Jiang You dashed back to the company like the wind.
As soon as she walked through the doors, her coworker Xiao Lin rushed over with a “you’re doomed” expression.
“Jiang You! Director Qin wants you in the main conference room! She said President Wen specifically called for you to give the new product development report!”
Jiang You almost dropped the coffee in her cup. “President Wen? Wen Shaonian?”
“Is there a second President Wen in the entire corporate group? Hurry, hurry, hurry! Director Qin said your Dream Oscillator sales dropped last time, and President Wen is probably here today to settle accounts!”
Jiang You’s mind went blank.
Wen Shaonian.
The CEO of Shaohua Group and a famously icy decision-maker in the industry.
During every weekly all-hands meeting, this person could tear their design department’s proposals to shreds: “Lacking common sense,” “Zero user experience,” “Were you using your brain when you designed this?” Last week was even more ruthless, as she said directly in the meeting: “Team Leader Jiang, if you keep trying to fool us with this perfunctory stuff, the design department can consider replacing you.”
The entire conference room had fallen into absolute silence at that moment.
Jiang You had wished she could crawl into a crack in the ground.
And now, this cold-faced Yama was actually visiting the design department in person?
And she specifically asked to see Jiang You’s proposal?
“I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead.” Jiang You frantically rummaged through her design drafts, when she suddenly remembered something and her face turned pale. Yesterday, while modifying the data for the Partner-Adaptive Soothing Ring, she had made a typo on one of the parameters, and she hadn’t had a chance to fix it yet.
She had typed 37 instead of 3.7.
A world of difference.
If Wen Shaonian were to see that…
“Director Qin told me to rush you! Hurry up!” Xiao Lin urged, pushing her.
“I need to go to the restroom first!”
“Stop pretending! Get your proposal and let’s go!”
Dragged and pulled all the way by Xiao Lin, Jiang You ran in small, hurried steps right up to the door of the main conference room. The door was ajar, and Director Qin’s voice drifted out: “President Wen, these are the latest projects from our department. Please take a look first.”
A cold, crisp female voice rang out: “Where is Jiang You’s?”
Jiang You’s legs turned to jelly.
That voice was thirty percent cold and seventy percent oppressive.
She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Pushing the door open, she saw Director Qin, two design team leaders, and Wen Shaonian sitting in the conference room.
Wen Shaonian was wearing a black suit jacket over a white shirt, her hair twisted into a neat bun. With a completely expressionless face, she projected a noble and aloof aura. Sitting at the head of the table, she flipped through the proposals without even lifting her eyelids.
Jiang You subconsciously shrank her neck, not out of fear.
Fine, maybe a little out of fear.
How should I put it, Wen Shaonian was simply the kind of person who made you want to stand at attention the moment you saw her.
It wasn’t because she had a bad temper, but because she was too cold.
That coldness wasn’t an act of deliberate pretense, but something born deep in her bones. Standing there without doing a thing, she could make anyone feel an invisible sense of oppression.
Trying hard to maintain a facade of shock, Jiang You swallowed hard and said, “Hello, President Wen.”
“Sit.”
A single word: concise and powerful.
Jiang You obediently sat down, placing her proposal on the table while her palms broke out in a sweat.
Wen Shaonian continued flipping through the pages. When she reached a certain page, her fingers suddenly paused.
Jiang You’s heart leaped into her throat.
One second, three seconds, five seconds.
Wen Shaonian abruptly closed the proposal and looked up at her.
That gaze was like an X-ray, capable of scanning a person completely from inside out.
“Come with me to my office.”
With that, she stood up, her high heels clicking crisply against the floor, and walked away without looking back.
She left everyone in the conference room staring at each other in blank dismay.
Director Qin asked quietly, “Did you tick her off again recently?”
Jiang You felt like crying without tears: “I did not!”
Another team leader gloated, “She’s probably going to fire you.”
Jiang You: “Can you say something nice?”
“Wish you luck?”
“…”
Resigned to her fate, Jiang You stood up and walked out of the conference room in despair.
As she passed the design department’s workstations, Xiao Lin gave her an encouraging thumbs-up and mouthed, “Come back alive.”
Jiang You mouthed back, “I’ll try.”
Returning to her workstation, Jiang You grabbed the new design documents and, carrying a determination to face death, waited desolately for the elevator.
The CEO’s office was located on the thirty-sixth floor of the headquarters building. Naturally, the big boss of the corporate group had a dedicated VIP elevator. No doubt their icy boss had already returned to her office by now, seated regally in her chair and waiting to settle accounts with her.
The more she thought about it, the more hopeless Jiang You felt, lamenting her own terrible luck. Normally, she would never make such a low-level mistake, but with so many things going on at home lately, she had inevitably slipped up while busy, never imagining she would be caught red-handed by the boss under such coincidental circumstances.
Meanwhile, the elevator, which always felt agonizingly slow during regular workdays, arrived blindingly fast this time, stopping after just a few seconds.
Resigned to her fate, Jiang You stepped inside, counting the floors one by one as every second felt like sheer torment.
When the elevator finally stopped at the thirty-sixth floor, she took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and stepped out.
The CEO’s office occupied an entire floor, and the president’s office staff had already been notified, so no one stopped Jiang You.
An assistant who interacted with Jiang You quite frequently gave her a sympathetic look and whispered, “Be careful. The president seems to be in a terrible mood. I heard her losing her temper on the phone just now.”
This plunged Jiang You into even deeper despair.
She stood at the door, took three deep breaths, and finally reached out to knock.
“Come in.”
A voice so cold it made one shiver.
Jiang You pushed the door open with the resolve of someone heading to their execution. The office was much larger than she had imagined.
Floor-to-ceiling windows occupied almost an entire wall, offering a view of the city’s skyline outside. The desk was a minimalist black, topped with two monitors and a stack of documents. Wen Shaonian was sitting in the executive chair signing papers without even lifting her head.
A faint trace of cold plum blossom fragrance hung in the air.
The scent of pheromones.
It was suppressed so heavily by a strong inhibitor that it was barely noticeable, lingering only as a faint trace for anyone who got close.
Jiang You stood in front of the desk, not daring to speak, and waited nervously for a full minute.
Until Wen Shaonian finally put down her pen and looked up at her.
Their eyes met.
Jiang You immediately and cowardly averted her gaze, not daring to look directly at the other person.
“Sit.”
Jiang You obediently sat down in the chair opposite. The chair was very soft, but she only dared to sit on the front third of it.
Wen Shaonian pulled a document from her drawer and pushed it across the desk.
Jiang You looked down: Marriage Agreement.
She froze, wondering if she had been frightened out of her wits.
If Wen Shaonian was going to hand her something, shouldn’t it be a notice of termination? What on earth was a marriage agreement?
Dazed, Jiang You rubbed her eyes and reread it several times in disbelief, finally confirming that it really was a marriage agreement.
She was completely dumbfounded, asking blankly, “President Wen, what is this?”
“My mother is forcing me to marry under threat of death,” Wen Shaonian interrupted, her tone as calm as if she were reading a financial report. “I heard you were just dumped and your family went bankrupt, leaving you in a very poor financial situation. If we get married, it’s a win-win.”
Jiang You’s brain crashed.
“?”
What?
Wait.
What was this person, who tore her proposals to shreds every week at all-hands meetings, talking about?
Marriage?
Win-win?
She must have misheard.
“President Wen, I…” Jiang You opened her mouth, “I don’t quite understand what you mean.”
Wen Shaonian looked at her expressionlessly, like an employee who hadn’t understood an instruction.
“Literally. You are an Alpha, and I am an Omega. You need money, and I need a marriage. Each takes what they need.”
“When did I say I needed money?” Jiang You subconsciously retorted.
Without a word, Wen Shaonian pulled a sheet of paper from her drawer and pushed it forward.
It was an investigation report.
Jiang You looked down, her pupils contracting slightly.
It clearly listed her current financial situation: the debt apportionment after the Jiang family’s bankruptcy, her mother’s monthly living expenses, her older sister Jiang Tang’s credit card bills, and the monthly rent for the old apartment she currently rented.
“You support your entire family, but your sister and mother currently have no source of income,” Wen Shaonian recited in a flat tone. “The Jiang family’s villa has been sold, your father is still running around outside trying to make investments, and you are single-handedly carrying the living expenses of three people. You were dumped because the other party thought your pheromones were of inferior grade, and the five hundred thousand medical fund Qin Mingyue gave you was immediately transferred to your sister to pay off her credit card debts.”
Jiang You gripped the paper, her knuckles turning slightly white.
This person had investigated her.
Not only investigated, but practically turned her inside out.
“You can look over the agreement first; there’s no rush.” Wen Shaonian leaned back into her chair, picked up the coffee cup on her desk, and took a sip.
Jiang You opened the agreement.
Article 1: The marriage shall last for three years, after which it can be dissolved.
Article 2: Wen Shaonian will provide post-marital housing, a riverside luxury mansion, and help Jiang You’s parents pay off their debts.
Article 3: Jiang You will receive one percent of the company’s shares, and her annual salary will be doubled.
Article 4: Neither party shall interfere in the other’s private life.
Article 5: During the marriage, neither party shall engage in emotional or physical relationships with others.
Article 6: Allowed provisions.
Article 7: Additional provisions.
Jiang You flipped page after page. When she reached Article 8, her pupils shrank.
Article 8: Both parties promise not to disclose their marital relationship in any form within Shaohua Group, to maintain normal superior-subordinate interactions in daily work, and not to disrupt the company’s administrative order. Anyone who violates this agreement shall pay a penalty of ten million.
“This is…” Jiang You pointed at Article 8, “A concealed marriage?”
“I hate trouble.” Wen Shaonian put down her coffee cup. “If people in the company find out, countless eyes will be watching us, and rumors and gossip will affect work efficiency.”
Efficiency.
Efficiency again.
Wen Shaonian’s life credo was probably efficiency first.
Jiang You flipped further back and saw the final clause: breach of contract penalty, ten million.
Ten million.
She wouldn’t save that much even if she didn’t eat or drink for a lifetime.
Of course, she wasn’t worried about being scammed out of it either; after all, a dignified CEO wouldn’t stoop to swindling her out of ten million.
“President Wen, may I ask a question?”
“Speak.”
“Why me?”
Wen Shaonian raised her eyes to look at her, seemingly weighing her words. “You are quieter than those buzzing bees and butterflies.”
Buzzing bees and butterflies.
Jiang You thought of the rumors about Wen Shaonian around the company. It was said that the Alphas pursuing her could line up from the top floor all the way down to the lobby, sending flowers, sending designer bags, sending sports cars, and some even directly releasing pheromones trying to attract her.
As a result, Wen Shaonian had security guards throw all of them out on the grounds of disrupting office order.
“Also,” Wen Shaonian added, “your pheromone rank is inferior.”
The corner of Jiang You’s twitching mouth: “Is that a compliment?”
“To me, it is.” Wen Shaonian rarely revealed a hint of a smile, which was very intriguing. “I won’t have uncontrollable reactions because of your pheromones. It’s safe.”
Safe.
Inwardly, Jiang You translated: Because you’re a useless Alpha, you won’t pose a threat to me.
Although it was true, hearing it said to her face still stung a little.
Jiang You bit her lip and said in a small voice, “I have one more question.”
“Speak.”
“The agreement doesn’t mention physiological needs.”
Wen Shaonian raised an eyebrow slightly, seemingly not expecting her to bring that up.
“That can be discussed later,” Wen Shaonian said. “Let’s resolve the marital status issue first.”
Jiang You fell silent for a moment, quickly doing the math in her head: her mother’s living expenses, her sister’s credit card debt, the remaining scattered debts of the Jiang family. All these problems could be solved at once.
And one percent of the shares, so much money, money she couldn’t earn in a lifetime, no, ten lifetimes.
Besides…
She stole a glance at Wen Shaonian. She had to admit, the woman was genuinely stunning. Not the fragile, delicate kind of beauty, but someone with superb bone structure, a cold and elegant temperament, and an appearance that made an impression at first glance.
If she could marry someone like this, wouldn’t looking at her every day while eating meals actually mean she wasn’t losing out?
“I’ll sign it.”
Gritting her teeth, Jiang You took the pen and signed her name on the final page.
Wen Shaonian took the agreement, glanced at it, and put it away in a drawer.
Then she took a key from another drawer and pushed it across the table.
“Move in tomorrow. The wedding is next week, and only family will be invited.”
“So fast?”
“My mother is coming back from abroad next week,” Wen Shaonian said. “She wants to see you.”
Jiang You suddenly felt a bit nervous: “Is your mom easy to get along with?”
Wen Shaonian looked at her with an expression that suggested she had just heard a very stupid question.
“No.”
“Then why are you making me go?”
“That’s why you need to prepare.” Wen Shaonian stood up, signaling that she could leave. “Remember Article 8 of the agreement. In the company, we are merely superiors and subordinates. Disclosing our relationship is strictly prohibited.”
“Understood.”
Jiang You stood up, her legs feeling a bit weak, but she still gritted her teeth and asked, “President Wen. Um… you mentioned earlier that physiological needs can be discussed later. When exactly is later?”
She was genuinely afraid that her sugar mommy would look down on her because of her pheromones and shatter her already pulverized self-esteem all over again.
Wen Shaonian looked up at her, her gaze like ice.
“Wait until you fix the data for that Soothing Ring first. You typed 3.7 as 37, where were your eyes?”
Jiang You: “…”
She knew it, that data error had indeed been discovered.
“I’ll go fix it right now!” Jiang You declared, quickly pulling the door open and fleeing.