Qian Heng felt like Cheng Yao was going to be the death of him tonight.
He should have driven a wide loop back to his own villa, calmed himself down properly, taken a shower, and gone to sleep.
But in the end, his actions outran his intentions—at the intersection a quarter hour from home, Qian Heng made a sudden turn and drove instead to Wu Jun’s place.
Wu Jun liked the open floor plan of a serviced apartment—not as quiet as a villa, but more modern, closer to the buzz of the city, with shopping and entertainment all convenient nearby.
When he opened the door and saw Qian Heng standing there, his face betrayed unmistakable surprise. “What’s going on?”
Qian Heng walked straight in and sat down on the sofa, perfectly at home. “Oh, I happened to be passing by. Thought of a case I wanted to run by you.”
…
The case was a family insurance dispute Qian Heng had recently taken on. He discussed it with Wu Jun half-heartedly, and just as Wu Jun was starting to get seriously into it, Qian Heng changed the subject—
“Oh, there’s actually something else I wanted to ask you.”
“Hm? About what?”
Qian Heng pressed his lips together, avoiding Wu Jun’s eyes. “Relationship stuff.”
Wu Jun perked up immediately. “Oh? You’ve got a situation?”
Qian Heng glared at him. “Not me. A friend of mine.”
Wu Jun smiled meaningfully. “Ah, a friend of yours.”
Qian Heng didn’t bother engaging with that. He cleared his throat. “This friend of mine has recently run into a bit of a relationship problem, and he came to ask me, but I’m not exactly experienced in this area, so I figured someone with your track record would be better suited to answer.”
Wu Jun smiled easily. “So what exactly is your friend confused about?”
“He received a passionate confession from a woman. This woman also happens to overlap with him at work fairly often.”
Wu Jun offered guidance patiently. “If he’s not interested, he should just turn her down. Even if there’s a work connection, we men should stay true to our hearts. And your… your friend, following the principle of birds of a feather, should be like you—not the type to force himself into something just for the sake of work, right?”
“Mm.” Qian Heng nodded. “He didn’t accept, turned her down with a subtle hint, then let the matter go cold.”
“And then?”
“And then this woman just… gave up, like that.” Qian Heng, at this point, couldn’t help but grit his teeth a little, forcing himself to stay calm. “As for my… this friend, he thought her sincerity was fairly genuine, and after thinking it over, decided it might not hurt to give it a try. But then, just a few days later, this woman changed her tune entirely—not a word about her earlier confession. Even claimed she was devoted to her career and had no interest in romance. A complete about-face.”
Wu Jun rubbed his chin. “After she confessed, did you give her any hint at all that there might be a chance?”
“…”
Qian Heng had to reiterate. “It’s my friend.”
Wu Jun said with zero sincerity, “Oh right, I mean your friend.”
Qian Heng said, with restraint, “This friend of mine—he did give a few hints, yes.”
“Then that’s it—your… this friend’s hints weren’t obvious enough. Women, you know, by the time they work up the nerve to confess, they’ve already used up their entire reserve of courage. They’re not actually as brave as it looks—they’re thin-skinned, sensitive. If someone confesses and gets total silence, or even a faint sense of rejection, in return, that’s a devastating blow. Within maybe a single day, her emotions might swing through a hundred rollercoaster loops, and the initial enthusiasm cools right off, and then she starts regretting having confessed at all…”
Hearing this, Qian Heng couldn’t help raising his voice, snorting coldly. “Regret? What’s there for her to regret?”
Wu Jun blinked. “Because it’s embarrassing. Humiliating. It hurts the ego.”
“So?”
“So when it comes to pursuing someone, it really should be us men taking the initiative.” Wu Jun said, “Especially since your… friend clearly cares about this, is invested in her. If he likes her, he shouldn’t let the chance slip by. Go for it, directly!”
Cared about Cheng Yao? Liked Cheng Yao?
Qian Heng fell silent.
Though he’d been avoiding the question all along, now that Wu Jun had called it out directly, he finally had to face his own feelings, at least a little.
When he’d received that bold gift from Cheng Yao, he’d been shocked, sure—but afterward, he really hadn’t been upset. Not only not upset, there had even been the faintest trace of pleasure in it.
Except—
“No.”
Wu Jun looked puzzled. “Hm?”
Qian Heng pressed his lips together tightly. “This friend of mine doesn’t chase people. That’s a principle of his. He has standards. Chasing someone doesn’t suit his style.”
Wu Jun studied Qian Heng for a long moment, then said, meaningfully, “Then at the very least, give her a more obvious signal—extend an olive branch clear enough for her to understand, so she’ll be encouraged to keep pursuing your… friend!”
Qian Heng hummed in acknowledgment, falling into thought.
“And then you should look for more chances for the two of you to have intimate interactions. Through more contact, let her discover she still can’t help herself when it comes to your… friend. Of course, in the process, your… friend should also flirt a little in return, let her feel like he might be interested too—she’ll have a real shot at successfully winning him over, and that way your friend gets to have it all without breaking his own principle.”
The furrow in Qian Heng’s brow eased slightly. He looked at Wu Jun. “That does seem to make sense. I’ll pass it along to my friend.”
Wu Jun offered up some friendly advice. “Since it’s someone he sees regularly at work, I’d suggest the intimate interactions break away from the usual work setting—something fresh, with more of an impact, a little more charged with tension!”
“Mm.”
“But a woman who’s confessed once probably won’t have the nerve to do it a second time. So once the mood feels right, your… friend can tell her he’s reluctantly decided to accept her confession, and that should do it!”
Qian Heng nodded. “Not bad.”
Having resolved Qian Heng’s… friend’s relationship troubles, it was time to turn to his own. Wu Jun scratched his head. “Qian Heng, I’ve actually been having some trouble myself lately. The woman I like was hurt before, in a past relationship, and now she’s really guarded…”
But before Wu Jun could finish, Qian Heng glanced at his watch and rose in one smooth motion, saying with utter insincerity, “Oh, it’s getting late, I’ve got something to take care of. I’ll head out.”
“…”
Wu Jun could only watch, dumbfounded, as Qian Heng strolled out of his apartment with complete self-assurance, as if he owned the place.
What about friendship? Wasn’t friendship supposed to go both ways?
So he’d basically just been free relationship counseling?! And did Qian Heng even say thank you?! No! Not even once!
Thinking about his own relationship troubles, and then thinking about Qian Heng—as cold-blooded and heartless as any playboy—Wu Jun nearly wanted to throw himself onto his king-size bed and cry.
The next day, when Cheng Yao arrived at Jun Heng, she found Wu Jun quietly asking around.
“Does anyone know who confessed to Qian par recently?”
Tan Ying said she had no idea, and Bao Rui was equally clueless. Wu Jun went around asking everyone, and, thoroughly disappointed, grumbled about how the office’s usual gossip network had let him down, and finally gave up and walked off.
No sooner had Wu Jun left than Cheng Yao got an internal call summoning her to Qian Heng’s office.
“Clear your schedule this Saturday.”
“Is there a new case that needs overtime?”
“No.” Qian Heng was terse. “Saturday, come to my place.”
Cheng Yao suddenly understood. “Oh right, time to clean the villa, is it? Do you have the mop and everything already?”
“…”
Qian Heng cleared his throat. “Not my villa. My parents’ villa.”
Cheng Yao: ???
Qian Heng said, perfectly composed, “Because of you, my blind date fell through. Now my parents are insisting I bring someone home for dinner, or they’ll go post my information at the matchmaking corner in the People’s Park.”
Cheng Yao scratched her head, finally recalling the whole matter.
She nodded quickly. “No problem, no problem. But what should I wear? Does your family have any specific expectations? Is there a dress code?”
Qian Heng pressed his lips together. “No. Use your own judgment.” He lowered his eyes. “No need to get too excited, or too nervous, either.”
Cheng Yao thought, why would I be excited or nervous about this?! It’s not like if this gets exposed, your parents are going to post my info at the matchmaking corner instead!
Time passed busily until Saturday arrived.
Cheng Yao spent ages picking out an outfit, finally settling on one, and after fussing over her appearance she rushed downstairs. Qian Heng’s Bentley was already waiting.
“Boss, I’m here, we can go!”
Cheng Yao had just happily climbed into the passenger seat when Qian Heng glanced at her and frowned. “Cheng Yao, are you seriously wearing that?”
“Yes!” Cheng Yao said proudly. “I picked this out carefully—look, this coat, simple and neat, perfectly polite, but utterly without character. Totally forgettable. Guaranteed that standing next to you in this, I’ll look completely out of place—instant elimination.”
“…”
Qian Heng’s voice came out almost through gritted teeth. “So you’re planning to meet my parents wearing this?”
Cheng Yao didn’t get it. “Won’t that make it easier to ‘break up’ later? Since I’ll seem so unimpressive, you can dump me in an instant. That way your parents will accept it easily—might even shed tears of joy when their eyesight comes back to normal about you.”
“…”
Qian Heng rubbed his temple, straining to keep his composure, and didn’t say anything more. He started the car.
“Huh? Why are we heading toward Chunran Road? Weren’t we meeting at the restaurant on Xiyu Road? That’s a totally different direction.”
By the time Qian Heng pulled fully into the underground garage of the Chunran Road shopping center, Cheng Yao finally realized something was off. She glanced at him questioningly. “Boss?”
Qian Heng didn’t even look at her, simply striding out of the Bentley. Cheng Yao had no choice but to follow closely behind.
Qian Heng then went straight up to the fourth-floor women’s section, considered for a moment, walked up to a French designer boutique, and glanced back at Cheng Yao. “What are you standing around for? Come in.”
Cheng Yao had heard of this brand—she’d seen it plenty of times in celebrities’ off-duty outfit posts. The clothes really were beautiful, elegant and dreamy—but the prices matched, equally elegant and dreamy.
Qian Heng, oblivious to the conflict playing out in Cheng Yao’s eyes, walked straight into the store, scanned the racks briefly, and then made quick decisions. “This one. This one. And this.”
The saleswoman was very enthusiastic. “Sir, would you like your girlfriend to try them on?”
Cheng Yao tried to explain. “No, I’m not—”
“No need. Just ring them up.”
Cheng Yao: ???
The saleswoman beamed. “I’ll get them wrapped.”
Qian Heng pressed his lips together. “No need to wrap them.” Only then did he actually look at Cheng Yao. “Put them on now.”
“Should I wear this to meet your parents?” Cheng Yao asked, uneasy. “Won’t that be too fancy, too formal? What if your parents like me too much?”
Having spent so much time around this particular strain of Qian Heng-flavored poison, even Cheng Yao found herself unconsciously infected with overconfidence. “Clothes make the woman—dressed like this, what if they like me so much they demand we get married on the spot?”
“…”
Qian Heng held himself back, then finally managed, restrained, “Cheng Yao. Get a grip.”
“…”
He gave her current outfit a thoroughly disdainful look, then turned away. “Looking dowdy like that reflects badly on my image.” He said coldly, “My taste, Qian Heng’s taste, has to be the best there is.”
Fine… fine, then…
Cheng Yao trembled a little inside, but couldn’t help feeling a flicker of excitement—was this the legendary scenario where, because you’re pretending to be someone’s girlfriend, your boss buys you clothes?! Just for pretending to be his girlfriend once, and she got to walk away with such an expensive outfit for free! Totally worth it!
Qian Heng’s eye for fashion was as sharp as his tongue. Though he’d picked the pieces without any fitting beforehand, once on, they suited Cheng Yao as if tailor-made, matching her look perfectly.
Even Cheng Yao, looking at herself in the mirror, was a little stunned.
She thought, damn, I really am gorgeous.
Once she’d finished admiring herself and returned to normal, her first instinct was to thank Qian Heng. “Thanks, boss!”
Qian Heng deliberately looked away, saying coldly, “Don’t thank me. It’s coming out of your year-end bonus.”
“…”
Forget getting married on the spot, Cheng Yao thought—let my boss just explode on the spot instead.
When the two of them arrived at the restaurant, Qian Heng’s parents were already seated in the private room. Just as Cheng Yao had imagined, Qian Heng’s mother was an elegant, striking beauty, and Qian Heng had clearly inherited nearly all his looks from her, while his temperament and bearing were a perfect copy of his father—the tycoon, stern-faced, looking like a man not easy to get along with.
Qian Heng, still every bit himself, glanced briefly at his parents, ignored his own father entirely, and said coldly, “Mom, this is my girlfriend, Cheng Yao.”
“Xiao Cheng, is it? Come, sit here.” Qian Heng’s mother was quite warm, immediately dissolving the awkwardness and tension of dining with the tycoon’s family, and pulled Cheng Yao into conversation.
…
But conversations like this always eventually get to the point…
Sure enough, after some pleasant chatting, Qian Heng’s mother changed tack—
“Xiao Cheng, I’m curious—how did you and our Qian Heng meet?”
Qian Heng wanted to answer, but his mother shot him a look that shut him down. “I’m asking Xiao Cheng.” Then she smiled warmly at Cheng Yao again.
“We… we met through work.”
“How long have you been together?”
Cheng Yao shot Qian Heng a pleading glance, but with the four of them at one table, there was no chance to cheat, so she had no choice but to bluff. “Not very long.”
Qian Heng’s mother perked up. “So do you really understand Qian Heng?”
“I… I think I understand him fairly well.”
“Then what do you think his flaws are?”
Qian Heng’s mother stared at Cheng Yao. Qian Heng’s father stared at Cheng Yao. Qian Heng himself stared at Cheng Yao.
Pointing out her boss’s flaws right in front of him—was she tired of living?
Cheng Yao lied through her teeth. “Qian Heng is perfect. His only flaw is being too perfect—it makes me feel a little inferior sometimes!”
The stormy expression Qian Heng had been wearing softened, the corner of his mouth curving up slightly.
Cheng Yao wiped her brow. That deadly question, it seemed, hadn’t cost her life after all.
But Qian Heng’s mother wasn’t about to let Cheng Yao off the hook. “You don’t need to hold back the truth in front of me. Nobody’s perfect—during your time together, what problems have you actually noticed with him?” Though gentle, her eyes were sharp, and there was clear implication in her words. “If you’ve really dated, even briefly, you must have found something during the friction of getting to know each other.”
“…”
Cheng Yao gritted her teeth. “Well, Qian Heng can be a bit too unconventional sometimes—it’s hard for me to keep up with his pace.”
This “flaw” was harmless enough, and Cheng Yao felt she’d struck a reasonable balance.
“Is that really the only flaw?”
Cheng Yao nodded. “Mm-hm!”
Qian Heng’s mother looked genuinely surprised. “Then you really haven’t been together long enough, because you haven’t discovered he’s also overly confident in himself, sharp-tongued, extremely picky, overly fussy, unfeeling, thinks like a typical unromantic man, has zero warmth, doesn’t know how to comfort people, cares more about face than anything, has an executive complex, is ruthless, and thinks the world revolves around him.”
“…”
“And he’s a specialist in family law, so if you two ever break up, you won’t get a single cent out of him.”
Cheng Yao thought, it’s not just Qian Heng’s own abilities keeping him single—his mother’s abilities were formidable in their own right.
Having stayed silent so far, Qian Heng’s father finally spoke up, glancing at Cheng Yao. “I’ve never much cared for the surname Cheng.”
“…”
“But the fact that you’ve set your sights on my son shows your taste and judgment aren’t bad.”
“…”
“Also, I’d like you to provide the original transcripts from all your years of schooling, from middle school through university. Photocopies are fine, as long as they’re stamped with the school’s official seal.”
“Huh?”
Qian Heng’s father smiled faintly. “This way I’ll know what topics I can discuss with you smoothly going forward.”
???
Cheng Yao stared blankly for a full three minutes before she finally caught his meaning.
Assessing baseline intelligence through transcripts, to ensure both parties were on the same intellectual level, to know what topics might work…
“Also, I’d appreciate your health checkup reports from the last three years.” Qian Heng’s father remained perfectly composed. “Oh, and does your family keep a genealogy record? Don’t worry, fairness matters even when it’s not exactly business—young people dating is the same principle. Whatever information you provide me, I’ll provide the equivalent for Qian Heng.” As he spoke, he produced a book that looked to be around four hundred pages thick. “This is the preliminary material, for your reference.”
Cheng Yao took it and nearly went blind at the title on the cover.
The Complete Compendium of Qian Heng, Outstanding Single Young Man.
The subtitle read—
Marry Legally, Refuse Singlehood!
…
Flipping open the table of contents made things even harder to look at directly. Written like an academic thesis, the contents were organized into six sections: Qian Heng’s Origins, Qian Heng’s Traits, Qian Heng’s Characteristics, Comparative Advantages of Short-Term vs. Long-Term Investment in Qian Heng, Disclaimer of Qian Heng’s Defects, and Qian Heng Photo Gallery—each with sub-sections, and further sub-sub-sections beneath those. On the very last page, printed in bold—
“Qian Heng Hotline: 180XXXXXXXX.”
Cheng Yao looked at the number—unmistakably Qian Heng’s own phone number.
…
Good lord! What kind of monsters were these people?!
Cheng Yao could hardly believe her eyes looking at this Qian Heng compendium. She glanced at Qian Heng for an explanation, and for once, he awkwardly turned his head away, his expression the picture of someone who’d rather not exist right now.
It seemed this was the matchmaking booklet his parents had commissioned for him at great expense. If Cheng Yao hadn’t come along today to play the role of his girlfriend at this dinner, before long, this booklet would surely have started circulating through the matchmaking scene, and within days it would’ve gone viral—might even have trended online.
Cheng Yao looked at Qian Heng, then at his parents, and could only think one thing—
Ancestral monsters!
This was, without a doubt, a family of ancestral monsters!