Chapter 7: So You Like Bo Fan?

Outside the Jiangye Club in Jiang City, known for its luxurious nightlife, a variety of luxury cars were parked.

In the VIP room, Gu Hanchen was drinking sullenly, "Damn it, haven't I treated her well? Tell me, whose secretary in Jiang City has a higher salary than hers? She's so ungrateful to resign, I won't approve her resignation letter!"

Chu Lin kicked Gu Hanchen, "Who are you calling 'old man'? Yuan Xi is now my sister!"

Gu Hanchen took another gulp of his drink.

Bo Fan overheard Chu Lin and raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Secretary Yuan is your sister?"

Chu Lin said, "I've just found out about this matter. It turns out that I had a sister who was kidnapped when we were young. Chu Yan was adopted, Yuan Xi is actually my real sister. I've known Yuan Xi for five years now, and who could have imagined that she's my sister. This really is fate's play and the world's unpredictability."

Bo Fan took a sip from his glass.

Chu Lin patted Bo Fan's shoulder and said, "Yanyan may be adopted, but she's also the Chu Family's precious daughter, and that won't change."

Gu Hanchen grumbled while drinking, "What's wrong with me? Why does she want to resign?"

"You don't even give her weekends off, Yuan Xi is the only one who could tolerate you for five years."

Gu Hanchen frowned, "Isn't it just weekends off? I'll give it to her, starting this week!"

Bo Fan asked Gu Hanchen, "Does Yuan Xi have a place to go after she resigns? Would she be interested in being my secretary?"

When Chu Yan arrived at Jiangye to find Bo Fan, she heard him say this at the entrance. She walked over to Bo Fan and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Mr. Bo, are you in need of a secretary? How about I become your secretary?"

Seeing Chu Yan, Bo Fan smiled faintly, "It's better for Yuan Xi to be the secretary. Secretary Yuan wants to resign, and Young Master Gu is acting as if he's heartbroken, it shows how remarkable Secretary Yuan is. I wonder what salary it would take for her to come work for me as a secretary."

Chu Yan started to feel an inexplicable panic; her relationship with Bo Fan was largely based on a marriage alliance.

Now that Yuan Xi had returned, and being the true daughter of the Chu Family, would Yuan Xi come and take Bo Fan away?

After all, among the four major wealthy families of Jiang City, Bo Fan and Gu Hanchen were arguably the most outstanding. Yuan Xi said she didn't like Gu Hanchen, but what about Bo Fan?

The Chu and Bo families were already in a marital alliance, would Yuan Xi want to "take back" Bo Fan?

Gu Hanchen stood up and said, "No one is going to take Yuan Xi away from me, she's mine, mine!"

Chu Lin frowned at Gu Hanchen, "You're drunk."

Gu Hanchen picked up a nearby phone and sent a voice message to Yuan Xi, "I want to eat the wontons you make, deliver them to Jiangye."

"Yuan Xi, wontons, small wontons, bring them over immediately."

"If you don't reply, there will be no year-end bonus for you."

...

Inside the Ruohu Mansion.

After Yuan Xi put down the photo frame, a wave of drowsiness hit her. Perhaps it was because she was pregnant, she was particularly sleepy and had settled down to sleep before Huo Shiyuan could return.

When Huo Shiyuan entered, he found Yuan Xi already asleep. He put the fruit in the refrigerator.

Seeing that Yuan Xi's phone kept ringing, showing messages from Gu Hanchen, Huo Shiyuan decided to mute the phone.

Lying beside Yuan Xi, he took her into his arms.

At the moment she was embraced, Yuan Xi woke up for an instant but quickly fell back to sleep.

Too much had happened that day, and she really needed to rest properly.

...

When the morning sunlight pierced through the gauze curtains, Yuan Xi's biological clock accurately woke her up five minutes before the alarm went off.

She opened her eyes and saw Huo Shiyuan still asleep beside her. Just looking at Huo Shiyuan's profile, Yuan Xi thought to herself, being a stand-in is just that, after all.

Marrying Huo Shiyuan, from any perspective, was definitely not a loss for her.

When the alarm sounded, Yuan Xi turned it off but still felt the person beside her open his eyes, "I'm sorry, I woke you up."

Huo Shiyuan checked the time, "It's only half-past six…doesn't Mi Chen start work at half-past nine?"

Yuan Xi said, "My work schedule isn't fixed; I usually arrive at the office around eight o'clock. It takes half an hour on the road, so I set my alarm for half-past six."

Ruohu was already equivalent to a rural area on the outskirts of Jiang City, and Mi Chen was located in the city center of Jiang City. Just the elevated roads alone took forty minutes to drive.

Thankfully, the elevated highway they took was not congested, and the forty-minute drive was almost always smooth and unobstructed.

Huo Shiyuan said, "I originally thought the air here was good, suitable for pregnancy care. If your commute to work is too long, shall I buy a house near Mi Chen?"

Yuan Xi smiled faintly, "No need, I'll soon be resigning anyway. I've also gotten used to getting up this early."

Huo Shiyuan got up with Yuan Xi. "Shall I drive you to the company?"

"Don't, in case Gu Hanchen sees us..."

Huo Shiyuan said, "Didn't you see Gu Hanchen's moments? He was still playing at Jiangye Club at two in the morning. You won't see him until noon today."

Yuan Xi unlocked her phone to find quite a few messages from Gu Hanchen.

"Secretary Yuan, at Jiangye Club, little wontons."

"Where are the little wontons? I want to eat little wontons. Within half an hour, I want to see little wontons!"

"Don't want your year-end bonus anymore?"

The messages continued for nearly a minute, all about little wontons. Yuan Xi wondered how soundly she had slept not to have heard these message tones.

Huo Shiyuan glanced at Yuan Xi's phone screen and frowned, "Is Gu Hanchen treating you like a secretary or a nanny?"

Yuan Xi gave a wry laugh. When she went into the washroom for her morning routine, she noticed that her toothbrush and toothbrush cup were both blue.

Yuan Xi pursed her lips, thinking that Huo Shiyuan's little childhood heartthrob must like the color blue a lot.

After freshening up and applying light makeup, she went downstairs, where breakfast was already laid out — a grand spread of both Chinese soy milk and fried eggs and Western sandwiches and oatmeal.

Huo Shiyuan said to Yuan Xi, "These were made by the chef. I wasn't sure about your tastes, so I just had a bit of everything made."

Yuan Xi said, "I usually don't eat breakfast."

Huo Shiyuan said, "But now that you're pregnant, you should have breakfast."

Yuan Xi, fearing she might experience morning sickness on the road, ate only a little breakfast and drank some bird's nest soup before heading out.

When Yuan Xi walked up to the car, Huo Shiyuan took her hand and led her to another vehicle, opening the passenger door for her, "Sit in this one; it's more comfortable."

Yuan Xi didn't refuse. Once she was in the car, she checked her emails on her phone.

The car parked downstairs of the company's building.

Yuan Xi unbuckled her seat belt and said to Huo Shiyuan inside the car, "President Huo, drive carefully on your way back, and take care."

Huo Shiyuan extended his hand to embrace Yuan Xi, leaning in close to the passenger side and kissed Yuan Xi's lipstick-covered lips, a brief and gentle touch, "Still calling me President Huo?"

Yuan Xi, looking at the close Huo Shiyuan, blushed slightly, "Shiyan, I should go now."

Yuan Xi hurried to her office, but just as she arrived at the elevator entrance, she received a message from the reception.

Yuan Xi went down to the first floor, where in the rest area next to the reception, Chu Yan's complexion did not look good as she watched Yuan Xi approach.

Yuan Xi noticed that Chu Yan hadn't changed her clothes and was still wearing the white dress from the day before.

Chu Yan stepped forward and said, "Sister."

Seeing Chu Yan, Yuan Xi asked, "Why are you looking for me so early in the morning?"

Chu Yan looked at Yuan Xi and said, "Bo Fan wants you to become his secretary. Will you agree?"

Bo Fan had been a childhood friend of Gu Hanchen and, over the past two years, had tried more than once to poach Yuan Xi to be his secretary.

Yuan Xi hadn't agreed because Bo Fan's offer wasn't as generous as Gu Hanchen's.

Chu Yan sneered, "So you'll agree, will you?"

Chu Yan clenched the skirt of her dress, "Is that why you told Mum you didn't like Gu Hanchen — because you like Bo Fan instead?"

Chu Yan eyed the blue diamond ring on Yuan Xi's hand, "Did you know Bo Fan intended to bid for this diamond ring to give to me as an engagement ring, so you had a replica made just like it?"

Chu Yan gave a cold laugh, "Although the Bo Family and the Chu Family are to be joined by marriage and you truly are the legitimate daughter of the Chu Family and have the status to marry into the Bo Family..."

"But Yuan Xi, the Bo Family is also an established wealthy household. Do you think the elders of the Bo Family would accept you... a country girl raised in a small village, to be the wife of the Bo Family heir?"