Bai Ying met his gaze, stunned for a few seconds, her breathing involuntarily slowing down. Realizing he was serious, she also restrained the expression on her face and said softly, “It’s not something I can just leave if I want to, it’s not about what I want…”

“As long as you want to, you can,” Jiang Mo Cheng still did not relax his vigilance, his voice not softening at all, “You just need to answer, do you want to or not. Answer me.”

Bai Ying felt annoyed and tired. Why couldn’t they just enjoy the last bit of time they had, instead of being so serious and solemn? Why must people always bring up things that aren’t pleasant?

Her expression became much colder: “What can I do?” Deciding to change the subject, she looked up at him and decided to speak to him as “Jiang Xue”

“What would I do following you to Ning City? Have you thought about my future?”

“Of course, I have,” Jiang Mo Cheng frowned, “If you want to work, I’ll find you a job that you’re satisfied with, or if you don’t want to work, you can open a shop.”

It seemed like he had it all figured out… Bai Ying felt as if she saw through his intentions, looking at him incredulously, “So you want me to work for you?!”

Having a girlfriend work for oneself, under the guise of being the ‘lady boss,’ but in reality, getting a willing and capable assistant without even having to pay a salary! That’s men for you!

Jiang Mo Cheng realized he really didn’t understand what was going on in her head, and after being speechless for a moment, he took a deep breath under her increasingly cold gaze, “Why would I want you to work for me? What I mean is you can do whatever you want, opening a shop is just that, don’t all you women like to open flower shops or bookstores?”

“Us?” Bai Ying glared at him, “Wait, clarify, who is ‘us’? Didn’t you say you didn’t have an ex-girlfriend?”

Jiang Mo Cheng’s head hurt, “No. But I’ve had contact with other women.”

“Contact? What kind of contact?”

“My grandmother, my grandma, my mom, my sister-in-law, my cousin, my niece.” Jiang Mo Cheng finally tasted the frustration of being unable to defend himself, “Don’t bring up other things, I said I don’t have an ex-girlfriend, and I don’t. What benefit would I have in lying to you about that? If you don’t want to open a shop, it’s fine if you don’t want to do anything and just stay at home.”

“So you mean you’ll support me?” Bai Ying didn’t dwell on the topic of “us” anymore, but the things he said clearly made her very unhappy.

Jiang Mo Cheng actually wanted to say “yes,” but having interacted with her for so long, he could tell that her question was not out of sweet curiosity, and her tone was very dangerous. He could only remain silent.

He realized he couldn’t answer this question. He couldn’t say “yes,” nor could he say “no.” However, his silence only made the atmosphere more stagnant.

Bai Ying looked at him with a disappointed gaze, “Even my parents don’t want to support me, and you will? You just want to make me dependent on you, so that I can never leave you, and then I’ll be at your beck and call.”

Her heart was really kind.

At such a critical moment, she still took care of his male pride; otherwise, she really wanted to ask him properly, how much do you earn a month, how many assets do you have, what kind of person are you to dare to say you’ll support me?

His idea of “support” wouldn’t be just giving three meals a day, and those meals I’d have to make myself, right? Not afraid of the wind blowing your tongue!

Jiang Mo Cheng looked at her incredulously, “I—”

“What ‘I’?” 

Bai Ying interrupted him, accusing, “You tell me, how are you going to support me? And even if you’re willing and able, do I have to agree while crying and weeping? Also, why do you ask if I want to go with you, why should it be me going with you, and not you staying?”

She concluded coldly, “You don’t really like me. If you liked me, you should be the one to stay.”

Provocation never worked on Jiang Mo Cheng; his parents had tried it on him in turns, and he never fell for it.

But now, hearing her say this, he was so agitated that he blurted out without thinking: “Fine, fine! I’ll stay, I’ll stay!”

He had been angered by her words to the point of losing his reason. Their relationship wasn’t long, there had been sweetness and arguments, but now they stood opposed like adversaries.

Bai Ying’s anger began to rise, “That’s not your true word, you just want to win an argument with me, you’re just saying this to placate me!”

He wasn’t sincere; he was just angered by her words. It’s said that all men are like this, but when it actually happens to oneself, it’s so disheartening, too disheartening.

Bai Ying suddenly felt it was all so meaningless; she didn’t want to argue over such trivial matters, she didn’t even want the joy of their last moments together. After saying this, she forcefully pushed him away and walked out quickly.

As she pushed open the door of the study and walked faster, the wind scraped against her face. Before she reached the lake, rapid footsteps came from behind.

She didn’t want to deal with him, but he quickly caught up, and in a whirl, he actually picked her up around the waist. Fearing she would fall, she was scared stiff and instinctively clung tightly to his neck.

“Are you crazy?!”

Regaining her senses, she whispered angrily, “Put me down quickly!”

Jiang Mo Cheng ignored her scolding and walked steadily and quickly back to the study. She seemed to struggle, and he lowered his head, coldly reminding, “Don’t move, what if you fall?”

Bai Ying glared at him fiercely but obediently let him carry her; she certainly didn’t want to accidentally fall.

He easily carried her back to the study in this manner, freed one hand, casually swept a few books off the desk to the floor with a thud.

He carefully placed her on the desk, his hands bracing on either side of her legs, leaned in slightly, and said in a low voice  “I won’t let you walk away from me again, not a second time.”

Bai Ying turned her head away, but the anger in her heart was gradually diminishing.

She wanted to leave, and if he stopped her, being domineering and not letting her go, she would be angry.

But if he had no reaction at all, letting her walk away, she would probably be even angrier.

Now that he could say this, he obviously learned from the last time, and reluctantly added back the points he had lost.

“From now on, don’t speak.”

He said, “Let me talk.”

She didn’t give him a chance to speak just now; every time he opened his mouth, she would interrupt him, and he would get agitated by her words. Gradually deviating from the original topic, more and more off, more and more skewed, so they ended up arguing so fiercely, which he thought was completely unnecessary and entirely avoidable.

“You—”

He put his hand over her mouth, “Don’t speak, I will.”

“What about you working for me, what about making you useless, I never thought that way.”

He stared at her, his eyes rarely showing helplessness, “I just want to be with you. Before we were together, I suggested you resign and leave, this place is not good, and it’s not suitable for you to stay for long, you know that yourself.”

“After leaving here, you can do whatever you want.”

Jiang Mo Cheng promised, “I won’t interfere, only provide help. Just like that.”

Bai Ying gradually calmed down.

She was silent, the life he spoke of was, of course, something she had thought about. She could see that his words were all sincere, if she really was just “Jiang Xue,” she would have been moved by these words.

It’s just a pity she was Bai Ying.

Such sweet and sincere vows, Bai Ying had heard too many, so many that they could no longer shake her seemingly soft but actually hard heart.

Seeing her attitude soften, Jiang Mo Cheng approached, left a kiss on her forehead, and whispered softly: “Is it okay?”

Bai Ying didn’t say it was okay, nor did she say it wasn’t.

She just relaxed her eyebrows, looking at him with a sense of grievance, “You actually covered my mouth just now.”

He was taken aback, then laughed, and hugged her, “If I didn’t do that, you wouldn’t let me finish speaking.”

In fact, he had been unwittingly led around by her. Until the end, she never answered the question of whether she wanted to go with him.

But he didn’t realize it.

So, in Jiang Mo Cheng’s mind, he thought she had agreed to go with him. He felt relaxed and even elated about it, but he didn’t plan to take her away and just leave things vague; after all, she was an employee hired by Shen Jin—later, as his girlfriend, he would definitely introduce her to his friends and family.

He had to think ahead about the day when Shen Jin and that woman might encounter her at some event. He didn’t want her to hear any unpleasant words, so, he would have to talk to Shen Jin in advance to manage this matter.

The next day, when Jiang Mo Cheng found a moment, he called his secretary when no one was around.

The other end picked up quickly, “President Jiang.”

“There’s something you need to note down.”

Jiang Mo Cheng said solemnly, “Arrange a meeting time with Shen Jin’s secretary.”

The secretary was shocked: “President Jiang, you mean to arrange a meeting with President Shen?”

“Yes.”

“President Shen should still be abroad.”

The secretary said.

“I know, so I’m asking you to arrange the time with his secretary. Whenever he returns to the country, that’s when we’ll meet.”

The secretary thought he had heard wrong.

Everyone knew that although President Jiang and President Shen weren’t at each other’s throats, the fact that they didn’t see eye to eye was an unspoken truth.

President Jiang actually took the initiative to arrange a meeting with President Shen, could it be something big?

“What should I say on my end?”

Jiang Mo Cheng paused for a moment, “Just say I want to discuss an important matter with Shen Jin.”