A wave of dampness spread across her, and Cheng Sisi immediately stood up from her seat, trying to shake off the water stains.
The wet dress clung tightly to her body, revealing rather awkward areas.
“Get out!”
To spare her further embarrassment, Jiang Zhuo dismissed the apologetic male waiter.
The yellow juice had left a prominent stain on the pure white dress, especially on the lower half, where a large patch of yellow discoloration was visible.
Wearing it back to the office was definitely out of the question.
Even if she tried to wash it, it might not come out completely.
“Don’t panic, sit down first.” Jiang Zhuo stood up and walked around from the opposite side of the table.
After taking a clear look at the large stain, he immediately took out his phone and called his assistant, instructing someone to buy a new set of clothes and deliver it to the restaurant.
“The clothes will be here soon. Let’s eat first.”
As he spoke, he took off his suit jacket and handed it to her. “Use this to cover up for now.”
Cheng Sisi nervously accepted it and sat back down.
“Brother Jiang Zhuo, I’ve… I’ve troubled you again.”
“There’s no need to feel guilty. This isn’t your fault.”
Although he said that, Cheng Sisi couldn’t help but feel astonished. From the moment she first met Jiang Zhuo, she felt as though fate had tied them together. No matter what trouble she encountered, he was always the one who appeared by her side.
But what she didn’t know was that what tied her to Jiang Zhuo might not be fate.
It was Jiang Zhuo himself!
Halfway through the meal, Jiang Zhuo’s assistant knocked on the door and brought in the clothes.
“You can change here. I’ll wait outside.”
“Wait!”
Cheng Sisi called out to him, looking reluctant to put on the clothes.
The reason was that the clothes Jiang Zhuo had someone buy were far too expensive.
A single dress, priced at five figures!
Cheng Sisi didn’t come from a poor family. Her parents ran a small business, and while they couldn’t compare to wealthy families like the Jiangs, they never had to worry about food or clothing. Still, she had never splurged on such an expensive piece of clothing.
A five-figure dress was beyond her means.
“What’s wrong?”
Jiang Zhuo turned back, his expression apologetic.
“It was an emergency, so there wasn’t time to pick carefully. You’ll have to make do for now. If you really don’t like it, I can—”
“No, it’s fine!” Cheng Sisi swallowed the words she was about to say. “I just wanted to say, thank you, Brother Jiang Zhuo!”
Jiang Zhuo smiled at her, then opened the private room door and stepped outside.
Left alone inside, Cheng Sisi wore a troubled expression.
From Jiang Zhuo’s tone, it seemed he even felt that buying her clothes at this price range was beneath her.
To him, this amount of money was probably just spare change, wasn’t it?
So, fussing over the price in front of him would seem overly dramatic—he likely didn’t even think twice about it!
Outside the door, Assistant Wang Qi stood beside Jiang Zhuo and whispered, “Mr. Jiang, the waiter has been taken care of. I’ve made sure he won’t talk.”
“Good.”
Jiang Zhuo nodded, recalling the waiter’s action of spilling water on Cheng Sisi’s dress, a satisfied glint appearing in his eyes.
And before leaving the room, the grateful look Cheng Sisi had given him only added to his satisfaction.
As it turned out, the incident of Cheng Sisi’s dress getting wet was no accident.
It was his scheme, his calculated move!
Not long after, Cheng Sisi opened the door and stepped out.
“Brother Jiang Zhuo, I’ve changed.”
Seeing her refreshed appearance, Jiang Zhuo’s eyes lit up.
This dress was the same white as the one she had originally worn, but the style was different—a bit more sensual, shorter, revealing her fair, straight thighs in their entirety.
“Brother Jiang Zhuo, do you want to go back in and eat a little more?”
Jiang Zhuo asked her in return, “Are you full?”
“Yes!” She nodded. “I can’t eat another bite!”
“Then let’s head back to the company!”
…
Back at the company, the two parted ways once again.
Jiang Zhuo’s office was on the 22nd floor.
In the afternoon, Cheng Sisi officially began her work.
She sat at her workstation until after three o’clock, feeling somewhat fatigued, and took her teacup to the break room.
Just as she was about to push the door open, she froze at the sound of conversation inside.
“When she came in this morning, she clearly wasn’t wearing this dress. And someone saw her returning from lunch in Mr. Jiang’s car. What happened during lunch break—do we even need to guess?”
“What are you implying?”
“Hehehehe…”
“Mr. Jiang must be really wild, tearing her clothes right off. Who would have thought!”
Hearing this, Cheng Sisi’s mind went blank.
“What talent in design? I think she got in purely by using her body and connections. No interview, just parachuted in—that’s unprecedented in our company.”
“Exactly. I heard even Mr. Jiang’s own sister couldn’t get into the company. How could Cheng Sisi be closer than his own sister?”
“Ugh, isn’t it obvious that her relationship with Mr. Jiang is anything but normal?”
“…”
These words were truly too harsh.
Cheng Sisi’s neck flushed red with anger.
She pushed the door open forcefully, strode up to the two of them, and slammed her cup heavily onto the countertop.
Instantly, the cup split in two under the force.
Seeing this, both of them turned pale. Although they looked down on Cheng Sisi in their hearts, she was still Jiang Zhuo’s person. If she whispered a few words in his ear, they might lose their jobs.
“You… don’t overthink it. We… we’re just envious of you!”
The two began shamelessly making excuses.
“Yeah, we wish we had an opportunity like that, but we can’t get it. Forget getting close to Mr. Jiang—we can’t even catch a glimpse of him. Sisi, we really are envious of you.”
“Right, no… no other meaning!”
But the more they spoke, the angrier Cheng Sisi became, because their words seemed to confirm the relationship between her and Jiang Zhuo.
“Between Mr. Jiang and me, it’s completely innocent. There’s nothing like what you’re saying!”
She raised her voice to clear her name, but it seemed to have no effect.
“I know, don’t worry. We won’t spread rumors, we swear!”
“Yes, yes, we’ll keep it a secret.”
“Sisi, we’re colleagues working together now. We should help each other out. If you have any problems, you can come to us. We won’t hesitate to help you.”
“We… we’ve finished making tea. We’ll head back to our workstations now.”
With that, the two hurried out of the break room together.
Cheng Sisi frowned deeply, looking at the shattered cup on the countertop, wondering if she had made a mistake coming here.
She shouldn’t have agreed to join the Jiang Group.
If the rumors were only about her, that would be one thing, but they would also have a huge impact on Jiang Zhuo!
For the rest of the afternoon, Cheng Sisi spent her time in a state of anxiety and unease.
Finally, it was time to get off work. She decided to go home on her own and no longer take Jiang Zhuo’s car, not wanting to add to the gossip and troubles for him.
She deliberately left alone in front of the company employees.
She walked quite a distance, three or four streets away from the company, before daring to hail a taxi by the roadside.
But now, it was the peak hour after work, making it difficult to catch a taxi.
More than ten minutes passed, and she hadn’t encountered a single empty cab, so she took out her phone to check if there was a subway nearby.
Suddenly, a “beep” sounded from behind.
It startled her so much that she nearly dropped her phone. Turning around, she saw Jiang Zhuo’s car slowly pulling over.
“Get in!”
But Cheng Sisi gripped her phone tightly, standing motionless.
Looking at Jiang Zhuo’s face and recalling the unpleasant rumors she had heard at the company, she felt deeply guilty.
“Sisi?” Jiang Zhuo urged her again.
Steeling herself, she refused, “Brother Jiang Zhuo, I’ll take the subway back myself. From now on, I’ll take the subway to and from work.”
After saying this, she turned her head away, only to hear Jiang Zhuo’s commanding voice ring out.
“1!”
“2!”
“3!”