When she went downstairs the next morning, Jian Hang wore a long khaki coat with the belt tied so that no one could see the slim-fitting long dress she was wearing underneath.

Qin Moling was already in the dining room.

“Morning,” Jian Hang greeted him.

Qin Moling—who rarely responded—said, “Morning.”

She was already wearing her dress for dinner underneath; Jian Hang didn’t plan to have breakfast with Qin Moling. She would have to take off her coat when eating. She had to wait until dinner tonight before letting the dress make its appearance.

She was carrying the laptop bag in one hand and the bag that Grandma Qin gave her on Valentine’s Day on her shoulder.

Qin Moling saw that she was wearing a coat and seemed to have no intention of sitting down, “Don’t want breakfast?”

Jian Hang replied without changing her expression, “I’m running late. I have a video conference with the headquarters.”

Aunt Geng came out of the kitchen, “You can’t do without breakfast. Just wait for two minutes, I’ll pack something for you and you can take it with you to eat on the way. You can finish breakfast while you wait at the red light.”

Aunt Geng moved quickly and packed breakfast for Jian Hang.

There were tea eggs on the dining table. Jian Hang looked at the tea eggs on the plate and glanced at Qin Moling, thinking that he helped her peel the egg shells yesterday morning.

Qin Moling felt her meaningful look, and he knew what it meant. She wanted him to continue peeling eggshells for her.

Yesterday, he already spoiled her once, and now she wanted him to do it a second time.

If he didn’t peel it for her, she would be unhappy.

Qin Moling finally put down the chopsticks in his hand, wiped his hands, and began to peel off the eggshells.

Aunt Geng smiled knowingly. She packed a few slices of whole-wheat toast, grilled sausages, a box of yogurt and a box of fruit, and packed Qin Moling’s peeled tea eggs.

Jian Hang took the bag of breakfast and said goodbye to Qin Moling, “I’m leaving.”

Qin Moling nodded. He wanted to tell her to drive slower, but for some reason he didn’t say it.

Aunt Geng waited for Jian Hang to leave and told Qin Moling, “There is no black tea at home. Should I go buy some?” Cooking tea eggs required several types of tea, including high-quality black tea.

Qin Moling said, “I will buy it.”

The tea he bought was different from the tea Aunt Geng could buy in the specialty store.

… …

At noon, Qin Moling received a message from Jian Hang: she sent him the address of the restaurant where they would eat in the evening.

There was a knock on the office door.

Qin Moling was reading Jian Hang’s message and said without raising his head, “Come in.”

Secretary Gao came to deliver some documents and reminded the boss, “Mr. Qin, the gift has already been delivered and the birthday party will start at seven o’clock in the evening.”

Qin Moling raised his eyes. He thought for a long time but didn’t know whose birthday it was today. “Whose birthday is it?”

Secretary Gao was nonplussed.  “… Deputy GM of the Second Division.”

Fortunately, she reminded the boss. He usually had a good memory. She thought that he would remember what day it was since he attended Zhong Yanyue’s birthday party two years in a row.

Qin Moling finally remembered that it seemed to be today.

When Zhong Yanyue returned to China two years ago, he had just happened to take over Lemeng. Lemeng’s internal management was in chaos, and she over came to help.

After joining Lemeng’s Second Division, Zhong Yanyue put aside her status as the daughter of the Zhong family and did her job conscientiously without any princess-like attitude.

Her help was limited, but he always remembered the favor.

So in the past few years, he went to celebrate her birthday.

Qin Moling decided to just show his face at Zhong Yanyue’s birthday party and leave. He replied to Jian Hang: [“I have something to do later. Can our dinner be postponed to eight o’clock?”]

Jian Hang: [It’s okay, you’re busy.]

She completely understood Qin Moling’s temporary postponement because she, too, would sometimes have social events suddenly come up that she couldn’t refuse. As the boss of a large company, Qin Moling had more unexpected situations than she did, and some social events couldn’t be avoided.

She was worried that two hours would not be enough for him to deal with matters. Anyway, the meal would be the same whether today or on any other day. [Let’s go out to dinner together another day. I happen to have work tonight as well.]

Qin Moling thought how she had just taken over Wanyue’s merger and acquisition project and likely had a lot to do. [“Then we can have dinner another day.”]

… …

Jian Hang put down her phone and looked down at the dress she was wearing. Fortunately, she didn’t let Qin Moling see it in the morning. She could still wear it next time for when they re-schedule this dinner date. She could keep the dress at the bottom of the trunk.

No other dress she owned was eye-catching as this one.

It was almost time for her meeting, so Jian Hang took her laptop and headed to the conference room.

The most eye-catching thing today was the boss’ outfit. Sharp-eyed female colleagues recognized it at a glance. It was a runway style dress, and when it was worn by their boss, she seemed to imbue it with a different look.

The meeting lasted nearly two hours; most of the problems were solved on the spot, while some still needed to be communicated with the client.

Jian Hang also discussed some work related to the Wanyue merger and acquisition project. The company the Wanyue Group wanted to acquire was headquartered in Suzhou.

These coming days, she will travel to Suzhou City often.

There was a coordination meeting with the company being acquired for proper due diligence. It was scheduled the day after tomorrow in Suzhou City, and Jian Hang needed to be there. She would take the high-speed train to Suzhou tomorrow morning.

This dinner with Qin Moling—she didn’t know when they could have it.

Marriage First, Love Later translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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T/N: The story tends to be heavy on business terms. I tried to make it understandable but just holler if something’s unclear. If you’re in unrelated industries—say fine arts or marine biology—you’re not exactly called to understand what ‘due diligence’ is.

Anyway, it’s basically a very, very thorough investigation of a person/company’s financial background—assets, liabilities, properties, debts, patents, employee records, lease, bank records, etc.. In this case, Jian Hang’s team will be conducting due diligence on a company based in Suzhou City that Wanyue Group plans to acquire. Nobody wants to be blindsided by a creatively hidden 100million debt the day after the acquisition contract has been signed.

If you’re enjoying my translations, do consider buying me ko-fi and get access to advance chapters as reward. Thank you for your support! ☺️
Chapter 28.3 — Missed Date
Chapter 29.1 — Duty
Chapter 29.2 — Duty
Chapter 29.3 — Duty