Chapter 3

“I bet Xia Miao’s going to be a household name after this.

“Stop daydreaming!”

My assistant refused to back down.

“Fine, I won’t! But our Ms. Wen is gorgeous. Surely she can dream a little.

“Who knows? Her future boyfriend might be even better-looking than Mr. Lu!”

She said that a little too loudly.

When I looked up, Lu Chenzhou was already walking toward us.

In his finely tailored black suit, he looked immaculate and aloof. His face gave nothing away.

I went to meet him, keeping my tone strictly professional.

“Mr. Lu, Ms. Xia. Please wait in the conference room. Master Wang will be here shortly.”

But in an empty stretch of corridor, Lu Chenzhou suddenly caught my wrist.

I looked at him in surprise.

Xia Miao was even more anxious than I was.

“Chenzhou, someone could come by at any moment…”

He made no attempt to let go. He advanced on me.

“Wen Yu, when are you coming home?”

I tried to pull free.

“We’ve been busy. It’s more convenient to stay at the office.”

“Is it really work? Or are you pretending to be single so you can find a boyfriend better-looking than me?”

His mocking smile made me laugh in anger.

“Let’s be clear, Lu Chenzhou. You’re the one pretending to be single and going everywhere with another woman. Not me.”

His expression stiffened.

Before he could speak, Xia Miao shook his arm.

“Chenzhou, Master Wang will be here any minute. You postponed an important meeting to arrange this for me. Don’t let anything go wrong now, or all that effort will have been wasted.”

At last, he released my wrist.

Just then, a resonant voice came from the entrance.

“Mr. Lu! Ms. Wen!”

Master Wang.

He looked at the hand Lu Chenzhou had just been holding, clearly surprised.

“You two know each other?”

I quickly waved away the suggestion.

“No. We were just shaking hands.”

Lu Chenzhou’s eyes darkened.

Master Wang stroked his beard and nodded.

“I thought not! If Ms. Wen knew someone of your standing, she wouldn’t have spent an entire month waiting outside my house just to get an inscription from me.”

He turned to Lu Chenzhou, admiration in his eyes.

“But she’s a formidable woman.

“She stood there in forty-degree heat. She wouldn’t budge even when the rain soaked her through.

“She collapsed from heatstroke and still refused to leave.

“In the end, my wife felt sorry for her and made me write the inscription on the spot. Only then would Ms. Wen get into the ambulance.

“My wife scolded me for months. She said not every woman has a man to lean on.”

Then he seized the chance to flatter Lu Chenzhou.

“Quite right, too. How many women in this world are as fortunate as Ms. Xia Miao? And how many men are as attentive as our Mr. Lu, seeing to everything himself because he can’t bear for her to suffer even a little?”

Lu Chenzhou had always been composed.

At those words, something trembled in his eyes.

6

Xia Miao tugged at his sleeve.

He finally came back to himself and stopped staring at me.

Adult social connections were little more than an exchange of interests.

He agreed to help Master Wang’s niece, who was just entering the entertainment industry. The painter promptly became even more solicitous toward Xia Miao.

Lu Chenzhou had always kept his personal and professional lives separate.

Watching him make yet another exception for her brought a brief ache to my chest.

“Please, carry on. Call me if you need anything.”

I left the conference room.

My hospital stay had left a mountain of work waiting.

I was buried in it when someone entered my office.

I frowned, then looked up to find Lu Chenzhou standing there, staring at me.

“Can I help you, Mr. Lu?”

He didn’t take offense at my cool tone. Instead, his lips lifted slightly.

He gently took my hand. There was a tenderness in his eyes I rarely saw.

“Why didn’t you tell me work had been so hard on you?”

“Would you have backed me up if I had?”

I leaned back in my chair and met his eyes, my expression mocking.

He froze.

When he spoke again, he sounded a little guilty.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you’d been through so much. If work is too exhausting, come home and rest. Your husband can still afford to support you.”

Then he seemed to remember something, and his voice brightened.

“When this busy stretch is over, let’s take a trip. Haven’t you always wanted to go to Tibet?”

“No, thank you. I like my work. If there’s nothing else, please leave, Mr. Lu.”