Yan Shuyu, whose body was being very honest as she was declining him verbally, finally followed the boss into the mall. And the reason she gave herself was that her $1,000 worth of clothes were in his hand!

Even though they probably weren’t even good enough to be used as rags for the boss, they were bought with Yan Shuyu’s hard-earned money. Not to mention she had tried each and every single one of them on and like them all very much. She might be able to ditch the boss and dash, but she couldn’t throw away her loot of the day. That was her bottom line.

As such, Yan Shuyu had no choice but to follow Zhou Qinhe as she comforted herself; just because we’re going to a movie together doesn’t mean he’s interested in me. After all, didn’t the boss just have a date with Miss WRP, and right in front of her no less? If the boss had the intention to court her, surely he’d never had done that.

The fact that Yan Shuyu was so confident was because she had read the novel, and knew that as much as the male lead’s father was two-faced, and toyed with everyone like a cat toying with a mouse, there was one thing about him that instakilled all other CEOs – that he was not a promiscuous player.

Perhaps, those who enjoy high powers didn’t care that much about physical desires. Specifically, he was married to the stepmom for 20 or so years and never had any affairs on the side. He was the model husband in the circle. Everybody always thought that what he had for his wife was true love, which was why he seemed to have more fondness toward his stepson. To a point that toward the end of the fight for inheritance, there were those who would take the risks and hedge their bets with the stepmom and stepson instead of the real son.

In the end, after the male lead had won that battle and sent the stepmom into jail, the male lead’s father regained his status as a single man. Even though the family business had transferred to the male lead and male lead’s father had retired to enjoy his golden years, he was the patriarch of a prominent family that had existed for tens of years. His personal assets and investment most definitively exceed that of the male lead’s. Being in possession of money, time, and being single, he was definitely a well sought after bachelor.

Doing a reverse calculation from the male lead’s age, when “she” went out of the picture, the boss was probably only around 50 or so, not even 60. Even when he was so busy with his work right now, he still found the time to keep in shape and has all 8 abdominal muscles.

One could only expect that he’d only looked about 30/40 when he was in his 50s. That was like his prime. With his qualifications, if he wanted to look for second, er no, third romance, he could have his pick. Yet, even up to the male lead meeting his one and only at age 30 and having their 2 children in 3 years, the male lead’s father was still a single handsome man with no woman by his side. Quite the contrary, he had shifted to enjoying spending time with his grandchildren.

Through these developments, Yan Shuyu believed that the boss was very conservative when it came to relationships. If he could remain faithful in his marriage with the stepmom when his only purpose was to have a whetstone for his son, then naturally he would not pursue her when he has Miss WRP.

Exactly. She must have faith in his integrity and that her beauty meant nothing to him. If he was truly interested in her, he would have acted after their intimacy. She would never had the opportunity to pull her pants up and dashed.

After her own extremely logical analysis, Yan Shuyu felt even more relieved about her current situation. She figured that the reason the boss was out goofing today was probably exactly like what he had said, he hadn’t had a break in a long time and was only using her as an excuse to get out of work early. She really didn’t think to overthink it.

Even with the perfect excuse like her, his elite assistant earlier acted like he still had more he wanted to say and didn’t want him to get off. Come to think about it, it must be hard to be him; he had to try so hard to find an excuse to goof off and his assistant still tried to stop him…

But, of course, she was the most pitiful one of all. In the novel she was destined to be the boss’s son’s whetstone. Now she wanted to quit but the boss wouldn’t let her go. He used her as the tool to babysit his son and now he used her as an excuse to get out of work. She was used to maxed, and he never viewed her as a normal human being. Lucky her, right?

Thinking about that, Yan Shuyu started to get angry. The adrenaline rush made her no longer the pitiful, helpless little kitty in front of the boss. She had made up her mind to show him who's boss. She would pick a scary movie at the theater and scare him sh*tless. All of a sudden, she picked up her pace and mindlessly walked in front of the boss.

Naturally, Zhou Qinhe wasn’t someone who cared about minor details like that. He found it more amusing at the sudden change in her mannerism. Raising his brows a little, he also increased his pace to keep up with her, but the entire time deliberately walked half a step behind her to appease her.

Yan Shuyu was cool for not more than 3 seconds. As soon as she walked inside the mall, she suddenly turned and gave him a baffled look, “This doesn’t look like the mall I was at before?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. You didn’t mention the exact location, so I assumed it was this one,” explained Zhou Qinhe as he gave her another look.

Yan Shuyu felt that his look was filled with contempt of her IQ, yet she had no rebuttal. Come to think about it, as soon as she got into the car she was busy with all sorts of crazy thoughts and awkward chitchat, she surely did not tell them the exact location…

What should she do? She was worried about her own IQ all of a sudden…

While Yan Shuyu was starting to have self-doubt, Zhou Qinhe did not press the envelope. Instead, he asked in a very gentlemanly manner, “Would you like to go over there now?”

“Nah, it doesn’t matter where we go to watch a movie,” said Yan Shuyu without hesitation. As TBH as this mall looked, it’s just watching a movie. How expensive could it be? The sooner they finished watching the movie, the sooner she could bid the boss farewell!

Once she had her mind set, Yan Shuyu actively dragged the boss around the mall and quickly found the theater, “Top floor on this side, let’s take the elevator up.”

She beelined toward the theater, but when she got to the window, Yan Shuyu learned that there wasn’t any scary movies that she had hoped for. There were, however, two romance comedies. One of them being the one that she had in mind originally, yet Yan Shuyu couldn’t even begin to fathom watching a romance comedy in the theater with just the two of them. So, she took the opportunity when the boss asked what she would like to watch in a perfect gentlemanly way and decisively picked an action flick that was just about to start, “Let’s watch this one. The rating is very high. Should be pretty decent.”

Zhou Qinhe chuckled, “Okay.”

Then, he pulled out his luxurious black card and handed it over to the young girl in the ticketing booth.

Yan Shuyu had planned on politely expressing that she could pay for the tickets, but as soon as she saw the prices, she kept her mouth shut nicely. The tickets cost $100 each, no way she would pay for that.

She quietly put her hand over her purse and dared not pretend to be polite anymore. Inadvertently, she caught sight of the plastic bags still hanging on the boss’s exalted and elegant hand and shuddered. She quickly took the bags from him and said, “I can get those.”

Zhou Qinhe didn’t object this time but said to her tenderly, “There’s still 20 minutes before the movie starts. Why don’t you grab a seat over there, I’ll be over after I finished getting the tickets.”

“Okay.” Yan Shuyu was just thinking that standing here with the boss would attract too much attention and misunderstandings, so she decisively went to look for a spot while carrying her bags.

She had barely just sat down when the text message from Yang Zifeng came over through WeChat. It was a picture of the front entrance of her son’s kindergarten along with a voicemail, “I am here already. Yuanbao should be out in a few minutes.”

Being nice on WeChat was free, so Yan Shuyu generously gave him a chicken leg emoji, “Thank you so much!”

“Wow, I am not used to you being so polite,” teased Yang Zifeng. “What about you? Which movie do you plan on watching?”

Yan Shuyu told him the name of the movie. Yang Zifeng, who happened to have recently watched it, sang its praises right away, “This was a great movie. Good taste, Yanyan!”

The two were just happily chatting away before Yan Shuyu felt a shadow cast over her from above. She looked up subconsciously and saw the boss, who has also got them popcorn and cola after the tickets, standing in front of her. From this angle, the man’s skinny and pointy chin, profound eyes, and tall nose were even more striking. As someone who valued appearances a lot, Yan Shuyu stared at him like a loser that she was.

Luckily, Zhou Qinhe had not yet realized how important looks was to Yan Shuyu, he only thought her shock was from the food in his hand and nonchalantly added, “I saw everybody else all bought snacks and thought we would stand out less this way. Do you not like these?”

Of course not! Yan Shuyu was the typical resident from the planet of I-Must-Have-Popcorn-When-I-Watch-A-Movie. She took the iced cola from the boss and immediately took a sip before she let out a sigh and said, “You are really good.”

Zhou Qinhe raised his brows, “Good at what?”

Good at flirting! But since the boss was not well versed in internet slang, she didn’t see the need to educate him. She surely didn’t want the boss to think that she was the flirty one.

Yan Shuyu lied guiltlessly, “Boss Zhou looks like you are very good at enjoying life!” She even gave him a thumbs up to add credibility to her statement.

Naturally, Zhou Qinhe could tell that she was lying through her teeth, but he was happy at the compliment anyways. He chuckled and sat down next to her still having the double sized popcorn that was very much against his style in his hand.

There was still some time left before the movie’s start time. Yan Shuyu didn’t want to carry on with the nutrition-less awkward chitchat with the boss, so she decided to stuff herself with the food. She comfortably reached for the popcorn that was resting on top of the boss’s knees.

That had proven to be a superb decision. The popcorn that was roasted crispy with a thick layer of caramel on the outside was her favorite. She couldn’t stop eating once she started. As she was devouring the popcorn, she even said to the boss, “The popcorn here is amazing, you should try some too!”

Zhou Qinhe didn’t really buy the popcorn to “blend in”. He bought them because when he standing in line earlier for the tickets, he heard the girl behind him whining to her boyfriend that she wanted popcorn and thought Yan Shuyu would probably enjoy these types of snacks as well.

Even though everybody else said she was the model of a single mother, after their several times of contact, Zhou Qinhe had a pretty good idea of what she was truly like. Her nature was closer to a spoiled little girl. So, he figured she would like what other girls like, which was why he went straight to the popcorn booth after he got the tickets.

Even though he bought the twin set, he had the intention to try any of this. He didn’t even care about the coffee at the internet-raved Sunshine House, let alone these kinds of snacks. Yet, the girl was selling it to him so passionately. She had just put a handful in her mouth and had immediately reached back into the bucket. Her moist and red lips opening and closing right in front of him.

Watching her quietly, some other images suddenly flashed through his head, and he felt his mouth starting to get dry. He subconsciously pinched off a popcorn and popped it into his mouth.

Yan Shuyu stuck her head in front of him the very next second, looking like a grade school kid who was ever so excited to share what she liked most to a little buddy. Her look was full of pride as she said, “It was really good, wasn’t it?”

Zhou Qinhe licked his lips and wanted to loosen his tie for some more fresh air, but remembering the caramel sticking to his hand, put his hand down. Without giving anything away, he said, “It’s alright.”

“Then have some more. Don’t be shy. I can’t eat all these by myself!”

Under the constant nudging from Yan Shuyu, Zhou Qinhe couldn’t help but eat a few more. As his mouth was parched, he had no choice but to take a sip of the cola that he only got for show.

This being the first time he had ever tried anything like this, he didn’t think these were the best things ever. Quite the contrary, he looked at Yan Shuyu inquisitively. He had always been very confident in his self-control and never thought he’d one day be so curious about anything.

Yan Shuyu, on the other hand, was happily eating away with her head down and didn’t notice the look from the boss at all.