L&H - 6

When Qiao Yang came downstairs, Fu Ji Chen was standing by the trash can smoking a cigarette. Yu Qing leaned against the passenger door, her head bowed as she looked at her phone. The two were about eight zhang (a traditional Chinese unit of length) apart.

Once everyone was ready, the driver started the car.

This was Yu Qing’s first time sitting in the front passenger seat of Fu Ji Chen’s car—usually, she sat where Qiao Yang did.

She noticed that Qiao Yang was particularly skilled at easing the atmosphere. She proactively asked Yu Qing questions about corporate legal matters, and the mood in the car wasn’t too awkward. However, Fu Ji Chen didn’t participate in their conversation from start to finish.

Qiao Yang couldn’t help but wonder: “You used to work at a law firm. Why did you switch to a corporate job? Law firms usually pay better than corporations, right?”

Yu Qing nodded. “Mm, much better.”

A brief silence followed.

“For someone like me with no background, it’s tough to get by.”

Another pause. “It’s just... really hard. It’s not just about doing your job well. There’s a lot of socializing involved, and mainly… I’m powerless against the unwritten rules.”

The phrase “unwritten rules” lingered in the car.

Qiao Yang understood. For a beautiful girl without connections, men tended to have ulterior motives—it truly was difficult to navigate.

Fu Ji Chen stared out the window. But when the words “unwritten rules” were spoken, he turned his head and gave Yu Qing a long look before returning his gaze to the roadside.

Yu Qing sighed deeply. She didn’t want to lie, but what could she do? All her lies were simply to secure a job at Fu Corporation so she could support herself.

Additionally, she didn’t want to waste her professional skills.

Her father and family were dead set on having her marry Qin Moling.

The Qin and Yu families had been close for generations, though Yu Qing didn’t know anyone in the Qin family personally.

Yu Qing reined in her thoughts and praised Fu Corporation profusely. “Unlike at Fu Corporation, all I need to do here is focus on my work. Sure, the salary is lower, but I’m happier, and it suits my personality.”

Fu Ji Chen never doubted Yu Qing. When she said she did personal shopping, he believed her—he knew it was to save money to hire him.

Before getting involved with Yu Qing, he had reviewed her resume. Her place of origin was listed as Shanghai.

Neither Fu Ji Chen nor Qiao Yang connected her to the prominent Yu family of the capital. Chairman Yu had two children—a son and a daughter—and they were both familiar faces.

No one had heard of Chairman Yu having any other children.

Later, Qiao Yang chatted casually with Fu Ji Chen.

Yu Qing couldn’t interject and kept quiet.

Qiao Yang continued talking: “President Zou is quite humorous.” Tonight’s dinner was specifically arranged for President Zou.

Fu Ji Chen nodded slightly and gestured toward his phone.

Qiao Yang understood—he wanted to send a message.

She didn’t say anything further and turned to look out the window.

Fu Ji Chen found the contact—”Catfish Catcher.”

This was his special nickname for Yu Qing.

He opened the chat box and typed: [Let’s talk.]

Yu Qing subtly turned her head, giving Fu Ji Chen an ambiguous glance, then quickly replied: [I’m just a small employee in the legal department. What should I talk to President Fu about? :)]

Fu Ji Chen: [Right now, I’m not President Fu—I’m Fu Ji Chen. You earned some money today through personal shopping. When are you treating me?]

Yu Qing instinctively tightened her grip on her wallet. Did she earn this money easily? [President Fu, why don’t you keep chatting with Manager Qiao? I approve.]

Fu Ji Chen: “...”

Unbeknownst to them, the car had arrived outside Yu Qing’s rental complex.

The driver had been here before to pick her up, so he was very familiar with the location.

“Miss Yu, we’ve arrived.”

Yu Qing almost didn’t realize it. She had been focused on texting Fu Ji Chen and hadn’t paid attention to the scenery outside the car.

She pushed the door open. “Thank you, President Fu. Good night, Manager Qiao.” Using the farewell as an excuse, she glanced once more at Fu Ji Chen, who was still looking down at his phone.

He ignored her.

Only Qiao Yang nodded. “Good night.”

The driver reversed the car, and Yu Qing waved goodbye until it disappeared around the corner, playing the role of a dutiful employee thrilled to see her superior off.

Once the car finally turned the corner, Yu Qing dropped her smile, shook her wrist, and muttered to herself how exhausting acting could be.

In front of the complex was a food street bustling with small eateries, many of which stayed open late into the night. She had been hungry all evening, and now that her bank account had a bit more money, she decided to treat herself.

A few days ago, Zhang Xiaochi had recommended a barbecue shop located on this very food street.

However, tonight she planned to stay at her rented apartment and didn’t have the energy to take the subway back to Fu Ji Chen’s place.

She hadn’t walked far when her phone buzzed with a new message.

Fu Ji Chen: [Find somewhere to eat late-night snacks first. I’ll come pick you up later.]

Yu Qing stuffed her phone into her bag, feeling elated.

If she went back to Fu Ji Chen’s place tonight, she could hitch a ride with him to the office tomorrow and avoid the crowded subway.

Young people eating late-night snacks filled the streets, making the area especially lively.

Yu Qing’s phone rang again, and she only picked up after the second ring.

The caller ID read “Fish Demon.”

What kind of day was this? All sorts of strange creatures were surfacing.

She answered: “What is it?”

Outside the window, Yu Jingze watched Yu Qing answer his call with a look of annoyance on her face. He saw it all too clearly. “Why aren’t you home this late at night? What are you wandering around for?”

Yu Qing froze mid-step and hurriedly scanned her surroundings for him.

On the right side, there was a row of parking spaces, but she didn’t see Fish Demon’s car.

Yu Jingze was exasperated: “Can’t you look to the left!”

Yu Qing: “...”

She slowly turned her head. In front of a closed shop, there was a black sedan that hadn’t yet been turned off.

Clearly, he was waiting here specifically for her.

Which meant that he had seen Fu Ji Chen drop her off earlier.

The call disconnected.

Reluctantly, Yu Qing dragged her feet over.

Walking past the rear of the car, she climbed into the backseat.

Fish Demon was her older half-brother.

Yu Jingze stared at her silently.

Yu Qing, now under someone else’s roof, had no choice but to bow her head. “Yu Jingze, you’re so much older than me—you’re… my brother.” She emphasized the last word.

“At a time like this when I’m struggling, even if you can’t offer me a helping hand, at least don’t kick me while I’m down, alright?”

She locked eyes with him. “Just forget everything you saw tonight, okay? Be a fish and let it go.”

Finally, Yu Jingze spoke: “I’ve known for a while that you’ve been with Fu Ji Chen. Otherwise, do you think you’d have been able to stay at Fu Corporation for so long?”

Yu Qing wasn’t slow to react. “So… you lied to Dad and told him I haven’t found a job?”

That must have been it.

This person—had he finally developed a conscience?

She asked cautiously: “Does Yu Jingxin know I’m working at Fu Ji Chen’s?”

Yu Jingxin, her half-sister, was Yu Jingze’s legitimate sibling.

After their father divorced his first wife, the two young children initially lived with her. Later, when the first wife remarried, their father took the children back.

Afterward, their father met Yu Qing’s mother, married her, and had Yu Qing.

Yu Qing’s relationship with Yu Jingxin was distant—they hadn’t met more than ten times in her entire life.

There was no bond between them.

Many relatives of the Yu family probably didn’t even remember what Yu Qing looked like—or even forgot she existed altogether.

She was born at her grandmother’s house in Shanghai and grew up there.

When she was just over a year old, her parents’ marriage completely broke down, and her mother filed for divorce.

It was her father’s second divorce.

Back then, she was still young and stayed with her mother.

Her mother traveled the world, and Yu Qing was raised by her grandmother.

At the age of thirty-eight, her mother met the love of her life and quickly remarried.

That year, Yu Qing was fourteen.

She decided to study abroad.

Unwilling to let her leave at such a young age, her father arranged for her to attend a private middle school in the same city where Yu Jingze was studying at university. He asked Yu Jingze to keep an eye on her.

It was from that point onward that she began to gradually build a relationship with Yu Jingze.

“Jingxin is busy taking care of her child every day; she doesn’t have time to worry about these things.” Yu Jingze’s voice interrupted Yu Qing’s thoughts.

Yu Qing snapped back to reality and nodded.

Yu Jingxin’s child was only a few months old, and she was overwhelmed with maternal affection—there was no way she had time to pay attention to Yu Qing.

Yu Jingze handed her a bank card. “The password is the last four digits of your phone number.”

Yu Qing tried to maintain some pride: “Thanks, but I don’t need it.”

“You’re already selling bags—don’t be stubborn.”

“How do you know I’m selling bags?” Yu Qing belatedly realized, “Did Qin Moling tell you?”

Yu Jingze countered, “Does Qin Moling also know you’re selling bags?”

So it wasn’t Qin Moling who told him.

Yu Qing pressed further, “Then how do you know?” She had blocked him, and the people she allowed to see her sale posts definitely didn’t overlap with him.

Yu Jingze clarified: “I have two WeChat accounts—you only blocked the one I use more often.”

Yu Qing: “...”

She turned her face away, silently gazing into the night.

Turns out, he was still a loose end.

Yu Jingze had no patience for her pretense. He shoved the card into her hand. “Get out. I’m leaving.”

Yu Qing looked at the card in her hand and ultimately decided to set aside her pride. “How much is in it?”

Yu Jingze: “One million yuan. If it’s not enough, I’ll transfer more later.”

More than enough.

Combined with the money she earned tonight from selling that limited-edition bag, she now had enough to hire Fu Ji Chen for a week.

Yu Jingze didn’t know what little schemes were brewing in Yu Qing’s mind, but it was clear they weren’t good—the excitement in her eyes was unmistakable.

Just moments ago, she had been pretending she didn’t want the money.

A woman’s words should always be taken with a grain of salt.

He glanced at the time again. “Hurry up and go back—it’s too late. Stop wandering around.”

Yu Qing didn’t want to take his money without giving something in return. “Wait a moment—I’ll go upstairs.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Just wait for me.” With that, she was already jogging away.

Only after Yu Qing’s figure disappeared around the corner did Yu Jingze finally withdraw his gaze.

Seeing her sell a bag on her social media made him feel sorry for her.

He shouldn’t have softened.

He should have pushed her to the brink, forcing her to come home sooner.

Now she was being reckless, sleeping with Fu Ji Chen and stirring up such a hornet’s nest without even realizing it. He was already worried about how to clean up the mess.

Fifteen minutes later, that cheerful figure reappeared in his line of sight.

Yu Qing, carrying large and small bags, hurried over.

Approaching, she asked, “Shall I put them in the trunk?”

Yu Jingze recognized the logo on the shopping bags—they were bags.

Three large shopping bags and one smaller one.

He frowned. “What do you want with these bags? I don’t have time to help you sell them!”

Standing by the car, Yu Qing caught her breath. “I’m not asking you to sell them. I can’t just take your money without giving anything in return. The three bags together are worth more than a million yuan. You can hold onto them for now. For my birthday, you can give me one as a gift; for Christmas, another; and for New Year’s Day, the third. That way, you won’t have to buy gifts.”

She shook the small shopping bag. “You’re my VIP client, so I’ll give this to you for free. Consider it a gift for Children’s Day—you can give it back to me then.”

Yu Jingze: “...”

The driver opened the trunk automatically, and Yu Qing carefully placed the bags inside.

She then walked to the window. “Brother, I have one more favor to ask.”

“Hurry up and say it!”

“After tonight, can we quietly remain strangers? Except for transferring money to me, don’t come looking for me anymore.” She clasped her hands together. “Thank you.”

Yu Jingze was so irritated that he narrowed his eyes.

Yu Qing waved her hand. “You’d better leave soon. I’m going to get barbecue, and Fu Ji Chen will come pick me up later.”

In response, the car window rolled up.

The car drove away.

Yu Qing changed the contact’s note in her phone, renaming “Fish Demon” to “Kindhearted Fish Demon.”

“Yu Qing!”

With that unfriendly shout, the car that had just left returned.

“Get in—I’ll take you back.”

After reconsidering, Yu Jingze still didn’t feel comfortable leaving her alone at night to eat snacks while waiting for Fu Ji Chen to pick her up.

Yu Qing got into the car and sent a message to Fu Ji Chen: [I’ll take a taxi back to the apartment—you don’t need to make the trip.]

Fu Ji Chen: [Send me the license plate number and update me every two minutes on where you are.]

Yu Qing: [12345]

Fu Ji Chen: “...”

When she got home, it was past midnight.

Yu Qing yawned—she was both tired and sleepy.

But the outcome was good. She had managed to scrape together two million yuan.

Fu Ji Chen hadn’t returned yet, so she took the opportunity to tidy up her wallet.

Looking at the card Yu Jingze had given her, her lips unconsciously curled upward.

Fu Ji Chen arrived home a few minutes after her. Walking into the bedroom, he immediately noticed the smile on Yu Qing’s lips. He glanced at her wallet. “How much did you earn from tonight’s deal?”

Yu Qing casually made up a number: “Around ten thousand.”

In reality, she had lost hundreds of thousands.

She had pulled strings to buy it and even added extra goods, only to sell it at a 20% discount.

The loss didn’t matter—what mattered was that even if she had money again in the future, she wouldn’t be able to buy that bag.

She turned her head. “See how hard it is for me to make money? During the week I hire you, you’ll have to do whatever I say, or you’ll feel guilty.”

Fu Ji Chen sneered and ignored her.

He removed his watch and placed it on the bedside table, slowly unbuttoning his shirt.

Yu Qing put down her wallet and began walking toward the bathroom, taking off her work uniform jacket as she went.

Fu Ji Chen stared at her back. Ever since he met her, apart from the first time on the tennis court when she wore athletic gear—which could be disregarded—he had only ever seen her in three states: wearing her work uniform, wearing pajamas, and wearing nothing at all.

“Do you not have any other clothes?”

Yu Qing turned around. “Not really—they’re all old.” She smiled. “Don’t you think the work uniform looks good? I heard you personally chose the design, so I wear it every day—it’s cost-effective.”

She spoke convincingly, her expression perfectly matching her words.

Fu Ji Chen himself didn’t realize that he had personally selected the design of Fu Corporation’s work uniforms.

He couldn’t picture what she would look like in a dress.

But as far as he knew, no woman disliked dresses, especially haute couture.

He stared at her for a few seconds. “Is something going on at home? If you’re short on money, I’ll give you some.”

Yu Qing was about to take a step forward, thinking she had misheard. “What did you just say?”

Fu Ji Chen confirmed she had heard correctly: “If you didn’t hear, forget it. Go take a shower.”

So she hadn’t misheard. But she wouldn’t accept his money: “I’m not short on money.”

Feeling guilty about her lies, she proactively struck up casual conversation to ease his suspicions. “The money I earned from working a few years ago, I dumped it all into futures. I just came to Beijing not long ago, and things are tough right now.”

“Thanks for your concern—my family’s doing fine.”

Fu Ji Chen suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable with her overly serious tone.

Yu Qing continued chatting: “My family has been in business since my grandparents’ generation. Though we’re not as wealthy as your family, we’ve done well enough. I haven’t told my family that I’ve lost quite a bit recently—I don’t want their money.”

Fu Ji Chen hummed in acknowledgment, finding nothing amiss with her words. She had studied abroad, and even if her family wasn’t as prominent, they were certainly affluent.

The address on her ID card was from a famous villa district in Shanghai from years ago.

And with that, the conversation ended.

Yu Qing spent three times longer in the shower than Fu Ji Chen. After washing, she dried her hair, applied skincare, and by the time she emerged from the bathroom, Fu Ji Chen had already read half a magazine.

He was still waiting for her.

No matter how late it was, their daily intimate exchange was never neglected.

Yu Qing: “What time is it?”

“Almost one.”

They cuddled for another hour. “Can you still wake up at five?”

“I’ll let you sleep until six.”

That was more like it.

Yu Qing reached into her bag for her phone, setting the alarm as she walked.

Climbing into bed, she pressed her entire body against Fu Ji Chen.

Fu Ji Chen wrapped an arm around her but kept his attention on her bag—the couple-themed bag she had bought with the landlord’s son.

“You have good taste in men, but why did your judgment fail when buying bags?”

Yu Qing: “...”

What a shameless man, finding ways to compliment himself.