Su Minguan was inspecting the first-class cabin configuration. Seeing a figure in a plain dress rushing down the corridor from afar, he couldn’t help but smile.

“Why are the signs only in English?” He pretended not to see her, dissatisfied as he made a note in his supervisor’s handbook, talking to himself. “Are they bullying Chinese people who can’t afford first class? These workers need a beating.”

“And Chinese should be above English—Chinese ship, Chinese priority.” Lin Yuchan panted as she joined the conversation. “Boss Su, may I have a word in private?”

“Wood pest prevention also needs another inspection, and seal all gaps.” Su Minguan crouched down to check under the bed, making two more notes in his handbook. “Just speak here. No outsiders around.”

Arrogant indeed, truly acting like a master.

Lin Yuchan smiled without warmth: “Master Su, let me ask you. According to the agreement you provided, Boya Company’s current shares—I hold fifty percent, you hold thirty percent, other friends and relatives subscribe to twenty percent. If I mismanage this year, our shares will become forty percent each.”

Su Minguan leaned against the wooden bed in the first-class cabin, smiling and nodding. The cabin door was half-open, the corridor lighting dim, casting him as a half-light, half-shadow sculpture, like the final boss of a game level.

His throat moved slightly: “Mm?”

“Then naturally I’d be stretched thin, completely broke, with no spare money. As long as you purchase even one cent’s worth of shares from friends and relatives, you’d immediately become Boya’s largest shareholder. If you purchase over ten percent shares, you’d instantly have absolute decision-making power over the shop. Comrade Xiao Bai, this is your exit strategy? Stealing my shop?”

She finished in one breath, glaring at him angrily.

Indeed, no matter how sweet and affectionate things got with this dog of a man, even if they both eventually developed dementia, she must never forget how to write “hidden daggers behind smiles.”

Su Minguan felt no shame at having his intentions exposed, giving her a polite smile, his eyes sparkling brilliantly, appearing infinitely amiable.

“Miss Lin, as far as I know, when those friends and relatives subscribed, you didn’t have them sign agreements prohibiting share transfers.”

When Lin Yuchan had demanded Yixing shares, despite his extreme shortage of money and making concessions throughout negotiations, he had insisted on her signing a “no transfer” clause.

Lin Yuchan naturally knew this, complaining: “Because not everyone is as reasonable as I! If I dared mention transfer prohibition, people would think it was fraud. Fundraising is already difficult enough!”

“So you left me a loophole to exploit. A’Mei, if you were me…”

Of course, she’d exploit it too. Lin Yuchan thought viciously.

But she spoke sweetly: “If I were Boss Su, I’d naturally sympathize with Miss Lin’s entrepreneurial hardships. Using every trick against her, my conscience couldn’t bear it. For our business friendship to remain evergreen, I definitely wouldn’t bully her!”

Su Minguan couldn’t help laughing softly.

“First, you can refuse this agreement,” he said. “Second, this would only happen if your profits don’t meet standards. If that were truly the case, it would prove your profit plan doesn’t work. To save Boya and protect other shareholders’ interests, I should reasonably take over—fair and just. Conversely, if your profits exceed one thousand taels, I’d have no objections and no chance to exploit any loopholes. Third…”

Lin Yuchan: “…”

Explained this way with such twisted logic, it sounded quite reasonable?

She suddenly asked: “What’s the third point?”

Su Minguan swallowed his remaining words, smiling.

“Nothing.”

“Don’t leave sentences half-finished.”

Su Minguan hesitated, his gaze catching the trembling small white flowers in her braid, his throat slowly moving.

“Third,” his voice extremely low, slowly saying, “by this time next year, you’ll be over eighteen, no longer needing to pretend mourning. We… can end this.”

His tone was flat, without much inflection.

Lin Yuchan laughed despite herself.

The shackles he put on himself—she didn’t care about them.

“So then you can bully me freely?” she protested. “You won’t feel bad about cutting me down? You’re not this harsh with others, are you?”

Su Minguan smiled: “Purchasing Anqing Yixing Tea Store for eight hundred taels—you think that was brotherly loyalty?”

Lin Yuchan: “…”

So she had still received mercy.

But she’d brought it on herself. Recalling when she’d fought for Yixing shares, she was a newborn calf unafraid of tigers, gripping his cash flow crisis weakness, deadlocked with him, making the newly helming Yixing big boss utterly embarrassed—he probably wanted to devour her.

Thinking of this glorious achievement, Lin Yuchan immediately felt balanced. Estimating her current Yixing share value, she couldn’t help smiling.

She gently closed the first-class cabin door.

Without lights inside, it was instantly pitch black.

Su Minguan drew a sharp breath.

She stepped over a ridge on the floor, opened her arms to embrace him, her cheek nuzzling against his solid chest.

She’d missed hugging for quite a while.

“Give me one day—don’t change the wager agreement terms,” Lin Yuchan said lightly. “I’ll seek other avenues. In case there’s some sucker with more money than brains… If I can’t find any, I’ll come back to sign with you. Farewell… Oh, right, thank you for helping arrange old Boya’s liquidation. Haven’t thanked you yet.”

She released him, turning to open the door.

Suddenly, her shoulder was gripped. Then pulled back, her back falling into his tight embrace.

“Miss Lin,” Su Minguan’s voice instantly became burning, as if unable to endure any longer. “You agreed to keep business and personal separate—why are you breaking the rules?”

The weather was hot, both wore thin clothing. She felt completely enveloped, unable to breathe evenly, pushing at his hands but unable to move them.

She said quietly and pitifully: “I didn’t. I was very clear—I already said farewell before…”

“Not decisive enough,” he argued unreasonably. “I hadn’t reacted yet.”

The room was instantly completely dark, and both were blind. Groping to confirm each other’s positions.

Lin Yuchan’s hand was three inches from the door handle, not daring to move, feeling him nuzzle her temple hair with his nose tip, secretly sniffing.

“I…”

“You’re so busy, too busy to visit me.” Su Minguan suppressed his breathing, lightly grinding his teeth, complaining in her ear. “Yesterday seeing me, today seeing me—immediately ‘Boss, some financing’—even skipping pleasantries. You’re deliberately trying to anger me to death.”

Lin Yuchan: “But…”

But she didn’t know!

His face showed nothing, his manner completely professional, even colder and more polite than her. Lin Yuchan really thought he switched states effortlessly…

He just hid it well!

She struggled to turn halfway around in his arms, smiling: “Then let’s not discuss business today. What do you want?”

The voice above her head laughed softly: “Don’t move.”

She wasn’t yet adapted to the darkness, obediently offering a profile, unable to see his eyes. By her ear it was quiet, only hearing seemingly omnipresent soft panting.

Lin Yuchan immediately regretted it. Unable to see her hand before her face, human instinct told her danger was nearby.

She suddenly trembled all over, feeling him approach—

A slight turn of her head. A gentle kiss fell on her neck.

The standing collar she’d quietly unbuttoned. Exposing a patch of cool small skin, usually tender and never seeing daylight, gently and softly touched, making her breathing chaotic as she frantically felt for the door handle.

“Are you disgusted with me again today?” Su Minguan didn’t move behind her, voice low, somewhat dejected.

She shook her head, forgetting he couldn’t see.

So she laughed softly: “Be confident, Comrade Xiao Bai. When I truly dislike you, I’ll give advance notice.”

Afraid she disliked him, yet insisting on setting a deadline for liking. With his seven-aperture exquisite heart, he used it all to trouble himself. Lin Yuchan didn’t want to criticize anything—better to let him slowly figure it out himself.

“I don’t want to bully you,” he urgently declared his intentions, speaking rapidly. “I’m only doing what any clear-headed businessman would do. Boya is now a limited company with multiple shareholders. According to Western law, annual reports and fund movements must be public. If I give you benefits for nothing, interested parties seeing clues in the numbers would say you… say you…”

“Money-sex transaction?”

She boldly spoke these four limitless words with a smile, feeling the handsome face opposite quietly heating several degrees.

Su Minguan tightly pressed his lips, stubbornly nodding slightly.

In the darkness, intimate without needing pretense, many words could be spoken frankly without fear of showing embarrassing expressions.

She felt a strong hand controlling its strength, gently tracing her facial contours. The warm touch was reassuring. Then that hand slid to her earlobe, soothingly pinching gently. She trembled all over.

Su Minguan said in a low voice: “Women who’ve always shown their faces publicly, regardless of their occupation, inevitably bear idle gossip—you must be prepared for this. I can only ensure rumors don’t originate from me. I don’t care about other suckers you find. If you approach me, I must be… harsh.”

“Harsh. Not scheming. I won’t scheme against you.”

He finished in one breath, found the door handle, half-gripped it, about to open.

Lin Yuchan’s heart beat rapidly, gently pressing his hand, asking with a smile: “Then I can negotiate?”

“Of course. What you achieve depends on your ability. But I won’t go easy…”

She suddenly laughed aloud, boldly reaching up to scratch his nose.

“Let’s go out. This ghostly place is too suitable for money-sex transactions.”

Su Minguan: “…”

She said it again! Did those four words sound pleasant? And she seemed quite proud saying them!

He lightly clenched his teeth, just about to righteously say “I won’t let you succeed,” when he heard the young lady laugh softly, standing on tiptoe to whisper in his ear:

“I won’t let you succeed. Handsome.”