The Mercedes slowly drove out of the building.

Xu Qing sat in the passenger seat, feeling a bit prickly all over.

She occasionally stole glances at Tang Song beside her.

After all, they weren't really familiar with each other.

They hadn't had any substantial interactions during university, and they had only met once at work.

Especially since just a few days ago, they had mistakenly sent cosplay photos to each other, making their one-on-one interaction a bit awkward.

Noticing her glances, Tang Song smiled and pointed to the glove compartment in front of the passenger seat. “I’ve prepared a small gift for you inside. Let me know if you like it.”

Dating a beautiful girl, especially one who was quite popular during their college years, Tang Song didn’t mind adding a touch of romance to the occasion.

A gift?

Xu Qing was taken aback, her face slightly reddening as she said, “That’s so embarrassing…”

While speaking, she opened the glove compartment.

Inside lay a black gift box, quietly resting.

The light gold “CHANEL” logo was incredibly tempting, making it hard for her to look away.

Chanel!

She suppressed the smile threatening to spread across her face to appear less surprised and gently opened the gift box.

A delicate and stylish gold bracelet came into view.

It had an elegant sheen and texture, with beautiful double C logos on either side, adorned with diamonds, exuding a luxurious beauty.

Xu Qing’s heart raced as she received such an expensive gift for the first time.

“It’s summer now, and a pretty bracelet can beautifully accentuate your bare wrist. I think this one really suits you. Do you like it?”

“I like it. Thank you for the gift,” Xu Qing replied, her tone involuntarily rising.

Her eyes sparkled with excitement, and when she looked at Tang Song again, her gaze had completely changed.

Once university classmates, now in a luxury Mercedes, with a gentle and handsome business elite beside her, a luxurious gift in hand, and heading to a five-star hotel.

Wow! This is truly like a setup from her own novel!

In the car, they chatted lightly about legal work.

Tang Song looked at Xu Qing beside him, feeling somewhat strange.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that he saw a shadow of Shen Yuyan in her.

Dressed in a beige casual suit dress, with golden heels and a mature makeup look, she appeared very sophisticated and stylish, quite different from his previous impression of her.

Gradually relaxing, Xu Qing discreetly put on her beloved bracelet.

It was sturdy yet lightweight, comfortable and beautiful.

Taking out her phone, she snapped a photo of the bracelet and searched online, biting her lip in surprise.

The classic Chanel double C bracelet had a retail price of 4,200 yuan.

And this was just a normal meeting gift.

The male second lead certainly didn’t disappoint.

After taking a few more photos, she carefully closed the gift box, putting it into her Coach bag, which was now bulging.

Glancing around, Xu Qing opened the “Second Dimension’s Best Moments” group chat.

She shared the photos there.

Although she had sent many story contents in the chat, it was her first time sharing a photo.

Recently, her stories had reached a climax, and there was a lot of interest in the group.

Moments after she posted the photo, the group exploded with messages.

【Sisi: “Wow! The Chanel bracelet looks amazing!”】

【Zero Purple Moon: “This is the first time seeing Qingqing's photo! Her hands and legs are also beautiful, perfectly matching the image I have in mind!”】

【Bai Zhigu: “The background looks like it's in a car, the interior looks so high-end!”】

【Yunyu: “That’s a Mercedes S-Class. I’ve been in the passenger seat a few times while accompanying my boss on business trips. No wonder you’re a top lawyer.”】

【Susu: “@Qingqing, big boss, weren’t you going on a date with your infatuated classmate today?”】

…

With these comments, the group quickly immersed itself in Qingqing’s earlier stories, starting to ask her for details about the date.

Xu Qing's smile stretched from ear to ear.

She tapped on the input box, her fingers flying across the keyboard.

……

At Lanfeng International Five-Star Hotel.

Walking into the luxurious hotel lobby, Xu Qing instinctively moved closer to Tang Song, following the usher to the third floor’s Lanyue Chinese Restaurant.

What greeted her was an expansive courtyard-style luxury hall.

It preserved traditional Chinese elements while incorporating a modern minimalist style, elegant and grand.

Walking along the brightly lit corridor, they stopped at a window-side table.

Once they were seated, Tang Song smiled and said, “Order whatever you want; today you’re in charge.”

“Thank you.” Xu Qing took the menu and pretended to browse through it before addressing the nearby waiter, “I’ll have the black pepper snowflake beef cubes, crab roe shrimp balls, Lanyue crispy chicken, and pistachio almond soup.”

After ordering a few dishes she had been craving for a while, Xu Qing returned the menu, feeling a bit shy as she said, “The portions here aren’t big, so I ordered a bit more. Is that okay?”

“Of course, no problem.” Tang Song winked at her and added two signature dishes before casually asking, “What would you like to drink?”

“Yangzhi Ganlu will do.”

“Alright, let’s add two cups of Yangzhi Ganlu then.”

“Okay, please wait a moment,” the waiter politely nodded and pulled open a semi-transparent carved screen nearby.

While waiting for the dishes to arrive, Tang Song curiously asked, “Xu Qing, are you still living with Shen Yuyan?”

Xu Qing nodded quickly, “Yes, in Beicheng Garden Community in Yuhua District.”

“I heard from Lu Ziming that she started her own business, right? What’s she doing?”

Tang Song had a deep impression of Shen Yuyan, the former campus belle.

She was pure, beautiful, confident, generous, multi-talented, and very capable.

However, at that time, he wasn’t within her social circle.

His knowledge of Shen Yuyan was mostly based on others’ descriptions and a couple of brief encounters at Lu Ziming’s birthday party.

“Yes, she’s been in business for almost two years. You probably wouldn’t imagine what her project is: it’s a housekeeping service.” Xu Qing couldn’t help but exclaim, “At first, I thought she was joking, but she really went ahead with it. Now she’s negotiating for funding to expand the business throughout the province.”

“Housekeeping?” Tang Song raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Xu Qing nodded and began to recount the story.

After graduating from university, with her excellent personal abilities and a recommendation from her senior, Shen Yuyan got a job as an HR in a well-known foreign company.

Later, upon hearing that her classmate Zhang Tianqi was starting a business, and after thoroughly understanding his plan, she decisively left her job to join him.

Zhang Tianqi’s uncle was an executive in a large property management company, and their housekeeping company initially gained its first clients through promotional cooperation with this property company, gradually stabilizing their business.

Next, they sought investment from a wealthy alumni, Hou Shaoyuan, for their seed round and gradually expanded their scale.

Currently, their model is online marketing for client acquisition, offline self-operated plus intermediaries.

Shen Yuyan is mainly responsible for online operations, often filming various deep-cleaning videos, amassing a good number of followers on Douyin and Little Red Book.

After sharing Shen Yuyan’s entrepreneurial journey, Xu Qing suddenly laughed and said, “By the way, many of the people in this company are our alumni, including Wang Ning from your major, who is now in charge of the technical department.”

Upon hearing this familiar name, Tang Song was momentarily taken aback.

Wang Ning was his class monitor in university, quite capable academically, but he was very slick and bureaucratic for someone so young, always speaking and acting with a tone of superiority.

During university, Tang Song was introverted and didn’t enjoy socializing, focusing on his studies, so he didn’t think much of Wang Ning; their relationship was quite average, and Wang Ning often poked fun at him.

As the dishes gradually came to the table, Xu Qing looked at the exquisite dishes with sparkling eyes.

Having only had a light lunch, she was now starving.

After some polite exchanges with Tang Song, she eagerly dug in, her excitement causing her to fidget in her seat while describing the taste of certain dishes to him with a beaming smile.

The pretenses of being the novel's female protagonist completely faded away.

Watching the lively and cute Xu Qing, Tang Song’s mind conjured up images of her from university, gradually merging the two figures in his memory.

University was a period overflowing with hormones, and discussions in the dorms often revolved around the beautiful female students.

Although Xu Qing wasn’t as striking as Shen Yuyan, she had a great personality, loved cosplay, and was also very popular.

Moreover, the two often went out together, making their allure to male classmates easy to imagine.

Though Tang Song admired a certain unattainable beauty during that time, he occasionally entertained some unrealistic fantasies.

……

Outside Beicheng Garden Community.

Xu Qing grabbed her bag and opened the car door, waving goodbye, “Thank you for the dinner and the gift. I had a great time. Bye! Drive safely!”

In just the span of a meal, their relationship had become much more familiar, and Xu Qing was much more natural in her demeanor.

Tang Song looked at her beautiful face and suddenly said, “Xu Qing, if you have any good cosplay photos next time, please

send them to me. The last set was really nice.”

Hearing this, Xu Qing tilted her body, her cheeks instantly flushed.

Darn it! I dressed up so nicely today, and you still remember those suggestive photos!

“Bye bye~” Tang Song waved at her and sped off.

Xu Qing forcefully waved her fist in the direction he left, feeling both shy and angry as she turned to walk into the community entrance.

As she approached the unit door, she spotted two familiar figures downstairs.

She quickened her steps, threw her arms around her good friend, and smiled brightly, “Yuyan, what a coincidence! We arrived at the same time!”

Then she turned to Hou Shaoyuan, saying, “Mr. Hou, good evening! Are you two going out shopping again? Let me see what you bought.”

While speaking, she reached for the shopping bag in her friend’s hand.

Shen Yuyan swatted her hand away and said irritably, “Don’t dirty it! These are clothes for tomorrow’s negotiation meeting.”

“Okay, okay.” Xu Qing pouted, knowing when to back off.

Shen Yuyan smiled at Hou Shaoyuan, “Shaoyuan, I’ll take Qingqing upstairs now. Drive safely on the way.”

Hou Shaoyuan chuckled, waving his hand, “I look forward to your wonderful performance tomorrow. Just do your best; even if you don’t reach an agreement, it’s okay.”

“Sure thing, bye!”

“Bye!”

Watching this pure and lovely campus belle leave with her beautiful friend, Hou Shaoyuan took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one up.

Taking a deep breath, he exhaled a long smoke ring.

Not many companies participated in this roadshow, and only three investment firms were interested in their housekeeping business. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novelꞁire.net

Although they passed the preliminary selection through Lu Ziming’s connections, the chances remained slim.

But this was also good; if they failed a few times, he could naturally propose taking Shen Yuyan to meet his father for funding.

Of course, for the best success rate, it was preferable to do so as her boyfriend.

…

Back at her rental apartment.

After some playful banter with her good friend, Xu Qing washed up briefly and changed into comfortable pajamas.

Excited, she sat at her desk and opened her computer.

The sound of typing echoed as lines of text appeared on the screen.

——————

He stood quietly at the base of the building, bathed in the twilight, looking at Xu Yanquing with eyes full of unspoken words.

They stood there silently, as if time had frozen in that moment.

…

Outside, the wind rushed by, while the car was quiet and warm.

Xu Yanquing turned to look at Tang Song, who was driving; his profile was as if meticulously sculpted, exceptionally handsome.

His high and elegant nose resembled a mountain peak standing proudly on his face, and the slightly turned angle added an air of mystery.

…

——————

Recalling the events of the day, inspiration struck Xu Qing, and her pen moved swiftly.

She completed today’s task in just two hours.

After clicking publish, she felt an instant relaxation wash over her.

Lying on the bed, her legs propped up, she took out her beloved Chanel bracelet and admired it.

Talking to herself and mumbling for a while, sleepiness washed over her, and before she knew it, she fell into a deep slumber.

That night, she had a long dream.

The gentle and affectionate male second lead was deeply in love with her, vowing to marry her.

After going through many hardships, he knelt on one knee under the Northern Lights in Europe, confessing his love for her, tears streaming down his face.

In an instant.

The sky turned pink, and heart-shaped bubbles floated in the air, with roses carpeting the ground around them.

Stars in the sky turned into shooting stars streaking across the night, and the moon descended beside them, casting a soft glow.

At that moment, a cold and domineering CEO came barreling in, driving a dump truck…