Fortunately, for the last two days of her temporary assistant job, Ye Zhen didn’t cause her any more trouble, and things passed without major incident. The only thing left was tonight’s yacht year-end party.

Whether by coincidence or not, as if to give Jiang Xiaoyi’s stretch as temporary assistant a fittingly complete ending, Ruiyi’s year-end party had been scheduled for the evening of her very last day of work.

To celebrate Ye Zhen’s first time attending Ruiyi’s year-end party, the administrative department had gone all out, chartering an entire cruise ship, arranging five-star kitchen service, and even hiring a band for entertainment.

Jiang Xiaoyi was in a good mood, gathered together with Wang Yani sipping cocktails, envisioning a bright future, when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned around, and was startled to find it was Li Yongjian.

Why was he here?

Jiang Xiaoyi knew that in past years, Eunuch Li would secretly bring his whole extended family along to mooch a free meal at the year-end party, but she hadn’t expected he’d bring his nephew along this year too.

Li Yongjian was quite forward. He waggled his eyebrows: “Worried you’d be bored alone on the cruise, so I specially made time to come.”

Wang Yani was stunned, looking at Jiang Xiaoyi: “Who’s this?”

Before Jiang Xiaoyi could explain that this was Eunuch Li’s nephew, she heard Li Yongjian declare loudly: “Hi, I’m Jiang Xiaoyi’s boyfriend!”

“No, I’m not—”

“Anna!”

Jiang Xiaoyi’s words were cut off by Ye Zhen’s voice. She looked up and saw Ye Zhen standing not far off, expressionless. He glanced down at Li Yongjian, then turned his gaze imperiously to Jiang Xiaoyi: “Come here a moment.”

Ye Zhen pressed his lips together, adding: “For you, this is major good news.”

Whatever the case, since this was her last day on the job, Jiang Xiaoyi was in a joyful mood over her good fortune. At a moment like this, if Ye Zhen was calling her over and it was major good news, maybe on top of the daily wage, he was also going to give her a big red envelope?

Ye Zhen led Jiang Xiaoyi to the observation suite deep within the cruise ship.

Today he wore a perfectly tailored bespoke suit—just the fabric alone looked expensive. This man really did look good; though rotten on the inside, at least the outside deserved the phrase “a fine gem.”

Handsome, he really was handsome.

And because she was expecting a red envelope, Jiang Xiaoyi felt tonight’s Ye Zhen looked even more handsome than usual.

Then she heard the very handsome Ye Zhen, in a lofty, magnanimous tone, begin to announce this major good news—

“You’ve been reassigned.”

Hm?

Ye Zhen smiled: “Simply put, it’s a promotion.”

Having had bad luck for twenty-some years, Jiang Xiaoyi had learned not to get her hopes up, but at this moment, her eyes still couldn’t help but light up—only, before her joy had fully brewed, she heard Ye Zhen continue—

“You won’t be going back to the Project Incubation Department. Going forward, you’ll be my official assistant.”

This man smiled with obvious self-satisfaction: “Although I wasn’t particularly satisfied with your work as a temporary assistant, I’ve interviewed several other candidates, and none of them were even as good as you, so I’ve reluctantly decided to reassign you and keep using you. After all, you’re still young—with more discipline, maybe there’s room for growth.”

Jiang Xiaoyi went completely numb.

Ye Zhen meant…

“You’re thinking correctly—today marks the end of your temporary assistant job, but the beginning of your permanent assistant job. I wasn’t planning to tell you this early, but thinking of the year-end party, I figured I’d let you be happy about it ahead of time.”

This man said, taking a sip of red wine: “But don’t get too pleased with yourself—one more thing. Going forward, don’t have such a petty mentality, bringing your own boyfriend to the company year-end party. I don’t mind, but it’s not really appropriate.”

Jiang Xiaoyi was stunned for a second, then finally caught his meaning—Ye Zhen thought she’d brought Li Yongjian along to mooch food and drinks?!

And on top of that…

“You think that man just now is my boyfriend?!”

Jiang Xiaoyi was absolutely furious. She was about to explain, but Ye Zhen cut her off: “I’m not interested in hearing it, but you really don’t need to deny having a boyfriend just to appear single in front of me—because even if you were single, you’d have no chance anyway.”

This punchable man smiled smugly, striking a pose that said “I don’t think much of you,” his tone lofty: “You two suit each other—one dares to invite, the other dares to come. Wish you happiness.”

……

Jiang Xiaoyi had originally thought her hard days were about to end, but hadn’t expected Ye Zhen’s little speech to directly announce her death sentence instead—not only would her days as his temporary assistant not end, but they were set to continue forever.

The belief that had supported Jiang Xiaoyi through everything up to now suddenly collapsed. She thought of how hard Ye Zhen was to deal with and how he made trouble out of nothing, thought of him scolding her in front of a room full of executives, thought of being used as a convenient favor and sexually harassed not long ago, thought of everything she’d endured, and the humiliation she was suffering right now—

All these emotions, like countless streams, converged into a towering wave.

Jiang Xiaoyi was, without question, a law-abiding person who was used to enduring, but once a person like that finally erupts, their emotions spiral out of control even more than a hot-tempered person’s.

“I refuse the reassignment. I want to go back to my original department. I can’t handle the assistant position!”

But faced with Jiang Xiaoyi’s firm refusal, Ye Zhen didn’t take it seriously at all: “Anna, don’t get too greedy—are you angling for a pay raise by playing hard to get? I’ve already given you a very high salary; I hope you know when to stop.”

Even now, Ye Zhen’s boss-itis had him seeing things as narrow-mindedly as ever, still thinking arrogantly that no one could refuse the opportunity to be his assistant?

Just as Jiang Xiaoyi was about to erupt further, the fire alarm suddenly went off on the ship, followed by chaotic shouting.

Fire, fire! Everyone run!

Jiang Xiaoyi wasn’t ready to go down with Ye Zhen just yet, and immediately tried to run outside, but as luck would have it, the electronic door lock on Ye Zhen’s cursed observation suite—whether triggered by the fire alarm or not—had somehow locked itself!

Jiang Xiaoyi twisted at it for a while with no give whatsoever; Ye Zhen fiddled with it for a while too with no success, but even in this moment, this man remained quite confident.

He sat down on the sofa with composure, poured himself a glass of red wine, then smiled, drained the glass, and casually set the bottle down by the floor-to-ceiling window: “In critical moments, you need to have the bearing of a great man. It’s just a small fire, it’ll be put out soon. You looking so scared of death is unbecoming—calm down.”

But soon, as the voices on the ship grew sparser, with the other coworkers already having fled the ship, and the smell of smoke growing stronger in the air—even visible flames now flickering in the observation suite—yet still no firefighters in sight, Ye Zhen, who had just been touting his great-man composure, finally showed a hint of unease on his face.

Jiang Xiaoyi no longer had the mood to deal with Ye Zhen at all. Though the door was locked, the floor-to-ceiling window facing the sea could still be opened, and the ship hadn’t sailed far from port yet—at this point, there was only one option: jump into the sea!

“Jump into the sea? No way!” Ye Zhen was nearly the first to object. “Even though I can swim, jumping into the sea isn’t necessary—too undignified. Besides, don’t you have experience from the fire-venting club?”

He grabbed the fire extinguisher from the room and shoved it into Jiang Xiaoyi’s hands: “Time to prove your abilities. Go put out the fire.”

Was he serious?! There was a fire and he wanted to send a woman charging in first to fight it?! Was he even human?!

And besides, the fires she usually put out weren’t even this kind!

Jiang Xiaoyi decided she was done enduring.

She glared at Ye Zhen and raised her voice: “I don’t want to be your assistant! I won’t do it no matter how much money you offer! Rot in hell!”

This attitude of hers immediately displeased Ye Zhen: “What did you say? If you won’t be my assistant, then you can’t keep your original position either—get out, effective immediately!”

“Fine, then I quit!”

Jiang Xiaoyi grabbed the wine and poured herself a glass, then downed it in one go. The fiery burn spread from her throat down to her stomach, setting her whole heart ablaze—

“Fire me if you want! I’m done with you! I’ve never met a boss as difficult as you—psychotic, obsessive, a total lunatic! You could offer me ten million and I still wouldn’t be your assistant! You have zero respect for your employees’ personal time, you trample on people’s dignity, you don’t understand how to run a company, you show no respect at all for this industry or for comic projects, you act on whims, you’re insufferably full of yourself, ordering people around all day, and you even condone sexual harassment as if it’s fine! The Qing Dynasty’s been dead for ages—you actually think you’re some crown prince?! Go to hell!”

Saying it out loud felt so good!

There’s grass to be found anywhere under heaven, why must a job be found here!

Anyway, the temporary assistant pay she’d already earned day by day could cover her most pressing debts—worst case, she’d just send out resumes again and find a new job. As long as she was willing to work, she wouldn’t starve!

As for being Ye Zhen’s assistant—Jiang Xiaoyi would rather die than keep doing it!

As if the fire outside had decided to sync with the fury in her heart, right as she finished this tirade, she noticed the flames had already reached the entrance to the observation suite.

At this point, Jiang Xiaoyi, now standing tall and refusing to be a slave any longer, had gone all in—

“Ye Zhen, today’s my last day as your assistant. I’ll finish out my duty for one more day—by saving your worthless life!”

With that, taking advantage of the moment Ye Zhen wasn’t paying attention, she kicked him squarely in the backside and sent him tumbling right off the ship.

Ye Zhen clearly hadn’t expected this turn of events—his handsome, cold eyes went round with shock, full of astonishment, panic, and fury, and then this man plunged into the sea in front of Jiang Xiaoyi’s eyes, sending up a huge splash of spray, and started thrashing about in the water.

The fire was growing worse, and Jiang Xiaoyi didn’t wait any longer either—closing her eyes, she leapt into the sea as well.

The seawater was a bit cold, but once she was in, Jiang Xiaoyi could finally see clearly that the entire cruise ship was on fire—jumping into the sea had indeed been the right call. She was just about to say something smug to Ye Zhen when she noticed this man’s face had gone pale, and he was thrashing his way toward her in a panic.

Seemed Ye Zhen had finally remembered to repay her kindness and was coming to swim her to shore…

But very soon, Jiang Xiaoyi realized she’d been far too naive.

That damned Ye Zhen wasn’t coming to save her out of gratitude at all—this piece of garbage just latched both hands onto Jiang Xiaoyi’s neck and clung on for dear life, completely treating her like a floating log.

His hair was plastered wet against his face, the arrogance gone from his eyes, replaced by the pitiful, desperate panic of someone facing death but still trying to hide it—

“I can’t swim.”

God damn it!!! No wonder he wouldn’t jump into the sea!!! And spouting all that nonsense about great-man composure!!!

Jiang Xiaoyi’s swimming wasn’t great to begin with, and now with Ye Zhen hanging off her, when the wine bottle from beside the floor-to-ceiling window also came crashing down off the ship, she had absolutely no way to dodge it…

She only felt her head spin and her limbs go weak, and could only hazily sense herself and Ye Zhen sinking together into the seawater…

Just before she completely blacked out, the only thought in Jiang Xiaoyi’s mind was—

May there be no Ye Zhen in heaven!

“Ugh…”

Jiang Xiaoyi woke up during chest compressions. She spat out a mouthful of water she’d choked on, and blearily opened her eyes to a flash of firefighter uniform colors.

In her ears came someone’s delighted voice: “She’s awake! She’s awake! She’s okay!”

Seemed she’d been rescued.

Once Jiang Xiaoyi managed to sit up, she found that Ye Zhen had also been rescued, and looked like he’d woken up even earlier than her. His eyes had already regained their clarity; he glanced around and locked onto Jiang Xiaoyi, his face dark, wearing an expression like a storm was about to break, spoiling for a fight.

As a qualified endurer, everything Jiang Xiaoyi had done just now had been purely out of a moment of righteous fury. Now, having been dunked in cold seawater, she’d cooled down and come to her senses.

What had she even done just now?

She’d said her piece, sure, but she’d also kicked Ye Zhen off the ship…

Sure enough, Ye Zhen glowered at Jiang Xiaoyi and said, word by word: “I’m going to find a lawyer and sue—”

But before he could finish, he was cut off by Eunuch Li—

“You little punk! Sue with what lawyer? Get your head examined! Think you’re in a TV drama? Can you even afford a lawyer?!”

Eunuch Li stormed toward Jiang Xiaoyi aggressively, and, to her utter astonishment, spun around with a flourish, raised his hand, and smacked Ye Zhen viciously on the head. Though the gesture was mostly for show and clearly not meant to hit hard—

The damage was minimal, but the humiliation was severe.

Eunuch Li showed not the slightest fear, jabbing a rude finger straight at Ye Zhen’s head—

“Ye Zhen, oh Ye Zhen, you’ve really got some nerve. Are you even a man?! There’s a fire, and you’re the first one to jump into the sea, not a single ounce of the ladies-first gentlemanly spirit! Facing danger and acting like that—you’re barely human! Trash! A beast! Worse than a pig or dog!”

Jiang Xiaoyi was completely stunned.

Ye Zhen pushed Eunuch Li’s finger away, staring at him like he’d seen a ghost: “Have you lost your mind? Who gave you permission to talk to me like this?”

Hearing this, far from calming down, Eunuch Li’s face took on a look of contempt: “I’ve lost my mind? I think you’re the one who needs to get your head checked!”

With that, he shot Ye Zhen a dismissive glare, then ignored him entirely, and dashed anxiously toward Jiang Xiaoyi instead, dropping to his knees and clasping her hands—so as not to burden Jiang Xiaoyi visually, he looked practically on the verge of tears—

“President Jiang! Thank goodness you’re okay, President Jiang! If something had happened to you, I’d have wanted to go with you—without you, the company would be leaderless, plunged into darkness with no one to lead the way!”

“President Jiang, when you fell into the sea just now, I wanted so badly to jump in and save you—Wang Yani was the one holding me back, dead set against it. Thank god you have the blessing of heaven, or if anything had happened to you, I couldn’t have gone on living in this world either! Look, this is my fast-acting heart medicine—the moment you fell in the water I nearly had a heart attack myself, thank goodness I took my medicine in time…”

Jiang Xiaoyi was completely stupefied by the scene in front of her.

Could this be some special program at the year-end party?

Not only was Eunuch Li fawning over her, but the other employees too all wore expressions of “President Jiang, you’ve been through so much,” gathering around her—meanwhile the real boss, Ye Zhen, standing off to the side, had not a single person showing him concern, and was instead getting shot two or three contemptuous glares now and then…

Even Wang Yani, who was normally always bantering and nagging her, was now looking demure and deferential, asking after her with great concern—

“President Jiang, are you alright?”

……

“President Jiang” watched all this unfold with a blank expression, feeling that something was very wrong.

Had jumping into the sea knocked something loose in her brain, causing this bizarre hallucination in front of her?