“Tonight you’ll sleep alone. I need to head back to the Tanshan Villa.”

Jiang Han picked up his jacket and headed for the door.

Lin Qing muttered at the computer screen, “And when am I not sleeping alone?”

The enormous penthouse emptied out almost instantly, leaving Lin Qing as its sole occupant.

Over four hundred square meters. When Jiang Han was around, it was manageable.

But the moment he left so abruptly, Lin Qing let go of her mouse and couldn’t shake the feeling that the apartment was oppressively, cavernously empty.

Like a basketball court with all the life drained out of it.

“Well, well. A miracle has occurred today.”

Liang Xing caught sight of Jiang Han and rubbed together the hands she had just finished moisturizing with lotion, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

“CEO Jiang has come home?”

Jiang Han loosened his collar and settled onto the chaise lounge in Liang Xing’s bedroom.

Liang Xing’s assistant brought over a cup of hot tea. Jiang Han glanced at her, then looked back at Liang Xing. “Talking like that doesn’t suit you. Jealous?”

“Must be nice, living it up in that penthouse. It’s been over half a month now — am I not allowed to say anything? The young ones really do have it over us — they know how to keep a man around.”

Liang Xing walked over with a look of displeasure, and the assistant quietly excused herself.

Jiang Han lounged back and fixed his gaze on Liang Xing for a long, unhurried moment.

She looked exactly as she always had. The cool, pale face. The aquamarine mulberry silk sleep dress and robe. The soft white slippers.

“Why?”

It was the first time he had asked in all this time.

He had never asked before, because between him and Liang Xing, there had always been a certain unspoken understanding — that behind every decision the other made, there was always a sound and reasonable purpose.

Liang Xing settled herself and adopted a more composed tone. “You’re asking me why I sold Longquan’s shares to Wang Xiancheng, aren’t you?”

She had understood him perfectly.

Jiang Han nodded.

“I caught the scent of Wang Xiancheng’s intentions to devour Longquan earlier than you did,” Liang Xing said calmly, handing him a glass. “Recently I’ve been trying to track down Longquan’s lost formula from years ago — but I’ve hit a complete dead end.”

“So what happens now?”

Jiang Han took a sip and asked.

“You do what you do. I’ll do what I do,” Liang Xing said. “Separate matters.”

“Separate matters? I’m afraid I’ll still need to intrude on you.” Jiang Han crossed one leg over the other and said, “The Meng River Gathering next week — I’ve secured a ticket for Lin Qing to attend, so at that point…”

Two queens cannot occupy the same space. Jiang Han understood the cruelty embedded in that reality.

Even if Liang Xing herself were unfazed, the mouths in the “wives’ circle” and “ladies’ group” would chew things up and spit them out in ways that would be thoroughly unpleasant.

“I heard you’ve been playing the futures market lately?”

Liang Xing didn’t take the bait. Instead she asked what she actually wanted to know.

Minor inconveniences were not worth occupying their time.

In the past, Jiang Han had always shown little interest in capital markets, always saying he preferred to “tend his own fields.”

His field was Sansheng. Liang Xing’s field was Longquan.

The field they tended together was Liang Meng.

But the game had changed now.

“Didn’t you also just cash out a billion?” Jiang Han stood up, walked over to Liang Xing’s side, and murmured near her ear in a low, suggestive tone, “Why not come play together?”

Liang Xing laughed — a rare occurrence — and stepped away from him. “I have no interest in futures, stocks, gold, or bonds.”

“Then what are you interested in these days?”

Jiang Han stepped back, his expression turning serious, putting an end to the playful exchange.

“Jewelry.”

“Oh no, this is bad! Someone go report it to management!”

“That old woman is really something else. She’s been making a scene with property management all afternoon!”

In the property management office of the Sansheng Tower.

Lin Qing’s mother sat planted on the floor, face set in stubborn displeasure, and absolutely refused to leave.

The property manager had no idea what to do and escalated the situation up the chain, until word finally reached Jiang Han.

Lin Qing, in her capacity as his secretary, sat at her designated workstation at the other end of Jiang Han’s office, now perfectly accustomed to her place there.

Jiang Han rapped his knuckles on her desk. “We’ve got a situation.”

“What?” Lin Qing looked up blankly.

“Your mother. She’s downstairs causing a scene with Sansheng property management. She’s determined to apply for a job as a cleaner. She’s over the age limit and doesn’t have a medical clearance form either, so the management staff turned her away. Now she’s sitting downstairs and refusing to leave.”

Lin Qing stopped twirling her pen.

After a moment, she frowned and said to Jiang Han, “She’s come to make trouble for us.”

A daughter knows her mother, and a mother knows her daughter.

Since Lin Qing was a child, her mother had always had her ways of getting under the skin of her high-spirited, proud daughter — she never hit her or yelled at her.

But the tactics she used affected Lin Qing far more than any scolding ever could, in ways that were far more unbearable.

“CEO Jiang, would you come downstairs with me?”

Lin Qing stood up.

“You know very well that my mother doesn’t actually need this job. She’s just here to make a scene. The only way to make her leave is to let her get this out of her system.”

Jiang Han agreed. “All right.”

“Mom! Mom! What are you doing? The floor is cold — come on, get up!”

Lin Qing had no sooner walked into the property management office than she rushed over to help her mother up from the floor.

Lin Qing’s mother’s eyes lit up the moment she saw Lin Qing. “Oh, there you are, sweetheart! I just want to find a job! These people have been nitpicking everything I say. I already told them — I’m your mother! But they still wouldn’t let up, going on about how I’m past the age limit! I’m applying to be a cleaner — it’s just sweeping and dusting! What’s a year or two over the limit?”

“Mom, those are the company’s regulations,” Lin Qing explained.

“Regulations? So what? Doesn’t this entire company belong to Jiang Han? Based on your relationship with him, hurry up and get him to change that rule for you!” Lin Qing’s mother craned her neck and wailed at full volume.

There were quite a few Sansheng employees watching from the sidelines — some awkward, some trying desperately not to laugh.

“Mom, please get up first. Whatever you want to say, let’s go outside and talk,” Lin Qing urged.

Jiang Han caught the property manager’s eye, and the property manager — who was quite frankly the one suffering the most in all this — stepped forward to smooth things over.

“Ma’am, we are truly sorry. You’re really not quite suited for this position.”

“I’m Lin Qing’s mother! And before long I might very well be your CEO Jiang’s mother-in-law!”

Nobody quite knew where this confidence came from, but she declared it with righteous authority.

The property manager shot a glance at Jiang Han sitting nearby, practically with cartoon sweat drops streaming down his face, and continued patiently, “That’s precisely why we can’t hire you — firstly, to avoid any perception of favoritism; and secondly, the cleaning position is demanding work. Cleaning out the pantry and scrubbing the bathrooms are all part of the job.”

“So what? As long as there’s a paycheck!” Lin Qing’s mother carried her unreasonableness to its logical conclusion.

Lin Qing covered her eyes, her head swarming.

“Mom, your health isn’t great. This job could wear you out,” Lin Qing said. “If you need money, I can give you a monthly allowance.”

“How much can you give?” her mother asked.

At that moment, Jiang Han stepped forward and rested a hand on Lin Qing’s shoulder, backing her up. “Ma’am, twenty thousand yuan a month. I’m willing to provide it — that’s certainly better than coming here to work as a cleaner.”

“Fine! I’ll go home and wait! If it’s not in my account by tonight, I’ll be back here tomorrow!”

With that, Lin Qing’s mother gathered up her shopping bags and her various belongings, and stormed off.

Lin Qing and Jiang Han exchanged an awkward look and let out a long, collective breath.

After she left, the story of the “prospective mother-in-law storming Sansheng to demand a cleaning job” spread through the entire building like wildfire.

“Did you see that old woman just now, walking out with her chin in the air — acting like she really is the mother-in-law of Sansheng! Hilarious.”

“Like mother, like daughter. It’s because the mother is this brazen that the daughter turned out to be someone willing to do anything to get to the top.”

“I heard this new secretary Lin is the former assistant to the younger President Liang. She apparently only met CEO Jiang once or twice before she managed to hook him.”

“Now that’s talent. Our CEO Jiang is not the type to take just any woman. He and the younger President Liang had rumours swirling around them for years, and he never acknowledged any of it.”

“Hey, do you think with Jiang Han so openly stepping out, the elder President Liang knows about it?”

“Isn’t that obvious? She’s already moved in — of course she knows. She must have heard by now.”

“That’s why they say — if a man is rich enough, his original wife just has to be gracious about it. Just like being the cola girl.”

“Hey, hey! Shush — someone’s coming!”

Lin Qing appeared in the pantry doorway, and the group scattered instantly like birds.

But the echo lingered — a few scraps of gossip drifted past Lin Qing’s ears like a passing breeze.

In the Sansheng employee group chat:

[Photo of Lin Qing’s mother sitting on the floor earlier, causing a scene]

Reactions: [Stunned] [Stunned] [Stunned]

“A beggar handed a golden bowl and she still wants to go begging.”

“That comparison killed me.”

“Honestly feel kind of sorry for this Secretary Lin. What a mother to be stuck with.”

“Sorry for her? Don’t forget she’s the other woman.”

“She’s already hooked up with CEO Jiang — what mountain of gold hasn’t she got access to? And her own mother wants to work as a cleaner here? That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all year.”

“Are you even thinking? I actually think the cleaning job is fake — it’s a power play.”

“Now that’s a take.”

“Exactly! Making this much noise is basically one way to stake a claim.”

“To announce to everyone the nature of Lin Qing and CEO Jiang’s relationship?”

“Bingo! Got it in one!”

“All right, all right, stop with the pointless gossip. Has anyone else noticed that CEO Jiang has seemed off lately, and the company doesn’t feel like it used to?”

“Yeah. The company performance is in trouble. We’ve been sliding badly this month.”

That last message cut to the heart of it, and after that, silence. No one said another word.

Everyone knew what it meant. In the past, Sansheng had been run so tightly that nobody would have dared to idle in the group chat during work hours. And even if they’d wanted to, they wouldn’t have had the time.

Plus, Jiang Han had loyal eyes and ears throughout his own company. One wrong message and a screenshot could end up on the boss’s desk.

It dawned on everyone now — this sense of a company drifting without direction had already been going on for some time.

And the “Ling Xue incident” had taken a serious toll on Sansheng. Starting this month, salaries — which used to be paid on the 3rd — had been pushed back to the 28th.

“A scourge upon the realm.”

After a long silence, someone finally left that single, weary comment in the chat.

Everyone else nodded silently to themselves in wholehearted agreement.

Lin Qing’s mother walked out of Sansheng, having thoroughly expelled the bitter frustration she had been carrying in her chest.

She tilted her head back and looked up at the blue sky, then walked along tying on her favorite floral scarf, and hailed a cab back to the small park beneath the apartment building.

“Being wild is an attitude / Being wild is to be unconstrained / Wild, wild…”

In the middle of the crowd, Lin Qing’s mother moved with cheerful, buoyant steps, swaying and dancing joyfully along to the music!

“Running wild all the way, wandering free, Racing toward the horizon! Dreams burning bright, heart surging with joy, No need to hesitate, Swagger and drift through the sea of people! Let your mood run loose and high… Don’t give up — follow the rhythm, If you love it, come on!”

Under the glow of the neon lights, a new square dance superstar had risen —

Lin Qing’s mother!