ATLAS TRANSLATES

The next day, Xu Miyu put on her most formal and presentable professional suit, accompanying Ji Feng to attend a high-end summit.

Before the conference, she was excited because Ji Feng mentioned that this meeting would be grand, with participants being influential and affluent individuals. The attendees either had significant family resources or had achieved remarkable success in their respective fields. This rare occasion presented an opportunity for her to broaden her horizons and expand her social network.

However, upon entering the venue, Xu Miyu’s excitement turned into nervousness, even a bit of stage fright.

The elites present were all dressed in high-end fashion, exuding an extraordinary aura. Many people approached Ji Feng, exchanging greetings and discussing topics that Xu Miyu couldn’t comprehend. Mergers, IPOs, registration systems, selected layers, stocks, funds, northbound funds… as they passionately discussed these matters, Xu Miyu felt small in their midst.

She silently surveyed the magnificent summit venue, palace-like in its splendor. This was a realm she couldn’t enter on her own, a summit she couldn’t attend based solely on her abilities.

Standing in this magnificent hall, she confirmed her own insignificance. Without riding on Ji Feng’s reputation, she wouldn’t have access to this high-profile event.

What made her more anxious was that such summits were commonplace for Ji Feng and those around him, discussing things she couldn’t comprehend.

However, for her, attending such a summit felt like overstepping, reaching beyond her social standing. It was once again highlighting the vast gap between her and Ji Feng.

Xu Miyu clenched her fist, suppressing the feeling of impostor syndrome, forcing herself to blend into this temple-like environment.

She overheard a few talented individuals chatting with Ji Feng. After discussing economic insights, they shifted to lighter personal topics. Jokingly, they teased Ji Feng, “Brother Ji, we’re all off the market now. Our next gathering will be with our respective partners. How about you? Still persisting as a proud single noble?”

Ji Feng remained composed, casting a quick glance at Xu Miyu. Her heart skipped a beat.

However, Ji Feng just smiled and didn’t say anything.

As Ji Feng handed the drink to Xu Miyu, others cast curious glances her way.

“Excuse me, who are you?” someone asked, not having heard Ji Feng’s initial introduction.

Despite Ji Feng introducing her earlier, some still couldn’t place her.

“Ah, just heard Brother Ji’s introduction, got distracted for a moment. Are you… Brother Ji’s new assistant?” someone asked.

Xu Miyu felt a momentary sadness. Among these radiant individuals, it seemed she couldn’t leave a distinct impression.

Smiling, she acknowledged, “Yes, I’m Mr. Ji’s new assistant. My name is Xu Miyu.”

Her smile caught the attention of others, and in Ji Feng’s absence, they engaged in conversation with her to some extent.

As the conversation eased, Xu Miyu skillfully inquired, “You mentioned earlier that Mr. Ji has high standards for a partner. How high are those standards exactly?” She played the role of an eager subordinate seeking information about her boss in his absence.

Immediately, someone responded, “Your boss’s partner standards are second to none. No other standards dare claim to be the best. That’s how high they are.”

Curious, Xu Miyu asked, “Are they really that high?”

A woman, showing curiosity, always triggered a man’s willingness to explain. One man detailed, “Firstly, they should be young, beautiful, intelligent, and kind, with a flawless life trajectory.”

Another added, “They must come from a respectable family background, with educational qualifications.”

Someone else chimed in, “Talent, capability, and knowledge of etiquette are also essential.”

With each statement, Xu Miyu felt her heart sinking. By the end, it had plummeted into an abyss.

She didn’t meet any of these standards. She wasn’t young or beautiful, and her life had the flaw of a past divorce. Her family background was nonexistent, and her education was from a third-rate university. As for talent, she spent six years as a housewife, lacking the excellence and manners they described.

Suppressing the discomfort in her chest, she forced a smile and asked, “It sounds even more stringent than selecting a princess. Mr. Ji must be joking; he wouldn’t seriously adhere to these criteria for a partner, right?”

Ji Feng’s friends, however, earnestly replied, “It’s indeed like selecting a princess. But look at Mr. Ji; he’s still single to this day. He’s quite adamant about his standards, preferring to remain single if he can’t find someone who meets them.”

Listening to their words, Xu Miyu’s heart became heavier with each beat.

She wondered if, in Ji Feng’s eyes, she was the woman by his side. Yet, they didn’t find it surprising, seemingly unable to connect her to the image of the woman Ji Feng might choose.

In their eyes, she couldn’t possibly be Ji Feng’s choice, so there was no need for surprise.

Placing her hand on her chest, suppressing the anxious heartbeat, she pondered: Was Ji Feng choosing her willingly, or was he reluctantly compromising on his standards?

When they left the summit, Xu Miyu spoke very little along the way.

Ji Feng took her hand, asking what was wrong, but she seemed absent-minded and didn’t hear him. Ji Feng assumed it was her first time attending such an upscale summit, and her energy was strained, so he didn’t inquire further.

Back at the apartment, after Ji Feng showered and entered the bedroom, he found Xu Miyu lying on her side, facing away from the door, as if she had accidentally fallen asleep while waiting.

Turning off the lights, he lay down beside her, then removed the towel around his waist. In the darkness, he reached for the ties on Xu Miyu’s nightwear.

Undoing the ties in three or two, he slid his hands inside.

Her skin was smooth everywhere he touched.

He tried to turn her onto her back, eager to move forward, but she suddenly blocked his way.

With her hands crossed, she softly said, “Let’s just sleep…”

In the darkness, his breath was slightly erratic, and his voice carried a hoarseness. “Remove your hand, and we can go to sleep immediately…”

He spoke, trying to pull her hand away. However, as soon as her hand was pulled away, she immediately blocked it again.

She realized she had just uttered an ambiguous sentence and hastily explained, “I mean, let’s really sleep, not that thing…”

As she spoke, her tone was light and tender, her eyes softly flowing under the moonlight, giving off an alluring charm. It seemed she was deliberately teasing, incredibly captivating Ji Feng. He became even more itching and restless.

She was getting better at dealing with him.

In the darkness, he lifted his lips into a smile. Alright, he admitted that he fell for her teasing charm. He was becoming more sensitive.

Once again, he pulled her hand, not allowing her another chance to retract it.

Then, with patience, he probed, waiting for her to be comfortable before exerting force.

In the darkness, Xu Miyu couldn’t help but let out a low sound.

Initially, she could think, but soon she couldn’t resist his movements.

Gradually, her spirit detached from her body, and her body shouted with joy.

In the final moments, she was so excited that tears even flowed from the corners of her eyes.

After it was over, she hugged herself, slowly turned over, facing away from Ji Feng. She felt speechless about herself; clearly, she didn’t want it mentally, but the result… she found her body too uncooperative. She felt a bit upset, then directed that frustration towards Ji Feng.

After a while, Ji Feng finally sensed that something was not right.

He turned on the light, lifted Xu Miyu’s shoulder, and noticed tears in her eyes. Unlike the overly excited physiological tears earlier, this time, she seemed genuinely crying.

He was stunned for a moment. “What’s wrong with you?”

Xu Miyu wiped away the tears randomly, answering with a nasal tone, “Nothing.” Just suddenly, she felt that maybe you don’t like me that much, and you actually just like doing that.

Ji Feng frowned as he looked at Xu Miyu, seeing new tears flowing from her eyes.

He started feeling puzzled.

“What’s really going on?” he asked again, furrowing his brows.

Continuing to insist that nothing was wrong, Xu Miyu turned off the light, suggesting they go to sleep.

Ji Feng turned the light on again, staring at Xu Miyu. He was determined to wait for an answer about what was bothering her.

Turning off the light once more, Xu Miyu hesitated, then said, “Why can’t I cry today? Can’t the things we do together include me crying when I want to?”

Ji Feng found her behavior today indeed strange. He didn’t want to argue with her, so he replied seriously, “Alright, cry if you want. Next time, unless you actively propose doing that, I won’t initiate it. Is that okay? Can this prove that I’m not with you just for that?”

He turned off the light, pulled her down, covered her with a thin quilt, and said, “Alright, go to sleep.”

After a while, he fell asleep.

Xu Miyu listened to Ji Feng’s steady breathing, unable to sleep all night.

Early the next morning, Xu Miyu woke up with dark circles under her eyes.

Seeing her appearance, Ji Feng frowned. “Did you not sleep well last night? Rest at home today, and I’ll call Xue Rui to check on you.”

Looking at Ji Feng’s furrowed brows while helping him tie his tie, she couldn’t help but ask the question that had lingered in her mind all night.

“Will you like other women in the future?” She asked casually.

Ji Feng lowered his eyelids, glanced at her, and asked, “Why are you suddenly asking this?” He didn’t understand why she would ask this question, considering it was similar to the one about whether he would still like her after five years.

Xu Miyu tied her tie while quickly glancing up at him, smiling and saying, “I just suddenly thought about it, and then I really wanted to know the answer.”

Ji Feng furrowed his brows, “So, what kind of answer do you want to hear? The truth, or something pleasant?”

Xu Miyu couldn’t smile anymore.

Ji Feng questioned her, “What about you? Will you fall in love with another man in the future?”

She replied, “No.”

Ji Feng immediately lifted his lips into a smile. For some reason, when Xu Miyu saw him smile like that, she felt a hint of mockery in his expression.

“Are you sure?” Ji Feng looked at her and asked, “Before getting married, did you ever think about the possibility of divorce in the future? Did you swear that you would only love the man who would become your husband for a lifetime? But later, you divorced, didn’t you? And besides him, you also fell in love with me. So, Miyu,” Ji Feng paused, speaking seriously, “we are both adults over thirty, why bother asking such childish and naive questions to disturb ourselves? Will I fall in love with another woman in the future? If I firmly say that I absolutely won’t, I would be lying to you and lying to myself. If you completely believe in such statements, you are deceiving yourself. Absolute statements are all lies.” Pausing, Ji Feng took a breath, and with sincerity, he said, “Miyu, I don’t want to make a fundamentally deceptive promise for an absolute question. But I can honestly tell you, at this moment, I genuinely like you, and I am solely focused on liking only you.”

In the final moment of tying the tie, Xu Miyu’s fingertips trembled slightly.

She withdrew her hand, hiding the uneasiness in her trembling fingertips.

The last two sentences he spoke were very emotional. But the preceding words suggested that he might indeed fall in love with someone else in the future. Moreover, to illustrate that even if this happened, he rationalized it in front of her, using her previous marriage as an example.

Rational people always unintentionally make others feel heartless. He was indeed frighteningly rational. And the divorce scar that she was trying hard to conceal was unexpectedly exposed in front of him.

What she wanted was clearly not his rational honesty, logical reasoning, and preaching.

What she wanted was simply a sense of security that could be given with a single promise.

Yet, he, in such a rational manner, reasoned with her, only to demonstrate that both he and she might fall in love with someone else in the future.

She silently saw Ji Feng off, unprecedentedly not saying goodbye to him.

Ji Feng, not hearing her voice, also seemed to be playing the silent game, leaving without saying a word, as if in defiance.

In the following days, coincidentally, Xue Rui was around, so Xu Miyu didn’t go upstairs. Earlier, Ji Feng had suggested that she should spend some time observing and learning in the hotel’s planning department. So, she used this as an excuse and spent several days in the planning department, learning the entire process of event planning under the guidance of the department manager.

Ji Feng also deliberately refrained from understanding who was upset with him, who he was responding to, anyway, since Xu Miyu didn’t actively come upstairs, he also didn’t take the initiative to call her up. He didn’t go to her apartment in the evenings. She also didn’t call or message him to ask why he didn’t come or when he planned to come.

He vividly remembered what he had said that night, as long as she didn’t actively ask, he wouldn’t take the initiative.

Although at that time, it was just about the matter between a man and a woman, now it seemed to imply more than just that.

But in the next few days, Xu Miyu refused to come upstairs on her own initiative, staying only in the planning department, dealing with the planning of events. Ji Feng couldn’t hold back, taking the opportunity of inspecting the progress of the event, and went to the planning department.

When Xu Miyu saw him in the planning department, she actually adopted a formal and businesslike demeanor, as if the days without seeing him recently were comfortable and at ease.

Ji Feng turned and went back upstairs.

He became increasingly restless, and the habit of wanting to throw things came back easily.

Xue Rui had originally returned to the group headquarters, not having to serve the moody, cold-faced, sarcastic boss, not knowing how happy he was. However, he was suddenly summoned back a few days ago, thinking it would only last a day or two, but unexpectedly, Ji Feng didn’t let him go for several days.

And for these consecutive days, he didn’t see Xu Miyu. He thought she might have some temporary matters, so Ji Feng caught him to take over the assistant’s work. However, when he saw Ji Feng and Xu Miyu in the planning department acting as if nothing had happened—a businesslike inspection of work, a businesslike report of work—he found that things might not be so simple.

To quickly escape from Ji Feng’s clutches and return to the group headquarters for carefree enjoyment, Xue Rui decided to take a risk and ask Ji Feng, “Boss, forgive me for being bold, but is there a disagreement between you and Sister Miyu?”

Ji Feng sneered, “What disagreement could there be between her and me?”

He retorted back at Xue Rui in one sentence.

But just as Xue Rui was being retorted, Ji Feng spoke again, “Even if there is any disagreement, it’s her who’s having an issue with me.” After saying that, he even coughed, as if revealing such a secret matter about a quarrel between lovers was a bit embarrassing.

Looking at Ji Feng’s distressed and indignant appearance, Xue Rui, testing the waters, asked again, “If Sister Miyu is having a disagreement with you, did you do something to upset her?”

Ji Feng firmly refuted, “I didn’t upset her. How could I upset her? It’s absurd.”

Watching Ji Feng’s proud and stubborn appearance, Xue Rui thought, okay, it seems like you did something to upset her.

“Girls, when they are really in love, are very sensitive. When they are sensitive, they throw small tantrums. If you take the initiative to coax them, everything will be fine.” Xue Rui advised, trying to persuade Ji Feng.

But Ji Feng frowned, “I’ve always been the one being coaxed and pleased by others. Besides, she’s not a little girl anymore.”

“…” Xue Rui almost choked. He wondered how Ji Feng could possibly have a girlfriend. He even elevated the level of having a disagreement.

After thinking for a moment, Xue Rui asked a crucial question, “Boss, what happened between you and Sister Miyu the day before you called me back?”

He saw Ji Feng furrow his brows, clenching his lips tightly, so he quickly added, “Tell me about what happened between you two that day, what was said. I can help you figure out how to deal with Sister Miyu.”

Ji Feng, hearing the word “deal with,”—men default that men can do no wrong,

and men don’t need many words to naturally form alliances to deal with annoying women—his attitude softened.

He recalled that Xu Miyu seemed a bit abnormal from the night before the day of the dispute, but at that time, she wasn’t confrontational with him.

The time she truly developed a confrontational attitude seemed to be the next morning when he left. She refused to speak to him or say goodbye. He waited for a long time without hearing her voice, so he simply turned around and left.

And before she refused to say goodbye to him, she asked him a question—will you fall in love with another woman in the future?

Starting from this question, Ji Feng recounted the dialogue between him and Xu Miyu to Xue Rui.

After hearing it, Xue Rui gasped for breath, clutching his chest.

He had never seen such a clueless straight guy. In the world of love, straight guys were like biological weapons. They hurt sensitive and emotional women and hindered men like him who were liked by women and knew how to cherish them.

Xue Rui tried to enlighten Ji Feng on how to answer such seemingly unworthy questions but loved by women, including but not limited to:

Will you fall in love with another woman in the future?

If I and your mom fell into the river, whom would you save?

If I get fat in the future, will you dislike me?

How long will you love me?