A Sunday morning news drop shattered any hope of a relaxing weekend for Chairwoman Gu, plunging her directly into crisis mode.
Inside her study, the phone rang off the hook, and video conferences stacked up back-to-back.
The story was going viral with frightening speed. Almost immediately after Gu Lingyi messaged her assistant, trending hashtags like #TingyinSeriesFails and #GuLingyiTestsTingyinOnSPAGirls flooded social media.
To make matters worse, a mysterious insider from the investment space leaked that the Chiyin Group had completely severed ties with its primary partner, the He Corporation.
As the world’s largest supplier of medical grade silicone, He Corp was vital. Chiyin’s products were built on a reputation for safety, and everyone knew that without He Corp, no other supplier could meet their production demands.
Between rumors of compromised product quality and a broken supply chain, widespread predictions that Chiyin’s stock would plummet at Monday’s opening bell spread like wildfire across the internet. If they couldn’t control the narrative, Monday’s share price would take a 1,500-meter nose dive and sales would get crushed right along with it.
Despite the chaos, Gu Lingyi spent the entire morning in her study handling the crisis with unflappable, razor-sharp efficiency. Her voice remained calm, smooth, and low, subtly reassuring the senior executives and her team. During the video meetings, she maintained her usual relaxed, almost indifferent posture, sipping water occasionally whenever her throat felt dry.
Sharp-eyed employees couldn’t help but notice that under her suit jacket, the Chairwoman appeared to be wearing a nightgown, and her background wasn’t her usual office setup. Even stranger was her posture: she stayed casually reclined, barely moving, yet her glass seemed to be an endless well of water, constantly refilled out of frame.
A quick peek at her assistant’s background confirmed they were in completely different locations. It left the staff wondering: Just how loyal is the servant allowed into the Chairwoman’s private sanctuary to wait on her during high-stakes meetings like this?
Sometimes, keeping employees too calm backfires.
Lurking in an internal company gossip group using an alt account, Yan Ke was exasperated to see her overworked colleagues gossiping about trivialities while putting in overtime. But deep down, she was burning with curiosity too. As far as she knew, outside of her personal assistant, Gu Lingyi didn’t have anyone in her life she trusted implicitly enough with both her work and personal space let alone someone allowed inside to tend to her mid-meeting.
Yan Ke sensed something distinctly unusual in the air.
Unaware that her weekend overtime was sparking wild rumors among her staff and childhood friend, Gu Lingyi finally caught a breather as work wrapped up. Closing her eyes, she gently massaged her temples, her mind racing to check if she’d missed anything.
Then it hit her.
She bolted up from her chair, suddenly anxious to find someone. It was time for Jiang Yanqing’s knee medication.
As her eyes readjusted to the light, she paused. Sitting quietly beside the desk in a wheelchair was a slender, elegant figure sitting impeccably straight. Wearing noise-canceling headphones, she was slowly turning the pages of a physical book. The headphones ruffled a few stray locks at her temples, and their noise cancellation was effective enough that the reading beauty remained entirely absorbed, oblivious to Gu Lingyi’s gaze.
Sunlight filtered through the window, bathing half her body in a warm beam that made her dark hair glisten. Her innate elegance and poise were on full display.
For a moment, Gu Lingyi was completely captivated by the serene, cozy scene, her heart softening.
If only time could stand still… Then again, maybe not Jiang Yanqing’s knee was still hurting.
The sitting beauty suddenly looked up, though she deliberately avoided looking at Gu Lingyi or the screen, focusing her gaze solely on… the glass on the desk.
With only a shallow layer of water left, Jiang Yanqing set her book on her lap and reached for the glass.
Just as her fingers brushed the cold surface, a warm palm covered the back of her hand, sending a sudden flush of heat that made her fingertips curl.
Jiang Yanqing looked up, meeting Gu Lingyi’s fox-like eyes a mix of mild irritation and gentle heartache.
“You were the one refilling my water all morning?”
Gu Lingyi’s brow furrowed. She had been so consumed with work that she hadn’t noticed the glass never ran dry. At the office, her assistant handled it; at home, smart appliances took care of it. So she had taken the endless supply for granted.
“Yes,” Jiang Yanqing replied concisely. Her tone was as matter-of-fact as when she had knelt to change Gu Lingyi’s shoes earlier.
The ointment sat right at Gu Lingyi’s fingertips. Unscrewing the cap, she reached over to remove Jiang Yanqing’s noise-canceling headphones. Her hand lingered momentarily in the messy dark hair, naturally smoothing the strands back and tucking them behind her ear before she awkwardly broke eye contact.
Flustered, her words slipped out fast without passing through her brain: “Unbutton your pants and let me see your leg.”
Still locked in her commanding work mode, the authoritative tone came out completely on instinct. But hearing those words out loud, anyone would call her a rogue.
A gorgeous rogue, but a rogue nonetheless.
Her strict tone carried a lingering trace of teasing indifference, as if to imply that if the beauty didn’t unbutton them herself, she’d step in and do it for her.
To Gu Lingyi’s surprise, Jiang Yanqing simply bowed her supple waist without a word. Her dark hair cascaded down as her pale, slender fingers unbuttoned her pants from the bottom up, one by one.
The movement felt like it was playing in slow motion.
As those long, straight legs were slowly revealed, a soft, creamy expanse of skin filled Gu Lingyi’s sight.
Having done this once before, both were familiar with the routine. The bruising on the knee looked better than yesterday, fading to a lighter shade, though it was still painful to look at. Gu Lingyi kept her touch exceptionally gentle.
Midway through applying the ointment, Yan Ke called.
“A-Yi, it looks like we’ve thoroughly pissed off the Jiang family,” Yan Ke reported. “The current situation isn’t just about He Qun or our actual quality issues. We just tracked down that the Jiang family is playing a massive role behind the scenes. It’s no exaggeration to say they’re the ones leading the charge to smear us.”
“The Jiangs, huh…?” Gu Lingyi murmured thoughtfully, her eyes never leaving Jiang Yanqing’s face as her hands continued their gentle massage.
The cold beauty’s delicate features flushed with a faint pink tint as she silently endured the pain, exercising complete self-control to keep from making a sound.
“Has the PR team gotten our partner influencers to post yet?” Gu Lingyi asked.
“Wait, aren’t you worried about the Jiang family?”
“I am, but what good does worrying do?”
Gu Lingyi leaned in close to Jiang Yanqing, a playful, suggestive glint dancing across her alluring face. As the distance between them closed inch by inch, her breath laced with the scent of peach blossom sake brushed against Jiang Yanqing’s skin.
“Fair point. Overthinking just breeds anxiety,” Yan Ke continued. “Following the plan we discussed with PR, mid-tier influencers have already started posting. Oh…and one more thing worth noting. You know the famous blogger Xinghe, right? Our old college classmate.”
“Yeah.” Gu Lingyi’s reply was just as brief as Jiang Yanqing’s earlier.
Suddenly, her thumb pressed gently against the beauty’s reddened eye corner. A tiny, crystal-clear tear squeezed out, rolling down her thumb onto her palm.
Reflected in Gu Lingyi’s eyes were Jiang Yanqing’s slightly widened pupils. Those usually cold, restrained eyes were now filled with a mix of disbelief and confusion.
Paying back the debt.
The seductive, sultry Chairwoman mouthed the words silently without making a sound.
It was, of course, a debt for the Jiang family stepping in to orchestrate the smear campaign against Chiyin and Gu Lingyi.
It wasn’t out of pity or sympathy…it was making her pay on behalf of the Jiang family.
Jiang Yanqing lowered her eyes, the warmth and pressure of Gu Lingyi’s touch lingering on her skin, gently soothing the corners of her eyes.