She had just pressed a hand to her chest, trying to calm her wildly pounding heart, when the very person responsible for it called.
Cheng Yao, flustered, hit “decline”…
By the time she fumbled to call back, all she got was a busy signal…
She tried again and again, persistent, until a text popped up.
“Don’t call.”
Almost the moment Cheng Yao obediently set down her phone, Qian Heng’s call came again.
“Cheng Yao. Come downstairs.”
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“I changed my mind.”
“What??”
Qian Heng’s voice over the phone was perfectly composed. “Under normal circumstances, when someone is pursuing another person, they should accompany the one they’re pursuing while that person works overtime.”
“…”
Qian Heng went on, righteous and unbothered. “If you want to win me over, you’ll have to put in more effort. So come downstairs. This is exactly the kind of moment you should be keeping me company while I work overtime.”
“…”
In the end, Cheng Yao obediently went down as commanded.
And so now she sat in Qian Heng’s office, literally watching him work overtime, in the most literal sense of the phrase…
It wasn’t as though she’d never been to his office before. Only this time, she felt strangely nervous. No one else was left at the firm; only his office had the lights and heat on. Qian Heng studied his documents with a serious expression, and the enclosed space felt quiet and subtly charged.
Nothing was different, and yet everything somehow was.
Cheng Yao glanced at him. His profile was still unrealistically handsome, his brows faintly furrowed as though he’d run into some difficult problem, his expression focused and earnest. Even with every button on his collar fastened, the word “sexy” surfaced in her mind anyway.
She really had it bad. Face reddening, Cheng Yao quickly looked away.
Not long after—
“At a time like this, the pursuer is supposed to gaze at the one being pursued with tender, doting eyes.”
Qian Heng didn’t look up, still buried in his files. If it weren’t for the fact that only the two of them were in the room, no one would have guessed he’d just spoken.
Cheng Yao had no choice but to muster the energy to look at him.
But no sooner had she complied than Qian Heng grew dissatisfied again. She’d barely been looking at him for a moment before he changed his mind.
“Never mind. Don’t look at me.” He kept frowning, still holding the pose of reading his documents, his tone somehow stiff and blustering. After a pause, he added, “Turn around. Look at the wall.”
“…”
Not only was she barred from looking at him, she was being made to face the wall like a punished child…
Cheng Yao thought resentfully, what was even the point of having her come keep him company at this rate?! Who treated the person pursuing them this coldly?! Could he even manage to get a girlfriend this way? He could not! And besides, he hadn’t even looked up! If he hadn’t looked up, how would he even know whether she was looking at him or not?!
“Looking at me like that is distracting.”
Just as Cheng Yao was seething with indignation, Qian Heng’s voice rang out again.
Still calm, still composed, natural enough that one might mistake it for talk about work—yet the instant it registered, Cheng Yao’s face flushed red.
“If you don’t want to face the wall, that’s fine too.” Qian Heng said coolly. “But mind yourself. Too much heat. It’s distracting me from work.”
What “heat”?! Wasn’t it his own temperature-sensing cells that were malfunctioning?!
—
A quarter of an hour later, Qian Heng finished his work and replied to his emails. He looked up and, with feigned nonchalance, swept a glance over Cheng Yao. “Today’s almost over. Two days left. Have you decided what you’re going to do?”
This… this needed a status report too???
“I… I still haven’t decided…” Cheng Yao eyed him cautiously. “Maybe you could give me a hint, boss?”
“Oh.” Qian Heng pressed his lips together. “Generally speaking, to highlight their strengths, the pursuer dresses nicely, to draw the attention of the one they’re pursuing.”
He glanced at her. “Red.” He looked toward the potted plant in the office. “You have that red sweater dress. I suppose it’s passable. Tomorrow’s Saturday, no need for formal wear. You should switch up your style.”
Cheng Yao blinked. “Does that mean nothing else I wear looks good?”
Without looking at her, Qian Heng said quietly, “Everything looks good on you. But that’s the one I like best.”
It was such an ordinary, offhand remark, and yet somehow Cheng Yao’s whole chest felt as though fireworks had gone off inside it.
She lowered her head, her heart racing again, and out of nervousness bit her lip without thinking.
“Cheng Yao, are you doing that on purpose?”
Cheng Yao was baffled. “Hm?”
Qian Heng suddenly looked rather fierce. “Don’t think you can deliberately seduce me into kissing you, just to cheat and cut short the pursuit period.”
Cheng Yao felt wronged—she hadn’t done any such thing! If anything, she thought Qian Heng was the one seducing her!
Qian Heng cleared his throat and returned to the earlier topic. “Also, the pursuer should greet the pursued morning and night every day, to emphasize their presence.”
“…”
“Only make desserts for the pursued.”
“…”
“On every social media platform, make clear that you’re spoken for, to show your devotion to the person you’re pursuing.”
“…”
The more Cheng Yao listened, the more wronged she felt, until finally she couldn’t hold it in. “Boss, isn’t this a bit much!” She gathered her courage. “You’re using your position of power in the workplace to squeeze me. Forcing me to pursue you, and making me announce to the whole world that I’m taken. And then in three days, if you decide it’s not going to work out and reject me, how will I ever show my face again? Even in a contract, rights and obligations should be balanced, but right now I have nothing but obligations and you have nothing but rights—this completely violates the spirit of contract law…” Cheng Yao stuck her chin out and concluded, “It isn’t fair.”
“If your attitude is good enough to move me, in three days I might not necessarily say no…”
Cheng Yao cut him off directly. “I don’t want to be with someone who’s only reluctantly agreeing.”
“Even if you agreed to be with me like this, our relationship still wouldn’t be equal.” She lowered her eyes. “And besides, I’ve always fantasized about someone pursuing me, about what it feels like to be doted on.” Cheng Yao muttered softly, “Doesn’t every girl deserve to feel like a little princess?”
Once a person works up the courage, it seems, they only grow bolder. Having gotten going, Cheng Yao pressed on. “Besides, you don’t even like me—how can you force me to pursue you first, making you get a taste of what that’s like before you decide? That’s completely irresponsible, completely unfair to me…”
“I never said I don’t like you.”
“When the factory shipped the wrong goods, I didn’t do it on purpose either. If it caused you trouble, I apologized, offered to treat you to a meal, I’d even accept some of my year-end bonus being docked—but you can’t toy with me and take revenge like this.”
“There’s no toying, no revenge.”
But Cheng Yao, still lost in her own world, reasoned earnestly. “Even if it’s not toying or revenge, this is still too much. You don’t even know your own feelings—whether you like me or not—and yet you force me to pursue you first. Haven’t you heard the saying? A melon plucked by force isn’t sweet…”
Qian Heng stood up and walked toward her. “Cheng Yao, I never said I don’t like you.”
“Huh?”
Qian Heng repeated himself, stiffly. “I never said I don’t like you.”
“‘Not disliking’ and ‘liking’ are two completely different things. Plenty of people who don’t dislike each other but don’t love each other either get married, and live in polite, distant marriages. Bao Rui and I once handled a case just like that—a couple who met through matchmaking, no spark between them, but who managed to live together and get by, a peaceful enough life, until the husband suddenly met someone he fell for with real intensity, and was willing to leave with nothing just to divorce and be with her.”
This time, Cheng Yao didn’t back down. She bravely met his eyes. “For you to treat me this way, when at most you can only say you don’t dislike me, and still force me to pursue you—isn’t that too much!”
Qian Heng pressed his lips together and said nothing.
Watching his expression, for some reason, Cheng Yao only felt more wronged. “See, you don’t even know, deep down, what kind of person you actually like. Really—not disliking someone isn’t the same as liking them…”
“I like you.”
Cheng Yao froze, momentarily unable to process it. “What?”
Qian Heng turned his face away, his ears visibly reddening at a rapid pace, and yet his voice remained as composed as if the sky itself could fall and he wouldn’t flinch. “Cheng Yao. I like you.”
Wha— what?
In that moment Cheng Yao felt as though she’d been struck by lightning, ears ringing from the impact of those few simple words from Qian Heng.
“Fine. You win.” Qian Heng’s tone was rather dry. Even in admitting defeat, he maintained his aloof composure, though the look he shot her was fierce. “Did you have to push me to this point? I am your boss, after all. Couldn’t you have spared me a little face?”
“Me? How did I push you?”
“Some things are better left understood without spelling them out. Did you really have to make me say it? I’d already given you the perfect excuse—couldn’t you have just gone along with it?”
“Huh?”
Qian Heng pressed his lips together, stepped in front of her, and glared down at her, his height suddenly bearing down on her with real pressure. Just as she was about to protest, he leaned down.
He bent at the waist, bringing his eyes level with hers, staring straight into them, and in that position, said, word by word, “Cheng Yao. I like you.”
The two of them were too close. Behind her was the wall—there was nowhere left to retreat. Before her was the bridge of his nose, straight as though sculpted. She tried to focus on the space between his brows, and just as she was about to go cross-eyed from the effort, his nose brushed lightly against hers.
Then two lips, faintly cool, brushed against her own.
By the time what felt like a century had passed, Cheng Yao finally registered—
it had been the barest, fleeting touch of a kiss.
And just as she was about to launch into righteous outrage, the culprit, Qian Heng, had already straightened up again as if nothing had happened, stepping back and away from her, turning his head with deliberate, awkward stiffness, his gaze fixed out the window. Had Cheng Yao not been the one it happened to, she would never have believed the man before her was the same one who’d just done that.
While Cheng Yao stared, dumbstruck, Qian Heng finally spoke again—
“As for that saying about a forced melon not being sweet—how would you know unless you tried plucking it first?” His voice was calm and steady. “And who cares whether it’s sweet or not—you pluck it first, and if it turns out not to be sweet, you throw it away.”
“…”
Cheng Yao had to admit, this bandit logic somehow made sense. Except, imagining herself as the melon that might get tossed aside for not being sweet enough, she found she couldn’t feel too pleased about it…
Just as she lowered her head to hide her expression, Qian Heng’s voice rang out once more.
“It’s plucked now.”
“It’s sweet.”
Cheng Yao’s head snapped up in shock.
Even as he said this, Qian Heng was still turned toward the window. But though his expression remained composed, the red slowly spreading up his ears gave away his true feelings.
“In any case, as I said before, as a well-meaning third party, I’m not the one at fault for causing this misunderstanding, so you’re the one who has to pursue me.” Even now, unwilling to lose face, Qian Heng managed to twist the logic to save himself. “I’ve reconsidered. Since I like you, and given your generally good track record and sincere character, I’ll shorten the three-day trial period to one day. Your performance today has just barely passed.” He finally looked at her. “So, congratulations. You’ve passed the assessment. You’ve earned the opportunity to become my girlfriend.”
“Cherish it well.”
“…”
If Cheng Yao had been completely caught off guard by everything up until now, she had finally, fully caught up.
—”I never said I don’t like you.”
—”It’s sweet.”
—”There’s no toying, no revenge.”
—”I like you.”
Cheng Yao almost wanted to jump up and shout. God!!! Qian Heng liked her!!!
Her own venomously toxic boss actually liked her!!!
Qian Heng, oh Qian Heng, so this day has finally come for you too!
Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha!