Wen Lanyue returned to her workstation.
Her head ached with anger.
If she hadn’t made a promise to Uncle Qi, she would have taken her parents straight to the Qi family right now to call off the engagement.
Forget it. It was only one month.
It would pass quickly.
…
She finally made it to the end of the workday.
Wen Lanyue gathered her things, picked up her bag, and was about to get up and leave.
Unexpectedly, Assistant Wang came over. “Secretary Wen, President Qi has a dinner engagement tonight. You should come along too.”
“It’s only my first day. I’m not familiar with anything yet. If you take me along, I might make mistakes.”
Assistant Wang said, ”President Qi specifically asked for you.”
“…”
Just then, the door to the president’s office opened.
Qi Yanli walked out, sweeping a cold glance over the secretarial area as he headed toward the private executive elevator.
All the secretaries and assistants rose to their feet in unison, watching him leave.
Assistant Wang looked at her. “Let’s go.”
Wen Lanyue followed along, looking thoroughly reluctant.
After their group had walked away, the people in the secretarial area began whispering among themselves…
“She’s such a little vixen—she’s actually managed to snag both father and son.”
“Guess what she was doing in the president’s office? Whatever it was, it got President Qi to take her straight to a dinner party.”
“Tsk tsk… I can’t even imagine.”
…
After she followed Qi Yanli into the elevator.
She noticed Assistant Wang stayed outside and didn’t come in.
“Assistant Wang, aren’t you coming?”
The last thing she wanted was to be alone with Qi Yanli in an elevator.
Assistant Wang smiled. “I just remembered I forgot to grab a document. You and President Qi go ahead to the parking garage—I’ll catch up.”
Then the elevator doors slowly closed.
Wen Lanyue was dumbfounded.
Why did it feel like Assistant Wang had done that on purpose?
The moment the doors shut, the man’s gaze on her grew even more brazen.
Wen Lanyue instinctively stepped aside and said coldly, “What are you looking at?”
The man sneered. “I’ve seen you undressed plenty of times. Are you shy about being seen with your clothes on?”
“Qi Yanli, shut your mouth!”
Any woman would fall for Qi Yanli’s face and figure in a second.
But that mouth of his was something no one could stand.
The elevator descended slowly, and the atmosphere turned strange…
His tall figure loomed over her, making her look petite and delicate.
Suddenly, Qi Yanli’s slender fingers reached for her slim waist.
Wen Lanyue froze, then whipped her head around and glared at him furiously. “Take your hand off me!”
But the man’s hand only grew bolder.
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his embrace, his voice low and sensual. “That’s enough. Stop being so dramatic.”
“You’re calling me dramatic?”
Qi Yanli lowered his eyes to look at her face. “Isn’t the whole point of being my secretary so you can keep an eye on me at all times?”
“…”
So Qi Yanli believed she had come to be his secretary of her own accord—just to keep tabs on her man.
Hah…
In this man’s eyes, she could never possibly betray him.
Because Qi Yanli knew how much she loved him.
He took her love for granted, did whatever he pleased, and never cared about her feelings.
Suddenly, the man’s hand at her waist began sliding slowly downward.
She instinctively grabbed it. “Are you insane? We’re in the company elevator!”
Qi Yanli’s lips curved up, and he motioned with his eyes for her to look up at the floor numbers dropping rapidly on the display.
Confusion filled Wen Lanyue’s eyes. She didn’t understand what he meant.
He pinched the bridge of his nose helplessly and chuckled softly. “The elevator doors are about to open.”
“So what?”
“Kiss me now, or we’ll run out of time.”
？？？
What the hell?
Before Wen Lanyue could even react, the man lowered his head and kissed her lips.
With a ding-dong, the elevator doors slowly opened.
Before she could even get angry, Qi Yanli let her go.
Then, restoring his usual coldness, he walked out of the elevator.
Wen Lanyue stepped out and shouted furiously, “Qi Yanli!”
Her angry voice echoed through the empty parking garage.
Qi Yanli glanced back at her. “This is the company. Address me by my title.”
She was so furious she actually laughed.
“Oh, so NOW you remember this is the company? Then how dare you put your hands on me? That’s workplace harassment!”
Qi Yanli left her with nothing but a cold back view.
In a careless tone, he said, “You consented to your boss’s right to harass you.”
“When did I ever consent—”
Before she could finish, he cut her off mercilessly. “Because you walked into your boss’s office without knocking. In anyone else’s eyes, that behavior means you’ve already been ‘initiated.'”
“…”
Wen Lanyue froze.
She’d been blinded by rage at the time and hadn’t thought it through.
……
That evening, she followed Qi Yanli to a private club for a dinner gathering.
Although she’d long known about his status as the prince of the capital’s elite circle, tonight she witnessed firsthand just how arrogant and imperious Qi Yanli could be.
She also saw just how low those people were willing to stoop to curry favor with the prince.
“President Qi, where do you want to go for the second half of the night? How about checking out my underground nightclub?”
“Sure. I hear they have strippers? Hahaha…”
“Best of all, the discretion is top-notch.”
Tsk…
So this was the barrage of temptations Qi Yanli faced every day.
These people really laid out wine, women, wealth, and vice in all their glory.
Absolutely revolting.
Wen Lanyue just wanted to leave as soon as possible.
Besides, she’d been sitting bolt upright for two hours straight, and her back and waist ached.
At that moment, Qi Yanli leaned back in his chair and said slowly, “No thanks. My woman at home is the jealous type.”
As he spoke, the man’s hand reached behind her and settled on her waist, massaging it in a steady rhythm.
Wen Lanyue couldn’t help but sit up straight.
She shot Qi Yanli a warning look, silently telling him not to try anything.
But Qi Yanli remained completely composed, as if he weren’t the one massaging her at all.
At his words, several people at the table laughed out loud, though partly to ease the awkwardness.
“Who would’ve guessed, President Qi—such a devoted man to his woman.”
“I hear President Qi the Third’s fiancée is top-tier in every way—family background, looks, poise.”
“No wonder President Qi is so eager to get home.”
Except…
He talked a big game about loving his wife, but his hand was roaming the slim waist of his pretty young secretary.
Everyone at the table was baffled.
Could it be that he simply looked down on vulgar entertainment like strippers?
So the dinner carried on. About half an hour later, Qi Yanli rose and left first.
Only after he was gone did anyone dare speak the truth: “Are you all actually stupid, or just pretending? Couldn’t you tell that secretary IS the prince’s fiancée?”
“Holy shit—we’ve really screwed up big time today, talking about strippers right in front of his fiancée!”
“Why didn’t you stop me? This damn mouth of mine! What are we going to do now?”
“We’re finished. We’ve offended the prince himself. And I hear that fiancée has quite the background too—we’ve managed to piss off two people at once.”
……
Inside the car.
Qi Yanli leaned back in the back seat of the car, closing his eyes to rest.
He had drunk quite a lot tonight, and his head ached a little.
Wen Lanyue sat on the other side, gazing out the window at the night scenery rapidly receding behind them.
No one knew what she was thinking.
Qi Yanli slowly opened his dark eyes, staring at the tranquil outline of her profile.
Suddenly, a buzzing vibration sounded from a phone inside the car.
The man withdrew his gaze, picked up the phone, and answered.
“Speak.”
Perhaps because the atmosphere in the car was so quiet, the contents of the call came through crystal clear.
From the other end came Ning Xi’s voice, thick with tears: “Yanli, I don’t want to stay in the hospital. I want to go home. Come pick me up, please.”
Every nerve in Wen Lanyue’s body tensed.
But she still kept her eyes on the window, as if she hadn’t heard a thing.