The next day, the AI summit forum ended, and they took the evening train back.

After a day of adjustment, Luo Qi had calmed down. She no longer constantly thought of the time when Jiang Shenghe held her in his arms under an umbrella.

After returning to Beijing, she was busy with work again.

On Thursday afternoon, Luo Qi finished her report and asked, “Chief Jiang, do you have any other instructions?”

Jiang Shenghe was looking at the computer and said without raising his head, “Give me a copy of Ruipu Medical sales for the past three months, as well as the list of its management, including detailed resumes.”

“Okay, I’ll give it to you before I get off work.”

Luo Qi came out of the office, closed the door, and exhaled. Now, she was even more stressed than before when facing her boss, and she was deathly afraid of accidentally making mistakes.

When she returned to her office, she had just sat down when someone called her from an unknown number: it was Suzhou number.

Luo Qi thought for a moment, maybe it was someone from Ruipu Medical¹, and she answered the call.

“It’s really hard to get through Assistant Luo’s phone.”

It was the voice of the Eldest Aunt, her tone mocking.

“Don’t hang up the phone in a hurry. I can’t control what happens between you and Pei Shixiao. Besides, it’s none of my business if you want to ruin your own future. I just don’t care about it at all! You don’t appreciate our concerns anyway,” the eldest aunt snorted coldly.

She didn’t call today to just scold Luo Qi.

The Pei family, their biggest customer, was completely lost.

“Our company has been cooperating with Pei Shixiao’s family,” the eldest aunt said, gritting her teeth, “but because of you, the contract will not be renewed!”

Without the Pei family as a big customer, the company will suffer heavy losses, so she had no choice but to threaten Luo Qi and force her to desperation, so that she would reconcile with Pei Shixiao.

So she made the situation more serious, saying, “Such a big account has gone down the drain, and now we can’t recoup the money. Do you know how much pressure our family is under right now? Your family owes us more than 10 million yuan. It’s up to you to figure it out. I can’t wait any longer. I’ll give you two months at most, give it to me as soon as possible.”

Before Luo Qi could say anything, she hung up first.

Luo Qi was furious and called back immediately.

The eldest aunt thought she had successfully forced Luo Qi against a wall and have changed her mind about Pei Shixiao. She deliberately let it ring for several seconds before she answered the call. 

“What’s the matter? Hurry up, I’m busy,” she said, staging the scene for Luo Qi groveling.

But Luo Qi was having none of it. 

“When my family borrowed the money from you, we agreed to pay it back slowly and within a few years. Even banks cannot unilaterally change the repayment period casually! You already got years of large orders and you thought you had a good deal going. When you first got a big order from them and made a lot of money, I didn’t see you giving me any credit for it. If it weren’t for me, how would you even get the order from the Pei family in the first place?

“When you were willing to lend the money, you thought the 10 million was nothing since I was to marry Pei Shixiao. I could easily pay it off as soon as we got married, and maybe there would even be a few more orders as a ‘thank you’. Now that your plan has failed, you can only bear the loss for it yourself. After all, there are risks in any investment. Who do you want to blame for your own miscalculation?”

“You… Luo Qi, you…” Eldest Aunt was so angry that she was incoherent, unable to string words properly, “Look at how arrogant you are, do you know how much you weigh?”

“Ninety-two pounds and three taels.”

“You!” The eldest aunt was furious. “I give you two months to pay back the money. You can’t even delay it for a day! There’s no need to negotiate!”

“Let me tell you again—don’t threaten me anymore. Do you think I’m afraid? My family owes you money, and I will pay it back in as many years as I like. I have the final say!”

She hung up and blocked the number.

Luo Qi got up to pour herself a cup of coffee in an attempt to calm her emotions. In fact, Pei Shixiao’s family did not end the cooperation immediately after they broke off the engagement, taking several months to do so. But even then, the eldest aunt was still greedy.

As time to get off work neared, Jiang Shenghe called her, “Where is the information I need?”

Luo Qi replied, “It’s not ready yet.”

“How much is left to sort out?”

“Still half.” The eldest aunt’s call had made her so furious she couldn’t think straight, and she was delayed going back to work for more than ten minutes. And even then, her work efficiency was not as good as her usual. Only half of the information that was supposed to be sorted out was done.

“Come over.” Jiang Shenghe hung up the phone.

Luo Qi put down the mouse and went to the boss’s office, feeling desperate in her heart.

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

Jiang Shenghe looked straight at her, “Why isn’t it completed yet? With your work efficiency, it shouldn’t have taken this long. I want to hear the reason, not an excuse.”

Luo Qi knew that her boss had misunderstood and thought her work was delayed because of Pei Shixiao again.

There was no point in apologizing; she could only explain. “I had to deal with a family matter. But it’s already resolved—I’ll give you the information you need in half an hour.”

Jiang Shenghe said nothing.

Judging from the boss’s expression, this perfunctory explanation was simply not acceptable. 

Her family was in debt—this was no secret to her boss. He knew that she worked at Yuanwei Capital for an internship because she couldn’t afford her tuition at the time and had to earn her living expenses. Both he and Jiang Sixun were aware that her father’s company had gone bankrupt.

Anyway, there was no shame in being in debt, and it wasn’t like she intentionally refused to pay it back.

So Luo Qi told the truth, “I received a phone call from my eldest aunt. Our family owes her family more than ten million yuan. Their family business used to cooperate with Pei… with the Pei family, but now the cooperation has been terminated. My eldest aunt is pressuring me to pay back the money. But, in fact, it’s just a ruse—she is really forcing me to get back together with Pei Shixiao in disguise.”

Jiang Shenghe asked, “Your uncle’s money, how long did you agree to pay it back?”

“The repayment period is five years under the IOU my father wrote,” Luo Qi explained. “Originally, it could already be paid back in three or four years, but my father wanted to save one year’s worth of repayment for my dowry, so he pushed back the repayment deadline to five years. 

“My mother told me that my older cousin didn’t even want the IOU in the first place, saying that we are family, not outsiders. It was my father who took the initiative to write the IOU, and also wrote down how the interest would be calculated, and gave the IOU to my eldest aunt. 

“After the engagement was broken, I promised the eldest aunt that I would pay them back,” she finished.

“How long is your aunt giving you in order to force you to get back together?” Jiang Shenghe asked.

“Two months. But I just ignored her, and I will pay it off in three years as originally planned.”

Jiang Shenghe nodded, indicating that he understood. Since it was this eldest aunt who was forcing her to get back together with that guy, then, with her personality, she would not give up easily. 

“If your aunt comes to you again and threatens to sue, the company’s lawyers will handle it for you. Yuanwei’s legal team has not lost a lawsuit in the past six years.”

Luo Qi: “…”

She didn’t need a lawyer. Even if her aunt wanted to sue her to scare her, her uncle and eldest cousin would never agree to it. But still, she felt very grateful in her heart, “Thank you, Chief Jiang.”

Jiang Shenghe was quiet for a moment and found a way that would be easy for her to accept and didn’t require her to owe too many favors but could still relieve her urgent need. 

“You are one of the few people that Director Jiang cares about, and by now, you and I have a tacit understanding as partners. Personally and professionally, I hope you can stay in Yuanwei throughout your career. In order to allow you to pay back the money owed in one lump sum, you can apply to our company for an advance of your future salary. I will give you a signed guarantee that you can use to apply. “

Luo Qi did not expect at all that her boss would take the initiative to help her find a way out of this mess—but she couldn’t possibly take it. Advancing her salary would be just like when Jiang Yueru wanted to parachute her into Yuanwei Capital². It was against the rules and would cause the boss a lot of trouble.

Just like with Director Jiang, she had no way of repaying his kindness to her, so she could only work twice as hard. “Chief Jiang, I will sort out the information and send it to you in half an hour at most.”

But Jiang Shenghe knew she must be not be in a very good mood right now, and he wanted to accompany her, so he said, “Bring it over, and I’ll sort it out with you to save time.”

Seventh Year of My Secret Love for You translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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FOOTNOTES:
¹I’m not sure why Luo Qi would think this, Ruipu Medical is not based in Suzhou. They do have a lab there but again, why would they call the cellphone of the President’s Assistant? Maybe the author meant Yuanwei Medical, but then they would be calling someone from Li Rui’s office, not her. But anyway, I think the author just wanted to emphasize that Luo Qi did not deliberately answer a personal call during work hours ↩︎

²I’m also not sure what the author meant here—Luo Qi worked as an intern in Yuanwei Capital under Jiang Sixun, and this was before she met Jiang Yueru. Perhaps the author meant Yuanwei Medical—but Luo Qi was qualified for that position, and the plan was always for her to transfer there so she could move to Shanghai after her wedding. Perhaps this was just Luo Qi being self-deprecating. ↩︎

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A list of all advance chapters is HERE.
Chapter 31.1 — He Appears in Her ‘Circle of Friends’
Chapter 31.2 — He Appears in Her ‘Circle of Friends’
Chapter 31.3 — He Appears in Her ‘Circle of Friends’