I'm Already Married
"Why did you buy an electric car??"
Duan Jinchen muttered as he walked. He really couldn't understand—it wasn't like Jiang Ruoqi couldn't afford a better car, so why did she get a green-plate electric one?
"It's a hybrid, not a pure electric car." Jiang Ruoqi corrected him in despair.
Duan Jinchen frowned, seeing no difference between the two. "Hybrid or pure electric, in my eyes, it's no different from those two-wheeled scooters with canopies on the road."
"Young master, go out and suffer a bit! It's easy to buy a car, but getting a license plate is tough. The temporary plate only lasts a little over a month. If I don't win a plate before it expires, my car will just sleep in the garage."
"Can't you just pay more?" Young Master Duan had his cars handled for him—he just drove them. He had no idea about all this.
Jiang Ruoqi sneered. "If only throwing money at everything could solve it."
Besides, she didn't have that kind of money.
To even sort out the paperwork, the car was registered under Meng Shang's name. Her residence permit points weren't enough, and she hadn't paid social insurance in Xinhai for six consecutive months, so she couldn't even apply for a green plate.
Forget it. This topic reeked of wage slavery, and the young master would never understand.
And just buying this car had caused a small tiff with Meng Shang.
A hybrid leader—nothing too fancy for commuting. Jiang Ruoqi didn't understand drivetrains; as long as the car looked good and the interior was comfortable, that was enough.
To save time, she even took a car from the dealer's stock. She paid the full 300,000-plus that day. Out of her own pocket.
Jiang Ruoqi hadn't thought much about it. She'd be the one driving it most of the time, and she wasn't short on money, so there was no need to drag Meng Shang into it.
But Meng Shang clearly didn't see it that way.
When Dr. Meng came home that day and heard she'd paid in full, he tried to hide it, but a hint of dejection still showed.
He first agreed as usual, then sat silently on the sofa, then suddenly got up and went to wash the cherries he'd bought.
His reaction wasn't blatant, but Jiang Ruoqi was hypersensitive to shifts in mood. She shuffled into the kitchen in her slippers, wrapped her arms around Meng Shang's waist from behind, and refused to let him move until she got the reason out of him.
The water ran noisily as he washed the fruit. He explained in a low voice—he wasn't upset about her buying the car; he just felt that not having a "stake" in it meant he wasn't doing enough as a husband.
As Jiang Ruoqi herself had said, going Dutch, in Meng Shang's eyes now, really wasn't conducive to a harmonious family environment.
Once she understood the crux of the issue, Jiang Ruoqi immediately accepted the criticism, softened her voice, and coaxed him. In the end, Meng Shang couldn't keep a straight face and stuffed a rinsed cherry into her mouth, signaling her to shut up.
A kiss laced with sweet fruit left a bright red mark on Meng Shang's lips. Jiang Ruoqi figured he'd accepted her apology and peacemaking kiss.
But it was different.
That night, Meng Shang was unusually quiet. He held Jiang Ruoqi's hand, occasionally squeezing her ring finger. Their palms rested on Meng Yuanbao's fluffy belly, which he'd rolled over to expose. The atmosphere was different from usual, though she couldn't say how.
Jiang Ruoqi failed to read Meng Shang's mind, but was relieved she'd just had her nails done—her fingers were smooth and neat, so she hadn't revealed her worries to the person she cared about.
"Why didn't you say so earlier? Why go through all this trouble? I have a car. You could've driven mine to the client meeting. Or..." Duan Jinchen shoved his hands in his pockets, looking away, and spoke vaguely, "...or, as your assistant, I could reluctantly drive you around."
She was truly grateful.
Jiang Ruoqi snapped back to reality. Thinking of the Rolls-Royce Cullinan that always drew stares whenever it entered or left the office building, she felt exhausted. "Save it, young master. For someone at our level to visit a client in a Rolls-Royce—isn't that a bit over the top?"
"I think it's fine. The Cullinan's design is quite understated. Not flashy at all."
Understated my ass. You have zero business etiquette.
Jiang Ruoqi pretended to be selectively deaf, letting Duan Jinchen chatter beside her while she silently pressed the elevator button for the top floor of the office building.
To be honest, her right eyelid had been twitching since they left the company. She wasn't superstitious, but experience told her her gut feelings were usually right.
It was just that she couldn't pinpoint the source of her unease...
Seeing Jiang Ruoqi silent, Duan Jinchen suddenly butted in with work talk. "By the way, what's the background of this COO of Rui'an Real Estate? From what I know, they always like to centralize power. Whether someone's competent or not, important positions go to their own relatives. I've never heard of this guy before."
Jiang Ruoqi glanced sideways at him. "We're practically at their doorstep, and now you want to do background research on the client?"
Duan Jinchen looked away again. "I'm not capable enough to dig it up, so I'm here to consult President Jiang."
"Isn't your stepmother's family in real estate too? Commercial and residential might differ, but they should have better intel than us, right?"
On a normal day, Jiang Ruoqi would've suspected Duan Jinchen had slipped something into her coffee.
But today, her mind was occupied, so she didn't take the chance to rib him. She stepped into the slowly opening elevator first and replied flatly, "Actually, I can't find out either."
"Joanna told me he came from a European luxury brand's client side and parachuted into the COO role at Rui'an Group. It was even more abrupt than when I first came to Xinhai, so no one inside the Hong Kong office knows his background. Just that his name is Cyrus. Nothing else. Joanna didn't elaborate."
Didn't elaborate—or more bluntly, didn't want to.
Jiang Ruoqi thought that if she hadn't worked with Joanna for years and knew her character well, and wasn't a threat to her anymore, she'd suspect Joanna was setting her up.
And what a coincidence—her ex-boyfriend was also named Cyrus.
Cyrus Shen, Shen Xuyan. A name that had been haunting her lately.
But business was business. Rui'an's commercial real estate projects were concentrated along the southeast coast. Besides those under construction, they had at least thirty shopping malls.
If they could reach an agreement, she could pick cities and locations to set up Glint counters. And she could negotiate a bulk price for ad placements, securing at least two quarters' KPIs after the new year. It was a rare opportunity.
So she came without hesitation.
"How strange. It's not like he's a celebrity. Why the secrecy and mystery?"
With Duan Jinchen's disdainful snort, the elevator stopped and the doors opened.