Chapter 2The $88,000 Corporate Mascot: Getting Paid to Do Absolutely Nothing

Where there's a first time, there's a second, and then a third.

The first resurrection from the dead could be called a coincidence.

But in the days that followed, any business negotiation I attended was a guaranteed success.

Any difficult client could be handled as long as I was there.

Even when colleagues ran into stubborn clients, all they had to do was walk past my desk, chat with me for a bit, and when they went back, the client would instantly become incredibly agreeable.

I, Penny Cash, was just that mystical!

I coasted like this for half a year. My status in the company was even higher than Harrison's.

Everyone said: You can offend the boss, but you absolutely must not offend me, or you'll definitely be cursed with bad luck.

This point was proven three months into my employment.

An intern saw me doing absolutely nothing all day. I don't know if she felt unbalanced or if she just had bubbles in her brain, but she insisted on "cleaning up the workplace." She used me as a target, a negative example, and fiercely criticized me.

In the conference room, she tore me down to nothing, scolding me mercilessly.

Because she was telling the truth, I didn't dare make a peep.

I was as quiet as a quail.

She left feeling incredibly satisfied.

As a result, on her way home from work that very night, she got into a car accident.

She lay in the hospital for half a month. When she came back, she refused to believe in the curse and tried to cause trouble for me again.

Unsurprisingly, before the workday was even over, right after she tried to mess with me, she tripped over her own feet and face-planted hard, her arm violently smashing into a desk.

Well, that did it. She earned herself a fracture, a three-day hospital stay, and a cast for half a month.

It all happened too coincidentally.

If I wasn't the person involved, I would have thought this intern was a paid actor I hired.

After this incident, the legends about me in the company became even more bizarre.

Everyone practically wanted to build a shrine for me.

Especially that intern—her attitude did a 180-degree turn, and she became one of my most loyal sycophants.

In just six months, the company on the verge of bankruptcy not only came back to life but scaled up to the point of preparing for an IPO.

Because of this, my reputation as a lucky charm spread wildly through the CEO circles.

Quite a few bosses wanted to poach me.

The offers they threw out kept getting better and better.

Harrison Cole, of course, knew this.

To keep me, in my fifth month, he confessed his feelings to me, hoping to use his looks to tempt me.

But he wasn't my type. I wasn't interested in this older, father-figure type of man.

After I politely rejected him, he agonized over it, losing sleep every night and showing up to work with panda eyes.

I couldn't stand watching it, so I gave him a tip.

"Mr. Cole, I may not like you, but I love money!"

His eyes burst with joyful light.

He finalized it on the spot.

"Great! Liking money is great! I'll give you a raise!"

"A monthly salary of $88,000. Let's get rich together, it's a lucky number!"

It was indeed very lucky.

The month after my raise, the company's performance was better than the previous five months combined.

Because he was single-mindedly pursuing love, thirty-year-old bachelor Harrison finally found the girl of his dreams that very month.

He had a whirlwind wedding.

He brought us a boss's wife, hired her into the company, and gave her the position of Executive Vice President.

A lot of people in the company knew that Harrison had pursued me.

So, in front of the boss's wife, Victoria Lodge, people rarely brought me up.

Harrison himself didn't dare bring me up either.

Victoria always assumed I was just some low-level employee earning a cheap salary to do nothing.

Until the payroll was distributed that month.

Victoria, on a whim, audited the employee payroll and discovered my astronomical salary.

She was a fiery, impulsive woman.

When she encountered a problem, she had to resolve it on the spot.

But that day, Harrison happened to be on a business trip deep in some remote, mountainous area for a week-long project inspection, completely unreachable.

Victoria spent two days investigating me.

Finally, she reached a conclusion.

I was an overpaid, useless parasite coasting by on my looks, waiting to die in the company.

And someone who could potentially replace her position as the boss's wife at any moment.