Gu Zhe gave the woman before him a puzzled look.
His gaze lingered somewhere despite himself.
"So, you're saying you want to be my assistant!"
Ming Xuan's eyes shifted. For some reason, she felt a little guilty.
She clasped her hands and wrung them, lowering her head.
"Well, um, I heard you were hiring. What do you think of me?"
Naturally, Gu Zhe was pleased with this gorgeous woman who had suddenly come to apply.
But he recalled certain details and forms of address from the day she had brought those visitors from Qianzhou.
His expression shifted.
He asked curiously:
"Why?"
"Hmm, or is someone forcing you?"
Then Gu Zhe smiled faintly.
"Haha, beauties are lovely, but there's no need to go this far."
"Ahem, don't listen to Liu Zhaodi's nonsense about not being able to see your toes. I'm an upright man, not that shallow."
At his words, Ming Xuan's face paled.
She quickly glanced up at Gu Zhe, then lowered her head again.
He doesn't like women who can't see their toes?
But he did say beauties were lovely, so he must still think I'm beautiful.
If some ugly guy had said that, Ming Xuan would only have felt disgusted.
But coming from a handsome, graceful young man like Mr. Gu, she felt no aversion at all. She even felt a little of the joy a woman found in looking beautiful for someone who appreciated her.
To put it plainly, most men and women in this world cared about looks, whatever they said about judging values before features.
Ming Xuan was a girl who loved beauty too. Like Liu Zhaodi, she was an absolute sucker for good looks.
Besides, Ming Xuan wasn't stupid. She had heard that the world was undergoing a tremendous upheaval, and she had seen what Gu Zhe could do. Now she had a chance to stay beside this handsome, mysterious man. How could she possibly be unwilling?
Even if she had been a little reserved at first, she had actually let that go on the way here.
Something else crossed her mind, and her face reddened again as she began to stumble over her words.
"Um, nobody's forcing me at all. I'm willing!"
Then she raised her head again.
"Mr. Gu, truly, nobody forced me. I... I'm not here because you're handsome... no, I mean, no matter what you look like... no..."
Somehow, she suddenly grew nervous.
Her words became rather muddled too.
She took a deep breath.
Then she said softly:
"I saw your boundless might, Mr. Gu. You can command ghosts and spirits, and the Gu Family is even more unfathomable. So, so I went along with the opportunity, and I'm truly willing. If you really are hiring, I'd like to give it a try."
"Rest assured, Mr. Gu. I'll do my best to be a good assistant... I definitely will..."
She thought of the hiring requirements the Jinyiwei had listed.
Suppressing her embarrassment, she continued with a blush:
"I'll definitely be gentle, considerate, hardworking, and capable!"
"Mm, and I can also serve tea, fetch water, run errands, handle miscellaneous tasks, receive clients, and take care of taxes."
She looked up again at Gu Zhe's faintly amused expression.
As though something had occurred to her, she hastily added:
"Mr. Gu, I absolutely won't gossip. You saved my little sister, so you're my benefactor."
"Besides, Mr. Gu, the Jinyiwei people only asked me to pass along a message now and then. They said it was fine as long as you weren't some antisocial extremist."
Ming Xuan had no intention whatsoever of keeping the Jinyiwei's secrets.
She was just a young woman of twenty-five or twenty-six, not someone here to act as a spy.
Nor did she want Mr. Gu to misunderstand her.
"Uh..."
Her beautiful eyes looked pleadingly at Gu Zhe.
"Mr. Gu, you aren't an antisocial extremist, are you? You wouldn't slaughter innocent people, right?"
Gu Zhe shook his head in amusement.
"You're the antisocial one! I've always been refined and courteous, and I love reasoning with people. Confucius said to think thrice before acting. I've always been kindhearted. Even when I'm angry, I always think thrice."
"Mm-hmm, I believe you, Mr. Gu. You just like joking around. Actually, I can feel that you're a wise, kind, gentle person."
Gu Zhe nodded inwardly.
I really am wise, kind, and gentle.
I really do think thrice when I'm angry. First, does this little bastard have a death wish? Second, how strong is he? If I can't beat him, I'll be meek and submissive; if I can, I'll hit him hard! Third, should I root out the problem for good?
Of course.
There was no need to explain such profound philosophies of life to a girl.
As a man, Young Master Gu could shoulder such matters himself.
Looking at this girl, who was clearly two or three years older than he was in this life, yet was now putting on a pitiful, cute expression.
He could only marvel at women.
Whatever their personalities, beautiful women would always instinctively use their looks.
Because men really did fall for it.
And I'm a normal man too.
Just look at her.
Bright eyes, gleaming teeth, gracefully arched brows, a limpid gaze, rosy lips, and a full figure with every curve on display, big where she should be big and small where she should be small.
What man could withstand a test like this?
Besides.
Gu Zhe could also tell that this girl genuinely meant no harm.
Her mature, sexy body, her occasional innocent blushes, combined with her age of twenty-five or twenty-six.
She was innocent, alluring, and commanding all at once!
Both sweet and capable.
She was every bit as stunning as Yun Qing and that manipulative little flirt, Zhou Linlin.
There's nothing wrong with me.
A lamb entering the tiger's jaws-no, a fine steed finding someone who recognizes its worth. There's no reason to turn her away.
Besides, he had already posted his recruitment notice on Moments.
Logically, some of the girls who still hadn't deleted the bankrupt Young Master Gu should have seen it. Word should have spread, yet not one of them had recognized his worth and seized the opportunity.
Gu Zhe felt sorry for their shortsightedness.
Since that was the case.
He looked over the girl before him, who seemed like a flower in full bloom.
Three years older was good. Never mind the saying about gaining a brick of gold; at least she should handle things better than a flighty girl like Zhaodi.
Though Gu Zhe enjoyed admiring beautiful women, he wasn't desperately starved for female attention.
He simply felt that, since he would see his assistant often, someone beautiful, capable, and pleasing to the eye was better than someone unattractive. Gu Zhe was just that practical. It wasn't as though he had masochistic tendencies.
His gaze swept over Ming Xuan several more times.
Under his scrutiny, her face grew even redder.
"Ahem, since you have the discernment to recognize a hero, I'll make an exception and give you preferential treatment. You're hired!"
His expression turned serious.
Seeing it, Ming Xuan's slightly flushed face grew serious too.
She could sense that Mr. Gu seemed about to tell her something important.
"Mm, hmm... I must stress that I don't hire based solely on appearances. I look at inner qualities. Don't ever think I'm a shallow man."
His gaze turned thoughtful.
"I'm not making you my assistant just because you're pretty."
"Mm, it's more because you have plenty of substance."
He added inwardly.
She certainly has plenty of substance!
Ming Xuan was speechless.
You looked so serious, I thought you were about to tell me something important.
But Mr. Gu really does understand me. He knows I have substance and inner qualities. I'm not just a pretty face.
She resolved to work hard and show him that hiring her was definitely worth it.
Besides.
Mr. Gu really was as amusing as ever, always enjoying a joke. This job wouldn't be boring, and getting along with him wouldn't be difficult.
An entertaining boss who was handsome, capable, and had a bright future, who could be mysterious and imposing yet also reasonable, and liked to think thrice before acting.
It really was satisfying.
Perhaps this was that legendary kind of career where work and life blended harmoniously, leaving one feeling refreshed by a spring breeze.
For some reason, she even felt a little excited.
The disappointment she had felt when she thought they would never have anything to do with each other again was gone too.
She even felt a little grateful to the Jinyiwei.
Otherwise, how could Ming Xuan possibly have agreed just because of the Moments post the Jinyiwei had laid out?
If she had been unwilling, she would at most have felt a little embarrassed. How could she have merely lowered her head and murmured her agreement?
The mystery surrounding that man that day had long since made him rather hard for Ming Xuan to forget.
Gu Zhe wasn't remotely surprised that someone in the government had noticed him.
In a world undergoing great upheaval, the mysterious was no longer some unattainable fantasy. Naturally, people would notice.
Just as passing geese left their cries behind, the Netherworld Land would naturally leave behind certain rumors.
Those people did understand how to handle human relationships, though.
They had gone straight for the honey trap. Faced with such an overt scheme, Gu Zhe only wanted to say: next time, do it sooner.
In any case, he would swallow the sugar coating. Whether he fired the shell back would depend on the situation.
Gu Zhe believed he truly wasn't antisocial by nature. Even when he had been a rich heir, he had never committed any crimes. He still had his moral boundaries.
If people don't act like bastards, I won't bother them!
If they do, I'll think thrice before acting. After those three thoughts, hehe, I'll wipe them out!
I have morals, but nobody can use them to hold me hostage. My moral boundaries are still pretty flexible.
"Oh, right, Xuan, what the heck is this Jinyiwei?"
"So, have the Eastern Depot and Western Depot shown up too?"