My Secretary is a Little Sweet

Lee Duo had reported everything that happened at the apartment to Jing Yichen.

Jing Yichen was livid with Lin Yu for constantly causing trouble. He asked Lee Duo to take good care of Shangguan Ning and sent him a text that read : the property management department was unqualified to handle the situation.

A couple of minutes later, every member at the property management department of Landscape Compound, including the guards and the management, were changed.

Ji Bo, the representative of Star Media, was quite unimpressed with the absent-minded Jing Yichen who was sitting on the opposite side of the conference table. He knocked at the table , frowning and trying to draw Jing Yichen’s attention.

But Jing Yichen was still staring at the screen of the cell phone as if he were deaf.

Tiger stood behind Jing Yichen whilst two representatives of Jingsheng Enterprise were sitting on each side. One of them was the temporary assistant to the President, filling in for Shangguan Ning – Lu Qing.

Seeing that the delegates from Star Media were getting impatient with Jing Yichen’s self absorbed behaviour, Lu Qing understood that it was time for him to defuse the tension in the air. He deliberately reminded Jing Yichen (in a tone that was clearly audible to all those present) “President, President Ji has just put forward a new buyout proposal for your approval.”

He was definitely an experienced man. He had successfully placed Jingsheng Enterprise on a mantle and Star Media at a much lower rung of the ladder. Jing Yichen asked softly, as if he had just snapped out of his reverie, “What new buyout proposal? Didn’t we already come to an agreement before? All the other proposals are useless!”

Ji Bo finally stood up out of control. His handsome face was full of fury as he said coldly. “Master Jing, do you think a buyout is a joke? Or maybe you don’t care about our Family Ji?”

His smashed the conference table, with his fist.

“You skipped our last meeting. My cousin Ji Lili waited for you during the lunch hour without eating anything. Today, we came here on your invitation for a new negotiation, and this is your attitude towards us? Even the old president would treat us courteously but you, the new President, are simply too arrogant and conceited!”

Jing Yichen replied with indifference, “Three days, and your asking price doubled from 100 million to 200 million. If your Family Ji is so desperate for money, then you can simply go to usury instead of conducting such flagrant robbery.”

“If you think that Jing Zhongxiu suits you better, then don’t waste my time any more henceforth. How can I be courteous to Family Ji when you are already willing to sell a woman to push this deal forward?”

Having said the words, Jing Yichen stood up, adjusted his suit and left Jingsheng with his team. Family Ji was left behind licking their wounds in fury.

Lu Qing intended to remind this new indifferent President that if he continued to delay the buyout of Star Media, then the entire prophase investment of the Enterprise in the entertainment industry might go up in smoke.

But Jing Yichen apparently had no intention of taking any advice. Besides, the old President had told him not to interfere with anything that Jing Yichen did, no matter what the result. So he let things be.

He sighed and went back to the office, in silence.

Lu Qing entered the office and was about to sit down when Jing Yichen came to him. “Assistant Shangguan is sick. I will give her some more days off. Assistant Lu, please handle her responsibilities for the next few days.”

Lu Qing replied in the affirmative, but truth be told, he was quite bewildered.

He had a feeling that whatever was going on between Jing Yichen and Assistant Shangguan, wasn’t ordinary. It was definitely special otherwise a person with Jing Yichen’s attitude and caliber would not have bothered to come to him, specifically for this matter.

Jing Yichen returned to work and started to deal with the daily business of the Enterprise. He needed to spend a great deal of energy and time in sorting out its affairs, since he had recently taken over. He need not have worried though, as he had a sharp business acumen, abundant resources, a vast experience and diligent staff. Nothing would be difficult for him.

For example, the buyout of Star Media would have worked out for both sides, if the price had been reasonable. But apparently, Family Ji was using the buyout as an opportunity to blackmail and he hated to admit that he himself was certainly not at his best either.

Several days later, there were rumours of certain celebrities at Star Media, indulging in drugs. These starlets were not only imprisoned but also dispelled from the entertainment industry because of the rumour. No one knew who spread this rumour.

Star Media faced instant public backlash, and popular actors and actresses started to terminate their contracts, one after another. Collaborating partners chose to divest and some TV-series were even scrapped halfway. The StarMedia stock price fell tremendously.

One week later, Jingsheng Enterprise bought Star Media at a price of 50 million dollars and Star Media became a formal subsidiary of Jingsheng Enterprise.

Only a few weeks after Jing Yichen took over as President, millions of yuan had been saved by the Enterprise. The shareholders all expressed their support and gratitude to Jing Yichen.

…

It was a blurry, snowy night. A light still shone on the 76th floor of the high rise Jingsheng Enterprise Building.

It was Chinese New Year the next day. The staff at the Enterprise had all left for home to celebrate with their loved ones after receiving their generous bonus given by the President.

It was already close to midnight when Jing Yichen finished working on the last document.

Suddenly, a mug of fragrant coffee appeared by his hand side. He picked it up subconsciously and said “thank you”.

Then he sensed something amiss and looked up, only to see a slender and slim silhouette.

His cold face instantly turned gentle. “Why did you return? It is so cold. I told you to wait for me at home!”

He stood up and came to Shangguan Ning. He wiped the snowflakes off her shoulders. His eyes were so profound as if wanting to engrave her image into his soul.

Shangguan Ning grinned, and handed the coffee mug to him once more. “Drink when it is warm. I made it with the coffee beans I ground.”

She had resumed work at Jingsheng recently as Jing Yichen’s assistant, under the guidance of Lu Qing.

She left work at 5:30 p.m and visited the café she operated, where she made a mug of coffee for Jing Yichen. He was a picky man who never drank instant coffee, only the recently-ground kind.

Seeing Shangguan Ning being so hospitable, Jing Yichen wasn’t sure what to make of it. He wondered if he should drink from this fragrant mug of coffee.

His life had been full of bitterness after Shangguan Ning found the girl’s painting in his painting room. That evening when he had come home to dinner, nothing seemed right. The seemingly tasty kelp soup was too sour to drink. Shangguan Ning had poured the entire bottle of vinegar into it. The rest of the food was either too spicy or unsalted. Even the rice was half cooked.

Moreover, from that day on, Shangguan Ning had refused to share the bed with him. She insisted on sleeping in separate beds.

How pitiful it was for a newly-wedded man like him – to not even able to come within an arm’s distance of his beautiful wife.

He didn’t know what happened. He kept pestering his wife to find out what had brought on her unreasonable behaviour, but Shangguan Ning did nothing but smile, refusing to say anything.

He learnt from the cleaning staff only today that Shangguan Ning stayed by herself in the painting room for a very long time, the other day.

He would give her a detailed explanation, but right now the coffee beckoned…

“My dear wife, you didn’t put any extra spices in today’s coffee, did you?” Jing Yichen asked as he held Shangguan Ning’s soft, little hands.

The past few days when Shangguan Ning worked as his assistant, she had served terrible tasting coffee. That wasn’t all, she even forced him to drink it, making him very wary of her tricks. He was not pleased to have to go through this plight even though he was President.