Chapter 26: You Are My Girlfriend
Not knowing how to answer for a moment, Shan Dai could only smile at him. “Then looking at it, in the short term there’s still a chance to, um, attend President Pu’s wedding.”
Pu Huaiyan wasn’t in a bad mood at all because of this sentence. He thought to himself: If I hold a wedding, wouldn’t she have to come? What would happen if the bride didn’t come?
So, it was actually a very nice thing to say.
Shan Dai felt that what she had said was hardly a compliment and was worried he might feel uncomfortable in his heart. But seeing the corners of his mouth curve upward instead, she suddenly couldn’t understand him at all.
“Are you still busy?” She quietly changed the topic.
“Mm.” He walked inside. “Come over.”
Shan Dai stood at the door and peeked inside, not moving. She felt his study was too confidential, and being in the same room felt far too ambiguous.
She said, “I was just a bit thirsty and casually looked around after waking up. Please go ahead with your work, President Pu; I won’t disturb you.”
“If you’re thirsty, go downstairs. There are drinks in the kitchen.” He came to a stop and looked back.
She nodded. “There are a lot more people downstairs, so I… didn’t go down right away.”
Pu Huaiyan instantly knew she was too embarrassed to go down, as going to the kitchen meant inevitably being seen by the people in the living room.
He said, “Come in. I have something to tell you.”
Shan Dai didn’t know what it could be, but if there was official business, she would enter; if not, she’d pass.
Pu Huaiyan walked over to his desk and sat down.
Shan Dai slowly walked over to a window near him to look at the scenery outside. Pu Huaiyan worked for a bit without calling her over either.
Just as she was considering whether to walk over, footsteps approached the study from outside.
Shan Dai looked back. It seemed to be the auntie from downstairs, bringing in a wooden tray.
Food and drinks—fruit juice, milk, pastries, cakes, fruits… everything was fully provided.
After placing the items on the coffee table in the lounge area, the auntie smiled and told her to call her if she needed anything else before leaving.
Shan Dai slowly turned her head to look at Pu Huaiyan. The big boss lazily shot her a glance from across half the study. “Finish eating before we talk.”
“…”
She felt extremely awkward and pursed her lips, slowly heading toward the sofa to sit down.
The man sitting at the desk in the distance watched her cute little demeanor, the corners of his mouth curling up as he quietly continued looking at his computer.
His spot was in the innermost part of the study where there were no nearby windows, so it wasn’t very bright. But that hazy feel suited Pu Huaiyan’s reserved nobility far too well. Clad in a beige shirt, the man sat in the semi-bright, semi-dark corner with a lazy posture, his sharp gaze fixed on the computer screen.
Beneath his high, prominent brow bone, a pair of peach blossom eyes had their outer corners lifted. They were a remarkably beautiful pair of eyes, so even if his expression couldn’t be called gentle right now, it couldn’t mask the captivating charm those eyes gave off.
Besides his eyes, his facial structure was perfectly defined. Straight, crisp lines framed his unusually straight nose bone and a pair of pink lips like a picture frame, crafting a face that looked straight out of a pictorial.
Such a perfect appearance.
Shan Dai picked up the fruit juice and took a sip, then picked up a piece of small cake to eat.
Delicious. President Pu’s birthday banquet hadn’t even started yet, and she was already eating cake. To be honest, it was quite embarrassing.
After eating a few simple bites, she felt too embarrassed to keep munching away nonstop. Holding her cup, she slowly walked barefoot over to Pu Huaiyan’s desk, propping one hand on the desk surface while drinking fruit juice with the other.
Her gaze reached over the top of the cup, intertwining with the man opposite her across the empty space.
He looked at her without speaking, then continued looking at his computer. After a few seconds, he looked at her again, meeting her eyes once more. Repeating this several times back and forth made even Shan Dai feel uncomfortable.
“Did you look for me for something, President Pu?” If not, she’d go back to her room to eat.
Pu Huaiyan turned his hand resting on the mouse over and hooked his fingers.
Shan Dai watched quietly, silently drinking her fruit juice.
The corners of Pu Huaiyan’s mouth curved up, and he said helplessly, “Come over. There’s business.”
Only then did Shan Dai quietly shift her steps, moving from across his desk to his side.
Standing beside his chair, the man pointed at the computer screen.
Shan Dai looked over.
Pu Huaiyan zoomed in on the page to show her. “Currently, Yanxin Times only has these few floors in Building A vacant. The original departments moved to Building B two months ago. This is the layout plan from the 22nd to 26th floors. They used to belong to the technology department. If you start a company, you basically won’t need to renovate. You can save this portion of the money.”
“…” She held her breath and asked in a small voice, “These can be rented out to the public, right? Have there been no company arrangements after being vacant for two months?”
“The area where Yanxin is located is the most top-tier luxury office district in Beijing. There are cheaper office buildings nearby, so regular people wouldn’t choose Yanxin’s building.”
“…” Others found the rent at Yanxin Times Building too expensive, yet he wanted to give it to her to use for free.
The man’s fingertip lightly clicked the mouse, switching to another page. “These are the hotels under Yanxin. Yanjun is right across from the company, within walking distance. A few executive suites are kept reserved year-round. If you come, you can temporarily rest there. This is the sample layout. Later, I’ll pick a house nearby that’s convenient for your commute.”
He switched to yet another page. “This is the venture capital firm under Yuanshi. Yuanshi started in real estate and has money to spare. Even if you start ten companies, they can invest in all of them at once. You don’t need to write the proposal for them; I’ll write it for you myself.”
“…” Her eyes suddenly turned sore.
“You don’t need to fear failure either. Whether a company can develop or not is something I can estimate myself.”
Shan Dai took a deep breath and muttered, “So President Pu has already estimated that my company has a promising future?”
He let out a low laugh and nodded.
The man continued switching to a new page on the computer. “These are two partners collaborating with Yanxin’s gaming and media companies. In this current era of bursting technology, these top performers in the industry have some opinions you can read over. These are some recordings from recent conversations between company executives and them. Some useful information inside has been organized; you can take a look to guide your way. Whether you come to Beijing to develop or not, it will be useful to you.”
Shan Dai was completely unable to move. Gazing quietly at the pages of materials on the computer, her whole heart was thrown into turmoil by a wave of shock, making her feel quite flustered.
He had prepared so much for her, even organizing the private opinions of industry leaders who were currently riding high, just to guide her path.
Shan Dai lowered her eyes to look at the person beside her.
He tilted his head to meet her eyes. “What’s your email address? I’ll send it to you.”
Shan Dai didn’t react.
He took her hand and pressed the numbers on the computer keyboard.
“198…” The prefix was her phone number.
After he finished entering it, he packaged all the content and sent it to her email address. Finally, he said, “Right. The gaming company Yuanzhen will contact you by Monday at the latest to discuss a collaboration. My suggestion to him was to reach out within these two days, fearing that you’d have to rush back here right after returning home, which would be a hassle. So in all probability, someone will contact you tomorrow. Talk to them and see if you can pull off the project. If possible, I’ll accompany you to meet them.”
Shan Dai forgot to blink. “Th-this matter…”
Pu Huaiyan knew what she wanted to ask. “I was discussing a real estate project with them and casually brought up other projects he had on hand. Knowing he was looking for a partner company, I threw your company’s link over.”
“…”
He turned his head, meeting her dazed eyes once more, and said gently, “Don’t feel pressured. Work it out if you can, but it doesn’t matter if you can’t. They are a big company and might try to drive down the price for a new company. If it’s too low, reject it. There will be better ones; collaborating with a big company isn’t the only right choice.”
“President Pu…” She didn’t know what to say. “I don’t even know how to say thank you.”
“No need. It’s nothing to discuss with a young girl like you.” He raised his chin, pointing at the sofa area over there. “Go eat something. There’s still a little time left before dinner.”
Shan Dai straightened her body, suddenly remembering the gift she had brought for him. With so many people coming tonight, it wouldn’t be easy to take it out. So taking advantage of this moment, she could give it to him, and conveniently see if it fit.
She walked out holding her juice cup without saying a word. Pu Huaiyan watched the woman’s slender, graceful silhouette from behind in confusion. But just then, his phone vibrated, so he had to look down.
A WeChat message.
Shen Fang: “President Pu, I added her WeChat, but there’s no response.”
Pu Huaiyan raised his head and glanced at a white phone left on the sofa. She had been eating earlier without being distracted by her phone, and now that she left, she didn’t even take her phone with her.
He got up, went over to pick it up, and sat down on the sofa.
The phone had a passcode. After a moment’s thought, he entered her birthday.
It unlocked.
Sure enough, there was a new friend request on WeChat. He clicked accept.
The other party immediately sent a message: “Hello, Ms. Shan! A pleasure to meet you. I got your contact information from President Pu.”
Pu Huaiyan impersonated the phone owner, tapping the keyboard a few times to reply: “Hello.”
The other party said: “My surname is Shen, Shen Fang. I’m the owner of Yuanzhen. I heard from President Pu that you two are family, boyfriend and girlfriend after all! So I’ll just get straight to the point to discuss the project with you. No need for us to beat around the bush; President Pu and I are very familiar.”
Pu Huaiyan: “Alright. Go ahead.”
The other party threw over a file: “Take a look. This is the proposal from our gaming department head regarding this project. Originally I wanted the department head to talk to you, but since President Pu and I are old acquaintances, I came to speak with you directly, Ms. Shan. Feel free to message me if you have any questions after reading it. Everything is negotiable. Looking forward to our collaboration!”
Pu Huaiyan: “Okay, just a moment. First of all, thank you for your consideration, President Shen. Looking forward to a pleasant collaboration.”
“Oh my, why say such formal things! Hahaha, we’re family, we’re family!”
Shan Dai returned, carrying her gift. But as soon as she entered, she saw Pu Huaiyan looking at her phone. At first she thought she misremembered, but looking closer to confirm, it really was hers.
Not understanding what was happening, she asked, “President Pu, what are you doing?”
He raised his head. “Taking a look at your phone.”
“…” How could someone state such behavior so naturally and openly?
Did Lu Zhixing call? That was why he’d be interested in her phone.
She slowly set down the gift, took back her phone, and hid it behind her back. “What are you doing? This is my privacy. Can your phone be casually shown to others?”
“Here, look at mine.” He picked up his own phone from the table and handed it to her.
Shan Dai: “…”
She refused: “Why would I look at your phone? I’m not interested. Why did you look at my phone?”
“That partner said he couldn’t add you, so I added him for you.”
“…”
He reclined into the sofa, his eyes oozing extreme laziness as he said, “Giving you a way to make money and you don’t want it? You little ungrateful wolf1. What privacy of yours could I possibly be interested in? I’m clearer on the progress of your unknown, broken marriage than you are.”
“…” An incomparable heat surged onto Shan Dai’s face, burning so much that she couldn’t help but puff out her cheeks.
Pu Huaiyan looked at her with a half-smile. He had long noticed that she had put on makeup and changed into a goddess-like dress. Originally an ethereal person with top-tier looks, figure, and temperament, wearing this wine-red fishtail skirt suddenly added a vast amount of charm—just like a bride. When that group of his friends saw her in a bit, they’d definitely blow a fuse.
Shan Dai picked up her phone, unlocked it, and half-doubtfully entered WeChat. She tapped into that newly added friend, and then her vision turned black. He actually!!! He actually impersonated her and chatted so much with someone else!!!
Pu Huaiyan was too terrifying! Was he dying to choke her to death with food?
Shan Dai was truly astonished. The key point was… how did he have her phone passcode?
“How did you know my passcode?” She looked up and asked.
Pu Huaiyan: “Didn’t know it. Guessed it. Your birthday.”
“…” Shan Dai took a deep breath.
The man offered compensation very calmly: “If that won’t do, take a look at my phone as compensation. Sitting there sulking quietly, you little stingy ghost.”
“…” She took another look at the chat content. This look was no trivial matter—she immediately discovered a new problem. “The other party said… I’m your girlfriend?”
“Mm.”
She raised her head to question him: “Why did you say that?”
“Otherwise, recommending a company run by a woman out of nowhere would look weird to them.” He coughed lightly, lazily getting up to go to the desk to work.
It was the first time Shan Dai saw a state resembling embarrassment on that man.
Her heart suddenly calmed down… For such a big conglomerate boss to proactively introduce an unknown small company to someone else, others would definitely ask if he knew the person running the company. He couldn’t very well say it was his subordinate’s wife’s company, right? That would sound wrong no matter how you put it.
Nor could he say he had his eyes on this subordinate’s not-yet-divorced wife and was waiting for her to get divorced… He also couldn’t say he was pursuing this woman and had taken a liking to her, as that would be exposed the moment the other party chatted with her.
On the contrary, deliberately claiming she was his girlfriend made it so that even if the other party mentioned it, it was no big deal, because he could privately explain he had said it on purpose.
Why should she be angry when someone was showering her with resources and money? Shan Dai genuinely felt that a big boss like him liking a minor character like her was a bit of a disservice to him.
“Wait a moment, don’t leave.”
“Hmm?” The man looked back. “Still want to hit me?”
“…” She laughed out of anger.
Pu Huaiyan looked on, dazed, completely mesmerized by that radiant, sweet smile.
Shan Dai explained somewhat awkwardly: “I bought a birthday gift for you. Do you want to take a look now, and maybe… try it on?”
Pu Huaiyan glanced at the paper bag she had dropped on the coffee table earlier.
Shan Dai lowered her head, quietly going to open it, pulling out the box inside to hand it to him.
Pu Huaiyan leisurely reached out to take it. “You really bought me a gift?”
“Would I lie to you?” She felt extremely awkward.
Pu Huaiyan knew what it was just by glancing at the logo on the box, but still pretended not to know. “What is it?”
“…Clothes.”
“Clothes?” His tone sounded very surprised.
Shan Dai instantly evolved from simple awkwardness to blushing, her lips mumbling in a very small voice: “I couldn’t think of what you lacked and thought clothes were fairly practical. Um… if you don’t like it, just leave it aside. I was just embarrassed to come empty-handed, and I felt President Pu wouldn’t care whether I gave anything anyway.”
The corners of Pu Huaiyan’s mouth curled up subtly. He sat back down into the sofa and opened the box.
A Charles blue shirt came into view—and it was embroidered. He picked it up to examine the design…
Shan Dai had been watching his expression the whole time. Seeing him look at it so seriously, she leaned over to help unpack it. “It’s actually quite nice, not gaudy at all. Unless the lighting is really good, you can’t even see the pattern clearly from a social distance. It’s basically for yourself to appreciate, very elegant.”
“Is that so?”
He watched her pull the shirt onto her own lap, busying herself to unpack it for him in person. The sight made his entire person daze, an image floating uncontrollably in his mind: In their home after marriage, he woke up in the morning unable to find his clothes. She walked in from outside, going to the walk-in closet to grab them for him—shirt, trousers, belt, tie, preparing every single item for him.
Then turning around to see him with his eyes closed struggling with that difficult tie, she leaned over, gently tying it around for him circle by circle, tying a beautiful Windsor knot, and finally leaning into his arms to say: Drink less alcohol next time you go out for social engagements, okay? Having to go to work again today, it breaks my heart to see you so tired…
“Mm, look.” The woman’s sweet voice pulled Pu Huaiyan back from a gentle fantasy land. With a shy smile on her face, she opened the shirt for him to see. “This pattern isn’t obvious at all; on the contrary, it’s very elegant.”
Pu Huaiyan looked at it a few times and murmured: “I still don’t want to wear it to the company.”
Shan Dai felt very embarrassed and immediately said: “It’s okay, you can put it at the bottom of your trunk too. I just didn’t know what President Pu lacked…”
He took the shirt to look at it again. “It’s too good-looking. That group at the company will definitely think I have a girlfriend. One look and you can tell a woman picked it out for me.”
“…” She froze.
Pu Huaiyan: “And I can’t publicly say Ms. Shan is my girlfriend. So I’ll… wear it on weekends. Wear it every day to make it worth Ms. Shan’s money, wear it for you to see.”
“…”
She bit her lip, her face flushing like fire.
“Are you silly?” He suddenly turned his head to say to her. “You don’t even have enough money to buy a house, yet you bought a shirt worth tens of thousands of RMB.”
Shan Dai peeked at the one on his body. “The one you’re wearing isn’t cheap either.”
He said casually, “That’s one I bought myself. Being so generous and lavish to others, you silly fool.”
“Didn’t you transfer so much money to me? Isn’t it enough to buy a piece of clothing? Returning it to you, you didn’t want it either.”
“That was for you to renovate your house.”
“Didn’t you tell me not to buy a house?”
“Decided to come?”
“…” She had basically decided in her heart, but she’d discuss it with Ziming after returning to Lan City.
Seeing her remain silent, pursing her lips to avoid his gaze, Pu Huaiyan knew the matter was practically set. In an exceptionally good mood, he picked up the shirt to look at it again. “You know my size.”
“I gave the clerk your height and frame size,” she coughed lightly, whispering, “I don’t know if it’s accurate. If you’re interested, you can try it on.”
“Nothing better to do.” Pu Huaiyan claimed not to care much on the surface, but in reality, he immediately stood up and headed for the bathroom.
Shan Dai’s heart suddenly thumped wildly, feeling so nervous…
She didn’t know why either. It wasn’t her first time buying clothes for a man; almost all of Lu Zhixing’s shirts were bought by her.
After getting together, she liked buying clothes for him. Seeing him wear her clothes to meet her made her feel very happy—an indescribable sense of romance.
When did these things change? She actually still didn’t understand to this day—didn’t understand why he changed, why he felt someone else was so similar to her that she was worth his attention, pity, and even love. Then for the first person he ever loved, did he accept turning her into a pitiful person again too?
Perhaps what he loved was that delicate, pitiful state. But she was no longer in that passive situation of the past. Although her company had only been established for a year, it could support itself, and externally she was considered successful in her career—she was President Shan now, not that poor student who couldn’t even pay for her father’s surgery fee.
Love was fluid, and he had given it to someone else.
Footsteps reached her ears. Shan Dai raised her head, her gaze meeting the man who had swapped his basic beige shirt for the Charles blue shirt. He was currently adjusting his collar.
Instinctively standing up, she reached out to fold his collar while looking up and down to check if the clothes fit properly.
The man lowered his hands.
Shan Dai folded his collar properly, then went to adjust his cuffs.
Pu Huaiyan stood right there up close, watching her carefully fold his collar for him, gently and meticulously setting the angle and width, then lowering her eyes, patiently fastening his white jade cufflinks.
Her lowered brows and eyes in the hazy study were so beautiful that it seemed like moonlight was flowing across her facial features.
The scene from last night in the underground garage popped into his mind—she had smiled gently and said to him, “Water circulates. To the Pu Huaiyan from 18 years old, happy birthday too.”
After everything was tidied up, Shan Dai took a careful look around, seeing how the fabric wrapped around the man’s lean waist and broad shoulders… It fit very well.
Seeing him look at her, her face first turned warm before she asked, “Did you look in the mirror, President Pu? Do you think… it’s alright?”
“Very alright.”
“…”
He leaned close, saying to her with deep meaning, “Ms. Shan has really good taste. Making me feel… like I’m wearing a wedding outfit.”
“…” She instantly backed away and sat down, holding her face with both hands, feeling shy while saying, “It’s just an ordinary shirt. I just felt those basic ones were too common; if I was going to buy one, I had to buy a nicer one. Otherwise it’d be too perfunctory.”
“Mm. I like it very much.” The man’s tone was extremely lazy, his voice seemingly laced with sunlight. “Thank you, Madam.”
“…” She raised her eyelids to glare at him, confused, but feeling like he seemed to be calling her his own… wife? Rather than Lu Zhixing’s wife???
Of course, he certainly wouldn’t slap her with the title of Lu Zhixing’s wife at a time like this. So, was he really calling her his own wife?
Then… when he kept calling her Madam during their meetings earlier, could it be that he was calling her his own wife the whole time??? Heavens, she only just realized this issue.
Shan Dai covered her face and lowered her head, completely refusing to engage with him further. She felt she couldn’t outplay the subtle traps Pu Huaiyan laid down.
A certain someone: “I’ll just wear this one tonight. You’re wearing new clothes, so I’ll wear them too.”
“…” Shan Dai instantly stood up with a swoosh, her face burning red. “No, go change out of it and wear it later.”
He raised an eyebrow, unwilling to change.
Shan Dai felt extraordinarily bashful. “What I’m wearing aren’t new clothes either; it’s just the first time you’ve seen them.”
“Oh.” His eyes quite clearly and nakedly scanned her form-fitting wine-red fishtail dress up and down. “Madam’s outfit today looks good.”
“…” She took a breath, wanting to tell him to change back to Ms. Shan and stop calling her randomly, but he had already turned around and walked away.
Unbuttoning his buttons as he walked, the man said with his back turned, “I’ll go downstairs in a bit to see how preparations are going. You go ahead and do your thing, look over some work.”
“Oh, okay.”
He quickly brought the shirt back, set it down, and left. Shan Dai glanced at the shirt hanging on the sofa armrest, the corners of her mouth quietly curving upward. She first cleaned up the shirt’s packaging, then folded the shirt neatly and laid it down so it wouldn’t get wrinkled.
Only then did she start looking over that project that had just fallen out of the sky onto her phone.
After reading it through, she felt it was extremely good and was very interested in collaborating. She sent it to Ziming to look over, and casually chatted with her about the branch company.
Growing tired of sitting, she unconsciously reclined on the sofa to lie down, her head resting right beside Pu Huaiyan’s birthday gift. Engrossed in their chat, she didn’t even notice that Pu Huaiyan hadn’t come back up after a long time.
It was only when her eyes felt sleepy that she realized the sky outside the window had already turned a shade of blue. She had come to this city twice now and stayed for ten-odd days, but it seemed there were always things to do, and she had never properly appreciated its blue hour moments.
Only today did she discover that a city usually so prosperous and busy that every corner was filled with bustling traffic actually had such a beautiful moment.
Perhaps it was also due to the quiet, upscale environment of Pu Huaiyan’s residence itself, making this moment as gorgeous as a blue sapphire.
Outside the unclosed study door, voices seemed to drift in faintly—not the auntie’s voice, nor Pu Huaiyan’s, but young people’s, both men and women.
Shan Dai sat straight up in an instant, her heart going slightly cold. It was over; Pu Huaiyan’s guests seemed to have all arrived.
She was upstairs right now—how was she supposed to go down? How could she have forgotten about this just now? Others would overthink things if a woman walked down from his upstairs!
It was over, completely over.
When Pu Huaiyan returned, at first glance there was no one on the sofa. That person was standing with her back against the sprawling blue-toned sky, bending over his desk holding a fountain pen, writing something on a sticky note.
Seeing him arrive, she said in distress, “Are there many people downstairs? What should I do? I didn’t go down in advance, and now I can’t go down.”
He strolled over lazily, smiling. “How can you not go down, silly girl?”
He looked at the paper pinched in her delicate, jade-like hand. “What are you writing?”
“Nothing.” She hid the item in her palm, feeling a bit shy. “Just writing casually. How do you expect me to go down? I really can’t go. How about I just eat in the room? There’s food anyway.”
Pu Huaiyan reached out his hand. “Let me see.”
Shan Dai wasn’t paying attention for a moment, and he snatched the paper away. On that paper, written in beautiful cursive script, was… Happy birthday, healthy, carefree, at ease, eat well, may all your wishes come true — Shan Dai.
The corners of his mouth curled up high. “No way. If you don’t go down, who’s going to celebrate my birthday with me?” He said with extreme lightness, “I told everyone you’re my girlfriend. It’s fine.”
“…”
Translator’s note
- 小白眼狼, an affectionate insult for someone who forgets favors ↩︎
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