Though he’d said all that, over the following days of dance practice, Ye Zhen finally returned to normal and didn’t actually make Jiang Xiaoyi wear a blindfold.

As a form of protest, though, Ye Zhen never seemed to know where to look throughout practice—perhaps at the studio window, perhaps at the floor, perhaps at the ceiling—anywhere but Jiang Xiaoyi’s eyes.

Yet while Ye Zhen refused to look at Jiang Xiaoyi himself, he wouldn’t allow her to look at him either. The instant her gaze instinctively drifted toward him, he’d sense it keenly—

“Jiang Xiaoyi, your eyes!”

……

After a few dances, Jiang Xiaoyi was seething with silent complaints—what kind of person was this, did looking at him require a fee now?

Still, to her own gratification, after several days of intensive training, her dancing improved by leaps and bounds.

Perhaps it really was true that a strict teacher produces skilled students—thanks to Ye Zhen’s absurdly high demands, Jiang Xiaoyi’s dancing had reached a point that was actually presentable. It couldn’t compare to a professional, but among amateurs, it was passable.

Ye Zhen pressed his lips together and, quite rarely, gave a positive assessment: “By tomorrow night’s banquet, if you just maintain this level, you at least won’t embarrass Ruiyi.”

Jiang Xiaoyi had previously been quite reluctant about the banquet, but after all this training, she’d gained some confidence and was even looking forward to it a little—she’d never been to a banquet before.

Ye Zhen was thoroughly used to such banquets, and Jiang Xiaoyi didn’t want him to look down on her, so she pretended to be nonchalant about it. Still, the night before the banquet, she couldn’t help but stay up late out of curiosity, reading a pile of gossip posts about high-society banquets and watching several documentaries on upper-class social events.

She thought she’d thoroughly armed herself with theoretical knowledge and had already seen the world—yet once she actually stood in the banquet hall, the atmosphere around her still struck her with tremendous impact. It was nothing like what those posts she’d studied yesterday described—this banquet was far more extravagant and grand.

“This looks so high-class……”

“This is delicious.”

“This one’s delicious too!!!”

At the front of the banquet hall was the cold buffet section. As Jiang Xiaoyi walked along, she couldn’t resist sampling one exquisite dessert after another. Ye Zhen, following behind her, was nearly rolling his eyes.

“Mind your manners! Look around—who else is eating like you?”

Jiang Xiaoyi’s mouth was stuffed full, her cheeks moving like a little squirrel storing up food for winter. Not content with eating alone, she enthusiastically picked up a cream puff ball and shoved it toward Ye Zhen’s mouth—

“This one’s amazing, I already tried it, it’s the best one in this whole row, hurry up and eat it.”

……

Having attended countless banquets, Ye Zhen knew the routine well—these events never started very promptly, and the host would always thoughtfully provide a cold buffet or light refreshments, yet almost no one actually ate much of it, especially the men, since it didn’t look elegant.

Proper etiquette called for sipping a cocktail from the buffet area, then chattering with polite, inconsequential small talk about things like stock prices.

Eating desserts at the buffet was something only women did, and even so, Ye Zhen had never seen any woman at a banquet eat quite this much.

“Jiang……”

Just as he opened his mouth to quietly stop her, the cream puff ball in her hand was already stuffed into Ye Zhen’s mouth. Almost reflexively, he bit down, and rich, sweet cream flooded his mouth……

It really was quite delicious.

Jiang Xiaoyi hadn’t lied.

But beyond that came Ye Zhen’s self-reflection and self-reproach—an elegant man shouldn’t be eating sweets at the buffet; it wasn’t aristocratic, it wasn’t gentlemanly. Men shouldn’t eat sweets! Loving sweets represented weakness!

He had no choice but to warn her in a low voice: “Stop eating. And stop stuffing strange things into my mouth—it’s lowering my class!”

“But it’s already this late, and you haven’t eaten anything since we got here! We didn’t have time for lunch because of the meeting this afternoon, and I remember you only had a very simple sandwich at the tea break. Normally, you’d definitely be hungry by now.”

Jiang Xiaoyi blinked and popped another puff ball into her own mouth, her words coming out slightly muffled: “I’m about to starve to death, aren’t you hungry too?”

“Elegance comes from patience and restraint.” Ye Zhen gave her a disdainful look. “No matter how hungry, a gentleman shouldn’t proactively take dessert……”

Before he could even finish the word “eat,” another puff ball was stuffed into his mouth by Jiang Xiaoyi.

“Fine, fine, fine, a gentleman shouldn’t proactively take dessert—so I’ll get it for you, and you’re being forced to eat it. Does that work? Doesn’t violate your elegance now, does it?” Jiang Xiaoyi shook her head, utterly baffled. “What’s wrong with you people? Hungry, but you have to hold back and not eat, and then drink cocktails on an empty stomach, all for so-called aristocratic etiquette? So you can all elegantly meet each other outside the VIP stomach clinic when you’re old?”

With that, she picked up an avocado pudding cup with a fork and fed it into Ye Zhen’s mouth too: “This one’s good too!”

As Jiang Xiaoyi said this, her eyes were sparkling. Though she wore a dress suited for the banquet, she seemed to be the most unique and detached person in the entire hall—curious about the banquet, yet not submitting to its so-called rules.

Jiang Xiaoyi carried a peculiar, hard-to-describe quality about her. Like most ordinary people, she lived an orderly, nine-to-five life and appeared to be the most conventional person around, yet the more time Ye Zhen spent with her, the more he discovered she was actually the least conventional person of all—she constantly surprised him, and just when he thought she’d act one way, she’d choose something he could never have anticipated.

Ye Zhen had always believed that money brought freedom, but not until meeting Jiang Xiaoyi did he realize that wasn’t true—inner ease and freedom from constraint were a matter of innate temperament.

Ye Zhen had originally looked down on Jiang Xiaoyi’s lack of aggression, feeling that someone with so few sharp edges had no qualifications for success. For a long stretch after crossing into this era, Ye Zhen had felt it was practically blind fate that let Jiang Xiaoyi become the actual controller of Ruiyi—what qualifications did she have to lead an enterprise?

Facing those cunning old foxes in management, she’d even fantasized that a policy of conciliation alone could win over their loyalty.

Ye Zhen had once firmly believed that such conciliation served no purpose beyond exposing one’s own weakness.

Jiang Xiaoyi’s personality was indeed gentle most of the time—she considered many details Ye Zhen had never thought of, such as whether the assistant who’d come along to the banquet had eaten, whether they might be hungry.

Caring about an assistant like that was, in fact, somewhat foolish and overly soft, because a successful boss should care most about themselves and the company.

This wasn’t the behavior of a rational leader.

And yet now, Ye Zhen felt a subtle complexity stirring inside him.

Damn Jiang Xiaoyi—could it be that her apparent softness was actually cunning, playing the long game to reel in a big catch?

This woman really had a way with winning people over—Ye Zhen felt himself almost wavering.

Having accepted his loss, having crossed into this era to become Jiang Xiaoyi’s assistant, Ye Zhen had also come to accept the setup over time; he’d never expected that Jiang Xiaoyi, as his boss, would bother to care whether he might be hungry.

Jiang Xiaoyi paying no attention to him—Ye Zhen knew he wouldn’t blame or resent her for that. But now that Jiang Xiaoyi had actually thought of him this way, he found his heart wasn’t as calm as he’d expected.

This feeling of being noticed and cared for carried a certain warmth, along with a hidden trace of happiness.

But Ye Zhen pressed his lips together and decided to feign composure, working to sound calm and natural as he told Jiang Xiaoyi: “Stop eating. Don’t forget your mission tonight. Ruiyi has a cultural creative project afterward that needs Jiang Lin’s cooperation. You need to make a good impression on him. I know Jiang Lin well—he only likes that aristocratic, cold, aloof type of woman. You need to be more elegant, stop eating, or you won’t even get the chance to dance with Jiang Lin.”

Jiang Xiaoyi paid this no mind, fetching several more items for Ye Zhen. Whatever he was too embarrassed to take himself, she thoughtfully brought over for him—

“Have these too……”

But this time, her “feeding” campaign was interrupted midway.

“You’re Ruiyi’s Jiang Xiaoyi?”

Jiang Xiaoyi’s hand paused. Looking up, she found the newcomer to be a tall, well-built man—if Ye Zhen leaned toward a cold, austere style, this man’s air leaned more toward gentle and charming, especially a pair of peach-blossom eyes that seemed to carry a perpetual smile.

The man’s eyes held a smile, and a grin spread across his lips too: “Ah, apologies, we haven’t met before—I’m Jiang Lin.”

As the banquet’s host, it was only natural courtesy for Jiang Lin to greet a guest he hadn’t met before. Ye Zhen watched him exchange business cards with Jiang Xiaoyi, watched Jiang Lin make a show of chatting casually with her, and already guessed what would come next—

After the pleasantries wrapped up, Jiang Lin would find some excuse to leave.

After all, though Jiang Xiaoyi wasn’t bad-looking, Jiang Lin preferred that unattainable, aloof-flower type, and had no interest in someone as gentle as Jiang Xiaoyi. She probably wouldn’t even get the chance to dance with Jiang Lin tonight, let alone secure a partnership between Ruiyi and him.

Ye Zhen had originally had a strong competitive streak about tonight’s banquet—after all, though he was no longer Ruiyi’s boss, he still harbored a desire to best Jiang Lin. Yet now, faced with the outcome he could already foresee, he found himself rather at peace, even somewhat pleased. Jiang Lin looking down on Jiang Xiaoyi, looking down on Ruiyi—was he actually a little relieved?

Perhaps it was thanks to those cream puffs—ingesting sugar always brought a certain emotional happiness.

Ye Zhen waited for Jiang Lin to finish the perfunctory exchange and leave, after which Jiang Xiaoyi would go back to feeding him—besides the cream puffs, the orange mousse wasn’t bad either; he’d hint for Jiang Xiaoyi to get him a couple later.

Yet things unfolded beyond Ye Zhen’s expectations—Jiang Lin didn’t leave at all. Somehow, he and Jiang Xiaoyi hit it off and began chatting animatedly.

“Actually, we’re quite fated—we share the same surname, and we’re in the same entertainment industry field. Ruiyi has had strong momentum these past few years too; I’ve always wondered what kind of person actually controlled Ruiyi, and Miss Jiang has really surprised me.”

Before the banquet, Jiang Xiaoyi had been thoroughly briefed by Ye Zhen, who described Jiang Lin as essentially an “Ye Zhen 2.0″—difficult to please, hard to approach. Yet now, meeting the man in person, she was genuinely surprised.

Jiang Lin was completely different from Ye Zhen—far gentler, willing to actively initiate conversation topics, with no trace of aggressiveness, giving off a rather comfortable feeling. Guided along by his conversation, Jiang Xiaoyi found herself chatting with him for a long while without noticing the time pass, and no matter what topic she raised—even something as trivial as how delicious tonight’s cream puffs were—Jiang Lin would enthusiastically pick up the thread, giving Jiang Xiaoyi a pleasant, spring-breeze sort of feeling.

One of her main goals in attending the banquet had been to build good rapport with Jiang Lin, and now that she was chatting animatedly with him, this performance naturally earned Ye Zhen’s approval—Jiang Xiaoyi didn’t even need to turn around to feel Ye Zhen’s gaze fixed intently on her.

Clearly her performance tonight was truly excellent, surprising enough that Ye Zhen kept casting approving glances her way!

Jiang Xiaoyi felt rather smug inside—look at that, Ye Zhen, how am I any worse than you as a boss?

Fueled by this competitive spirit, Jiang Xiaoyi threw herself even more into the conversation with Jiang Lin. The two of them went from broad topics like the entertainment industry to smaller details like their favorite comic works, discovering their tastes were surprisingly aligned—they both loved the same obscure comic that had been cancelled midway.

“At the time I thought, if I could ever get into this industry, I’d want to discover comic studios and artists I love, then give them early-stage investment and incubation, help them grow, so good work could see the light of day……”

Jiang Lin’s words made Jiang Xiaoyi’s eyes light up. If she’d originally just been making conversation with the intent of building rapport, now there was a genuine sense of kindred spirit: “Me too!”

……

The two of them chatted enthusiastically for a good while longer, until melodious music drifted over. Jiang Lin set down his wine glass and made a rather gentlemanly gesture of invitation toward Jiang Xiaoyi: “I wonder if I might have the honor of inviting you to dance.”

Could she? Of course she could!

After nodding her agreement, Jiang Xiaoyi immediately turned back to look at Ye Zhen, shooting him a smug glance—see, and he’d said Jiang Lin wouldn’t take an interest in her, yet here he was inviting her to dance!

……

Even Ye Zhen found this development hard to believe. He stared, watching Jiang Xiaoyi and Jiang Lin glide together into the dance floor. Jiang Lin was quite considerate, his movements gentlemanly and gentle, guiding Jiang Xiaoyi gracefully through the dance.

Could Jiang Xiaoyi really have caught Jiang Lin’s eye?

Impossible.

Ye Zhen downed his cocktail in one gulp and quickly calmed himself—Jiang Xiaoyi’s dancing skill wouldn’t hold up past two minutes; she’d soon embarrass herself in front of Jiang Lin, and Jiang Lin had little patience for women who danced poorly.

If she hadn’t danced with him at all, it would have been fine—but once she did, there’d be no follow-up.

Sure enough, just as Ye Zhen had predicted, during one turn, Jiang Xiaoyi grew nervous, failed to control her force, and her steps fell into disarray. Jiang Lin, lacking the coordinated rapport she had with Ye Zhen, couldn’t adjust the rhythm as quickly, and the two of them inevitably bumped into each other, followed by a cascade of disastrous errors—stepped-on feet, clashing footwork, stiff limbs, wrong postures……

It was simply a dance too painful to watch.

Ye Zhen’s mood, however, brightened somewhat. He sipped his cocktail and checked the time—this dance had five minutes left. He was already calculating that in five minutes, he’d have Jiang Xiaoyi fetch him another puff ball.

Only, he hadn’t expected……

The dance ended, and there wasn’t a trace of disdain on Jiang Lin’s face—instead he was smiling, while Jiang Xiaoyi looked somewhat abashed. After the dance ended, other female guests approached to request a dance with Jiang Lin. He could have gracefully accepted and moved on, yet he actually declined the woman’s invitation, instead smiling and saying something to Jiang Xiaoyi that made her laugh too, then extended another invitation to her.

Jiang Lin actually wanted to dance again?

This didn’t make sense……

Yet that’s exactly how things unfolded. Ye Zhen stared, watching Jiang Lin dance another dance with Jiang Xiaoyi—this time much better, but toward the end of the dance, Jiang Xiaoyi still misstepped and trod on Jiang Lin’s foot.

Yet Jiang Lin seemed to have gotten hooked. He paid no mind at all to his shoe being scuffed by Jiang Xiaoyi and invited her to the next dance too……

Ye Zhen stood rooted in place, turning down a string of women’s invitations to dance, simply watching Jiang Xiaoyi and Jiang Lin twirl about the dance floor, watching the two of them go from constant missteps to gradually finding a natural rapport.

That night, Jiang Xiaoyi danced a total of six dances with Jiang Lin.

Ye Zhen pressed his lips together, his face darkening as he watched the two of them dance all six. He watched Jiang Lin reluctantly bid Jiang Xiaoyi goodbye because as host he needed to attend to other guests, then watched Jiang Xiaoyi flutter back over, smiling brightly like a butterfly.

Her eyes were still shining, the dancing had left her slightly breathless, her face flushed and lightly beaded with sweat from the exertion—radiant and charming.

“Ye Zhen, I danced well, didn’t I?” Jiang Xiaoyi came off the dance floor, looking rather pleased with herself, casually picking up a cocktail and downing it in one gulp, like a child seeking praise. “Ruiyi’s next project cooperation with Jiang Lin—I’ve got it locked down.”

Her tone carried a note of pride and boasting: “You kept saying Jiang Lin was especially difficult to deal with, but I found him quite nice while dancing—I just casually mentioned it to him, and he agreed right away! He’s nowhere near as demanding as you made him sound! You were being way too unfair to him!”

Ye Zhen wanted to argue, but Jiang Xiaoyi got there first.

“You also said he only appreciated that aristocratic, aloof type of girl, but I think he’s very gentlemanly and gentle. Even though I danced that badly, he kept comforting me, saying he’d never met anyone like me before, that I seemed very genuine, and he even joked that I wasn’t like the ‘flashy trash’ out there.”

Ye Zhen really couldn’t hold it in anymore—was Jiang Lin blind? How was Jiang Xiaoyi “genuine”? Wasn’t her face itself the very definition of “flashy trash”? That little scoundrel Jiang Lin—wasn’t it obvious he’d just fallen for her looks, which was why he could overlook every other way her temperament didn’t match his usual preferences?

Until the banquet ended, Jiang Xiaoyi never fetched Ye Zhen another puff ball—she spent the whole time praising Jiang Lin.

“Even though I stepped on his foot while dancing, he wasn’t the least bit angry.”

Ye Zhen scoffed coldly: “When I was teaching you to dance, you stepped on me that many times too, and I never got angry either.”

But Jiang Xiaoyi paid him no mind, continuing to sing Jiang Lin’s praises: “He’s especially gentlemanly, and also very gentle. When I couldn’t think of a topic, he’d bring one up himself, and whenever we hit a topic I wasn’t interested in, he’d sensitively switch it—so thoughtful.”

Ye Zhen cleared his throat, his tone turning sarcastic: “Oh, so you’re saying I’m not gentlemanly or gentle?”

“You were fine while dancing, but when have you ever been gentle otherwise? Weren’t you always giving me a hard time when you were my boss?”

Jiang Xiaoyi had had a bit of the cocktail—not to the point of drunkenness, but clearly her emotions had risen, and her words came out more blunt. She glanced at Ye Zhen and sighed with some regret: “I really didn’t know about Jiang Lin’s company before. His views on comics align with mine too, and he’s in the same industry direction as Ruiyi—I should have jumped ship to his company back then. Being his assistant would definitely have been easier than being yours. He’s got so much more going for him than you.”

Jiang Xiaoyi kept praising him further, before finally concluding, as if wrapping up a summary: “Guess it’s still better among us Jiangs.”

This time Ye Zhen truly couldn’t hold back: “So Jiang Lin and I are a control group now? Since he’s so great, why don’t you go date him?”

“?”

“You admire him so much, and now you’re a boss too—perfectly matched status. He’s actually looking for a marriage partner recently. I think the two of you could talk about anything together—seems like a great fit.”

On first listen, Ye Zhen’s words sounded quite well-meaning, but something about his tone was subtly off. Still, Jiang Xiaoyi had had a bit to drink, and her mind wasn’t moving that fast, so she didn’t catch anything wrong and instinctively followed the topic: “That’s true! We even share the same surname—no argument later about whose surname the kids take.”

“……You’re really thinking far ahead.” Whether it was Jiang Xiaoyi’s imagination or not, Ye Zhen’s expression looked quite composed, but his tone sounded rather clenched-teeth. “You’re not even married yet, and you’re already thinking about kids.”

The man rubbed his temple, falling silent for a moment, as if gathering his composure. When he spoke again, his tone had returned to cool and collected: “But if you want to marry Jiang Lin, you’ll have to work at it. Going by how things stood in the previous timeline, the first step would be becoming his girlfriend. Let me calculate—he currently has five girlfriends. Add you, and that makes eight.”

Jiang Xiaoyi was stunned. For a moment she got hung up purely on the arithmetic: “He has five girlfriends now, plus me, shouldn’t that be six? Where did eight come from?”

“There are also two boyfriends.” Ye Zhen smiled. “Jiang Lin swings both ways. Sorry, did I forget to mention that?”

As if suddenly remembering something, he added: “Weren’t you saying you’d want to go back and be his assistant if you traveled back?”

Jiang Xiaoyi instinctively protested: “I’m not going back! I only said I regretted not switching jobs back then! I don’t want to go back and be someone else’s assistant—I want to be a boss for the rest of my life!”

But Ye Zhen ignored her, continuing on his own: “Anyway, if you really want to be his assistant, you’d better be mentally prepared for his private life, because as his assistant, professional matters might not be your main job—the main thing you’d need to learn is handling all his exes, plus memorizing each current partner’s birthday, anniversary, and preferences. After all, arranging gifts, booking candlelit dinners, even handling an abortion—all of that would fall on you.”

“……”

Jiang Xiaoyi couldn’t muster a single word of praise for Jiang Lin anymore.

Ye Zhen looked rather pleased with himself: “See, you never truly know a person’s heart just from their face. Some people are sweet-talking but rotten inside—not as good as someone who’s sharp-tongued but principled.”

Ye Zhen glanced at Jiang Xiaoyi: “Actually, being Jiang Lin’s assistant isn’t bad at all—he’s generous with his assistants, willing to pay well. The job isn’t too exhausting either, not much mental labor, mostly just physical stamina—occasionally you’d have to get up in the middle of the night to deliver him condoms. Even though delivery services are quite developed nowadays, he likes having his assistant personally handle everything……”

Having finished, he added, feigning nonchalance: “Still not regretting that you didn’t become his assistant?”

No regrets—Jiang Xiaoyi had absolutely no regrets now.

By comparison, Ye Zhen actually seemed more reliable. Though his personality was a bit difficult, his one and only hobby in this lifetime was being a boss, his one true love in this lifetime was probably work—being this emotionally detached at least meant Jiang Xiaoyi wouldn’t have to buy him condoms……