Huang Fei’er was a bright young girl—only twenty-two and already the secretary to someone so high up. To her family and friends, she let this be a point of pride for her: who else could say that they were so high up in a company at such a young age other than a fu’erdai who belonged in a place like that? But privately, she knew the truth: she hadn’t climbed her way up. There had been no struggle, no rite of passage, no real earning of this position. She was the Director’s secretary because the Director had chosen her. He’d even explained why he’d chosen her—she was too young to have been turned to his family’s side.

Not that she would ever want anyone in the Liu family other than the Director. In fact, she was fairly certain that he was the most perfect man alive. He didn’t need to ask her whether she would be capable of prioritizing him over President Liu or Director Sun, because she was wholly dedicated to the Director as soon as she laid eyes on him.

She didn’t pretend to be upset when all the tabloids, at news of her hire, began speculating at their relationship. If the Director had seemed upset, then she would have been upset too—would have pounced on all of them and demand they remove the slander. But the Director had just smiled gently when Fei’er showed one of the articles to him, put his hand on her shoulder, and said, “I’m sorry, Meimei. I’m afraid you’ll have to deal with a lot of this kind of thing if you stay by my side. If it bothers you, I’ll give you the money to leave.”

So of course she didn’t leave. She melted every time the Director called her Meimei, so warm the words felt like they were a hug. He didn’t call her that in public—he was ultra-professional in public and only called her ‘Miss Huang’ which was spine-tingling in its own special way.

Maybe she had a bit of a crush on him. Maybe it was love. Maybe it was just deep admiration. In any case, when she found out about the appointments, her heart had immediately shattered—and then the Director took her by the shoulders again with that beautiful smile and that soft voice and said, “It won’t be like this forever, Meimei. I’m aiming to become the heir. Help me accomplish that, and you won’t have to worry about me anymore.”