In that moment, Jiang Xiaoyi, who had managed to stay composed from the moment of the confession up until now, suddenly felt like she could no longer hide what she was feeling.

Her heart was racing so fast that she suspected passersby five meters away could hear it pounding. Her face flushed red, and she looked at Ye Zhen at a complete loss, only now, belatedly, truly feeling the reality of having just been confessed to.

Jiang Xiaoyi’s palms had grown faintly damp with sweat, and even Ye Zhen’s gaze had become somehow impossible to meet directly.

Still, Jiang Xiaoyi couldn’t quite believe it: “Why do you like me?”

“Do we really have to discuss this in the Hyatt lobby?”

“Oh, right, it is a bit noisy here, isn’t it…”

“It’s not about the noise. It’s that the answer to your question is too long to explain properly standing in a lobby.” Having said this, Ye Zhen naturally reached out and took Jiang Xiaoyi’s hand. “Let’s go somewhere else.”

This wasn’t the first time the two of them had held hands, yet this time Jiang Xiaoyi felt far more nervous than before, her heart stirring with a subtle unease. Fortunately, Ye Zhen seemed to be the same way—despite appearing so composed on the surface, his palm was also faintly damp with sweat.

He was nervous too.

Yet from the outside, Ye Zhen still looked calm and composed, the picture of an elite professional. He led Jiang Xiaoyi to the café at the Hyatt.

After they sat down and ordered their drinks, Ye Zhen was silent for a moment before finally speaking: “I guess liking you doesn’t really have a specific reason.”

“……”

Ye Zhen pressed his lips together: “It’s that every single thing about you, I find good—I can’t find any fault in it. Some things, when you do them, I find endearing, but if I imagine someone else doing the exact same thing, I’d think it was stupid.”

“I really don’t have experience with dating, and I can’t put it into words that precisely, what exactly liking someone feels like; I’m no literary genius, I can’t describe my feelings for you with beautiful prose, but I know one thing for certain—it’s you who made me realize I used to be a terrible person, and it’s you who gave me the motivation to change.”

“Fighting against more than twenty years of ingrained habits and flaws, working to change the stubborn, controlling side of my personality—that’s genuinely hard. But because of you, I’m willing to change, and I don’t even find the process of changing painful. In fact, looking back, I’ve realized I’ve already changed quite a lot without even noticing.”

“And I’m completely at peace with all of it. It has nothing to do with proper male virtue.”

“Jiang Xiaoyi, I just want you to know—no matter how time and space shift, no matter how the world outside or people’s views change, none of that can change me. But my feelings for you can.”

“Because I like you, I want to become better. I want to become the kind of person you’d like.”

“I can’t give you any other reason, I don’t know how else to answer your question, but I think this feeling should count as a legitimate kind of liking.”

Ye Zhen’s eyes were calm and focused: “I imagine you’ve probably never dated either, and might not fully understand what liking someone feels like—well, we’re both beginners then. I won’t mind if you’re slow to catch up, since you can already consider me a good friend, which means you don’t dislike me, and there might even be things about me you appreciate—so why not take this feeling and let it grow into something more?”

Ye Zhen’s voice was gentle and unhurried: “So, Jiang Xiaoyi, would you try liking me a little too?”

With that face of his, and that earnest expression as he confessed—even if she had no feelings for him at all, she’d probably still be swayed, let alone the fact that Jiang Xiaoyi already secretly harbored some less-than-innocent feelings toward Ye Zhen deep down…

Who could possibly withstand that!

Jiang Xiaoyi cleared her throat and put on a show of composure: “I could, could give it a try… but something just occurred to me.”

The moment he heard the word “could,” a naked look of joy spread across his face, and he asked almost immediately: “What is it?”

“How did you know I was having dinner with Li You’ai at the Hyatt? I never sent you any message about it.”

“……” Ye Zhen looked a little embarrassed, but still tried to keep up an air of composure. “My new assistant told me.”

“?”

“I’m the one who told him to go help you out. So he took it upon himself to report your whereabouts to me.”

Both of them were taking this confession very seriously, treating it almost too solemnly, to the point where Jiang Xiaoyi half felt like she was in the middle of a business negotiation. But after Ye Zhen said this, she finally couldn’t help laughing a little.

“What do you mean, ‘took it upon himself’—that’s clearly your spy, isn’t it…” Her voice had relaxed back into its usual lightness, carrying an unconscious hint of coquettishness. “Ye Zhen, once you’re actually dating, you won’t turn out to be possessive, will you? You do know a jealous, controlling man doesn’t align with proper male virtue, right?”

Without missing a beat, Ye Zhen firmly retorted: “I’m not jealous!”

His logic was airtight: “This is called anxious insecurity. The problem isn’t on my end—it’s on yours.”

“Huh?”

Ye Zhen protested: “It’s because you haven’t officially confirmed our relationship yet, that’s why I’ve been like this—on edge, wanting to know your whereabouts at all times. Once you agree to be together with me, based on the trust I’ll have in my girlfriend, I won’t feel the need to check up on you like that anymore.”

Well, well, no wonder he’d gone through that male-virtue training course—his skill at sophistry really had leveled up quite a bit…

“Well then, starting now, I’ll trust you unconditionally, since you’ve already agreed to be my girlfriend.” Saying this, Ye Zhen, perhaps without even realizing it, started speaking a bit faster, as if eager to finalize and lock in this relationship. “As for the Xu Mengting thing, I’ll get that cleared up—I absolutely won’t let you suffer any grievance over it.”

He glanced at Jiang Xiaoyi, then, channeling his newfound “proper male virtue” persona once more, added deliberately: “So starting today, I, Ye Zhen, also have a woman I can rely on. Riding on the strength of my male-virtue EMBA certificate, I’ve successfully made it.”

Ye Zhen really seemed to have gotten quite used to that parallel timeline—he could still slip into character so quickly…

This man wore the earnest, aggrieved expression of a martyr: “Don’t worry, now that you’ve given me this chance to try, I’ll absolutely work hard to make you like me more and more, because I genuinely am a very charming man.”

This time Jiang Xiaoyi truly couldn’t hold back her laughter—Ye Zhen being cute like this really was a bit childish, but somehow it made her heart flutter all the same.

When he was managing the company and outmaneuvering executives, he was so decisive and skilled, yet when it came to dating, he was the complete opposite—a bit clumsy, a bit awkward.

But also very sincere.

Even Jiang Xiaoyi found herself swept up in it, wanting to become braver too.

Even Ye Zhen didn’t care about being well-matched—why was she the one still hung up on it? As long as she also worked hard, for the sake of this affection, to keep becoming better, wouldn’t there come a day when she could stand as his equal?

Ye Zhen’s gaze toward Jiang Xiaoyi was very gentle, and under that look, Jiang Xiaoyi finally made up her mind—

“You don’t need to work hard.”

Ye Zhen froze for a moment.

Jiang Xiaoyi pressed her lips together, putting on an air of mystery: “You’ve got a whole list of flaws, especially back when you were my boss—you tormented me plenty. The worst one was your sharp tongue.”

At Jiang Xiaoyi’s words, Ye Zhen’s expression visibly turned panicked: “Didn’t you say you already got your revenge back in the parallel timeline?”

“No, I lied. I never got it out of my system.”

“Then what would it take for you to feel satisfied?”

Jiang Xiaoyi crooked a finger at Ye Zhen: “Lean your head over here.”

Without suspecting a thing, Ye Zhen obediently leaned his face in, and just as he got within reach, Jiang Xiaoyi seized the moment and quickly planted a kiss on his cheek.

Except, even though it was Jiang Xiaoyi who had “made the first move” on Ye Zhen, it was her whole face that ended up turning bright red instead.

Ye Zhen froze for a second, then looked at Jiang Xiaoyi with a burning, delighted gaze.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Jiang Xiaoyi, flustered by that look, had to turn her eyes away. “I still didn’t feel satisfied, so I’ve decided to be with you—and become your girlfriend, so I can keep tormenting you from now on.”

Ye Zhen finally seemed to catch on, a light smile spreading across his face as he coaxed her along: “Then why don’t I need to work hard?”

Why was this person so annoying—shouldn’t the answer be obvious if he just thought about it himself?

Jiang Xiaoyi shot Ye Zhen a slightly bashful glare.

“Jiang Xiaoyi, you like me too, don’t you?”

Jiang Xiaoyi, embarrassed, quickly tried to change the subject: “This latte tastes pretty good…”

But Ye Zhen, like a broken record, kept repeating the same question, until Jiang Xiaoyi finally gave him an answer—

“Yes, yes, I like you, is that enough?”

Only then did the man smile with deep satisfaction: “That’s enough.”

But quickly, his expression shifted to one of wounded melancholy: “If I’d known it would be this easy, I should have confessed sooner—we could have gotten together that much earlier. And here you were, pretending so well, acting like you had no interest in me at all.”

Now he was even turning the tables on her?

“Shouldn’t the man be the one to pursue? And now you’re blaming me for it?”

Yet somehow, in response to this accusation, Ye Zhen calmly deflected it, his tone still faintly resentful: “I’ve been brainwashed by male-virtue training—you’re the one who signed me up for that teacher, and every single class, before anything else, he’d drill it into me a hundred times that a man should never pursue a woman first, that doing so is considered ‘throwing yourself at someone,’ a lapse of integrity, that women will look down on you for it, and even if you do end up together, you won’t be cherished.”

“……” What kind of garbage ideology was that!

“Of course, the most important thing was, I wanted to respect you. Because back in the parallel timeline, I experienced firsthand what it felt like to be relentlessly pursued by Li You’ai’s niece, and I realized being pursued by someone you don’t like isn’t some enjoyable, flattering thing—it’s actually just a burden. No matter what, because I like you, I didn’t want my feelings to become a burden or a source of distress for you.”

This time, Ye Zhen’s voice turned serious, his expression earnest: “But as long as I could sense even the smallest opening, I was going to give it everything I had, to make you like me.”

Jiang Xiaoyi suddenly found herself almost laughing.

Perhaps love itself was actually a very simple thing—there was no need to approach it so guardedly. It arrived naturally, and before you even realized it, it was already surrounding you like the air itself.

Ye Zhen’s expression was deadly serious, carrying a touch of overly earnest silliness.

But it was endearing.

It carried a kind of youthful, pure quality rarely seen in a grown man.

Clean, clear, like sunlight scattering down beneath the lush branches of a spring day—carrying a fresh, crisp feeling, warm but never scorching.

Jiang Xiaoyi felt a bit shy and flustered, but still lowered her head and spoke up: “I already liked you, actually.”

“What? Say it louder.”

Ye Zhen had clearly heard her perfectly well, yet the moment delight crossed his face, this man immediately started pushing his luck: “I didn’t quite catch that, say it again.”

With that, this wicked man, grinning, pulled out his phone and opened the voice recorder: “I want to make sure I heard it right—let’s record this one, as a keepsake.”

Jiang Xiaoyi really didn’t want to deal with him anymore.

When it came to arguing, she truly was no match for Ye Zhen.

Jiang Xiaoyi grew a bit flustered: “Ye Zhen, if you keep this up, I won’t like you anymore—I’ll start hating you!”

Ye Zhen just laughed, looking at Jiang Xiaoyi: “Liking probably always starts from hating something, doesn’t it—so what exactly do you hate about me?”

“Your mouth is too sharp!” Jiang Xiaoyi, once she got started on this topic, couldn’t help venting a little. “Back when you were my boss, you were always so sarcastic and cutting toward me. Now that you’re my boyfriend, are you still going to debate me on everything?”

“No more debating.” Ye Zhen tugged at Jiang Xiaoyi’s hand. “If I win, I lose the girlfriend—guess I’d better keep losing every argument from now on.”

“As for what you said about my mouth being sharp—that one probably can’t be fixed.”

Had she just barely agreed to be with Ye Zhen, and he was already starting to get cocky?

“Didn’t you say liking me meant you’d change some of your bad habits?”

Just as Jiang Xiaoyi was about to open her mouth to press Ye Zhen further, she saw the man lean forward slightly across from her, and before she could react, his face was suddenly right in front of hers, filling her view—and then she felt a faint warmth on her lips—

Ye Zhen had kissed her.

Because of the constraints of their seated positions facing each other, it wasn’t a very deep kiss, but Jiang Xiaoyi still found herself flustered, her face flushing, her heart racing.

This was her first kiss!

Ye Zhen had stayed quite composed while doing it, but once he pulled back to his seat, he too looked a little nervous.

Still, this man, having no doubt seen a great deal of the world as Ruiyi’s chief executive, managed to keep his composure for the moment.

He looked away: “Other bad habits can be fixed, but this particular kind of ‘sharp mouth’ probably can’t be helped.”

Having said this, Ye Zhen finally looked up at Jiang Xiaoyi: “Even though this was a first for me, it felt pretty good, I think—I feel like this kind of ‘sharp mouth’ is probably going to keep being sharp from now on.”

Jiang Xiaoyi froze for a moment before finally realizing what kind of “sharp mouth” Ye Zhen was actually referring to that wouldn’t change.

So that’s the kind of “sharp” he meant…

That was even worse than the “sharp mouth” she’d been complaining about!

Just as the heat in her cheeks had finally started to fade, it instantly surged back, burning hotter than ever.

Jiang Xiaoyi glared at Ye Zhen, her outward fierceness betrayed by her obvious embarrassment.

“Oh, I just thought of something.” Jiang Xiaoyi suddenly remembered something, feeling like she could score a point back here.

She looked into Ye Zhen’s puzzled but earnest eyes, cleared her throat: “Now how did it go again—I recall someone once saying that people in business, whether men or women, aren’t ideal marriage material. How did it go again?”

Jiang Xiaoyi recited it back with an air of great seriousness: “Something like, ‘there are too many temptations and bad influences out in the business world. Like every time you go to some gala, there are plenty of people who’ll pretend to accidentally spill wine on you just to throw themselves at you’—so if you end up dating someone in business, you’d better learn to be tolerant, since you’ll have to put up with things like ‘catching a whiff of her perfume on you’ every so often, and then you’ll be ‘crying yourself to sleep, constantly anxious and insecure’…”

“……”

Ye Zhen hadn’t expected that one day he’d end up shooting himself in the foot with his own words. Back then, in order to push Dan Hui down and rise up in Jiang Xiaoyi’s eyes, he’d genuinely used every trick available. And now…

“That’s not absolute—there are still people in business who manage to stay above the fray, like me, for instance.”

Jiang Xiaoyi raised an eyebrow: “And how exactly is anyone supposed to believe that you’re the sole exception, untainted by the mud around you?”

Ye Zhen genuinely seemed unable to come up with any way to prove it, but the man only got stuck for a moment before calmly landing on an answer—

“I’m genuinely different from every other man in this world. I really am one of a kind.”

“?”

Ye Zhen cleared his throat: “Who else, otherwise, has been through the trial of a parallel timeline, has received professional training in a male-virtue EMBA program? If it weren’t for the sudden incident that brought me back early, I would absolutely have passed that exam over there, purely on the strength of my devotion to proper male virtue and my diligence in practicing the material.”

“Tell me, in this current timeline, who else has male virtue as rigorously formal and academically trained as mine?”

Ye Zhen grew more and more confident as he spoke: “Nobody!”

“Here, sure, plenty of men talk about respecting women, but deep down they don’t really believe it, whereas me? I feel like my virtue and integrity are rooted deep in my very core. Is there anyone else who’s mastered both Chinese and Western cuisine like I have? I can hold my own in the parlor and the kitchen alike, I can still earn a living to support a family, I’m good-looking too, and I can genuinely empathize with the gender discrimination and unfair treatment women face in the workplace here.”

“Honestly speaking, no man who hasn’t truly experienced that firsthand is qualified to talk about respecting women.”

“Looking across the whole world, how many people have gone through what I’ve gone through?”

Fair point, actually…

Jiang Xiaoyi’s expression already said it all, and Ye Zhen’s confidence grew accordingly: “So I really am different from other men. No matter what job or profession I’m in, I would genuinely stay above the fray, unlike that senior of yours.”

Having said this, Ye Zhen seemed to remember something: “Speaking of your senior, I heard a rumor that he’s hit it off with the Zong family’s youngest daughter.”

He shot Jiang Xiaoyi a glance, taking a jab at his rival with a pointed remark: “Just as I said—time and space have shifted, you’re no longer President Jiang, and it turns out your senior wasn’t necessarily going to confess to you after all.”

It had to be admitted, Ye Zhen really did have sharp instincts on this one—he’d called it exactly right.

So, quite honestly, Jiang Xiaoyi found herself feeling a bit dejected: “I guess that’s probably how it is. He probably has fairly high standards for a partner—in this timeline, I might just not be impressive enough.”

Jiang Xiaoyi didn’t seem to mind saying this about herself, but Ye Zhen minded a great deal—the man raised an eyebrow: “What do you mean, you’re not impressive enough? What are you implying? That the person I’ve chosen isn’t good enough? That my judgment is bad?”

“……” Jiang Xiaoyi had once again forgotten about Ye Zhen’s automatic contrarian instincts!

But before she could even respond, Ye Zhen looked at Jiang Xiaoyi with a serious expression, and said, slowly and firmly, word by word: “It’s that his judgment is bad. Jiang Xiaoyi, you’re already very, very good. You’re the best person I’ve ever met.”

“You may look ordinary on the surface, but you’re actually anything but ordinary. There’s so much energy and charisma in you—no matter what environment you’re in, whether you’re President Jiang or the you of right now, you’ve always stayed true to yourself.”

“That’s how I see you—a girl who lives earnestly no matter what. You might think you’re unremarkable, but to me, you shine.”

Jiang Xiaoyi had never imagined that this was how she appeared in Ye Zhen’s eyes. She looked at Ye Zhen, a bit bashful and stirred: “Am I really that good?”

“Of course, which is exactly why someone like Dan Hui isn’t worthy of you.”

A triumphant, victorious smile spread across Ye Zhen’s face. He didn’t say anything further, but the words “only I am worthy of you” practically radiated off his expression like a scrolling banner.

Jiang Xiaoyi suddenly felt her mood brighten.

Ye Zhen was still a bit mischievous, with a somewhat arrogant streak to his personality, and he clearly got jealous easily and liked taking jabs at his rivals, often coming across as smug and childish—but Jiang Xiaoyi found she thought he was quite endearing.

He had always been this handsome, wealthy, and well-bred, yet back then, Jiang Xiaoyi hadn’t liked him at all.

She liked Ye Zhen simply because, once she truly came to understand him, she was moved by who he genuinely was on the inside.

To be together with the person you love, and to be loved by that person just as much, if not more—it simply felt like a dream come true.

“Now that you’ve agreed, let’s go on a date.”

Ye Zhen, however, couldn’t sit still any longer. He glanced at Jiang Xiaoyi a couple of times, cleared his throat: “Now that we’ve had our first kiss, we can explore our first date too.”

No time like the present—why not?

Jiang Xiaoyi looked at Ye Zhen and smiled, nodding.