Chapter 74: This is truly… a gentleman on the surface, but incredibly slutty behind the scenes.

After finishing her report on her recent situation and chatting a bit more with Qin Qin, Cheng Yao finally felt she had returned to normal. She pulled the conversation on for two more sentences until she was exhausted before hanging up.

Probably after a person encounters something too agitating and bizarre, the self-protection mechanism will make you deliberately downplay or even selectively forget certain things. When Cheng Yao woke up the next day, she still felt that everything last night had been a dream, and that she was still a happy single dog.

Until she received Qian Heng’s WeChat.

“Come downstairs.”

Two concise and to-the-point words, yet leaving no room for argument.

When Cheng Yao ran downstairs, she saw the Bentley already parked and waiting below.

Qian Heng rolled down the car window. The expression on his face was very composed, as if coming to pick Cheng Yao up for work was a very natural matter. He glanced at Cheng Yao. “Get in.”

In the past when they lived together she hadn’t hitched a ride many times. She hadn’t expected that now that they lived separately, there would instead be this kind of pickup service. Especially when Cheng Yao suddenly remembered—

Driving over from Qian Heng’s villa was completely not on the way. During morning rush hour the traffic was so congested. For him to so firmly wait downstairs first thing in the morning, calculating from the time, he had probably gotten up at six this morning…

Just as Cheng Yao had sat in the passenger seat for not long, Qian Heng tossed a bag of something to her.

“Ah! My favorite Qingfeng baozi!” Cheng Yao’s eyes lit up.

“Meat ones.” Qian Heng looked straight ahead. “Your favorite.”

This time Cheng Yao was truly surprised. She had never said on any occasion that she liked eating Qingfeng meat baozi. “How did you know?”

“Saw it while flipping through your Weibo.”

Cheng Yao: ???

Who?! Which traitor was it?! Who told Qian Heng her Weibo account??!

On ordinary days Cheng Yao’s Weibo was full of “hahahahaha” shitposting content, occasionally mixed with a bit of complaining and roaring about Qian Heng, and interspersed with some daily life posts, but she had never formally made it public. To express revolutionary friendship, at the firm she had only mutual-followed Bao Rui and Tan Ying. But the three of them had all sworn by the heavens that they would never reveal each other’s Weibo accounts to the boss…

“Who told you?!” Cheng Yao was filled with extreme indignation. “How can a lawyer still be so untrustworthy?”

“No one told me your Weibo account.” Qian Heng pressed his lips together. “I guessed that if I asked directly, no one would tell me either—they would definitely claim they didn’t know. So I only asked Bao Rui for his Weibo account, saying I wanted to mutual-follow him. Bao Rui happily gave it to me.”

“…”

Indeed, the content of the three people’s agreement back then was not to sell the other party’s Weibo account to the boss. But it didn’t say one couldn’t sell one’s own account to the boss…

Without Qian Heng saying it, Cheng Yao could already imagine Bao Rui’s expression of joy written all over his face. Inside he was probably putting on another big show, feeling that Qian Heng treated him as truly different, wishing he could not only be Qian Heng’s little sun but also concurrently serve as his little moon.

“Once I had Bao Rui’s Weibo, flipping through his following list and interactions, it was very easy to find yours.”

“…”

Bao Rui, as expected it was you, this pig teammate!

Only…

“That Weibo where I said I super liked eating Qingfeng baozi seems to have been posted two years ago…” Cheng Yao glanced at Qian Heng, not quite daring to believe it inside. She carefully asked, “So you went through all those more than three thousand of my Weibo posts from beginning to end?”

“Mm.”

“…”

Qian Heng, however, neither blushed nor breathed hard. He took it completely for granted. “As a lawyer, isn’t this what one should do?”

Eh??? This can still be connected to the profession?

“Conduct a comprehensive due diligence investigation on the future partner. Use all materials that can be collected to evaluate and analyze from character, interests and hobbies, background, and other aspects, fundamentally avoiding the possibility of being deceived, inconsistency between appearance and reality, etc.”

While eating the baozi, Cheng Yao almost choked up. “We’ve known each other for so long, and you still have to conduct due diligence on me? Qian Heng, is it that hard for you to just say one honest sentence?”

“…”

Qian Heng pressed his lips tightly together. After a moment he finally said, “Couldn’t sleep at night. Wanted to understand you a bit more.”

When Qian Heng didn’t tell the truth, Cheng Yao couldn’t stand it. When he told the truth, Cheng Yao’s heart also couldn’t stand it. A different kind of couldn’t stand it.

Yet no matter what, it was still filled with secret delight. So there really was someone willing to spend that much time going through her past post by post, letting Cheng Yao know that those pasts he hadn’t participated in—he also cared about them.

Cheng Yao ate the baozi with a sweet heart, then suddenly thought of something else. “This Qingfeng baozi shop is also very far from your villa. Especially in the morning the business is particularly good, and you still have to queue.” She looked up at Qian Heng who was driving and said in disbelief, “You got up at five-thirty today?”

“I didn’t sleep last night.”

“You were looking at my Weibo until three.”

“You looked until three—then you should have slept for a while after that!” Only then did Cheng Yao notice that under Qian Heng’s beautiful eyes there was indeed a layer of light dark circles. She felt rather annoyed. “If I’d known earlier I would have deleted some of those previous ‘hahaha’ Weibo posts! So you could sleep earlier!”

“Don’t delete them.” Qian Heng’s tone was still light. “They’re quite comprehensive.” He lightly swept a glance at Cheng Yao. “Especially—I only just learned that behind my back you actually had quite a few opinions about me as the boss.”

“…”

“As for why I didn’t sleep after three either, that’s because I couldn’t sleep afterward.” Qian Heng’s voice was cold and light, yet the content he spoke of simply made Cheng Yao want to cover her ears. He used that low, sexy voice of his to say lightly—

“Because I discovered that I also seemed a bit agitated.”

Hey!! Can you not say this kind of thing with such an expressionless face!! This way it’s even more unbearable!! Don’t use such a serious expression to say love words, okay!!

First thing in the morning—are you still going to let people clear their hearts and desires and properly go to work later?!

Fortunately after that Qian Heng finally stopped making moves. Cheng Yao finally adjusted her mindset, adjusted her expression, and prepared to enter work mode.

When they reached the familiar intersection, Cheng Yao hurriedly called a stop. “Stop here, stop here.” She habitually said, “I’ll get off here.”

Qian Heng paused. “I’ll send you to the underground parking, park the car, and go up together.”

“How can that work! Usually when I hitch a ride with you don’t I always get off here?” Cheng Yao squinted her eyes and smiled. “Now we haven’t made it public either. What would it look like if I came out of the underground parking together with you? Wouldn’t that affect your clean reputation?”

“…”

“That was before…”

Cheng Yao, however, mischievously interrupted Qian Heng’s words and said righteously, “No, Qian Heng. A word spoken is hard for even four horses to chase! Be a man. Don’t go back on your word!”

“…”

After Cheng Yao finished speaking, she rather had the carefree feeling of a serf turning over and becoming master. Only then did she smile and pull open the car door, bouncing out.

She hadn’t expected that the moment Cheng Yao entered the firm, she would again suffer a heavy blow from Qian Heng.

Her seat was almost submerged in roses.

Tan Ying poked her head around from the side with envy. “Hey, the flower shop delivered them just now. I saw you hadn’t arrived yet, so I signed for them first. So envious, Cheng Yao. Do you have a partner, or is this a pursuer who hasn’t confirmed the relationship yet?”

Cheng Yao guiltily denied, “No no, just a pursuer…”

Tan Ying had sharp eyes. “There’s a card here.”

Cheng Yao took it over and looked. On it were only a few simple sentences.

“Your wish of wanting to be passionately pursued—fulfilled. Your wish of wanting to receive roses—fulfilled. All your wishes, I can fulfill them for you.”

And almost by coincidence, at this moment the impeccably suited Qian Heng walked past in front of Cheng Yao. His face was as cold as always. Looking straight ahead and completely serious, he walked into the office.

In that instant Cheng Yao’s mind had only one sentence—

This is truly… a gentleman on the surface, but wild enough to fly behind the scenes.

She hadn’t expected this guy Qian Heng still had quite a few tricks.

Originally Cheng Yao had been very worried that because of these exaggerated roses, everyone’s attention would all be placed on her.

Facts proved she had overthought it. Not long after she received the roses, a piece of news suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and the entertainment circle instantly exploded.

“Bai Xingmeng actually directly used Weibo to publicly announce she’s pregnant!” Tan Ying held her phone, completely shocked. “She just directly posted her pregnant belly like this? Her career is just at the best rising period right now? Going to have a child will affect it too much.”

Cheng Yao was a bit surprised. She took out her phone and flipped to Bai Xingmeng’s Weibo.

“Four months already. @RichardLee, please take care of me for the rest of my life.”

A few concise words, yet the amount of information contained was huge.

The person Bai Xingmeng @’ed was a private account that didn’t post many Weibo and didn’t have many fans. Only the media, paparazzi, and netizens were not simple. Very quickly they dug out the other party’s background.

“It’s actually the actual controller of Kanxun TV.” Tan Ying looked at the gossip posts while saying in shock, “And the child is four months—that means when Bai Xingmeng first started suing Xu Jun, she was already pregnant and had hooked up with this Richard. At that time Kanxun TV and Tuantuan Online were the strongest competitors in the timing of going public. Thinking back now, Bai Xingmeng choosing that time point to sue Xu Jun, plus refusing to settle—this is completely a commercial conspiracy!”

What Tan Ying could think through, the broad netizens naturally were no exception. Very quickly, in various gossip posts there appeared clear-eyed people who saw through the original Xu Jun case.

“I’m afraid the one who took the blame back then was the lawyer. The truth should be that Bai Xingmeng wanted to sabotage Xu Jun’s listing to help her new lover.”

“Then Bai Xingmeng wasn’t innocent from the beginning. The lawyer should have been used by her as a borrowed knife to kill.”

“Wow, truly a big show. I still believed Bai Xingmeng at the time, but now there’s really a reversal. This woman Bai Xingmeng is truly deep and vicious in her scheming. Even if the ex-husband was guilty, forcing the ex-husband to death for the new lover is a bit too ruthless! Especially afterward still pretending to be innocent and a pure white lotus—truly terrifying!”

“Quick look! That law firm previously framed by Bai Xingmeng has issued a statement! And with reason and evidence attached the winning judgments from when the framed lawyer sued Bai Xingmeng for infringing reputation rights, and the winning judgment from suing Bai Xingmeng to demand payment of lawyer fees. This face-slapping is truly slap-slap-slap.”

Looking at the gossip posts, Cheng Yao belatedly hurriedly went to Junheng’s official Weibo. It was also at this time that she discovered that ten minutes ago, the official account had issued a concise yet powerful statement, and directly flung out two winning judgments.

Disliking complicated empty talk, concise and to the point, key points clear. At any time, never stirring public opinion emotions, never using sympathy or even anger. Always rational and neutral, speaking with facts and evidence.

Junheng’s statement was just like Qian Heng’s style.

Clearly it could have been more emotional, clearly it could have been more aggrieved, but he didn’t.

He was just like this—disdainful of public opinion, and also disdainful of using public opinion.

Cheng Yao suddenly felt she was truly a lucky person. To be able to obtain the liking of such a man, to be able to possess his rare irrational moments, to be able to obtain all his uncalm emotions—truly a luxury good.

Only the timing of both this statement and the judgments being made public was truly too well calculated.

Cheng Yao couldn’t hold back. She originally wanted to directly go into Qian Heng’s office to ask, but when the moment came she instead became nervous. In the end she settled for second best and called him on the internal line.

“How did you know Bai Xingmeng would announce the pregnancy information recently?” Cheng Yao’s mind was full of questions. “And I really can’t figure out why Bai Xingmeng would do this kind of thing. Suddenly announcing the news of being several months pregnant, and so high-profile in showing love—she absolutely couldn’t not know what kind of impact doing this would have. Isn’t this just delivering herself to people’s door for skinning?”

Qian Heng’s voice on the phone was still calm and composed. “Her Richard previously started contacting me and formally asked me to draft a prenuptial agreement.”

“Hm?”

“Not with Bai Xingmeng.”

Cheng Yao was a bit surprised. “What’s going on?”

“The one he wants to marry is the daughter of a certain media tycoon—a marriage of matched families. He never truly considered marrying Bai Xingmeng. Bai Xingmeng privately made a scene with him once, using the threat of aborting the child. He didn’t care either. It’s not like he lacks women who want to have children for him.”

“Then now publicly showing love—have the two of them reconciled? Did Richard ultimately still choose Bai Xingmeng?”

“How is that possible?” Qian Heng laughed. “Bai Xingmeng won’t abort the child, because this child is her only chip for marrying into a wealthy family. Without the child, there would be even less connection with the other party. She doesn’t care about her career’s rising period, and doesn’t care that publicly announcing the pregnancy will dig up the previous issues surrounding Xu Jun’s suicide. She’s still determined to go public, only to sabotage the other party’s engagement, and at the same time declare her relationship with the other party, thereby using fan public opinion to pressure the other party into marriage, and also hoping Richard’s fiancée will know the difficulty and retreat. After all, Bai Xingmeng, in order to marry into a wealthy family, was even willing to be used as a gun by the other party and helped Kanxun TV successfully go public. Now she can’t enjoy the fruits of this victory and discovers she drew water with a bamboo basket—how can she swallow this breath?”

Cheng Yao was simply dumbfounded. This was truly a wealthy-family big drama!

“Then can she succeed?”

“Impossible.” Qian Heng was concise. “The prenuptial agreement with the media tycoon’s daughter hasn’t been cancelled. They only said it needs some revisions. Probably because of Bai Xingmeng’s matter, he has no choice but to make concessions on some clauses as compensation.” Qian Heng shrugged. “The interests involved in a family alliance marriage are not a small amount. This isn’t something Bai Xingmeng can influence by jumping up and down.”

“However, because of Bai Xingmeng’s this kind of ‘disobedient’ behavior, the male side is very dissatisfied. As the in-laws of the media tycoon they are also dissatisfied. As far as I know, they’ve already used resources to blacklist Bai Xingmeng within the circle. For the next few years she’ll still have to properly think about how to restore her reputation and image, and also how to be a single mother.”

Her first case handled from beginning to end, developing all the way to today—it would be false to say she didn’t feel emotional. Being too calculating and shrewd might obtain benefits, but it cannot buy true feelings, and even less can it promise oneself happiness. Being too utilitarian toward love and marriage may have short-term effects, but cannot maintain long-term stability.

Just as Cheng Yao’s thoughts were flying, Qian Heng’s voice on the phone called back her attention.

“Do you like them?”

“Eh?”

Qian Heng’s voice was somewhat unnatural. “The flowers. Do you like them?”

Although it was only a phone call, the voice processed by the electric current and transmitted to the ear seemed to carry a bit more magnetism, making Cheng Yao’s entire ear burn.

She lowered her voice. “Didn’t we agree to separate public and private and not affect work?”

Toward Cheng Yao’s accusation, Qian Heng had no sense of guilt at all. He said righteously, “Oh, I couldn’t quite hold back.”

“So do you like them?”

Cheng Yao simply wanted to roar internally, Please don’t use such a sexually frigid tone to ask such an embarrassing question, okay!

But—

“I like them.”

Sending flowers to a girl—no one would dislike it! Especially when associating it with the fact that they were sent by Qian Heng, Cheng Yao felt her palms sweating.

“Good.” She didn’t know if it was Cheng Yao’s imagination, but a trace of shyness actually appeared in Qian Heng’s voice. He paused, then recovered that businesslike tone. “As long as you like them.”

This dry tone simply sounded like assigning work.

Only… only this sentence still directly caused Cheng Yao’s face to flush red like a cooked big shrimp within five minutes of hanging up the phone.

Cheng Yao thought with chagrin, I’m truly too inexperienced in the ways of the world!