Chapter 8

Actually, that worked out nicely.

That very evening, Shen Yi called to complain about how unreasonable and tactless Lin Yao was.

After I’d provoked her that afternoon, she’d immediately begun pestering him to take her home to the Shen family and announce their engagement right away.

But Shen Yi hadn’t established himself in the family yet. He didn’t even have a say in his own marriage, so he simply couldn’t agree.

Lin Yao wouldn’t listen. She thought he was making excuses because he didn’t want to marry her.

They’d had a huge fight and parted on bad terms.

Which meant—

It was showtime.

Putting on a sweet little voice, I launched straight into the concerned-woman routine. “What? How could Yao do that? You’re working so hard, Yi. Pressuring you at a time like this… She doesn’t understand what you’re going through at all.”

There was a long silence. Then his alcohol-thickened voice came slowly down the line. “Xiaoxue. I knew you were the one who understood me best…”

Ugh.

Give the man an inch, and he’d happily take a mile.

I forced myself to soothe him a little longer, then ended the call.

Thinking about the drama ahead, I was too excited to fall asleep. Of course, someone else seemed to be having even more trouble.

Footsteps sounded intermittently in the corridor well past midnight. It was as if a certain someone were deliberately keeping watch out there, refusing to go back to bed.

I wasn’t about to give him what he wanted. I deliberately stayed put.

After a while, the housekeeper cried out outside my door.

“Mr. Shen! Why are you wandering about so late at night? It’s far too dangerous!”

I peeked through the crack in the door.

Shen Jibai fidgeted like a bashful bride. “Well… I…”

The housekeeper teased him. “There’s no shame in missing your wife, sir. Come along. I’ll take you to Miss Lin’s room.”

She began to lead him over.

“N-no need!”

The man who never flinched in the boardroom suddenly looked stricken. He turned to flee and ran headfirst into a door.

The thud was impressively loud.

Ouch. My forehead hurt just listening.

That was what happened when a man was too stubborn to admit the obvious.

I left him to it, burrowed under the covers, and slept soundly.

The next morning, Shen Jibai’s assistant woke me with a barrage of calls.

“Do you have a death wi—”

I’d already made a private arrangement with this assistant. He kept me informed of every little development involving Shen Jibai.

In my morning grumpiness, I’d apparently forgotten. Until he began to speak.

It turned out Lin Yao was even less patient than I’d imagined.

She’d hit on the idiotic idea of using Shen Yi’s business deal to force him to agree to an engagement, and deliberately disrupted the contract signing.

Apparently, he’d exploded at her and smashed the keepsake that symbolized their love on the spot, ending things for good.

In the end, he’d lost both the deal and the girl.

Classic Lin Yao. Her IQ had yet to rise above ground level.

“Mm-hmm. Got it.”

I mumbled a couple of replies and rolled over, ready to go back to sleep.

“Madam, how can you sleep at your age?” the assistant burst out, sounding exasperated with me.

“Hmm? Why wouldn’t I? Go on.”

“Miss Lin Yao is younger than you, and she’s already working hard for her future.”

“Oh? Such as?”

“Such as walking into Mr. Shen’s office three minutes ago to seduce him.”

“Oh… WHAT?” I was instantly wide awake. I roared into the phone, “Keep an eye on those two! I’m coming over right now to catch them in the act!”