Zhang Xiyue decided to play dumb.
She set down the towel and said calmly, "President Cheng, when are we heading to the company?"
Cheng Mingjiao replied flatly, "You should be grateful this towel is new."
So if it had been one previously used to wipe down the gym equipment, she'd be unforgivable, is that it?
They'd only known each other for a short while, but Zhang Xiyue realized she could already read between the lines of His Majesty's words.
She thanked His Majesty for his mercy and promised not to do it again.
Cheng Mingjiao shot her a sidelong glance and walked off.
Zhang Xiyue quickly wiped down the gym equipment, then headed to the first-floor living room to wait for him.
Cheng Mingjiao leisurely returned to his room, took a leisurely shower, then stepped into his hundred-square-meter walk-in closet. From a wall of white shirts, he picked a white shirt. From another wall of gray suits, he picked a gray suit.
Zhang Xiyue waited half an hour before His Majesty finally graced her with his presence.
His Majesty: "I'm hungry."
Zhang Xiyue: "…"
He hadn't done a thing all day, just focused entirely on eating.
Thankfully, he wasn't deranged enough to make his assistant cook lunch too. Zhang Xiyue drove him to a high-end hotel, and only after they'd eaten did they head to the company together.
Finally, time to work.
But before Zhang Xiyue could breathe a sigh of relief, Cheng Mingjiao walked into the lounge.
For a nap.
Zhang Xiyue stood in silence for a moment, then went to the assistant's office to kill some time, and stopped by the finance department to carefully review her benefits and compensation.
When she saw that the executive assistant had an unconditional monthly expense allowance of ten thousand yuan, she was mildly surprised.
But only mildly—after all, this wasn't the real world. Money, whether more or less, didn't mean much to her. As long as she could maintain a basic standard of living, that was enough.
Even so, she took the time to contact a real estate agent, planning to move to a bigger place closer to the company.
Cheng Mingjiao woke up an hour and a half later. When he came out of the lounge, Zhang Xiyue was already seated at her desk.
The executive assistant didn't have a private office. Her desk was separated from Cheng Mingjiao's extravagant rosewood desk by just two potted plants.
When she saw Cheng Mingjiao pick up a contract after sitting down, Zhang Xiyue thought, Now we can finally get some work done.
The next second, he folded it into a paper airplane.
Zhang Xiyue: "…"
The paper airplane was damned. And someone else was even more damned.
Like a long-suffering mother tutoring her child, she was anxious and furious, while the unambitious kid folded paper airplanes with impressive speed and skill.
They even flew high.
When Zhang Xiyue had decided to take over from Zhou Ce, she'd thought she could use this opportunity to find a breakthrough in her mission.
But after following Cheng Mingjiao around for a few days, she discovered the man was a fortress of iron and steel—no breakthrough to be found whatsoever.
As the days slipped by and her capture progress remained at zero, Zhang Xiyue, at her wit's end, began playing motivational success videos in the CEO's office, hoping to brainwash him a little.
Cheng Mingjiao did listen, but his reaction wasn't what she'd expected: "This kind of stuff is just fluff. If you really want to learn, you should watch something with actual substance."
Zhang Xiyue humbly asked, "Then what kind of substantive content should I watch?"
Cheng Mingjiao glanced at her.
Though he thought it was foolish of her to believe online videos, a boss was always tolerant of employees who wanted to improve.
So he tapped away at his keyboard and sent her a compressed file.
Zhang Xiyue spent twenty minutes extracting it. Over fifty ultra-long videos popped up, and every single thumbnail featured a familiar face.
She: "…"
"Go on, watch them. Some of these have never been released publicly." Cheng Mingjiao wore the expression of someone saying, You just hit the jackpot.
Zhang Xiyue: "…"
Hopeless.
If worse came to worst, she'd just wait until he lost his job and turned yandere, then figure out a way to push him to be more ambitious.
After all, in theory, as long as she kept him from meeting the female lead, he wouldn't go mad for love, and there was still hope of saving him.
Zhang Xiyue stopped struggling. Every day, she cooked meals on time, drove him to and from home, watched him slack off, watched him pick fights with everyone and rack up enemies, and followed him on incognito visits to the R&D base, scaring the other colleagues into squealing like cats.
Half a month passed like this, and Zhang Xiyue finally got her first real task—
Driving His Majesty to the TV station for an interview.
Yu Huang primarily manufactured high-precision CNC equipment, working with major factories on a daily basis.
Most of those factory owners were superstitious about brand image, so even though Cheng Mingjiao disliked it, he made sure to get appropriate exposure every so often, cultivating a trustworthy, professional persona.
And sure enough, under the spotlight, Cheng Mingjiao was sharp in his suit, hair slicked back with gel to reveal a full forehead—the picture of elite intelligence. Nothing like the man who threw tantrums over breakfast at home.
After a brief opening, the host began the formal interview: "You led a team of over a dozen people and grew the company to its current scale in just a few years. As a leader, what quality do you think matters most?"
Cheng Mingjiao: "Self-discipline."
What kind of self-discipline?
The kind that insists on a rock-solid 9+2 hours of sleep, throws a tantrum if any of three daily meals is a bite short, and finds time to torment employees no matter how tired he is?
Host: "A major company like Yuhuang must have plenty of upstream and downstream clients. How do you usually maintain these client relationships?"
Cheng Mingjiao: "With sincerity."
Yeah, sincere indeed.
Last week, a partner called to say their equipment had issues and asked him to send a few technicians over to fix it. He sincerely suggested that if they didn't have the brains for it, they should stay far away and keep their grubby hands off his machines.
Host: "What advice do you have for today's young people?"
Cheng Mingjiao let out a light chuckle, his handsome face and gentle brows causing a stir in the audience below.
"I have no advice for young people," he said modestly. "After all, the future belongs to them."
But the 'present' is mine. Zhang Xiyue silently finished the second half of the sentence in his tone.
The interview took two hours. Zhang Xiyue expected him to grow impatient midway, to scowl, or even to mock the host.
But he didn't.
When it ended, someone shouted that they'd graduate and come work at Yuhuang. She thought Cheng Mingjiao would open his mouth and ask if they'd graduated from a C9 university, ranked top three in their major, and won national scholarships.
But he didn't. He even graciously welcomed them.
Yeah, gracious.
Although the capture progress was still zero, seeing his mature performance, Zhang Xiyue thought it over and figured that pushing a yandere to improve might not be as hard as she'd imagined. She followed behind Cheng Mingjiao, watching him wave and greet his little fans with a smile as he walked, and her mood lifted along with his.
Three minutes later, the two got in the car.
Cheng Mingjiao's face darkened in an instant: "Quick! Get to the hospital now!"
In all the time Zhang Xiyue had known him, this was the first time she'd seen him so frantic. She quickly buckled her seatbelt and turned the car around.
"President Cheng, are you feeling unwell somewhere?" she asked nervously.
Cheng Mingjiao was in a foul mood: "Damn it, they actually put me in a newly renovated studio. I must have formaldehyde poisoning."
Zhang Xiyue: "…"
Cheng Mingjiao in the back seat had already started chugging water. Zhang Xiyue wanted to say something, her lips moved, but in the end she said nothing and headed toward the hospital address he'd given.
An hour later, a gentle, refined doctor pushed up his glasses and said for the fifth time: "You're perfectly healthy. There are no signs of poisoning. No tests are needed."
"I'm not poisoned right now, but can you guarantee I won't feel any discomfort later?" Cheng Mingjiao countered.
The doctor smiled: "I guarantee it."
Cheng Mingjiao narrowed his eyes: "You're a doctor, not a fortune-teller. What gives you the right to guarantee that?"
The doctor kept his smile: "Then why are you asking me?"
Cheng Mingjiao: "I was just testing you. Didn't expect you to be so unprofessional."
The doctor: "…"
Zhang Xiyue edged a step toward the door, so she wouldn't be mistaken for an accomplice of a lunatic.
The doctor didn't seem to be planning to call the police for now, merely emphasizing for the sixth time: "You really aren't poisoned."
"I don't have poisoning symptoms right now, but that doesn't mean—"
Seeing the conversation about to loop again, the doctor cut him off directly: "I need to see my next patient. Please leave."
"You're not on duty today, so where's this next patient coming from?" Cheng Mingjiao lifted his chin arrogantly, pointing at the little girl doing homework behind him. "And what kind of attitude is that? The registration fee was three thousand seven hundred. I'm not even complaining that you bring your kid to work, and you're the one getting upset?"
Zhang Xiyue edged another step toward the door, so she wouldn't be mistaken for an accomplice of a medical troublemaker.
The little girl hugging a teddy bear and doing homework looked up, slowly rolling her eyes at Cheng Mingjiao.
"Liang Xiao, your daughter is really rude!" Cheng Mingjiao complained.
"Oh, it's hereditary. I'm pretty rude myself," the doctor who'd been called out said calmly. "Cheng Mingjiao, keep causing trouble and I'll call your mother."
Huh?
Zhang Xiyue, who'd been inching toward the door, stopped in her tracks, realizing they knew each other.
Cheng Mingjiao didn't notice her surprise, just frowned and demanded of the doctor: "Are you an elementary schooler? Can't win an argument so you tattle to the parents?"
Liang Xiao raised an eyebrow: "How'd you know I was an outstanding graduate of Yushan Elementary?"
Cheng Mingjiao's face went cold as he stared him down.
A minute later, Liang Xiao conceded: "Fine, I'll run a complete blood count for you. You could use a checkup anyway."
Cheng Mingjiao felt that wasn't enough, but given that if he pushed too hard the man really would make that call, he thought it over and decided to quit while he was ahead.
So His Majesty got his wish and had two vials of blood drawn.
Zhang Xiyue followed Liang Xiao to get the results. The moment they returned to the office, they saw Cheng Mingjiao standing next to the little girl, looking utterly perplexed: "Are you going through your rebellious phase early, or did you deliberately write your homework like this mess?"
The little girl, who was nowhere near a rebellious phase and had completed her homework diligently: "…"
Liang Xiao turned to Zhang Xiyue: "Must be tough being an assistant to someone like him, right?"
Zhang Xiyue tugged at the corner of her mouth, displaying high emotional intelligence: "President Cheng treats us subordinates like friends."
The doctor friend who'd just been harassed: "Got it."
As the two were talking, Cheng Mingjiao suddenly reached for the candy on the little girl's desk.
The little girl beat him to it, grabbing the candy and darting nimbly behind the doctor and Zhang Xiyue, quickly stuffing it into the pocket of the teddy bear's outfit.
"I taught you three problems, so you owe me payment." Cheng Mingjiao's expression was serious.
The little girl hugged her teddy bear tightly. "I didn't ask you to teach me. You insisted on doing it."
Cheng Mingjiao scoffed. "Do I look that idle?"
Seeing the two about to start arguing, Liang Xiao stepped in as a peacemaker. "I still have some in my drawer. Mingjiao, go grab them yourself."
Cheng Mingjiao said, "I want the lemon ones. All you have in your drawer are strawberry flavored."
The little girl peeked over. "There's only one lemon one left."
"Give it to me," Cheng Mingjiao threatened. "If you don't, I'll throw you out the window."
They were on the 12th floor.
Zhang Xiyue's eyelid twitched.
A young girl who had never met a yandere before was unafraid. "No."
Cheng Mingjiao said, "Give it to me."
The little girl said, "No!"
The two stared each other down for a long while, then both turned to look at the doctor in unison.
Liang Xiao cleared his throat. "Mingjiao, your lab results are out."
Cheng Mingjiao's attention was instantly diverted. "What are the results?"
Liang Xiao clasped his hands behind his back, gesturing for the little girl to run away while he rattled off a bunch of technical jargon to Cheng Mingjiao.
By the time Cheng Mingjiao understood that his imperial body was perfectly fine, the little girl and the candy were already gone.
It was already evening when they left the hospital. Cheng Mingjiao hadn't said a word since getting into the car.
Zhang Xiyue buckled her seatbelt and looked at him through the rearview mirror. "Chief Cheng."
"What?" Cheng Mingjiao lifted his gaze.
Zhang Xiyue reached her hand over. "Here, for you."
Cheng Mingjiao frowned and glanced over casually.
Her palm was fully open, with a tiny candy resting on it.
Round, lemon flavored.
Cheng Mingjiao was slightly stunned, then slowly looked at Zhang Xiyue in the rearview mirror.
He had been fighting the little girl for that candy purely to bully her. It didn't matter whether he got it or not—otherwise, with his intelligence, how could he not have realized Liang Xiao was changing the subject…
He never expected her to actually take it seriously.
Zhang Xiyue spoke in a gentle, coaxing tone, seeking praise. "I stole it for you. Pretty impressive, right?"
Cheng Mingjiao was still staring at her until she shook her wrist from the strain of holding it up. Only then did he silently roll down the car window.
A routine blood test—of course it couldn't reveal much useful information.
He was now having trouble breathing, reacting slowly, and feeling a bit dizzy.
All symptoms of formaldehyde poisoning.