Chapter 63: Boss, there’s something I absolutely have to tell you!

Fortunately, the atmosphere at the birthday party was lively, so Cheng Yao soon stopped paying attention to Qian Heng. Wu Jun’s “tea party” had begun.

“It’s rare for everyone to get together like this today. Feel free to ask whatever you want,” Wu Jun said, his peach-blossom eyes smiling. He glanced at his watch. “Thirty minutes. I’ll answer every question within half an hour. After that, I’ll only answer selectively. But everything said here today counts as a verbal nondisclosure agreement. It stays here. Nothing leaves this room.”

“Me! Wu Par, I’ve got a question! Why did you choose the legal profession in the first place?”

“Wu Par, when are we hiring again this year? I’ve got a cousin who really wants to join. Can I submit his résumé for him?”

“Wu Par, I’m curious—how old were you when you had your first love?”

“I heard you dated Yuan Fei from the Intermediate Court’s marriage division. Is that true?”

At first everyone was still somewhat reserved, asking relatively proper questions. But Wu Jun kept smiling, and he was usually so approachable that before long people started climbing the pole and asking all kinds of gossip.

“Wu Par, while Qian Par is down in the wine cellar getting the red wine, can I ask about his gossip? I heard from a senior that Liang Yiran, the female partner at Golden Brick Law Firm, chased him in school. Is that true?”

Cheng Yao had been listening to the other gossip with great interest. The moment she heard Qian Heng’s name, her ears perked up on reflex.

Wu Jun smiled. “Mine is false. His is true.”

The room erupted. “No way, it’s true?! Liang Yiran is pretty good-looking. Why didn’t they end up together? Lawyer CP would be so hot! By now the kid could probably buy soy sauce!”

“Liang Yiran used to bring a ton of judicial exam questions to ask him for help, hoping that after enough tutoring something might develop,” Wu Jun said, blinking. “But your Qian Par completely failed to understand her painstaking efforts. In the end Liang Yiran couldn’t hold it in anymore and confessed.”

What did Qian Heng say? Did Qian Heng accept?

Cheng Yao suddenly felt a little tense. She looked up at Wu Jun. Wu Jun swept a glance at her, his expression suddenly a bit teasing and ill-intentioned.

“He accepted…”

Cheng Yao didn’t know why, but the high spirits she’d felt a moment ago suddenly deflated like a punctured balloon.

“…He’d have to be possessed to accept,” the mischievous Wu Jun said, slamming on the brakes only after he’d fully raised everyone’s expectations. He grinned. “Qian Heng told Liang Yiran, ‘You keep asking me these ridiculously simple judicial exam questions. I feel the intellectual gap between us is too large. We probably don’t have any common topics. Better not get together.’”

“…”

Cheng Yao felt like the air hadn’t fully leaked out after all. Her mood improved a little.

Yeah. That kind of answer was pure Qian Heng.

Since there was still half an hour of Q&A time left, Cheng Yao had a question she was quite curious about. While Qian Heng still hadn’t returned, she seized the chance: “Wu Par, do you know anything about Qian Par’s elementary school days? I heard you two were classmates back then.”

“Hmm? Yeah, what about it?”

Cheng Yao hesitated, feeling it wasn’t appropriate to ask in front of everyone. “This is a private question! I’ll tell Wu Par alone!” Ignoring the surrounding colleagues’ teasing noises, she leaned in close to Wu Jun and whispered, “Um… was Qian Par bullied in elementary school? Was he pretty pitiful back then? Do you think that psychological shadow has affected his current views on relationships and how he deals with people?”

“Bullied?” Wu Jun frowned, thinking. “You mean he bullied others? Not really…”

Cheng Yao froze. “Wasn’t he the one being bullied??? Didn’t other kids pick on him?”

“No.” Wu Jun looked surprised. “The other kids did have some issues with him. A few of the more troublemaking ones tried to mess with him, but he beat them all into submission. Who would dare bully him? He was already training in sanda by then. It was already pretty good of him not to go around bullying others.”

Cheng Yao: ???

“But he said that even when he got injured he still had to give money to the kids who bullied him?!”

“Oh, that. When he first started learning sanda he couldn’t control his strength well. He did get some scrapes when fighting those kids, but they were in worse shape. One chubby kid who tried to bully him got his bone broken by Qian Heng and had to be hospitalized. So Qian Heng paid the medical fees. Makes sense.”

“…”

“As for why those kids had issues with him and wanted to hit him… I think you already understand.” Wu Jun gave Cheng Yao a meaningful look. “Honestly, as his associate, you probably want to hit him at least thirty-something days a month, right?”

“…”

Cheng Yao had indeed wondered before how someone with Qian Heng’s punchable personality had managed to live to twenty-eight without being beaten to death. Now she finally knew the answer: it wasn’t that people didn’t want to beat him up—his combat ability was just too high for them to succeed.

While Cheng Yao’s mind was still in chaos, she casually looked up and saw Qian Heng coming up from the basement wine cellar, a bottle of red wine in his hand. He was frowning at her. When Cheng Yao looked back at him in confusion, he abruptly turned his head away, as if he found her somehow unbearable to look at. Cheng Yao thought, This is completely inexplicable!

“Wu Jun, come here a second. I need to talk to you.”

Even though he’d turned his head, Qian Heng still called Wu Jun over.

Once Wu Jun left, everyone lost their source of gossip and went back to doing their own things.

When Wu Jun walked over to Qian Heng, he found the man’s face looking rather stormy. “What’s up? Did something go wrong with a case? Or is there some PR issue I need to handle?”

Qian Heng only glanced at him. “No.”

“Then why did you call me over?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

Faced with Qian Heng’s unreasonable yet completely self-righteous attitude, Wu Jun was a bit stunned. “What’s wrong with you? Acting like you’ve got your period?”

Qian Heng pressed his lips together. “As a partner, you need to maintain appropriate distance with subordinates.”

Wu Jun: ???

Qian Heng cleared his throat and said seriously, “Especially with female subordinates. Be careful about safe distance when talking to them on a daily basis, so people don’t see it and start spreading rumors that our firm’s partners like to use their position on decent-looking female subordinates.”

Wu Jun froze for a moment before reacting. “Which female subordinate did I behave improperly with? Who?”

Qian Heng didn’t answer. He looked away again. “I’m just kindly reminding you. Some subordinates already have someone in their heart.”

Wu Jun found this completely baffling. He glanced at Qian Heng and took the wine bottle from his hand. “Drink less. You’ve had a bit too much tonight.”

“…”

As the birthday boy, once Qian Heng returned, everyone started egging him on again. Bao Rui led the charge: “Let’s do something fun! It’s Qian Par’s birthday—there’s got to be some activity, right?”

Wu Jun was quite supportive. “Sure. How about we play Truth or Dare?”

“No no no, forget it.”

“Not a great idea…”

“Last time we finished memorizing marriage law and inheritance law. This time are we supposed to memorize trust law…?”

Poor Wu Jun—his enthusiastic suggestion was met with collective resistance.

Seeing everyone’s reaction, he understood. “What? Did Qian Heng make you play Truth and recite legal provisions last time?”

Apparently, the “Truth and recite legal provisions” game was Qian Heng’s reserved death program.

“No reciting provisions today. We’ll play real Truth or Dare. This way you’ll have a chance to make Qian Heng do Truth or Dare too. How about it?”

“I object.”

Just as everyone was responding with a wave of support, Qian Heng, face taut, came out to kill the mood again. “We’re all lawyers. Pay attention to image. Don’t play such boring games.”

Wu Jun raised an eyebrow. “What? At previous year-end parties we’ve played even more exaggerated games and you never stopped them. What’s the meaning of this now? Do you have something you can’t say out loud and therefore can’t do Truth?”

Qian Heng pressed his lips together and said nothing. He only shot Cheng Yao a fierce look, the warning in his eyes extremely heavy.

Cheng Yao had no idea what was going on. She wasn’t the one who suggested Truth or Dare. Why glare at me ? If you’ve got a problem, go glare at Wu Jun!

One way or another, the Truth or Dare game started.

Wu Jun gave the opening remarks: “When playing a game, respect the spirit of the game. Don’t hold back because of superior-subordinate or colleague relationships. Let’s be clear up front—a game is a game. You can’t take private revenge at work just because you lost.”

“Since today is Qian Heng’s birthday, the first round starts with him. You choose who does what challenge.”

Cheng Yao was waiting with interest for Qian Heng and Wu Jun to hurt each other. To her surprise, Qian Heng called her name.

“Cheng Yao.” His eyes only lightly swept over her. The moment their gazes met in the air, he quickly looked away. “You. Dare.” Qian Heng spoke with the emotionless tone of assigning work. “Go to the supermarket and buy two lollipops.”

Cheng Yao: ???

Wait, what kind of devil Dare is this?

“Stop staring. Go buy them.” Qian Heng unnaturally pulled out his wallet and stuffed several bills into Cheng Yao’s hand. “Buy me two lollipops. That’s your Dare challenge.”

Cheng Yao looked at the money in her hand. Qian Heng had actually given her six hundred-yuan notes. “Boss, lollipops are really cheap. You gave me way too much.”

“For the taxi both ways.”

Although Qian Heng’s villa community wasn’t that close to the supermarket, a fifteen-minute walk round trip was enough. Taking a taxi, because of the route, would probably also take about ten minutes.

“No need. I can walk.”

But Qian Heng was insistent. He pressed his lips together. “You must take a taxi.” He paused. “That’s also part of the Dare. When you come back, show me the taxi receipt.”

“…”

“Put this on before you go.”

At some point, Qian Heng was holding a luxurious mink coat with a mature, elegant air.

Cheng Yao couldn’t help exclaiming, “Whose is this? Wearing mink? If someone older wears it they look like a big shot’s woman. If someone younger wears it they look like a young second wife!”

Qian Heng glanced at Cheng Yao, expressionless. “My mom’s. She left it here last time and forgot to take it.”

“…”

Cheng Yao hurriedly tried to salvage the situation. “Ordinary people couldn’t pull it off, but Auntie would look completely different in it, totally…”

“No need to explain.” Qian Heng said coldly. “Put on the coat, take a taxi, go buy the lollipops, and spend all the money before you come back.”

“…”

Only when Cheng Yao had called a taxi and walked out of the villa in the mink did she suddenly realize how wise this was.

It was freezing outside! She was wearing too little. Without the mink and the taxi’s heater, forget a fifteen-minute trip—she couldn’t have lasted even five minutes.

Still, Cheng Yao couldn’t understand what was wrong with this fascist Qian Heng. Making her wear his mother’s mink, take a taxi to the supermarket to buy him lollipops, and spend all six hundred yuan? Could it be that his mother never bought him birthday gifts when he was little, so he still had a knot in his heart as an adult, and by having Cheng Yao wear his mother’s coat to buy the gift he was somehow implying this was a gift from Mom?

By the time Cheng Yao had used those six hundred-yuan notes to buy a pile of snacks and was sitting in the taxi back to the villa, she was still wondering—did she somehow radiate strong maternal energy? Making Qian Heng want to make up for something through her? Deliberately picking her?

Fortunately she moved fast and the round trip didn’t take long. When she returned to the villa, it was Qian Heng’s turn for Truth.

This time the one who got the chance to question Qian Heng was Bao Rui, and he was not polite at all.

“Qian Par, we’re all pretty concerned about your current love life. Can you reveal a bit?”

Qian Heng saw Cheng Yao return, glanced at her, then kept staring at her as he answered, “Currently single, and not planning to date.” He cleared his throat. “I hope you can respect my principle of remaining single.”

Bao Rui put on a fawning face. “Okay, okay. Don’t worry, Qian Par. We absolutely won’t introduce anyone to you. We’ll make sure you stay single to the end, hahaha.”

“…”

Cheng Yao had just been out and came back with a pile of snacks, so she was immediately surrounded by everyone. Unfortunately, Qian Heng seemed to have a personal grudge against her.

“Cheng Yao, I just remembered there’s an urgent email. Go draft a reply for me first.”

…

After Cheng Yao finished the email, Qian Heng had her translate an English clause. After she finished the translation, he told her to go to the study to find a certain document…

Cheng Yao found it completely inexplicable. It was as if he was deliberately sending her away so she couldn’t participate in the Truth or Dare game.

That entire evening Cheng Yao ran up and down, attending to everything. In the end she finally managed to squeeze into the game. Unfortunately, who knew what kind of luck she had—the moment she joined, Bao Rui selected her for a Truth challenge.

The question Bao Rui gave her wasn’t particularly difficult: “Cheng Yao, just pick anyone present and say one truthful thing!”

Cheng Yao thought for a moment, then looked at Qian Heng. There was one thing she’d wanted to say for a long time!

“Boss, I want to tell you…”

The moment she opened her mouth, Qian Heng almost couldn’t wait to interrupt her.

“Think carefully about what you really want to say.” Qian Heng’s eyelashes were blinking extremely fast, almost as if he were slightly nervous. “Some words, once spoken, change a lot of things.” Qian Heng stared at Cheng Yao and said, word by word, “Cheng Yao, have you really thought it through? Do you really want to say these words? Is it appropriate to say them in front of everyone here? Have you considered it carefully?”

Cheng Yao nodded. “I definitely want to say it, Boss. I’ve thought it through! I’ve thought about it for a long time! I’ve thought it through very thoroughly! I definitely have to say this to you!”

After Cheng Yao finished speaking, Qian Heng’s face showed an expression of despair, as if fate truly could not be stopped. Cheng Yao didn’t overthink it and, facing that expression of his, bravely said—

“Boss! I want a raise!”

“…”

Qian Heng’s eyes widened, as if this was not the Truth he had anticipated. He glared at Cheng Yao fiercely for a moment, then stood up.

Qian Heng didn’t express any opinion, so everyone held their breath and watched his every move, while Cheng Yao waited anxiously for the verdict. Before bringing up this Truth, she had actually done some research. According to Bao Rui, as long as you negotiated a raise with Qian Heng at the end of the year, you could usually get one; but if you didn’t ask, Qian Heng naturally wouldn’t offer it on his own.

Qian Heng had been very afraid that Cheng Yao would use the Truth opportunity to confess to him in front of everyone. He still hadn’t figured out how to handle that, so he absolutely could not allow something outside his control to happen publicly. He had found many excuses to send Cheng Yao away in order to stop her from participating in the Truth or Dare activity. But heaven did not grant people’s wishes. Perhaps her desire to tell him a Truth was too strong—she still found an opportunity.

But a raise? He stared at Cheng Yao in disbelief. Was she serious? Instead of confessing she wanted a raise? Hmph. Having those improper thoughts about him and still daring to ask for a raise?

Qian Heng’s home had excellent sound equipment. Earlier it had been playing soft piano music. The system could be controlled via Bluetooth from a phone.

Cheng Yao looked at her boss anxiously. She watched Qian Heng, face taut, stand up and pick up his phone. He seemed to be adjusting the music on the sound system.

Before long, the soft, gentle piano music disappeared, replaced by a classic old song—

“Waking from a Dream” ( Meng Xing Shi Fen ).

Qian Heng said nothing. He just stared at Cheng Yao, using this song to firmly reject her Truth request.

A raise? Hmph. Not happening. Wake up.

“…”