Chapter 88 “I’m your man.”

Qian Heng wrapped Cheng Yao in his coat the whole way and carried her back toward the hotel. She still had no idea what she had done, mumbling and nuzzling against him, leaving Qian Heng both angry and amused.

At the hotel Qian Heng could not find her room card on her, and he did not feel comfortable leaving her alone, so he could only take her into his own room. After settling her, he called the front desk. Cheng Yao needed some sobering tea.

Cheng Yao only felt as if her head had exploded with pain. She was completely dazed. One moment she had been drinking with Bao Rui and Tan Ying at the bar; the next she saw Qian Heng; the moment after that the bar was gone and she was already in the hotel.

In the heat of first love, one day apart felt like three autumns. Only now did Cheng Yao understand how true that saying was. During this Japan team-building, even though the two of them had been sneaking around like people having an affair, that kind of drinking poison to quench thirst—always stopping just short—only made her miss Qian Heng even more.

After getting drunk a person’s self-control dropped and the most primitive emotions were magnified. Cheng Yao lay dizzily on the bed. The moment she opened her eyes and saw Qian Heng’s figure, she instinctively wrapped her arms around him. At that moment she had no other thought except to stick to him like sticky candy. Every minute, every second, she wanted to spend with him.

Only Qian Heng did not seem to think the same way. At first he let Cheng Yao cling. Not long after, his body tensed. When Cheng Yao rubbed up against him again wanting a hug and a kiss, he pushed her away with a slight resistance.

Drunk Cheng Yao had no reason. She only felt wronged and unhappy, and she had lost any awareness that after being pushed away she should behave herself and stay to one side. The more Qian Heng pushed her away, the more she refused to believe it and threw herself into his arms.

In the end she was so dazed she became the kind of person who would not stop until she got what she wanted, clinging and pestering.

“Cheng. Yao!”

Toward her enthusiasm Qian Heng looked angry. He almost ground his teeth as he called her name, then this time pushed her away with something close to roughness.

Cheng Yao had already been soft and weak after drinking. With that push from Qian Heng she fell to the floor. Fortunately the hotel carpet was thick and soft. Only Cheng Yao, treated like this, looked a bit blank. She sat on the floor in a daze, her wet eyes looking at Qian Heng in confusion. She lightly bit her lip. Under that motion her lips looked like a rose that had been crumpled. Her appearance was completely unguarded, carrying a kind of breathtaking beauty. After drinking, Cheng Yao became clingy and fond of acting spoiled, her manner coquettish. It cast a layer of allure over her face that made people want to look and not want to look.

Almost the moment he pushed Cheng Yao away, Qian Heng regretted it. He walked over quickly, wanting to help her up.

Cheng Yao sat on the floor, staring blankly as Qian Heng came over and stretched out a hand. She instinctively grabbed him, wanting to stand. Only, drunk, she could not stand steady. She staggered twice and started falling toward the floor again. Caught off guard, Qian Heng only had time to stretch out one hand to protect her and was dragged down to the floor together with her.

When Cheng Yao rubbed her eyes and sat up from the floor, she found Qian Heng again preparing to get up and stay away from her with an unreadable expression.

“Don’t you like me anymore?” Cheng Yao was extremely wronged. Almost without thinking she grabbed Qian Heng, then used brute force to push him back onto the floor, stubbornly not letting him get up. To keep Qian Heng from resisting, Cheng Yao simply went all the way and straddled him, pinning his movements.

“Cheng. Yao!”

This time Qian Heng’s voice could no longer be described as merely grinding his teeth. He looked extremely angry. Even his usually clear eyes had turned red. He almost seemed to be using enormous endurance to restrain his rage, staring at Cheng Yao with bloodshot eyes.

“You had better get off me right now.” His voice was restrained, but like a venomous snake flicking its tongue it already carried danger. Qian Heng glanced at Cheng Yao again. “Immediately.”

“I won’t!” After drinking Cheng Yao had completely let herself go. She said willfully, “Unless you kiss me once.” She was quite wronged. “You haven’t even kissed me. Doesn’t liking someone mean that when you see him you feel he’s so cute you want to kiss him?” She accused, “You don’t like…”

Before Cheng Yao could finish that last “me,” something else caught her attention. She was still sitting astride Qian Heng and only felt something hard pressing against her from below, pressing so that her ass felt uncomfortable. She shifted her straddling posture a bit intolerantly, wanting to escape that unidentified object. Yet that thing followed her like a shadow. No matter where she moved, that hard sensation still followed her, and with her movements it grew harder and more poking. That overly sharp sensation made Cheng Yao feel restless and impatient.

And just then the Qian Heng who had been silently suppressing something finally spoke—

“Cheng Yao.” For some reason his voice carried a hoarseness he was straining to hold back. “We men, when we see a woman we like, do not feel she’s cute and want to kiss her.”

While Cheng Yao was still dazed, Qian Heng, who had been pinned beneath her, suddenly exerted force and flipped her over. The situation reversed. Now she was lying on the carpet and Qian Heng was pinning her, leaning over her from above.

In his eyes it seemed only the last of his restraint remained. Cheng Yao had never seen Qian Heng like this. At this moment he looked like a bloodthirsty wolf ready to tear open its prey’s throat at any time. Cheng Yao instinctively wanted to flee.

Only Qian Heng did not give her that chance. He pinned her movements, leaned to her ear, stared into her eyes, and said word by word, “We only feel that we want to fuck.”

Cheng Yao was still dazed and had not reacted when Qian Heng’s kiss fell.

He said almost viciously, “Cheng Yao, you asked for this.”

This kiss of Qian Heng’s was a heat and fierceness Cheng Yao had never experienced. At this moment the beast in Qian Heng’s eyes had been let off the leash. It was desire with no attempt to hide.

The alcohol itself made Cheng Yao’s body scorching, and Qian Heng’s kiss made her even hotter. It was an unbearable heat rising from deep in her body.

Strange. Unbearable. Dangerous.

Kissed until her voice carried a sob, Cheng Yao said, “It feels awful. I’m so hot.” Her voice was wronged. “Just now there was also something weird poking me…”

“If you’re hot, just take off your clothes.” Qian Heng’s voice was coaxing yet dangerous. While saying this he had already reached out and slowly undone Cheng Yao’s coat, then her shirt… one piece after another. This handsome boss helpfully and kindly personally helped his own employee cool down, until his little employee’s clothes were all gone.

Cheng Yao cried out low.

“As for feeling awful, it won’t last long.” Qian Heng bent down and kissed Cheng Yao. “And that weird thing…” He took Cheng Yao’s hand and pressed it toward his lower body. “This is not some weird thing. It’s your man.”

What Cheng Yao’s hand touched was something even harder and more terrifying… She finally realized what it was, yanked her hand away at lightning speed, her face so red it could drip blood, and could only stare at Qian Heng in shame and anger. “You… you hooligan!”

“There’s something even more hooligan.”

Qian Heng only laughed low. He pulled back the Cheng Yao who wanted to crawl away and escape, wrapped his arm around her smooth, pale back, lay over her, and lightly bit her ear. “I’ll be your first man.”

Cheng Yao no longer wanted to remember how that night had passed. She only felt it was long and scorching. The next morning she woke in Qian Heng’s arms, her voice already coated with a faint hoarseness, feeling she did not even have the strength to lift a finger.

From the carpet, all the way to the sofa, then to the bed, and in the end even in the bathroom…

Now just thinking about it Cheng Yao felt it hard to breathe. She only knew that last night’s Qian Heng had been like an insatiable wolf, taking whatever he wanted.

In just one night, the condoms from that mix-up gift box had actually all been used up…

As a result at breakfast the instigator could still keep a straight face without blushing. Qian Heng glanced at Cheng Yao, his voice composed. “You made the first move on me.”

Cheng Yao’s face was red. “You didn’t have good intentions either. Otherwise how would you happen to have that kind of thing on you…”

Qian Heng still denied it righteously. “I just happened to pack it into the luggage by accident. Besides, wasn’t that what you gave me?” He paused, then unnaturally added, “The first time you might still be a bit unused to it. It’ll be better later.”

Later?! He still wanted later?!

The instigator, however, had no awareness of the scream in Cheng Yao’s heart. He swept Cheng Yao with a dragonfly-skimming-water glance and instructed her completely seriously. “Also, it’s time to get a gym membership.”

“Ah?”

“Your stamina is a bit poor.”

Cheng Yao simply wanted to grab Qian Heng by the neck and shout, Could you not talk about this kind of topic so seriously?! What do you mean my stamina is poor? It’s your stamina that’s demonic!

“Today I’ll help you ask for leave from admin. Don’t join today’s itinerary. Rest a bit. I’ll stay with you at the hotel.” Qian Heng ate a bite of fried egg. “We’ll ‘work overtime’ together.”

“…”

Just like that Cheng Yao and Qian Heng left the main group and stayed at the hotel for a day. Only at the beginning they had agreed to truly work overtime together. As they worked the flavor changed. Qian Heng seemed to have tasted the marrow and known the flavor. After eating a full banquet he could no longer support himself on a few thin, watery kisses.

When Cheng Yao lowered her head looking at case materials, that scorching gaze of his wandered over her body, forcing Cheng Yao to keep looking up and glaring at him. Only that glare had no force. In the end Qian Heng got his way every time. They had agreed to let Cheng Yao rest, yet in the end Cheng Yao felt even more tired than if she had traveled with the main group…

It was clearly still that same Qian Heng, yet somehow after last night Cheng Yao no longer dared look him straight in the eye. It seemed that the moment she thought of breathing the same air as this man, that ambiguous, subtle connection made her so tense she was uneasy, so restless she was panicked. The two of them were clearly sitting properly, yet they only felt the atmosphere was charged and faintly hot…

Truly…

Sharing a room, Qian Heng was clearly also having a hard time. In one afternoon he had already taken two cold showers.

After that, for Cheng Yao the remaining Japan itinerary left no deep impression of the scenic spots. What was unforgettable was only Qian Heng’s stolen kisses at every opportunity he could seize. On the streets of Osaka, at the checkout counter of Takashimaya, at the corner of an underground food street, and under the Ferris wheel at Universal Studios Japan…

Because they had Bao Rui and Tan Ying, those two “loyal running dogs” forced by tyranny, covering for them, the latter half of the Japan trip could be said to have been extremely unrestrained for Qian Heng. On the surface it was Japan team-building. In private it was simply a blushing, heart-racing couple’s trip.

Even after returning to the country and going back to normal work for two or three days, Qian Heng still savored it very much. He always needed Cheng Yao to remind him before he could restrain the gaze he cast toward her. Fortunately both of them were people with a sense of professionalism. The moment work was involved they both became calm and rational.

In Li Mengting’s case, after the first-instance judgment Zhang Hao indeed refused to accept it and appealed. Only the second-instance result was the same as Cheng Yao had expected: the original first-instance judgment was upheld. Ownership of the house belonged to Li Mengting.

This result that was a joy to all for Li Mengting was not so easy for Zhang Hao to take. He had originally clearly been certain this house was already in his bag. He had not expected the cooked duck to fly away. And his current wife Liang Qiongqiong, because of this house matter, also quarreled with Zhang Hao in court after the second-instance judgment was announced.

“Didn’t you say this was our marital home? Now the house is gone, housing prices are this high, and the baby is only a few months from being born. Are you going to have me give birth and sit the confinement month in a rental? Without a house the child’s household registration can’t even be settled! Same as us, still outsiders. How will school work later?” Liang Qiongqiong could not hold back her grievance. “You swore to me back then that there was a house. And now? Besides, how do I explain this to my parents?”

Zhang Hao both apologized and coaxed. He clearly had not expected Liang Qiongqiong to react this strongly to losing the house. He even less would know that losing the house as this fuse would bury how large a landmine for his future married life.

When a couple is poor, a hundred things decay. How much true love can stand against the weight of a house? And how many couples can withstand the grinding of trivial daily matters?

Only all of this no longer had anything to do with Li Mengting. Nowadays she was fighting on the front line of the judicial examination. Whether Zhang Hao was doing well or not, she no longer cared. She had her own brand-new life and brand-new dream, more determined and unyielding than in the past. Reborn from the fire, a phoenix rising from the ashes—roughly like that.

Not long after Li Mengting’s case concluded, Lin Fengjuan’s second instance also had a result. Because of the introduction of the new evidence of the paternity test report, without any suspense Lin Fengjuan won and proved the parent-child relationship. And as the party not raising the child, Lu Jian, according to legal provisions, should pay twenty to thirty percent of his total monthly income as child support. Under Cheng Yao’s reasoned fighting and investigation of evidence, Lu Jian’s method of falsifying his monthly income in an attempt to pay less child support also collapsed. Hanhan ultimately received a just judgment and obtained the child support he was entitled to. And with the help of caring people in society, Lin Fengjuan also found a hospital for Hanhan’s surgery. If nothing unexpected happened, after the surgery Hanhan would be able to recover his health.

With two cases in succession obtaining such good results, besides being happy Cheng Yao was also full of pride and confidence. She was full of outlook toward the future and felt she would definitely be able to do even better.

On the other side, after Tan Ying and Bao Rui had interrogated her for gossip about the details of her romance with Qian Heng, both of them recovered to normal amid long sighs.

Only in the afternoon Tan Ying hopped over, poked Cheng Yao, and lowered her voice. “Don’t you have a sense of crisis?”

Cheng Yao didn’t understand. “Hm?”

Tan Ying looked at Cheng Yao with a “you know” gaze. “Liang Yiran. I just heard the latest gossip from admin. Qian Par should have told you long ago. In a few days Liang Yiran will formally join Junheng as a new partner. But after all she chased Qian Par before, and I heard she chased him for a really long time. Qian Par rejected her, yet her feelings for Qian Par still remain like the sound of waves. These past few years even after becoming a female partner, when she encounters Qian Par that gaze of hers is still full of feeling. One look and you know she hasn’t given up.” Tan Ying curled her lips. “This time joining our Junheng, no matter how I look at it I feel her real intention isn’t in the wine. She doesn’t want to be a Junheng partner. She wants to be a Junheng partner’s wife!”

Cheng Yao slightly furrowed her brows.

Tan Ying, however, thought she was worried. “You don’t need to rush. Qian Par never gives her a pleasant look. Besides, if he liked her he would have liked her long ago. Liang Yiran probably also doesn’t know Qian Par is in a relationship…”

Toward Tan Ying’s words Cheng Yao was a bit absentminded. She was not worried about Liang Yiran. She only felt it was a bit abrupt, because Qian Heng had not informed her of the other party joining as a partner.

A law firm introducing a new partner, or an old partner withdrawing—these were all the most normal things, nothing more than normal personnel changes among partners. For a law firm to grow strong it relied on partners’ business revenue-generating ability. One partner could often support a team, and a partner’s reputation was also a law firm’s best name card. Junheng being able to have a new partner join was naturally a good thing for Junheng’s development. Liang Yiran was a female partner at Golden Brick Law Firm and also a senior lawyer. In the circle she was also a resounding “beautiful lawyer” and “young partner.”

And her being able to join Junheng also needed the vote and agreement of all of Junheng’s partners. It was not decided by Qian Heng alone. As the boss, Qian Heng doing this matter was reasonable and proper. As one of Junheng’s partners, introducing another partner who met the qualifications completely did not require reporting to his assistant lawyer Cheng Yao. But the deadly part was that Qian Heng was not only Cheng Yao’s boss. He was also Cheng Yao’s boyfriend.

A boyfriend becoming colleagues without a word with a woman who had chased him in the past and still wanted to keep chasing him, yet not informing her in advance—no matter how one put it, Cheng Yao’s heart had some subtle loss and something hard to put into words.

Although she worked hard to tell herself that Qian Heng had done nothing wrong, she still could not help being a bit unhappy.

Qin Qin was right. Dating the boss, besides balancing colleague relationships well, the hardest thing was instead the balance of the two people’s relationship. Because of the natural class barrier of superior and subordinate, in the workplace Cheng Yao and Qian Heng were not equal. Yet as boyfriend and girlfriend their relationship was equal.

As the boss, regarding work matters Qian Heng did not need and should not report and explain every detail to Cheng Yao. But as the boyfriend, Cheng Yao had the right to know all of his movements…

At the beginning of the romance Cheng Yao could not perceive this contradiction. Yet as time went deeper the minefield of superior-subordinate romance only gradually unfolded before her… Even though she often warned herself, she still found it difficult to truly separate public and private, because she had no way to split Qian Heng into two halves, one half the boss and one half the boyfriend. The boss and the boyfriend were originally one person.

Clearly knowing she should not, she still felt unsettled, still felt wronged, still felt sad, still felt bitter. This kind of emotion Cheng Yao could not tell anyone. Even Qian Heng would not do. She did not want to affect the other party’s professional judgment because of herself, and also did not want herself to become this affected and petty.

Cheng Yao almost welcomed Liang Yiran’s arrival amid self psychological construction.

Liang Yiran was as beautiful and generous as the rumors. She had a kind of fragrance of fruit at the peak of ripeness, both professional and charming. Her makeup was exquisite. From head to toe every pore proclaimed maturity and confidence. And she did not have Qian Heng’s kind of sense of distance. As a woman she made very good use of women’s traits—professional, yet appearing softer and more approachable.

“Wang Lu, your hair clip is truly pretty. I especially like your lipstick shade too.”

“Li Meng, I just saw the KS Bakery cake on your desk. So you like this brand too. By the way, I have quite a few discount coupons. I’ll transfer some to you on WeChat.”

“Lawyer Bao, a former colleague of mine went against you. He lost so thoroughly he was convinced. After coming back he kept praising you.”

…

She had only been there half a day and she had already solemnly and carefully remembered every colleague’s name and hobbies one by one, smiling and talking, giving each person just-right care, her attitude gentle, practiced in human affairs.

Almost before long everyone at Junheng from top to bottom was already unanimous in praise of her, only feeling this newly arrived female partner was not only beautiful and generous but even more easy to get along with. Even Tan Ying completely switched sides.

“I didn’t expect Liang Par to be such a good person.” She cupped her face. “I hope in the future I can become a strong woman like her!”

Tan Ying and Bao Rui knew of Cheng Yao and Qian Heng’s romance, but the others at Junheng did not. Qian Heng happened to have gone out to court with Bao Rui, so after Liang Yiran returned to the office the crowd could not help secretly gossiping in the open office area—

“Suddenly I feel Liang Par and Qian Par match so well. A strong-strong alliance, a legal couple sweeping the courts or whatever.”

“Right. Qian Par, really, actually rejected Liang Par. Who knows whether he’ll regret it…”

“You’re unmarried, I’m unmarried. Maybe working together feelings will develop over time. You people don’t worry blindly either. Better first think about how you yourselves will get out of being single.”

…

The colleagues discussed it heatedly. Cheng Yao’s heart, however, was full of complexity hard to put into words.

In the instant Liang Yiran confidently and elegantly greeted everyone, Cheng Yao clearly saw the gap between herself and her. Clearly she was the one Qian Heng liked. Yet facing Liang Yiran, Cheng Yao actually gave birth to inferiority. That kind of inferiority besides feelings—purely in career. She could not imagine, if she encountered Liang Yiran in court, whether she would be beaten until she was caught off guard and ended up looking ugly.

Junheng’s previous partners had only one woman, older than Cheng Yao by a full twelve years. Liang Yiran was the first female partner of an age similar to Qian Heng and Wu Jun. And it was also at this time that Cheng Yao so vividly saw the distance between herself and Qian Heng, and Liang Yiran.

It sounded a bit sour to say, but Cheng Yao did indeed in an instant, even she herself felt, that no matter how one looked at it Liang Yiran and Qian Heng matched better.

Liang Yiran did not know the twists and turns in Cheng Yao’s heart. She ran into Cheng Yao in the copy room. The two of them were waiting at the same time for documents from two different printers. Liang Yiran naturally also smiled and greeted Cheng Yao.

“You’re the one following Qian Heng, right?” Her brows and eyes were exquisite. “Following him is hard work, isn’t it?”

Cheng Yao said vaguely, “Not really. It’s very tempering.”

Only regarding the topic of Qian Heng, Liang Yiran seemed very interested and did not die down because of Cheng Yao’s coldness. Her tone was relaxed and familiar. “Qian Heng is just like this. In university he was already like this. Cold and indifferent as a person, his mouth very poisonous, but he’s not a bad person. His professional ability is extremely strong, dedicated to the point that it makes people ashamed.” She smiled, and unconsciously her tone carried a bit of helpless indulgence. “A man like him has ability, but his personality is too strong. He also doesn’t know how to circulate among human feelings and worldly affairs. His whole person is too rigid.” At this point she glanced at Cheng Yao. “You young little girls may not be able to get along well with him. On ordinary days if he says some sharp words, don’t take them to heart either. I’ve known him for many years. That’s just how he is. Look, I joined as a partner today and he actually only crossed paths with me for five minutes in the morning, said a cold ‘welcome’…”

Although it sounded like words comforting Cheng Yao, Cheng Yao could not feel happy in the least. Tan Ying’s gossip antenna had not been wrong. This female partner was clearly indeed here for Qian Heng. She also did not stint on publicly revealing her Sima Zhao’s heart. In successive chats with several colleagues she made no attempt to hide her familiarity and intimacy with Qian Heng. This series of caring words sounded simply like a considerate wife explaining misunderstandings for a husband whose mouth was clumsy and who loved offending people.

Listen again to the tone from top to bottom at Junheng. In merely half a day everyone had gone from simple gossip to actually having a kind of mission of helping Liang Par help Qian Par get out of being single together.

Not good.

Only facing this kind of situation Cheng Yao had no method at all. She could not jump out and shout loudly that she was Qian Heng’s girlfriend. Although she naturally could immediately call Qian Heng and have him say “I love you” ten times, that would be of no help. In an instant Cheng Yao still had not the slightest sense of security.

Just like the marriage cases she had witnessed one after another, the decision to marry, at the time when the concentration of love was highest, was a matter of an instant. Yet maintaining a marriage was the hardest. Marriage was like this. Love was the same. Deciding to be with Qian Heng only needed an instant of courage. But walking on required a strong heart and sufficient wisdom.

Liang Yiran was very curious about everything of Qian Heng’s. What Qian Heng looked like when working on ordinary days, whether he often worked overtime, the frequency of his working out, where his home was, what kind of cases he had taken recently. Her appearance made one feel she wished Cheng Yao could give her a list.

Cheng Yao absentmindedly perfunctorily answered her one question after another. Fortunately, at last, her case file document finished printing.

“Liang Par, I’ll go first then.”

Only perhaps because her spirit was too vacant, when Cheng Yao picked up that half-person-high stack of materials and walked out of the copy room her foot twisted. Although she ultimately barely steadied her body, more than half the documents in Cheng Yao’s hands spilled. Thus she had no choice but to bend down and pick them up. Liang Yiran was friendly and also bent down together to help Cheng Yao pick them up.

Cheng Yao had originally been somewhat lost in thought, and again buried her head picking up documents, fundamentally not noticing Liang Yiran’s gaze, which at this moment was staring fixedly at that section of necklace exposed at Cheng Yao’s chest.

Until after picking up the materials Cheng Yao was still a bit surprised at how Liang Yiran had suddenly gone silent. The other party somehow became the absentminded one. Liang Yiran looked at Cheng Yao deeply twice more, then gathered her hair, smiled a bit out of sorts, and said awkwardly, “I suddenly thought of a case and zoned out.”

Very quickly she collected her emotions and recovered her composed maturity. “My materials are also printed. We’ll chat again when there’s time.”