This wasn't the first time Liang Weining had lit a cigarette for Chen Jingyuan.
But today was obviously special.
After lighting it, she immediately regretted it, thinking back to the earlier incident, wasn't she just making things even more susceptible to misunderstanding?
Liang Weining was frightened by her own thoughts.
If you stand straight, you don't fear a crooked shadow, why trouble oneself with baseless things?
On the sofa, after Chen Jingyuan slowly exhaled a mouthful of smoke, he half-closed his eyes and asked through the thin smoke, "Does Secretary Liang have a boyfriend?"
His tone was extremely casual.
A personal question.
Normally, Liang Weining would of course be truthful.
But, as if possessed, to give a reasonable explanation for the earlier condom incident and to prove her innocence, she lied blatantly, "Yes."
In her dreams.
When she pretended to be serious, like a primary school student swearing to the teacher that their homework had been eaten by a dog, little did Liang Weining know her lying face was quite endearingly naive.
After that statement, Chen Jingyuan showed no particular reaction.
Liang Weining strategically picked up her teacup, gently blew on it, took a small sip, and then heard the man chuckle lightly.
That chuckle, it was unclear whether he believed her or not.
In any case, the topic was dropped, and he didn't ask any further.
Lost in thought, she followed Uncle Ming out of the villa's front door without hurry.
In front of the tree-lined path, he politely said, "I'll stop here, Secretary Liang, please have a safe walk."
Liang Weining responded with a slight smile and nodded her farewell.
The scenery whizzed past the window, as the taxi drove along Pok Fu Lam Road toward Central.
There was a slight traffic jam mid-way, and it took an hour to arrive at the company.
With Liang Weining out on official duty and Vivi on leave, the secretarial office was unusually quiet today.
When she entered the door, the only people sitting inside were a few intern assistants. After greeting her, they immediately plunged back into their work.
At her workstation, Liang Weining turned on the computer, logged into the system email, and saw the dense mass of unread notifications waiting for her to reply to each one.
She didn't know how long she sat there, until the afterglow on the distant sea began to slant and it was nearly time to leave work, Gu Yunzhen sent a message, asking what time she would be home.
The apartment she rented with her best friend was located in the Kwai Tsing District of the New Territories, just four subway stops from Central to Tsing Yi.
Although the neighborhood was old and couldn't compare to commercial apartments, it was packed with long-term residents and filled with the vigor of life, and most importantly, the rent was relatively cheap.
As Liang Weining changed her shoes at the entrance, a meal of three dishes and a soup, along with four cans of beer, was already set on the dining table.
She tilted her head towards the busy figure in the kitchen and asked with puzzlement, "You're not driving tonight?"
The sound of the pot spatula paused for two seconds, then Gu Yunzhen threw her a look that said to figure it out for herself.
Oh.
She almost forgot.
Today was Friday, and following the rules of Sands Casino, non-local contract workers were not allowed to take on jobs on their own.
Plainly put, it was deliberate suppression of outsiders.
Liang Weining mentally cursed the ancestors of the casino's owner, washed her hands in the bathroom, and when she came out, all the dishes were served.
The dining room was small, but big enough for a small square table. Each opened a beer can, clinked them together, and Gu Yunzhen said, "I'm going to the sea this weekend. Take care of yourself at home and don't let me come back to find the fridge cleaner than your face."
Liang Weining hummed while eating, "What going out to sea, you clearly have a dog behind my back."
"..."
Look at that aggrieved face.
Gu Yunzhen patted her head with a smile that wasn't quite a smile, "Even if I did, it would just be a stray dog, never better than the sweetheart at home."
"Really?" Liang Weining suddenly became agitated, probing, "So your return home after midnight last night was because you were out fooling around with a man?"
"You're overthinking it."
"Then what about the condom in my bag?"
Condoms...
After a two-second pause, Gu Yunzhen explained calmly, "Last night I went to the airport to pick up a client, and who would have known he brought his wife along too. I mean, he's going to Macau, what's he doing bringing his wife, right?
But since they were already here, I had to be a good host. I arranged the hotel and even thoughtfully prepared a few sets of *intimate products* for the couple, but it was all for naught, none were used."
"Why not?"
Gu Yunzhen spread his hands, "The couple is trying to conceive."
Well, that clears things up.
However, having mentioned that, Liang Weining couldn't help but complain about the embarrassing incident that happened today while delivering documents.
After listening to the melodramatic saga, the very instigator showed no sign of remorse.
Seeing her look of chagrin, Gu Yunzhen couldn't resist asking curiously, "Honestly, working alongside someone as powerful and influential as Chen Jingyuan every day, haven't you ever been tempted even a little bit?"
"Temptations are everywhere in a secretary's position, but have you ever seen a commoner trying to scale a pyramid?"
In short, Liang Weining is just an ordinary young girl in her early twenties.
A young woman, faced with a powerful man, cannot be completely unaffected.
However, her admiration for Chen Jingyuan has nothing to do with romantic affairs.
Her current state is more like standing on the shoulders of a giant to see the world.
Rationality overwhelmingly prevails.
-
Weekends without best friends are lonely, isolated, and cold.
Liang Weining stayed home playing games; it had been a long time since she last logged in, and she was surprised to find her account had been hacked.
Feeling indignant, she tried to contact customer service to retrieve it.
But to no avail.
The more she thought about it, the more frustrated she became, so using her company's mobile number, she registered a new account, entered the public service area, typed in her old ID, and sent a private message to that scoundrel.
[You despicable account thief, I curse you to never catch your shit when it's still warm. ]
After venting, she took a cup and went to the kitchen to make some juice.
A few minutes later, she came back to see a popup on the gaming interface. She looked closely.
[Login invalid, forcibly logged out!]
Liang Weining: ??
The next second, the countdown began.
When the numbers reached zero, the screen was completely taken over by pink pig heads.
Liang Weining: ...
This is outrageous!
Helpless, at two in the afternoon on Sunday, she took her computer to Sha Tin Repair City. The shop owner, holding a Cantonese accent, asked, "What's the problem, beautiful?"
Liang Weining opened the computer, turned the screen toward the owner, and slid it over, "It's infected."
Hearing her speak so clearly and standardly, the owner naturally switched to Hong Kong-style Mandarin, joked while checking, "So young, you should find a boyfriend to play with, you can't just click on any website."
"..."
Thanks for your advice, but that's not my thing.
She paid a deposit and was told to wait three hours.
Nearby was the Sha Tin Racecourse, and today just happened to be a race day. The shop owner suggested she could take a look around and maybe try her luck.
Having always had a streak of luck with unearned income from childhood, and with time to kill, Liang Weining decided it was worth a shot.
By the time she arrived at the racecourse, the circular open-air grandstand was already packed with people.
Down on the sand, the horse trainers and jockeys were introducing their horses to the spectators, making two laps around the field to facilitate betting.
As expected of racehorses, their coats were smooth as satin, their bodies robust and fluid. At a glance, almost each one looked like a champion.
But when it came to choosing people or horses, Liang Weining always preferred to talk with data.