Jiang Baiwan didn’t expect that Ji Chen would stand up from the other side of the table and sit beside her. Feeling Ji Chen’s proximity, Jiang Baiwan stiffened again.

“What’s wrong?” Ji Chen asked innocently. “Your face is red again. Are you blushing?”

Jiang Baiwan forced herself to be calm. “I’m in high spirits!”

Ji Chen: “……It’s not like I haven’t seen 《Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy》 before^[1]pertaining to the last two lines the two had exchange as it’s the same as the Peking opera play.”

“I’m just livening up the atmosphere. Don’t pay attention to the details.” Jiang Baiwan fanned her face with her hands and changed the subject once again, “Ji Chen, you suddenly invited me to dinner, what exactly is the matter?”

Ji Chen raised the corner of his mouth and appeared somewhat mischievous. “If I don’t tell you today, will you not be able to sleep at night?”

Jiang Baiwan was stunned for a moment, but before she could react, Ji Chen continued, “I just want to return your clothes and chat with you…… about the past.”

The past? Jiang Baiwan’s heart skipped a beat—— It’s over. She didn’t inherit any memory from the other Jiang Baiwan at all. Would she be exposed today?

“What’s there to talk about?” Jiang Baiwan’s heart was beating wildly as she said with a profound expression on her face. “It’s all over and I’ve already tasted the price of my willfulness. Isn’t that enough?”

Ji Chen’s eyes moved slightly. “It’s not your fault.”

Jiang Baiwan shook her head. “No matter whose fault it is, it won’t change my current situation, right? Ji Chen, I know you’re a good person, but…… you don’t have to be concerned about your ex-fiancée. It will only make me feel burdened.”

It was a very serious statement, but Ji Chen took a look at Jiang Baiwan and knew that she was talking nonsense with her eyes wide open again. Ji Chen lowered his eyes and gave an inexplicably smile. “I don’t know if you still remember but when I was leaving after participating in the show, didn’t I say something to you?”

Jiang Baiwan was taken aback, but before she could search her memory, Ji Chen said it again, “I told you, I regret it.”

……What does he mean?

Jiang Baiwan was stiff all over, feeling as if her brain was stuck in a quagmire, unable to function no matter how hard she tried.

Ji Chen stared at Jiang Baiwan’s eyes, his dark eyes deep, yet they seemed as if there were flames burning in the clear water, making it impossible for people to move their gaze away. Ji Chen’s lips parted slightly and he was about to say something when there was a knock on the door.

It was the waiter, and it turned out that the dishes Ji Chen ordered has arrived.

The two of them hurriedly withdraw their eyes. Watching the exquisite dishes being placed on the table, neither Ji Chen nor Jiang Baiwan had the heart to eat.

“Let’s eat.” Ji Chen simply stated. Jiang Baiwan lowered her head nervously. Just as she grabbed the chopsticks, she was stopped by Ji Chen.

“Wait a moment.” Ji Chen reached out his hand towards Jiang Baiwan’s cheek and gently lifted the strand of her hair that was scattered on her temple, tucking it behind her ear. “There.”

Ji Chen’s movements weren’t fast and Jiang Baiwan could feel the tip of his finger grazed a small piece of skin on her cheek, making the place where he touched seemed to become hot. It quickly spread into her entire face.

Jiang Baiwan, who turned her head away because of embarrassment, didn’t notice that when Ji Chen was brushing her hair, there seemed to be a flash of light outside the window, which was fleeting.

For the following meal, Jiang Baiwan kept blushing and was alarmed at the same time. She didn’t know what strange switch of Ji Chen was turned on, but he was always making some strange little actions from time to time, like putting food on her plate, or helping removed crumbs sticking to the corner of her mouth.

Jiang Baiwan couldn’t bear it anymore. She avoided Ji Chen’s hand reaching out to her again and looked at him with a very complicated gaze. “President Ji, did you…… take the wrong medicine today?”

Ji Chen concealed his laughter. His smile shallow but it reached the bottom of his eyes. “Xiao Wan always likes to tell jokes.”

Looking at Ji Chen’s bright smile, Jiang Baiwan couldn’t help feeling a chill.

But until the end of the meal, Ji Chen didn’t say anything to Jiang Baiwan other than some small talk…… From the moment Ji Chen called her downstairs up to now, Jiang Baiwan didn’t know what Ji Chen wanted. Or was it real that he was simply treating her to a meal?

Looking at the shirt he returned in her hand, Jiang Baiwan was puzzled.

But soon, her doubts were solved. On the second day after having dinner with Ji Chen, an entertainment gossip marketing account on Weibo suddenly released a set of pictures of Jiang Baiwan and Ji Chen having dinner! In one of the photo, Ji Chen was stroking Jiang Baiwan’s hair affectionately and the distance between the two of them was very close. Especially the last one, she didn’t know how the person took the sneaky shot, but it looks as if Ji Chen and Jiang Baiwan were kissing!

Nowadays, Jiang Baiwan was in the cusp of the storm. As soon as this group of photos were released, it immediately climbed up the hot search list and was quickly reposted by major entertainment gossip marketing accounts. Jiang Baiwan’s fans immediately became happy when they saw the photos and they also began to support Jiang Baiwan on Weibo.

【I told you that our Baiwan is a pretty good girl. I don’t know where the antis spreading rumors came from. See? Our President Ji and Baiwan are going out!】

【President Ji’s face is about to burst from smiling. Do you believe that the two of them have canceled their engagement?】

【I knew President Ji must be interested in Baiwan. Didn’t you see in the show, in order to seduce Baiwan, President Ji even used beauty tricks.】

Suddenly, many people who followed to smear Jiang Baiwan were slapped in the face, and the direction of the wind online also changed.

For a moment, some people weren’t convinced and went directly to Haochen Group’s verified Weibo account to leave comments below asking if Ji Chen, the president of Haochen Group, was really engaged with Jiang Baiwan. There’s even an entertainment account that swore that Jiang Baiwan and Ji Chen were definitely not an engage couple. It was simply because Ji Chen saw Jiang Baiwan’s good looks and was ‘taking care’ of her.

As a result, on the next day, Haochen Group’s Blue V account posted on Weibo——【It’s purely rumor and has already been handed over to our lawyers.】 The accompanying picture was a screenshot of the marketing account that said Jiang Baiwan was being kept by Ji Chen.

Immediately, there was another uproar on the Internet. Netizens quickly divided into two factions. One faction believed that Jiang Baiwan and Ji Chen must have been together all this time, and that the golden boy and the jade girl were a perfect match. Anyone who object were monsters. While the other faction believed that Jiang Baiwan was definitely not with Ji Chen. The official account only said that the ‘being kept’ thing was a rumor.

For a while, the two sides fought each other and no one could convince the other. Jiang Baiwan’s smearing situation was strangely twisted to the topic of ‘Are Ji Chen and Jiang Baiwan an engage couple?’

Just when the war of words between the two sides reached its peak, nosy people discovered that Ji Chen, the president of Haochen Group, had registered a personal Weibo account!

At once, millions of eyes were focused on Ji Chen’s Weibo, and everyone was speculating whether Ji Chen would clarify his relationship with Jiang Baiwan or would he admit it?

Finally, that night, Ji Chen posted for the first time.

「Xiao Wan and I had a misunderstanding, that was it.」

After that, Ji Chen’s Weibo fell into silence, however, this single post attracted tens of thousands of people to comment and repost it. Everyone was curious about what happened between Ji Chen and Jiang Baiwan, but Ji Chen seemed to have deliberately whetted everyone’s appetite. He no longer made any sound no matter how everyone sent private messages and leave comments to his account.

But Ji Chen’s post at least proved one thing—— He and Jiang Baiwan were really close. Otherwise, how could he call Jiang Baiwan ‘Xiao Wan’ in public?

There were different opinions online and all kinds of rumors surfaced again, but they no longer targeted Jiang Baiwan. The previous smearing campaign against her was like a dream and it disappeared within a few days.

The perpetrator behind everything was furious.

“Are you sh*tting me?!” Sitting in his office, Chu Yunhan was fuming. “Haven’t it already reached that point? Why did it become like this in the end?”

That’s right, those black materials about Jiang Baiwan was driven from behind by Chu Yunhan. This time, in order to ruin Jiang Baiwan’s reputation, Chu Yunhan used many means, but at the last critical moment, he was caught off guard by a group of intimate photos of Jiang Baiwan and Ji Chen!

How could Chu Yunhan be reconciled to this?! Not to mention that he was only one step away from success, the manpower and financial resources invested during this period alone made his heart ache.

Chu Yunhan’s secretary stood in front of his desk and answered Chu Yunhan’s question in a low voice, “Haochen Group’s president, Ji Chen, seems to be determined to protect Jiang Baiwan. We have no way to confront Haochen Group. President Chu, you…… you should stop first.”

Chu Yunhan slammed the table viciously. He wanted to continue, but he also knew that his current abilities were simply not enough to fight against the huge Haochen Group.

“……I’ll let her go this time.” Chu Yunhan gritted his teeth. He was about to say a few more harsh words but was interrupted by the sudden ringing of his mobile phone.

Chu Yunhan grabbed the phone and looked at the screen. His face immediately changed—— The caller was none other than Ji Chen!

No matter how much Chu Yunhan didn’t want to answer this call, he still pressed the answer button.

“President Ji.” Chu Yunhan suppressed his anger. “Are you calling for something?”

On the other end of the phone, Ji Chen’s voice was flat, “It’s nothing. I just want you to remember not to do these petty things all the time. It’s very embarrassing.”

After saying that, Ji Chen hung up. Chu Yunhan listened to the busy tone coming from the phone, roared in anger and smashed the phone to the ground.