Chapter 7: Buying Happiness for Madam.
The day Shan Dai contemplated whether or not to tell Pu Huaiyan about his secretary’s Moments posts was the third day after her birthday.
Before she could even decide how to phrase her message to Pu Huaiyan, Shan Dai received a second express delivery package sent all the way from Beijing.
Last time it was a small box, which had actually made her a little excited, knowing her hairband was coming back.
This time, what she received was a massive box. Shan Dai was completely baffled. Before even unboxing it, her heart felt like dead ashes: “Mailed wrong… again? No way, right???”
Originally she wasn’t in any rush, but now Shan Dai couldn’t wait a moment longer and immediately went to find a utility knife to unpack the delivery.
Before opening it, she even specially double-checked to confirm whether it was possible the courier had delivered it to the wrong person.
The shipping label on the box read—Sender: Shen Jiani, Address: Tower A, Yanxin Times Building, South District, Beijing.
That was correct, it really was sent from Yanxin Times. But how could it be so huge? Finding it utterly mind-boggling, Shan Dai immediately sliced open the box.
What caught her eye was a black box that required both hands to lift out. The material even shimmered with a faint, lustrous pearlescent sheen—the kind that looked astronomically expensive at a single glance.
Shan Dai didn’t even have the desire to pick it up, yet with the item sitting right before her eyes, she couldn’t help but dreamily ponder: could they have simply found a massive box to package her hairband? Could it be that Secretary Shen couldn’t find a suitable small box?
Shan Dai let out a sigh, looking at the clasp of the box, and opened it with conflicted feelings.
In that single second, her eyes genuinely flickered from the sudden dazzle.
She held her breath, staring in utter disbelief at a complete set of incomparably dazzling diamond jewelry resting quietly inside the black box.
The only cheap thing in the entire box was a handwritten card.
The black card was tossed carelessly atop the diamond necklace, with a line of text written in a flamboyant, cursive flourish.
—Happy Birthday.
Signed at the bottom right corner: Pu Huaiyan.
Confirmed—the whole display was lavish, magnificent, and blindingly glaring, completely devoid of her burgundy knitted hairband worth eight RMB.
Shan Dai slowly retrieved her phone, took a photo, and sent it to that secretary, “Hello, Secretary Shen, the box I received was this one. You must have sent it to the wrong person.”
She replied in seconds: “Oh my god!!!”
Shan Dai: “…”
Shen Jiani: “How could this happen, how could this happen!!! I’m dead, I’m so dead!!”
“…” Shan Dai immediately said, “Don’t panic, I’ll mail it back to you.”
“Sobbing, Ms. Shan, I am so, so sorry. Could you please not tell President Pu? If you tell him, I’m literally dead, sobbing…”
Shan Dai thought to herself that under normal circumstances she certainly shouldn’t tell him, except an item like this looked very much like something intended for a girlfriend. Birthday gifts weren’t like other things; once the day passed, it was over.
She asked Secretary Shen: “This is a birthday gift. If I mail it back and you resend it to the recipient, won’t her birthday have already passed?”
Shen Jiani’s tone sounded like dead ashes: “Yeah, it’s definitely already passed. I’m finished, President Pu is going to break up with his girlfriend, sobbing… My job is as good as gone.”
“…” Shan Dai felt awkward to the extreme. After thinking it over, she said, “How about this—I can explain it to him for you and let him explain to his girlfriend so she won’t be too angry. That way, President Pu might not be too angry with you either.”
“Can you really, Ms. Shan?”
“I can.”
“You are my second parent, I’m kneeling down to you remotely.”
“…”
Shan Dai exited her account and switched over to Pu Huaiyan’s account.
Then she remembered what she had wanted to reach out to Pu Huaiyan about earlier—the matter of the secretary constantly taking candid photos of him. If she told Pu Huaiyan both things together, that secretary would undoubtedly meet a tragic end.
However, if she only told him one thing while pleading for leniency on the secretary’s behalf, it felt a bit strange, making her feel quite guilty toward Pu Huaiyan.
He was, after all, no ordinary person who would allow her to remain cold-hearted and indifferent to matters that didn’t concern her. He was the very first person to step forward and help her when she was betrayed. Without him, she might have been kept in the dark for her entire life.
Therefore, her heart was always subtly biased toward helping him, thinking that even if their paths never crossed again in this lifetime, she ought to return the favor.
After turning it over in her mind, unable to find a way to satisfy both sides, she sent a private message to Secretary Shen again, “Secretary Shen, I saw your Moments.”
“What?” Shen Jiani’s reply speed remained remarkably that of a good child.
Shan Dai: “I mean, regarding the photos of President Pu.”
Shen Jiani: “Oh oh oh, Ms. Shan saw them.”
Shan Dai: “Um, President Pu doesn’t know about you taking those photos, right?”
Shen Jiani: “100% candid secret shots! If he knew, I’d be dead.”
“…” This was her first time witnessing a secret-photo maniac sharing so calmly with someone.
Shan Dai felt helpless, attempting to persuade her: “Is it really appropriate to post candid photos of President Pu in a public space? It involves his privacy.”
Shen Jiani: “I custom-filtered my audience lists, not everyone can see them.”
“…” Shan Dai felt she was completely unaware that this matter actually violated the law, “Um, even if no one sees it, taking secret photos like this is still inappropriate. If President Pu finds out, he’ll probably be angry. So, please don’t take any more, okay?”
Shen Jiani: “I’m his fan girl, sobbing. If I don’t take them, my hands itch. Ms. Shan, don’t you think I take them really well? Every single shot is good enough to be a pictorial spread.”
“…” Shan Dai felt she was already beyond saving. It was better to just go find Pu Huaiyan; she couldn’t rescue this Miss Shen.
She exited Shen Jiani’s chat and tapped into Pu Huaiyan’s message box.
“President Pu, sorry to disturb you.”
Pu Huaiyan was a man with a mountain of daily affairs to handle, so his replies always took a few minutes.
However, it wasn’t long.
Pu Huaiyan: “Madam. Something on your mind?”
Shan Dai hadn’t done anything else today, specifically waiting for his reply. Seeing this, she immediately clacked away on her phone keyboard.
“Um, Secretary Shen sent me a package, and I received it, but realized she sent the wrong item.” She snapped a photo of the box and sent it over, “This is a birthday gift intended for someone else.”
“Sent the wrong item?” he replied.
Shan Dai immediately typed back: “She said you instructed her to mail it to your girlfriend, and since this is a birthday gift, I’m worried the girl having her birthday recently might not receive the returned gift in time. So I wanted you to let her know that I’m mailing it back right now so she won’t be angry. Secretary Shen didn’t do it on purpose, so please don’t be too angry with her either.”
“If it’s sent wrong, then it’s sent wrong.” Pu Huaiyan’s words came through, yet the account status still showed that he was typing.
Very quickly, another sentence came across, “Then Madam’s item—did she resend it?”
Shan Dai: “Oh, Secretary Shen should be resending it today.”
Pu Huaiyan: “That’s fine then. Apologies for bringing Madam trouble. The secretary is new, handling matters improperly. I am very sorry.”
Shan Dai felt that she was the one troubling him instead. Receiving such words made her feel quite uncomfortable inside, and thinking back to Secretary Shen’s Moments, she felt even more uneasy.
She said to him: “President Pu, is this secretary of yours a new hire?”
“Yes.”
“She usually posts on Moments, has President Pu seen it?”
“Busy, WeChat is strictly a communication tool.”
As expected. Shan Dai immediately followed up: “Then there’s something President Pu probably doesn’t know. This secretary of yours seems to admire President Pu quite a bit. She regularly updates her Moments with your private photos, covering all kinds of occasions.”
“?”
Sure enough, sure enough, he was instantly taken aback.
Having said it out loud, Shan Dai let out a sigh of relief. Otherwise, keeping it pressed against her heart felt extremely uncomfortable.
She went to Shen Jiani’s Moments, took screenshots of her updates, and sent them over to Pu Huaiyan.
About a few minutes later, he replied, “I have already confronted her. Thank you for informing me, Madam.”
“Alright. Then I won’t disturb President Pu any longer.”
“…Madam had a birthday recently?”
Shan Dai hadn’t expected Pu Huaiyan to send another message, especially a line that thoroughly surprised her.
It was the first time Pu Huaiyan took the initiative to ask and explain: “I just checked my Moments feed and saw Madam’s update from a few days ago.”
Shan Dai realized in a flash—oh, he went to look for his own photos and happened to see hers.
She replied: “Yes.”
Pu Huaiyan: “It has already passed, but I’d still like to say to Madam: Happy Birthday.”
The corners of Shan Dai’s mouth subconsciously curved into a faint arc, and she typed briskly: “Thank you, President Pu.”
Pu Huaiyan: “That misdirected gift—Madam may keep it.”
The hands Shan Dai used to type suddenly froze, her eyes widening in shock. Immediately, her fingers subconsciously clacked against the screen so fast smoke could practically rise from the keyboard.
Except before she could even hit send, Pu Huaiyan’s second message came through once more.
“Madam’s hairband hasn’t been received yet, your birthday was delayed, and recently you’ve faced unpleasant matters. The incident originated from an employee of Yanxin Times, which points to a deficiency in Yanxin’s corporate culture. Reflecting on it, I feel sorry for Madam’s previous trip traveling thousands of miles to Beijing—I am at fault.”
“Consider the gift my present to Madam. An arrangement of fate. I hope Madam’s coming days will be happier.”
Shan Dai’s entire body froze in place. Staring at those two lines of text, her heart couldn’t settle down for a long, long time.
It was the first time Pu Huaiyan had ever spoken at such length…
She had endless words she wanted to use to refuse: her birthday had nothing to do with him, she wasn’t familiar with him, Lu Zhixing’s infidelity had nothing to do with him—even if the affair involved his employee, it still had no relation to him. Corporate culture wasn’t the law; it couldn’t bind human hearts and behavior.
What fault could he possibly have?
Yet, she felt she lacked the energy to say so much. This affair of Lu Zhixing’s left her lacking the energy to say much of anything most of the time, feeling utterly dispirited.
She exited WeChat, found his previous business card in her drawer, and silently recited the number starting with 199 once.
Entering the 11-digit phone number into the dialer screen.
After about three seconds, the call connected, and she opened her mouth: “It’s Shan Dai, President Pu.”
An exceptionally magnetic male voice crossed the vast ocean from the United States, transmitting over, “I know. Greetings, Madam.”
She remained silent for several seconds, her voice raspy as she said, “Thank you, President Pu, thank you… But the gift won’t do. It’s far too expensive, I will mail it back.”
Pu Huaiyan: “To Madam, it may be expensive. If it weren’t expensive, I wouldn’t be gifting it. I have never subscribed to the idea that ‘it’s the thought that counts’. As for me, this small amount of value is not worth mentioning. If it can buy your happiness, it is immensely worth it.”
Translator’s note:
alright Mr. Pu we can see right through you🤣
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