Jiang Yi shook her head and asked her, “Feeling a bit better?” It was just running errands back when she was Shen Siyao’s dog, she’d run plenty of them.
And if doing this could lighten her guilt by even a hair, she’d gladly accept it, so this little bit of exercise and calorie burn meant nothing to Jiang Yi at all.
Hearing this, the aloof, noble Eldest Miss lifted her chin and finally stopped keeping her busy, deigning to take a sip of the flat white that had just been brought in: “A little better.” She had already received Cheng Le’s report just now and learned about the scene Jiang Yi had made earlier, though she truly felt no burden about it.
After all, she had taken this person into her territory and yet, Jiang Yi was a traitor.
As for the coffee she hadn’t even touched, let alone sipped, it was all distributed to the departments below. Cheng Le got a cup too, silently thinking: this was made by Vice President Jiang’s own hands.
A faint trace of a smile flickered through Jiang Yi’s eyes. Actually, Shen Siyao was very easy to please you just had to go along with her, like a tsundere cat baring its soft, fluffy belly. Her lips parted slightly: “Mm. Then what would you like me to do next?”
What to do next? Shen Siyao thought for a moment, glancing at the letter of intent for cooperation resting on the corner of the desk. After a brief consideration, she said: “Tonight, come with me to negotiate a deal.”
It was an external cooperation request from a group of Swiss merchants who wanted to order a batch of parts made with Baige’s latest technology. Shen Siyao had actually already politely declined at first after weighing everything, their order schedule was already fully booked with demand exceeding supply, not to mention the logistical complications of the distance, and the quantity they needed was only a small order for Baige.
Who knew that the other side would not only say they could handle the logistics themselves, but also tell Baige to mark up the prices, they were sincere buyers, and they had requested repeatedly.
So this letter of intent had been delivered to Shen Siyao’s hands once again today. There was no need to inflate market prices; although she only knew management, she still understood that while merchants pursue profit, integrity must remain the foundation, only earn the portion you ought to earn. But out of business considerations, she decided to go meet these people.
If their sincerity was genuine, then cooperation wasn’t impossible. Baige had several subsidiary companies under its name; though smaller in scale than the main operation, their reserves of parts were more than sufficient.
Jiang Yi thought for a moment: “All right. Is there anything I need to prepare?”
Seeing that she showed not the slightest reluctance, Shen Siyao felt much more at ease: “Just being there is enough.” She hadn’t intended for Jiang Yi to prepare anything Cheng Le would have everything arranged in advance.
It was just that without this person by her side, she always felt uneasy. Shen Siyao blamed this on Jiang Yi being too untrustworthy. Besides, she needed to prove to Jiang Yi that she could protect her, it wasn’t that she lacked a sense of security. In short, it was all Jiang Yi’s fault.
Jiang Yi returned to the hotel to change clothes. The Eldest Miss’s car tonight was far more understated and proper than those flashy ones, a business-class sedan with a glossy, jet-black finish, even the tires still bearing the faint look of having just left the factory, the interior accented with reddish-brown leather seats.
Cheng Le opened the car door and couldn’t help giving Jiang Yi a couple of extra glances, hissing inwardly stunning. It wasn’t that Jiang Yi looked in any way improper; it was that she looked too proper.
A wine-red Saint Laurent-style suit, the trousers a matching high-waisted pair of wide-leg slacks with an excellent drape that flowed down to her feet, and on them a pair of pointed-toe stiletto heels, their surface smooth as mirror glass. The overall cut was crisp and structured, magnifying her naturally narrow waist and long legs. The collar of the inner shirt was fastened at the top with a brown, leopard-spotted tie, creating a striking contrast with the austere restraint of the jacket. The overall tone was dark and deep, which made her skin look coldly pale as porcelain glaze. She wore no superfluous jewelry, only a square-dial watch with a leather strap on her left wrist. The whole of her was like a blade drawn from its sheath. Her nose was high and straight, sliding smoothly down from between her brows, the tip pressing down slightly, refined and cool.
Even more striking were her eyes, pupils shaded beneath lashes thick as raven feathers. If she simply stood there without speaking, one would drown in them as if pulled into a whirlpool.
Cheng Le knew Jiang Yi was good-looking, but dressed up like this she was simply stunning. In the past, apart from white, Jiang had always favored darker colors. Though wine red was also a dark shade, it made her skin look coldly white as jade. As expected, beautiful people looked good in anything, she was dazzling, again and again. Cheng Le suppressed the amazement in her eyes.
Honestly, Jiang and Shen actually made a well-matched pair in looks, in temperament, even in personality. But she could only ship them silently; the relationship between the two was still like a veil of gauze, not yet at that stage.
Besides, Shen liked wearing red, and Jiang was wearing red today too. Rounding it off, how could that not count as couple outfits? Cheng Le could barely suppress the hidden smile at the corner of her mouth.
Jiang Yi was tall, and the car interior was somewhat cramped, with another car following behind. She instinctively bent down and sat beside Shen Siyao. The scent of ebony agarwood mixed with rose lingered in the air around the two of them. Perhaps the air had grown a little heated; Shen Siyao turned her head to the right, looking out the window, then looked at her through the glass. The atmosphere grew tense. After a long moment, she slowly turned her head back and looked at her again, offering a single comment: “Hmph. A wolf in scholar’s clothing.” Shen Siyao had been narrowing her eyes from the moment Jiang came out, looking her up and down dozens of times, and only looked away once she got in the car.
Jiang Yi felt fairly satisfied: “…Not good-looking? Then I’ll go change?” She thought the outfit was actually fine business meetings called for something more formal, and naturally she couldn’t afford to embarrass Shen Siyao.
So she went and changed everything, top to bottom. Shen Siyao couldn’t take it anymore; she couldn’t catch her breath: “Do you have no clear understanding of yourself?”
That remark was tantamount to doubting Shen Siyao’s taste, after all, what she’d fallen for back then wasn’t just Jiang Yi as a person; she liked her face too. Shen Siyao simply couldn’t understand why she had to dress up so beautifully, like a peacock fanning its tail. It would affect her judgment and her train of thought.
All Jiang Yi’s fault.
Jiang Yi understood, so she still looked good. Then she was relieved: “That’s good. As long as you’re satisfied.”
The way she said it, as if she wouldn’t wear it if Shen Siyao weren’t satisfied. Shen Siyao’s lips curved slightly before she forced the smile down: “Did you bring glasses?”
Jiang Yi pulled a pair of glasses from her inner pocket, gilded and exquisitely made. Shen Siyao’s eyelid twitched; thinking of how Jiang Yi looked in glasses, she forcefully suppressed her irritation: “Are you nearsighted?”
Jiang Yi thought for a moment. “A little, but it’s fine. If I’m looking at screens for a long time I’ll wear them, but not day to day.”
Shen Siyao understood. Recalling how Jiang Yi looked in glasses in her memory, she pressed her lips together slightly. “Book a private room.” Worried she hadn’t made herself clear enough, she repeated, “No glasses tonight.” It wasn’t that she wanted to keep Jiang Yi from attracting any messy romantic attention, purely because it would be a hassle, definitely not for any other reason!
Jiang Yi hid the smile lurking in her eyes and nodded, plain and clear.
Shen Siyao wondered if she was being too bossy, so she thought it over and added, “But you can wear them now, and take them off when we get there.” It wasn’t that she wanted to see.
Though the car’s interior was brightly lit, putting on glasses would look a little odd, but Jiang Yi showed no confusion at all. She curved her fingers and put them on. “Is this all right?” The fine, thread-like metal frames gleamed with a cold hardness, fitting against the woman’s straight nose bridge and delicate jawline, carrying that innate, aloof unapproachability of someone in a position of power yet at this moment, those calm, still peach-blossom eyes shimmered faintly with warmth, more like the doting obedience of a pet.
When Shen Siyao looked at her, she let out a small, sharp hiss of breath, but with the two of them seated side by side, the sound carried all too close. Jiang Yi could hear her clearly. The eldest Miss Shen offered her verdict once more: ” That’s cheating.”
Shen Siyao was, truly and thoroughly, a sucker for looks. Her heart lost its rhythm, pulse racing into disarray, her head filled with the image from just now, the woman’s lips curving slightly as she leaned close, that cool face framed by gold-rimmed glasses.
If Jiang Yi wanted to kiss her, she would have no way to refuse. But Jiang Yi hadn’t. The tension fermented before her eyes, the scent of oud and ebony nearly enveloping her. Shen Siyao felt her heart tangle into knots, her cheeks flushing warm. Amid their mingled breaths, she wanted to close her eyes at barely a dragonfly’s-skim distance, the car suddenly stopped, breaking that 0.001 frequency. But she didn’t move, and in the silent cabin came a faint, suppressed sound of swallowing. Jiang Yi was holding herself back.
Shen Siyao felt a flash of irritation. What was she waiting for? Even that single second of hesitation and suddenly she didn’t want her to kiss her anymore. Jiang Yi’s gaze shifted away and stilled, the dazed frequency between them pulled apart.
Shen Siyao’s cheeks were warm. Before Cheng Le could open the door, she got out of the car first, annoyed at her own lack of self-control and at Jiang Yi’s hesitation.
And, if you looked closely, a little flustered too.
Jiang Yi silently took off her glasses, not forgetting their agreement. A faint bitterness welled up in her lowered eyes, she had almost failed to hold back just now, had almost, as if possessed, kissed her.
So was that why Yaoyao was angry?
Cheng Le’s emotions were on a roller coaster in her seat. Though Assistant Cheng appeared outwardly calm, her heart was pounding, she’d caught just a sliver of it through the rearview mirror but inside she had already twisted herself into a pretzel. And just as she was one hair’s breadth away from setting off firecrackers in her head, it stopped.
The moment the driver stopped the car, he suddenly wondered why Assistant Cheng was looking at him like she wanted to kill him. The back of his neck went cold. What had he done wrong?
Two people’s romance, a one-person show for four.
By the time they arrived at the private room, Shen Siyao had done her best to compose herself so no one could tell anything was off. Jiang Yi arrived last, walking in behind everyone. Shen Siyao was seated with Cheng Le beside her, and she had only just sat down.
The translator Cheng Le had brought plopped herself down right at Shen’s left hand side. Cheng Le didn’t know any of the Swiss languages either, so having a translator along was just in case.
And sure enough, seeing the four blue-eyed men across the table with their broad cheeks, deep brow ridges, and chiseled features, the babbling foreign tongue came in handy, the other side hadn’t brought a translator either.
Jiang Yi, who had been stepping forward, stopped in her tracks. She didn’t go up, intending to find a seat in some corner instead. Shen Siyao’s temper flared up at once, and she shot a glance over with what seemed like impatience: “What are you dawdling for? Come over here, now.” Did she not know she was supposed to follow behind her? Or was she waiting to be invited? After Shen Siyao had already made such a forward move, Jiang Yi was still dragging her feet. Shen Siyao already felt her pride was somewhat at stake, and now Jiang Yi actually dared to sit so far away from her.