[Clumsy workplace newbie x cold-faced, warm-hearted capitalist]
[Forbidden lovers become partners]
1. During her years as an assistant, the hardest visiting professor Xu Huaizhi had to deal with was Wen Hengzhou.
He was aloof, demanding, and difficult, yet had the kind of looks that won the genetic lottery and talent to spare.
After six late-night rounds of revising lecture slides, Xu Huaizhi finally broke down. A friend joked that she should just make a move on him; then he might go easier on her.
Wen Hengzhou's good looks were well known. The female students fought over spots in his classes, but he never showed interest in women. Getting him into bed seemed nearly impossible.
Xu Huaizhi gritted her teeth, gave up her assistant job, and threw herself into the jewelry design industry she loved.
She prepared thoroughly for the hard-won interview.
But the person across the long table, casually flipping through her resume... was Wen Hengzhou.
As the district's new general manager, Wen Hengzhou fixed her with a gaze that felt like a slow execution and dismissed her prospects with an offhand remark. "Jewelry design? You don't have the talent for it."
"You'd be better suited to customer service."
2. Wen Hengzhou had never met anyone as stubborn as Xu Huaizhi.
He told her to work in customer service, and she really did put on a business suit and high heels, serving tea and water and greeting people with a smile.
At the time, he thought she was stupid.
She had a decent figure, looks, and family background. She could have lived a comfortable life without a worry, yet she had come to his company to chase some silly dream.
His prejudice lasted until the company dinner.
That night, after who knew how many drinks, Xu Huaizhi dropped herself into his car.
Ye Zhiqiao stared straight at him.
Wen Hengzhou was about to start yelling, but the woman simply cupped his face and kissed him without a care in the world.
Wen Hengzhou: ...
She wasn't stupid. She was bold enough to lust after him.
3. Wen Hengzhou had no idea how he had fallen for Ye Zhiqiao.
Maybe it was that company dinner. Maybe when he taught at Nanda, the first smiling face he saw was hers. Maybe he was only not allergic to her.
She soothed him on every night when his desire was insatiable. He taught her by example, staying by her side as she went from a workplace newbie to a leading jewelry designer.
On their first anniversary, Wen Hengzhou did not plan to lie to her. "I'm a lifelong bachelor."
Ye Zhiqiao took the margarita from his hand and took a relaxed sip. "My mom's been telling me since I was little that men can't be relied on. Works out perfectly."
They spoke to each other as if their words were knives, but kissed more passionately than anyone.
Ye Zhiqiao knew they had no future.
So, in the fourth year of their secret relationship, she moved out of his place without a word and went abroad to further her studies.
The day Wen Hengzhou came after her, Ye Zhiqiao was at a blind date, serving food to another man.
Wen Hengzhou pulled out a chair and sat down. He seemed elegant and composed, but jealousy was eating him up so badly he could hardly keep from flipping the table.
The man asked, "And who is this?"
The two of them answered together, without changing their expressions.
"My former boss."
"My ex."
After sabotaging three blind dates in a row, Wen Hengzhou parked his car in front of Ye Zhiqiao. She climbed in with a cold expression.
Wen Hengzhou thought, I've never been this undignified in my life.
Ye Zhiqiao thought, I'm so done with this self-important, overbearing man.
Both of them were fired up and equally blunt.
"Let's never see each other again."
"Where's the marriage registration office?"
"?"
4. At twenty-four, Ye Zhiqiao wrote a few words to her thirty-year-old self in the Time Letters.
Being anything to Wen Hengzhou would be fine: his student, subordinate, or partner.
Anything except his lover.
Later, she did indeed stop being his lover. She became the only person he was willing to bow his head and wait for in this life.
#The hero is allergic to saliva
#The heroine starts out as a professor's assistant in an administrative role. She is not the hero's student.
#The hero never pulled strings for the heroine or deliberately targeted her.
#Both are each other's first and only partner, one-on-one romance, happy ending
Theme: Easygoing, sincere love
