He thought Fang Youyao would get angry, but she was perfectly calm.
Shen Liang raised a hand and immediately resumed President Shen’s cool, detached manner. “Cheng Yao, you can go now.”
The smile on Cheng Yao’s face stiffened, but she kept her expression sweet and obedient. “All right, President Shen. I’ll be going, then.”
Before leaving, she turned her back to Fang Youyao, winked playfully at Shen Liang, and pointed at the little cake on the desk as she reminded him in a low voice, “Strawberry brûlée. Remember to eat it.”
Fang Youyao stood ramrod straight by the door, sizing up the girl named Cheng Yao.
As Cheng Yao passed her, she gave her a warm, polite smile. She looked innocent and harmless, utterly open and untroubled.
Fang Youyao had no intention of acknowledging her.
The girl had been working at the company for about a week.
There wasn’t a single person in the company who didn’t know about Fang Youyao’s relationship with Shen Liang.
Cheng Yao must have known, too.
And Shen Liang had no sense of boundaries, letting things between them turn flirtatious.
Disgusting. They deserved each other.
Cheng Yao had barely stepped out of the office when Fang Youyao went in and shut the door.
It slammed shut.
Cheng Yao glanced back at the firmly closed office door. The corners of her mouth dipped, and her warm smile vanished. Her nails dug into her palm.
Inside the office,
Shen Liang leaned back in his chair, chin slightly raised. His expression was calm as he looked down at her. “What is it? What do you need?”
Fang Youyao strode over and reached him in a few quick steps.
She set the contract on the desk, folded her arms, and looked down at him, her tone indifferent.
“This is the revised contract we signed on this business trip. Take a look.”
Shen Liang nodded. “All right.”
Fang Youyao’s expression remained cool as she casually asked, “I heard the art department has a new intern, and she’s been spending a lot of time with you. Seems like you two are pretty close.”
Shen Liang curled his long, distinctively jointed fingers and lightly tapped them on the desk, asking nonchalantly, “Oh? Who has so much time on their hands they’re going around gossiping?”
He was the one who’d been caught out.
Yet Shen Liang sat there, relaxed and unconcerned.
He lifted his eyes. His deep, almond-shaped eyes held little emotion.
“She’s Professor Cheng’s niece. You know we’re trying to secure a long-term partnership with Professor Cheng’s team.”
Professor Cheng was a leading figure in the industry, as well as Shen Liang’s university teacher.
Fang Youyao curled her lips in a mocking smile. “So President Shen is planning to sacrifice his own charms to win the company some benefits?”
Shen Liang rested his elbows on the desk and interlaced his fingers.
“She’s just a girl who hasn’t even left campus yet, and she has an inappropriate little crush on me…”
“She’ll get over it soon enough. I can’t exactly offend Professor Cheng.”
Shen Liang looked up at her. “I’m just humoring her. Don’t worry, Cheng Yao won’t affect your position.”
He was trying to reassure her, to tell Fang Youyao that her place couldn’t be taken from her.
Fang Youyao stared at Shen Liang. “Is that so?”
A flicker of impatience crossed Shen Liang’s eyes.
“You’ve always been so understanding. Don’t make a fuss over nothing. I’m doing this for the company, too.”
Fang Youyao said nothing. She pressed her lips together and looked at him, her heart perfectly still.
Shen Liang stood and came around the desk to her, his manner softening a little.
“Has this business trip been exhausting?”
“Let’s have dinner together tonight. I’ll celebrate your return. What would you like to eat?”
Fang Youyao pressed her lips together and avoided his hand. “I have work to do.”
She straightened her back and turned to leave.
Shen Liang watched her go, then suddenly called out to her. He picked up the strawberry brûlée from the desk and held it out to her.
“I don’t like sweets. Take it and eat it. Cheng Yao said she waited in line for half an hour to get it.”
Fang Youyao didn’t take it. She looked up at him. “She gave it to you, not me.”
Shen Liang firmly pressed it into her hands. “Then eat it for me, okay?”
He could tell something was off with Fang Youyao. Her gaze was too cold, almost emotionless.
Shen Liang wanted to coax her.
Unfortunately, he went about it the wrong way.
Fang Youyao didn’t like sweets either.
Besides, she was trying to lose fat and had cut out sugar.
Shen Liang insisted on giving it to her.
Fang Youyao didn’t keep arguing with him. She had a pile of work to deal with and didn’t want to waste time, so she simply carried the dessert away.
When she passed a trash can, she considered throwing it out, but paused. It seemed like such a waste.
She had grown up in an ordinary rural family with many sisters, used to going without enough food or warm clothes.
Frugality had become ingrained in her.
Even after she became wealthy, she never wasted things.
So Fang Youyao brought the dessert back to the office and set it on He Xixue’s desk. “Xiaoxue, it’s yours.”
She knew He Xixue had a serious sweet tooth and loved cake, milk tea, and all kinds of sugary treats.
He Xixue stopped typing and looked up, eyes lighting up. “Wow, dessert from Lucy’s!”
“I’ve walked past that shop so many times, but never had time to buy anything. There’s always a line outside.”
“Sister Fang, where did you get this?”
From what He Xixue knew of Fang Youyao, she would never spend time lining up to buy a dessert.
“Just eat it. Don’t worry about where it came from.”
Fang Youyao didn’t want to explain where the cake had come from.
He Xixue didn’t think much of it. She immediately opened the package and happily dug in. “Thanks, Sister Fang.”
She narrowed her eyes, savoring every bite.
Cheng Yao happened to pass by their office and pretended to glance inside without meaning to.
When she saw a woman from the tech department eating cake, she stopped in her tracks.
That packaging looked familiar. There was a cartoon cat’s head on the side of the cake box.
She had drawn it herself.
It was the very cake she’d given Shen Liang.
Why was it here?
Feeling down, Cheng Yao messaged Shen Liang to complain, sounding pitiful and aggrieved.
Cheng Yao: [Big Brother, did you eat the cake I gave you?]
Shen Liang: [I did.]
Cheng Yao: [Liar.]
Shen Liang: [?]
Cheng Yao: [I saw someone else eating it.]
Cheng Yao took another look into the office and memorized the face of the girl eating the cake.
It was a gift she’d given her brother. What right did someone else have to eat it?
Cheng Yao had always been petty, and she was already holding a grudge against He Xixue.
Her gaze moved past He Xixue and settled on Fang Youyao’s striking, refined face. Dislike flashed in her eyes.
That woman looked so domineering and fierce. She was completely unworthy of her brother.
Jealous, Cheng Yao silently found fault with Fang Youyao in every way she could.
Fang Youyao sensed someone watching her and suddenly looked over.
Their eyes met.
Fang Youyao’s gaze carried an unsettling force, as though she could see right through people.
Cheng Yao looked away and hurried past the doorway.
She kept messaging Shen Liang:
[Big Brother, do you not like it when Yaoyao gives you things?]
Shen Liang: [That’s not it.]
Cheng Yao: [Then why didn’t you eat it?]
Shen Liang: [I don’t like sweets.]
Cheng Yao: [Big Brother, you’re making me a little sad.]
In his office,
Shen Liang paused his work and replied to the messages with interest.
Cheng Yao was different from Fang Youyao.
Cheng Yao knew how to act vulnerable and cling to him; Fang Youyao didn’t.
Fang Youyao never let herself appear weak, beg, or back down in front of anyone.
For instance, in this situation, Fang Youyao would never ask him why he’d given the cake away.
She never made a fuss over such a small thing. Even when she was angry, she only looked at him in quiet silence.
Cheng Yao’s spoiled, girlish ways did give him a little sense of novelty.
Shen Liang was probably certain Fang Youyao would never leave him.
So every now and then, he let himself indulge in that novelty.