Chapter 42: Forty-Second Day as a Salted Fish
Qin Jiaojiao was utterly bewildered. What on earth could be so urgent that he had no choice but to come looking for her?
Xiao Rui brought up the incident from a few days ago: “Sister-in-law, that trending search the other night really wasn’t Xu Xueqing’s doing. She had no idea someone would snap those photos and post them online to spread baseless rumors…”
It instantly clicked for Qin Jiaojiao—so he was talking about that situation with Xu Xueqing.
“I know. What did you want me to do?”
Xiao Rui pleaded, “Sister-in-law, could you give me some face and let me treat you to a meal? You two can talk through any misunderstandings in person. Xu Xueqing really wants to apologize to you face-to-face.”
As a mutual friend of both Zhou Shaoli and Xu Xueqing, he was caught in a tough spot. Xu Xueqing had a pretty good relationship with him; they were childhood friends who grew up together, and they had kept in frequent contact during her years abroad.
The elite Beijing circle was only so big, and the Xu and Xiao families had known each other for years, with both sets of parents being close friends. When it came to corporate matters, he was completely useless and couldn’t offer any real help to Xu Xueqing, nor could he find anyone else who could.
Normally, Zhou Shaoli should have been asked to second some talent to help Xu Xueqing sort out the chaotic mess at the Xu Group. But after all these years, Xu Xueqing still hadn’t extinguished that lingering flame in her heart. She had resorted to extreme tactics and ended up provoking Zhou Shaoli.
Zhou Shaoli hadn’t given a single thought to their past acquaintance and paid Xu Xueqing no mind whatsoever.
Then, getting suddenly hit with a leaked rumor smearing him with claims of an affair had thoroughly enraged this living King of Hell. With Xu Xueqing on the verge of being kicked off the Xu Group’s board of directors, the childhood friend he had known for years had come to him in tears, begging for help.
He couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.
In the end, Xiao Rui had no choice but to shameless beg Qin Jiaojiao, the woman sharing Zhou Shaoli’s pillow.
Xiao Rui genuinely believed Qin Jiaojiao was a sweet, kind-hearted girl. He hoped that out of pity for Xu Xueqing’s miserable state, she would accept the apology and convince Zhou Shaoli to step in and lend the Xu family a hand.
Qin Jiaojiao found the whole thing a bit baffling. Why was Xu Xueqing apologizing to her? The rumor hadn’t even been orchestrated by Xu Xueqing; it was Shen Xiaoshan’s team that had bought the smear trending search just to suppress their own bad press.
Xu Xueqing was technically one of the victims, too.
Xiao Rui was still over the phone, trying to flatter her: “Sister-in-law, please, I’m begging you. Just come out for a meal, and she’ll make it up to you and apologize properly.”
Qin Jiaojiao suddenly felt a sudden inclination to meet Xu Xueqing. She agreed, “Sure. When?”
Xiao Rui had originally prepared a long speech to move Qin Jiaojiao. Hearing her sudden agreement left him a bit stunned for a moment, but he quickly snapped back and said with delight, “Whenever Sister-in-law is free! Just say the word, and we’ll pick a place to eat.”
Qin Jiaojiao said casually, “That restaurant from last time, Lanting State Banquet, was pretty nice. Let’s just go there. I’m free tomorrow, so you go ahead and arrange it.”
“Great, great, great!” Xiao Rui said happily. “I’ll book a private room for tomorrow noon and await your grand arrival, Sister-in-law.”
Hanging up the phone, Qin Jiaojiao wondered whether she should tell Zhou Shaoli about this.
Better to go see the person first and gauge the situation.
Zhou Shaoli had to work overtime today, so she ate an early dinner at home by herself and sat in the living room watching TV, feeling a little distracted.
She couldn’t quite explain why she had agreed to meet Xu Xueqing, but she just wanted to see her.
After watching TV in the living room for a while, Qin Jiaojiao went upstairs and took another milk petal bath. Since the weather was sweltering hot, soaking twice a day could hardly be considered frequent.
Today, her gamer little bro had told her that he had a practice match tonight, so he wouldn’t have time to carry her in rank.
Left with nothing to do, Qin Jiaojiao wandered into the walk-in closet, scanning her clothes, shoes, bags, and jewelry. Going to see Xu Xueqing tomorrow meant meeting someone who could technically be considered her “love rival”—shouldn’t she dress up a bit extra pretty?
Wait, no. Why should she view Xu Xueqing as a love rival? She and Zhou Shaoli were only in a contract marriage. Once they got divorced, whoever he ended up with would have nothing to do with her.
Qin Jiaojiao pulled out outfit after outfit, putting them on and checking herself out in the mirror from every angle until her choice paralysis kicked in.
Thus, she whipped out her phone to take photos, striking poses in front of the mirror. After taking several gorgeous shots, she intended to send them to Yang Yutong for her opinion. But perhaps because she was absentminded, she accidentally sent them to the wrong recipient once again.
Zhou Shaoli was currently on his way back to the courtyard villa, resting with his eyes closed inside the car.
His phone suddenly vibrated with a string of notifications. Tapping it open, he found a batch of photos sent by Qin Jiaojiao.
Lowering his gaze, he looked through each beautifully posed photo. The background was the walk-in closet at home, and she was wearing a black silk, socialite-style set. She wore a small hat, a smile gracing her face, looking gorgeously vivid yet delightfully charming.
Just like before, Zhou Shaoli downloaded each photo and saved them to his phone.
Realizing she had sent the photos to the wrong person, Qin Jiaojiao rushed to unsend them. But seeing the “typing…” status at the top of the chat, she knew unsending was pointless. Zhou Shaoli had already seen them—unsending now would just be embarrassing.
Golden Nugget: 【The clothes look very nice.】
Golden Nugget: 【The person looks even better than the clothes.】
Golden Nugget: 【The black set has a flawless tailored waist; it suits you very well.】
Qin Jiaojiao had unpinned Zhou Shaoli from the top of her chat list last time, but aside from Yang Yutong, he was the person she chatted with the most lately. That was why she had accidentally sent the photos to him.
Zhou Shaoli undoubtedly assumed she was fishing for compliments again, just like last time.
Qin Jiaojiao hastily typed back.
Qin Jiaojiao: 【Thank you for the compliment, President Zhou.】
Qin Jiaojiao: 【Are you done with work?】
Golden Nugget: 【On my way back.】
The courtyard villa was only a little over half an hour away from the Zhuxing Group headquarters, so if he was already on his way, he would be home very soon.
Qin Jiaojiao sent him a “Welcome home, Boss” sticker, set down her phone, and frantically began tidying up the walk-in closet, striving to restore everything to its original state before Zhou Shaoli arrived.
In her frantic rush, she didn’t get a chance to check her phone, completely missing the barrage of messages from Yang Yutong.
Once everything was put away, she went into the bathroom to wash her face, applied a face mask, and sank into the bedroom sofa, finally picking up her phone.
A series of over a dozen voice messages from Yang Yutong came through.
“What?! You’re going to see Xu Xueqing tomorrow?!”
“Did she invite you herself?!”
“Zhou Shaoli is already married—is she actually trying to steal a married man?!”
“No way. I’m calling in sick tomorrow to go with you.”
“Pick an extra stunning outfit tomorrow and crush her completely!”
“…”
Qin Jiaojiao unhurriedly listened through them all, telling Yang Yutong not to treat it like a major battle: “She said she wants to apologize to me for the smear rumors on the trending searches.”
Universe Invincible Beautiful Girl: 【She’s apologizing to you?】
Qin Jiaojiao: 【Yeah.】
Universe Invincible Beautiful Girl: 【Are you sure you don’t need me to come with you?】
Qin Jiaojiao: 【Don’t worry, she’s not gonna eat me alive.】
While Qin Jiaojiao was casually chatting with Yang Yutong, Zhou Shaoli had already arrived downstairs.
Auntie Zhang greeted him: “Sir, you’re back. Would you like something to eat first?”
“Anything is fine,” Zhou Shaoli said, heading straight upstairs.
Watching his figure head upstairs in such a hurry, Auntie Zhang wore a deeply gratified smile. President Zhou was definitely going upstairs to look for Madam—missing her this much after being apart for just half a day.
Entering the bedroom, Zhou Shaoli saw Qin Jiaojiao lying on the sofa with a sheet mask on her face and walked over.
“Are you meeting someone tomorrow?”
Qin Jiaojiao sat up abruptly, her slightly damp hair draped behind her back. Though the sheet mask obscured her facial expression, her body language clearly betrayed her nervousness.
Qin Jiaojiao looked up at the man clad in a finely tailored suit and crisp trousers. Wearing gold-rimmed glasses, he looked elegant and composed, his calm double-edged eyes seeming capable of piercing right through her thoughts.
Qin Jiaojiao told a tiny white lie: “It’s been a while since I hung out with the girls, so I’m going out to play tomorrow.”
Zhou Shaoli could tell she wasn’t telling the truth. His gaze fixed on her, as if trying to read every detail of her mind.
Feeling the weight of his gaze, Qin Jiaojiao clutched her phone tighter. She felt genuine sympathy for Zhou Shaoli’s employees—who wouldn’t feel immense pressure under such a scrutinizing gaze?
After staring at her for a few seconds, Zhou Shaoli’s gaze softened, and he asked as if casually, “Where are you going to play?”
Qin Jiaojiao brushed it off vaguely: “Just hanging around in the city.”
Zhou Shaoli could tell she didn’t want to elaborate and refrained from pressing further, though a sliver of doubt lingered in his mind—where on earth was she going that she couldn’t tell him directly?
Qin Jiaojiao shifted the topic: “You haven’t eaten dinner yet, right?”
“Mm,” Zhou Shaoli replied softly.
Qin Jiaojiao said, “I didn’t eat much earlier, so I’ll join you for a bit.”
She locked her phone, got out of bed, and walked into the bathroom to wash off the mud mask. Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, she used a spatula to scrape off the mask mud, rinsed it clean, lathered up some cleanser, and gently rubbed her face.
Zhou Shaoli took off his suit jacket, loosened his tie slightly, and sat on the sofa browsing his phone until Qin Jiaojiao’s voice drifted out from the bathroom.
“Zhou Shaoli, my hair tie is missing. Help me look for it.”
Setting down his phone, Zhou Shaoli stood up and walked over to the bathroom door. “Where did you leave it?”
Qin Jiaojiao couldn’t recall at the moment. With foam all over her face, it wasn’t convenient for her to bend over and rinse. “Is it on the sofa?”
Zhou Shaoli glanced over and didn’t spot her hair tie. “Not there.”
“Then try checking under the pillow and on the bed.”
Qin Jiaojiao didn’t like keeping her hair tied up, as she found the pull on her scalp uncomfortable. So before sleeping, she would always let her hair down, keeping her hair tie either around her wrist or tossed under her pillow so it wouldn’t easily get lost.
Zhou Shaoli pulled back the duvet and lifted the pillows, but still couldn’t find the hair tie: “Should I grab you a new hair tie?”
Qin Jiaojiao stood in the bathroom, her face and hands covered in foam. Turning around to look at him, she said, “That was my last hair tie.”
Hair ties were like pens on an office desk—notoriously prone to vanishing into thin air. She suddenly remembered that the jewelry drawer in the walk-in closet should have claw clips for hair.
“There are hair clips in the walk-in closet, grab me one of those.”
Zhou Shaoli walked into the walk-in closet again, pulled out a hair clip from the jewelry drawer, and walked back over to her, reaching out to turn her around.
His hand gathered her smooth, silky black hair, gathering it together as he tried to clip it up.
Qin Jiaojiao went still, watching the tall, handsome man standing behind her through the mirror. His eyelids were lowered as he earnestly tried to clip her hair up.
Actually… she could have done it herself.
She didn’t say a word, simply watching Zhou Shaoli fix her hair through the mirror reflection.
Zhou Shaoli had never put up a woman’s hair before and failed to clip it after several attempts. Holding her hair in his hand, he raised his eyes to meet hers in the mirror.
“I’ll hold your hair for you.”
Qin Jiaojiao let out an mm. With him holding her hair, she leaned down and rinsed the foam off her face, revealing her fair, delicate, and exquisite features. “Give me the clip.”
Zhou Shaoli silently handed her the diamond-studded claw clip, watching as she effortlessly clipped her hair up. With her hair fully pinned, a few stray strands clung softly to her cheek, giving her a hint of mature elegance.
He reached out and gently tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
His fingertips brushed against her cheek and fair earlobe, sending an unusual, tingling sensation through her.
The gesture was intimate and laced with ambiguity.
Qin Jiaojiao froze slightly, feeling her brushed ear warm up. She hurriedly said, “Let’s go eat.”
Zhou Shaoli turned and left the bathroom, and the two walked downstairs together.
Before going to sleep, Qin Jiaojiao browsed the internet for gossip on her phone, checked the Yueli CP Super Topic to read the fans’ compliments, and fell into a sweet slumber on her comfortable big bed.
Once fast asleep, she habitually rolled into Zhou Shaoli’s arms, and he instinctively wrapped his arm around her as they slept.
The next day.
Qin Jiaojiao woke up at nine in the morning, at which point Zhou Shaoli had already left for work. She got up, washed up in the bathroom, and headed downstairs.
Auntie Zhang said, “Madam, you woke up so early today.”
Qin Jiaojiao let out a lazy yawn: “I’m heading out at noon today, so I won’t be back for lunch.”
“Understood. Will you be back for dinner?” Auntie Zhang asked.
“Mm.”
After slowly finishing her breakfast, Qin Jiaojiao went upstairs to the walk-in closet to change, picking the set that both Zhou Shaoli and Yang Yutong had praised yesterday.
Since it was just a casual outing to meet someone, she didn’t put on overly expensive jewelry. She pinned her hair up with a ribbon adorned with pearl decorations, put on delicate pearl earrings, stepped into pointed high heels, grabbed her bag, and set off.
Driver Xiao Chen dropped her off at Lanting State Banquet. Stepping out of the car, she walked inside, where a server came over to ask if she had a reservation.
Qin Jiaojiao provided the room number: “Private Room 88.”
“Right this way, please.” The server guided her past artificial rockeries and running streams, leading her deeper into Lanting State Banquet before taking the elevator up to the second floor.
Inside the private room, Xiao Rui and Xu Xueqing had arrived early, tea already served on the table.
Though Qin Jiaojiao had agreed verbally, Xiao Rui was genuinely worried she might flake, leaving Xu Xueqing feeling anxious and visibly downcast.
The door opened, and Qin Jiaojiao stepped around the entryway folding screen into the private room.
Inside sat Xiao Rui, wearing a pink dress shirt with sunglasses clipped to it. Beside him sat a young woman with long, chestnut-colored curly hair draped behind her shoulders, wearing a silk maxi dress. She was attractive and possessed a gentle, virtuous aura.
She had to be Xu Xueqing.
Though the photos leaked online had been somewhat blurry, her appearance wasn’t much different in person. As a wealthy heiress, her aura was distinct from ordinary people, carrying an innate air of nobility.
Xu Xueqing looked at Qin Jiaojiao as she walked in.
The young, beautiful woman had an exquisite, curvaceous figure, clad in a high-quality black suit dress with her hair pinned up, wearing pearl earrings. She looked bright, radiant, striking, and captivatingly lovely.
Qin Jiaojiao had a terrible reputation in the elite circle. People in their circle had told her that Qin Jiaojiao and Zhou Shaoli’s marriage was purely a business alliance with no real affection between them, and that Qin Jiaojiao spent her days hitting nightclubs with her besties, staying out all night dead drunk.
Because of this, Xu Xueqing had held a preconceived notion that Qin Jiaojiao wasn’t a good woman. She felt that if she hadn’t been abroad, the Zhou family’s first choice for a daughter-in-law might very well have been her.
Thus, she had recklessly assumed Zhou Shaoli might help her through her crisis out of past acquaintance.
She had been wrong—dead wrong.
Since she was the wife Zhou Shaoli had personally chosen, how could he possibly not like her? Even a god-like man could fall in love.
Suppressing the bitterness in her heart, Xu Xueqing stood up and spoke in a soft, gentle voice: “Hello, I’m Xu Xueqing.”
Qin Jiaojiao looked at Xu Xueqing, who was roughly her height, and said calmly, “Hello, I’m Qin Jiaojiao.”
Xu Xueqing was a pretty woman, though compared to her, her looks fell slightly short. Today, Qin Jiaojiao’s careful styling outshone her completely.
Xiao Rui gestured, “Don’t just stand there, Sister-in-law, you and Xueqing take a seat and chat.”
He stood up to pull out a chair for Qin Jiaojiao, and she sat down, comfortably accepting the service.
Sitting back down, Xu Xueqing said, “Miss Qin, inviting you out for a casual meal today was to apologize to you. I’m truly sorry for the impact on Shaoli… I mean, President Zhou’s reputation…”
“I had too much to drink that night, and my driver had taken leave for personal matters, so I wanted to ask President Zhou to arrange someone to give me a ride home. We only exchanged a few words, and I never expected paparazzi to take photos. I’m truly very sorry.”
“I wanted to apologize to President Zhou in person, but on his end…” Xu Xueqing looked exhausted as she continued, “I couldn’t get in touch with him, so I had no choice but to ask Xiao Rui to reach out to you.”
Qin Jiaojiao said indifferently, “You invited me here just to say this?”
Xu Xueqing shot a glance at Xiao Rui.
Xiao Rui delivered his carefully prepared pitch: “Of course not. Xueqing heard that you and Brother Shaoli are involved in agricultural charity work. The Xu family’s corporate supermarket chain has thousands of stores nationwide, so both sides could discuss a partnership where the Xu family purchases the unsold fruit from Nancheng villagers at the highest market rate. We can look into a long-term collaboration to ensure the Nancheng villagers’ fruit becomes a steady part of the supermarket supply chain.”
Qin Jiaojiao mused silently. During the previous charity livestream, they had only sold a few thousand pounds of honey peaches—that volume was far from enough.
This olive branch offered by the Xu family was something she could either accept or decline.
The simple villagers in Nancheng Ancient Town were indeed very poor, especially Grandpa Li and Xiao Yu. Meat was nowhere to be seen on their dining table, and they lived very frugally. Every year, the fruit the villagers worked so hard to grow was maliciously price-gouged by fruit buyers. If they didn’t sell, it would just rot in the fields, leaving them with heavy labor, debts, and illnesses by the end of the year.
Since she had taken on the charity livestream, and the fans knew the guests were doing good deeds on the show, could she really just abandon those villagers after a single livestream and stop helping them?
Qin Jiaojiao didn’t agree right away: “What are your terms?”
Xu Xueqing said with a pleading expression, “My father is critically ill, and the shareholders and directors of the Xu Group are ostracizing me, trying to oust me from my position. I want to ask President Zhou to second a few talented executives from Zhuxing to help me secure my position as chairwoman.”
“Miss Qin, I don’t have much time left,” Xu Xueqing pleaded mournfully. “Please help me.”
Qin Jiaojiao was very curious—why did she insist on begging Zhou Shaoli for help? Wouldn’t Xiao Rui work? The Xiao family enterprise was massive, so as the heir, did Xiao Rui really have no capable talent under him?
Xiao Rui seemed to pick up on her confusion and said sheepishly, “My dad loves messing around outside and has tons of illegitimate kids… I don’t like getting involved in management, so I really can’t help her.”
Qin Jiaojiao brought up another person: “What about President He?”
Xiao Rui said, “He Juanbai has been super busy lately and doesn’t have time to bother with me.”
Qin Jiaojiao decided it was best to go back and ask Zhou Shaoli first, since seconding corporate talent to help another company was a major affair.
Besides, the person smeared online was Zhou Shaoli; as his wife, she was merely caught in the crossfire. If Zhou Shaoli didn’t accept the apology, what right did she have to forgive them on his behalf?
Throughout the meal, Qin Jiaojiao only ate a few bites for politeness’ sake before taking an early leave.
The driver asked her, “Madam, back to the courtyard villa?”
Qin Jiaojiao thought for a moment and said, “Take me to the Zhuxing Group corporate headquarters building.”
It had been a while since she last visited headquarters. Since she was free, she might as well go find Zhou Shaoli, come clean about meeting Xu Xueqing today, and then head home together after work.
Visiting the Zhuxing Group corporate headquarters building for the second time, Han Xiao didn’t even need to notify the front desk. The receptionist seemed to recognize her right away and immediately guided her to Zhou Shaoli’s executive elevator.
Arriving at Zhou Shaoli’s office floor without hindrance, she pushed the door open and walked in.
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