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“Tap, tap, tap!”
Yu Qing stared at Fu Jichen while her hands kept working, still chopping green onions.
“Why aren’t you hungry anymore?”
“I’m afraid you’ll get too tired.”
In the end, Fu Jichen didn’t dare to tell her the truth.
The water boiled, bubbling up.
Yu Qing turned around and got busy. She didn’t pay attention to Fu Jichen’s expression; her mind was exhausted from a long day, so she didn’t think much of it, assuming he was just worried about her.
She added a generous amount of noodles to the pot. “I’ll make you two bowls, I promise you’ll be full.”
Fu Jichen: “...”
He wasn’t even sure if he could finish half a bowl.
He quickly stopped her. “Don’t make so much. Eating too much isn’t good for digestion.”
But it was already too late.
The noodles were in the pot.
Yu Qing’s culinary enthusiasm had been ignited, despite this being her first time cooking.
She carefully imagined how to season the dish. “Don’t worry, the noodles I cook might not even be enough for two bowls.”
Fu Jichen had just caught her tilting her head while deep in thought. What did the flavors she imagined have to do with the actual taste?
This wasn’t like handling projects or cases where thinking it through solved everything.
Since she was so enthusiastic, he didn’t want to ruin her mood.
Fu Jichen moved to the kitchen island and sent a message in their three-person group chat: 【Let’s go downstairs for a late-night snack.】
Yu Jingze: 【Did you make it?】
Fu Jichen: 【No.】 But he didn’t say who made it.
Yu Jingze: 【Be right there.】
Ji Qingyuan saw that Fu Jichen hadn’t made it, so it must have been either a chef or one of the house staff. The father-in-law wouldn’t cook, and Yu Jingxin was still working overtime.
As Ji Qingyuan passed by the study door, he paused for a moment.
Yu Jingxin was deeply engrossed in reviewing venture capital proposals, unaware of anyone standing outside.
“Knock, knock,” Ji Qingyuan gently tapped on the door twice.
Ever since that Weibo comment, Yu Jingxin’s attitude toward him had noticeably improved. “What is it?”
Ji Qingyuan: “Take a break and come downstairs for a snack.”
Yu Jingxin shook her head. “It’s too late. Eating now will only make me gain weight.”
“You’re too thin. You need to eat more.” He remembered her prenatal check-up report—she weighed only 109 pounds when she was about to give birth, and now she was barely over 90 pounds.
Still, Yu Jingxin refused. She had always been ruthless with herself when it came to maintaining her figure, never allowing herself to feel full.
Ji Qingyuan tried every way to spend more time with her. “Then come downstairs with me. I want to eat something.”
Yu Jingxin remained silent, flipping another page of her report.
Ji Qingyuan understood. She still wasn’t ready to forgive him completely.
Unlike before, when he would leave as soon as she gave him the cold shoulder, this time he kissed her lightly.
Still, he didn’t leave.
His left hand secretly pinched his thigh as he forced himself to say, “Then our little hypocrite baby can keep working overtime, and I’ll go downstairs for a snack. I’ll come back later to keep you company.”
Yu Jingxin: “...”
After saying that, Ji Qingyuan walked out of the study with determined steps.
When he reached the stairway, he placed his hands on his hips and took several deep breaths.
That was the first time he’d said such mushy words, and it had taken a lot out of him.
His phone buzzed again. Fu Jichen was urging him.
Ji Qingyuan and Yu Jingze arrived downstairs at about the same time. When they saw the figure bustling about in the kitchen, they hesitated. They wondered why Fu Jichen was suddenly so kind-hearted.
Before they could turn back upstairs, Yu Qing turned around. “Brother, Brother-in-law, the midnight snack will be ready soon. Please sit down.”
Since they were already here, they might as well stay.
At the dining table, Fu Jichen poured three glasses of red wine.
They sat down and eyed him suspiciously.
Fu Jichen handed each of them a glass. “If we drink until we’re half-drunk, we won’t be able to taste how bad the noodles are.”
“...”
Ji Qingyuan didn’t know what kind of cooking skills Yu Qing possessed, so he asked Fu Jichen, “Is it really that hard to swallow?”
Fu Jichen: “I don’t know. I’ve never eaten it before.”
He explained why he was pairing the food with wine. “She rinsed the noodles in the soup twice. First because she put too much salt, then because she added too much soy sauce.”
Ji Qingyuan suddenly fell silent and drank half a glass of wine.
Now that they were already here, if they didn’t eat, Yu Qing would be upset.
In this household, offending anyone was fine except Yu Qing—otherwise, life would become unbearable.
Only Yu Jingze leisurely sipped his red wine.
Ji Qingyuan glanced at him. “You’re quite relaxed.”
Yu Jingze: “Living under the same roof as her and my father, one shouldn’t expect too much. Just surviving is enough.”
Ji Qingyuan nearly choked on his wine. But reflecting on it, after only two days in the Yu household, he deeply felt how difficult it was.
“Fu Jichen, help! The noodles are ready.” Yu Qing sprinkled some finely chopped green onions into each bowl. The vibrant green looked pretty appealing.
Fu Jichen set down his wine glass and quickly went over.
Regardless of how the noodles tasted, she had worked hard for so long that he gave her a hug.
Yu Qing pouted playfully. “Even if it doesn’t taste good, you have to say it’s delicious.”
Fu Jichen nodded. “Mm-hmm. I’ve already brought you cheerleaders.”
Yu Qing laughed aloud. She knew her disastrous cooking would leave people feeling hopeless.
Over at the dining area, Ji Qingyuan waited two minutes, but no one came over. He leaned to look. “Bringing food over takes them forever to chat.”
Yu Jingze also glanced back. “That’s why your relationship with Jingxin is half-dead. If tonight Jingxin made you a midnight snack, she’d quietly prepare it, it’d taste terrible, and you’d force yourself to eat it while telling her, ‘Mm, not bad.’ Then you’d wash the dishes and head back upstairs.”
Yu Jingze had said so much, but Ji Qingyuan only caught one key point: ‘force yourself.’ He had just done that very action upstairs.
The noodles arrived, and just by looking at them, they could tell they weren’t going to taste good.
Yu Jingze took a bite. She had interpreted the concept of scallion oil noodles literally—scallions meant green onions, oil meant soy sauce, and then she mixed the cooked plain noodles with these two ingredients.
Yu Qing took a picture of her hard-earned results from the night and posted it on her social media.
While waiting for the noodles earlier, Fu Jichen had peeled off the label from the wine bottle and made a small crown for Yu Qing.
“Chef Yu, come here.”
Yu Qing ran over and leaned on his back. “What is it?”
Fu Jichen placed the little crown on her head. “Congratulations on becoming a Michelin three-star chef.”
Yu Qing held the little crown to prevent it from falling. “Thank you, my President Fu.” Taking the opportunity, she kissed his cheek.
Ji Qingyuan and Yu Jingze were terrified that Yu Qing would ask them to evaluate her cooking skills, so they kept whispering to each other, making small talk just to avoid having her join in.
Yu Qing leaned against Fu Jichen’s back, resting her chin on his shoulder. She paid no attention to the two of them, only focusing on her phone, checking who had liked or commented on her post.
Her mother had liked it.
Pang Linbin not only liked it but also left a comment: 【All grown up.】
Another user with the nickname ‘Eternal Constancy’ commented: 【Hope to have a chance to try it someday.】
Yu Qing furrowed her brows. Why was there another person without a note or real name?
Last time, Feng Mai was the same, no real-name annotation.
Who was this person?
She checked ‘Eternal Constancy’s social feed, but there was nothing, only three days of visible posts.
There was no information in the profile related to identity.
Yu Qing replied: 【I’m currently in Beijing.】
This person must have met her abroad and still thought she was overseas.
Eternal Constancy: 【I’ll be back in Beijing in a few days. I’ll contact you then. Busy now.】
Yu Qing: “?”
Her brain had been overworked today, and she still had to continue using it tomorrow. She glanced at Fu Jichen; this man was just waiting to deal with her, and she couldn’t afford to lose.
Right now, she didn’t have the energy to focus on who this ‘Eternal Constancy’ was.
She would wait for them to contact her.
There was another new like—it was from her cousin Li Yanzhuo, the person she had dreamed about last time.
They hadn’t been in touch for a very long time.
Even after all these years, the pain of that broken family still felt fresh.
If her eldest uncle and second uncle had shown a bit of brotherly affection and left some room for familial bonds, perhaps Grandpa wouldn’t have passed away so early from anger, and Grandma could have lived a few more years.
But there was no going back anyway.
As Yu Qing was lost in thought, a voice call came in—it was Li Yanzhuo.
“Is there no chef at home?” This was Li Yanzhuo’s first question.
“Yes, there is—a newly minted Michelin three-star chef, surnamed Yu, named Qing.”
Li Yanzhuo chuckled.
There were a few seconds of silence on the call.
Li Yanzhuo said, “I’m in Beijing.”
“I know.”
“When you’re not angry anymore, come find me. Good night.”
“Good night.”
Yu Qing ended the call, feeling as if it had all been a dream.
“Who was that?” Yu Jingze asked, already vaguely guessing.
“Li Yanzhuo.” Yu Qing placed her phone on the table and wrapped both hands around Fu Jichen’s neck, pressing herself close to him.
Yu Jingze nodded slowly, as he had suspected. “You should contact him less.”
Yu Qing: “...”
Yu Jingze had never thought highly of Li Yanzhuo. When she first went abroad to study, she often called Li Yanzhuo, which made Yu Jingze unhappy, and he told her to save on phone bills.
Sometimes when she mentioned Yu Jingze on the phone, Li Yanzhuo would say, “Can we talk about something happier?”
This was probably the hostility between brothers, each jealous of the other.
Fu Jichen muttered softly, “I haven’t even gotten jealous yet, so why are you getting worked up?”
Only Ji Qingyuan remained silent, engrossed in his phone.
In a small group chat of over ten people, messages kept flooding in, and someone @mentioned him.
This was a shared circle of friends between him and Leng Wenning. After their breakup, Leng Wenning had left the group.
Among these friends, some were Leng Wenning’s, a few were his, and later they all became close through frequent interactions and joint investments.
[Have you heard about Wenning’s situation? Fu Jichen really went too far—stealing all her company’s clients. And she did it to help your father-in-law’s family.]
[She drank with us all night but didn’t say much.]
[Later, when she got drunk, her best friend picked her up. It was her best friend who told us what happened.]
[Just now, her best friend called to say she got home safely. She also said Wenning secretly cried in the bathroom. When was the last time you saw her cry?]
[We’re not blaming you.]
[You’re married now, so we shouldn’t be telling you this. Look at these four years—we’ve never mentioned her in front of you or you in front of her.]
[When we hang out, if we invite you, we don’t invite her.]
[Of course, sometimes by coincidence, you both show up, but we never joke about it. She also actively avoids you and doesn’t talk to you, staying as far away from you as possible.]
[After all, you have a wife and child—you need to maintain proper boundaries. But isn’t this situation a bit unfair to her?]
Ji Qingyuan continued scrolling down.
[For the past four years, she and Lemong worked together just fine. Then suddenly, as soon as Yu Qing took office, they wanted to replace Wenning’s planning. Isn’t it obvious what that means?]
[Yu Qing used her as a pawn, making her create negative rumors about Fu Jichen’s company before her contract expired, using Fu Jichen’s hand to retaliate against her.]
[Don’t tell me this wasn’t Yu Jingxin’s idea.]
[We understand Yu Jingxin, but just because Wenning is your ex, does that mean she deserves to be destroyed?]
[Having an ex is normal, right? Besides, in these four years, has Wenning ever reached out to you or tried to ruin your marriage? You know best. She’s already avoided suspicion as much as possible—what more do you want from her?]
[Let me say something inappropriate—now that you have a wife and child, she’s still alone. Don’t you have any feelings for her deep down?]
[Yu Jingxin treating Wenning like this is really excessive!]
[Give us a word—how will this be resolved? Are you just going to let her company go bankrupt? @Ji Qingyuan]
Ji Qingyuan: [This isn’t something that can be resolved with one word. Tomorrow night, gather Leng Wenning and her best friend at the club to settle this face-to-face. All of you should be there.]
After putting down his phone, Ji Qingyuan looked up to find himself alone in the dining room.
Next to him was a note: [After eating, wash the dishes and clean the kitchen.]
Yu Jingze and Fu Jichen’s bowls were also placed there, waiting for him to wash.
________________________________________
Fu Jichen and Yu Qing returned to the bedroom, each busy with their own tasks. Yu Qing had taken a nap earlier, so she wasn’t sleepy at all. She opened her laptop and moved it onto the bed.
“President Fu, I’ll keep you company while you work overtime.”
Seeing her sit on the bed, Fu Jichen closed his tablet cover.
He was planning tomorrow’s PR campaign and couldn’t let her see it.
Yu Qing humphed. “So petty.”
Fu Jichen glanced at her. “You’re not petty? Then show me the plan you prepared for Lemong.”
Yu Qing turned around, facing away from him.
The room fell silent, with only the sound of their keyboards clicking.
While writing, Fu Jichen assigned tasks to Secretary Pan and Qiao Yang in the work group chat.
He put on his headphones and watched the videos they sent over.
After watching, he told Lu Chen to extract a specific segment—from this timestamp to that timestamp.
Lu Chen: [Looks like we’re going to make a brilliant comeback. I can finally hold my head high in front of Yu Fei. When she called me today, she practically wanted to tear me apart.]
[Since I’ve personally handled this, can you ask Yu Qing if Yu Fei might forgive me?]
Fu Jichen: [Do you really need me to tell you whether she’ll forgive you or not?]
He mercilessly reminded Lu Chen: [From now on, try to send me fewer messages and don’t act like we’re close. Yu Qing might think we’re birds of a feather.]
Lu Chen: “...” [Tonight, you were the one who contacted me first!]
Fu Jichen: [Unless I’m using you.]
Lu Chen fumed for a moment before continuing about Yu Fei: [Today, she mistook me for Zhao Shuqun. How am I anything like Zhao Shuqun? I’m clean in body and mind!]
Fu Jichen, busy with the PR plan, occasionally glanced at his phone and replied: [Clean in body, but hard to say about the heart.]
Lu Chen: [Alright, let’s not talk about it anymore.]
With tomorrow’s PR strategy almost ready, Fu Jichen sent it to Lu Chen and reminded him: [Before 9 AM tomorrow, these points must appear on the trending list.]
Lu Chen: [Your sneaky tactics are something ordinary people can’t imitate.]
Fu Jichen turned off his tablet, unplugged the keyboard, and placed it on the bedside table. Turning his head, he saw that Yu Qing was already asleep, slumped diagonally on the bed, her head resting on his pillow.
The small crown he’d made for her out of the wine bottle label was pinned to her hair with a hair clip.
Fu Jichen gently brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. He imagined her wearing a diamond crown, dressed in a wedding gown, marrying him.
He leaned down and kissed her lips softly.
Feeling disturbed, Yu Qing turned her face away.
Fu Jichen didn’t disturb her sleep further. Half-rising, he adjusted her sleeping position. Her right hand instinctively rested on her abdomen.
He caressed her cheek and kissed her again.
________________________________________
The next day.
Rarely, the sky was clear and blue, dotted with a few clouds.
Beijing’s sky could sometimes be breathtakingly beautiful, and today was one of those days.
Yu Qing stood by the office window, gazing at the CBD center under the vast blue sky.
It had been 24 hours since the new wave of public opinion about Duo Xin had emerged. The best window for PR response seemed to have passed, and there was no sign of movement.
She had spent the entire morning thinking about what they might do next.
No results.
Her desk phone rang.
Yu Qing snapped out of her thoughts and strode over.
It was Qin Moling, with a simple message: “Check the trending topics.”
Yu Qing didn’t ask further questions. She hung up and quickly opened the trending list.
Fu Jichen had executed the PR move in a way she never expected. A self-proclaimed staff member of Fu Group released three video clips on Weibo.
The first clip showed her, Fu Jichen, and Xiao Yilin outside the cafeteria on the day of their argument.
In the video, Xiao Yilin explained to Fu Jichen why they had argued:
“I wanted to replace Boss Qian with the more capable Zhuohua Trading, but our contract with Boss Qian hasn’t expired yet. So I wanted to sign with Zhuohua first and then gradually resolve things with Boss Qian. Lawyer Yu disagreed, saying it was违规操作 (a violation of regulations), and insisted that I terminate the contract with Boss Qian first. That’s when we started arguing.”
The second video was also outside the cafeteria.
Here, Fu Jichen publicly revealed her identity.
The third video showed Fu Jichen giving instructions to Secretary Pan:
“Tell President Duo Xin to report to me at 3 PM today. Have him focus on how he usually manages Duo Xin, whether the company’s rules and regulations are properly implemented.”
In these videos, Fu Jichen fulfilled every woman’s fantasy of a man.
He was霸气 (domineering) when protecting her, 强势 (assertive) when claiming ownership, and威严 (authoritative) when being serious.
These three videos were enough to prove that the accusations of Fu Group covering up contract fraud were completely baseless—it was entirely the personal actions of Duo Xin’s regional manager.
Moreover, months ago, the group president had already issued a warning, but Xiao Yilin had ignored it.
The main characters of today’s videos were her, Fu Jichen, Xiao Yilin, and the signboard of Fu Group’s cafeteria—all present in every clip.
These videos were likely recorded by the fangirls of Fu Group at the time, never expecting that months later, they would save the company from a public relations crisis.
The comments exploded with discussions, most of them about her.
Just ten minutes ago, Fu Group’s official Weibo account posted a second statement:
1. Duo Xin’s “Love at First Sight” campaign is based on the love story between the boss and his fiancée. At Duo Xin, we only pursue the sweet and sour taste of lemons and absolutely reject the bitterness of “contract fraud.”
2. The company has terminated labor contracts with Xiao Yilin, the regional manager of Duo Xin’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, and several legal department employees involved in the matter.
3. Duo Xin will re-sign a distribution contract with Boss Qian.
Qin Moling knocked and entered. “How shameless is Fu Jichen? When their ‘Love at First Sight’ ad was launched, he didn’t even know you, and he used you for free advertising. Look how moved those netizens are.”
Yu Qing: “I messed with his company, so if he didn’t use me a little, he’d feel uncomfortable, right?”
But she had to admit, this round of PR by Fu Group scored 101 out of 100.
At a critical moment, Fu Jichen had turned the tide. Not only did he resolve the company’s public relations crisis, but he also cleverly promoted their product with a romantic twist. This ad campaign was more effective than spending hundreds of millions on sponsorship.
Yu Qing sent a message to Fu Jichen: [Congratulations, President Fu, excellent PR.]
Immediately after, she sent another message in a more personal tone: [Fu Scoundrel! You actually used me to whitewash Fu Group’s PR!]
Fu Jichen: [Mm-hmm, using you to clear our name while showing off our relationship. Let everyone know—you’re mine.]
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