The next morning, Luo Qi accompanied Jiang Shenghe to a business club1 a few kilometers away where they had an appointment with He Wancheng to discuss matters.
He Wancheng was staying in a hotel nearby and arrived earlier than them.
He heard his friend Director Zhao mention the breakup between Luo Qi and Old Pei’s son. The last time he saw Luo Qi was in June. That night at the dinner banquet, everyone talked about her wedding to Pei Shixiao. In just three months, the two had broken off and the wedding was canceled. It was truly regrettable.
Luo Qi had put on exquisite makeup today, but the haggard look under her eyes could not be concealed by makeup.
He Wancheng admired Luo Qi’s decisiveness in handling matters. She directly canceled the wedding as soon as she said it would be canceled, leaving no room for her to be soft-hearted. Her personality was quite suitable for management and decision-making.
“Xiao Luo, when are you going back to Suzhou? Let’s go out and sit down, and I’ll introduce you to a junior from my family.”
This was a disguised form of introducing her to a blind date.
Careless wording can easily lead to embarrassment and even hurt He Wancheng’s face.
“I also want to go back.” In the next sentence, Luo Qi switched to Suzhou dialect1 and spoke brightly, “Director He, you don’t know, I don’t have a family now and I can’t go back. My parents told me to ‘get out of here’ and wouldn’t let me go back to Suzhou City. “
He Wancheng was amused by the phrase ‘get out of here’ spoken in Suzhou dialect. It was clear that Luo Qi declined his intentions. He wasn’t one to force others to do anything.
Jiang Shenghe, sitting beside them, didn’t understand. The Suzhou dialect was his blind spot.
He didn’t know what Luo Qi said and whether she rejected He Wancheng’s kindness.
“I’m afraid Director He will have to queue up,” he said in a half-joking manner.
He Wancheng was very interested, “Why do you say this?”
Jiang Shenghe smiled lightly, “A friend has asked me several times to find an opportunity to introduce Assistant Luo to him. I’ve been busy on several business trips lately and haven’t made any arrangements yet. You have to let me introduce him first. I don’t want to be hated by my friends.”
Xiao Jiang silently looked down at the document in his hand. The boss was now making friends up out of thin air….
While joking, the topic of introducing a blind date to Luo Qi was successfully diverted.
Luo Qi glanced at Jiang Shenghe. Apart from being highly nervous when around him, working under him was actually pretty good. He always protected his subordinates unconditionally and rescued them in a timely manner.
That morning, they spent three hours discussing possible solutions to some difficult problems. In the afternoon, the boss made an appointment with He Wancheng to play golf and did not let Luo Qi and Xiao Jiang accompany him.
They were, thus, not privy to what kind of mutual benefits were exchanged by the two bosses regarding the development of Yuanwei Medical in the Southern market.
… …
After being busy all day, Luo Qi and Xiao Jiang finally finished their work for the day.
Xiao Jiang put down the mouse and straightened his back, pressing down on his vertebrae, “Sister Luo, let’s go, I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.”
Luo Qi packed up her things and said, “I’m older than you, so I’ll treat you if you want to go.”
“No need. I’m just using the red envelope given by Chief Jiang, not spending my own money.”
“Chief Jiang gave you a red envelope?”
Xiao Jiang didn’t even have to lie this time. It was true that the boss often sent them red envelopes, and he couldn’t miss the opportunity to say good things about Jiang Shenghe, “Yeah. We work hard. Chief Jiang knows that we are under great pressure, so he often sends red envelopes to compensate us. “
The two of them chatted about Jiang Shenghe and went to an outdoor cafe.
… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com
It wasn’t until the morning of the next day that Luo Qi saw Jiang Shenghe again. She and Xiao Jiang went to his suite for a meeting. It was twice as big as theirs, and the living room also served as an office.
Jiang Shenghe hasn’t had breakfast yet. He didn’t come back until after three o’clock in the morning after attending two events last night. He slept for a few hours this morning and had just gotten up when they arrived.
The hotel delivered breakfast to the room with a rich variety of choices.
He rolled up his sleeves, glanced up at the table next to him, and asked, “Have you had breakfast?”
“Yes, eaten,” Luo Qi and Xiao Jiang responded at the same time; Xiao Jiang’s voice was louder, covering Luo Qi’s.
Jiang Shenghe didn’t hear Luo Qi’s words, and his eyes fell directly on her, “Why didn’t you have breakfast? Come and have some.”
Luo Qi: “… I have eaten. Chief Jiang, please go ahead.”
When Jiang Shenghe heard the last half of the sentence, he felt as if he had eaten four hard-boiled egg yolks in a row and choked.
Luo Qi placed the laptop on the table. She was trying to connect it to the power supply when the doorbell rang. Thinking that the boss had ordered more room service, she went to open the door.
The moment the door opened, both the person standing inside and outside were startled.
Qin Moling took a look at the suite number and made sure he didn’t knock on the wrong door.
Luo Qi didn’t expect that Qin Moling would come to find the boss. She opened the door completely and said, “Chief Jiang is inside.”
Qin Moling nodded and asked, “Are you in a meeting?”
“It hasn’t started yet.”
For a moment there, Qin Moling thought that Jiang Shenghe had successfully chased Luo Qi!
She closed the door and Luo walked behind him.
Jiang Shenghe knew that Qin Moling was coming today and was not surprised, “So early?”
“I haven’t slept yet.” Qin Moling had just returned from abroad and was still feeling jet-lagged. After getting off the international flight, he immediately transferred to a flight to Haicheng.
He personally went overseas to coordinate the projects to be given to Pei Shixiao—all in exchange for benefits acquired from Qin Moling’s resources so that the other party would cooperate with Pei Shixiao’s company. These projects were in different countries, two in the Western Hemisphere and one in the Southern Hemisphere.
Before the official launch of these projects, Pei Shixiao would have too many things to do. He would be flying back and forth between several countries and would have very little time to stay in China.
He pulled out a chair and sat across from Jiang Shenghe.
Xiao Jiang made some coffee, and Luo Qi went over to bring a cup to Qin Moling.
Seeing Luo Qi heading their way, Jiang Shenghe stood up quickly and took a few steps forward to meet her halfway. He extended his hand, “Give me the coffee. You and Xiao Jiang go downstairs and hang out for a while. Come back in two hours.”
“Okay.” Luo Qi handed the cup of coffee to Jiang Shenghe. She didn’t know the boss’s habits. Maybe he preferred to pour coffee himself for important friends like Qin Moling.
Luo Qi and Xiao Jiang left.
Qin Moling looked at Jiang Shenghe, thinking that he wanted to drink that cup of coffee himself.
But Jiang Shenghe placed the coffee cup in front of Qin Moling, sat down, and continued eating breakfast.
Qin Moling picked up the coffee and suddenly smiled. He understood what Jiang Shenghe’s actions just now meant.
“Aren’t you being too sensitive? Luo Qi just made coffee and gave me a cup.”
Jiang Shenghe had immediately taken over, probably feeling that Luo Qi was serving tea and water to someone else, and he was afraid of wronging her.
Jiang Shenghe did not bother arguing with him.
“When you two get married, I will go to your house to play cards one day. Luo Qi will make us a cup of coffee. It’s normal.” Qin Moling added, “Who can avoid serving tea and water to the guests? Even you pour me a cup of tea.”
Jiang Shenghe finally responded. “Luo Qi’s situation is different from mine. She was delivering coffee to you today as an assistant, not as a boss greeting important guests. If the status is not equal, I will not let her do it.”
Regarding their life in the future, he was willing to say a few words more. “Even if there are guests at home in the future, she doesn’t need to serve tea and water to entertain them. There is an auntie at home. And if the auntie is too busy, there is still me—so Luo Qi doesn’t ever need to do anything.”
Seventh Year of My Secret Love for You translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com
T/N: I really appreciated how He Wancheng wanted to introduce Luo Qi to a junior from his family. He Wancheng is the wealthiest man in Suzhou circles and Luo Qi’s family was really not suitable, and yet he only saw her own potential as a daughter-in-law of his family. But then again, Pei Shixiao is an outstanding young man (his wandering heart notwithstanding)—one looks for a capable daughter-in-law when one wants to shore up a less outstanding son. But anyway, I still like his style 🙂
But! This guy, Jiang Shenghe. I think he represents all the Second Male Lead we ever cried over but who never got the girl because she ended up with some alpha male CEO with low EQ.
As always, do consider buying me ko-fi if you can. Advance chapters from all my translation works are available as rewards. Thank you very much for your support ❤️
Chapter 20.1 — I’m Here Any Time
Chapter 20.2 — I’m Here Any Time
Chapter 20.3 — I’m Here Any Time
FOOTNOTES:
1I wasn’t familiar with the term but ‘business clubs’ are apparently a thing. It’s a bit like those sports and recreation membership clubs—not the nightlife club—but caters mostly to executives doing business so it has a lot of function rooms and private meeting rooms and, of course, good catering and a bit of entertainment for treating guests. ↩︎
2The Suzhou dialect is generally considered as beautiful and the most pleasant to listen to. It’s described as ‘soft like sticky rice’ and even ‘like singing’ ↩︎
WHITE MOONLIGHT TRANSLATIONS 
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