Du Youling added one more line: “No need to be too moved. There’s a long road ahead—you’ll get used to it in time.”
“Just put it there.”
“…Huh? That’s it? You could at least say ‘thank you, Du Youling,’ right? No wait, calling me by my full name is too formal. Just call me Youling. ‘Thanks, Youling’—you can manage that, can’t you?”
Mu Linjiang didn’t take the bait. He reached over and pressed the intercom: “Chen—”
“Stop!”
Du Youling was quick as a flash, slapping her palm directly over his face.
“Fine, I won’t say anything else, okay? Don’t kick me out!” She pulled her hand back and made a surrender gesture. “I’ll shut up. I’ll just sit here quietly and absolutely won’t disturb your work. Don’t call Secretary Chen, alright?”
Mu Linjiang’s hand still hovered above the intercom button. Seeing that he hadn’t moved, Du Youling immediately grabbed his hand and placed it back on the desk, then plopped herself back into the chair, hands on her knees, back straight as a rod—the picture of a model student.
“I’m seated. You review your documents, I’ll admire you reviewing your documents. We won’t interfere with each other. And even if you find me an eyesore, there’s no way I’m leaving!”
Mu Linjiang’s expression remained utterly unruffled. He picked up his pen again and lowered his head to review the documents.
Du Youling gave herself a mental high-five.
She propped her chin on her hand and began admiring Mu Linjiang at work.
Long lashes, large hands with well-defined knuckles, and brows and eyes that nothing in the world could stir.
But handsome as he was, even ten minutes of staring would cause aesthetic fatigue—let alone the fact that he treated her like air the entire time.
Du Youling let out a silent sigh and mentally cursed this old man eight hundred times over.
She’d lived twenty-four years. Her suitors might not have queued from Haicheng to France, but they’d at least queued up to New York!
When had she ever been reduced to sitting on a cold bench in some man’s office? And the worst part was, she’d insisted on staying on that cold bench herself—she didn’t even have the right to complain.
But then again, nothing in her life had ever scared her more than a challenge.
Du Ningyang had been suppressing her for twenty-four years and she’d never caved. Was she really going to give up just because Mu Linjiang had coldly rejected her time and time again?
She shifted positions, propped her cheek on her hand, and stared at Mu Linjiang with complete focus.
The scratch of the pen sounded in a steady rhythm as sunlight streamed through the window.
Du Youling’s eyelids began to droop.
She’d stayed up until three in the morning last night researching the North City Port, then dragged herself out of bed at six to pick up the red roses—three hours of sleep, tops.
Now, sitting in a climate-controlled room with the white noise of regular page-turning in her ears, drowsiness hit her all at once.
She tried forcing her eyes open several times, even secretly pinching her own thigh, but nothing worked.
Thump.
Her head dropped straight onto the desk, sending a tiny ripple across the surface of the Longjing tea on the table.
The pen on the desk stopped. Mu Linjiang looked up.
There was Du Youling, face-down on the desk, arms sprawled on either side of her head like she’d been executed by firing squad.
The man watched for a moment, then pressed the intercom, his voice a few degrees lower than usual: “Bring a blanket in.”
“Yes, Mr. Mu.”
A minute later, Secretary Chen pushed the door open softly, a thin blanket in hand.
His gaze swept across the office, and when he spotted Du Youling passed out cold on the desk, he pushed up his glasses.
By then, Mu Linjiang had gathered a few important documents and was walking out from behind the desk.
He said to Secretary Chen, “Cover her with it.”
Secretary Chen understood immediately and draped the blanket over Du Youling.
In her sleep, Du Youling stirred, mumbled something unintelligible, burrowed her face deeper into the blanket, and sank back into a deep slumber.
The sound was something like: “Mu Linjiang, you just wait.” But the pronunciation was too slurred for Secretary Chen to be sure he’d heard it right.
Mu Linjiang stood at the door. “Go to the small conference room and have Legal join us. There’s a problem with the due diligence drafts for North City Port—I need to re-examine the timeline.”
“Yes, sir.” Secretary Chen followed Mu Linjiang out of the office.
Several hours later, Du Youling woke up choking on her own saliva.
She jerked her head up, stiff in the chair. “Ow… my poor little waist!”
She raised a hand to pound her lower back and looked around.
The office was quiet. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the sky had shifted from bright daylight to the warm gold of early evening. The seat behind the desk was empty.
“Huh? Where is everyone?”
Du Youling grabbed her phone and saw she’d been asleep for that long.
But where had Mu Linjiang gone? Had he just left her here all alone and taken off?
She walked out of the office toward the elevator, hoping to find someone to ask where Mu Linjiang was, when she rounded the corner of the hallway and collided head-on with someone.
“Hey—”
The other person immediately reached out to steady her shoulders. Du Youling looked up, and her chin lifted at once.
“Youling?”
Mu Jingyao’s eyes flickered with surprise at seeing her emerge from the CEO’s office.
Du Youling lifted her chin. “Hmm, you’re here to see Mu Linjiang?”
Before Mu Jingyao could nod, Du Youling immediately glared at him. “You’re not here as Du Ningyang’s spy, are you? Last time you leaked news about me pursuing Mu Linjiang to her, and I haven’t even settled that score with you yet!”
Du Youling launched into a full-force tirade. “Do you know what matters most in a relationship? It’s mystery! It’s novelty! It’s not about turning everything you know into gossip material to discuss at the dinner table! Can you and Du Ningyang have some sense of boundaries?”
Mu Jingyao was caught between laughter and tears at her rapid-fire barrage, raising both hands in a gesture of surrender. “Youling, last time I only mentioned that you were also at the Listening Wind Tea House, and then Ningyang figured it out on her own. I just didn’t deny it—”
“Not denying is betraying! Silence makes you an accomplice! From now on, if you ever see me with Mu Linjiang again, you’re not allowed to tip off Du Ningyang. Otherwise, once I become your aunt-in-law, the first thing I’ll do is make life difficult for you. Got it?”
Mu Jingyao looked at her spirited, determined expression, and the curve of his lips carried half helplessness and half concern.
“Youling, I know you’ve been stubborn since you were little—once you’ve set your mind on something, even ten oxen couldn’t drag you back. But Uncle isn’t someone you can just not fear and he won’t hurt you. Some harm isn’t necessarily aimed at you, but as long as you stand by his side, the bullets won’t pass you by.”
Du Youling’s expression paused for a moment, then she said nonchalantly, “If the bullets won’t pass me by, then I’ll just take the hit.”
Mu Jingyao shook his head. “There’s no need to gamble your whole life away just to compete with Ningyang.”
He withdrew his hands and took a step back, making a gesture of farewell, but before leaving, he added one more line. “Still, from what I know of Uncle, the fact that he let you into his office already shows he’s more accommodating than usual. You should handle things carefully yourself—don’t end up getting yourself caught in the crossfire.”