The sudden commotion made everyone around turn to look at Zhuang Shufei.
Xiao Tongyu quickly got up and helped her back into her seat, afraid that she might be recognized and cause a stir.
After sitting down again, Zhuang Shufei still couldn’t calm down. She gulped down the juice beside her in one go, then looked up at Xiao Tongyu with a serious expression.
“What’s going on?”
Xiao Tongyu hesitated for a moment, then told her best friend everything, from beginning to end.
After listening, Zhuang Shufei was thunderstruck. ”Xiao Tongyu! Are you an idiot?! Ji Yunze is such a terrifying man—did you think you could just walk away whenever you wanted?! Why would you do this over someone as insignificant as Qin Mengyan?! Even if you did nothing, Ji Yunze wouldn’t give her the time of day anyway!”
Xiao Tongyu said regretfully, ”I didn’t know he would actually take the bait. I’ve been working by his side for a year, and he’s never looked for a woman.”
Zhuang Shufei’s eyes went wide. “How would he not take the bait? Isn’t that exactly what happened?! How many times have you done it with him?”
“Just this morning, and last night and the night before… maybe… a dozen or so times…”
Zhuang Shufei felt her vision go black. “Holy crap! This Ji Yunze really doesn’t treat you like a human being—no wonder you were in so much pain you had to see a doctor!”
“Here’s what you do: quit your job right away and come work at my dad’s company! Or, haven’t you always wanted to open your own design studio? You can use the money your dad left you, and if that’s not enough, I’ll give you some!”
Xiao Tongyu bit her lip and said nothing.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought about quitting, but the question was—would Ji Yunze even let her quit?
“Let me think about it some more…”
“Stop thinking! If you keep thinking, you won’t even know how you died! The way he’s going, you’ll get poisoning from all those birth control pills!”
Ahem, birth control pill poisoning… that would certainly be a novel way to die.
Zhuang Shufei hit the nail on the head: “If he really cared about you, he’d wear a condom instead of making you take birth control pills!”
Xiao Tongyu nodded. “I know. He doesn’t see me as a person.”
“And not to lecture you, but why the hell did you return that two million to him?! Who in the world thinks they have too much money?!” Zhuang Shufei was absolutely livid with her best friend.
Looking at Xiao Tongyu’s soft, delicate little face—even her own aloof older brother had fallen for her—how could this fool be so oblivious?
If her brother found out about this, he would probably explode on the spot.
“Oh, right, Tongtong, my brother is coming back to the country.”
Xiao Tongyu’s dim eyes instantly lit up. “Brother Shujie is coming back?”
Zhuang Shufei’s older brother, Zhuang Shujie, had been sent abroad by their father, Zhuang Yang, to develop a branch of the Zhuang Group. After nearly two years away, with the branch’s business now running smoothly and a reliable manager found, he was finally coming home.
Zhuang Shujie had liked Xiao Tongyu for a long time, but Xiao Tongyu, a woman with negative emotional intelligence, seemed completely oblivious to it. He wouldn’t let Zhuang Shufei say anything either, so things had just dragged on like this.
Zhuang Shufei urged her, “So hurry up and quit! Whether you come back to be my brother’s secretary or open your own design studio, it’s got to be better than dying in Ji Yunze’s bed, right?! Ji Yunze is a man who can cover the sky with one hand—even if you died in his bed, he’d have ways to make you vanish without a trace, so that not even your body would ever be found!”
At Zhuang Shufei’s words, Xiao Tongyu shuddered all over, feeling cold sweat breaking out on her forehead.
“Okay,” she said, making up her mind.
…
After the lunch break, back in the office, Xiao Tongyu asked Su Rou in a low voice, “Is President Ji in his office?”
“Yes. He had lunch in there too and hasn’t come out.”
“Is he alone?”
Su Rou nodded. “Yes. What’s wrong, Tongtong?”
“I’m going to resign.”
“What?!”
Xiao Tongyu knocked and entered. Ji Yunze was lying on the large sofa in the inner lounge of his office, resting with his eyes closed.
She walked over to the coffee table beside the sofa and gathered up the dishes from Ji Yunze’s lunch.
Ever since she had become Ji Yunze’s personal secretary, she had ordered his lunch every day.
Xiao Tongyu knew exactly which restaurants and dishes he liked, and she would select the freshest seasonal ingredients according to the time of year. So in the whole past year, Ji Yunze had never once thrown his food to the floor in dissatisfaction.
She deliberately slowed down as she tidied up, but Ji Yunze showed no sign of waking.
Forget it. I’ll bring it up later.
Xiao Tongyu picked up the dishes and was about to head out when her wrist was suddenly seized firmly by Ji Yunze.
“What is it?” Ji Yunze opened his eyes.
“President Ji, it’s nothing.”
“Speak.”
“President Ji, it’s really nothing.”
“Secretary Xiao deliberately took her time cleaning up and kept glancing at me—and it’s nothing?”
So Ji Yunze hadn’t been asleep at all. He had taken in her every move.
Xiao Tongyu set down the dishes and deliberately shifted back a little. “Well… President Ji, I’d like to resign.”
A flash of menace crossed Ji Yunze’s eyes.
“Why?”
“I studied architectural design in college. I’ve always wanted to open my own design studio, and now the opportunity has come along…”
Ji Yunze said coldly, “Who gave you this opportunity?”
“Huh?”
“I asked, who gave you this opportunity?”
“I found an office space with a good location and a reasonable price.”
“The address. I’ll buy the whole building.”
“…” Xiao Tongyu was speechless.
This was exactly the kind of thing Ji Yunze was capable of.
“Secretary Xiao, do you think you could open a studio in the Imperial Capital without my permission?”
Xiao Tongyu felt as if a thunderbolt had exploded right above her head, blasting her to pieces.
Ji Yunze—why wouldn’t he just let her go?
“If there’s nothing else, get out. Send me the itinerary for the business trip in a couple of days.”
She had finally worked up the resolve, only to be dismissed just like that. Xiao Tongyu couldn’t accept it. “President Ji, can’t you just let me go? I got injured on the job!”
Ji Yunze stared straight at her, a wicked smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
From Xiao Tongyu’s knowledge of him, every time Ji Yunze smiled like that, it meant she was done for.
“Oh? Let me see where Secretary Xiao got injured on the job.”
Before she could react, she was pulled into Ji Yunze’s arms, flipped over, and pinned firmly beneath him, a powerful grip clamping down on her wrist.
Xiao Tongyu struggled desperately, but the man on top of her didn’t budge an inch.
“President Ji, this is the office!”
“When Secretary Xiao put her hands on my leg, did she not remember this was the office?”
As he spoke, Xiao Tongyu’s short skirt was pushed up to her waist, her two fair, slender legs completely exposed.
Ji Yunze’s Adam’s apple bobbed uncontrollably. He had only meant to scare the woman in front of him—who knew he would end up igniting his own desire?
His whole body felt like it was burning with lust.
Xiao Tongyu bit her lip resentfully, a mist gradually clouding her eyes.
In front of Ji Yunze, she truly didn’t even have the right to hold her head up like a decent person.
“President Ji, aren’t you afraid I won’t take the pill and end up pregnant with your child?”
Hah, this woman had gotten bold—actually threatening him, Ji Yunze??
He eyed her with amusement: “Does Secretary Xiao think she can keep something I don’t want?”
Just then, a knock came from outside the door.
“President Ji, it’s time to head to the consulate,” Wu Yan said from outside.
Ji Yunze rose to his feet, and Xiao Tongyu hurriedly pulled down her half-length skirt and tidied her disheveled hair.
“Come in.”
Wu Yan walked in. Xiao Tongyu quickly picked up the cleared dishes from the table, nodded to him in greeting, and hurried out the door.
As she turned sideways, Wu Yan clearly saw the red marks on her fair neck and the tears at the corner of her eyes that hadn’t yet been wiped away.
“See it?” Ji Yunze tugged at his tie.
Wu Yan asked, “See what, President Ji?”
“Nothing. As long as you saw it, that’s enough.”
Wu Yan was somewhat shocked. Was President Ji actually admitting his relationship with Xiao Tongyu outright? And judging by Xiao Tongyu’s state, she had been forced?
Ji Yunze had been president of Ji Corporation for a full seven years, from age 22 to 29, and Wu Yan had never once seen him go after a woman. And yet…
He’d been broken in?!
Wu Yan said, “Rest assured, President Ji. I’ll keep it confidential.”
“Mm.” Ji Yunze lit a cigarette, gazing out the window with a complicated expression.
Xiao Tongyu, you want to run? Dream on.