Chapter 4: The Press Conference

Seeing that Qin Miaoyu hadn’t glanced in their direction, Lu Qi’an resumed his usual calm demeanor. “From now on, if we run into each other outside the company, just call me by my name.”

“All right, Mr. Lu. I’ll head back for dinner now.”

Lu Qi’an felt a touch of helplessness, but there was nothing more to say, so he let her go eat.

He took a few steps forward to catch up with Qin Miaoyu. “I just ran into a colleague from Anhe.”

Qin Miaoyu didn’t seem surprised at all. “We’ll probably bump into colleagues often from now on.”

This apartment complex wasn’t far from their workplace, and compared to other places, the rent was relatively cheap, making it a popular choice for office workers. She’d already run into colleagues here a few times.

Thinking about how he’d just happened to cross paths with a subordinate, Lu Qi’an couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on. It seemed he really might run into them frequently.

Qin Miaoyu led Lu Qi’an to his new room and handed him two keys.

“The larger one is for the front door, the smaller one is for your room.”

“Okay, so we—” Lu Qi’an had just started to ask if she wanted to eat together when Qin Miaoyu cut in.

“I’m meeting a friend for dinner and will be heading out soon. Let me show you a few things to keep in mind about the apartment, all right?”

Lu Qi’an could only nod in agreement.

In the quiet Western restaurant, a surprised exclamation stood out clearly.

“What? You got your marriage license?”

Qin Miaoyu gave an exasperated glance at Gu Jing across the table, signaling for her to lower her voice as nearby diners were already looking over.

Gu Jing spoke more quietly, “How could you just go and get married? And even a contract marriage? There’s no need to go this far just to rebel against your parents’ arrangements, is there?”

Qin Miaoyu was utterly unconcerned. “This way, at least for now, they’ll leave me alone.”

To her, the marriage certificate was nothing more than a temporary tool to stop her parents from arranging a marriage for her—not much of a sacrifice at all.

But Gu Jing didn’t see it that way. “Still, you could have found someone you actually know and trust. Hasn’t that junior of yours been chasing after you for ages? You’ve known him for so long, and he seems fine.”

Qin Miaoyu scooped a spoonful of dessert and spoke before putting it in her mouth, “If I chose Jiang Qu, he’d never agree to a contract marriage. Besides, I have no desire to placate a younger guy with an unpredictable temper.”

Gu Jing laughed silently, nearly bursting. “If Jiang Qu ever found out that’s how you see him, he’d be heartbroken.”

Qin Miaoyu neither confirmed nor denied it, just as she was about to set down her spoon, she noticed two people entering the restaurant by the door.

“Miaoyu, Miaoyu, are you mesmerized by a handsome guy?”

Gu Jing’s voice snapped Qin Miaoyu back to reality. She withdrew her gaze, thinking that Lu Qi’an was probably just like her—here with a wealthy friend, which would explain why he’d come to such an expensive restaurant.

But Gu Jing was still staring. “Miaoyu, you really haven’t lost your thing for good looks, have you? But the guy on the right looks familiar. Isn’t he an alumnus from Jing University? I swear I’ve seen him before!”

Since Gu Jing had moved back to Ancheng after graduation, and she was certain she’d never seen such an exceptionally handsome man there, she could only have met him during college.

“I don’t know. I never saw him at Jing University.”

The man on the right was indeed Lu Qi’an. Apart from knowing a bit about his current situation, Qin Miaoyu knew little else about him, and since their marriage was a contract that would end in divorce, she had no intention of introducing him to Gu Jing.

At first, Qin Miaoyu worried that having Lu Qi’an move in would be inconvenient, but several days passed and he was always out early and home late. Other than running into each other in the living room at night, they barely crossed paths, and she gradually got used to having him as a roommate.

One morning, as soon as Qin Miaoyu arrived at the office, her colleague Su Huijiao at the next desk leaned over.

“I heard the company is trying to land Anhe’s new car launch project.”

Qin Miaoyu was a little surprised. “Our company is well-known for event planning, but Anhe’s car launch? Isn’t Bohui and Aisis also bidding? The chances of us getting it seem slim.”

“That’s not certain. Our company did a great job with Tengyue’s launch recently, and someone in the business development department supposedly has a relative in Anhe’s upper management. So we might just get this project.”

Qin Miaoyu suddenly thought of Lu Qi’an—he worked at Anhe too. She didn’t know his exact position, but he’d mentioned his monthly salary was around thirty thousand, so he couldn’t be a minor employee.

If Lu Qi’an hadn’t wanted to buy a bigger place in Jing City, with that salary, after saving for a few years he could have easily bought a place similar to the one at Tianxiang Garden in a city like Nancheng.

Thinking of her own salary, after over a year on the job, it was still less than seven thousand a month. She felt deeply that comparisons between people were pointless.

That evening, when Lu Qi’an came home, Qin Miaoyu casually brought up the topic of Anhe’s car launch.

“They’re looking for an event planner now. This launch is important, so hiring a professional is the safest bet. Why, are you hoping I’ll put in a good word for your company?”

Lu Qi’an remembered that one of the candidate companies under consideration was Yugong, where Qin Miaoyu worked.

Qin Miaoyu gave him a strange look. “Why would I ask you to vouch for my company? Can you even decide which company Anhe hires? Besides, it has nothing to do with me.”

Even if Anhe picked their company for the launch, the design team would surely be the same people who handled the Tengyue project. She was just an assistant designer, working with someone else.

Lu Qi’an’s smile carried a hint of helplessness—he nearly forgot about his cover as an ordinary office worker.

He could only joke, “You know men, sometimes we just like to brag.”

Qin Miaoyu wholeheartedly agreed with that, and then retreated to her room to get on with her own work.

Lu Qi’an went back to his room as well and called his assistant Gu Feng, instructing him to ask a few employees earning around thirty or forty thousand a year about their daily lives and expenses the next day.

Gu Feng thought the request was a bit odd, but as always, he did as his boss asked without question.

After hanging up, Lu Qi’an recalled having asked Gu Feng to investigate the Tianxiang Garden apartment. But there had been no news or rumors about it—the property had been sold for the first time directly to Qin Miaoyu.

The purchase happened during Qin Miaoyu’s second year of college, around the time her engagement was broken off. Could it have had something to do with her ex-fiancé?