Yan Shuyu did not expect the boss to propose to her so suddenly - alright, so it wasn't entirely a surprise. She was so pretty, and tender, and kind, and cute. It was only normal that the boss had completely fallen head over heel for her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. She had just refused to think about this possibility was all.

That being said, as much as he was head over heel in love with her, he should not have proposed to her in front of so many friends. How could she turn him down righteously then?

Yan Shuyu refused to admit that the wavering inside of her was brought about by the sparkling diamond the size of a pigeon's egg, or that it was because there were stars in the kneeling boss's eyes. She blamed it all on the boss putting her on the spot and that way she could explain it away to herself.

The situation was, indeed, tough. Had the boss proposed to her privately, Yan Shuyu could come up with 100 reasons to talk him out of this horrible idea without hurting his feelings. But now that they were in front of all these people, all of them friends of theirs, how could she possibly carry on with the boss after she had turned him down?

That was right. Yan Shuyu didn't want to get married; she just want to be in a relationship with the boss. She was openly a scumbag.

She wasn't that much of the scum before but she had it all figured out since she had got together with the boss and was prepared to break up with hi at any given point. That being said, after the little male lead's birth mother's incident, she was now very confident in both the boss and herself and started to have a change of heart. She felt that as the boss was very in love with her and she was quite fond of the boss, she would most likely never had a change of heart even just for the sake of the boss's handsome and classy face as well as his wealthy that was way more than enough for this life time. There was no reason why they couldn't just date for the rest of their lives.

As long as there was no marriage certificate, there would be two less people to fight over the boss and the little male lead for their inheritance. How was that not a win-win situation?

All in all, Yan Shuyu truly believed that the boss proposing to her was a silly idea. Okay, never mind that he had such a silly idea himself, but why did he have to do the whole surprise thing and not let her know at all in advance. Now she was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Yan Shuyu dared not spend too much time struggling. She worried that the crowd would be able to see through her. As such, amidst the cheerful of her little buddies, she said softly to the boss, "Why don't you get up first?"

The music and the cheering around them drowned Yan Shuyu's voice and Zhou Qinhe was the only one who heard it. His eyes that was as sparkly as the pigeon's egg in his hand just a moment ago dimmed immediately. Yan Shuyu's heart shuddered with it. This was the first time she felt a guilty conscience. She would probably had given in had Zhou Qinhe gone on for two more minutes.

Naturally, Zhou Qinhe wasn't the kind of person who would use the situation to his advantage. His sexy thin lips were tightened and his mood at this moment was obvious. Nevertheless, he still stood up as she had asked and, under the excited looks from the onlookers, swooped Yan Shuyu into his arms.

It was obviously that the little buddies at the scene erupted in joy and the atmosphere become livelier than ever. Under their gaze, Yan Shuyu started chatting with the boss softly, "Why so sudden..."

With his chin rested on her head, Zhou Qinhe asked softly, "You don't want to marry me?"

"That's not it." Without being able to see his look, Yan Shuyu couldn't really guess how he was feeling right now.

Granted, he probably wasn't going to be too happy when his proposal wasn't accepted immediately. Yan Shuyu tried very hard to calm him down and explained, "I was just shocked. It is such a big decision; am going to need some time to think it through."

"How much time do you need?"

"I want to... really give it some thoughts," said Yan Shuyu weakly.

Her intention was to drag it out as much as she could. Boss Zhou might not have been fooled by that, but he still responded with an "okay."

Yan Shuyu was very happy. The boss must really be head over heel over her, to not be mad at her even after this.

Nevertheless, now was not the time to be complacent. Remembering all the eyes that were locked on the two of them Yan Shuyu felt a headache coming on again. She couldn't help but passed the buck over to the boss and asked him in a low voice. "But with this whole grand gesture, if I say I need some time to think it through, would that make others think that we are over?"

Even though she wasn't the one who was rejected, but she was protective of the boss. She definitely wouldn't want the usually arrogant boss to be embarrassed in front of all of her friends.

Besides, rumors can be powerful. The boss might be okay with her turning him down right now, but what if he regretted one day and wanted to break up with her over this?

Yan Shuyu might feel stuck between a rock and a hard place, but that was not an issue when it came to the shrewd boss. He suggested wisely, "Then why don't you put it on your middle finger first so others would think that we are engaged. We can set the date whenever you make up your mind."

Yan Shuyu hesitated for a little bit and, even though she felt that something was off about that suggestion, she couldn't come up with a better one on the fly. As such, she finally nodded and said, "Alright, put it on my left hand then."

She had heard that when it came to wedding band, the men would wear it on their left hand and the woman, right. So putting it on her left hand would mean that this proposal was nullified.

Naturally, Zhou Qinhe saw through her little gesture but, instead of commenting on it, he grinned with her in his arms.

Even though the two of them discussed the strategy out of their current situation right under everybody's noses, nobody else had noticed it. When the couple were good looking, even if they were just hugging each other, they exuded fluffy aura. Some of them might have noticed the movements of Boss Zhou's lips as though he was whispering something, but they didn't give it too much thoughts. Of course he would need to whispering some sweet nothing during a proposal. How else could one move a girl? In fact, that was totally Boss Zhou's style.

When they learned that he planned to propose publicly and pull out the ring and get down on his knees in front of Yan Shuyu, all of the audiences were shocked. They even had questions in their mind as to why Boss Zhou would want to have such a grand gesture. That was very unlike him.

When they saw him whispering into Yan Shuyu's ear without anyone hearing a word, the audiences actually let out a sigh of relief. Boss Zhou was Boss Zhou after all, they thought to themselves. The formality was one thing; but only the female lead could listen to the true words from his heart.

The crowd, who were confident that they had Boss Zhou figured out, were no longer anxious when they saw his whispering so much to Yan Shuyu. In fact, they all waited for the final happy ending with anticipation.

The boss and Yan Shuyu did not let the crowd wait for too long. They had talked a lot, but only a minute or two had passed. Once they have agreed on a strategy, the boss let go of Yan Shuyu gently and Yan Shuyu also took a step from him. Then, her left hand was lifted up gently and the pigeon-egg was sparkling on her middle finger.

The little buddies, who had been waiting for a while, even pulled out colored ribbons to celebrate this moment.

Even knowing that she wasn't truly engaged, Yan Shuyu could still feel her heart throbbing madly. It was, after all, her very first time being proposed to. And, it was such a grand gesture no less. Of course she was very touched by it.

Yan Shuyu felt very accomplished on this Christmas Eve; nevertheless, she was aware that all she did was bought herself a little more time. She had not completely quelled the boss's idea to get married. The revolution was still ongoing, and all comrades needed to keep up their hard work.

But what could she do to make the boss give up on this horrible idea? Yan Shuyu spent a lot of time mulling over that one after she had gone home. Finally, she decided on self deprecation. She was to volunteer her dark past to him voluntarily - not the time when she had taken advantage of the boss at Hotel Dorsett when he was drunk. Their entanglement started after that and it was possible that the boss had already filed that under the beautiful-encounter category. There was no point in bringing that up.

Yan Shuyu wanted to tell him about her dark past of working for a year at a nightclub before she joined Hotel Dorsett where she had earned tips from accompanying other men when they drank.

She knew full well that it was her who did that, but now that she had transmigrated over and taken over the identify of the villainess stepmother, the original owner's dark history was her dark history. Yan Shuyu felt that she might be able to use that as her ammunition.

The boss was, after all, someone of high status. He might be able to marry a commoner with a decent job, perhaps even one that had a child from a previous marriage, but certainly Mrs. Zhou could not be a woman with a questionable dark history?

As such, Yan Shuyu went to confess to the boss confidently. Her tone was extremely sincere. "You know... if you want to get married, there is something that you need to know."

During his time off, Zhou Qinhe was sitting on the couch reading an English book. When he heard what she said, he closed the book on que, rested one of his hand over the other, and even looked up at her with anticipation. "Go on."

Yan Shuyu went ahead and told him the whole story. She even wisely injected wealthy woman Madam Qin at the very end for added effect. "Don't you rich people care a lot about stuff like that? Madam Qin had mentioned it to me in the past already. Someone with a complicated history like mine is not good enough to married into your family. Should we get married, you will turn into a laughingstock of others."

With both emotions and rationality, Yan Shuyu felt for sure that she had done an impeccable job. The boss would, for sure, give up on his idea to get married. Lo and behold, all Zhou Qinhe did was smiled and said nonchalantly, "There is no need to bother ourselves with silly rumors. I doubt they will have the courage to say anything in front of me."

Yan Shuyu froze instantly. That was not the reaction that she had expected. She couldn't help but asked, "Don't you feel shameful about it though?"

"Why should I?" Zhou Qinhe stood up with a smile on him. Looking straight at her tenderly, he said, "I know it hadn't been easy for you, having to support yourself and the child. Yuanbao was also very young back then. It couldn't be easy for you to get a normal job. I'm sorry that those few years had been so difficult for you."

Having said that, he was about to walk up and put his arms around her.

Yan Shuyu didn't feel that her days had been particularly difficult. The worst days were already over by the time she had transmigrated over. The days certainly were easy but that was only because she was comparing it to her life before she had transmigrated. How many adults in the workforce had a life that was much easier than hers? At the very minimum, she had been very lucky to have run into so many kind people who were nice to her and were willing to lend her a helping hand.

That being said, listening to the boss's words and looking at the pitiful look in his eyes, Yan Shuyu was still very touched. She was short of throwing herself into his arms.

And why didn't she do just that? Because the boss had also said something very alarming the same time he opened up his arms at her.

Zhou Qinhe unfurrowed his brows as he looked at her and asked, "Now that we have had the last issue figured out, should you have an answer for me then?"

Yan Shuyu was so startled that she took a step back. She was so confident in herself on her way over. How would she to know that the boss was so in love with her that he was willing to give up his face and self-esteem as a member of a prominent family? Now she had no choice but to carry on with the stalling. "I, I need some more time to work up to that."

"Yanyan." The boss placed both hands on her shoulders and, in a tone that was nonchalant but with a hint of terrifying authority, said to her, "I have waited long enough. I am going to give you three more days at most. You give it some more thoughts."

Oh, brother. Was this an ultimatum coming from the boss? That he would break up with her if she didn't accept his proposal? Yan Shuyu wanted to cry.

She normally would have folded under his wordless pressure already; nevertheless, marrying the boss was a matter of her bottom line. She stubbornly looked up at the boss and said, "I... can I have a week instead?"

Zhou Qinhe did not talk but looked at Yan Shuyu with a frown.

As much as Yan Shuyu was a timid person, she looked right back that the boss without bulging even a little.

It really wasn't that she didn't want to marry him. The boss was so rich that he was worth more than ten of her. What was that online saying nowadays? A death penalty after earning globs of money for three years was a worth tradeoff? If the original owner's ending was the only thing she was taking into consideration, Yan Shuyu would probably already had lost her mind and accepted the boss's proposal on the day of. Just think about it, she could marry the boss and had ten years of good life before going to jail. What was the big deal? She would be just fine by the time she got out of jail. It was totally a worthy tradeoff.

The problem arose because she couldn't give up on her son just for the boss's good look. Her son was very handsome too, and cute and sweet and talented. He had so much potential. How could she allow him to follow in his father's footstep and end in a traumatic death just because he wanted to go all out on fighting over the inheritance with the male lead?

The boss might be as attractive as a Greek god, but that was still a bad tradeoff.

And that was how Yan Shuyu continued to ascertain her own confidence and she was finally able to withstand the boss's almost palpable look.

Finally, Zhou Qinhe gave in and said with a frown, "Find, one week."

Yan Shuyu nodded and they had reached an agreement.

That seemed to be the first time she had gained victory in a staring contest with the boss. Even so, Yan Shuyu didn't feel particularly happy about it. She knew that her path would be very bumpy in the time that followed. She could tell from the boss's attitude today that he was very fixated on the marriage issue.

It was all her fault for being so dang attractive.

But what was she to do next? Yan Shuyu truly felt that her hands were tied. As the deadline agreed upon inched up on her and she still hasn't been able to come up with a plausible solution, Yan Shuyu had quietly prepared herself for the best and worst outcome and all that was left for her to do was to wait for the boss's final verdict.

At this very moment, a person that she never would have imagined showed up.