After hanging up the phone, Jian Hang went to the door and brought in the milk and two large bags of several items.
She was wearing pajamas; she went to the bedroom closet to take out a slip dress and changed into it, putting his white shirt over it. Jian Hang then took her phone and went downstairs.
The driver made an excuse to go to the convenience store across the street, leaving only Qin Moling in the car.
Jian Hang knocked on the car window, and after a few seconds, the window reluctantly rolled down from inside.
She bent down and pressed her face against the car window. The lights inside the car were off, with only the dim streetlights shining in from the side.
His eyes held a mixture of light and shadow.
Jian Hang said, “The milk in the fridge is almost gone.” Then asked, “Aren’t you going upstairs?”
Qin Moling looked at her calmly, “If you haven’t reflected on your actions, what am I supposed to do up there?”
Jian Hang didn’t argue with him, only looked at him quietly and gently.
Qin Moling’s cold expression gradually softened. “Jian Hang, you can’t understand what it’s like to be separated from your family.”
He added, “No matter what conflicts arise in the future, I won’t leave you alone in the villa. I also hope this is the last time, and that it won’t happen again.”
Jian Hang reached out and took his hand.
Qin Moling looked her up and down in his white shirt. “It’s hot. Don’t wear so much in the future.”
“Mmm.” Jian Hang looked at him and asked for a kiss.
Qin Moling ignored her and didn’t kiss her.
He was sitting in the car, so it wasn’t convenient for her to kiss him.
Just as Jian Hang was about to stand up straight, Qin Moling grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to the door. He held her neck with one hand and kissed her through the car window.
After the kiss ended, Jian Hang pressed her lips to his, “Aren’t you going up? If you’re not going up, I’ll go back and look at the documents.”
Qin Moling refused. “I’m not going up. You should prepare well; you still have to deal with Zhao Yanhai next week.”
There was still a tough battle to fight; he wouldn’t go up, and Jian Hang didn’t stay.
She watched his car slowly drive away and disappear into the night before entering her apartment building.
… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com
Jian Hang didn’t know much about Zhao Yanhai.
The next day, when she arrived at the company, she called Zhou Yi and said, “Come to my office.”
Zhou Yi knew the situation of Lemeng’s senior management, so Jian Hang asked him to explain it to her.
Zhou Yi kindly advised her, “Don’t get involved in the power struggles among the higher-ups. Zhao Yanhai hasn’t made things difficult for you on the surface, so there’s no need for you to fight him to the death. It won’t do you or the Fourth Division any good.”
Jian Hang took out a summary sheet of OEM orders from her bag and handed it to him, “Take a look.”
“What do you mean?” Zhou Yi flipped through two pages, staring at her in disbelief. “You want to compete with Zhao Yanhai for the factory’s OEM rights? What else do you want to do?”
Jian Hang said, “The company has authorized the Fourth Division to be responsible for our own profits and losses, so the income that the Fourth Division generates should belong to the Fourth Division. The income from the OEM orders naturally belongs to the Fourth Division.”
“Does Qin Moling know what you’re up to?”
“He knows.”
“He’s going crazy along with you, too? Qin Moling fired Yu Ming and the other two, and Zhao Yanhai has been seething with hatred ever since. Now you plan to take six factories from him. Do you know the consequences of unequal distribution of profits? It’s easy to crash and burn! So many companies have been ruined by internal strife. No one is in the mood to run the actual business anymore, and they eventually go bankrupt.”
“I know what I’m doing.” Jian Hang got up, poured a glass of water, and handed it to him. “Tell me slowly. I want to know all the details.”
There was a lot to say about the internal power struggles within Lemeng’s upper management, and it all started more than a decade ago. Zhou Yi heard about it from his father.
After finishing two glasses of water, Zhou Yi, his throat almost burning, finally managed to explain the general outline of the internal strife.
Jian Hang felt reassured and now knew how to deal with Zhao Yanhai, so after lunch, to refresh her mind, she logged into the game she hadn’t played in a long time.
Lin Xiao exclaimed excitedly: [Older Brother! You’re finally online!]
Jian Hang: [Mm.]
She teamed up with Lin Xiao and Qin Xing to play games together, but Lin Xiao was eliminated not long afterward.
Even after Lin Xiao was eliminated, he didn’t quit and continued watching Little Olive’s game.
After Little Olive took down two opponents in a row, he couldn’t help but exclaim, “Holy crap! Bro, you’re awesome!”
Lin Xiao was wearing headphones and didn’t hear footsteps at the office door, nor did he hear the door being pushed open. He vaguely sensed a dark figure in front of him and felt a sharp gaze fixed on him.
Lin Xiao suddenly looked up, then awkwardly pulled off his headphones. “Manager Zhou.”
Zhou Yi came over to ask about the progress of the official Weibo account operation, “Is the work finished?”
Lin Xiao: “Isn’t this lunch break?”
“With the entire Fourth Division in this state, how can you possibly stay idle?”
“…”
Regarding lunch breaks, Lin Xiao suddenly missed his time in Yinlin. No matter how demanding the female boss was, she never took up their lunch break time, nor would she suddenly appear in their office area during lunch breaks.
Compared to this, Zhou Yi’s vision was still lacking.
“I’m watching a game. It’ll be over soon, and then I’ll start working.”
Zhou Yi stood next to him and stared at the screen for a few minutes. “Is this a pro player’s smurf account1?”
“No. He just plays casually in his spare time,” Lin Xiao said proudly. “My good friend.”
And so the following scene unfolded: Zhou Yi took Lin Xiao’s phone, put on his earphones, and sat down to watch the game, while Lin Xiao stood to the side with nothing to do.
Zhou Yi’s gaming skills were already quite good, but compared to Little Olive, there was still a significant gap.
… …
At that moment, Zheng Yanshu came to see Jian Hang in her office.
Zheng Yanshu didn’t see Jian Hang’s phone screen, but he guessed what Jian Hang was doing with her phone held in landscape mode. He was very familiar with this action; it was something Zhou Yi did every day: play games.
“You still have the mood to play games?”
“Why not? Win a game before the sky falls.”
“…”
When Jian Hang was in Yinlin, no one disturbed her during her lunch break. She hadn’t closed the door before playing games, as was her habit.
“Director Zheng, could you please keep this a secret? Don’t let those two in the Marketing Department know I’m playing games.”
Zheng Yanshu was speechless.
The battle ended, and Jian Hang won this round. She immediately logged out of the game and said, “What’s up? Tell me.”
Zheng Yanshu replied, “I’m going to Jiangcheng on a business trip tomorrow. I need to talk to Mr. Luo about some things in person. The more distributors who make payments, the stronger our bargaining power will be when negotiating with venture capital firms.”
If all went well, he would also go to Suzhou to see Mr. Zhao again. Mr. Zhao was still holding a grudge because Jian Hang closed his distributor account.
After reporting the upcoming arrangements, Zheng Yanshu returned to his office. As he passed by Lin Xiao’s office, Zhou Yi was also there, and he glanced inside.
Zhou Yi and Lin Xiao were reviewing the game and discussing it enthusiastically.
Zheng Yanshu: “…”
They’ve all fallen.
… …
Jian Hang put down her phone. With half an hour left in her lunch break, she went to the restroom to get a spray bottle to water the plants. Of the ten figurines next to the plants, nine were neatly arranged together, while hers was alone on one side.
Jian Hang picked up her figurine, looked at it again and again, and then put it back.
She glanced at the nine figurines, then at the diamond ring on her ring finger. The wedding was in two months; given her current level of familiarity with Qin Moling, what vows would he say at the ceremony?
Even though they’ve already registered their marriage, she still occasionally looked forward to the sense of ceremony.
She messaged Qin Moling: [Did you delegate all the wedding preparations to someone else?]
Qin Moling asked: [Why did you bring this up?]
Jian Hang: [Nothing, just suddenly thought of the wedding.]
Qin Moling: [You can find your own bridesmaids; don’t worry about the rest, I’ll arrange everything.]
He texted again: [Aren’t your two best friends abroad? Make sure they can come that day. If they can’t, I’ll help you find bridesmaids.]
Jian Hang: [No need. They’re going back to China soon.] Maybe this week, maybe next week.
Qin Moling: [What kind of wedding do you want? A simpler or more elaborate ceremony? You can tell me. There’s still time to make changes before August.]
Jian Hang couldn’t think of what kind of wedding she wanted for a moment. [The wedding doesn’t matter. As long as the groom is you.]
Qin Moling replied: [Yes, I’ll pick you up and take you home that day.]
He put down his phone, went to the tea cabinet, and took out the custom-made glass. If it weren’t for that argument, he would have given the glass to her long ago.
For five consecutive days, Jian Hang did not see Qin Moling, nor did he go to her apartment.
Marriage First, Love Later translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com
T/N: Jian Hang and her tag-alongs play mobile games (probably Honor of Kings; very popular in China) but me, I follow League of Legends. Specifically the South Korean league (LCK), and more specifically T1 Team; even more specifically this ‘very young’ player called FAKER. Worlds 2026 is going on right now and my boys got into quarter-finals 😎
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- Smurf account is an alternate account created by a strong player to play in lower-tiered matches against players less skilled than them. While smurf accounts aren’t exactly banned, they are disliked because they ruin fair matching. It’s not fun when you’re a Silver player suddenly confronted with an opponent with Diamond Level skills. ↩︎
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