The hostess led Wu Jiangyuan to the elevator, swiped a special access card, and pressed the floor button. "You can go straight up," she said with a smile. "Ard said she'd meet you at the door."
Wu Jiangyuan politely thanked her again.
During the elevator ride, he happened to glance at the screen inside, which was playing a corporate video.
A name flashed past, and Wu Jiangyuan just happened to catch it.
His first reaction was to think he had seen it wrong.
Wait... had he just seen Pei Jinghe's name?
Full of uncertainty, he focused intently on the video playing on repeat.
This time, he saw it perfectly clearly. There was only a brief, single-line introduction.
[Tangsheng Group, executive president-Pei Jinghe.]
Wu Jiangyuan stood frozen without blinking. He seemed to still be watching the video, but his mind had already been elsewhere for quite some time.
-Tangsheng.
He finally remembered. Wasn't this the fucking company of Pei Jinghe's that Wu Chengnan had asked him to pull strings at?!
This was actually Pei Jinghe's company!
That Yang Nan was the president's secretary, so didn't that make her Pei Jinghe's secretary?
Pei Jinghe's secretary had sent him extravagant gifts worth ten million. What kind of bizarre plot was this?
Wu Jiangyuan's first reaction was to leave immediately.
But then he thought that, whether or not this was Pei Jinghe's company, the ten million in extravagant gifts was an unchanging fact.
He had to get an answer.
Wu Jiangyuan collected himself and waited for the elevator to reach the sixty-fifth floor.
The elevator doors opened, and he met the eyes of a woman in business attire.
She was clearly waiting for him. With a faint smile, she said, "Hello, Young Master Wu. I'm Ard."
"You seem to know me," Wu Jiangyuan said.
He was referring to his identity as a young master of the Wu family.
Ard, however, played dumb despite knowing exactly what he meant. "Of course I do. You're a popular male celebrity."
She wore a standard professional smile that made her look like a bot to Wu Jiangyuan.
"Well, I'm truly flattered." Wu Jiangyuan's smile was pointed. "To think I could get you to spend ten million on gifts for me, Miss Ard. What have I done to deserve that?"
Ard's smile visibly stiffened, but she quickly composed herself and said with solemn seriousness, "You must be joking, Young Master Wu. It's only right to support a celebrity I like."
Wu Jiangyuan narrowed his eyes slightly. Keep pretending.
He feigned surprise. "Speaking of which, where does a secretary like you get so much money, Miss Ard?"
"Actually, I'm a hardcore fangirl... I'll stop at nothing to support my favorite star..."
Ard answered with a smile full of suffering.
She didn't even believe her own words, but she had to submit to earn a living.
Still, she had no idea what her boss was thinking, secretly using a mere secretary's account to send gifts.
As a secretary, she wouldn't earn ten million even in ten years, yet she was supposed to spend all of it on one celebrity? Was she insane?
Besides, who would believe that?!
Wu Jiangyuan stared at her for a while before finally laughing despite himself.
"All right, you poor secretary. Take me to your boss."
The woman had "nothing left to live for" written all over her face. Wu Jiangyuan wasn't an idiot; he knew this definitely had nothing to do with her.
Why make things difficult for a poor employee?
Ard looked at him pleadingly. "I was only following my boss's orders..."
She trailed off, leaving the implication that if Wu Jiangyuan exposed her outright, she would have a hard time answering to her boss.
Wu Jiangyuan understood her meaning, of course, and gave a mischievous smile. "Don't worry, Miss Secretary."
He started forward, then stopped halfway and looked back. "Oh, right. Your boss is called Pei Jinghe, isn't he?"
Ard nodded like a chicken pecking grain.
Having received confirmation, Wu Jiangyuan continued toward the president's office.
Under Ard's nervous gaze, Wu Jiangyuan didn't even bother knocking and pushed the door straight open.
The first thing he saw was Pei Jinghe standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, leisurely drinking coffee.
Hearing the noise, he merely glanced over before looking away again, unsurprised by Wu Jiangyuan's arrival.
Wu Jiangyuan surveyed the office as he walked in and gave a teasing whistle. "What a spacious office you have, Young Master Pei. You could do running drills in here."
Pei Jinghe calmly took a sip of coffee and replied unhurriedly, "Would you like to try?"
"No need for that."
Wu Jiangyuan settled onto the leather sofa without ceremony, crossing his legs and tapping his thigh intermittently with his fingertips.
"But I have a question I hope you can answer."
Pei Jinghe turned around, his back to the sunlight and his expression unreadable in the shadows. "What question?"
Resting his neck against the sofa, Wu Jiangyuan asked a question that even he found funny. "How long do you think someone working as a secretary would have to save to put away ten million?"
Pei Jinghe walked slowly over and sat opposite Wu Jiangyuan, answering casually, "Naturally, that depends on their ability. For someone capable working here, earning that in a short time through promotions and raises isn't impossible."
"Then how would you rate..." Wu Jiangyuan propped his chin on his hand and raised an eyebrow at him. "Miss Ard's abilities?"
Pei Jinghe answered readily. "So far, quite good."
Wu Jiangyuan's mouth twitched. Still pretending, you sly fox?
He simply changed the question. "Pei Jinghe, have you watched An Appointment with Jia?"
"I'm not interested in variety shows," Pei Jinghe replied.
Wu Jiangyuan said, "Then do you browse Weibo?"
Pei Jinghe said, "No."
Wu Jiangyuan said, "Then don't you get bored out of your fucking mind all day?"
Pei Jinghe said, "I'm not idle at work."
Wu Jiangyuan laughed in exasperation. "Pei Jinghe, keep pretending."
Pei Jinghe tilted his head as though he didn't understand. "What am I pretending about?"
Seeing his clueless expression only irritated Wu Jiangyuan, so he stopped beating around the bush.
"Then I'll ask you straight. Are you [Shining Star Candy]?"
Pei Jinghe considered it for quite a while before asking, "You went in all those circles just to ask that?"
Wu Jiangyuan was speechless. "What else? Did you think I was conducting a census?"
Pei Jinghe chuckled. "Then why didn't you ask at the start?"
Wu Jiangyuan took a deep breath, trying his best to stay calm. "If I'd opened with that question, would you have answered me directly?"
"Yes."
Wu Jiangyuan froze. "What did you say?"
"Yes," Pei Jinghe repeated. "As long as you ask, I'll answer."
Wu Jiangyuan's expression stiffened a little.
While he was still stunned, Pei Jinghe spoke again. "It was me."
The unexpected, utterly undisguised admission went straight into Wu Jiangyuan's ears and set off a thunderous explosion.
Wu Jiangyuan's heart skipped a beat. He looked at Pei Jinghe, unable to react for a moment.
Then those thin lips, curved slightly upward, spoke again.
"Is it so strange to show support for my own fiancé?"
Wu Jiangyuan would never have imagined that Pei Jinghe would admit it so calmly.
Even more surprising was the last thing he had said.
He had sent extravagant gifts worth ten million in the livestream just to show his support?
Was this really Pei Jinghe?
Had he gone abroad and come back as a clone?
The Pei Jinghe he remembered wouldn't act like this.
Shouldn't he have sneered and said, "Wu Jiangyuan, are you dreaming in broad daylight?"
Wu Jiangyuan had even braced himself for mockery, never expecting this answer.
It left him so bewildered that he didn't say a word for ages.
Pei Jinghe put down his coffee, rose, and walked over to Wu Jiangyuan. He lifted the loose hair over his forehead with his fingers, unable to help feeling amused.
"Are you that surprised?"
Wu Jiangyuan faintly caught a fleeting scent of cliff cypress brushing past his nose. He snapped back to his senses and instinctively drew back a little.
The tips of his hair slipped from Pei Jinghe's fingers. Catching the wariness in Wu Jiangyuan's eyes, Pei Jinghe's heart sank slightly.
Was I too direct...?
He withdrew his hand without a change in expression and rested his palm on the sofa behind Wu Jiangyuan's head. Leaning down slightly, he curled his lips.
"What's wrong, fiancé? Did my approach to investing frighten you?"
Wu Jiangyuan froze again. "Investing?"
"Do you remember the watch you wore that day?" Pei Jinghe asked evenly.
At his words, Wu Jiangyuan remembered. He Qu had specially rented that watch from a foreign luxury brand-Tassilo.
He Qu had mentioned at the time that if the watch received good exposure, Tassilo might consider signing a partnership deal.
Wu Jiangyuan hadn't paid it any mind, because he knew He Qu was dreaming again.
Given that watch brand's standing, why would it approach a third-rate celebrity like him who had been savaged by bad press?
The results spoke for themselves, too. No one had noticed the watch throughout the livestream; even Wu Jiangyuan himself had forgotten it.
Prompted by Pei Jinghe's question, he realized, "Tassilo is one of your brands."
"Yes." Pei Jinghe began to explain. "The department manager told me an artist's studio had paid a considerable sum to rent this limited-edition [Stars] and had also expressed interest in discussing a partnership."
"When I heard it was you, I reluctantly did my fiancé a favor."
At this point, Pei Jinghe's eyes flickered slightly. "This [Stars] model hasn't officially launched yet. I was looking forward to seeing how its debut went, so I borrowed my secretary's phone to send a branded gift."
Something else caught Wu Jiangyuan's attention. "If you were sending a branded gift, why didn't you use an official account?"
"Well..." Pei Jinghe paused before saying, "Tassilo has always operated through overseas channels. We only planned to enter the mainland market this year, so we haven't set up official accounts on the various platforms yet."
Wu Jiangyuan understood. So this Shining Star Candy was merely Pei Jinghe's way of promoting his own watches.
Everyone had misunderstood, thinking Shining Star Candy had sent those gifts for him, when they had actually been for the watch on his wrist.
"Well, doing that has thrown me straight into the fire."
Wu Jiangyuan sneered and pushed him away. "Thanks to that ten-million gift of yours, I've been shoved onto the trending searches for everyone's entertainment again."
After being pushed away, Pei Jinghe stayed seated on the sofa. "Tassilo's PR department has already begun handling the emergency. They'll issue a statement clarifying things soon."
"When that happens, I'll also help take down the trending searches about you."
Wu Jiangyuan ignored him and gazed thoughtfully out the window.
He knew Pei Jinghe wouldn't suddenly change his nature.
He had used Wu Jiangyuan's celebrity appeal to generate plenty of buzz, then would follow up with a clarification and official announcement. He really had given Tassilo a thorough marketing push.
Wu Jiangyuan glanced at Pei Jinghe. He really was a deeply scheming man.
The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became. He wanted to hit someone.
"Do you still have that watch?" Pei Jinghe suddenly asked.
Wu Jiangyuan frowned. "I gave it to He Qu to return ages ago. Why? Didn't get it back and want to pin it on me?"
Pei Jinghe was exasperated. "Am I really that awful in your eyes?"
"Utterly awful," Wu Jiangyuan said sincerely.
Pei Jinghe's expression darkened a little more. "You really should update the filter you see people through."
Wu Jiangyuan snorted. "Can't change it. I'll always see you through the jerk filter."
Whether out of helplessness or exasperation, Pei Jinghe laughed. "Suit yourself."
With the truth now clear to Wu Jiangyuan, he had no reason to stay. He got up to leave.
Before leaving, he didn't forget to urge Pei Jinghe, "Get that PR department of yours to issue the statement soon. I can't even get into my company right now."
With that, he left without looking back.
Pei Jinghe watched the closed door, his eyes dimming.
Was he that averse to him?
Before you continue