Sweet Gardenia - Chapter 12.1

Bathed in the faint glow of the setting sun filtering through the evening, the edges of the car window shimmered softly.

His gaze was so calm that Lu Zhi almost thought she had died.

She licked her lips, and the chirping of birds from the branches broke the brief silence.

She asked, “How did you know it was men’s glasses?”

Fu Yanshang’s eyes relaxed slightly as he replied succinctly, “Just a lucky guess.”

“…”

Realizing she had fallen into his trap, she pulled open the car door. Sure enough, a black velvet glasses case lay on the seat where she had been sitting, with no indication of its style.

Lu Zhi’s mind raced faster than it had during her college entrance exams.

“Well, since you’re so clever, did you guess that they were actually meant for you?” She opened the case and smoothly completed her logic. “I wanted to surprise you, but you found out ahead of time. See? They fit you perfectly.”

Fu Yanshang looked at her. “Unless you’re Doraemon, glasses should fit anyone.”

“…”

“But I picked these specifically based on your face shape.” She raised her hand and placed the glasses on the bridge of his nose, examining him with feigned seriousness before nodding in satisfaction. “Wait a moment, let me take a photo.”

She lifted her phone and snapped a quick picture, a slightly blurry shot from above, with overlapping shadows tracing the contours of his face. Yet, it did nothing to diminish the photo’s exceptional atmosphere. The light gold frames exuded restrained elegance, and the swaying chain resembled half-unlocked shackles. Paired with his dark suit and the interplay of light, it created an indescribable aura of sensual tension.

Her hand rested on his shoulder.

She sent the photo to Li Siyi: [Do you agree with adding gold-rimmed glasses for the male lead?]

Li Siyi: [?]

[You work fast!]

[Damn, he looks so handsome. You’re right, gold-rimmed glasses are a 100% match for a domineering CEO.]

Having achieved her goal, Lu Zhi contentedly locked her screen and met his gaze. “Still don’t believe me? They really are for you. They’re non-prescription, blue-light-blocking glasses.” She improvised on the spot. “Don’t you stare at the computer screen late every night? They’ll protect your eyes.”

His fingers lightly hooked the dangling chain. “And this? Is this for protecting your eyes too?”

“This is, um…” She thought for a moment. “To add a little flair to your late-night work sessions.”

“…”

As soon as they arrived home, she heard two strange noises. Looking up, she saw a fluffy brown creature darting down the stairs, emitting unfamiliar yet peculiar fox-like sounds.

“Kuai Dian? Man Dian?” she exclaimed, turning around in surprise. “Why did you bring the little ones here?”

“Old Master Fu’s birthday is coming up, and the ancestral home needs to be cleared for the banquet,” Fu Yanshang said as he washed his hands. “Didn’t want them to be disturbed.”

Lu Zhi’s thoughts instantly drifted. “His birthday? When is it? Why didn’t you tell me…”

“The gifts are already bought. It’s the day after tomorrow,” he said. “I was planning to tell you today.”

She let out an “Oh” and asked, “What did you buy? Can we give them together?”

“Inkstone, calligraphy and paintings, and the porcelain he had his eye on before.” He paused, leaning closer. “If we give separate gifts, what kind of married couple would that make?”

…He had a point.

She noticed he had a good habit: whenever she asked multiple questions at once, most people tended to answer only the last one, but he never did.

Perhaps it was a skill honed from work.  It required both logic and a good memory. She asked, “Do you do this at work too?”

“Hmm?”

“So, you’ll answer every question?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “During work hours, no one dares to ask me more than two questions.”

“…”

–

Lu Zhi had been busy all night buying various clothes and accessories for the two newly arrived little foxes and had recorded a ton of videos. The next day, as soon as she arrived at the studio, she immersed Li Siyi in a half-hour viewing session instead of coffee.

“They’re so adorable. Bring them over for me to play with next time,” Li Siyi clicked her tongue. “Your husband really is something else. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone raise foxes.”

Lu Zhi propped her chin on her hands, admiring the videos on her phone, and noticed that when she fed Slowpoke freeze-dried treats, the white-furred Hurry, taking advantage of her blind spot, had pushed her hairpin behind a flowerpot.

“You know, even though foxes are cute, they’re still not as commonly kept as pets like cats and dogs because they’re just too hard to domesticate,” Li Siyi chimed in at the right moment. “But judging by the fact that he married you, it’s not surprising he’d raise foxes.”

Lu Zhi: “What about me?”

“Don’t you think you’re a lot like a fox too? You seem sweet and soft, but you’re actually anything but obedient.”

Lu Zhi had her reservations. “What do you know? I’m very well-behaved and restrained around him. He can’t see through me at all, okay?”

Li Siyi, recalling how Lu Zhi had even been too lazy to reply to messages before: “…”

Do you have some misunderstanding about what ‘restrained’ and ‘well-behaved’ mean?

Li Siyi didn’t bother dwelling on the topic and opened a recruitment app to continue hiring. After a moment, she paused and nudged Lu Zhi’s leg under the table. “Holy crap.”

“What’s up?”

“A studio is trying to poach me, asking if I want to join them to work on a romance game. They’re offering me the lead planner position, and the company they’re targeting is Huaya,” Li Siyi scrolled through her phone. “See? I told you.  After Xu Jing and Guo Fang’s project fell through, there are bound to be plenty of people eyeing this piece of the pie. Haven’t you made up your mind yet?”

“…”

Lu Zhi’s mouse, which had been reviewing copy, gradually stilled.

Li Siyi: “If you keep hesitating, you’ll regret it when someone else snatches this opportunity away.”

Lu Zhi questioned her own heart: “But I don’t want to hear him scold me.”

“Our game probably won’t even make it to the executive office, right? The projects he handles are worth billions of dollars, aren’t they?”

“Are you saying it’d be someone else in the company managing me?” Lu Zhi said. “In that case, I’d rather deal with him.”

“…”

After a long silence, Li Siyi came up with an idea: “Then how about this, you go negotiate a partnership with him, switch to a revenue-sharing model. That way, you’d be on equal footing, and he wouldn’t be able to boss you around.”

“That sounds great,” Lu Zhi said. “But why would he give up tens of millions in profits to share revenue with me? What can I offer him that would make it worth his while?”

Whether it’s Xu Jing and Guo Fang’s project or the team trying to poach Li Siyi, they’re all internal studios under Huaya. The company only needs to pay salaries and bonuses; once the game makes big money, the main profits go to the company.

But if she only signs a revenue-sharing agreement with Huaya, she becomes the primary profit earner, while Huaya just gets a small cut.

Lu Zhi: “He’s a Gemini, not an idiot.”

“How do you even know his zodiac sign?” Li Siyi steered the conversation back. “So what? Huaya has been acquired by Rongsheng now. Is your husband short of a few tens of millions?”

“Even if he isn’t, the money has to be spent meaningfully. What can I offer him to make him think it’s worth it?”

“This is so simple,” Li Siyi said. “Just sweet-talk him a bit, whisper in his ear, and he’ll soften up and agree. Men are all like that.  Otherwise, why do you think the honey trap works on emperors? Do you really think they don’t know it’s a trap? They just can’t resist.”

Lu Zhi: “If a little whisper is all it takes for him to agree, how soft-hearted must he be?”

“…”

–

Lu Zhi thought it over for two nights and decided that Li Siyi’s proposed plan had some practical value, worth taking the essence and discarding the dross.

Although she didn’t know how to coax someone, she recalled how, the night before, the little fox had unexpectedly come up to her, showering her with affection, licking her fingers and nudging her with its damp nose. She had been thoroughly charmed and ended up opening an entire packet of treats to satisfy its wishes.

By the same logic, she could use this tactic on Fu Yanshang.

Acting cute? That was her specialty.

Saturday was the old master’s birthday banquet. Early in the morning, the snow-white little fox earned itself a bath for squeezing toothpaste all over itself.

Unfortunately, Lu Zhi, having failed to tighten the toothpaste cap and exercise proper supervision, became the instigator of this bathing battle.

The saying “a ten-pound fox has nine pounds of defiance” was absolutely true. The little creature looked sweet and soft, but during bath time, it leaped and scrambled around so much that Lu Zhi suspected if she handed it a grenade, it could blow up the bathroom.

By the time she finished bathing the fox, she was drenched from head to toe and had to take another shower herself. Exhausted, she climbed into the car.

Physically drained, she leaned against the window to catch up on sleep, assuming Fu Yanshang would wake her when they arrived. She drifted off peacefully, only to be awakened by noise when she opened her eyes again.

The left-side door opened, and Fu Yanshang got back into the car, the scent of woody cedar washing over her.

For a moment, she thought she was stuck in some kind of loop. Lu Zhi felt dazed and confused until she saw him take the mint candies from her hand, tap out two, and pop them into his mouth.

She checked the time on her brightly lit phone.  She had actually been asleep for two hours.

“…Why didn’t you wake me?”

“I called out once, but you didn’t stir,” he said. “It’s fine to sleep a little longer. Old Master Fu is drinking with others right now.  It’s noisy.”

She could easily imagine how lively the main hall must be at that moment.

Plus, many guests had arrived today.  Zhuang Yun and her sister would be there too.

Her nose twitched as she caught an unfamiliar scent on him: “Did you drink too?”

“Mm,” he pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “My head hurts. Need a moment.”

Curious, she asked, “Are you a lightweight?”

“No, I rarely get drunk, but it gives me a headache.”

Instinctively, she leaned over and pressed her curled fingers against his temples: “How about this? Does it feel better?”

She used to do this for herself when she had headaches in school.

She watched his expression closely. Fu Yanshang looked at her for a moment, paused, then lowered his gaze and said, “…Not really.”

“Then you should rest. My dad usually sleeps when he’s drunk,” she patted her lap. “Want to lie here?”