```
In the camera frame, Jiang Ni's ears reddened at a visibly rapid pace because of his words.
Physiological reactions don't lie.
Just moments before, a mouth that was so adept at flirting now stuttered, struggling to form words.
Fortunately, Qin Jijing didn't make a big deal out of it; he put out his cigarette and shifted the conversation very gentlemanly, asking in a Beijing accent, "Where do you plan to go tomorrow?"
"I heard there's a hot spring hotel in the Suburbs of the Capital. I'm thinking of checking it out. I'm just not sure if this would trouble Assistant Cheng too much."
"If you knew how much bonus she's getting this month because of you, you wouldn't worry about that."
"..." Jiang Ni, following his lead, inquired further and couldn't help but gasp in shock at the astronomical figure she heard.
"Do you still need an assistant? I'm also looking for a job."
Knowing that she said it casually, Qin Jijing didn't take it seriously.
A pampered heiress, raised in the lap of luxury, probably had never been ordered around her whole life. Not to mention running errands, even the act of lighting a cigarette on the boat the other day was awkward and clumsy. Her own brother had probably never enjoyed such treatment from her all these years.
Outside the car.
The other executives got out of the car behind them, standing in a row outside the restaurant, waiting for Qin Jijing to get off.
Seeing Xiaoyu come down, they waved at him.
"Where's President Qin? Why hasn't he come down yet?"
"He's on a phone call."
"A call from headquarters?" One of the vice presidents checked the time on his wristwatch, calculating the time difference, "Isn't it the middle of the night back home? Which department? How much bonus did they offer to be so dedicated?"
Ten minutes passed, and the vice president asked, "How much longer will it take to end?"
Xiaoyu glanced at the back seat of the car, how would he know.
"You guys go ahead and order, I'll wait for President Qin."
"No, no, no, that wouldn't be good. Let's wait together."
Dressed in suits and shoes, they stood in line, looking from afar like the restaurant's security staff.
Jiang Ni noticed that his car seemed to have been parked for a while and asked softly, "Mr. Qin, have we arrived?"
"Yeah, I'm about to have dinner with them."
Glancing out of the corner of his eye, Qin Jijing lowered his gaze, his tone natural: "I plan to return to the country next week. If you need anything, just talk to Cheng Yun. I usually don't check my phone when I'm working. If you feel uncomfortable speaking with Cheng Yun, just call me directly."
"Yeah, okay," Jiang Ni was surprised and grateful, "then I'll get some rest."
"Make sure you rest early after you're busy as well... Goodnight."
Qin Jijing responded.
"..." Jiang Ni retracted her gaze awkwardly.
A second before hanging up the video call, the lazy drawl of the man sounded again in the phone, finally wishing her back, "Goodnight."
At the restaurant entrance, the vice president rubbed his hands, asking Xiaoyu, "Which department's call was that? Even when I was reporting the acquisition of Rongli to President Qin earlier, it wasn't this time-consuming."
"With such inefficiency, it couldn't be someone sent by the opposing family, right?"
Xiaoyu choked, "Watch your phrasing."
"Speaking of the opposing family, I've heard that a lot of people in Beijing got into trouble recently, even the one from the Jiang Family was taken down."
"The Jiang Family? The one that's always been at odds with President Qin?"
"Apart from them, how many in Beijing can stand up to President Qin?"
Their perennial stationing at the overseas branch meant they were somewhat behind on domestic news.
"To this day, I still remember how that Mr. Jiang from last year gave us a hard time. Didn't we lose over ten billion back then? Old Liu from the project department almost got ruined, but President Qin managed to save him."
"Talk about poetic justice..."
They discussed how many bottles of fine wine they should open tonight to celebrate.
```
The car door closed not far away, and the group instantly fell silent.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Not at all, not at all, it's warm inside, we're just enjoying the breeze here, please, Mr. Qin——"
——
The next afternoon, at the hot springs hotel.
Jiang Ni changed into her clothes and came out of the dressing room.
The room was spacious and quiet, and Jiang Ni felt a bit bored being alone, so she invited Assistant Cheng to join her in the water.
The two chatted about Beijing, and soon the topic turned to Qin Jijing.
As the assistant to her own boss, Cheng Yun's answers were watertight and impossible to fault, but they contained no useful information.
Fortunately, Jiang Ni was just making casual inquiries; some things were easier to ask Bai Shu.
The smartphone screen on the tray by the pool lit up silently, and Assistant Cheng reminded her, "Miss Jiang, you have a call."
Jiang Ni turned to pick up the phone and hesitated upon seeing the unfamiliar number that wasn't saved.
Meanwhile, the sound of splashing water came from behind her. She turned around to see Assistant Cheng getting out of the water, "I'm going to get you a drink."
"Thank you, that's very nice of you," Jiang Ni sighed inwardly, truly fitting for Qin Jijing's assistant.
Once the assistant had disappeared into the room, Jiang Ni immediately redialed the number.
"Miss Jiang." It was Secretary Li Mi, whom she had met just the night before. Noting his uneven tone, Jiang Ni asked, "What's wrong?"
"The Madam visited Mr. Jiang today."
"..." Jiang Ni stood up from the water and quickly walked toward the steps, "What did they talk about?"
Li Mi replied, "I'm not quite sure yet..."
Before he could finish, a startled cry came from the other end of the phone, followed by the sound of a splash.
"Miss Jiang?"
After a good while, Jiang Ni's voice came through again on the phone, "I'm fine. You go and check on him, and we can talk about the rest later."
"Okay."
After hanging up, Jiang Ni threw the phone back onto the cushion by the pool and forced herself to stand up.
While she was on the phone just now, she had not noticed the steps and had missed one.
She looked down at the knee that was grazed with traces of blood, touched the wound with her finger, and winced in pain.
"Assistant Cheng?"
She called out tentatively a few times, and fortunately, Assistant Cheng had not gone far and was just outside the door. Hearing the noise, she pushed the door open and entered.
Seeing Jiang Ni sitting by the poolside, she paused in shock.
"Are you alright?" Assistant Cheng quickly stepped forward to help her up.
Jiang Ni really wanted to shake her head, but it hurt too much.
Sitting down on a nearby chair, Assistant Cheng called a servant to fetch a doctor and immediately reported the incident to Xiaoyu.
Xiaoyu thought Assistant Cheng was reporting on those trivial matters, such as where Miss Jiang went today, whom she met, what she had for lunch, which dish suited her taste, and how many green grapes or lychees she ate for afternoon tea.
He didn't pay much attention until he vaguely caught the words "injured" and "very serious."
His pupils dilated, and after hesitating outside the office for several seconds, he knocked on the door to signal.
Qin Jijing was in the middle of a meeting; seeing Xiaoyu enter frantically, he asked with his expression.
Xiaoyu leaned in and whispered, "There's been an incident with Miss Jiang in the country; it seems like the injury is not minor."
There seemed to be no change on Qin Jijing's face, and Xiaoyu felt annoyed, thinking he had overestimated Miss Jiang's significance to Mr. Qin. Before he could apologize for his rashness, he saw the man on the sofa putting down the documents in his hand, standing up, and speaking calmly to the guest opposite him:
"I'm sorry Chris, I need to deal with an emergency now."