The CEO’s Cannon-Fodder Ex-Wife (5)
After that night, something quietly changed.
Jiang Xiao completely moved out of the guest room.
His pajamas, toiletries, and financial magazines naturally began appearing in various corners of the master bedroom.
Ning Xin made no comment about it. She simply added a two-tier storage rack in the bathroom and separated their things into different sections.
In the mornings, Jiang Xiao would habitually wrap his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on the top of her head. His voice would still carry a hint of sleepiness.
“Five more minutes.”
Ning Xin usually did not refuse.
The system reported his favorability every day, and the number steadily climbed.
But Ning Xin trusted her own judgment even more… The way Jiang Xiao looked at her had already changed long ago.
This morning, just before leaving, he turned back and kissed her, lingering for three extra seconds.
“I’ll be home late today.”
He said this while unconsciously rubbing the strap of her nightdress between his fingers.
“There’s an international conference.”
“Okay.”
Ning Xin straightened his tie for him.
“Drink less coffee. You said your stomach was bothering you last night.”
Jiang Xiao paused, then the corners of his lips curved slightly.
“I’ll remember.”
After the door closed, the system came online.
【Host, there has been an update to the plotline.】
“Tell me.”
【Jian Wei has finished her internship. Today, she officially joins the secretarial department of the Jiang Corporation.】
Ning Xin was standing in front of the coffee machine. At those words, her movements paused.
Light brown coffee flowed into the cup, filling the room with its aroma.
“A little earlier than I expected.”
【What are you planning to do?】
Ning Xin carried her coffee to the window.
In the morning light, Jiang Xiao’s car was driving out of the garage.
She watched the black car merge into the traffic until it disappeared from sight.
“Looks like I’ll have to start bringing him lunch tomorrow.”
*
The next morning, Ning Xin sent Jiang Xiao a message.
“Is it convenient for me to come to the office today? I’ll bring you lunch.”
[Picture]
It was a picture of her and the maid preparing the ingredients together.
His reply came almost instantly.
“What time are you coming?”
“Around eleven? Do you need me to bring you anything?”
“No. Just come yourself.”
Ning Xin stared at that last sentence for several seconds before putting down her phone.
On the table were the ingredients Auntie Wu had prepared. She selected several of them…
They were all light dishes that Jiang Xiao preferred, but she also added a spicy stir-fried beef dish.
She remembered that he had eaten several extra bites of it last time.
Once everything was ready, Ning Xin gave herself one final look in the mirror, picked up the lunch box, took the new handbag Jiang Xiao had given her two days earlier, and left.
At the same time, in the president’s office of the Jiang Corporation…
Jiang Xiao looked at his watch for the third time.
“President Jiang?”
The director who was reporting the market data stopped, sounding uncertain.
“Is there a problem with this section of the data?”
Jiang Xiao withdrew his gaze.
“Continue.”
There were seven or eight executives sitting in the conference room, and all of them noticed that their boss seemed distracted today.
It did not look like irritation.
Rather, it seemed as though he were waiting for something.
The meeting ended ten minutes early.
Jiang Xiao returned to his office. Instead of immediately handling his documents as usual, he walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and stood there for a while.
Then he pressed the internal line.
“Push everything scheduled before one-thirty back.”
The secretary’s office immediately responded respectfully.
“Yes, President Jiang.”
After hanging up, Jiang Xiao walked to his desk and glanced over it.
It was too messy. Documents were piled up everywhere.
He frowned and began tidying them himself—organizing the scattered files, putting the used coffee cup onto its tray, and even adjusting the position of the pen holder.
After finishing, he stood in the middle of the office and looked around.
It still wasn’t enough.
He walked to the lounge and opened the door.
It was very simple inside: a sofa bed and a small coffee table.
After thinking for a moment, he took a thin blanket out of the wardrobe.
It was one Ning Xin had bought the previous weekend, light gray and soft. It had originally been kept in the car, but he had brought it to the office.
Once everything was arranged, Jiang Xiao finally felt somewhat satisfied.
11:15 a.m.
He returned to his desk and sat down, picking up a document.
Yet he could not read a single word.
11:28 a.m.
The internal phone rang.
“President Jiang, Madam has arrived.”
Jiang Xiao immediately stood up.
“Let her come directly up.”
“Yes.”
During the short ride up in the elevator, the Jiang Corporation’s internal communication group had already exploded.
“Front desk emergency report! The president’s wife is here! She’s absolutely gorgeous in person!”
“What? What? Where is she now?”
“She just got on the president’s private elevator! The one wearing the camel-colored coat—her presence is incredible!”
“No wonder President Jiang has been checking the time all morning…”
“She’s carrying a lunch box too! She came to bring him lunch! Ahhh, what kind of fairytale romance is this?”
“Novels really don’t lie!”
When Ning Xin stepped out of the elevator, the corridor was unusually quiet.
But behind the glass walls, countless gazes from the workstations were secretly or openly directed toward her.
She looked straight ahead and walked to the president’s office.
She knocked.
The door was almost immediately opened from inside.
Jiang Xiao stood at the doorway wearing the dark-gray shirt she had chosen for him that morning.
His tie was slightly loosened, his sleeves rolled up to his forearms, and there was a smile between his brows.
“You’re here.”
He stepped aside to let her in.
The door closed behind them, cutting off all the prying eyes outside.
The office was spacious, decorated in a cool, modern style. But the afternoon sunlight pouring through the entire wall of windows gave the otherwise cold-toned space a warm glow.
Ning Xin placed the lunch box on the coffee table in the sitting area.
“I just made a few things.”
Jiang Xiao walked over and sat opposite her.
“Want to eat together?”
“Mm.”
There were simply three dishes and one soup.
The presentation was refined, clearly showing that some thought had gone into preparing them.
Jiang Xiao picked up his chopsticks and first tasted the spicy stir-fried beef.
He paused.
“You made this especially for me?”
“Mm.”
Ning Xin sat on the armrest of the sofa.
“You seemed to like it last time.”
Jiang Xiao said nothing. He simply picked up another bite.
He ate in a refined manner, but not slowly. It was obvious he was hungry.
Ning Xin was not very hungry. She quickly finished her meal and sat beside him.
Her eyes wandered around the office, passing over the bookshelves, desk, and abstract painting on the wall.
Finally, her gaze stopped at the lounge door.
It was slightly ajar, and warm yellow light could be seen coming from inside.
“You don’t rest at noon?” she asked.
“Sometimes.”
Jiang Xiao looked up.
Halfway through the meal, Jiang Xiao suddenly asked,
“Do you have anything to do this afternoon?”
“Not today. You know I don’t like getting involved in too many things.”
“Then…”
Jiang Xiao put down his chopsticks.
“Stay here until I finish work? I’ll take you out for dinner tonight. Chen Xu said there’s a new restaurant that’s pretty good.”
“Sure.”
She said, “I didn’t drive here anyway.”
The family driver had dropped her off and already left.
The corners of Jiang Xiao’s lips curved slightly, and he continued eating.
……
Outside the office, in the secretarial department…
Jian Wei sat at her desk with a document in her hands, her gaze involuntarily drifting toward the tightly closed door of the president’s office.
As the daughter of the Jian family, she had not gone to work at her own family’s company. Instead, she had come to the Jiang Corporation as a secretary.
The reason was the man inside that office.
She had fallen for him the first time he visited the Jian family to see her older brother.
She had been only seventeen that year.
Today, she had deliberately chosen a tasteful light-blue suit. Her hair had been carefully styled, and her makeup was light and natural.
But just now, she had only caught a glimpse of Ning Xin from the side.
The usually proud young lady of the Jian family had actually felt a sense of inferiority.
“Secretary Jian, are you taking a document to the president?” a colleague asked.
“Yes. This document needs the president’s signature.”
Jian Wei took a deep breath and stood up.
When she reached the office door and was about to raise her hand to knock, she suddenly stopped.
Faint voices could be heard from inside. She could not make out the words clearly, but she could tell that Jiang Xiao’s tone was much gentler than what she usually heard from him.
There was even a hint of laughter in it.
Jian Wei’s hand remained suspended in the air.
“Secretary Jian?”
Someone called out from behind her.
It was the head of the secretarial department, an efficient woman in her thirties.
“Is the document urgent? If not, bring it later. President Jiang instructed us not to disturb him before one-thirty.”
“…Okay.”
Jian Wei lowered her hand, her fingertips cold.
She returned to her desk, but her gaze could not leave the office door.
She unconsciously clenched the document in her hand until the edges became wrinkled.
The system gave Ning Xin a real-time report.
【Jian Wei stood outside the door for thirty-seven seconds. She has now returned to her desk. Her emotions are fluctuating intensely, and her jealousy level continues to rise.】
Ning Xin was flipping through an architectural design album from Jiang Xiao’s bookshelf. She did not even raise her eyes.
“She didn’t recklessly barge in, did she?”
“Looks like the stimulation still isn’t enough.”
Inside the office, Jiang Xiao finished the last bite of his meal and leaned back against the sofa in satisfaction.
“It was delicious,” he said. “Will you bring me lunch again?”
“That depends on my mood.”
Ning Xin closed the album and walked back toward him.
“I’m a little sleepy. Can I use your lounge?”
“Of course.”
Jiang Xiao stood up and naturally took her hand, leading her there.
When the lounge door opened, Ning Xin smelled the familiar citrus fragrance.
The blanket she had bought was spread across the sofa, while the candle on the coffee table flickered softly.
Ning Xin sat down beside the sofa.
Jiang Xiao stood in front of her, still holding her hand.
“Really sleepy?”
He asked quietly.
“Mm.”
Ning Xin looked up. From this angle, she had to tilt her head slightly to look at him.
Sunlight streamed in through the side window, casting delicate shadows across his eyelashes.
A mischievous thought suddenly occurred to her.
“Do you… want to stay with me?”
She asked, her fingers unconsciously playing with the cufflink on his shirt.
Jiang Xiao’s Adam’s apple moved slightly.
He said nothing and simply leaned down to kiss her.
Ning Xin was gently pulled back onto the sofa, Jiang Xiao protecting her head with one hand and holding her around the waist with the other.
The blanket became crumpled, while the candle’s fragrance mingled with the warmth of the room.
Ning Xin whispered between breaths,
“The door isn’t locked…”
“No one would dare come in.”
Jiang Xiao’s voice was low.
“I already gave the instructions.”
“President Jiang, you’re neglecting your work…”
“Only for you.”
As the scene became more intimate, Ning Xin still had enough presence of mind to think:
Is Jian Wei outside right now?
If she knew what was happening just beyond the door, what expression would appear on that innocent-looking face?
But the thought quickly disappeared.
Jiang Xiao was unusually patient and gentle that day, so gentle that she could not help but playfully bite his shoulder, leaving a faint mark.
When it was over, Ning Xin was genuinely sleepy.
Jiang Xiao pulled the blanket over them, and she curled up in his arms, gradually falling asleep.
Half awake and half dreaming, she felt him gently kiss her forehead and heard him whisper:
“Sleep. I’ll stay with you.”
*
2:10 p.m.
This was the third time Jian Wei had walked to the office door.
She took a deep breath, raised her hand, and knocked three times.
There was no response.
She knocked another three times.
This time, after more than ten seconds, Jiang Xiao’s voice came from inside.
“Come in.”
Jian Wei pushed open the door.
Jiang Xiao was the only one in the office. He was sitting behind his desk, looking through some documents.
“President Jiang, this document needs your signature.”
Jian Wei walked over, doing her best to keep her voice steady.
Jiang Xiao did not even look up.
“Leave it there.”
Jian Wei placed the document on the corner of his desk, but her gaze involuntarily swept toward the lounge.
The door was tightly closed.
Then she noticed Jiang Xiao’s shirt.
It was a dark-gray silk shirt of excellent quality, but there was a small, barely noticeable wrinkle below the collar, near his collarbone.
As if it had been gripped tightly.
Or perhaps…
At that moment, the tightly closed lounge door made Jian Wei’s breathing hitch.
“Anything else?”
Jiang Xiao looked up, his expression returning to its usual coldness.
Jian Wei suddenly came back to her senses.
“No… nothing else. President Jiang, I’ll leave first.”
She almost fled from the office.
After the door closed, Jiang Xiao put down his pen and rubbed his brow.
Then he stood up and quietly walked toward the lounge.
When he opened the door, Ning Xin was still asleep.
The blanket had slipped down to her waist, revealing faint marks around her shoulder and neck.
Her long hair was spread across the pillow, her sleeping expression peaceful.
Jiang Xiao sat down beside the bed and looked at her for a long time.
Then he leaned down and gently kissed the corner of her lips.
Ning Xin frowned slightly, showing signs of waking.
“Keep sleeping.”
He whispered.
“I’ll wake you when I finish work.”
The door closed again.
Inside the darkened lounge, Ning Xin opened her eyes.
The system excitedly announced:
【Jian Wei’s emotional breakdown level has reached 85%! Host, you’re amazing!】
Ning Xin turned over and buried her face in the pillow.
It carried the scent of the aftershave Jiang Xiao usually used, now mixed with her own scent.
“This is only the beginning.”
She whispered, her voice lazy with sleep.
