Assistant to My Contracted Husband

Qin Mu's voice was neither too loud nor too soft, audible to everyone else in the private room.

Jian Ran, hearing the sound of the others taking sharp intakes of breath, pursed her lips and leaned closer to Qin Mu, lowering her voice.

"Qin Mu, must you be so childish?"

"Of course, Jian Ran, I'm only childish with you."

Jian Ran: "..."

Jian Ran, every single word I say to you is serious.

Jian Ran, I'm only childish with you.

Jian Ran's face turned somewhat pale, a warm current rushing over her heart. When they were younger and impish, Qin Mu climbed trees and collected eggs for her, only to get stung by a wasp nest to the point of being unrecognizable.

Because she wanted to see the ocean, he insisted that rowing a boat from the canal by their house could reach the Pacific Ocean. The result was a capsized boat and to save her first, he stayed in the water, soaked, and ran a fever for days.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment, Jian Ran and Qin Mu's gazes met in the air, an undercurrent swirling. Lan Xing, unable to contain herself any longer, hurriedly approached and scolded, "Jian Ran, what are you spacing out for? Mr. Qin has already spoken... Let me tell you, if you can't land the Dongheng International case, even though you've been made permanent, you'll still have to pack up and leave."

Jian Ran: "..."

She couldn't afford to lose the high-paying job at the Gu Family.

Jian Ran looked thoughtfully at Qin Mu in front of her and, without responding to Lan Xing, said directly.

"Qin Mu, you've won."

Qin Mu didn't lift the corners of his mouth as expected, but his eyes, dark as night, stared at the woman in front of him, his expression one of amusement and seriousness mixed.

You should know, the old Jian Ran used to be a prickly hedgehog, proud and aloof, never submitting to adversity.

Now... Jian Ran really had become a stranger, calm as water, more steady.

It was not that he had won, but rather, from the moment he saw her, he had already lost.

"Ran Ni, thanks for letting me win."

Lan Xing's eyes filled with jealousy and venom as she watched Qin Mu's dashing figure, enchanting and peerless. The way this man looked at Jian Ran, his doting gaze nearly dripping with affection. Jian Ran was directly led by Qin Mu by the hand out of the private room, under the watchful eyes of everyone, which made Jian Ran's scalp tingle.

No sooner had they left the private room than Jian Ran tried to shake off Qin Mu's large hand, but he held on tighter, leading her up to the top floor, to Qin Mu's private space.

The old man from the Qin Family had bought it to give to Qin Mu as a birthday present.

Back in high school, Jian Ran would come over from time to time to play games with Qin Mu.

Walking into the room, Jian Ran looked uneasily at Qin Mu's exquisite dark eyes, her heart uneasy. She was not inexperienced in romantic affairs, and being alone with a man in a luxurious suite was inherently fraught with ambiguity.

"Qin Mu, about 'Artisan's Heart'..."

"Ran Ni, relax, if you spend the night with me, the design case for Dongheng International will belong to the Gu Family. I keep my word with you," he said, his gaze intense as he stared at the young girl before him, his expression uneasy, the corner of his mouth curling up meaningfully.

"A single night of spring is worth a thousand gold; flowers have their fragrance as the moon has its shadow. Ran Ni... all these years, I've been practicing hard in bed, just to be able to use it on you one day."

Jian Ran: "..."

How could he speak so frankly? Shameless!

Seeing the man's half-smiling expression, Jian Ran found their current position eerily peculiar.

"How about we... we talk business instead?"

Qin Mu, seeing that Jian Ran was truly frightened, curled his lips, extended his hand to affectionately pinch her cheek, and then playfully said, "Ran Ni, come, let's go to the bed. You've not kept company with your third master Qin in gaming for a long time, so today you'd better play a good game with me."

"Don't get any ideas, I, your third master, am a gentleman! The bed... isn't for business; it's for playing games..."

Jian Ran was a bit dazed, her heartbeat had just sped up, feeling incredibly uneasy, but then it dawned on her. Qin Mu was just teasing her. She let out a quiet sigh of relief. Qin Mu had always been like this, never changed.

"Qin Mu, I can only play one game with you; I need to get home before dawn."

Qin Mu: "..."

Qin Mu casually pulled Jian Ran into his embrace, his thin lips drawing close to her delicate earlobe and he whispered, "Alright... Ran girl, I'm not going to go easy on you like when we were kids."

"Loser under the hand, king or defeated, don't act tough in front of me."

Qin Mu raised an eyebrow, capturing the fleeting sparkle in Jian Ran's beautiful eyes, and the corner of his lips curled up.

"Fine."

...

Jian Ran faced off against Qin Mu in one game, and naturally, Jian Ran emerged completely victorious, because most of Qin Mu's attention had been on her, his dark eyes slightly stirring.

Playing games in a hotel room with a woman and not doing anything else, probably only he, in Yuncheng, would do such a thing.

"I won, Qin Mu..."

Jian Ran's body had been tense, but after playing one round of the game, she felt much more relaxed, her thoughts drifting to Tang Bao waiting for her at home, and her lips curled up into a smile.

"A bet's a bet, I'm leaving now."

"Ran girl, if you leave now... and people see you, what will they think? They might think that I, Qin Mu, can only last an hour. That really damages my reputation. I'm known for being a seven-time-a-night hero outside."

Roguish and shameless, Jian Ran tugged the corner of her lips and countered calmly.

"You should be grateful they didn't say you're seven times in one hour... that would be premature."

Qin Mu: "..."

Shit!

Jian Ran's lips upturned in satisfaction, and then she picked up her bag and headed for the door. When she reached the door, she pursed her lips, without turning around, her voice a bit hoarse.

"Qin Mu, thank you for today."

Though seemingly cynical, he was in fact a gentleman to her.

After all these years, Jian Ran knew she hadn't misjudged him.

Fortunately for her, the person she stumbled upon today was Qin Mu and not someone else.

Qin Mu's tall frame tensed up as he stared at the woman's frail back, then he awkwardly spoke, "You, Ran girl, always acting clever after getting an advantage. We'll see how I win against you next time."

"Alright, I'll be waiting," she responded.

After that, Jian Ran left the presidential suite. Qin Mu watched her departing figure, his expression complex.

...

Stepping out of the hotel door into the late fall, Jian Ran couldn't help but shrink her neck. It was so late; there were no buses, so she had to take a taxi.

It pained her to spend the money.

Suddenly, a sleek black Maybach smoothly pulled up in front of her.

Jian Ran's beautiful eyes widened in surprise as she saw the car window rolling down slowly, revealing the man's breathtaking profile.

Gu Mochen! It was him...

The man's hawk-like dark eyes glanced at her with an indiscernible intensity, and then, his proud chin tucked slightly.

"Get in."