“It is custom-made, so no one else can fit into it. Just take it.” After hearing the voice message, Shen Qi was lost in her thoughts. Did President Han mean that the dress was custom-made according to my size? If I don’t want it, then no one else can fit into it?
Afraid that she got him wrong, Shen Qi carefully worded her message. ‘How did you get my measurements?’ She felt embarrassed after asking this question, thereupon she texted a few more words, but before she could send the message, a reply from Han Qing arrived.
‘It’s not that hard to get your measurements. If you have no time, then I’ll ask Su Jiu to send it over.’
Ask Su Jiu to send it over? Then everyone will know! Shen Qi hurriedly replied, ‘Please don’t. I’ll go to your company and look for Su Jiu.’
After they came to an agreement, Han Qing stopped replying to her message. Shen Qi let out a sigh of relief and put down her phone. Then, she left the room and saw that Yu had prepared breakfast.
“Young Lady Shen, I don’t know what type of food you like to eat, so I have made a few different dishes. Please have a taste and see if they are to your liking…”
Shen Qi was not picky when it came to food, except for sweet stuff, so she flashed a smile to Yu and said, “I like them. Thank you very much.”
“There’s no need to thank me. As long as you like them.”
She sat down for breakfast and after swimming in her thoughts for a while, she asked Yu, “Did Ye Moxuan and the others leave?”
Yu nodded her head. “Yes. Young Master Ye left with Assistant Xiao in the morning.”
Shen Qi presumed that they had gone to the office, and so she planned to go there as well after having breakfast.
When she arrived at the company later, she never expected to see that her department had descended into chaos. There was a commotion in the office about the lay-off of Xu Liao, but no one knew the reason.
“What happened? He has been the manager in the company for years. Why was he laid off suddenly?”
“Tsk. Sure enough, he had offended someone, or done something wrong. But I guess he couldn’t change his lecherous nature and touched someone he shouldn’t have; that’s why he got a dose of his own medicine.”
“I think he deserves it. He was always harassing other women in the office. He is an old married man. How could he be so shameless?”
“Of course he deserves it, but… that’s tragic for him. He’s got a wife and a kid. How will he put food on the table for them after being fired?
“A man who can’t even put food on the table for his family? What kind of trash is that?”
“You know nothing! Do you know what it means to be expelled from our company? Ye Group is the largest company in North City, and he was fired by the largest company in this city. What company will dare to hire him with this kind of stain on his resume?”
“Oh… you mean that he’ll have a hard time landing a new job? Then, that’s really tragic.”
All of these conversations reached Shen Qi’s ears. She walked to her desk as she listened to them, and sat down when she reached. But not long after she took a seat, someone on the side called out to her, “Shen, what are you doing here?”
“Ah?” Hearing that someone called out to her, Shen Qi reflexively turned her head.
The person put on a huge grin, so much so that their facial features almost squeezed together. “You have been promoted!”
Upon hearing that, Shen Qi was stunned. “Promoted?” When did that happen? And why do I know nothing about it?
“Yeah. Vice President Ye has promoted you to be his secretary. Don’t you know?”
“What happened?” Shen Qi wondered.
Vice President Ye has promoted me to be his secretary? Isn’t that Ye Linhan? Why did he interfere in my work all of a sudden? Last night, he…
At the thought of it, Shen Qi pursed her lips and her expression hardened.
“I’m so envious of you. Before this, you were Young Master Ye’s assistant, and now you’re going to be Vice President Ye’s secretary. How is it that you have such good luck?”
“We have never bullied you since you came to our department, so please don’t make a complaint to Vice President Ye on us.”
Shen Qi felt something off about the situation. Indeed, Ye Linhan had always treated her well, but he never butted in her work before. Why did he suddenly want me to be his secretary?
After giving it some thought, Shen Qi decided to pack up and went to look for Ye Linhan. Shen Qi bumped into Ye Linhan’s assistant when she arrived at his office. The assistant put on a smile and said, “It’s you. Are you here to report for duty?”
Upon seeing that there was no expression on Shen Qi’s face and her gaze was pretty solemn, the assistant paused, then continued to say, “Vice President Ye is on a call now. Please wait for a while.”
However, Shen Qi couldn’t wait any longer, for she must make her point clear to Ye Linhan now, so she just moved forward and tried to push open the door. The assistant was startled and quickly stopped her.
“You can’t go in now. Vice President Ye is…”
“Ye Zi, let her in.”
The surname of Ye Linhan’s assistant was Ye, and her full name was Ye Xingxing. Her family members had always called her Ye Zi for short, so when she started working at the company, everyone just called her by her nickname and they were used to it now.
Ye Zi was startled, then nodded her head and said, “Alright. You can go in.”
Shen Qi pursed her lips and strode into his office.
Ye Linhan was seated behind his desk, and after uttering a few more sentences to the person on the other end of the phone call, he hung up the phone. With that, he raised his gaze and flashed a smile to Shen Qi.
“So you got the news already. Have you brought everything with you? I’ll ask Ye Zi to show you where you’ll work, or… you can choose to work with me in my office and—”
“Linhan.” Shen Qi interrupted him before he could finish, not a hint of joy on her beautiful and delicate face. “Why did you transfer me to your department?”
“I’m transferring you over… Don’t you like it?” The smile on Ye Linhan’s face faded a little as his voice turned calm. “You know what Xu Liao is like. I must transfer you to my side to stop this kind of thing ever happening to you again, and I will protect you from any harm.”
Shen Qi didn’t say a word. Her heart skipped a beat as she had a premonition that something unpleasant was about to happen. She didn’t want to read too much into it as she was afraid that she might be overly suspicious.
Ye Linhan took a few steps forward and said, “Qi, the ordeal that you went through last night… I won’t let it happen another time.”
Hearing that he called her ‘Qi’, a tinge of surprise flashed in Shen Qi’s originally calm gaze, thereupon she looked up at him in disbelief. “Linhan… you…”
“I have known your identity since the day you came to our family.” Ye Linhan put on a faint smile and reached out to rub her head. “I didn’t expose you because you were the daughter of the Shen Family as well, and if I exposed you on your wedding day, it would harm the reputation of both families. But now… I feel that I should have exposed you that day. This way, you wouldn’t have to stay in the family and suffer, and you wouldn’t have to be chained to an unhappy marriage.”
There were too many messages in his words. Shen Qi took a few steps back in astonishment, but her arms were abruptly grabbed by Ye Linhan.
“Qi, I really regret that I didn’t expose you on that day. But… it may not be too late now. If Moxuan isn’t willing to protect you, then let me protect you, okay?”
