At eight o’clock in the morning, Sheng Yanqing had already finished a lap around the villa during his morning run.
Having just stepped out of the shower, he wore only a bath towel around his waist, revealing a perfectly sculpted physique with eight-pack abs and overwhelming masculine appeal.
He was drying his short hair with a towel when Chi Ruanli’s call came through.
The moment he answered, her soft, sweet voice sounded from the other end.
“Good morning, President Sheng.”
“Mm, good morning.”
Sheng Yanqing’s tone remained cool and reserved, though there was something unusual hidden beneath the tautness of his voice.
The veins on the hand holding his phone stood out.
Closing his eyes briefly, he waited patiently for a few seconds. When she remained silent, he asked,
“Why are you calling at this hour? Is there something you need?”
Perhaps intimidated by his cold voice, Chi Ruanli replied hesitantly,
“Assistant Jing asked me to call and wake you up.”
By the time she finished speaking, her voice had become so quiet that Sheng Yanqing could barely hear her.
A bead of sweat appeared on his forehead.
His sexy Adam’s apple bobbed.
“Alright, I understand. Thank you.”
For some reason, his voice softened slightly.
That, in turn, made Chi Ruanli feel embarrassed.
She clenched her small hand into a fist, steadied herself, and replied cheerfully,
“You’re welcome, President Sheng. See you at the company.”
After hanging up, Sheng Yanqing mentally greeted all eight generations of Jing Xun’s ancestors.
Looking downward, he found the situation beneath his towel particularly obvious.
Almost the instant Chi Ruanli had spoken, his body had reacted.
Closing his eyes, he cursed under his breath.
This was ridiculous.
Getting a reaction just from someone’s voice?
If word got out, his group of friends would laugh themselves to death.
When he opened his eyes again, helplessness flashed through them.
Turning around, he headed back toward the bathroom to take another shower.
Shengshi Group
Dressed in a black suit embroidered with dark gold stripes, paired with a deep-blue silk shirt and handmade black leather shoes, Sheng Yanqing strode toward the conference room.
Jing Xun and Chi Ruanli followed behind him.
Inside the conference room, Chi Ruanli, wearing slender high heels, was distributing documents to the attending executives.
It was her first time facing so many department heads.
Naturally, she was nervous.
Even her palms had become sweaty.
After finishing the distribution, she hurried back toward her seat.
Unexpectedly, her legs weakened, and she caught her foot on a wrinkle in the carpet.
Just as Chi Ruanli was about to make intimate contact with the floor, Sheng Yanqing, who was closest to her, reached out in time.
“Careful.”
He steadied her.
Unfortunately, his hand happened to land on…
Sheng Yanqing visibly froze for a moment.
Tsk.
Coughing lightly, he quickly withdrew his hand.
In her panic, Chi Ruanli failed to notice anything unusual.
After regaining her balance, two dimples appeared on her cheeks as she sweetly thanked him.
“Thank you, President Sheng.”
“Mm.”
Sheng Yanqing responded in a low voice.
Yet his fingers unconsciously rubbed together afterward.
Across from Chi Ruanli, Jing Xun had witnessed the entire scene.
His gaze drifted to Sheng Yanqing’s face.
One eyebrow lifted slightly.
A meaningful smile curved his lips.
“So? Are you still looking for her?”
After the meeting ended, the two men returned to the president’s office.
One sat behind the executive desk with his eyes closed.
The other lounged lazily on the sofa.
Jing Xun asked the question teasingly.
Sheng Yanqing naturally understood what he meant.
“Of course I’m looking for her. And I need to find her as soon as possible. If you can’t find her, then don’t bother being my assistant anymore.”
“Heh…”
Jing Xun laughed.
“Why do I feel like you’re about to have a new favorite instead?”
After all, he had seen everything.
“President Sheng… touched—”
Before he could finish speaking, a marker pen flew toward him.
Apparently still unsatisfied, Sheng Yanqing’s face darkened.
He grabbed his jacket and dragged Jing Xun straight to a boxing gym.
“B-Big brother, big brother, big brother! No hitting the face!”
“Ow!”
Sheng Yanqing showed no mercy.
A punch landed directly in Jing Xun’s abdomen, forcing him backward repeatedly.
Holding up his hands, Jing Xun surrendered.
“If you keep hitting me, I’m going to die here today.”
“Hah…”
After working up a sweat, all the frustration that had been building inside Sheng Yanqing since morning finally disappeared.
Taking a towel, he wiped away his sweat and rested in place.
“Tsk. You’re using me as a punching bag to vent your anger. That was way too ruthless.”
Jing Xun rubbed his stomach.
Fortunately, Sheng Yanqing had spared his face.
“Where exactly is all this anger coming from?”
Taking a drink of water, Jing Xun asked,
“It can’t be because of what I said, right?”
“Heh. It really is because of you.”
Sheng Yanqing frowned at him.
Jing Xun looked completely bewildered.
“When have I ever needed someone to wake me up?”
At those words, Jing Xun laughed so hard his stomach hurt.
After being classmates for eight years, how could he not know that Sheng Yanqing woke up at six every morning without fail?
Laughing uncontrollably, Jing Xun clutched his stomach.
His ridiculous appearance made Sheng Yanqing frown even more.
Taking a deep breath, Sheng Yanqing sincerely felt that he must have been out of his mind to become friends with such an idiot.
After finally calming down, Jing Xun looked at him teasingly.
“What? You didn’t like it?”
Sheng Yanqing glanced at him without answering.
“Oh, then you liked it too much.”
The amusement in Jing Xun’s voice immediately caused Sheng Yanqing’s brows to furrow.
Jing Xun had known from the beginning that Chi Ruanli was exactly Sheng Yanqing’s type.
Her appearance.
Her figure.
Her voice.
Everything matched his preferences.
“Your brother here is helping you enjoy some benefits. You don’t want them?”
Jing Xun continued probing.
“Fine. I’ll call her right now and tell her she doesn’t need to wake you up anymore starting tomorrow.”
As he spoke, he took out his phone.
Before he could dial, Sheng Yanqing snatched it away and rewarded him with a glare.
Tsk.
What a secretly lovestruck old man.
Taking his phone back, Jing Xun moved closer and carefully examined Sheng Yanqing.
“Old Sheng, you’re sick.”
Turning his head, Sheng Yanqing looked at him as though he were a fool.
“You’ve developed a disease called being in love with two people at once. You have a new favorite, but you’re still searching for your old one.”
Speechless, Sheng Yanqing stood up and tossed the towel directly onto Jing Xun’s head.
A moment later, after some thought, he finally said,
“She resembles the woman from that night.”
“Huh?”
Jing Xun removed the towel.
“How?”
“Her figure and her voice.”
Sheng Yanqing’s voice was low.
“Especially her voice. It sounds almost exactly like that little woman.”
“Can you be certain?”
“No.”
His magnetic voice carried a trace of helplessness.
Jing Xun stepped forward and patted his friend’s shoulder.
“I get it. You’re using one person to think about another.”
Snorting softly, Sheng Yanqing brushed his hand away.
Everything sounded wrong once it came out of Jing Xun’s mouth.
After a long silence, Sheng Yanqing turned to look out the window.
That heartless little woman.
She had slept with him and then run away…
Chi Ruanli had already been working as the president’s secretary for two weeks.
Gradually, all sorts of rumors began spreading throughout the company.
Most of them claimed that she was merely a decorative vase who had advanced through her looks and figure.
Fortunately, people only gossiped behind her back.
No one dared say anything to her face.
As a result, Chi Ruanli simply pretended not to know and not to hear.
Every morning, she happily called President Sheng to wake him up.
At noon, she ordered lunch for him.
In the evenings, she accompanied him to banquets and business dinners.
Thinking about it that way…
Wasn’t she really just a decorative vase?
Not only a vase.
She was practically a nanny too.
Chi Ruanli laughed self-deprecatingly.
She had never possessed grand ambitions.
She didn’t want to become a powerful career woman.
As long as the salary was high, what did it matter what kind of work she did?
And because of that, she became the enemy of every woman in the company.
Everyone knew it was a dream position.
Not only was the salary generous, but she could openly stand beside President Sheng every day.
Just imagining it was enough to make people wake up smiling.
Until that day…