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Chapter 1
The moment Zhong Qi arrived at the office, her secretary, He Qiuyang, knocked on the door.
“Chairwoman.”
Eyes lowered, he reported in his usual precise, emotionless tone, “He’s here.”
Zhong Qi slipped off her coat and hung it on the rack before taking her seat behind the desk.
At the company, she never dressed in rigid business suits. She wore whatever looked elegant and effortless on her. Today it was a sleeveless white satin blouse that exposed the graceful lines of her pale arms and collarbone, paired with black wide-leg trousers and narrow-strapped black heels. When she crossed her legs, the slim curve of her ankle and the soft arch of her toes appeared beneath the hem of her pants.
He Qiuyang’s gaze lingered briefly on the tips of her shoes before he lowered his head again and quietly left the office.
Once he was gone, Zhong Qi opened the proposal on her desk and began reading through it carefully.
Ten minutes later, there was another knock at the door.
She looked up.
A strange man walked in.
Neatly cropped hair. Handsome features. Even in a perfectly tailored suit, even trying to carry himself with practiced composure, the vitality of youth still leaked out of him uncontrollably.
He was very young.
Calling him a man felt excessive.
A boy, more like.
It had been a long time since Zhong Qi had kept someone this young around, and she couldn’t help giving him a few extra glances. After years of navigating the worlds of business and politics, she had long learned to hide every emotion behind her eyes. When her dark gaze swept over him now, unreadable and calm, it carried an unsettling depth.
In the twenty years of Huo Enhui’s life, he had never encountered a woman like Zhong Qi.
Being looked at by her like this made something in his chest sink for no reason at all.
He didn’t dare meet her eyes directly. Clearing his throat, he forced himself to speak, though his voice still came out tense and dry.
“Hello, Chairwoman Zhong. My name is Huo Enhui. Brother He told me to come in… he said you wanted to see me.”
Zhong Qi closed the proposal folder.
Her long fingers laced together beneath her chin as she asked calmly, “Did you bring the medical report?”
Huo Enhui’s expression shifted slightly.
After a difficult pause, he answered, “I already gave it to Brother He. He said everything was fine.”
Whenever Zhong Qi took in a man, she always had him undergo a physical examination first. She had no interest in catching some strange disease from anyone. It was an old rule of hers. Only after He Qiuyang confirmed there were no issues would the person be brought before her. If she found him suitable, only then would the relationship continue.
But for many people, being kept was humiliation enough.
Showing up with a medical report made it twice as humiliating.
Some couldn’t get past that step and gave up on their own.
Huo Enhui still couldn’t truly accept this unspoken arrangement.
He was only forcing himself to endure it.
For money.
Or for the other things Zhong Qi could give him.
Zhong Qi had no interest in coercing anyone. To her, using one person was no different from using another. Looking at this stubborn little thing in front of her, she suddenly found herself losing interest.
She pressed the intercom button.
“Qiuyang,” she instructed the other end of the line, “send him back.”
Huo Enhui froze in shock.
He lifted his head abruptly and met Zhong Qi’s eyes.
Her gaze was quiet—like a perfectly still sea. Before her, everything else in the world seemed insignificant, like grains of sand destined to disappear without a trace.
“…Chairwoman Zhong.”
Huo Enhui swallowed hard before speaking in a low voice.
“Could you give me a chance?”
In that instant, Zhong Qi saw it clearly.
Something collapsed inside those dark eyes of his.
Perhaps it was a young man’s pride.
He Qiuyang entered the office then, eyes lowered as he patted Huo Enhui lightly on the shoulder.
“Come with me.”
But Huo Enhui didn’t move.
He stared stubbornly at Zhong Qi, waiting for a single word from her.
Zhong Qi laughed softly.
Leaning back into her chair, she folded her hands over her knee.
“Go buy yourself some clothes. That outfit doesn’t suit you.”
“The Chairwoman’s tastes aren’t limited to one style,” He Qiuyang added evenly. “When you pick clothes, choose what suits you best.”
Inside He Qiuyang’s office, he handed Huo Enhui a card.
“Buy what you need, then wait for my call. I’ll tell you where to go next.”
Huo Enhui stared at the black card for a long moment before finally reaching out to accept it.
“Thanks, Brother He.”
He pulled out a pack of imported cigarettes from his pocket—an expensive brand.
“Do you smoke?”
He Qiuyang pushed his hand away.
“I don’t. And don’t smoke in front of the Chairwoman either.”
Silently, Huo Enhui put the cigarettes away again.
He only asked casually, “The Chairwoman doesn’t smoke?”
He had clearly seen cigarettes and an ashtray on Zhong Qi’s desk earlier.
He Qiuyang glanced at him and gave a faint smile devoid of warmth.
“If the Chairwoman wants to smoke, she smokes. You just need to remember that you don’t.”
Huo Enhui stiffened instantly.
He understood what that meant.
Zhong Qi smoking was her habit.
Whether or not she liked other people smoking, he had better not do it.
It was advice—though not particularly polite advice. But He Qiuyang had no reason to be polite to him.
“There’s no need to look so nervous,” He Qiuyang said as he opened the door. Hearing Huo Enhui follow behind him, he continued while walking down the hall. “There are plenty of small things like this you’ll need to pay attention to. I’ll teach you bit by bit.”
“The Chairwoman likes cleanliness. Not to the point of obsession, but her house, her car, her office—anywhere that belongs to her—must stay clean and orderly. No mess.”
“And she hates people touching her things.”
He paused before adding quietly:
“Not just possessions in the literal sense. Other things too. For example—”
He Qiuyang stopped walking and turned to look at Huo Enhui.
“…Don’t worry, Brother He.”
Huo Enhui took a deep breath.
“I won’t have anything going on with other women.”
Inside the elevator, He Qiuyang continued giving him instructions about various little details, and Huo Enhui memorized each one carefully.
When the floor display neared the first floor, Huo Enhui hesitated before finally asking:
“Brother He… can I ask something?”
“Go ahead.”
“I heard before that the Chairwoman’s previous… boyfriend was Dongcai’s general manager?”
“That company was given to him by the Chairwoman.”
He Qiuyang neither confirmed nor denied the word “boyfriend.” He merely adjusted his glasses and said flatly, “The Chairwoman won’t discuss these things with you, and you don’t need to ask. As long as it’s within reason, she’ll give you whatever you want.”
Huo Enhui thought about it.
Compared to a publicly listed company like Dongcai, what he wanted was practically modest.
Surely it counted as “within reason.”
“Oh, right.”
Just as he was lost in thought, He Qiuyang suddenly spoke again.
“When you’re with the Chairwoman, don’t mention the word ‘Shao.’”
Huo Enhui blinked in confusion, not fully understanding what he meant.
If he remembered correctly, Zhong Qi’s company had originally been the Shao Group. After she married into the Shao family, everyone in the family died in a plane crash, leaving only her behind. Somehow, that lone woman had carried the entire Shao empire on her shoulders.
In less than ten years, Shao Group had become Zhong Group—larger than before by more than three times over.
So why couldn’t anyone mention “Shao”?
Because others were afraid of reopening Zhong Qi’s wounds?
Or because Zhong Qi herself was afraid something might be exposed?
