Longquan Group.

Top floor.

“Indulging in your ‘green opium’ again?”

Liang Meng locked her gaze on the white ball’s target point with full concentration, ensuring the movement was precisely accurate, and sent the club swinging with a clean, crisp crack!

Right in the center.

She turned her face — a striking, handsome countenance, skin luminously pale, a figure of elegant curves. A bloom of wealth and beauty, thriving in the human world.

“Since when do you have this much free time? Brother-in-law. Came to the office to see me?”

She handed the club to her secretary and moved toward him with graceful ease.

Jiang Han smiled, lounging with one leg crossed over the other on the vast reception sofa, looking entirely at home.

As though this were his own living room.

In terms of looks, Jiang Han and Liang Meng were a pair that could anchor a romantic drama at any moment.

Jiang Han stood at 185 cm — lean and taut. He wore a black round-neck cashmere sweater on top, black dress trousers below, black leather shoes on his feet.

Not a single note of color, not a single logo anywhere on him. Yet that one face above the collar was enough to illuminate the entire room — radiating an unmistakably aristocratic air.

“Came to see whether you know how to be a CEO.”

Jiang Han’s chiseled jaw lifted slightly, revealing the barest ghost of a smile.

The secretary, reading the room, took the golf club and excused herself. What was about to unfold was clearly not a romantic drama, but a corporate one.

“Being a CEO isn’t about playing golf in the office.”

Seeing Liang Meng approaching, Jiang Han made a deliberate show of shifting along the sofa toward her side.

“Take someone like me, for instance — in my office, you won’t find…” Jiang Han glanced toward the golf bag.

Liang Meng cut him off immediately: “That’s because your office is everywhere, Brother-in-law. The VIP lounge at She Mountain Golf Club has practically become a boardroom for Sansheng Group’s senior management, hasn’t it?”

Liang Meng was Jiang Han’s sister-in-law. Jiang Han had married Liang Meng’s elder sister, Liang Xing, the previous year.

Ever since, the two of them clashed viciously every time they met.

For no particular reason — it was simply that Liang Meng wanted to clash, and she was always the one who started it.

Rather than be irritated by the jab, Jiang Han actually nodded in genuine agreement: “You’re not wrong. Sansheng has developed better than Longquan over these years, and the stock price has been consistently rising. It’s because I am devoted to it — body and soul.”

He enunciated each word with deliberate weight, then picked up the herbal tea from the coffee table, took a sip, and set it back down with a look of mild distaste.

“As you know, I have great respect for the company’s senior management. Many hands make light work, after all — you have to listen to everyone’s input. The greatest danger in running a business is when one person alone holds all the authority.”

Jiang Han delivered these words as though making casual conversation.

But Liang Meng understood perfectly well why he’d come today.

He was insinuating that Liang Meng’s decision to replace Zhou Zelong had been made unilaterally — without consulting him or her sister.

“Hmph!—”

Liang Meng held a brief silence, then let out a short, contemptuous laugh.

“Brother-in-law, when you speak to my sister at home, do you also talk this much in circles?”

“No, I don’t,” Jiang Han denied.

“Brother-in-law, my time is precious. So I don’t waste it at golf courses. When I need exercise, I handle it right here in the office.” Liang Meng spread her hands with an air of casual superiority. “You came here today because you want an explanation from me about why I dismissed Zhou Zelong—”

Jiang Han blinked deliberately — yes, that was precisely what he’d been waiting for.

“Because I don’t like him.”

Liang Meng stood, walked back to her desk, and swiveled the CEO chair around to face her.

She never explained herself.

Jiang Han accused her of ruling by decree alone.

Then she would make sure to live up to that “charge.”

She couldn’t afford to disappoint her opponent.

Jiang Han clearly hadn’t gotten the answer he was looking for, and the disappointment showed.

He stood, hands tucked in his pockets, and made his way toward her at a seemingly leisurely pace.

Jiang Han drew a deep breath, and with an air of resigned helplessness, pressed both arms down onto Liang Meng’s desk.

“Meng, listen to me. Zhou Zelong has been Longquan’s brand ambassador since the company’s third year. He’s wholesome, professionally acclaimed, and even at over forty he still commands enormous popularity among young fans. The industry respects him — his singing, his acting, he’s been massively successful for so long…”

“I can find all of that online,” Liang Meng cut off Jiang Han a second time. “Thank you for your concern.”

Jiang Han was rebuked again, but still held his patience.

But then, he owed Liang Meng a debt that spanned a lifetime.

“Most importantly, he was personally chosen as the brand ambassador by your father before he passed. Liang Meng, you can’t just…”

Jiang Han persisted, trying with genuine sincerity to persuade her.

He was a CEO himself — and one who had built something far larger than anything the Liang sisters oversaw.

He had founded his company at twenty-eight, and by thirty-five, Sansheng was publicly listed.

This year he was thirty-eight. In the business world, people respectfully called him “Master Jiang.”

Under normal circumstances, he never needed to say this many words himself.

“So what?”

The mention of Liang Meng’s late father made her look up from her iPad.

The iPad was covered in dense rows of figures — Longquan Group’s performance reports for the month.

“If you want to use that to talk me out of this, I suggest you have my father come and say it to me himself.”

“You—”

Jiang Han felt a blow to the gut.

This girl was growing more and more unhinged by the day.

Willful, impenetrable.

“Making an important decision that affects the company’s future based on personal likes and dislikes — I find that highly unprofessional,” Jiang Han said coldly, straightening up.

“Then let me show you something even more unprofessional!”

Liang Meng slapped the desk, her eyes locking onto his as she rose to her feet.

“Xiao Zhou! Come in.”

She called for her secretary.

“I just finished my workout, and I feel like switching to a different kind of ‘exercise.’ How did the search go — the person you were scoping out in the company for me?” Liang Meng asked.

Xiao Zhou stole a glance at Jiang Han. Master Jiang’s presence was formidable.

But Xiao Zhou didn’t dare defy the boss and reported honestly, albeit nervously: “Peter from the Marketing Department is right outside. I checked — he does have an eight-pack. Great physique… He’s currently single, loves working out, and apparently doesn’t have a girlfriend.”

“Good. Send him in.”

With that, Liang Meng turned to Jiang Han with unmistakable satisfaction.

“Since Master Jiang is so opposed to ‘exercising’ in the office, I won’t extend an invitation for the ‘entertaining event’ that’s about to follow. Xiao Zhou, please see our guest out.”

“You—!”

This time, Jiang Han was genuinely furious!

At his level of wealth, the things that could move him to anger had grown fewer and fewer.

The things that could enrage him — even more rare.

But Liang Meng’s attitude and every word she’d just said were more than enough to light that fuse.

Blazing fury.

“How could you do this to your sister?”

He demanded it of Liang Meng, the veins on his neck rising visibly.

“All these years, do you know how much your sister has sacrificed for you?! She fought tooth and nail to build this empire, and she handed it over to you! You’ve barely taken the helm as CEO and you have zero results to show — and the first thing you do is learn to play golf in the office and proposition a male subordinate! You’ve truly opened my eyes!”

And with that, Jiang Han swept out in fury.

As he pulled the door open and brushed past Marketing’s Peter, even through the blur of his anger, he couldn’t help but scan the young man up and down.

Specifically, the section around the belt and the abs.

He jabbed a finger hard into the young man’s chest!

It was envy.

At this point in his life, envy was even less likely than all-consuming rage.

Only Liang Meng.

Only Liang Meng could do it.

“Ms… Liang.”

Peter, thoroughly unsettled by Jiang Han’s scrutiny, was still stuttering slightly as he stepped in to face Liang Meng.

“Sit.”

Liang Meng extended her hand with unhurried ease.

“Do you know why I asked you to come?”

“I don’t, President Liang.”

Peter shook his head blankly.

Keep your distance.

He was just a director. Above him was still VP Daiwei.

If he said the wrong thing in front of the boss, it would absolutely come across as going over the chain of command.

“The work on replacing the brand ambassador — well handled.” Liang Meng commended him.

But faced with the praise, Peter didn’t dare take the credit, and felt even less inclined to be happy about it.

“Boss, I can’t take credit for that. It was entirely your ‘brilliant’ decision — I was just a small executor.”

Liang Meng didn’t acknowledge this. She deliberately held Peter’s gaze, her eyes carrying an ambiguous, silken quality.

But that very ambiguity sent a flicker of apprehension through Peter.

Everyone in the company had been saying that the newly installed young President Liang of Longquan Group was all show and no substance — nothing like the elder President Liang, who had been sharp, decisive, and unrelentingly ruthless.

The elder President Liang was a superwoman; the younger President Liang was a master of being born lucky and picking up the pieces.

Liang Xing, the elder sister, had been Longquan Group’s previous CEO. She’d gotten married the previous year, claiming she wanted to focus on being a wife and mother, and had handed over the reins to the younger President Liang, Liang Meng.

But inside Longquan, the real power still lay with “Empress Dowager Xing,” ruling from behind the curtain.

Though Liang Meng sat in the CEO’s chair every day, impeccably dressed, everyone essentially treated her as “Longquan’s display figure.”

For anything real, email the elder President Liang.

That worked.

“Undo your buttons.”

Liang Meng’s eyes curved into a faint smile as she issued the soft command.

Seeing Peter hesitate, she repeated calmly: “Undo them. Your shirt buttons.”

Every single hair on Peter’s body stood on end.

He obeyed almost entirely on instinct.

Because no matter what was said, this entire building still bore the name Liang for now.

Liang Meng stood and walked to the refreshment counter, retrieved two whiskey glasses, and unhurriedly dropped ice into them before pouring the drinks.

Finally she returned, standing in front of Peter and offering him a glass.

Peter stared up at her, nerves wound so tight they were conjuring illusions — he almost felt as though Liang Meng, holding out the drink, was entirely enveloped in light.

“I asked you to undo your buttons so you’d stop being so tense.”

Liang Meng pressed the glass into his hand and returned to her own seat.

“If you’re this intimidated by me, how are we supposed to work together going forward?”

“Work together?!”

Peter accepted the glass with trembling hands. So she wasn’t trying to proposition him after all!

What exactly was this young President Liang selling?

Not spring medicine, then — so it must be poison.

“I want you to work for me going forward. To deal with Daiwei and that old guard. Do you dare?”

There it was.

With that, Liang Meng could speak plainly.

Peter was thirty-five this year and had been sitting in the director’s seat for three years.

To say he had no ambition to climb higher — that would be impossible.

But Daiwei belonged to the elder President Liang Xing, and the Marketing Department was deeply entrenched, with many members being relatives of the shareholders.

Faced with the olive branch the young President Liang was extending, Peter didn’t not want to reach out — he simply didn’t dare.

“Hesitating?” Liang Meng read his thoughts and flicked the stylus in her hand. “That’s fine — I’ll give you until Friday to think it over. If you decide you’re with me, add me on WeChat through the company group. Go on, then.”

She watched her subordinate leave with a smile.

So that was what the ambiguity had been about.

Peter walked out feeling somewhat dazed.

Just before stepping out the door, he couldn’t help turning back to ask Liang Meng, who had already buried herself in work: “President Liang, why me?”

Liang Meng didn’t look up, answering in a voice completely devoid of warmth:

“You work out. That tells me you’re disciplined — you hold yourself to a high standard. Daiwei carries around that big belly of his, chalks it up to corporate entertaining, when really it’s just laziness and greed.”

Liang Meng looked up and continued.

“My secretary Xiao Zhou ran a background check on you. You’ve recently been ‘maintaining a horse’ — that salary of yours must be quite stretched, given that the markup on a Kelly bag has already reached 1:1.5. Someone who cares so much about their personal image yet has no girlfriend — I’d guess you have a boyfriend instead. Put your energy into your career! Because ‘love,’ as you’ll find, is very expensive.”

Love is very expensive.

Peter filed away that last line, bit down on something wordlessly, pressed his lips together, and walked out.

After his audience with the boss, he returned to the Marketing Department with his collar loosened, and nearly every pair of eyes in the office clung to him.

Peter had never attracted this level of attention in the company before — a full hundred-percent-exposure moment.

But the price of this particular moment of visibility was quite steep.

“Hey, did everyone see Peter when he came back?”

“Of course, of course! It’s not like any of us are blind.”

“When he left, his collar was buttoned up proper and tight.”

“When he came back? Two buttons undone! Deep V!”

“And it’s not even noon yet. Brazen debauchery in broad daylight. The young President Liang’s appetite is quite something!”

“Peter got scooped up by the White Queen!”

“That’s right! Latching onto the wrong backer — selling his body won’t do any good.”

“I heard the young President Liang once had feelings for Master Jiang. Could it be she’s got her eye on a substitute since she can’t have her brother-in-law…”

“Office substitute-figure fiction! How thrilling!”

“Oh, come on, actually, Peter’s build does have a little bit of a Master Jiang vibe — just not as tall.”

In the break room of Longquan Group, today was livelier than the Lunar New Year…