The email was sent from a company internal employee account, one belonging to someone who had recently resigned and was no longer at the company. The email contained various photos of Chu Zhi and Lu Jiaheng together, accompanied by emotionally charged text that told a dramatic story about how a seemingly pure and innocent gold-digger had climbed into the bed of the young company manager for money and career advancement.
It even included redacted resumes from several candidates who had interviewed alongside her months ago, some of which admittedly looked more impressive than Chu Zhi’s. Even Chu Zhi herself had an “aha” moment reading it – no wonder her entry into Jingheng had been so smooth.
The two were now in Lu Jiaheng’s office, with her using his computer to read the email. Although they had received many stares on their way up making it difficult to walk, since everyone in the company already knew, Chu Zhi had nothing left to hide and walked up openly with Lu Jiaheng holding her hand.
She scrolled down with the mouse wheel, paused, and turned her head: “Lu Jiaheng, did I really pass the interview because of you?”
Lu Jiaheng, displaced from his throne, sat on the nearby sofa with his laptop, raising an eyebrow: “No, I hadn’t even returned at that time.”
Chu Zhi pondered: “Could it be that my personality charm won over the interviewer?”
Lu Jiaheng: “…”
He stared at her intently for a long while, lost in thought. After about ten seconds, he suddenly smiled: “Aren’t you afraid?”
Chu Zhi blinked: “Afraid of what?”
“The email,” he put his laptop on the coffee table and leaned back into the sofa, still staring at her, “aren’t you afraid of being exposed like this?”
Especially in such a way.
Full of lies, deliberately smearing her, with malice practically leaping off the screen.
Lu Jiaheng narrowed his eyes.
Chu Zhi paused at his expression, got up from her chair and walked over to sit beside him.
She gently pulled his hand onto her lap, then covered it with both of hers.
His hand was much larger than hers – she couldn’t even fully cover it with both hands.
Lu Jiaheng looked down.
Her hands looked thin, with delicate fingers and faint bone lines visible on the backs, but they were extremely soft, like boneless pillows of warmth wrapped around his hand.
Her voice was soft too, speaking slowly and steadily: “At first I was a bit panicked, but then I felt like it didn’t matter much. If you’re upright, you needn’t fear a crooked shadow. I haven’t done anything wrong, so why should I be afraid? What’s wrong with dating? I didn’t date you for this job, and I didn’t like you for other reasons. I like you because you’re you. I’d like you even if you were poor, even if you were ugly.”
She gently rubbed the skin at the base of his thumb with her fingertips, “When I first wanted to come to Jingheng, it was because you had interned here, so I wanted to come too. I wanted to intern where you had interned, work where you had worked, because back then you were so far away from me, half a world away, and I felt this would bring me a little closer to you.”
“Later, I didn’t want to make our relationship public because I wanted to wait until my abilities were recognized, at least until I got through the internship period and had a chance at becoming permanent. I didn’t want people saying things like ‘Oh, so that’s why she got the permanent position, because she’s the boss’s family member’ – I wanted to be recognized just for who I am.”
Chu Zhi lowered her head, remembering how he had looked in her office earlier, and tightened her grip on his hand.
When he first came in, he had looked truly furious, his lips pressed tight as if forcefully suppressing himself.
She had really been afraid he would explode then.
Chu Zhi had never seen what Lu Jiaheng looked like when angry – the only time was the day they got together, when Lu Jiaheng had asked her to wait outside the private room while he went in and closed the door.
Chu Zhi raised her hands, leaned forward, and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her head against his stomach and nuzzling like a little cat.
He smelled so good, familiar, with a hint of masculine scent and clean crispness, like citrus mixed with mint leaves.
Lu Jiaheng lowered his lashes and raised his hand to stroke her fluffy head.
He bent down low, his lips touching her soft hair, and after a long while, finally called softly: “Chu Chu.”
Chu Zhi didn’t speak but tightened her arms around his waist and nuzzled again in response.
“Let’s get married.”
Chu Zhi: “…”
Chu Zhi suddenly raised her head, mouth open, looking up at him: “Huh?”
He still kept his head down, long lashes lowered, his voice very soft with a hint of hoarseness as he repeated: “Let’s get married.”
Chu Zhi looked completely blank, as if she hadn’t processed what he’d said.
Lu Jiaheng’s lashes remained lowered, hiding all emotion in his eyes as he spoke clearly and slowly, softly and quietly, each word as if he had rolled it around in his heart many times: “My family situation isn’t very harmonious. I don’t have a mother anymore, and I have a half-brother, whom you’ve met. My father is terrible, not a good husband or father, and I never felt any fatherly love growing up. At first I might not know how to be a good husband, but give me some time, give me a chance.”
He bent down and wrapped his arms around her: “Chu Chu, marry me. I’ll give you everything.”
Chu Zhi slowly came back to her senses.
She was held in his embrace, maintaining her previous position, staring at him motionlessly.
The man’s skin was very fair, and beneath his black short hair, his pale ears had turned slightly red, making it particularly noticeable. His thin lips were pressed together, looking somewhat tense and uncertain.
Chu Zhi’s nose stung as she suddenly raised her hands to cup his face, tilting her head up to kiss him.
Her long lashes lowered as tears spilled from the corners of her eyes, her voice muffled: “Okay, let’s get married.”
Lu Jiaheng held his breath, his eyes widening slightly as he looked at her almost cautiously.
Chu Zhi hugged him, randomly wiping her eyes on his shoulder: “You’ll have a mother now, and a father too. Dad is a very gentle person, even though he might seem a bit fierce with you at first, but after you spend some time together, he’ll come to like you very much. Your father is your father, and you are you. You’ll become the world’s best husband and the very best father.”
She lifted her head, cupped his face, and kissed him gently before pulling back slightly: “I’ll marry you, we’ll exchange – everything I have, I’ll give to you too.”
After the email incident, Chu Zhi remained unperturbed, continuing to go to work every day, pretending not to notice the stares.
However, according to Pink Shirt, the office rumors had changed from “that vixen who slept her way up through Young Mr. Lu” to “that vixen who has Mr. Lu completely bewitched.”
Pink Shirt expressed his admiration and respectfully addressed her as “Boss’s Wife.”
Though Chu Zhi couldn’t really tell the difference between these two “vixen” descriptions.
By the third day, before Chu Zhi had fully recovered, a second email arrived right on schedule in the company inbox.
This time there were no photos, just detailed text describing the “plagiarism incident” during Chu Zhi’s third-year internship at Zhuosi.
Just as one wave settled, another rose. This time, Chu Zhi’s reaction was much stronger than to the previous “seduction scandal.” Unlike before, this incident was the first real obstacle in her smooth life, a thorn that had been lodged in her heart for a very long time.
When Chu Zhi saw it, she jolted up suddenly, knocking her cup onto the soft carpet, spilling coffee everywhere.
Her hands were also splashed with a lot of the freshly made coffee. The scalding liquid turned the back of her fair hands red, the light brown liquid dripping down from her hand and fingertips.
Pink Shirt quickly grabbed some tissues: “Oh my goodness, Boss’s Wife, please be careful!”
Chu Zhi turned to look at him blankly.
She suddenly felt wronged.
She hadn’t done anything wrong – it was originally her idea. She had let it go when she was plagiarized, only to be slandered as a shameful plagiarist herself. She hadn’t even planned to bring it up again.
She didn’t want to waste all her energy on such meaningless things, wanting instead to start a new journey.
But it wasn’t possible.
Why was the world like this?
Was it that if you didn’t fight back, people would always treat you like a pushover?
Pink Shirt pressed the tissues onto the coffee stains dripping down her desk and pulled out two more to hand to her.
Chu Zhi hung her head, biting her lip, looking at him almost pleadingly: “I didn’t plagiarize…”
Pink Shirt looked at her and sighed deeply: “Who did you offend?”
Chu Zhi pressed her lips together without speaking.
Pink Shirt turned in his chair, counting on his fingers: “The previous photos, this plagiarism thing – actually, either incident alone wouldn’t be so bad. If this email had just come by itself, people might have treated it like spam and ignored it, not making much of a fuss. But now, with the Mr. Lu situation first, you’ve practically become Jingheng’s person of the year these past two days, and then this plagiarism thing comes out. People love drama and want to make it bigger. They’re pushing you right into the eye of the storm,” Pink Shirt stroked his chin mysteriously, “You look so soft and gentle like a little white rabbit, who would have thought you’d made such big enemies? Who did you offend? Mr. Lu’s ex-girlfriend?”
Chu Zhi was stunned by his words, taking a long time to process them.
She had originally thought Xiao Yi was behind this.
But Pink Shirt’s words reminded her that besides the incident at Zhuosi, she hadn’t really made any enemies with Xiao Yi.
Moreover, he was the one who had wronged her in that incident. If anyone should be seeking revenge, it should be her going after him. Even if Xiao Yi was doing this because of the recent bid, he should be targeting Yuema instead.
She didn’t know if Lu Jiaheng had any ex-girlfriends, but Xiao Yi definitely had a current girlfriend.
Even when she and Xiao Yi first started interning at Zhuosi, Zhao Mei had thought they were dating. Some female colleagues had joked about how well-matched Chu Zhi and Xiao Yi were, and Zhao Mei would smile along.
During the time when Chu Zhi thought she was kind and easy to get along with, when they were close, she had even teased that the way Xiao Yi looked at her was clearly the way someone looks at someone they like.
And so on.
Chu Zhi hadn’t paid any attention at the time – she couldn’t see any sign that Xiao Yi liked her at all. In her impression, Xiao Yi was gentle and patient with everyone, regardless of gender.
Now thinking about her relationship with Xiao Yi, Chu Zhi suddenly had a chilling realization.
When had Xiao Yi and Zhao Mei started their relationship? When she was saying those things to Chu Zhi, had something already begun between them? When she said those things, was it really just innocent teasing?
Chu Zhi remembered the way Zhao Mei had looked at her when they met again at Jingheng. She raised her eyes, puffed her cheeks, and frowned.
The coffee burn on her hand stung fiercely. Chu Zhi grabbed the tissue Pink Shirt had given her and wiped off the coffee stains, ignoring the pain from the tissue rubbing against her skin, grabbed her bag and turned to leave.
Pink Shirt called out “Hey!” behind her, saying softly: “Lunch break is almost over, where are you going?”
Chu Zhi turned back with puffed cheeks, letting out a breath like an angry little cat who’d had its tail stepped on, baring her teeth: “Going to bite someone.”
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