[Ji Ran]: When you hit one million followers, didn’t you wear women’s clothing? Did it feel awkward?
[Jiang Ning]: Not really. It was all just for the joke, anyway. Besides, I’ve played female characters before. Why are you suddenly asking? Don’t tell me you’re thinking about getting into cosplay?
[Ji Ran]: I guess so…
[Jiang Ning]: !!! You finally agreed? I’ve been telling you forever, that face of yours would be such a waste if you didn’t do cosplay! Just tell me what you need. Don’t be shy with me.
[Ji Ran]: Ah, ah, okay.
But in truth, Ji Ran had lied. He had no intention of getting into cosplay at all. He simply wanted to wear women’s clothing.
Ji Ran did not have a fetish for women’s clothing. He had just been under far too much pressure at work lately and he wanted to do something unconventional and rebellious to vent all that pent up stress.
But bars were too chaotic, street racing was dangerous and tattoos hurt. After being a well behaved young man for twenty years, Ji Ran had finally decided to rebel, only to discover that he couldn’t even bring himself to do a single truly outrageous thing.
That was until he came across a video of a man dressed in women’s clothing while browsing online. The slender, fair skinned young man in the video was wearing a skirt and dancing to a popular internet dance.
[Baby, you’re so beautiful!! So amazing!!!]
[Does anyone understand just how heavenly this kind of content is?!]
[After clicking on the video, the corners of my mouth haven’t come back down.]
The video was extremely popular and the comment section was filled with warm, enthusiastic praise.
Ji Ran stared at those words of admiration, unable to come back to himself for a long time.
To be honest, he was envious. He could no longer remember how long it had been since he had last received genuine affirmation from someone else.
A little over a month ago, Ji Ran had received a campus recruitment offer from Feng Sheng Investment Bank and he was currently interning at the company.
Feng Sheng was a top tier joint venture investment bank in the industry. It participated in the financing and IPOs of numerous well known companies and also handled businesses such as stocks, wealth management and private equity. Rumor had it that the company’s employees earned an average annual salary of more than one million yuan.
But the high income came with extremely high work pressure. Full time employees worked more than ten hours a day, had to keep their phones on standby twenty four hours a day and were constantly traveling for work, making more than three hundred days of business trips a year practically routine.
During his first month there, Ji Ran worked overtime until late every single day. Just when he had finally gotten the hang of the job, the company unexpectedly launched its rotation system and transferred him to another department.
Unlike ordinary summer interns, Ji Ran had entered the investment bank through campus recruitment as a management trainee. They were required to intern in different departments, familiarize themselves with how the various departments operated and only then officially begin their careers.
The management trainees had a group chat where they casually chatted and exchanged gossip. On the day the rotation notice came down, the group exploded with excitement, with hundreds of messages flying by as everyone discussed their second assignments.
They shared where they would be going next and exchanged tips about things they needed to pay attention to in their respective positions. Ji Ran also shared his experience from the Equity Financing Department.
[Leo]: By the way, Julian, where are you going this time?
[Julian]: Assistant to the Managing Director.
Julian was Ji Ran’s English name. When Feng Sheng was founded, it adopted the MD ranking system used by overseas investment banks and employees within the company were also accustomed to using their English names.
[Leo]: Have you confirmed who your boss is?
[Julian]: No idea but I’m still in the Equity Financing Department.
[Ayla]: Holy shit, the MD of the Equity Financing Department? Isn’t that Samuel? Poor Julian. He actually ended up under him.
[Emma]: Tsk, that’s kind of terrifying…
[Leo]: Why are you all being so pessimistic? Julian, I believe in you. You can definitely do it!
[Lucas]: Exactly! This is a great opportunity to advance your career. If you don’t want it, I’ll take it!
[Julian]: Wait a second. You all know him?
[Lucas]: You’re probably the only one who doesn’t. That’s Samuel we’re talking about!
Samuel. God is listening. What an incredibly lofty name.
Ji Ran did not dare casually pass judgment on his new superior, so he politely replied with a simple, “Oh.”
Unexpectedly, Lucas seemed to take his cold, indifferent attitude as a provocation and actually began listing his idol’s impressive accomplishments one after another in the group chat.
Samuel’s Chinese name was Han Shen. His grandfather was the chairman of a Fortune Global 500 company and also one of the major shareholders of Feng Sheng Investment Bank.
Yet even more dazzling than his Fortune Global 500 family background was Han Shen’s glittering personal résumé. He entered Harvard Business School at sixteen, graduated with a doctorate in economics at twenty three and then joined Feng Sheng’s headquarters, where he fought his way through the ranks. At only thirty years old, he had already become an MD.
[Lucas]: Do you guys know how impressive a thirty year old MD is?!! Investment banks aren’t short of people who get in through connections but even with connections, the most you can usually manage is becoming a VP, or Vice President. There’s no way you can reach a position like Managing Director purely through family connections. An ordinary person needs four or five years just to get promoted to VP and there are still Director and Executive Managing Director above VP. Only after all of those positions do you finally reach Managing Director. Every single promotion along the way is built on solid, measurable achievements!
[Leo]: Ah, you mean that case they mentioned during training, right? That’s insane. He’s so outstanding it’s almost outrageous.
[Lucas]: And it’s not just equity financing. His investment abilities are exceptional too. The funds he previously managed at a branch had an annual return of more than twelve percent. He even conducted economic analysis research at Feng Sheng Research Institute and published numerous papers over the years. I heard universities are even inviting him to serve as a visiting professor.
[Ayla]: Who doesn’t know all that? Samuel really is outstanding but he’s also extremely strict. He’s gone through two assistants in the past month alone and the rotational interns who went under him quit crying after only a week.
[Julian]: Huh? They quit crying?
[Ayla]: I can’t really go into the specifics. Anyway, good luck. You’re going to need it.
Ji Ran suddenly remembered the expression on his superior’s face when he had informed him about the arrangement. The man had looked as though he wanted to say something but couldn’t, his expression indescribably complicated. In the end, however, his superior had merely patted him on the shoulder, sighed and said, “I believe in your abilities. Sigh… Good luck. You’re going to need it.”
He had not even met his new boss yet but a deep sense of unease had already begun to well up inside Ji Ran.
And once he officially started working under him, that unease quickly became a tangible reality, spreading through his entire body in no time.
Ji Ran’s first encounter with Han Shen took place during a departmental meeting. Shortly before the meeting began, the assistant who had originally been responsible for training Ji Ran suddenly broke down emotionally and announced his resignation, leaving Ji Ran and the executive assistant staring at each other in stunned silence.
Half a minute later, the executive assistant, Asher, shoved a prospectus into Ji Ran’s hands and said, “I’m sorry to make you do this right after you arrived but your superior resigned five minutes ago, so you’ll be giving the presentation this time.”
Ji Ran: Huh?
With only half an hour remaining before the meeting, Ji Ran stood there holding a prospectus several hundred pages thick and a faint sense of impending death began to creep into his mind.
At that moment, he finally understood why the previous assistants and interns had never lasted long. To encounter something like this on the very first day of a rotation, if it had happened to him under any other circumstances, he would have wanted to resign too.
Unfortunately, Ji Ran did not have the luxury of quitting whenever he pleased. He took a deep breath and comforted himself with the thought that this rotation was only temporary. As long as he could endure these two months, he would be able to escape this terrifying environment.
Ji Ran quickly began skimming through the prospectus, committing the most important sections and key information to memory.
One after another, the participants took their seats and the meeting soon began. The meeting was being held in a round table conference room. As an intern, Ji Ran normally would not have been qualified to sit at the table at all but now that his superior had abandoned his post and quit, Ji Ran had been shoved into the position at the last minute and had no choice but to take a seat at the round table as well.
The executive assistant, Asher, pushed open the conference room doors.
The quiet conversations that had been taking place inside immediately ceased. Everyone sat upright with solemn expressions, their postures suddenly formal and restrained. Sensing something, Ji Ran also raised his head,
A tall and handsome man walked in.
He was dressed in a black, impeccably tailored haute couture suit. His bearing was cold and austere yet elegant and he was almost excessively handsome.
This… was Han Shen?
Contrary to the intimidating and ferocious image Ji Ran had imagined, Han Shen possessed refined, handsome features and an air of aristocratic restraint. There was nothing about him that resembled the terrifying figure described in the rumors.
The meeting began. After taking his seat at the head of the table, Han Shen spoke.
His voice was pleasant to listen to as well, neither too high nor too low, carrying a deep, magnetic quality while remaining elegant and composed.
As he spoke, he rested both hands on the table, exposing a small section of his wrists. His fingers were long and slender, with just the right hint of redness and visible veins. He looked almost exactly like the handsome, suggestive content influencers Ji Ran often came across while scrolling online.
Was this really his new superior?
He was so good looking that Ji Ran almost didn’t dare look directly at him. His face flushed slightly and he lowered his head.
“Julian,” someone quietly reminded him beside his ear, “you’re almost up for your presentation.”
Ji Ran nodded and quickly ran through the presentation in his head once more.
The meeting was being chaired by the executive assistant, Asher. He stood up and said, “For certain reasons, Jim, the assistant from the Equity Financing Department, is temporarily unable to attend the meeting. Management trainee Julian will therefore introduce the project’s progress on his behalf.”
Ji Ran raised his head and glanced at Han Shen.
The latter’s gaze, however, was fixed on the presentation slides rather than on him. He did not even look in Ji Ran’s direction, as though situations like this were something he had long since grown accustomed to.
Ji Ran suddenly became nervous.
In reality, he was not particularly good at speaking in front of a crowd but the arrow was already nocked and there was no choice but to release it. Ji Ran took a deep breath, steeled himself and stood up to begin introducing the project.
Half an hour was nowhere near enough time for him to become thoroughly familiar with the project. Fortunately, there was still the PowerPoint presentation to rely on. While recalling the key information he had managed to memorize, Ji Ran referred to the slides for guidance.
The presentation was certainly not outstanding but at least he managed to get through it without making any major mistakes.
“That’s all for my presentation. Thank you, everyone.”
Ji Ran bowed toward the group. When he straightened his back again, the man seated at the head of the table suddenly lifted his eyes and looked directly at him.
Their gazes met.
Ji Ran’s heart seemed to skip a beat.
“Your name is Julian?”
Those were the first words Han Shen ever said to him.
Ji Ran replied, “Yes.”
“Julian.” The man’s handsome eyes settled on him, his voice deep, magnetic and elegant. “If you give another piece of garbage like this presentation next time, go submit your resignation yourself.”
Ji Ran stood there in a daze, rooted to the spot as his cheeks suddenly burned bright red.
………
“Samuel, I already explained that Julian is an intern. He only stepped in to give the presentation this time because Jim was absent. Can’t you rein in your temper a little?” After the meeting ended, Ji Ran heard Asher’s complaining voice.
“I don’t care what the reason was and I don’t care whether he’s an intern or not,” Han Shen replied, his tone sharp and icy. “All I know is that I don’t need a useless person by my side.”
Garbage. Useless.
Only now did Ji Ran finally understand why all of Han Shen’s previous assistants had broken down emotionally and quit so quickly.
“You heard all that?” A gentle voice suddenly sounded and Ji Ran looked up to meet a pair of emerald green eyes.
Asher was of Chinese Italian descent. He had curly hair, vivid green eyes and spoke Chinese exceptionally well. He even had a pleasant Chinese name, Su Ci.
Rumor had it that he had been Han Shen’s classmate and had started working with him overseas many years ago. Unlike Han Shen’s cold and cutting personality, Asher was extremely gentle and easygoing.
“Don’t take what he said just now to heart. Samuel wasn’t deliberately targeting you. That’s simply how he is. He’s strict with other people but he’s even stricter with himself.” Asher held Ji Ran’s hand, his voice filled with guilt. “Really, he just looks intimidating. Once you get familiar with him, you’ll realize that he’s actually a pretty decent person.”
“……”
Ji Ran’s mouth twitched slightly but he did not contradict him. After all, his opinion did not matter anyway.
Asher seemed genuinely afraid that Ji Ran would resign as well, so he continued, “Even if we take the worst case scenario and Samuel really does have a terrible personality, his abilities are absolutely top notch. If you work under him, you’ll learn a lot.”
Ji Ran looked at him for several seconds before saying, “I wasn’t planning to resign.”
Only then did Asher breathe a sigh of relief. He smiled as though a huge burden had finally been lifted from his shoulders. “That’s good. I was really afraid you’d leave too.”
Ji Ran did want to resign but he simply could not afford to.
When other people resigned, they had their families to fall back on. Ji Ran, however, still had to hand over his salary to his family. Feng Sheng Investment Bank offered some of the highest salaries in the industry, making it the best option available to him at the moment.
Seeing that Ji Ran genuinely intended to stay, Asher gave him another explanation. “You saw what happened just now. Your superior resigned and I won’t be able to find a replacement immediately. I heard that your professional abilities are outstanding, so for the time being, you’ll take over his responsibilities.”
And so, Ji Ran’s nightmare began.
Han Shen was an exceptionally difficult superior to work with. Apart from his cold, cutting manner, there was also his inhuman amount of energy.
Working more than ten hours a day was considered normal for investment banking employees but Han Shen clearly went far beyond that. It was as though he had simply evolved past the need for sleep. He was the kind of abnormal elite who could work through the entire night, exercise for an hour the next morning, take a shower and then arrive at the office looking completely refreshed.
Yet what truly drove Ji Ran to the brink of collapse were Han Shen’s impossibly high and almost harsh standards, along with his attitude toward work that allowed absolutely no room for error.
Ji Ran poured twelve times the effort into every single task he was given yet not once did he manage to make Han Shen completely satisfied.
Not good.
Do it again.
Start over.
His work was sent back again and again. His efforts were rejected time after time. No matter what task he was working on, there was never the slightest bit of positive feedback.
The little confidence Ji Ran had to begin with was rapidly being worn away.
During that period, Ji Ran could sleep for barely five hours a day. The moment he opened his eyes, it was time to work. He had absolutely no time that belonged to himself.
And even after working like that, he still could not satisfy his superior.
Money was hard to earn and the work was even harder to stomach.
Countless times, Ji Ran wanted to give up yet every time, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and keep going.
It was like being punished as Sisyphus. Again and again, he pushed the boulder upward but no matter how hard he struggled to get it to the top, the stone would eventually roll back down.
Did work like this really have any meaning?
When Ji Ran once again found himself wanting to resign, he finally came to a realization.
No. He couldn’t keep going like this.
If he continued bottling everything up, he was genuinely going to go insane. Either he or Han Shen was going to die first.
He began desperately craving an outlet for all the pressure that had accumulated inside him. He needed something safe, something private, something rebellious, something that could also give him just the right amount of recognition and affirmation.
And so, wearing women’s clothing suddenly seemed like the most natural choice in the world.
Ji Ran did not hesitate for long. When his superior’s latest work assignment came through, he placed an order on Taobao for a JK school uniform skirt.
Cressilia: Hello! This is Cressilia! ♡
On request from our readers, I’ve decided to pick up this project. Since there hasn’t been an update in a while, I thought it would be nice to bring it back to our readers as well. 😅
This project was picked up at the request of our readers, so I hope you enjoy our translation! ♡
✦ ✧ ✦
Cressilia
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
The Realm demands coffee. The Realm is not accepting complaints.
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
Next →
ChaptersChapter 1 · A cold-hearted bossChapter 2 · “Your skirt?”Chapter 3 · Ji Ran was caught off guardChapter 4 · Relax, you bit your lip until it bledChapter 5 · Don’t want toChapter 6 · Women’s clothing and DaddyChapter 7 · Ji Ran hunched over and began to sob softly.Chapter 8 · Rebellion, offense, and self-rewardChapter 9 · I hate it when people flaunt their wealth in front of meChapter 10 · CompensateChapter 11 · Why are you following me?Chapter 12 · Damn, he forgot to take off his leg chainChapter 13 · Ji Ran was indeed still afraid of him.Chapter 14 · A message came from OrcaChapter 15 · Self-blame, anger, and tears.Chapter 16 · You have to pay more!Chapter 17 · Did you come here just to yell at me?Chapter 18 · Just bear with it a little longerChapter 19 · Women’s clothing live streamChapter 20 · Could you come and pick me up?Chapter 21 Part 1 · It’s all an actChapter 21 Part 2 · It’s all an actChapter 22 · The actions could be even more brutalChapter 23 · A slapChapter 24 · He wanted to surrender a part of himself