It was almost midnight, and Gong Hengye couldn’t be bothered to go home. He decided to head straight to the hotel near his company so he could sleep in a little longer the next morning.
“Uncle, sometimes you really don’t act like a domineering CEO,” Wen Yue remarked beside him. “Don’t domineering CEOs always wake up at five in the morning to run and work out, no matter how late they sleep?”
But here he was, thinking about sleeping in.
Gong Hengye replied, “Maybe the domineering CEOs you’ve seen are outdated. Nowadays, plenty of domineering CEOs indulge in sweets and milk. How else would they stand out? Besides, I’m just sleeping in.”
“?”
Wen Yue huffed, “Sounds like you’ve read a lot about them.”
Gong Hengye’s gaze flickered slightly. “Actually, I’ve only read about one.”
And that one was enough to give him a headache.
He really didn’t want to read any more.
Nor did he want to discuss domineering CEOs with her. Instead, he asked, “Didn’t you say before that you didn’t want to investigate?”
Wen Yue was taken aback, realizing what he was referring to.
She lowered her head, fiddling with her fingers. “It’s not that I don’t want to…”
“Then what is it?”
Gong Hengye glanced at her briefly with a questioning look before turning his attention back to the road ahead.
“It’s not that I don’t want to investigate,” Wen Yue said slowly. “It’s just… I don’t want you to investigate.”
Gong Hengye frowned, but before he could say anything, she continued, “What if my mother really is… I don’t want you to know.”
Her voice grew softer, as if the words were difficult to say.
“Why?”
Gong Hengye couldn’t quite understand the girl’s sudden sense of pride. He glanced at her again. “Do you think I’d laugh at you?”
Wen Yue bit her lip and stayed silent.
Of course, it wasn’t about him laughing at her. It was about him looking down on her.
Gong Hengye soon understood. He fell silent for a moment before suddenly chuckling. “Even if it’s true, it’s not a big deal.”
He looked ahead into the darkness, a faint smile on his lips. “After all, if we’re judging by the status of our parents, my genes might be even worse than yours.”
Wen Yue was surprised. “Uncle?”
Gong Hengye didn’t explain further. Instead, he continued in a casual tone, “So if you want to know, I’ll help you investigate. You don’t have to worry that your parents’ identities will make me think less of you or laugh at you. To me, we are who we are, and they are who they are.”
Wen Yue could sense the cold detachment in Gong Hengye’s words.
It wasn’t directed at her. Perhaps his previous remark had stirred up some unpleasant emotions.
But how could his genes not be good enough?
Even she knew he was the most outstanding person in the Gong family in three generations.
However, Wen Yue could tell he didn’t want to talk about it, so she didn’t press further.
After all, everyone had their own secrets.
So she hesitated for a moment before whispering, “Then… thank you, Uncle.”
Gong Hengye hummed in acknowledgment and said nothing more.
That night, Wen Yue once again sneaked into the bedroom after Gong Hengye fell asleep.
She knelt by the bed, resting her elbows on the mattress and cupping her cheeks in her hands, quietly watching his sleeping face.
Ah, he really was good-looking.
Even more so when he was asleep, because he seemed gentler.
But he really wasn’t as fierce as she had imagined.
At the very least, he had never truly been harsh with her. In fact, he had always helped her.
Even when he was angry, he never truly abandoned her.
Wen Yue’s eyelashes fluttered as her gaze drifted from his brows and eyes down to his straight nose and finally to his thin lips, slightly pursed in sleep.She suddenly remembered that moment in the car, when she had mindlessly responded to his words, and after two seconds of surprise, the smile that had curved at the corners of his lips.
No anger, no disgust.
He didn’t seem to mind her offense at all.
Wen Yue felt as if her cold, unfeeling heart had begun to beat again, each thump echoing in her ears.
So, was it really impossible to make him fall in love with her?
Wen Yue’s gaze remained fixed on his lips, unable to look away.
If nothing else, the shape of his lips looked perfect for kissing.
In the story, after he got together with Wen Xi, would he use those lips to gently kiss her?
Wen Yue’s eyelashes fluttered again, and a possessive jealousy began to stir within her.
She thought, perhaps a villainess would always be a villainess, unable to escape jealousy toward the female lead—only the reason had changed.
Before, she had been jealous of Wen Xi because of Gong Chen and the Wen family.
Now, she was jealous of Wen Xi because of Gong Hengye.
A sudden thought struck her: if the plot couldn’t be changed, if he really would fall in love with Wen Xi and be with her, if he would kiss Wen Xi in the future…
Then why not let her kiss him first?
That way, even if she couldn’t come back to life, even if her soul scattered and spirit dispersed, she would still have one thing she had won over Wen Xi.
She could also plant an eternal thorn in Wen Xi’s heart.
A villainess should act like a villainess!
Lost in her thoughts, Wen Yue lowered the hand propping her cheek, as if guided by an invisible force. She leaned down, her head slowly lowering, inching closer and closer to his lips…
Just as the tip of her nose was about to touch his, his eyelashes fluttered, and his eyes suddenly opened.
Wen Yue: “!”
Wasn’t he asleep?
What was happening, what was going on—he was going to catch her trying to steal a kiss!
Her mind froze, but her reflexes were quick. The moment his eyes opened, her two icy little hands landed on his neck, gripping it tightly as she spoke in a ghostly tone, “I died so tragically, wuwuwuwu… You have to avenge me, wuwuwuwu~”
Gong Hengye, who had sensed an unusually cold presence in his sleep and instinctively opened his eyes without fully waking up: “!”
Her disheveled long hair fell across her cheeks as she leaned in, her eyes half-rolled back, her face deathly pale, and her face alarmingly close to his.
To be honest, Gong Hengye was genuinely startled—startled awake.
His brow twitched violently as he pressed a finger against her forehead and pushed her away, gritting his teeth. “Wen Yue!”
His tone suggested that, far from wanting to avenge her, he probably wished he could whip her corpse.
The next second, the female ghost who had demanded revenge in the middle of the night vanished.
Gong Hengye took a deep breath. “Please, get out of my bedroom.”
Soon, Wen Yue’s presence ‘rolled’ out of his bedroom.
But Gong Hengye, now wide awake, found it impossible to fall back asleep.
Tossing and turning for a while, he irritably got up and checked the time—5 a.m.
Great, so she had deliberately tormented him just to make sure he got up on time for his morning run and workout, fulfilling his role as a domineering CEO, right?
Early in the morning, when Li Rui arrived at the company, he found his boss already there, though he seemed rather listless, lazily propping his head up as he stared at the computer.
Li Rui quickly brewed a cup of coffee and brought it in. “Boss, you’re here so early?”
Gong Hengye lazily replied, “Mhm.”Li Rui swept his gaze around, first spotting the brain-dead projector that the boss had almost thrown out earlier, which was now playing a brain-dead idol drama again.
With mixed feelings, he walked over to the desk and saw that the boss was looking at a proposal on the computer screen—one that the PR department had worked through the night to prepare.
For Li Rui, this proposal was rather difficult to understand.
Yesterday, when the boss called the PR department upstairs, it wasn’t for company matters at all. Instead, he wanted them to create a plan to clear Wen Yue’s name.
Wen Yue!
Li Rui felt that the boss was being a bit too special toward this eldest daughter of the Wen family.
Even though she was already gone, he was still obsessed with clearing her name.
Actually, from the very beginning—when the eldest daughter of the Wen family sent a single text message and the boss immediately flew back overnight—he should have realized that this wasn’t just some simple relationship.
But the eldest daughter of the Wen family was the third young master’s fiancée!
He really didn’t dare to think too much about it.
Until yesterday’s incident.
When had the boss ever been so kind-hearted and meddlesome?
Li Rui set down the coffee, cleared his throat, and, thinking about what Feng Yang had mentioned last night, asked with concern, “Did you not rest well last night, boss?”
What he really wanted to ask was: Where exactly did you drive off to fool around last night!
But Gong Hengye just replied listlessly, “If a female ghost grabs you by the neck in the middle of the night, crying about how miserably she died and demanding you help her get revenge, could you rest well?”
Wen Yue on the sofa: “…”
She quietly tried to make herself less noticeable.
At the time, she really had been at a loss and momentarily lost her mind.
But she didn’t regret it. After all, grabbing his neck was still better than him finding out that she had shamelessly tried to sneak a kiss.
Li Rui was also stunned.
He suddenly had a strange feeling.
Could the female ghost the boss mentioned be Wen Yue?
And this plan to clear her name—was it the so-called revenge for her?
Of course, he definitely didn’t believe there was actually a female ghost. So, it was more likely that the boss couldn’t let go of Wen Yue’s death, to the point where he even dreamed about her coming to find him at night?
Was the boss’s feelings for Miss Wen actually this deep?
He had hidden it so well back then. After all these years by his side, Li Rui hadn’t noticed a thing!
Li Rui’s expression was complicated: Anyone who didn’t know better would think you were the heartless scoundrel who drove her to suicide, making her come find you in the middle of the night!
Of course, he didn’t dare say that out loud. He just forced an awkward laugh and said, “Miss Wen is indeed a pity. But if you really want to clear her name, it’s bound to involve the Wen family’s second daughter…”
Wen Yue, who had been trying to stay unnoticed, looked up in surprise. What did he mean by clearing her name? What was Gong Hengye planning to do?
Gong Hengye cut Li Rui off before he could finish, “Was I not clear enough?”
He lowered the hand that had been propping up his forehead and leaned back in his chair. “Someone who was already innocent—how can you ‘clear’ their name? It’s just about revealing the truth.”
Then, with a meaningful glance toward the sofa, he added, “Besides, what does the Wen family’s second daughter have to do with me? Is she more important than being grabbed by the neck by a female ghost in the middle of the night?”
Three sentences, and he was already back to talking about the female ghost. Did he love it that much?
Li Rui didn’t dare to argue anymore.
Thinking back to the information he’d learned while working overtime yesterday, he sighed, “You’re right. Miss Wen really was wronged in this matter. I never expected the Wen family to act this way, or that the third young master would be so unreasonable, letting his own fiancée take the blame for something like this.”He sighed, “Third Young Master never considered that if this matter gets out, forget about others, his father alone would never allow the Eldest Miss Wen to marry him again.”
According to Gong Hengye’s plan, Wen Yue’s reputation hadn’t deteriorated overnight, and restoring it wouldn’t happen instantly either.
So they started with the most recent issue. The first step was to find the source of the so-called “casting couch” video and locate the original footage if possible.
The public relations department tracked down the person who first posted the video, while the technical team traced the IP address.
To their surprise, they discovered that the first person to release the video was none other than Wen Yue’s older brother, Wen Ze, the eldest son of the Wen family.
They still didn’t understand why Wen Ze had done this, but under these circumstances, the chances of getting the original video from him were zero. So, Gong Hengye simply ordered the technical team to hack into Wen Ze’s computer.
After obtaining the original video, everyone except Gong Hengye was shocked.
To be honest, most of the online gossipers had assumed the person in the video was really Wen Yue.
No one had expected it to actually be Wen Xi.
Wen Ze released the video, and Gong Chen, to protect Wen Xi, shifted the blame onto Wen Yue.
If this got out, it would truly be a farce.
Li Rui even wondered what heavenly law Wen Yue had broken to be treated so terribly.
Gong Hengye merely chuckled without emotion, “That’s why they say he’s the once-in-a-century fool of the Gong family. Only someone with poor judgment, like this Eldest Miss Wen, would ever take a liking to him.”
The Eldest Miss Wen with poor judgment, sitting on the nearby sofa: “…”
Li Rui: “!”
Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap.
That sarcastic tone, that mocking voice.
He’s jealous, he’s jealous, he must be jealous!
Oh no.
The boss has actually fallen for a woman who’s already dead!
No wonder he’s been acting so strangely lately.
The woman he deeply loves is his nephew’s fiancée. He could only endure the pain and keep his distance, hoping she would find happiness.
But fate played a cruel joke, and when they met again, she was already gone.
Only then did he realize that all these years, she had never been treated well and had suffered countless grievances.
How painful that must be!
If he didn’t act a little crazy or do something out of the ordinary, how else could he vent his inner agony?
Li Rui looked at Gong Hengye with a hint of sympathy, unable to resist comforting this unfortunate man: “Boss, if Eldest Miss Wen knows in the afterlife that you’ve been thinking of her and going to such lengths for her, she would surely be very happy.”
Gong Hengye raised an eyebrow indifferently, “No need for ‘if.’ She definitely knows in the afterlife.”
Wen Yue: “…”
Li Rui: “…Yes, Boss is right.”
Gong Hengye added, “Tell the public relations department to proceed with their plan. Release the original video first and control the public opinion.”
Li Rui quickly nodded and left.
Only then did Gong Hengye leisurely ask Wen Yue beside him, “So, will our Eldest Miss Wen be happy?”
As soon as Li Rui left, Wen Yue moved closer to him. She also wanted to see what was on his computer and nodded in response, “Of course I’m happy.”
Then she frowned, hesitantly turning to look at him, “But why did you suddenly…”
Gong Hengye interrupted her casually, “To avoid being choked in the middle of the night again, demanding I avenge her.”
Wen Yue: “?”
But he had done this before that happened.
Her gaze flickered, and she instinctively glanced at his lips. The thoughts from last night suddenly surged back into her mind.She swallowed lightly and murmured softly, “Well, since you’re helping me like this, I don’t know how to thank you.”
“No need for thanks. Just don’t bother me in the middle of the night again…”
Gong Hengye’s voice trailed off.
A cool, soft touch landed on his face.
It was different from what he remembered, yet familiar.
His dark, deep eyes fixed on the pale little face so close to his—so close he could see her eyelashes fluttering nervously or perhaps due to some other unknown emotion, each one distinct, as if brushing against the tip of his heart, making it itch intensely.
Her lips lingered on his cheek for only a second before quickly pulling away.
Her eyes darted around, her panic obvious. She seemed to realize her action was too abrupt and found a perfect excuse, pretending innocence, “Um, isn’t this how you show gratitude to elders? Thank you, Uncle.”
Fortunately, a moment of clarity returned as she leaned in, avoiding his lips and kissing only his cheek. Otherwise, she really would have had no excuse now.
Wen Yue silently congratulated herself on her cleverness and turned to run.
The next second, her wrist was caught by strong, warm fingers.
She froze, turning back in a fluster, her eyes looking particularly innocent. “Is… is there something else?”
Gong Hengye stared at her calmly.
She had a pair of beautiful eyes—inner corners hooked and outer corners lifted, a shape that was naturally alluring. Her pupils were light in color, making them appear exceptionally pure and clear.
And they always seemed inexplicably watery, as if shimmering with tears even when she wasn’t crying.
With such looks, it was hard to tell whether she was deliberately seducing him or if he was overthinking it.
Over the years, the girl who had kissed him while drunk had shed her youthful naivety, becoming even more charming and captivating. Yet her boldness remained unchanged—if anything, it had grown.
Now she dared to kiss him while sober, catching him off guard.
Gong Hengye’s thumb subtly brushed against her wrist.
It was cool and soft, much like the touch of her lips.
He lowered his gaze to her slender, pale wrist. “I told you not to bother me in the middle of the night, so you decided to bother me in broad daylight instead?”
He raised his eyes again, his dark gaze profound. “Wen Yue, you didn’t come to me for help with revenge, did you? You came to take my life, didn’t you?”