The disturbance Wen Yu caused that morning spread throughout headquarters.
The big boss’s rapid appointment of a fair-skinned, beautiful new special assistant became explosive news as well.
Employees discussed both stories in their private group chats.
Secretary A: [I was lucky enough to see the handsome newcomer up close. His skin is amazing! White as milk, with such deep-set eyes and pale irises. He almost looks foreign.]
The other employees howled excitedly.
Secretary Zhuang glanced at the ceaselessly jumping messages, question marks filling his mind. Why were these women shrieking?
Scrolling down, he saw someone post: [This pairing is killing me!]
He did not understand.
Remembering the relationship between Chi Junyan and his boss, he moved a finger to warn everyone against publicly swooning over the man.
But Secretary A, who had started the topic, told everyone to calm down.
[Brother Chi must have received professional training. He works very systematically. President Shao hired him to do a job, so everyone should restrain themselves.]
Secretary Zhuang’s finger stopped.
Just as he prepared to close the chat, Secretary A added: [I wonder which university Brother Chi attended. With such good looks and strong professional ability, there’s no reason he wouldn’t be well known. I’ll ask around the professional association later.]
Expressionless, Secretary Zhuang closed the window.
The professionally capable Brother Chi had graduated from middle school.
By displaying a fraction of his skill, Chi Junyan successfully impressed both the secretarial department and Shao Siyan.
Shao Siyan found it strange that someone educated only through middle school could correctly categorize documents after reading their short labels once.
He had organized them rapidly without using any electronic device. He could not have researched them or asked for help. The only possibility was that he understood them.
It was late. Suppressing his doubts, Shao Siyan prepared to leave work.
As someone without a home, Chi Junyan naturally accompanied him.
Secretary Zhuang hurried out of the executive office and caught up. Holding his phone, he routinely asked what Shao Siyan wanted for dinner so he could arrange the menu with the kitchen.
Shao Siyan gave him a strange look. “Shouldn’t you hand that responsibility over to Chi Junyan?”
Secretary Zhuang froze.
That was true.
As a secretary, monitoring the president’s personal life was not part of his normal duties.
Only after Assistant Wen resigned—no, disappeared from work without permission—had Secretary Zhuang been forced to assume that responsibility.
Performing both a secretary’s and special assistant’s work every day was already exhausting. Managing Shao Siyan’s personal life as well meant that during this single week, his workload had exceeded the intensity of an entire previous year.
Secretary Zhuang stared blankly for a moment, then turned to Chi Junyan.
As he transferred everyone’s contact information, he felt that something was not quite right.
Only after the elevator carrying the boss’s party closed and began descending did he slap his forehead. That was wrong! Had President Shao not criticized Wen Yu precisely because he disliked a special assistant focusing too much on his private life, leading Wen Yu to disappear and eventually be dismissed?
Then why had he just… Oh, right.
He quickly understood.
He was the legitimate intimate partner inside President Shao’s home.
Of course he should manage personal affairs too.
A collection of new people and responsibilities suddenly filled Chi Junyan’s contact list.
Just as he prepared to take Secretary Zhuang’s baton, the man beside him said indifferently, “We’re eating out tonight.”
Even the bodyguards could not help glancing at Shao Siyan.
This man famously disliked outside food. However excellent a dish was, he could always identify one problem or another.
He was extraordinarily difficult to serve.
For him to propose dining outside was as astonishing as the sun rising in the west.
Shao Siyan regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth.
He understood his own condition. Whether it was a Michelin-starred restaurant or a popular street-food stall, he found it unbearable.
His daily meals had to be extremely light yet fresh, fragrant, and appetizing. Countless teams of chefs had been tormented before one finally learned to meet his needs.
But after seeing Chi Junyan’s curiosity about everything and his slightly clumsy attempts to operate a phone earlier, Shao Siyan had spoken without knowing why.
Chi Junyan did not understand his good intentions. He merely treated him like a former commanding officer and did not question the instruction.
Someone of Shao Siyan’s social standing required advance arrangements to dine outside.
But Chi Junyan had almost no experience eating out. How would he know where to go?
Thus, Secretary Zhuang received a call from the newly appointed Special Assistant Chi.
“Where should we eat?”
Secretary Zhuang was shocked.
Would his boss truly go this far to please his young lover?
On such short notice, Secretary Zhuang did not know which restaurant to recommend. In a moment of excitement, he sent the name of a restaurant his girlfriend wanted to visit.
The instant he sent it, regret overwhelmed him.
The restaurant he had recommended did not seem worthy of his boss’s status.
He was about to tell Chi Junyan that it was unsuitable and suggest somewhere else when the other man thanked him and announced that they had already left.
Secretary Zhuang covered his face and played dead.
After following the navigation system to their destination, Shao Siyan fell silent.
It was a private restaurant inside a villa resembling a small garden.
Such restaurants sold a fashionable, middle-class atmosphere. Their food could not compare with a major establishment’s cuisine.
But since they were already there and Shao Siyan felt his condition had recently improved—his emotions had remained mostly controlled for the entire week without a single episode—he thought he should interact more with ordinary society and said nothing.
He walked forward, and Chi Junyan followed half a step behind.
The little garden was desolate in early winter, and most diners sat indoors.
As they passed a pond with no vegetation around it, a muddy, fishy odor rose toward them.
Shao Siyan had only begun to frown when a fresh fragrance reached his nose.
It carried the toasted aroma of biscuits, the intoxicating scent of alcohol, and a light sweetness mingled within.
Tiramisu.
He turned toward the source and saw Chi Junyan looking at him calmly. “President Shao?”
Every detail of Chi Junyan’s daily life and purchases was recorded, and nothing indicated that he had bought such an item. Where had he hidden the perfume?
Shao Siyan remembered that the clothes he had torn apart contained nothing resembling perfume.
His gaze was dark and appeared exceptionally deep beneath the dim yellow light.
Chi Junyan, whose mental tendrils were wrapped around him, understood his thoughts almost instantly. His breath paused, and he softened his voice. “President Shao, we should go inside. It’s cold out here.”
Shao Siyan studied him for a long while before saying, “Yes.”
He turned and walked inside first. Chi Junyan lowered his eyes and waited briefly before following.
After walking several steps, Shao Siyan abruptly looked back and frowned. “Why are you so slow?”
He was climbing the stairs, forcing Chi Junyan to raise his head to look at him.
Without another word, Shao Siyan silently led him inside.
Knowing that Shao Siyan was coming, the restaurant had cleared the entire second floor for them.
Throughout the ordering process, Shao Siyan kept a stern face and appeared dissatisfied with every dish.
Having assumed the assistant’s duties, Chi Junyan could only steel himself and order every signature and specialty dish.
While they waited, he sat with his eyes lowered and his attention restrained. Even his mental tendrils obediently withdrew, refusing to cross the boundary.
The kitchen was downstairs, and cooking fumes spread upward through the exhaust ducts.
Shao Siyan found the smell increasingly offensive and the environment increasingly noisy. Everything about the restaurant became hateful.
