Shi Niannian’s employment contract with the hospital was set to begin in September. She had thought she would finally have a rare three-month vacation, but instead, Jiang Wang called her to work at his company.

After resting at home for three days, she officially started.

It wasn’t an official position since her workplace was set directly in Jiang Wang’s office. In the morning, Shi Niannian got up at the same time as Jiang Wang. She usually dressed very simply—shorts and a t-shirt in summer—but for work at the company, she had specifically bought several small suits the day before.

She wore a small V-neck shirt underneath, with a light-colored dropped-shoulder suit jacket on top, paired with an A-line short skirt. It looked quite professional and revealed a certain quality that wasn’t usually apparent in her.

When the two of them walked into the company together, they were met with stares from everyone. The moment the elevator doors closed, Shi Niannian could hear the explosion of discussions outside.

Shi Niannian was quite worried: “Will people criticize me?”

“Criticize you for what?” Jiang Wang lowered his eyes.

Shi Niannian thought about the tone she had seen in the company group chat before, then heard Jiang Wang chuckle beside her. He casually remarked: “For bewitching the boss?”

“…”

Bewitching the boss—Shi Niannian followed Jiang Wang out of the elevator. The 19th floor was noticeably quieter than downstairs. Secretary Zhao saw the two approaching and put down her rapidly typing phone: “CEO Jiang, Mrs. Jiang.”

Jiang Wang’s office was very large, with floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides. It had no decorations and was clean but monotonous.

“What am I supposed to do today?” Shi Niannian asked.

“Nothing right now. In a while, I’ll arrange for you to meet with the technical staff to discuss the feasibility of implementing your results,” Jiang Wang answered rather seriously.

Shi Niannian nodded and quietly sat to the side.

Though they had been married for quite some time, this was the first time she had spent an entire day at Jiang Wang’s company. She had occasionally visited before, but only for things like having lunch together. She had never observed how Jiang Wang’s busy day unfolded.

He didn’t stay in the office for long before he had to go to a meeting. Before leaving, he pinched Shi Niannian’s face and asked: “Are you sleepy?”

“Not really.”

“If you get tired, there’s a bedroom at the end of the corridor on the 19th floor. You can go take a nap there.”

Shi Niannian was surprised: “You have a bedroom here?”

“I used to sleep there when I worked overnight. I haven’t been there for a long time, but it’s cleaned every day. The key is on my desk. If you’re tired, just go there yourself.” After giving these instructions, Jiang Wang left for his meeting.

When Jiang Wang pulled Shi Niannian out of bed in the morning and asked her to go to work with him, she had been quite sleepy, but by now she no longer felt drowsy at all.

She had thought she would be busy nonstop from the moment she arrived, so she hadn’t brought anything to entertain herself. She flipped through the magazines on the coffee table and finally sighed with boredom.

After lounging on the sofa for a while, Shi Niannian moved over to Jiang Wang’s seat.

The chairman’s seat.

Shi Niannian kicked her legs, making the chair rock a couple of times.

With nothing to do, she tidied up Jiang Wang’s desk, looking around before bending down to open a drawer. The drawer was very clean, with various files and documents arranged neatly. The covers had a few words written briefly in Jiang Wang’s handwriting.

Shi Niannian opened the next drawer and saw a familiar notebook.

It was very familiar—the diary that had accompanied her for five and a half years was now lying quietly in Jiang Wang’s drawer.

When she had returned to China, she had planned to find Jiang Wang. This diary ended on the day before her return, with the last sentence being “I’m going back to find him.”

Later, they had gone back to Shi Niannian’s home once during Christmas. Shi Niannian wasn’t sure if that was when he had taken this diary back with him, without saying a word to her about it.

She looked at the first few pages, and the bitter, painful feelings of the past swept over her. She sniffled and stopped reading, turning directly to the last page.

The last sentence had changed. It was no longer “I’m going back to find him.”

Instead, it was “A long lifetime, devoted to a singular love.”

The last line written in Jiang Wang’s handwriting.

The man was often playful in his daily life, especially when being mischievous, spouting one sweet nothing after another. But now, seeing this simple love confession hidden away, Shi Niannian blushed, and her heart raced even more.

She raised her hand and traced over that line of text. Suddenly, the door was pushed open. She instinctively closed the diary with a “snap” and looked up, face to face with the man standing at the door.

Shi Niannian hesitated, wondering if she should explain who she was, since her current appearance combined with her reaction just now made her look exactly like a spy who had infiltrated the CEO’s office.

Before she could speak, the man quickly walked to the desk: “You must be the Empress, right?”

“…”

The man before her was wearing a laboratory white coat, iron-gray suit pants, and a striped shirt. This outfit seemed particularly mismatched with the phrase “You must be the Empress, right?”

Shi Niannian was taken aback and nodded: “Ah, yes, I suppose…”

“As soon as I came to the company, I heard everyone saying the Empress had arrived. You don’t know how crazy it is downstairs—everyone likes you. When do you think you’ll have time to go on an imperial tour in disguise?”

Shi Niannian was embarrassed by his string of metaphors. She tugged at her collar and asked: “Do you need to see CEO Jiang? He’s in a meeting. I can pass a message to him.”

She hadn’t forgotten to replace “Jiang Wang” with “CEO Jiang.”

The man said, “I’m here to see you.”

“Me?”

He extended his hand: “Hello, I’m the technical engineer in charge of following up on your innovation project, Xu Siqian.”

Shi Niannian hurriedly stood up to shake his hand. The technical engineers at Jiang Wang’s company were extremely capable people. Her unpolished innovation project might even be laughable to them.

She thought for a moment and said politely and humbly, “My idea isn’t mature, and I’m not sure if there will be problems when it’s developed. If there are issues with turning it into a realistic product, you can tell me directly.”

“No, your idea aligns with a product our company is developing in its early stages, and in some aspects, we need the knowledge you have.”

When Jiang Wang returned to the office after his meeting, he saw the young woman and Xu Siqian discussing something at his desk, with a huge blueprint spread out in front of them.

The young woman heard the sound of him opening the door, glanced at him once, then lowered her head again to continue looking at the blueprint, not sparing him another glance. She only stood up to return the seat to him.

Jiang Wang pressed on her shoulders: “Stay seated.”

“CEO Jiang,” Xu Siqian nodded. “I was just discussing the design plan with Miss Shi.”

Jiang Wang sat sideways on the armrest of the office chair and slightly raised his chin: “Continue.”

Shi Niannian had many ideas. The two of them truly treated him as if he were air, discussing things with extreme seriousness. At first, Jiang Wang found it quite novel to hear Shi Niannian talk about this field, but later, watching the two of them became annoying.

He raised his hand to look at his watch: “You can continue this afternoon. It’s time to eat.”

“Just a moment, CEO Jiang, we have one last question.”

Jiang Wang raised his hand to pinch the young woman’s nape, then looked up at the sound and said in a deep voice: “Xu Siqian.”

Xu Siqian was startled and immediately reacted with a stream of “yes, yes, yes” as he gathered up the blueprints and left.

Jiang Wang pinched her face: “You’ve been busy all morning. Are you hungry?”

Shi Niannian slapped his hand away: “Why were you so harsh to him just now?”

“How was I harsh?” Jiang Wang continued to raise his hand to pinch her face, completely disregarding her accusation. He followed up by asking, “Have you gained some weight? Your face seems to have more flesh.”

“I haven’t gained weight. I weighed myself yesterday,” Shi Niannian glared at him and said seriously. “You’re always pinching my face, making the flesh loose. Of course, it feels like there’s more.”

Jiang Wang was amused and leaned forward, laughing for quite a while as he rested against her.

Although Jiang Wang had been a professional rich second-generation from birth, perhaps because of the things he had experienced since childhood, his personality was different from someone like Xu Ningqing, whose every pore exuded the quality of a spoiled rich kid. He wasn’t particularly picky about food either. When he was busy, he would even forget to eat, usually just eating at the company cafeteria.

But today was different with Shi Niannian here. He had already asked Secretary Zhao to buy food.

Foie gras with red wine, steamed knife fish, goji berry shark fin soup, and white truffle cake.

Even dessert was provided.

“I can’t afford these things on my internship salary,” Shi Niannian said, looking at the food in front of her.

Her two-month internship at Jiang Wang’s company meant her documents were directly handed to the HR department, and her salary was standardized like that of any other intern, so it wasn’t much.

“Then you can stay in my company in the future, and I’ll buy these for you to eat every day,” Jiang Wang said.

Shi Niannian liked sweet things. She didn’t touch the other food, instead scooping a spoonful of cake into her mouth first. Some powder stuck to the edge of the spoon, and she naturally extended her tongue to lick it off.

After licking it, she said: “No, I’m meant to go save lives and heal the wounded.”

Jiang Wang’s gaze darkened as he watched her actions, watched her extend her pink tongue to curl around the white powder, eating with an expression of pure happiness.

He couldn’t hold back anymore, he thought.

“But—”

Jiang Wang looked up.

Shi Niannian sat beside him, turning her head to look at him. She was still chewing something, her eyes bright and shining, her lips moist. She opened her mouth, smiling.

“CEO Jiang.”

Jiang Wang felt a “boom” inside, as if that title had snapped some fragile nerve. The flame traveled directly from his tailbone to his brain.

Shi Niannian was even more bewildered. Her use of “CEO Jiang” was purely innocent—since she was now his intern, she thought she’d address him that way. But the next second, she was pressed down onto the sofa.

Her hand trembled, and the spoon fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

Shi Niannian widened her eyes, unable to believe that this person could be so shameless as to do such things in the office.

She blinked: “What are you doing?”

Jiang Wang accused her first: “You’re seducing me.”

Shi Niannian: “?”

He bent down to kiss her. Her lips still had the taste of white truffle cake. Jiang Wang hooked her tongue with his and kissed her, nearly pressing her into the sofa.

Shi Niannian turned her head to avoid his kiss, belatedly realizing: “Are you some kind of pervert?”

She was afraid people outside would hear, so her voice was very low, almost a whisper, which made her words lack any force.

Jiang Wang licked her fair neck, his voice as if soaked in desire, chuckling lowly: “Niannian, be good. CEO Jiang will take care of you.”