I thought you wouldn't be willing to come back tonight.

Lin Wanwan's cheeks flushed with a faint pink hue. She picked up a freshly boiled piece of tripe with her chopsticks and blew on it to cool it down, but she didn't put it in her own bowl.

She tilted her head up slightly, bit one end of the tripe with her pearly white teeth, leaned forward, and offered it directly to Chen Zhi's lips.

Chen Zhi cooperatively opened his mouth, catching the tripe along with her two soft lips.

Lin Wanwan naturally fell into Chen Zhi's arms, giggling happily.

Just as Chen Zhi wrapped his arm around her waist, preparing for the next move, the phone on the table suddenly vibrated.

Still dizzy from the kiss, Lin Wanwan leaned softly against Chen Zhi's chest. She casually swiped to answer the call and turned on the speakerphone.

"Hello, Sister Su," Lin Wanwan's voice still carried a breathless, charming innocence.

"Wanwan, are you still with Chen Zhi right now?"

"Yeah, we're having dinner." Lin Wanwan completely missed the strange tone in her agent's voice.

"Wanwan, ask Chen Zhi right away if his company is planning to sign you as their exclusive spokesperson!" Su Man took a deep breath, seemingly trying to calm her excitement. "I just ran into their company's CFO at a dinner party. That President Pei decided on the spot to sign a three-year, one-hundred-million-yuan exclusive domestic endorsement contract with you!"

As soon as these words came out, Lin Wanwan's slightly muddled brain instantly cleared up. Her eyes widened little by little as she turned to look at Chen Zhi.

"Hubby, is this a surprise you prepared for me?" Tears of emotion shimmered in Lin Wanwan's eyes.

Chen Zhi was a bit confused, having no idea why Pei Ningxue would suddenly invest in her own romantic rival.

But seeing Lin Wanwan looking so moved that she was ready to devote her entire life to him, Chen Zhi's mind raced, and he decided to shamelessly take the credit for it.

"Cough, I was actually going to wait until you got back to the hotel to tell you." Chen Zhi reached out and pinched Lin Wanwan's cheek. "Seeing as you just won the championship, I wanted to give you top-tier commercial resources that match your worth. Best to keep the wealth within our own family, right?"

Lin Wanwan was overwhelmed with emotion. She threw her arms around Chen Zhi's neck, ready to kiss him again.

However, Su Man immediately poured a bucket of cold water over the moment.

"But, that President Pei added a very strict condition," Su Man's tone turned serious. "Within these three years, you absolutely cannot publicly announce any romantic relationship. If the paparazzi catch solid evidence of you dating, you'll face an astronomical breach-of-contract penalty. Wanwan, tell me honestly, how far along are you and Chen Zhi right now?"

Lin Wanwan looked at Chen Zhi in disbelief, her eyes turning red.

"Are you ashamed of me?" Lin Wanwan's voice carried a hint of a sob.

"No!" Chen Zhi cried foul. He adored Wanwan, how could he be ashamed?

Pei Ningxue's move was too sinister.

How was this giving Lin Wanwan resources? This was clearly putting a knife right to Chen Zhi's throat!

"Then why did you add this condition?" Lin Wanwan pushed Chen Zhi away, tears welling up in her eyes. "Do you think that now you have me, you don't want to be responsible for me anymore? You want to use a hundred million to brush me off and keep me hidden in the dark for three years?"

"Wanwan, listen to me explain."

"I won't listen!" Lin Wanwan sniffled, tears falling drop by drop, feeling incredibly wronged.

Chen Zhi quickly slid over, forcefully pulling her into his arms and clumsily wiping away her tears.

"This really isn't my fault." Chen Zhi decisively passed the buck. "Look, I've been spending every day with you lately. I handed all company matters over to the management team a long time ago. That CFO I hired is a workaholic who only cares about money and not people. She must be looking at it from the perspective of the company's interests, thinking that you're on the rise and that announcing a relationship would severely impact your commercial value. That's why she added this clause on her own!"

Chen Zhi continued to throw dirt on Pei Ningxue. "That President Pei has a very weird temper. She likes to throw her weight around at the company. I'll definitely dock her bonus when I get back!"

"Really?" Lin Wanwan looked up at him with teary eyes.

"Truer than gold!" Chen Zhi raised three fingers, swearing solemnly. "If I'm lying to you, I'll never find a girlfriend for the rest of my life!"

Lin Wanwan smiled through her tears and playfully punched Chen Zhi's chest.

"You only know how to lie to me," Lin Wanwan said coquettishly. "You already have me, yet you still make such useless vows."

Chen Zhi let out a long sigh of relief in his heart.

Being hopelessly romantic was truly the greatest invention in human history.

As long as you offered a few sweet words and stroked their ego a bit, they could be easily coaxed.

"Then this contract... should I still sign it?" Lin Wanwan leaned conflictedly against Chen Zhi's shoulder. "If we get caught, a hundred million in penalties... I couldn't afford it even if I sold myself."

"Sign it! Why wouldn't you?" Chen Zhi waved his hand generously, acting like a wealthy tycoon. "It's the company's money, we might as well take it. As for going public, as long as you want to, I can announce it with you anytime. At worst, I'll just pay the one hundred million penalty to the company out of my own pocket—it's just moving money from my left hand to my right!"

Hearing this, Lin Wanwan completely surrendered.

She hugged Chen Zhi tightly, all her grievances vanishing into thin air, and took the initiative to offer a sweet kiss.

"Hubby, you're the best."

The two of them acted lovey-dovey in the private room for quite a while longer, until Su Man frantically urged them via WeChat, prompting Chen Zhi to pay the bill and lead Lin Wanwan out.

At 10:30 PM.

Chen Zhi escorted Lin Wanwan back to her hotel.

Watching Lin Wanwan's retreating figure, the smile on Chen Zhi's face vanished completely.

He rubbed his somewhat stiff cheeks and hailed a taxi by the road.

"Driver, Wanliu Academy."

Sitting in the back seat, Chen Zhi watched the night scenery rapidly receding outside the window, feeling anxious.

This woman, Pei Ningxue, usually seemed so quiet, but when she made a move, she went big.

She was using this method to tell Chen Zhi: You want to play, I'll play with you, but I definitely won't let you have an easy time of it.

Chen Zhi took out his phone and opened Pei Ningxue's WeChat.

The chat history was still stuck on the word "Scram" from this afternoon.

I definitely have to show her who's boss when I get back. She's been getting a bit too full of herself lately.

Half an hour later, the taxi stopped at the main gate of Wanliu Academy.

Chen Zhi used facial recognition to enter the community and took the elevator straight to the top-floor duplex.

He entered the password.

With two beeps, the door lock popped open.

The main lights in the house weren't on; only a floor lamp in the corner of the living room cast a warm, dim glow.

Pei Ningxue was wearing a black silk slip nightgown, her legs crossed, sitting lazily on the sofa.

She was holding a tablet, looking at something. Her originally cold and elegant face appeared even fairer in the light.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, she slowly turned her head, her gaze landing on Chen Zhi.

"President Chen," Pei Ningxue smiled. "How was your dinner?"

"I thought you wouldn't be able to bear coming back tonight."