Zhou Nian'an came from a wealthy family and had been beautiful since birth. Like other women, she faced pressure to marry once she reached a suitable age.
Unwilling to accept that, she decided to find another way out. She and an online friend of many years, who was troubled by the same pressure, hit it off immediately.
From meeting in person to meeting each other's families, then getting their marriage certificate and moving in together, the whole process took less than three months.
Yet for those three months, they exchanged no more than three sentences a day.
On the first day after the company was acquired, the new CEO arrived, and Zhou Nian'an joined her colleagues in the lobby to welcome him.
Rumor had it that the new CEO was a management expert transferred from headquarters to stamp out the lazy, do-as-little-as-possible attitude at the branch office.
People said the boss was very hard to approach. Her colleagues lamented that work was bound to get tougher.
Twisting her wedding ring, Zhou Nian'an joined in the complaints.
"Cold as ice, like a block of wood. Rotten wood, at that."
When she looked up, Qin Shuli was standing in front of her.
The man really was cold-faced. Even as people welcomed him, he looked utterly unapproachable.
When their eyes met, Zhou Nian'an froze, unable to come back to herself for a long moment.
After all, this was the husband she'd just met in person after an online romance.
So now her husband was her boss?
She spent the whole day on edge. When work ended, she walked outside and saw a car waiting by the entrance slowly lower its window.
Qin Shuli leaned over from the passenger seat and opened the door for her. "Get in."
When she continued standing there, he patiently added, "It's on my way. I'll drive you home."
Zhou Nian'an pressed her lips together and got in. It really was on his way, after all.
Qin Shuli was unusually talkative that day, his cool questions tinged with helplessness.
"So because I'm quiet, I'm rotten wood?"
"Is that how you talk about your husband when you're out?"
Theme: Study hard and make progress every day.
