Zhou Yang and Jingjing’s acquaintance wasn’t particularly brief, but they really got to know each other during a major misunderstanding.

Zhou Yang mistakenly thought Jingjing was stealing from the exhibition house, leading to a significant mix-up between them.

He also got a thorough introduction to a familiar internet phrase: “drama queen.”

Jingjing was not only a drama queen but also an expert at flattery.

What was surprising was that despite her boss being someone who disliked flattery, he seemed to genuinely enjoy Jingjing’s exaggerated praise.

Zhou Yang thought Jingjing’s behavior was below the standard line of intelligence that Zhan Qingyue held, and thus wouldn’t get his attention.

However, it turned out she was being treated like a favorite in the court of ancient emperors.

One reason for this was related to Ning Qiuxiu, as most of Jingjing’s flattery was connected to Ning Qiuxiu.

Ning Qiuxiu was also someone who didn’t meet Zhan Qingyue’s so-called standard line of intelligence, yet her rehabilitation life brought immense joy.

So, Zhou Yang wondered if the reason why the various pretty girls around Zhan Qingyue never caught his eye was simply that they were too clever?

“……” Zhou Yang found his boss’s thinking quite peculiar.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but pay attention to Jingjing, trying to understand what made her so charming.

After all, he didn’t dare focus on Ning Qiuxiu—Zhan Qingyue had a mind as sharp as a needle.

If he thought Zhou Yang had ulterior motives, his job could be at risk.

However, while paying attention, Zhou Yang tragically found himself becoming affected as well.

---

Recently, Jingjing had been feeling that Zhou Yang was acting strangely.

He would send her gifts for no apparent reason but would always come up with excuses, such as claiming it was something a friend accidentally bought too many of, or that he saw it on the street and thought it looked nice, or that it was a gift from a client he didn’t use.

Yet, Zhou Yang would often flip out and act arrogantly, leaving Jingjing puzzled about what was going on in his mind.

Such a mysterious person would have a hard time finding a spouse in the future!

One day, Jingjing was on vacation and went shopping with her friend, Liu Ai.

Even though it was late April, the weather was quite warm.

Liu Ai, who liked to dress up, wore a more revealing outfit, showing off her white shoulders and long legs, and covered it with a thin outer layer for sun protection.

As they walked down the street, they received a lot of attention.

“I feel like I’m a Cinderella,” Jingjing, who was more sensitive to the cold, was wearing a long dress in the hot weather. Although the dress wasn’t ugly, walking beside Liu Ai made her look quite plain. She complained, “Why are you dressed so nicely?”

“If you don’t dress up nicely yourself, don’t blame me for looking good,” Liu Ai teased, pinching her face and laughing, “Look at your face, it’s wasted on that outfit.”

“……” Jingjing, who was getting scolded by her best friend, fell silent for a moment.

She indeed felt quite out of place and said dejectedly, “Work doesn’t allow me to keep up with the times. It’s been ages since I had a break.”

Being a caregiver seems free and easy, with not many daily tasks, but in reality, there are few opportunities for real time off.

She had to stay by her employer’s side every day, ready for various situations.

“Now’s a chance,” Liu Ai pulled her along, pointing to a mall across the street, “Let’s go to that mall and pick out something nice for you. We’ll make you look like a princess.”

“Let’s go, let’s go.” Jingjing was excited at the thought of shopping.

As they headed towards the mall, they passed by a club with several luxury cars parked outside.

Liu Ai couldn’t help but glance at them and sighed, “Being rich is so nice.”

Jingjing laughed, “If you marry a rich husband, you’ll have everything.”

“Even so, you need to find one first. By the way, haven’t you encountered any wealthy men while working as a caregiver? You’re not bad looking. Haven’t any young masters or rich heirs shown interest in you?”

Jingjing rolled her eyes, “Do you think this is a TV drama? Rich families are all about social status and matching backgrounds. They wouldn’t look at people like us.”

“……Alright then.”

“Who says rich families care about social status?”

While the two were chatting, they were suddenly startled by a voice behind them.

Turning around, they saw two young men dressed fashionably.

One was holding a phone up to them, and the other was twirling a car key, the logo of a luxury car clearly visible.

The two men brightened upon seeing their faces. The one holding the phone said, “We’re live streaming, and our audience loves seeing beautiful ladies like you. How about saying hi to our viewers?”

“No interest,” Jingjing said, pulling Liu Ai’s hand to leave, but the men blocked their way.

“Don’t be so stingy. We’re not bad guys. Look, these cars are ours and our friends’. They’re over there.”

He pointed to a pavilion not far away where several people dressed similarly were waving at them.

“Let’s be friends. The weather’s great. We can take you for a ride in our sports cars. You haven’t been in one, right?”

Jingjing knew they had encountered some rich kids.

Though they were in a public place and the men couldn’t do anything to them, Liu Ai, being straightforward, frowned and said, “Are you crazy? Filming people without their permission.”

“She says we’re crazy,” the men laughed. The one with the phone looked at his screen, saying, “You all wanted to see beautiful women, and now we’re being called perverts. What should we do?”

Feeling very uncomfortable with being filmed, Jingjing tried to pull Liu Ai away. But Liu Ai was ready to argue when suddenly, someone behind them called out, “Jingjing?”

Turning around, Jingjing cursed inwardly. Great, one problem wasn’t enough; here comes another.

Zhou Yang, seeing it was indeed her, felt a mix of frustration and disappointment at her obvious reluctance to see him.

But he walked over nonetheless.

“Li Shao,” Zhou Yang greeted one of the men, surprising everyone.

“You are… You look familiar,” Li Shao said, trying to place him.

“From the celebration dinner after Zhuosen’s cooperation with your father,” Zhou Yang reminded him. “These two are my friends.”

“Oh, right, right, Assistant Zhou!” Li Shao’s attitude shifted dramatically. “Sorry, sorry, my memory is terrible. These two are your friends? We were just saying hi, no harm meant.”

Jingjing: “…”

Zhou Yang’s face remained expressionless as he glanced at the phone still aimed at them.

“Turn it off, turn it off,” Li Shao hurriedly said. “We were just bored, live streaming, chatting with our viewers, watching the beauties passing by, absolutely no harm meant, I swear.”

Zhou Yang: “Have you seen enough?”

“Seen enough, seen enough,” Li Shao said quickly, then realized it sounded wrong. “No, no, that’s not what I meant. We…”

“I understand,” Zhou Yang cut him off, not wanting to hear any more rambling. “We’re leaving now.”

He gave Jingjing a look.

Jingjing quickly pulled Liu Ai to follow Zhou Yang, hearing Li Shao’s sycophantic voice behind them, “Take care, take care.”

Liu Ai, a bit confused, followed Jingjing closely, whispering, “Is he your friend?”

“Uh… sort of.”

Jingjing wasn’t sure they could be considered friends, at least not the way she thought friends should be.

“He’s so handsome. Is he single?”

Before Jingjing could answer, Zhou Yang stopped abruptly, causing the two behind him to almost bump into his back.

He turned around, seeing Jingjing’s embarrassed retreat, finding it amusing despite his lack of expression.

“Did they do anything to you?” Zhou Yang asked.

“No, thank you again. You’ve helped me once more,” Jingjing said with a hint of embarrassment, as if she always ended up needing Zhou Yang’s help whenever she got into trouble.

Zhou Yang replied, “It’s just a small favor.”

Liu Ai was internally swooning over how handsome Zhou Yang was but maintained a calm exterior.

She said, “Those two rich brats were too much. Each one acted like they’d never seen a woman before.”

“They were just making a fuss,” Zhou Yang observed clearly. Glancing at his watch, he said to Jingjing, “I have a few things to take care of and can’t stay too long. You…”

“We’ll go shopping by ourselves, so you won’t be delayed. Go on!” Jingjing’s voice carried a hint of uncontainable excitement.

She really didn’t want to talk to Zhou Yang any longer; she found it quite strange.

Zhou Yang: “……”

“Be careful,” Zhou Yang said.

“I will. Thanks again, goodbye!”

Jingjing watched Zhou Yang walk into the club with a troubled expression and then smiled, saying to Liu Ai, “Let’s go, let’s continue shopping.”

Liu Ai asked, “Isn’t this handsome guy interested in you?”

“Huh? No,” Jingjing was puzzled for a moment but then laughed, “Don’t be fooled by his position as an assistant. He’s the special assistant to the chairman of a Zhousen company. He’s more impressive than the general managers we usually meet. Did you see how those two rich brats were scared of him? People like him are out of our league.”

“But,” Liu Ai said, “I noticed his gaze towards you was different. He looked at others with indifference but smiled at you. Really!”

Jingjing: “……”

“You must have been mistaken.” Jingjing couldn’t imagine Zhou Yang having feelings for her.

“I’m sure of it!” Liu Ai insisted. “Even if he’s not pursuing you, he must have a secret crush on you. Believe me, trust me, sister!”

“……” What nonsense!

She didn’t want to think about it at all!

However, with Liu Ai’s reminder, Jingjing’s wooden brain finally started to turn over. It seemed Zhou Yang was indeed… acting unusually.

Why was he always making excuses to give her things? It must be because of love.

Why did he always flip out and act aloof? Maybe because she hadn’t noticed his affection.

It all seemed to make sense.

Jingjing was suddenly struck by a thunderbolt.

She was stunned and the only thing on her mind was: What the heck!

What the heck, what the heck, what the heck!

She couldn’t imagine what Zhou Yang saw in her.

Ugh, this logic doesn’t add up.

Isn’t it normal for Zhou Yang to be interested in a serious caregiver like her?

To put it another way, how on earth did Zhou Yang come to like her? It made no sense at all.

---

The realization that Zhou Yang liked her seemed utterly unbelievable to Jingjing.

After Zhou Yang once again tried to give her a rather expensive bag as a gift, Jingjing couldn’t hold back any longer.

She directly asked in a joking tone, “You keep giving me things. Don’t tell me you like me?”

“Yes.” To Jingjing’s surprise, Zhou Yang admitted it openly.

“……” Jingjing was almost floored by his blunt response.

“When… did this happen?”

Zhou Yang: “I don’t know.”

Jingjing: “???”

Could you be any more indifferent?

Or is this what they call “love that starts from nowhere and becomes deeply rooted”?

Although Jingjing found the idea of Zhou Yang liking her quite absurd and unbelievable, she decided to give it a try under Liu Ai’s encouragement.

After all, it’s rare to encounter such an outstanding and handsome man, and opportunities like this don’t come around often.

They didn’t have any deep-seated grudges, and Zhou Yang was a man of good character.

He wouldn’t look down on her profession or be interested in her only because of wealth.

He genuinely liked her.

So, even though she didn’t have strong feelings for Zhou Yang, she decided to change her attitude and give him a chance.

After breaking the ice between them, Zhou Yang began to pursue Jingjing.

Zhou Yang might be a powerful figure in the business world, able to handle situations with ease and earn respect from many high-society individuals who addressed him as Assistant Zhou or Mr. Zhou.

However, in matters of romance, his intelligence seemed to take a nosedive.

One day.

Zhou Yang had just arrived at the company when he received a message from Jingjing: [I just saw a really funny joke]

A joke?

Zhou Yang exited WeChat, found Jingjing’s number, and called her.

Jingjing was typing when the call came in.

Seeing it was Zhou Yang, she assumed it was something important and answered, “Hello, what’s up?”

“What’s the joke you saw?” Zhou Yang asked.

“……” Jingjing was just typing, but seeing Zhou Yang’s impatience made her a bit happy.

She said, “I’ll type it out and send it to you on WeChat.”

“Typing takes too much time. Isn’t it more convenient to just say it?” Zhou Yang replied.

Jingjing: “???”

“Are you busy?” Jingjing wondered.

“No, I just got to the company.”

Jingjing was displeased: “So you can’t even type a couple of words?”

“If you say it, it’s quicker. Typing one word per second is slow. Speaking allows you to say 3-4 words per second, saving 3-4 times the time, which you can use for other things.”

Jingjing: “………………..”

You’re so impressive, why didn’t Tsinghua University admit you?

She angrily hung up the phone.

Jingjing found that Zhou Yang was extremely straightforward and a bit reserved, often putting his foot in his mouth with his words.

She also vaguely understood why such an excellent man, who was already in his thirties and still single, hadn’t found a girlfriend yet.

It was clear that few women could tolerate his way of being.

However, the more she interacted with him, the more she realized that aside from his low emotional intelligence, reserved demeanor, and slightly aloof attitude, everything else about Zhou Yang was quite alright.

For example, he was a warm and caring person.

He would quietly remember Jingjing’s menstrual cycle and remind her in advance to be prepared, since she was quite careless and often had no warning or symptoms when her period started.

Sometimes it even happened in the middle of the night, leading to messy sheets. Zhou Yang would remind her the day before her period started.

He would also insist on waiting until the lights in her house were on before leaving, making sure she got home safely.

He checked the weather forecast daily and reminded her to take an umbrella or dress warmly if there was rain or a drop in temperature.

So Jingjing felt both love and frustration towards him, and their “romantic battle” stretched on endlessly.

One day, thanks to Jingjing’s ex-boyfriend getting drunk and causing trouble, Zhou Yang successfully “kidnapped” Jingjing to his home.

“Wow, you really do have two rooms,” Jingjing confirmed again as they approached the door. “And there are two beds and two sets of bedding, right?”

“……” Zhou Yang was silent for a moment before saying, “Is my reputation in your eyes so precarious?”

“No, no,” Jingjing waved her hand, indicating that wasn’t her intention.

She explained, “A friend of mine once said he had two rooms in his house and brought his girlfriend over, only to find there weren’t two beds. They had to share one bed, and it led to ‘fire on the prairie.’ Hmph, that friend of mine seems like such a decent guy, but turns out he’s a big pig!”

“So,” Jingjing dramatically placed her hands on her chest, “I’m afraid you’re a serious-looking man plotting something untoward.”

Zhou Yang: “……”

He lifted the corner of his mouth and said, “Don’t worry, I guarantee, with my boss’s integrity, that there are definitely two rooms and two beds.”

“……” Does your boss have integrity?

Of course, Jingjing didn’t dare say that. But since they were already at the door, turning back wasn’t realistic.

Jingjing entered with him. Zhou Yang’s house was large, decorated in a low-key luxurious and comfortable style, with everything neatly arranged, looking like a show home.

Jingjing was overwhelmed: “You don’t, um, have obsessive-compulsive disorder or a cleanliness fetish, do you?”

If they were to live together in the future, she’d be driven mad by the need to keep the place like this.

“No,” Zhou Yang didn’t understand why she was asking, “Why?”

“Your house is so meticulously clean it makes me uncomfortable.”

“Oh,” Zhou Yang nodded, then said, “Maybe it’s waiting for a mistress to come and break it.”

Jingjing: “……”

Sudden romantic talk.

“What if the mistress is very messy?” Jingjing asked with a slight blush, touched by his unexpected romantic words.

Zhou Yang replied matter-of-factly, “I’ll hire a housekeeper.”

Jingjing: “……”

Is saying another sweet word going to be the death of you???