They say nighttime is when people’s hearts are most vulnerable and least guarded—perhaps the atmosphere of darkness makes people want to open up. And having lived together this long, this was truly the first time Cheng Yao had learned about Qian Heng’s early experiences.

In Cheng Yao’s heart before this, Qian Heng had always been a boss who was elite and above everyone else by nature. Though she knew he was excellent, it was precisely because he was so excellent that it created a sense of distance—someone to admire from afar but not get close to.

But tonight, this conversation—though it was about experiences of being down and out in his early days—somehow made Cheng Yao feel that these experiences didn’t diminish Qian Heng’s image in her mind at all. Instead, they made her want to draw closer to him.

It was as if he had suddenly come alive, become three-dimensional, become touched with the warmth of everyday life.

So it turned out that even Qian Heng had once experienced injustice, setbacks, and confusion at the start of his career. It turned out that everything she was going through, he had already gone through one step ahead of her.

Though separated by time and circumstance, for no particular reason, Cheng Yao felt as if she were a small planet that had originally orbited on its own path separate from Qian Heng’s—but at some particular moment, their paths had crossed, and there was resonance between them.

Somehow, Cheng Yao suddenly found the courage to open up too: “Actually, at my previous firm, during my first year as an intern, I cried many times. Many times I thought about just giving up, not being a lawyer anymore, going home to take the civil service exam instead.”

“It was just too exhausting. Although I had a mentoring lawyer, he never really managed me—most of what he assigned me was administrative work. He basically treated me as his personal assistant. He’d have me buy Valentine’s Day gifts and order flowers for his wife. When it came to cases, I could only touch the surface, just printing documents, typing up his handwritten drafts into electronic files. I wasn’t even qualified to attend a lot of the important meetings… but every time he had dinner with male clients, he’d always call me along, always required to drink, listening to their mediocre jokes and off-color humor.” Cheng Yao took a deep breath. “It was busy, but it was a confused kind of busy—it made me wonder what meaning any of it had. My monthly salary was only two thousand yuan; every month I had to rely on money from home to keep going in City A, but I couldn’t see any hope for the future.”

Though it had all happened long ago, recalling it again still made Cheng Yao feel a bitter ache inside—especially the part about being forced to attend those meals, which she hadn’t even told her best friend Qin Qin about. She’d found it too humiliating and embarrassing. Yet somehow, right now, she was telling Qian Heng about it so freely.

Perhaps Qian Heng really did have a kind of power that made people feel that, beneath his overly striking exterior and his sharp, merciless tongue, his heart was reliable, safe, someone she could depend on.

Unfortunately, Cheng Yao’s tragic experience didn’t move Qian Heng in the slightest. Not only did he not comfort her, his tone actually turned nasty: “Are you an idiot? You couldn’t refuse something like that? Are you a lawyer or a hostess?”

“…”

“What’s his name?”

Faced with Qian Heng’s sudden question, Cheng Yao was a bit lost. “Huh?”

“Your mentoring lawyer’s name, from before.”

“Yao Feng.”

“What area does he practice in?”

“Inheritance law.”

“Good.”

Good what??? Cheng Yao was completely baffled.

But just as Cheng Yao was about to press further, Qian Heng had already switched topics.

“And now?”

“What?”

Qian Heng coughed lightly, his voice sounding a bit unnatural. “Now—do you still cry?”

Cheng Yao paused, then realized what he was asking. She shook her head first, then remembered he couldn’t see her: “Not anymore.” After saying this, she added, “Just cried that time with Bai Xingmeng…”

“Mm.”

Just as Cheng Yao thought this topic had come to an end, Qian Heng’s voice, carrying a faint coolness, rang out again.

“Grit through the first two years of practice. Don’t cry. Everyone gets through it this way.”

Huh???

“When you want to cry, I’ll buy you chocolate.”

Hmm???

“The regular kind of chocolate.”

Oh…

Cheng Yao hadn’t responded yet, and Qian Heng seemed to lose his composure a bit—he added, as if casually, “Forget it. If you really still want to cry, then just cry.”

Having said all this on his own without getting a response from Cheng Yao, Qian Heng finally seemed to grow somewhat exasperated. He said fiercely, “I said all that—did you hear me?”

“I—I heard you!”

“Next time you want to cry, you have to file a request with me first. Only after I approve it can you cry.”

“Okay…”

“If you dare cry behind my back, I’ll deduct your entire year-end bonus.”

“If you have any pressure or difficulties, communicate with me in advance, or talk to Bao Rui or Tan Ying—don’t go cry alone.”

Hmm… though Qian Heng’s style was, as always, an authoritarian, domineering rule, being dominated like this somehow didn’t feel too bad?

Cheng Yao thought, could it be that after staying in the Five Poisons Sect for so long, the poison had already seeped into my bones?

Still, given tonight’s rare opportunity, Cheng Yao remained curious: “Boss, so did you ever feel lost, back then?”

“When I worked overtime until four in the morning every day for a whole week straight, only getting four hours of sleep each night, yes.” Qian Heng seemed to turn over, his voice sounding a bit closer to Cheng Yao now. “When you’re sleep-deprived for too long, you get irritable, you don’t know why you’re living this kind of life, when there’s nothing lacking at home to begin with.”

“And then?”

“Then I had a fight with my father. I realized a person needs absolute control over their own life, shouldn’t be pushed around by anyone—you still need your own capital and ability.”

To think that the fabulously wealthy Qian Heng actually had such an inspiring story…

After a brief silence, Qian Heng spoke again: “Why did you want to become a lawyer?”

“Me?” Cheng Yao paused before answering, “To get justice for my sister.”

“Deng Ming?”

“You know about that?”

“Mm.”

Mentioning Deng Ming, Cheng Yao suddenly felt a bit dejected too. “Am I never going to be able to surpass him? Last time, with the Bai Xingmeng case, in the end he was the one who reaped the easy benefits. I’m so useless.”

“Surpassing me is out of the question. Surpassing him, no problem.” Qian Heng’s voice remained cool and detached, as if keeping her at a distance. “Your talent is nowhere near mine, but your attitude is at least sound—you’re barely salvageable.”

For a moment Cheng Yao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This guy Qian Heng—how could he be so awkward? Clearly he wanted to comfort her, yet he always had to put on this cold, detached face. Would it kill him to just speak kindly?

Yet even though his attitude remained arrogant and cold, Cheng Yao felt that if there had been light in the room at that moment, the expression on Qian Heng’s face would probably have been a gentle one.

Her venomous boss’s gentleness, she thought, was like a cactus in the desert—proud and upright, bristling with rejecting thorns, silent and passive. Yet when you arrived parched and cut through its skin, you could draw out precious water and a warmth that still carried the sun’s lingering heat.

“Then I’ll have to trouble you, Boss, to salvage me!”

“Since you’re begging me like this, I’ll reluctantly salvage you, I suppose.” Qian Heng indeed said this with lofty, cool aloofness. “Grind through another two years. During these two years, the only thing I ask of you is—no dating, no getting married. Put all your time into work.”

“Huh? I can’t even date?”

Because of this question from Cheng Yao, Qian Heng’s tone turned displeased: “You want to date?” He paused, his tone growing more dangerous. “Or are you already dating someone behind my back?”

What do you mean “dating someone behind your back,” man, you make it sound like I’m cheating on you or something…

Yet somehow, Cheng Yao’s instinctive response was a denial: “I’m not!” she explained. “But I just think dating doesn’t have to get in the way of work, you know—two people can move forward together and all that.”

Qian Heng snorted coldly. “Forget it. How many men these days have that kind of drive? Move forward together? If you want to date, fine, but the man has to be excellent enough to surpass me.”

“…”

Qian Heng thought about it, then added, “Actually, forget it—no one in the entire universe could probably surpass me. Being just slightly inferior to me will have to do.”

“…”

Boss, I don’t know if there’s anyone more excellent than you, but someone more full of themselves than you—there’s really no one else in this world. By your standards, I’m probably never getting married in this lifetime.

“All right, go to sleep.”

…

Unfortunately, a moment later, Cheng Yao suddenly remembered something—

“Boss, are you asleep?”

“No.”

“That extra fifty-thousand bonus you mentioned—has it actually been transferred yet?”

“I’m asleep.”

“…”

If there were a competition for shamelessness, Qian Heng had undoubtedly already reached the finish line.

Was the boss saveable tonight?

Cheng Yao really wanted to shout out loud—no! Tonight’s boss remained utterly beyond saving!

That night, whether it was because Qian Heng had rarely let his guard down, his gentleness somehow soothing Cheng Yao, she slept especially soundly.

When she woke up the next morning, she felt a sense of comfort all over, as if reborn. The bedding was soft and warm, as if she were sleeping on feathers…

Wait a second??? !!! Bedding??? Soft???

Wasn’t she supposed to be sleeping on the floor???

At that instant, Cheng Yao was completely awake. She sat up and discovered she was sprawled shamelessly across her boss’s bed, arms and legs flung out, occupying the entire large bed by herself.

So the question was…

Where was the boss? Where had the boss, who was supposed to be sleeping on the large bed, gone???

With an uneasy heart, Cheng Yao looked down—only to discover Qian Heng lying on his side on the floor.

He was too tall; the space on the floor didn’t allow him to stretch out fully. At nearly one meter eighty, he had to curl up slightly just to fit.

This was the first time Cheng Yao had seen Qian Heng asleep.

Qian Heng’s looks were, admittedly, quite something.

His handsome brows were relaxed, his eyelashes long and slender, drooping quietly. The line of his jaw was smooth and beautiful, his hair slightly tousled, revealing an unexpected air of innocence and docility that caught one off guard. The collar of his pajamas was slightly open, revealing a small patch of chest that rose and fell gently with his long, even breaths. That restrained, understated atmosphere made one want to reach over and undo his buttons to see more…

Ten thousand yuan a night at this level—thinking about it, it was actually quite a good value…

Cheng Yao just sat there on the bed, quietly watching Qian Heng’s sleeping face.

Until Qian Heng finally stirred awake, and Cheng Yao watched his beautiful eyes go from hazy to clear.

Finally, she couldn’t hold back her gratitude and excitement—

“Boss! Thank you for giving me the bed in the end and sleeping on the floor yourself! I’ll remember this kindness!”

Maybe last night’s heart-to-heart had brought them closer, Cheng Yao thought—Qian Heng, this walking case of saying one thing and meaning another, had secretly given up the bed to her after all, showing his gentlemanly side.

“I was halfway through sleeping when someone climbed onto the bed in the dark, stole my blanket, and then kicked me right off my own bed with one foot. Cheng Yao, I’ll remember this kindness too.”

???What happened to the gentleman giving up his bed???

“That’s impossible!” Cheng Yao instinctively denied it fiercely. “I could never do something so beastly to you, Boss!”

After denying it, she began recalling what had happened in the middle of the night…

She vaguely remembered getting up to use the bathroom, and then what?

Then she seemed to have climbed onto the bed, pulled over the blanket, and drifted off to sleep in a daze. But for some reason the bed seemed smaller than usual that night, as if there were a large body pillow on it, and out of habit sleeping in a starfish position, she’d instinctively delivered a few forceful kicks to that “pillow”…

And then? Then, accompanied by the sound of a heavy object hitting the floor with a “thud,” the world went quiet, and finally her arms and legs could stretch out freely…

As she pieced together the memories from last night, sweat began trickling down Cheng Yao’s forehead. She hurriedly bent forward, bowing her head repeatedly in apology: “I forgot in my sleep, I thought it was my own bed…”

But before she could finish, she noticed that the glare Qian Heng had been directing at her had suddenly turned strange. He abruptly looked away, then, with a cold expression, threw a pillow at Cheng Yao.

Cheng Yao: ???

Instinctively, she caught the pillow and hugged it to her chest, then looked at Qian Heng with a confused expression.

Wasn’t this a bit petty?! She hadn’t kicked him off the bed on purpose! Did that really warrant throwing a pillow at her?!

“Get out.”

Huh???

Qian Heng really did seem to have gotten angry over this—he still maintained a pose of refusing to even look Cheng Yao in the eye directly. There was also a subtle anger in his tone.

From Cheng Yao’s angle, she could only see his beautifully defined, handsome profile and his tightly pressed lips.

Cheng Yao was starting to get a bit annoyed too. She truly, genuinely hadn’t done it on purpose—was Qian Heng going to keep this up endlessly? She flung the pillow aside, ready to properly explain and argue her case.

But the moment Qian Heng, who had been sitting quietly on his side, saw Cheng Yao throw the pillow aside, he moved with startling speed. He got up, grabbed his own blanket, and before Cheng Yao could react, wrapped her up in it like a rice dumpling. Then, with a tense expression, he simply hoisted the blanket-wrapped Cheng Yao over his shoulder and carried her out of his room, dumping her onto the floor outside like she was garbage. He abandoned his usual straight-backed posture, his movements slightly unnatural, and without a word went back into his room, closing the door right in front of Cheng Yao’s dumbfounded face.

Not long after, the sound of the shower running came from Qian Heng’s room.

One nice thing about this apartment was that it had two bedrooms and a living room, and each bedroom had its own attached bathroom, so Cheng Yao never had to awkwardly share a bathroom with Qian Heng.

It was just—hadn’t Qian Heng already showered last night? Why was he showering again this early in the morning?

She’d never heard he had a cleanliness obsession or anything???