A light, sweet, and elegant fragrance drifted into his nostrils.
Qin Yuhe leaned against Song Xinya's chest, took a sniff, and asked in a low, husky voice, "I've been meaning to ask you, what perfume are you wearing? It smells so good."
Song Xinya's hands tightly gripped the bedsheets, wrinkling the smooth fabric.
"I'm not wearing any."
Qin Yuhe's tone carried a hint of teasing. "Then it must be your natural scent."
His palm stroked back and forth along her thigh.
Song Xinya and Qin Yuhe hadn't been married for long and weren't exactly close. They had only slept together once, so she wasn't sure if this was his signal for intimacy.
In her mind, that kind of thing should wait until night, in the bed at home.
Song Xinya: "I want to sleep."
Qin Yuhe: "Which kind of sleeping?"
Song Xinya: "..."
"Just taking a rest. I still have to work this afternoon."
Qin Yuhe: "Got it."
He rolled off her and lay down by her side.
Song Xinya's breathing gradually calmed down.
The lunch break at the Qin Group was from noon to two in the afternoon.
The two of them had just spent nearly an hour chatting and eating in the office.
For the next hour, Song Xinya lay beside Qin Yuhe, trying to summon sleep but failing to drift off.
Qin Yuhe's arm remained draped across her waist, and he was actually sleeping quite soundly.
Seeing that it was time to clock in, Song Xinya gently lifted his arm, placed it to the side, got out of bed, and walked out.
The moment her figure left the bedroom, Qin Yuhe opened his eyes.
Usually, he only lay down during the lunch break as a formality, but today he had actually fallen asleep.
It was as if his nerves were tied to her; the second she moved his arm off her waist, he woke up.
...
Song Xinya went from the 38th floor back down to the 8th floor.
The moment she sat down at her cubicle, Chen Siyan pushed off the floor with both feet. The wheels of his office chair rumbled as he glided over to Song Xinya, smoother than a piece of silk.
"Where did you go for the two-hour lunch break? Why are you only back now?"
Song Xinya looked at the time in the bottom right corner of her computer screen. "Am I late?"
Chen Siyan: "One second later and you would have been. You time your clock-ins perfectly."
Song Xinya: "Boss, I'll come earlier from now on."
Chen Siyan: "Using the restroom on company time, drinking free water, and stealing company toilet paper and electricity—these are the great joys of going to work. As a fellow corporate slave, I completely understand our working-class mindset. We're all in the same boat, so there's no need to make things hard for each other. You don't need to come early, just clock in on the dot."
He tilted his head, sizing up Song Xinya. "I just wanted to ask, where did you go at noon?"
Song Xinya: "To eat lunch."
Chen Siyan: "I saw you coming down from upstairs. The company cafeteria is on the first floor. What kind of lunch were you eating upstairs?"
Song Xinya: "I've never been in a company this big before. I was curious, so I went upstairs to look around."
Chen Siyan: "Look around all you want, but let me give you some friendly advice: don't go to the 38th floor. Well, you couldn't even if you tried. That's Mr. Qin's private territory. There are bodyguards guarding the elevator doors, and no one is allowed in casually."
Song Xinya suddenly remembered that when she went to the 38th floor at noon, the two bodyguards at the elevator had respectfully bowed to her.
"What are you two doing?" a sharp female voice rang out as Zhao Yinian walked over.
"It's working hours right now. Stop whispering. Save your personal matters for after work."
Chen Siyan looked up at Zhao Yinian and said with utmost seriousness, "Manager Zhao, Song Xinya and I are discussing work matters."
Zhao Yinian: "What work matters require you to be this close? You can't say it from your own seat?"
Chen Siyan: "As someone who is very considerate of others, I was worried that if I sat at my own desk, I'd have to speak too loudly and disturb our colleagues."
Zhao Yinian rolled her eyes at Chen Siyan. "As if I don't know you. You change your tune depending on who you're talking to. That mouth of yours is full of lies. Move aside."
Chen Siyan pushed off the floor and slid away in a flash.
Zhao Yinian looked at Song Xinya. When her gaze swept over Song Xinya's neck, it suddenly paused.
When she saw Song Xinya in the morning, her neck was clean and fair. Now, there was a purplish-red hickey on it.
It seemed this Song Xinya had a man.
Zhao Yinian had originally worried that Song Xinya might use her outstanding looks to steal Qin Yuhe's heart, but suddenly, she wasn't so worried anymore.
Since Song Xinya already had a man, even if Mr. Qin was interested in her, he wouldn't force himself on her.
Zhao Yinian said in a cheerful mood, "Song Xinya, today is your first day at the company. I always take care of newcomers, so today I will personally take you out to interview for a tutoring position for Mr. Qin's younger sister, the little princess Qin Yuyan."
"If you pass the interview, the hundreds of thousands in tutoring fees will be just pocket change. Being able to connect with a top-tier wealthy family like the Qins... even if they casually let a few connections and resources slip through their fingers, it would be enough for an ordinary person to skyrocket to success and become a multimillionaire."
If she could improve the little princess Qin Yuyan's grades, Mr. Qin would definitely think highly of her. If she showed a little more dedication, she could win even more of Mr. Qin's favor.
Maybe she could even...
Maybe she could even...
Marry Mr. Qin and become a wealthy society wife!
Zhao Yinian's face was full of excitement and longing.
It was as if she could marry Qin Yuhe in the next second and turn into a phoenix rising from the ashes.
Unable to wait, Zhao Yinian ran back to her office to grab her purse.
Chen Siyan leaked some inside info to Song Xinya: "Don't be too happy just yet. That little princess of the Qin family is a notorious little demon. Her methods of torturing people are endless—one trick after another."
Song Xinya: "Have you been tortured by her?"
Thinking back to how he was bullied by the little Qin princess, he still felt lingering fear and extreme humiliation. It made him want to cry.
Song Xinya: "How did she bully you? Did she beat you up?"
Chen Siyan: "It would have been better if she had just beaten me up."
Better if she had beaten him up?
It was worse than a beating!
Song Xinya was genuinely curious about how this sister-in-law of hers had managed to torture a grown man like Chen Siyan.
But Chen Siyan clearly didn't want to bring up this sad history. His face flushed with shame and indignation, looking as if he had suffered the greatest humiliation in the world, and he sat back at his desk with a face full of sorrow.
Zhao Yinian walked out of her office and led Song Xinya out to meet Qin Yuyan.
...
In a pink princess bedroom, Qin Yuyan was lying on her stomach on milk-white lace-trimmed bedsheets, her slender lower legs kicking in the air as she talked on the phone.
"Brother, how about I go find you at the Zijin Mansion tonight?"
Qin Yuhe's voice was cold: "Don't come."
Qin Yuyan said in a soft, cute, and obedient tone, "Brother, it's been so long. I miss you so, so much."
Qin Yuhe: "Thanks, but I don't miss you at all."
Qin Yuyan pouted in dissatisfaction. "Brother, you are truly a heartless man."
Qin Yuhe: "Still better than an idiot who scores ten points in math."
Qin Yuyan: "Who's an idiot? I'm not an idiot! I got ten points in math because I didn't want to study. As long as I study hard, my math grades will definitely skyrocket."
Qin Yuhe: "Wait until they actually skyrocket before you talk. Bragging before you've achieved anything is just blowing hot air."
"Forget it, forget it, bro, I'm done talking to you," Qin Yuyan said. "Every time I talk to you, my perfectly good mood just gets ruined. Oh my god, whoever marries a man like you is seriously out of luck. With my sister-in-law stuck by your side every single day, she must be washing her face with tears, crying her eyes out."
Her brother's tongue was so toxic that she genuinely worried her sister-in-law might get poisoned to death just by kissing him!
"Your sister-in-law and I are very happy together," Qin Yuhe replied.
"Good lord," Qin Yuyan exclaimed. "My sister-in-law must be immune to all poisons to be able to stomach that mouth of yours."
Qin Yuhe's deep voice came through the receiver, enunciating every single syllable, "Qin. Yu. Yan."
A chill ran down Qin Yuyan's spine. She immediately sobered up, not daring to run her mouth anymore.
"Bro, I want to meet my sister-in-law."
"Some other day."
"Bro, I want to meet her today."
"In your dreams."
Since Qin Yuhe still had work to handle, he hung up the phone.
Qin Yuyan rolled around on her bed. She wanted to see what her sister-in-law looked like so badly; she was absolutely dying of curiosity.
Just then, the doorbell rang. Zhao Yinian and Song Xinya were standing outside the door.
