Chapter 3

He told me I'd always had someone to rely on, and that was why I couldn't sympathize with Xu Yanshuang.

He wanted me to find out what it was like to survive in the workplace as a single woman.

I'd been sheltered for so long that innocence and dreamy uncertainty had become part of who I was.

Women like me made easy prey.

Before long, a male manager promoted me and started taking me on business trips.

He made me drink with clients until I was barely conscious, then took me to a hotel.

I only woke properly when he took off his shirt and sat on the edge of the bed.

I screamed until he left.

Back at the company, I filed a complaint. Without evidence, it went nowhere.

When Haili found out, she confronted him and extracted a substantial sum, which she handed over to me as compensation.

We both knew there was nothing else we could do.

A job that paid the bills, or justice that might come too late.

I could only choose one.

Before I left her office, she said, “Ye Nuonuo, out in the world, you have to make your own identity.”

I understood immediately.

That evening, I called Sheng Xinghe, one of Jiang Chenghuai's closest friends, and asked if he could pretend to be my husband.

He sounded utterly baffled.

“Don't you already have a husband? Why ask someone else to pretend?”

There was no point hiding it.

“Jiang Chenghuai's gone off to be someone else's boyfriend.”

Sheng Xinghe had no answer to that.

As a committed bachelor, he couldn't understand why Jiang Chenghuai would neglect his own wife to fuss over another woman.

Nor could he understand why a married woman like me would make such an absurd request.

I told him everything about the manager who had harassed me.

He agreed without another word.

To make it convincing, I bought a pair of rings from a street stall.

One for him. One for me.

The next morning, people noticed my ring and asked if there was news.

I told them I was married. I'd taken it off because my husband and I had argued, but we'd made up. He would be picking me up after work.

After that, the manager never harassed me again.

Even the rumor that I was an executive's mistress faded away on its own.

I couldn't help marveling at how useful the label “married woman” could be.

To keep the idea fresh in my colleagues' minds, I took a few photos with Sheng Xinghe and occasionally posted them on WeChat, visible only to coworkers.

Last night, worried that people might gossip about Jiang Chenghuai and me, I'd deliberately posted another.

Now Qiao Xue, taking a quick break from work, came across it. She tapped the photo and sighed in admiration.

“Nuonuo, you and your husband look amazing every single time. What a gorgeous couple. Honestly, you're a treat for the eyes!”

“Absolutely,” I agreed absently. “My husband's very handsome.”

The moment I finished, everything around us went quiet.

I turned.

Jiang Chenghuai was standing right behind me, staring at the photo of Sheng Xinghe and me on Qiao Xue's phone.

05

I shrank into myself and hurriedly opened a document, pretending to be busy.

Not because I felt guilty.

That was just my employee programming kicking in.

Who wouldn't panic when the boss caught them slacking?

Then came the truly terrifying part.

Jiang Chenghuai drew a deep breath.

“Ye Nuonuo. My office. Now.”

My world went dark.

Beside me, Qiao Xue looked worried.

“Nuonuo, should I go with you and apologize? I'm the one who distracted you. Why is he only calling you in? Has Xu Yanshuang been whispering in his ear?”

How was I supposed to answer that?

Tell her Jiang Chenghuai was the husband I'd kept secret for five years?

In the end, I could only reassure her.

“Don't worry. Mr. Jiang doesn't make trouble for employees. He probably just wants to talk about the present again.”

I followed him to the top floor.

It was only the second time I'd entered his office.

The first had been when I'd slipped upstairs to beg him to tell everyone we were married.

When Haili found out, she gave me another blistering scolding. I was beyond foolish, she said: the most junior, desperately overworked employee in the company, barging into the CEO's office without permission.

I'd been so hurt and had nowhere to let it out. I cried until Haili didn't know what else to do.

She ended up buying me cake to calm me down.

And what had Jiang Chenghuai been doing then?