Yan Shuyu did not expect such a twist in the plot. She was the one who was going to move into the fancy apartment?

She must say, the boss's suggestion was very tempting. This time, poverty did not limit Yan Shuyu's imagination as she had just gotten a tour of Manager Yang's place and knew how high-class and poise the layout was. Manager Yang's place was very lively. He lived with his parents, his sister, and other elderlies. She heard that there were also nannies and maids, totalling over 10 people. But when they toured his place, Manager Yang even showed her his game room and home theater room. His niece, Tongtong, also had her own princess room and piano room. That ought to tell her how big the place was.

Never mind that Yan Shuyu had never seen such a luxurious house in her two lives combined, nobody had in the three generations above her. She couldn't help but fantasize how wonderful it'd be to wake up in the 660 square meter bed every day. She thought she'd laugh in her dreams.

After her fantasy, she finally declined the boss's offer. Her bottom line was clear and had never changed - she would do anything other than being the male lead's stepmother.

Nevertheless, the boss's intention was very suspicious. It made her wonder whether he wanted her and her instant son to move into his house first. Based on the theory that it's easier to go from rags to riches rather than the other way round, once the two of them had gotten used to the corrupt lifestyle of the riches, he'd bring up marriage. By then she'd have no choice but to accept her fate of becoming his son's stepmother.

That was a scary thought. For the sake of maintaining her bottom line and not to fall for the boss's trap, she had no choice but to crush her dream of living in a fancy place.

That being said, Yan Shuyu thought about it some more and the boss's reason that he had prepared a surprise for her was very loving. On the surface, it sounded like he had only arranged for it behind her back to save her the hassle. She has no proof of what she had speculated, so she didn't want to sound too ungrateful.

Based on the other possibility, Yan Shuyu tried to choose her words carefully when she nicely turned down his offer. "Em, I have already toured Manager Yang's place. The place was very big and had a lot of rooms. It would be very wasteful for Yuanbao and I to live in a place that size. Besides, I can't afford the rent here either..."

Perhaps her last line sounded too disgruntled, Boss Zhou glanced over and smiled at her. "You know the rent here?"

"I've checked them out this afternoon," replied Yan Shuyu truthfully. "In this same district, a 200 square meter, two-bedroom place costs 9,000 yuan. So a multi-level, single-family place will run around 30,000 - 50,000 a month?"

"A little on the low side, 80,000 yuan," said Zhou Qinhe nonchalantly.

"80,000 yuan a month?!" Yan Shuyu struggled to sit up. She knew that houses like these could cost upward of tens of millions, but she hadn't expected their rent to be so ridiculous. Poverty had, after all, limited her imagination.

That being said, while she was shocked by the pricing, she noticed something else from the boss's words and asked, "Are you renting this place?"

She had assumed that when the boss said "Secretary Lu helped me find this place" meant she helped him find the best one from his list of properties. After all, the boss was so busy all the time that he couldn't possibly keep track of all of his assets. But if that was the case, how would he know the rent for this place off the top of his head?

Sure enough, her speculation was correct and Zhou Qinhe confirmed her thought.

Sure enough, her speculation was correct and Zhou Qinhe confirmed her thought.

As much as she had guessed it, now she felt even more complicated. How did a domineering CEO stoop to the level of renting a place for his girlfriend?

"Why did you rent the place already?" asked Yan Shuyu reflexively.

"You wish that I will buy it straight out?" Her reaction didn't seem to bother the boss. It had, in fact, prompted him with new ideas. "I didn't do that previously because worry that that would take more time. Buying a house, after all, entails more than just renting. But that's fine. I trust that the owner wouldn't mind expanding his business."

He still looked very casual, as though all he needed to do was just to say the words to buy a place like this.

Yan Shuyu, on the other hand, was startled. Shaking her hands frantically, she said, "No, that's not what I am saying at all!"

After a short awkward silence, she finally asked another key question, "How much rent have you paid already?"

The boss had already mentioned remodeling and picking out furniture, so she skipped the stupid question of whether rent had been paid.

Zhou Qinhe, his hands still resting on the steering wheel, replied nonchalantly. "I think a year in advance."

"A whole year?" Yan Shuyu was stunned all

over again. She felt deeply pained by the

boss's wastefulness. A whole year's rent came

out to be close to one million yuan. And he just

spent it silently the way that he did. Did money

grow on trees for him?

Granted, with the boss's assets, a million yuan probably wasn't a lot of money to him. But it still bothered her. She couldn't just sit around and watch her boyfriend being taken for an idiot and just let the landlord make the money. She asked quickly, "Can you still get a refund from the landlord."

The boss replied nonchalantly, "The contract has been signed. That will be considered a breach of contract."

"If we don't stay there, the landlord could very well find a different renter. Push comes to shove, we can always pay for a month of rent or two. Why would he refuse to refund us the remaining amount?" Yan Shuyu felt that it was unjust and suggested, "If the landlord is being so unreasonable, we can always sue."

The way she looked at it, all CEOs have a team of lawyers that followed them around all the time. Naturally, this boss would have one of his own as well. Any lawyer on this team would be able to complete this assignment. All the boss needed to do was to say the word.

Her idea might be sound but the boss remained silent except for looking at her with a smile that wasn't a smile. Being looked at like that, Yan Shuyu slowly gave up on her thought. She got it now. It might be an easy task as far as the boss was concerned, but it wasn't his style to take someone to court for a measly one million yuan. That would just be bad for his reputation.

Now Yan Shuyu felt helpless. "Then what should we do?"

"Are you sure that you don't want to stay there?" Zhou Qinhe was particularly agreeable today. It seemed he'd go with whatever she wanted to do. He even comforted her gently. "It's okay if you don't want to stay here. That's not a problem at all."

Any other time, Yan Shuyu would find his mannerism very suspicious. But she was now blinded by the 1 million yuan. She thought to herself painfully; the rent had already been paid. If she refused to live there and the boss refused to ask for a refund, that's just money under the bridge. How could that be?

The more she thought about it, the more unjust she felt. Finally, she blurted out, "No way! If rent has already been paid, we have to at least stay there for the year."

Only she could take advantage of the boss. She couldn't possibly let anyone else take advantage of him. Once Yan Shuyu had it all figured out, her confidence had returned. Boss Zhou, too, gave her a look of approval and smiled reassured. "Alright."

Yan Shuyu felt even better with his approval. She even added, "You've already paid for the rent. For sure I will not be able to repay you."

80,000 yuan a month. There was no way she could come up with that. She might as well be straight forward up front.

Boss Zhou's reaction was to pat her on her head helplessly and chuckled. "I've arranged this. All you need to worry about is to move in and nothing else."

With that, Yan Shuyu felt much reassured. She propped her feet up and started daydreaming about life inside of the luxurious apartment. Even just for one year was a good deal for her!

Before she could finish with her daydreaming, she was smacked not too hard on her knee. The boss had to watch her mannerism even as he was driving. "Put your leg down."

"Oh." Yan Shuyu, being lectured, quickly put down her leg and sat up properly.

She could hear Zhang Yuanjia and Zhou Yi's giggling coming from behind her but that didn't bother her. So what if the boss had lectured her some now that she was about to move into the luxurious place.

Yan Shuyu, who was already completely distracted by the luxurious place, suggested out of the blue, "Can we go look at the place after dinner? I really want to see how you have it remodeled."

Even though the layout would be very similar to her little buddy's, each place had its own style. Yan Shuyu couldn't wait to check out the place that she would be staying at for the coming year. She would love to move in there tomorrow if only she could~

"Today?" The boss was thrown off by her abrupt change in attitude. Resigned, he said, "Secretary Lu has the key."

Yan Shuyu understood that her request was very abrupt, so she nodded very understandably. "Okay. Then we go check it out tomorrow?"

"I probably won't have time tomorrow."

Yan Shuyu was not distressed but still very excited. "Can get the key from Secretary Lu tomorrow so I can go take a look by myself?"

The boss gave her a tender look and said, "I have put a lot of work into preparing this gift for you. I'd like to go look at it with you."

Yan Shuyu pursed her lips silently. She thought Secretary Lu was the one who did all of the heavy lifting. How was it a lot of work on his part now? That being said, she was very appreciative of the boss's gesture and she had no resistance toward that loving look of his. Finally Yan Shuyu nodded happily, albeit a little disappointed, and said, "Alright."

In the next few days that followed, Yan Shuyu did not go look at places again. She had a lot of faith in the boss. Even though she has yet to move in and hasn't even seen the place yet, the boss had already reassured her that rent had already been paid. All she needed to do was wait to move in.

As such, when her little buddy expressed his concerns, Yan Shuyu told him the truth.

Yan Shuyu glossed over the details but just told her little buddy that the boss had already rented a place for her and paid for one year of rent in advance.

She felt that the reason was very compelling, but Manager Yang, upon hearing what she told him, had a peculiar look on him. "Rented it..... For a year?"

"Yeah," said Yan Shuyu. "What's wrong with that?"

"Did you see the rental agreement?"

"Oh, Secretary Lu was the one who took care of it so she has the rental agreement. I can't possibly ask her for it," said Yan Shuyu. Then, after a little bit more thought, she said, "He has no reason to lie to me anyway."

Manager Yang thought that as much as she said she didn't want a long-term relationship with Boss Zhou, her trust in him had been growing stronger every day. Woman. Hah.

As much as he thought that, he still agreed with her superficially. "That's what I thought as well. I'm just a little bit surprised that someone as rich as Boss Zhou would rent a place."

Yan Shuyu had no idea what was on her little buddy's mind and agreed with him wholeheartedly. "I thought so too initially. But he told me that buying a place entails a lot of steps and with limited time, it was easier to rent the place first."

Yang Zifeng, "..

Only his little buddy would believe in an excuse like that. If Boss Zhou could have his secretary rent a place for him, needless to say, he wouldn't need to lift a finger to buy a place either.

He felt that the boss was planning something big. That being said, as much as he had his suspicion, he dared not point it out. Mainly he could tell that his little buddy was very happy so he changed the subject without too much worry. "Awesome. You will be living upstairs of me from now on. We can hang out all the time and will never be bored."

Now Yan Shuyu was able to fantasy about her luxurious new place with her little buddy as she waited for the boss to take her to check the place out.

The wait lasted all the way until the end of the month. The boss finally freed up and got the key from Secretary Lu. As such, the four of them headed straight toward the high-end mansion district at 4 PM that day. Being influenced by Yan Shuyu's emotions, both Zhang Yuanjia and Zhou Yi had been looking forward to this event.