After saying that sentence, for some reason, Tang Ning suddenly felt a chill run down her back.
Sheng Xinglai slowly covered her eyes. Jian Wei didn’t dare look directly at President Tang’s face.
Tang Ning touched the back of her neck, puzzled: “What’s wrong?”
No one dared make a sound. Fu Caicai’s face suddenly turned red. She tentatively raised her hand to greet: “Jiang Linye…?”
After their student days ended, she rarely had the chance to see him up close like this again. Financial magazines and TV interviews always felt separated by mountains and rivers.
Seeing the real person made her heart race even more. He seemed even more handsome than she remembered. Time had stripped away the youth’s immaturity; the man now carried a powerful presence and a steady, mature aura.
Hearing that name, Tang Ning jolted.
Are you kidding me? Why does this always happen?
But Jiang Linye completely ignored Fu Caicai.
He frowned slightly, a trace of impatience in his low voice as he called: “Tang Ning.”
The guilty little wife flinched violently and spun around instantly.
Her eyes widened in disbelief, looking exactly like a student caught skipping class by the dean.
Jiang Linye took a deep breath and cursed loudly in his heart: Fuck. Why does she always look so damn cute at the worst possible moments?
The urge to lose his temper vanished in an instant. He spoke concisely: “Get in the car.”
Tang Ning hurriedly: “Oh oh, okay.”
Jiang Linye strode back to the Maybach. Fu Caicai chased after him in a few steps: “Jiang Linye!”
He turned his head, face full of displeasure, eyes showing clear confusion.
Fu Caicai was breathing lightly, stopping in front of him with anticipation written all over her face: “It’s been so long since I last saw you. How have you been lately? I heard you went abroad after high school graduation. Isn’t starting a business very tough? Next class reunion, can I invite—”
“Miss.” Jiang Linye had listened to her ramble for a while with a furrowed brow, quickly losing patience. “Do we know each other?”
The smile on Fu Caicai’s face froze. She hurriedly explained: “I’m that Fu Caicai from online a while ago… you know, the pet blogger who raises two viral little dogs. You had your assistant come to—”
“Oh. I don’t have time to talk business right now. Go find Chen Liangjun.” Jiang Linye glanced at his watch, clearly impatient. “I’m taking my wife to lunch. Excuse me.”
With that, he decisively opened the car door and got in.
He glanced sideways and frowned again: “You can’t even fasten a seatbelt?”
Tang Ning had been fumbling around for ages and still couldn’t find the retractor. Hearing this, she instantly felt like giving up: “I’ve never ridden in your car before. It’s too high-class, okay?”
Jiang Linye’s brows knitted slightly. He leaned over toward her.
The inside of his palm brushed past her ear. Whether intentional or not, when he pulled the seatbelt down, his hand grazed her forearm.
For a moment they were very close. Tang Ning felt his warm breath and couldn’t help holding her own.
The faint scent of linglingxiang beans (零陵香豆 – a warm, slightly sweet, hay-like fragrance) touched her and then was gone.
Fu Caicai was still leaning at the car window chattering: “You really don’t remember me? In high school I was in the class next to yours, I was the one who—”
She didn’t finish.
Jiang Linye straightened up, eyes forward, foot pressing the accelerator. The engine roared. The Maybach shot forward like an arrow released from the bow.
Fu Caicai was startled and stumbled back a step.
By the time she reacted, the car was already far away.
Under the clear autumn sky, a business card slowly floated down in front of her.
Chen Liangjun’s name card.
The scenery outside the window flashed by rapidly.
Tang Ning asked curiously: “Why did you drive here yourself today?”
Jiang Linye was in a bad mood. He had come full of tender feelings to pick her up for lunch, wanting to see if she was hurt, only to find out she was already planning to inherit his estate.
So his face was cold: “I ate too much and felt like driving.”
Tang Ning: “…”
She went quiet for a moment, hesitating whether she should explain the whole “inheritance” joke from earlier.
Just the mere thought of “inheritance” made her immediately remember something far more important: “Jiang Linye.”
Jiang Linye’s lips tightened.
“Can I discuss something with you?” She licked her lips, choosing her words carefully. “Look, right now I’m working on smart pet products. Even though I don’t directly handle animals, I’m still basically making tools for them… so obviously I need to understand what small animals actually need, right? That’s why I want to adopt a cat. But whether I adopt or buy one, I definitely have to get the family’s approval first, so…”
Jiang Linye didn’t even take half a second to think. He frowned and cut her off decisively: “No way.”
Tang Ning had extremely severe rhinitis. After they got married, it took more than two years of desensitization treatment before she finally recovered.
He didn’t even dare put thick carpets in the house. Was she insane? A cat?
But she had completely forgotten about that. His tone instantly set her off: “Why the hell not!”
Jiang Linye snorted. “Because in this house, I call the shots.”
“Are you mentally ill? The Qing Dynasty fell how many fucking years ago?” Tang Ning was genuinely shocked. “How are you this feudalistic?”
Jiang Linye remained completely unruffled. “Just stating facts.”
“I don’t care.” Tang Ning threw a tantrum. “I’m definitely getting a cat. If you don’t want to see it, then you can move out yourself.”
Jiang Linye gave a cold laugh. “I’d love to see who ends up moving out.”
Tang Ning was finally pushed over the edge by his attitude: “Are you even human, Jiang Linye?! This is literally my one tiny little hobby and you still have to control it! On what fucking grounds!”
She suddenly felt wronged. She turned away and instructed Jian Wei, who was sitting in the back seat: “This afternoon, go call someone to help me bring the cat home. Listen to me—this is my decision. No discussion needed.”
“Jian Wei.” Jiang Linye’s voice was icy. “Get this straight. Who’s the one paying your salary?”
A normal life assistant would never report their boss’s whereabouts to someone else. Jian Wei was drawing double pay—because Jiang Linye had also hired her.
Tang Ning had known about this from the beginning. She thought Jiang Linye was a pervert for it, but since she had nothing to hide, she never bothered making a fuss.
“Jian Wei.” Tang Ning mimicked his tone perfectly. “Get this straight. Who’s actually your boss?”
Dead silence filled the car. Jian Wei was caught in the middle, completely torn.
After a long pause, she hesitantly spoke up: “I… I really love President Jiang’s money… but… but I love President Tang’s personality even more.”
She tested the waters carefully: “Can I… choose both?”
The car fell silent for half a second.
“You’re fired.”
The voices of the two ruthless capitalists—one male, one female—spoke in perfect unison, eerily overlapping like they’d rehearsed it:
“Report to Africa tomorrow.”
The afternoon CEO summit was being held in the city center, far from the convention center.
Jiang Linye drove into the city, weaving through turns, and surprisingly, the car came to a stop right in front of Affiliated High School’s gate.
Tang Ning, who had already been giving him the silent treatment for half an hour, lit up the moment she saw the school sign: “Why the sudden urge to come back here for food? I thought you’d booked some ridiculously expensive Chinese place.”
Jiang Linye pulled out the keys with a cold laugh: “Changed my mind on the spot. What we eat is up to me.”
Tang Ning: “…”
Even if it’s shit?
She couldn’t be bothered to argue anymore and just followed him out of the car.
It was a weekday, classes were still in session, so the school gates were tightly shut and there weren’t many people around the entrance.
The snack street right next to Affiliated High School was legendary—every mealtime the whole block smelled incredible. Back in the day, Tang Ning had been obsessed with the braised pork here. Later, after they went through several different family chefs, not a single one could recreate that same perfect taste.
She leaned over to look. Five years later, that same little shop was still there: “Can we eat here?”
Jiang Linye: “No. I decide.”
“…Then what are we eating?”
Jiang Linye’s face stayed completely blank: “Braised pork.”
Tang Ning: “…”
She didn’t want to talk to him anymore. She turned and walked up to knock on the door.
The old man who ran the place had bad hearing even back then; now it was much worse. He raised his voice and shouted: “How many people?”
Tang Ning cleared her throat with exaggerated dignity: “Right now I’m the president of ‘TJ Pet Intelligence’ company. In the future I might become the annual economic figure of the year, the most respected innovative entrepreneur, one of China’s most famous businesswomen, a well-known beautiful female entrepreneur, an advanced individual in the implementation of the national intellectual property strategy…”
Old man: “Whoa, so many people?! The shop can’t fit all of you—go somewhere else!”
Tang Ning: “?”
Jiang Linye pressed one hand to his throbbing temple, while the other reached out and grabbed her wrist, face still expressionless: “Two people.”