from others’. Looking at this faint wisp of aura, William Harris felt powerless. With such a weak aura, no wonder he hadn’t made much progress all along.

Looking again at David Carter’s thick, clustered official aura, William Harris was speechless. It would be hard enough for him to reach that level, let alone have colored official aura.

Could it be that his article was recognized by the secretary, or that he accumulated some official aura from writing it? William Harris noticed that his official aura was behaving strangely, fluctuating and appearing and disappearing.

What William Harris didn’t know was that his article had been praised by Ryan Reed, but when it was revised, David Carter became jealous of William Harris. On one hand, he gained some official aura; on the other, he lost some. That’s what caused the fluctuations.

For the moment, he couldn’t figure out why it kept rising and falling.

Still, having official aura appear was a good thing—it meant he had room to grow.

As long as there was official aura, it meant he had potential for advancement in officialdom. William Harris felt more excited than anything.

He quickly finished revising the document and carefully handed it to David Carter, knowing that David Carter was in a bad mood.

David Carter nodded, said nothing more, carefully reviewed the document, took a sip of tea, and then got up to head to the secretary’s office.

William Harris could understand David Carter’s mood. He had tried to show off by revising the draft, but hadn’t expected the secretary to restore it to the original. It was inevitable he’d feel frustrated. Thinking about the fluctuations in his own official aura, William Harris suddenly had a flash of insight—it must have been David Carter’s feelings toward him that caused the changes.

What a mess. Looks like he’d lost points with David Carter again! He’d have to find a way to repair David Carter’s dissatisfaction with him. The workload was only getting heavier.

Main Text Chapter Four: Little James’s Clever Move