* A principled heiress x a sharp-tongued, scheming CEO who is obviously full of himself
When Zhong Mingyi was twenty, the craziest thing she ever did was fall out with her family, take the hundred dollars in her pocket, find a job on the streets of New York, and support herself.
The person who hired her was a Chinese alumnus of Harvard named Li Tan.
A math prodigy working on Wall Street, he had been a mover and shaker at the top of the social pyramid since birth. For some inexplicable reason, he bought an art gallery in lower Manhattan.
Zhong Mingyi worked at Li Tan's gallery.
The gallery's owner only showed up about twice a month, but he was extremely particular about the artwork. Zhong Mingyi got into plenty of arguments with him over the gallery.
If he hadn't paid so well, she would never have stayed under his employ for two whole years.
When she left, Zhong Mingyi breathed a long sigh of relief. She bid him farewell politely, saying that maybe their paths would cross again, while privately hoping never to see him again.
But she never imagined that seven years later, in Yuncheng, Li Tan would sit across from her as her blind date.
The moment she saw Li Tan, Zhong Mingyi's expression seemed to split in two.
But thanks to her good upbringing, she still managed a gracious smile. "Senior Li, long time no see."
"Mm." Li Tan was as sparing with words as ever.
Looking at his expression, Zhong Mingyi thought he probably didn't want to be on this blind date either. Why not just be frank and go their separate ways?
"Senior..." She was about to speak when Li Tan beat her to it. "My family has been nagging me a lot these past few years. If you're willing, let's get married."
"...What?" Zhong Mingyi slowly developed a face full of question marks.
When Li Tan was in his twenties, he met a young woman in New York.
He didn't have any particular feelings for her. He just thought she was foolish. Her family was rich enough for her to spend extravagantly, yet she insisted on making life hard for herself by cutting ties with them.
He hired her because of her professional skills.
After two years together, Li Tan thought they had gotten along well enough, and hadn't parted on bad terms.
So when his family once again pressured him into a blind date, and he realized his prospective match was Zhong Mingyi, he figured there was no reason he couldn't propose a partnership to her.
But to his surprise, Zhong Mingyi firmly told him, "No."
"Senior, if I get married, it has to be to someone I truly love. A marriage based on a business arrangement isn't what I want."
Li Tan paused, and one thought immediately came to mind.
After all these years, she was still just as foolish.
"All right, then."
He calmly took a sip of coffee.
When he glanced at Zhong Mingyi again, a ray of sunlight had just passed through the cafe window and fallen on her cheek.
It made the woman across from him seem to glow.
"Senior, I never told you back then, but you're really so full of yourself and so sharp-tongued. You're incredibly annoying."
"Is that so? But... during those thousand and one nights in Manhattan, I had already fallen in love with you."
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