Chapter 16

Shen Mi’s mind went “buzz,” instantly blank.

Why?

Why did Xie Rongzhuo know what she had said to her master about him?

The elevator door was about to close, Xie Rongzhuo reached out and pressed it.

“Shen Mi.”

Shen Mi lifted her head like a puppet, “Yes.”

Xie Rongzhuo stood outside, looking down at her: “How long are you going to stay in there?”

Shen Mi’s heart was in turmoil, her steps felt like she was walking on cotton, a sense of unreality.

Walking out of the revolving door, the cold wind mercilessly whipped across her cheeks. Shen Mi’s scarf came loose, the biting cold wind seeped into her collar, and she jolted awake.

Holding onto the last shred of hope: “Boss, you’re joking, right? How could you be a player?”

After saying that, Shen Mi tensed up, not missing a single micro-expression on Xie Rongzhuo’s face.

“Yeah,” Xie Rongzhuo’s face remained emotionless.

As if eager to shatter her thoughts, not giving her any room for imagination, he slowly said, “I’m also curious, who did I wrong? Good disciple.”

The moment she received the answer, Shen Mi felt like she had been struck by lightning, she even forgot to blink.

In just a few dozen seconds, Shen Mi went through all the bad things she had done in the past four years in her mind.

After recovering from the shock of realizing Xie Rongzhuo was her master, Shen Mi was hit by another fact:

She had repeatedly gossiped about him in front of Xie Rongzhuo, saying bad things about him! Although those words weren’t particularly unforgivable, still… it was so awkward!

Thinking about how she had been gossiping about him in front of Xie Rongzhuo himself for the past few months, she wished she could strap herself to a rocket and launch herself into outer space!

No, that’s not it.

Something is wrong.

Shen Mi realized…

 But Xie Rongzhuo knew! Why didn’t he tell her?

Did he find it amusing to watch her be tormented by him every day and then complain about him behind his back?

Was it fun to play with her and watch her make a fool of herself?

Shen Mi gritted her teeth, suppressing her anger, and forcefully turned her head away.

Xie Rongzhuo looked down at the girl in front of him. She turned her head to the other side, her ponytail falling behind her head, her slightly curled hair blown by the wind against her cheek, half her face was wrapped in a scarf. From his perspective, he could only see her trembling eyelashes. He looked up, and from the mirrored wall behind her, he could actually see the expression on her face.

Her expression changed again and again, sometimes annoyed, sometimes gritting her teeth, finally she snorted and then suppressed her expression, returning to normal.

Xie Rongzhuo suddenly couldn’t figure out what she was thinking.

The day they met, he had originally planned to tell her his name. But when he saw the comment “He looks like a player,” Xie Rongzhuo sneered and deleted the words in the chat box.

He had held back until now because he didn’t want to shatter the girl’s fantasy.

He didn’t expect her to become more and more immersed in that online version of him.

She even refused to face reality.

Since it was fake, it naturally needed to be replaced by the real thing.

“Are you waiting for me to coax you? Shen Mi.”

Shen Mi pulled up the scarf that had fallen onto her arm, and with a flick of her hand, she threw it back forcefully, then raised her head, her lips curled into a smile, her voice sweet: “How dare I.”

Xie Rongzhuo: “Just say what you want to say.”

“It’s my honor to be your plaything,” Shen Mi tilted her head and laughed playfully: “You rich people have such diverse interests.”

“Sarcastic, seems like you’re quite upset.”

Xie Rongzhuo stared at her intently: “Why don’t we replay the situation and see who should be coaxing who, and who should be angry?”

“I’m not angry.” Shen Mi hugged her files and walked towards the car.

She had professional standards, okay!

Xie Rongzhuo walked over and rested his arm on the car door: “Are you planning to wait until work is over to lose your temper?”

Shen Mi managed her facial expression, smiling with her eyes: “Things not about work, we’ll talk about them after work.”

Xie Rongzhuo’s eyelid twitched.

For the past few nights, the little girl had been grumbling and complaining endlessly.

Even being chilled by the cold air could make her rant for over an hour, it was unimaginable what she would do if she had been “deceived.”

“Forget it, I’ll coax you.”

She wouldn’t accept it!!

Shen Mi slammed the car door shut with a heavy thud, then walked around to the other side and got in.

“Oops, did I slam it too hard?” She leaned out, her eyes wary, meeting Xie Rongzhuo’s gaze.

Old Zhou: “No…”

Suddenly remembering that the car wasn’t his, he secretly glanced at Xie Rongzhuo.

Xie Rongzhuo chuckled and opened the car door himself, bending down to get in.

Shen Mi constantly reminded herself to keep work and personal life separate, opening the interview script to review. Xie Rongzhuo originally didn’t accept this kind of interview, but he agreed very suddenly this time. Shen Mi only received the notification this morning and had to coordinate the script with the television station on the way.

“Reporter Liu, it’s like this, I think the fifth point is unreasonable…”

“The ninth point involves privacy.”

“The twelfth point, Mr. Xie won’t answer questions related to relationships.”

Shen Mi couldn’t understand why Xie Rongzhuo suddenly agreed to this interview. These questions were not professional at all. This Liu Ya “maple.”  clearly used the gimmick of “financial woman” to gain traffic, asking all sorts of strange gossip questions.

As soon as she received the notification this morning, Shen Mi watched the two viral interviews of this reporter. At first, she was quite impressed by her boldness, but later she realized that after becoming famous, the interviews started to set traps for financial tycoons, gaining traffic and hype. So, Shen Mi was highly vigilant about this interview.

Noticing that there was actually a section on mate selection criteria and requirements for a girlfriend’s figure, Shen Mi’s anger flared up.

What kind of trash interview was this?

This topic was already sensitive, and if it was amplified, it would seriously affect Xie Rongzhuo’s image.

Shen Mi admitted that she was indeed emotional at this moment, but the reason she couldn’t contain her emotions was because the reporter’s draft didn’t respect Xie Rongzhuo’s profession at all. She strongly demanded a rewrite.

The reporter’s tone was light and breezy: “Secretary Shen, Mr. Xie should have seen this interview draft, right? Then I’m a little curious, Mr. Xie saw it and had no objections, but you, Secretary Shen, have objections. So, who should I listen to?”

Trying to suppress her with Xie Rongzhuo’s name?

“Listen to me.” Shen Mi’s face turned cold.

Xie Rongzhuo glanced at her.

“My boss is very busy, if every little thing needs his decision, what’s the point of hiring me, right? If you’re not satisfied, you can have your leader communicate with my boss directly, or you can cancel the interview.” Shen Mi’s tone was polite, but her words were not.

After hanging up the phone, she took the half-crossed-out script to Xie Rongzhuo for his review. Xie Rongzhuo didn’t take it: “You decide.”

“…”

“Go back to the company.”

“Alright.” Old Zhou couldn’t help but give Xie Rongzhuo a thumbs-up. This is how to chase a girl, he deserves to be single!

•  

She couldn’t focus and dragged herself through work until it was time to leave. As soon as the clock struck, Shen Mi grabbed her bag and left.

She walked for a long time, and randomly hailed a cab on the side of the road. The driver asked her where she was going, and she said to the beach. Suicheng was a coastal city, but not near the sea. The driver drove for over an hour. When she paid, Shen Mi immediately regretted it.