It wasn’t just Zhao Yinian who was dumbfounded. Every employee in the company was staring in shock.
They had always assumed that Song Xinya was President Qin’s girlfriend. Never in their wildest dreams did they expect her to start the game at the highest level—the wife of President Qin!
His wife!
That status carried a thousand times more weight than being his girlfriend!
Their marriage was registered with the civil authorities and protected by the state’s judicial system. The Civil Code explicitly ranked a spouse first among all relatives. She was the young mistress of the Qin Group!
With such an impressive identity, Song Xinya had never once mentioned it at the company!
She was…
She was…
She was far too low-key!
If ordinary people had such an identity, they would have posted eight hundred times a day on their social media, taken out newspaper ads, and announced it on television and radio. They would have wanted the whole world to know how powerful they were.
As expected, ordinary people were still far too ordinary.
The level of the truly powerful was simply beyond that of ordinary people.
They were so jealous they could die. Awwww!
Song Xinya was also quite surprised to see Qin Yuhe suddenly appear on the eighth floor.
He had said that morning that he would have lunch with her. She had planned to go up to the thirty-eighth floor to find him, but she had never expected him to come down to find her instead.
And he had publicly revealed their relationship as husband and wife.
Song Xinya could feel the gazes from every direction converging on her.
Her own gaze was fixed entirely on Qin Yuhe.
Against the light, the man in a black designer suit walked toward her. His sharply defined silhouette appeared first, his shadow stretching over her feet. His refined, cool features gradually came into focus amid the interplay of light and shadow.
He took her hand and enclosed her small hand in his palm, his manner intimate yet proper and composed.
He spoke to her with the ordinary concern of a husband speaking to his wife. “Were you busy with work this morning?”
Song Xinya said, “Not really. It wasn’t too busy.”
Qin Yuhe’s sharp gaze swept over Zhao Yinian. “If anyone assigns you too much work, or gives you anything unreasonable to do, tell me.”
Song Xinya replied, “All right.”
Soft, scattered laughter rose from the crowd. Everyone looked toward Zhao Yinian, their eyes filled with mocking amusement.
President Qin was clearly taking a jab at that old witch, Zhao Yinian.
She was usually obsequious toward her superiors and cruel to her subordinates. It seemed President Qin hadn’t been fooled by her at all. He knew exactly what kind of person she was.
Zhao Yinian stood beneath the lights. Although bright radiance surrounded her, she felt as if she were standing beneath a dark cloud, with torrential rain pouring down over her.
Ever since Qin Yuhe had entered the company, he hadn’t even spared her a glance.
Yet he had struck her with a bolt of lightning right from the start, humiliating her in front of everyone.
Then she looked at the tenderness in Qin Yuhe’s eyes as he gazed at Song Xinya, and her heart felt even more bitter.
Qin Yuhe rubbed his thumb across Song Xinya’s palm. “The group cafeteria used to have only a Cantonese restaurant, so I had the logistics department open a Sichuan restaurant. We’re going to try the food together. If you don’t like it, I’ll have them replace the chef.”
Chen Siyan called out loudly, “President Qin, why did the group cafeteria suddenly open a Sichuan restaurant?”
Qin Yuhe gave a perfectly reasonable answer. “Because my wife likes Sichuan cuisine.”
Chen Siyan cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone and enthusiastically shouted, “Whoo-hoo! How lovey-dovey! President Qin loves Teacher Song so much. It’s so sweet I can’t even say who’s dying from it!”
Zhao Yinian’s face turned so dark it looked as though ink might drip from it.
Qin Yuhe led Song Xinya toward the exit.
Today, Song Xinya was wearing a white blouse with a French-inspired style, a sky-blue denim skirt, and a pair of white sneakers.
As she walked forward, she suddenly stopped. She had tripped over something.
When she looked down, she saw that one of her shoelaces had come undone.
She was about to bend over when the luxurious black fabric of a suit appeared before her eyes. Qin Yuhe bent down and knelt by her feet, his jade-like fingers brushing over her shoe as he tied her shoelace.
Tying a shoelace was a simple task that required no skill, but in real life, many men were unwilling to do it for a woman.
They were even less willing to do it in public, in front of other people.
They thought it was embarrassing and beneath their dignity.
Actually, for an ordinary man, what was his dignity worth? It wasn’t even worth as much as a scallion pancake.
The less capable a man was, the more severe his male chauvinism tended to be.
The men in the lobby stared at the group’s CEO kneeling at Song Xinya’s feet, their eyes filled with shock.
Zhao Yinian felt as if she had been slapped across the face yet again.
After Qin Yuhe finished tying Song Xinya’s shoelace, he stood up with an expression as calm as ever and continued leading her outside.
Even after the two of them disappeared into the private elevator reserved for the CEO, Chen Siyan’s mouth was still hanging open in a huge O.
He patted the male colleague beside him. “Brother, have you ever tied your girlfriend’s shoelaces for her?”
The male colleague said, “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
Chen Siyan replied, “No wonder you don’t have a girlfriend. You’re not even willing to tie a girl’s shoelaces for her. What girl would want to date you? Tsk, what a jerk.”
The male colleague asked, “Have you ever tied a girl’s shoelaces?”
Chen Siyan said, “I have.”
In the future, anyway.
Why hadn’t he done it before?
Because his previous girlfriends had all worn shoes without shoelaces.
Chen Siyan nodded emphatically. Exactly! That was the truth! That was the real reason!
Inside the newly opened Sichuan restaurant in the cafeteria, the table was covered with fragrant, spicy dishes.
Song Xinya said, “There’s so much food. The two of us can’t finish it all.”
Qin Yuhe replied, “It’s fine. It’s my money we’re spending.”
After saying that, he seemed to realize that the wording wasn’t quite right, so he added, “It’s our money. Marital property.”
Song Xinya smiled and asked, “Why did you suddenly make our relationship public today?”
Qin Yuhe answered, “I thought the identity of Mrs. Qin would be quite intimidating. After making it public, you’ll have fewer problems to deal with.”
Song Xinya knew he meant well. She didn’t refuse and accepted his arrangement gladly.
They were husband and wife. A good marriage needed not only love and romance, but also the loyalty of standing shoulder to shoulder through thick and thin, as well as gratitude etched deep into the heart.
Suddenly, all the lights in the restaurant went out, plunging everything into darkness so complete that they couldn’t see their hands in front of their faces.
Song Xinya felt uneasy. “What happened? Did the power trip?”
Qin Yuhe said, “The Qin Group has the most advanced backup generators in the world. Even if the city’s entire power system failed, they could keep the whole group running for a month.”
Song Xinya asked, “Then why did the lights suddenly go out?”
The moment she finished speaking, the restaurant lit up.
But it wasn’t the bright, glaring light of ordinary lamps. Instead, the entire space was filled with a dreamy and romantic glow.
The restaurant’s ceiling had transformed into a starry sky. Across its five-hundred-square-meter expanse, countless tiny points of light formed a spectacular, sweeping Milky Way. Stars filled her vision, dazzling and magnificent, creating an atmosphere of breathtaking romance.
Song Xinya was stunned by the sight before her.
She had known that the ceilings of Rolls-Royces could be transformed into starry skies, but she had never imagined that the ceiling of a five-hundred-square-meter restaurant could be turned into one too.
What an enormous project that must have been!
She asked, “When did you start arranging all this?”
Qin Yuhe: “From the day I learned that you loved Sichuan cuisine, I began building this restaurant. Sometimes, you would run out into the courtyard at night to gaze at the stars, so I thought you would like a starry-sky ceiling. That’s why I designed the ceiling of this restaurant to look like the night sky.”
He gazed at her tenderly and continued in a gentle voice, “This restaurant was built for you. If you agree to open it to the outside world, we’ll let the other employees come in to eat. But if you’d rather enjoy a quiet, private space, then this restaurant will be open only to you. The starry-sky ceiling, however, will forever be for you alone.”
