Beautiful Wife: The Cold Boss is My Husband - Chapter 15

Staring at the two simple words on his phone screen, Yan Chengming’s world shifted from gray to bright, his mood soaring from the depths to the clouds.

Originally, he was the Party B seeking cooperation, yet CEO Zhuo had personally greeted him. What did that signify? It went without saying—CEO Zhuo must be highly optimistic about his company’s product, brimming with anticipation!

With a thump, his smug tail shot out again, wagging twice before Yan Chengming swiftly cut through the crowd and dashed toward the Maybach. He flung open the car door, plopped into the seat, shook his head like a dog shedding water—sending droplets flying everywhere—wiped his face, and immediately started typing furiously.

[Yan Chengming: CEO Zhuo, hello! I’m Yan Chengming, founder of Mingyu Company. I have a product that aligns perfectly with the market… Here are our project proposal and promotional video!]

[Yan Chengming: [File][Video]]

He spent ten minutes crafting a 500-word essay, lavishing exaggerated praise on his product as if it were heaven-sent. Paired with the meticulously prepared proposal and promotional video, he sent it all in one go, like an overexcited pyramid scheme peddler.

During the first five minutes of waiting for CEO Zhuo’s reply, Yan Chengming’s heart pounded wildly. He was utterly exhilarated, his mind already envisioning countless scenarios: his sincerity moving CEO Zhuo, securing the investment, the product selling out immediately upon launch, setting market trends, making a fortune, reaching the pinnacle of life, marrying a beautiful and wealthy woman… Wait, no—that last part wasn’t necessary. He already had a wife.

During the second five minutes of waiting, Yan Chengming calmed down slightly. Puzzled, he asked Chen Xi, “Is it mealtime right now?” Could CEO Zhuo be ignoring work messages because he was eating?

Chen Xi glanced at the time—4:10 p.m. and replied, “While it’s possible to have dinner at 4 p.m., I doubt CEO Zhuo has that habit.”

Yan Chengming wondered, “How do you know?”

Chen Xi paused for a second before stating firmly, “Just a guess.”

By the third five-minute wait, Yan Chengming grew uneasy. Had he misinterpreted the situation? Was CEO Zhuo’s greeting merely a reflection of his personal manners and politeness, with no real interest in the project? But then why had he agreed to exchange contact information?

…

By the umpteenth five-minute wait, Yan Chengming had arrived home.

Staring at the silent phone screen, he felt dejected. But as he lifted his head and scanned the front door, he took a deep breath, straightened his back, and mustered his spirits.

The moment he stepped inside, he saw Zhuo Xiao emerging from the kitchen, still wearing an apron. Spotting him looking like a drowned dog, Zhuo Xiao immediately frowned and rushed over, feigning concern. Her hands, possibly stained with something, hovered midair, not daring to touch him. “Honey, Chen Xi told me you got caught in the rain outside. What happened?”

Yan Chengming’s face stiffened. He silently cursed Chen Xi for blabbing everything—no wonder he’d seen Zhuo Xiao’s missed calls. But there was no way he’d admit to his setbacks. Stubbornly, he retorted, “It’s nothing! He’s just talking nonsense. I was practicing wellness—like winter swimming! Getting drenched is good for your health!”

As he spoke, he thumped his chest twice, nearly coughing up blood from the force, but he gritted his teeth and bore it.

Zhuo Xiao’s lips twitched. He actually knew exactly what Yan Chengming had encountered outside, but was just going through the motions with a routine question. Seeing that Yan Chengming seemed to be in a decent mood now, he decided not to press further and continued in a concerned tone, “You could still catch a cold. I made you some ginger tea—it’ll be ready soon. Go take a hot shower.”

Relieved that Zhuo Xiao didn’t probe further, Yan Chengming nodded quickly and headed to wash up.

As the hot water cascaded over his body, his muscles seemed to thaw and come alive. But his mind remained fixated on why the CEO hadn’t replied to his messages. A worried expression clouded his face, and without even properly drying the water droplets on his abs, he clutched his phone, constantly refreshing the WeChat interface. He muttered under his breath, “Is my internet down? Or is my phone broken? Why isn’t CEO Zhuo responding?”

“Honey, dinner’s ready.” Hearing Zhuo Xiao’s voice from outside, Yan Chengming snapped out of his thoughts and wiped himself dry.

For dinner, Zhuo Xiao had prepared braised sea cucumber with scallions, sweet and sour spare ribs, stir-fried shrimp with garlic, and lightly sautéed baby bok choy. He watched as Yan Chengming sipped his ginger tea, eyes glued to his phone screen, absentmindedly poking at his rice without even looking up. A flicker of dissatisfaction stirred within Zhuo Xiao.

Although he knew Yan Chengming was likely waiting for a reply from him on the other side of the screen, he couldn’t help feeling a twinge of jealousy.

After holding back for a while, Zhuo Xiao finally couldn’t resist asking, “Honey, how do you like the steamed grouper I made today?”

Distractedly, Yan Chengming replied, “Hmm… it’s good. I like it.”

If he had bothered to look up then, he would have noticed that his gentle, lovely wife’s face had darkened enough to assassinate fifty-eight huskies in the dead of night.

Zhuo Xiao took a deep breath, adjusted his expression, and smiled dangerously. “But I didn’t make steamed grouper at all. You’re eating shrimp.”

“Really?” His tone sounded the same as usual at first, but when Yan Chengming’s dog-brain sluggishly processed the words, he jerked his head up, swallowed hard, and forced an awkward laugh. “Haha, these shrimps look quite unique. At first glance, I thought it was fish.”

Zhuo Xiao said sourly, “You’ve been staring at your phone all night. Did you meet someone new outside?”

Yan Chengming sensed something was off—Zhuo Xiao’s usual persona seemed different today. But given that his own behavior was somewhat inexcusable, it wasn’t surprising that Zhuo Xiao was acting out of character.

He immediately tossed his phone aside, almost raising his hand to swear an oath. “How could that be? It’s a business partner. Work-related.”

Zhuo Xiao glanced at him, then silently lowered his gaze and continued poking at the rice in his bowl.

Yan Chengming grew anxious. “You have to believe me! It’s the truth.”

Zhuo Xiao remained silent and kept eating.

Just as Yan Chengming was about to say more, Zhuo Xiao cut him off with a sweet yet sarcastic, “Let’s eat. The sooner we finish, the sooner you can get back to work.”

Not daring to cause any more trouble, Yan Chengming shoveled rice into his mouth while sneakily glancing around, trying to detect any trace of softness in Zhuo Xiao’s elegant and restrained dining demeanor.

But there was none.

Yan Chengming: “Woof.”

Truly, career and family were a contradictory yet unified struggle.

After dinner, Zhuo Xiao cleared the table and went into the kitchen. Only then did Yan Chengming dare to sneak back to his phone, glancing over his shoulder every few steps. First, he confirmed that the CEO still hadn’t replied. Then, an idea began to form in his mind.

The processing engine in his mind whirred at full speed. Yan Chengming began deleting messages from his phone at an extraordinary pace—like the string of missed calls from Wang Lang—anything that could expose his career struggles was swiftly erased.

He also deleted videos from several months ago of him drinking and singing at a karaoke bar.

The browsing history from some obscure websites was wiped clean.

Even the purchase records for certain intimate toys were removed.

Nothing… Wait, hold on.

Yan Chengming opened his chat history with CEO Zhuo, long-pressed the product promotional video, and tapped delete.

To save money, he had been using Lin Xiao’s version of the promotional video—something he absolutely couldn’t let Zhuo Xiao see. However, he and Lin Xiao had long since lost contact. After bringing Zhuo Xiao back from the riverside, he had seized the opportunity to communicate with Lin Xiao.

At the time, Yan Chengming stood in the villa’s garden, repeatedly checking his surroundings to ensure Zhuo Xiao was nowhere in sight before whispering into the phone, “I’m sorry, Mr. Lin. May I ask—would you consider changing your stage name? Like, maybe avoid anything with ‘xiao’ in it? Of course, this is just a suggestion…”

His awkward phrasing was met with silence on the other end. After a long pause, Lin Xiao finally replied, “…Sorry, that’s probably not possible.”

With that, the call was disconnected by Lin Xiao.

Since then, Lin Xiao had never contacted him again.

…

After fiddling with his phone for ten minutes, Yan Chengming grinned confidently, snatched it up, and dashed to the kitchen. He slapped it onto Zhuo Xiao with a smack, wrapping his arms around Zhuo Xiao from behind, his chin resting against the side of Zhuo Xiao’s forehead. He chuckled, “Baby, there’s really nothing shady in my phone. Go ahead and check if you don’t believe me~”

Zhuo Xiao silently opened WeChat and confirmed that aside from work-related messages, there was indeed nothing else.

Skeptically, he shot Yan Chengming a sidelong glance, then opened the shopping app. Seeing the empty purchase history—even the intimate toys they had used the previous week were gone—Zhuo Xiao began to suspect that Yan Chengming had deleted everything. No wonder he was acting so boldly.

Zhuo Xiao snorted inwardly. That silly dog could be quite clever when it mattered.

There was nothing left to uncover in the doctored records. After a brief glance, Zhuo Xiao handed the phone back to Yan Chengming, lifting his eyes to meet his gaze with a mix of reluctance and anticipation.

Though Yan Chengming’s feet were planted firmly on the ground, his emotional intelligence soared. He planted a loud, sloppy kiss on Zhuo Xiao’s cheek, leaving it damp with saliva. “Not mad anymore, right?”

Zhuo Xiao nodded and let out a muffled “Mm.”

Yan Chengming still clung to him, refusing to let go and hindering his efforts to clean the kitchen. With a sigh, Zhuo Xiao said helplessly, “Honey, you should get back to work.”

Gently urged away, Yan Chengming could only leave reluctantly.

The moment he was gone, Zhuo Xiao set down what he was holding, washed his hands, dried them, and took out his phone. He switched accounts and logged in. Staring at the red notification dot, the scene from the dining table flashed through his mind, stirring complex emotions.

Could the real Zhuo Xiao ever be cared for so attentively by Yan Chengming?

Lost in thought as he gazed at the screen, Zhuo Xiao seemed to make a decision after a while and began typing a few words.

Yan Chengming sat in his study, legs crossed in front of the computer, multitasking between work and waiting for a response from President Zhuo. He had checked the time countless times, his heart growing colder with each passing moment. He began to console himself, thinking it didn’t matter—even if President Zhuo didn’t take an interest in his project, it was fine. He could still approach President Zhang, President Qian, President Song, President Xiao… After all, the world was vast, and there were as many “presidents” as there were surnames in the Hundred Family Surnames. If he reached out to every one of them, surely he could break through this deadlock!

Just as a dramatic soundtrack swelled in his mind, his phone chimed abruptly.

Yan Chengming jolted upright, his posture snapping to attention. Filled with anticipation, he unlocked his phone and tapped on the red notification dot in his chat with President Zhuo.

[Zhuo: Not bad.]

Wait, that’s it?

Yan Chengming waited another five minutes, but no further message came from President Zhuo. After being ignored all evening, he finally cracked.

Just as he let out a frustrated groan and prepared to send another message to test President Zhuo’s attitude, the man finally responded again. But this time, the message was nothing like what Yan Chengming had hoped for. The famously cold, ruthless, and efficient President Zhuo—who was practically a work machine—had reviewed his brilliant proposal and expressed approval, only to follow up with:

[Zhuo: Saw your social media. Are you married?]