I Married the President-Chapter 126: Can I Not Go?

Claire Sinclair silently cursed, ’Idiot,’ and went back to editing her article.

「6:00 PM.」

Claire Sinclair saved the revised manuscript to the cloud drive, ready to shut down her computer and head home.

Just then, her senior colleagues emerged from the conference room after finishing their editorial meeting.

Editor-in-Chief Summers walked straight up to Claire Sinclair and said, "Claire, M2L is holding its tenth-anniversary banquet tomorrow night. Linda personally requested your presence. Make sure you dress presentably and represent Astoria Daily."

Claire Sinclair let out a surprised "Ah?" "Editor-in-Chief Summers, am I going by myself?"

Editor-in-Chief Summers jutted her chin toward the archives. "Hanson is on the guest list too, though I have no idea if he’ll go. But you have to. We can’t have M2L accusing us of being high and mighty again."

The word "again" made Claire Sinclair suspicious.

"Editor-in-Chief Summers, what do you mean by ’again’?"

"M2L invites Hanson over every year, and every year he flakes. If you can get him to go this year, I’ll give you a special one-hundred-yuan bonus at the end of the month."

’A hundred yuan was hardly any incentive at all...’

Still, Claire Sinclair was willing to give it a shot. "Alright, I’ll go talk to Teacher Hartwell."

Editor-in-Chief Summers patted Claire Sinclair’s shoulder encouragingly. "Go on, you’ve got this!"

Claire Sinclair walked into the archives.

Seeing this, her other colleagues huddled together to discuss the situation:

"M2L has only ever invited Hanson in the past. Even Editor-in-Chief Summers doesn’t get to go. I can’t believe they’d invite a rookie this year. I’m so jealous."

"I know, right? I saw the guest list for M2L’s tenth-anniversary gala on Weibo. They’re not only inviting their domestic brand ambassadors, but their international ones too. And get this—a lot of celebrities are high-level M2L VIPs, so they’re on the list as well."

"I don’t care about all those brand ambassadors. The only thing I care about is that hit new TV series, *Soul*. It’s sponsored by M2L, so the entire cast and crew will be at the banquet!"

"Ah! I’m a die-hard fan of Zeron’s! I want his autograph so badly..."

Listening to the endlessly envious voices of her colleagues, Phoebe Lockwood pursed her lips, her hands clenching unnaturally into fists.

’That damn bitch Claire Sinclair actually got invited to the M2L tenth-anniversary gala. It would be a lie to say I’m not jealous.’

’Heh... So what?’

’I happen to be a high-level VIP myself, so I’ll be at that tenth-anniversary banquet too.’

’Just you wait, Claire Sinclair.’

...

「The Archives.」

Claire Sinclair walked up to Henry Hartwell and asked hesitantly, "Teacher Hartwell, are you going to the M2L tenth-anniversary banquet?"

Henry Hartwell was completely absorbed in the article he was writing. Without even glancing at her, he said dismissively, "Those kinds of banquets are pointless. I’m not going."

Claire Sinclair thought of the task Editor-in-Chief Summers had given her. It looked like that hundred yuan was out of reach. Disappointed, she said, "If you don’t go, I’ll be all by myself. I’ve never attended a banquet like this before. What if I end up embarrassing our paper?"

At that, Henry Hartwell looked up at her. "They invited you?"

Claire Sinclair nodded. "Editor-in-Chief Summers told me to."

Henry Hartwell hit her with an unexpected dose of reality. "Those banquets are basically just a beauty pageant for the female guests. Whoever shines the brightest could become the next brand ambassador and land a ten-million-yuan endorsement deal. You’d just be cannon fodder if you go."

"Then... can I get out of it?" Claire lost her nerve.

’Every female celebrity M2L invited was an A-lister with hundreds of thousands, if not tens of millions, of Weibo followers. If she went, she wouldn’t just be cannon fodder—she’d be setting herself up for public humiliation.’