Shortly after getting in the car, Secretary Zhao’s phone rang. She said “Sorry” to Shi Niannian and connected it to the car’s Bluetooth.

“Hello, Miss Sheng.”

Sheng Xiangwan’s voice came through: “Secretary Zhao, has Jiang Wang gone to S City on a business trip?”

“Yes, do you need him for something?”

“There is something. Tell me which hotel he’s staying at. I want to go see him.”

Secretary Zhao instinctively glanced at Shi Niannian through the rearview mirror. She appeared not to be listening carefully, with her eyes closed and her head leaning to the side.

What composure!

Secretary Zhao looked away: “I’m sorry, Miss Sheng. Mr. Jiang has instructed that information concerning his privacy cannot be disclosed.”

“Hmm, alright. I’m going to S City tomorrow to play. Please tell him I’ll find him for dinner. I sent him messages, but he hasn’t replied.”

Secretary Zhao sighed inwardly: “Certainly, Miss Sheng.”

The next few days passed peacefully. Jiang Wang was very busy with his business trip every day, and Shi Niannian was busy with classes.

At noon, she didn’t go back for lunch but instead went to the cafeteria with Huang Yao.

B University’s cafeteria food was delicious. It was right after class ended, and the place was packed inside and out. The two of them squeezed through for quite a while before buying their food and finding seats.

“That was brutal,” Huang Yao said after squeezing out of the crowd. “I couldn’t get the last piece of braised pork.”

Shi Niannian picked up a chicken leg from her plate and put it in Huang Yao’s bowl.

With two top students eating together, their conversation naturally revolved around studying. Various technical terms that would make one’s head spin were mixed into the cafeteria’s bustling environment as they chatted, completely absorbed.

Suddenly, a male student came over from the side: “Junior, may I get to know you?”

Shi Niannian turned her head and finally noticed the male student sitting next to her. He was tall and thin with tanned skin, looking quite sunny. His meal card was placed at the edge of his tray.

She glanced at it—a third-year student.

“I’m a first-year graduate student, not a junior,” Shi Niannian said with a smile.

The male student wasn’t bothered at all and spoke sweetly, as if his mouth was filled with honey: “Then big sister looks so young. I just heard you two talking about being from the medical school. I’m from the Finance Department. Can I get to know you?”

Shi Niannian glanced at Huang Yao and had to say, “I’m sorry, I already have a boyfriend.”

The male student finally left reluctantly.

Huang Yao burst out laughing: “If that guy knew he was coveting Jiang Wang’s girlfriend, he’d probably be frightened to death.”

“Is Jiang Wang that famous at school?”

“Of course! Who doesn’t know him? He entered B University with the top science score, was the campus heartthrob, and now he’s the chairman of the Jiang Group. This isn’t just a wealthy husband—it’s a once-in-three-thousand-years find.”

Shi Niannian was amused by her comment and laughed, but gradually her smile faded.

Jiang Wang had been on his business trip for three days, and they hadn’t contacted each other—no calls, no texts.

Shi Niannian took out her phone and typed “Have you eaten?” but after hesitating for a moment, she didn’t send it. She remembered the conversation she had heard between Sheng Xiangwan and Secretary Zhao.

Sheng Xiangwan wanted to have dinner with Jiang Wang.

That night when she met Jiang Wang on the street, she had been held in his arms and had seen Sheng Xiangwan standing behind him. Then at the hospital, she had also heard Jiang Wang’s other assistant mention her.

Sheng Xiangwan and Jiang Wang must be quite familiar with each other.

Of course, she wasn’t foolish enough to suspect that Jiang Wang and Sheng Xiangwan had any relationship. Given her current relationship with Jiang Wang, it would be impossible, and he wasn’t that kind of person.

However, they had been apart for too long, and awkwardness and unfamiliarity were inevitable and natural.

Shi Niannian had quite a girlish personality. She would get jealous and unhappy, but she didn’t know how to express these intimate feelings now.

Have you eaten?

Did you sleep well?

What were you busy with today?

She didn’t know how to ask these simple questions.

“What are you thinking about?” Huang Yao waved her hand in front of her face. “You’re frowning. What’s wrong? Did you fight with Jiang Wang?”

Shi Niannian propped her face with her hand: “We didn’t fight.”

“That’s true,” Huang Yao nodded. “With your temperament, probably no one could get into a fight with you.”

“My temperament isn’t that good,” Shi Niannian said.

“If your temperament isn’t good, then no one’s is. Jiang Wang’s temperament should be better than mine,” Shi Niannian said quite seriously.

Huang Yao opened her eyes wide in surprise, clearly not believing it. Finally, she made a fist-and-palm salute: “Jiang Wang walks around with a cold face that scares people to death. Only in a lover’s eyes could he appear beautiful.”

Since returning to China, Shi Niannian had only eaten one meal with her aunt. Since her coursework wasn’t heavy today, she went to her uncle’s house for dinner.

She hadn’t been here for a long time. Every step she took was accompanied by memories flooding back.

Shi Niannian took a deep breath. The scent of summer. Around the corner was a basketball court that had been renovated and expanded—the place where she had first spoken to Jiang Wang.

She didn’t know that this was also the place where Jiang Wang had fallen in love with her.

“Are you hungry after a day of classes?” Her aunt asked as soon as she saw her.

“A little,” Shi Niannian said with a smile, changing her shoes at the entrance.

Her aunt quickly said, “Then let’s eat right away. I’ve made all the dishes you used to like. I don’t know if your taste has changed.”

“It hasn’t changed much.”

“But you were never picky about food, unlike Xu Ningqing. Raising him is like raising an ancestor,” her aunt complained as soon as she mentioned Xu Ningqing.

Shi Niannian smiled and asked: “Where is my brother?”

“He hasn’t been home for a long time. Your uncle had surgery earlier, and your brother had to learn many things. He can’t be as wild as before.”

They chatted casually throughout the meal, and toward the end, they brought up Shi Niannian’s father.

After running for so long, who would have thought it would end this way? But he had indeed done wrong, and that couldn’t be changed.

Her aunt was dissatisfied with Shi Dehou. Even when Xu Shu first married him, she wasn’t very pleased, always feeling that he wasn’t straightforward in his dealings. Later, when things went wrong, he didn’t dare to take responsibility. They had tried to persuade him to confess, but Shi Dehou refused. As relatives, they couldn’t deliberately trip him up.

It was Shi Niannian who suffered. In the period right after she left, her aunt couldn’t help but sigh whenever she thought about it.

Mr. Jiang had been in a very bad mood recently—this was something everyone around him could feel.

Word had spread throughout the company that Mr. Jiang had recently gotten a beautiful girl and had directly arranged for her to stay at his home. With such beauty by his side, what could he possibly be angry about?

Fang Qi felt that Mr. Jiang must be very different toward this “Miss Shi” from the rumors.

Previously, there had been rumors in the company group chat about him and the Sheng family’s daughter. Although Jiang Wang wasn’t in these employee groups, he was aware of what people were discussing, and he quickly had those unfounded rumors cleaned up.

But now, the company group chats were filled with all sorts of claims: some said she was Mr. Jiang’s love at first sight, others said she was a beauty offered by Hezhi, which had been continuously extending olive branches to the Jiang Group, and still others said she was an underground lover.

Fang Qi knew a bit more than everyone else.

After all, he had accompanied Mr. Jiang to the charity banquet that day.

He had witnessed firsthand Mr. Jiang hurriedly embracing the girl tightly, and also saw the young woman touch Mr. Jiang’s hair and tell him not to cry.

This was no ordinary lover—clearly, she was his first love, his moon goddess.

One glance was enough to make all the other beauties around him retreat.

“Fang Qi.”

He interrupted his thoughts and walked into the room: “What is it, Mr. Jiang?”

“Fan Zhihu will go to Yisu Mansion at 11 PM tonight. Follow him.”

“Yes.”

Jiang Wang paused for a moment, his phone screen lighting up and then dimming: “Also, go ask what she ate at home tonight.”

Fang Qi certainly knew who “she” was—otherwise, he wouldn’t be qualified to be Jiang Wang’s assistant.

But he didn’t understand why Mr. Jiang wanted to know what his “moon goddess” had eaten without calling her directly, instead asking him to inquire with the housekeeper.

He had the housekeeper’s number, but after hanging up, he wasn’t sure how to report back.

He had asked what she had eaten for dinner, and the reply was that she hadn’t returned home yet.

She was out playing while Mr. Jiang was away on business.

Fang Qi took a deep breath and returned to the desk, reporting formally: “Mr. Jiang, Miss Shi hasn’t returned home yet.”

Jiang Wang frowned, looking at his watch. It was almost ten o’clock. He rubbed his brow, his eyes tinged with a hint of irritation, and waved his hand: “You may go.”

In the end, he took the initiative to call Shi Niannian. The first call didn’t go through. The second was answered after half a minute.

Shi Niannian had left her aunt’s house quite late. Jiang Wang had arranged a driver for her, but she didn’t want to trouble anyone so late at night, so she planned to stroll around, buy some fruit, and then take a taxi back.

When Jiang Wang called, she was selecting fruit with bags and a parasol in her hands, making it difficult to reach her phone. By the time she finally pulled her phone out of her bag, it was already ringing for the second time.

It was Jiang Wang calling.

The first call in three days, also the first contact.

She happily answered: “Hello?”

From the other end came an emotionless question: “What are you doing?”

“Buying fruit.”

Jiang Wang’s previously composed face relaxed a bit. He stood up and went to the window, his voice very low: “It’s so late and you’re not home yet.”

Hearing Jiang Wang say the word “home” made her heart flutter. Smiles spread from her eyes: “Soon, I’ll go back right after I finish buying.”

“Has school been busy lately?”

Shi Niannian: “It’s fine, not too busy.”

Then why haven’t you ever sent me a message or called me?

Jiang Wang closed his eyes briefly. He hadn’t deliberately refrained from contacting Shi Niannian from the start. On the first day of his arrival, he had been extremely busy, and when he returned to the hotel that night and saw not a single message from her, he became a bit upset.

It was quite childish, but he wanted to see when she would finally contact him.

In the end, he was the one who couldn’t hold back.

Jiang Wang gave a tired “Mm” sound, gave a few instructions, and then hung up.

At this point, Shi Niannian still hadn’t realized that Jiang Wang was already angry, until the next day.

After class, she was walking toward the school gate. The shortest path from B University’s teaching building to the gate passed through a basketball court. Shi Niannian was walking with her head down when suddenly someone called her from behind.

She recognized him as the male student she had met in the cafeteria yesterday. He was wearing basketball clothes, sweating profusely, with a basketball tucked under his arm.

Jiang Wang was also very good at basketball, she thought absently, recalling the high school basketball tournament.

“Senior, could you fill out a questionnaire? It’s a life-saving matter,” the young man handed her a questionnaire, which was two pages long.

Shi Niannian didn’t refuse. She took the pen he offered. It appeared to be a preliminary survey for a third-year entrepreneurship project. Shi Niannian had done something similar during her undergraduate years, when she and her roommates had also distributed questionnaires everywhere.

She filled it out quite seriously, unlike most respondents who just casually check a few options to complete the task.

“It’s rare to meet a senior who fills it out so carefully,” the young man remarked.

She smiled and said, “I’ve done this kind of research before. I know how hard it is to distribute questionnaires and process the data.”

Jiang Wang rushed to finish his work and hurry back. After getting off the plane, he figured he could arrive just in time for Shi Niannian’s class dismissal, so he came directly.

Previously, Shi Niannian had the car wait at the school gate. Jiang Wang waited there for a while without seeing her, then drove in.

As a result, he saw Shi Niannian standing with a male student, heads lowered, laughing and talking about something.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” the young man suddenly asked. “Were you just saying that? I just want to be friends with you.”

She laughed: “I have…”

Before she could finish, there was the sound of a car door slamming behind her, followed by a voice: “Niannian.”

The man’s voice, refined by years, was deep and magnetic, with an effortless authority.

Shi Niannian turned around and was surprised to see Jiang Wang standing by the car. She hadn’t expected him to return early. She immediately smiled, turned to the young man, and said, “That’s my boyfriend,” before running toward Jiang Wang.

The young woman smiling as she ran over dispelled half of Jiang Wang’s irritation.

“Weren’t you supposed to be gone for five days?” Shi Niannian asked.

“It ended early.”

Jiang Wang looked up, over her shoulder, at the young man standing behind.

He didn’t recognize the other person, but the young man recognized him, standing there in shock.

He was also from the Finance Department and couldn’t possibly have not heard of Jiang Wang’s reputation, not only from various external news but also from professors who had mentioned him several times in class.

While he was still staring, Jiang Wang had already indifferently withdrawn his gaze.

Jiang Wang curved his lips in a faint smile and suddenly said with unclear meaning: “Now I can’t control you anymore.”

Shi Niannian didn’t understand, blinking as she looked up: “What?”

“Nothing,” he didn’t elaborate further. “Do you have anything else to do later?”

“No.”

“Then let’s go home.”

Shi Niannian wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but after this business trip, the dynamic between her and Jiang Wang seemed even stranger than when they had first met.

When they first met, there was tension and excitement; now there was calmness and contemplation.

But she couldn’t figure out what Jiang Wang was thinking.

After dinner, they both stayed in the living room. The TV was on, playing a movie. Shi Niannian sat cross-legged on the sofa with a thick textbook on her lap, though her eyes were on the screen.

Jiang Wang sat on the other side, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, browsing through a report, fully concentrated and not sparing the TV a single glance.

Shi Niannian wanted to start a conversation with him, so she asked: “I don’t think I’ve seen you wear glasses before.”

“I don’t wear them much. The light here is dim, so it’s more comfortable to wear them when reading.”

“Was the business trip tiring?”

“It was fine.”

Shi Niannian blinked and said, “Oh,” turning her head back. She looked at her book for a while, then at the TV for a while, and eventually couldn’t focus on either.

The living room fell silent again, with only the occasional sound of turning pages.

After a moment, Shi Niannian spoke with her head lowered: “Jiang Wang, why did we get married?”

The person beside her paused, his previously relaxed posture instantly disappearing. His knuckles tensed as he turned his head to look directly at her, without speaking.

Shi Niannian spoke slowly: “We haven’t seen each other for more than five years. Getting married like this seems irresponsible to ourselves and each other. I don’t know if I’ve changed, or how much. I don’t even know why you liked me before.”

She felt her throat constricting and strangely felt like she might stutter again. She could only speak very slowly, one word at a time.

“I feel like the way I am now might not be what you liked before. You haven’t realized this yet and impulsively married me.”

Her eyes reddened, and she smiled helplessly. “So… if you regret it…”

“Shi Niannian,” he interrupted her. “Have I not been good to you?”

She paused, thought for a moment, and said very seriously: “You have.”

These days, the care has been meticulous. Even without Jiang Wang saying so, she knew that the people he had arranged to take care of her daily life and travel were all personally selected by him. The dishes prepared were all her favorites, and even the newly bought clothes matched her usual style. Except during his business trip, he picked her up and dropped her off for classes.

“I never liked you for any specific quality,” he said steadily and calmly. “Rather, because it’s you, I like all your qualities.”

His fondness for Shi Niannian had come fiercely and inexplicably.

The first time he saw her was on that evening, just after he had been released from prison. The night wind was sticky, cicadas were noisy, the surroundings were boisterous, and the hearing aid in his ear was crackling with static.

And that was when she appeared.

With a gust of wind, his heart calmed.

Later, it was also at that basketball court that she handed him a band-aid.

She blocked the moon behind her, yet her eyes held a scoop of clear moonlight, bestowing light upon his dirty and chaotic self.

The process of pursuing her, in Jiang Wang’s eyes, was like climbing a ladder to pluck that cold and pure moon.

“Because it’s you, everything else can be blind,” Jiang Wang said.

Shi Niannian’s heart trembled, and she unconsciously crumpled a corner of the book page. She sniffled, her voice choked with emotion: “Were you unhappy with me before?”

“Yes,” he said slowly. “But it’s because you weren’t good to me.”

She protested in a small voice: “I wasn’t?”

“I was on a business trip for four days, and you didn’t contact me for four days. When I came to pick you up, I saw you smiling at another man.”

Shi Niannian opened her eyes wide in bewilderment. The second accusation was particularly unjust, and she hurriedly explained: “That person—I was just helping him fill out a questionnaire, nothing else.”

“Mm,” he responded flatly. “What else?”

“Also… I wanted to text you, but I didn’t know what to say. That day, I heard Sheng Xiangwan talking to your assistant on the phone, saying she was going to have dinner with you, which made me even more unsure of what to say.”

Jiang Wang frowned slightly and said simply: “I didn’t meet with her.”

Shi Niannian nodded, and finally couldn’t help but complain in a small voice: “And—and you didn’t contact me either.”

His lips curved into a smile, but before he could say anything, he saw the young woman beside him move closer to him.

She deliberately tried to appease him, too embarrassed to look into his eyes, her arms loosely encircling his neck as she sat on his lap. She didn’t dare put her full weight on him, supporting herself with her strength.

It was rare for Shi Niannian to take the initiative to throw herself into his arms. Jiang Wang was in a great mood, and his speech carried traces of laziness and mischief. He patted her thigh: “Change your position.”

Shi Niannian thought she was hurting him and quickly stood up, standing helplessly in front of him: “How should I sit?”

“Face me.” Jiang Wang directly pulled her left knee, making her knee press against the sofa. “Put your leg here.”

Shi Niannian lacked experience, and only after sitting down did she realize it was a very embarrassing position.

She was straddling Jiang Wang face-to-face.

Jiang Wang held her waist with one hand to stabilize her, while his other hand gripped her chin as he kissed her.

His kiss was tantalizing, his tongue sweeping across her teeth before circling and intertwining with hers. Their lips continually rubbed against each other, their breaths intermingling. She gradually softened, with tiny electric currents traveling along her spine to her limbs.

Her arms lost strength, and she could only hold his neck, her fingers interlocked behind it.

Gradually, Jiang Wang’s breathing grew heavier, and his movements became increasingly rough.

Men are driven by desire and pleasure. Once something happens, they increasingly push boundaries.

Jiang Wang reached inside and pushed up her bra.

Shi Niannian felt exposed, her toes curling, pretending not to exist by closing her eyes like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.

Jiang Wang’s eyes were dark as he stared intently at Shi Niannian, unwilling to miss any expression, as if drowning.

He suddenly moved close to her ear, his voice hoarse, wickedly saying: “If you smile at other men like that again, I’ll do this to you in front of them.”

She didn’t hear clearly and didn’t understand, opening her eyes slightly in confusion: “What?”

Jiang Wang laughed ambiguously, not repeating himself.

Shi Niannian’s entire body tensed uncontrollably. The hand around his neck left marks from her fingernails on his skin as she arched her back, trying to escape.

She said tremblingly: “Stop it.”

Finally, they separated, both breathing heavily.

Shi Niannian pulled her bra back down from outside her T-shirt. Jiang Wang lowered his gaze to watch her movements, watching as the raised curve went down, returning to a round shape. He licked his lips, his throat dry.

She looked up and saw the man’s direct gaze, remembering his tantalizing methods from earlier, and cursed with a red face: “How can you be so…”

He was completely composed: “Hmm?”

“So perverted.”

She still wasn’t good at cursing, with a very limited vocabulary of swear words.

Jiang Wang laughed and went to squeeze her waist again: “What’s wrong with touching my wife a little?”

Wife.

Shi Niannian’s heart skipped a beat. Still not fully recovered from the earlier sensations, she thought hazily.

He called me his wife.

Jiang Wang had held back for so many years, and finally could take liberties, so he might as well abandon all restraint.

He looked at her and said, “I just want to die on top of you.”