“Not at your beck and call?”
Rong Jingchen didn’t respond. He reached over and turned off the bedside lamp.
The room went dark.
Xu Jingshuang thought she wouldn’t be able to sleep.
A strange man lying beside her—someone she’d known for less than a week, been married to for less than a day, and shared a bed with for less than two hours. By all logic, she should have been wide awake. But she was just too exhausted.
From the moment she’d flown back from London, the jet lag still hadn’t fully worn off. Calling off the engagement, negotiating the partnership, then being told she was to marry Rong Jingchen, then getting the marriage certificate, moving house, packing up her things. Her body was tired, and so was her mind.
She didn’t know when she’d fallen asleep. All she knew was that in the last few seconds before her consciousness faded, she felt a hand reach over from outside the blanket and tug the corner of it up a little higher.
Rong Jingchen wasn’t asleep.
He turned onto his side, one hand pillowed under his head, watching the woman lying with her back to him. She was fast asleep, her breathing long and even. Sleeping so completely unguarded, exposing herself fully to the hunter, with no idea that danger was right beside her—and truly no idea what she’d done wrong.
She’d stirred him up until he was left hanging, then with a casual “my period came,” she’d patted her behind and run off to the bathroom, leaving him sitting by the bed for ages, eventually forced to take a cold shower. And yet there she was, sleeping so peacefully.
Her scent lingered at the tip of his nose. It wasn’t the body wash he used—it was her own, peach-scented, sweet and soft.
His mind wandered. He lay flat again and closed his eyes.
He was hardly some impulsive young man in his early twenties anymore. Thirty years of life—what storms hadn’t he weathered, what temptations hadn’t he faced? In the elite circles of North City, women throwing themselves at him were hardly rare, and he couldn’t even be bothered to lift an eyelid.
And yet here he was, stirred up by a young lady like this, his heart fluttering like a boy experiencing his first crush.
Nine in the morning, Jianshan Tea Headquarters.
A black Bentley pulled up slowly at the entrance of the building. The driver got out and opened the door. High heels touched the ground as Xu Jingshuang stepped out of the car—a light apricot silk blouse paired with a matching high-waisted midi skirt, her long hair loosely gathered at the nape of her neck, with two strands of loose hair falling by her ears.
Sunlight fell over her, and she was as radiant as a painting.
The executive team waiting at the entrance immediately came forward.
“President Xu.”
“Good morning, President Xu.”
“Welcome back to the company officially, President Xu.”
Greetings rose one after another.
Xu Jingshuang gave a slight nod, a perfectly measured smile on her face—composed and graceful.
But no one knew that beneath that pretty face, she was still a bit sleepy. She’d been up until the middle of the night—more precisely, she’d been too frightened by a certain Mr. Rong to sleep soundly at all.
At the thought, Xu Jingshuang’s ears began to heat up again, and certain images uncontrollably flashed through her mind.
The man’s dark eyes as he leaned over, the low, husky voice by her ear, and that overwhelmingly aggressive sense of pressure.
Where had she found the nerve last night? Had she gotten her head stuck in a door, or been possessed by something unclean? She’d only meant to tease him to save face, and she’d nearly ended up in over her head. Thank goodness her period had come just in time—otherwise, she might not have been able to get out of bed this morning at all.
…
Stop.
She couldn’t think about it anymore. If she kept going, she wouldn’t get any work done today.
She quickly pulled her thoughts back and walked into the lobby in her high heels. Even though it was Saturday, for her, the difference between weekends and weekdays was minimal—after all, there was still real business to handle.
A massive brand logo hung in the center of the lobby—Jianshan, taken from the saying: “See the mountain as a mountain, see the water as water.” This was the name his grandfather, Elder Gu, had settled on when he founded the brand in his youth.
Over more than twenty years, Jianshan had grown from a small tea factory into a nationally renowned tea enterprise. But in recent years, changes in the industry environment, combined with strategic missteps, had left the company far worse off than before.
Thinking of that string of glaring numbers on the financial statements, Xu Jingshuang’s gaze darkened slightly.
Top floor, CEO’s office.
When the door was pushed open, Xu Jingshuang paused mid-step.
The office was enormous, over a hundred square meters. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the North City CBD. The desk was dark walnut, and behind it hung a handwritten piece of calligraphy.
[Jianshan]
The strokes were vigorous and powerful—Elder Gu’s handwriting.
Xu Jingshuang stood there staring for a long time, and suddenly felt a sense of daze.
As a child, she had loved running to her grandfather’s office. Back then, Elder Gu would always teach her to identify tea. What aroma Longjing had, how white tea should be drunk. The little girl couldn’t understand any of it—she only knew how to hold the teacup and say it was bitter.
The secretary gently reminded her: “President Xu?”
Xu Jingshuang snapped back to attention: “Is the meeting room ready?”
“It’s ready.”
“The executive meeting starts at ten.”
“Alright.”
She took off her coat, walked behind the desk, and sat down. The next second, three full stacks of documents appeared on the desktop.
Xu Jingshuang: “…”
The secretary maintained her smile: “These are all documents that require your signature and approval today.”
Xu Jingshuang stared at the pile of documents, somewhat doubting life itself. When she was studying abroad, she had always thought being a CEO was cool—sign some papers every day, attend some meetings, drink some coffee, and easily earn ten million a year.
Now it seemed television dramas really were all lies.
At ten in the morning, the meeting officially began. The atmosphere in the conference room was oppressive.
Various data kept flashing onto the projection screen—declining revenue, shrinking channels, store closures, inventory pileup.
No one in the conference room spoke. Everyone was observing this newly appointed young President Xu. After all, in many people’s eyes, she was too young—twenty-three years old, returned from studying abroad. Her résumé and her person were beautiful enough, but no one knew about her abilities.
The screen switched to the last page, and the finance director’s voice grew quieter and quieter: “Based on current projections, if there’s no new capital injection, the company’s cash flow will face serious problems within five months at the earliest.”
All eyes simultaneously fell on the head seat.
Xu Jingshuang flipped through the materials without speaking. After half a minute, she gently closed the file.
“So…” She raised her eyes. “What are everyone’s solutions?”
No one dared to answer.
These problems had existed for too long. What Jianshan lacked now wasn’t solutions—it was money. Large amounts of money. And as it happened, that was the hardest problem to solve.
The silence lasted several seconds.
The girl suddenly smiled: “Don’t be nervous. I’m not here to assign blame today. Past problems have already happened. What I want is the future.”
Everyone in the conference room was slightly taken aback.
“Starting today, all store data is to be reorganized. The online channel will form its own project team. Give me a plan for the inventory issue within three days. And also…”
She paused, her gaze sweeping over everyone.
“I don’t like internal friction, and I dislike passing the buck even more. Whoever has ability, steps up. Whoever doesn’t, submits their own resignation.” Her voice wasn’t loud, yet it silenced the entire conference room.
Quite a few people’s expressions changed. This young heiress seemed different from what they had imagined.