The gala was winding down, the music softening into a pleasant hum of violins as guests mingled with glasses of champagne in hand. Jiang Yue was quietly congratulating herself for surviving the night without catastrophic injury when trouble, as always, found her first.
"Miss Jiang, isn't it?"
Jiang Yue turned and nearly dropped her glass.
The man before her was handsome in that oily, too polished way. His smile was charming, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I've been watching you all evening," he said smoothly. "Care to dance?"
"Uh…" Jiang Yue laughed nervously, inching back. "I'm more of a… not dancing kind of person. You know, for safety reasons. I trip. A lot."
He chuckled as if she'd just told a joke. "I don't mind. You'd look even cuter if you stumbled into my arms." He thought she was just kidding not knowing for jaing yue it wasn't just a joke or an excuse, it was safety first..
Before Jiang Yue could respond, the temperature around her dropped by ten degrees.
Li Zhenkai was there.
His shadow fell over them, sharp and commanding. "She's not available."
The man blinked. "CEO Li, I was just—"
"Leaving," Zhenkai finished coldly.
The other man paled, his smile vanishing like smoke. "O-of course. My mistake." He practically fled.
Jiang Yue blinked up at Li Zhenkai. "You didn't have to__"
He looked down at her, expression unreadable, and then said the most Zhenkai thing imaginable: "Stay out of trouble."
Her system pinged.
[Emotional Impact on ML: 15%.]
Oh no. Oh no, no, no.
From across the room, Fang Zixuan muttered gleefully, "Possessive CEO unlocked."
Xu Jianyu sighed. "It was inevitable."
Qin Yunze smirked. "He didn't even let the guy finish his sentence."
Jiang Yue, however, was too busy staring at Li Zhenkai, who simply adjusted his cufflinks like he hadn't just scared a grown man into retreating.
"Come," he said, walking away. "You'll cause fewer accidents if I can see you."
She followed. Obviously.
---
The Next Morning
If the gala had been a battlefield, the next morning was an execution.
Jiang Yue sat in the corner of the sleek boardroom, clutching her coffee like a shield as Li Zhenkai presided over the meeting like a king dispensing judgment. His friends, Xu Jianyu, Fang Zixuan, and Qin Yunze were seated along the table, watching with varying degrees of amusement and dread.
Across from them, a senior executive was sweating bullets.
"Mr. Li, I—I can explain"
"No need," Li Zhenkai interrupted, sliding a thick folder across the table. "The evidence is clear. You diverted company funds, falsified reports, and tried to cover your tracks."
The man stammered. "I—It was a misunderstanding"
Li Zhenkai's gaze was pure frost. "I don't forgive twice."
The room went silent.
He tapped the folder once. "Clean out your office. Security will escort you out."
The man's face drained of color. He opened his mouth to protest, but one sharp look from Li Zhenkai shut him up instantly.
Jiang Yue shivered.
Wow. He wasn't just cold, he was terrifying. But… also ridiculously competent. It was like watching a drama CEO scene play out in real life.
Her system pinged.
[Survival Bonus: +2 Luck. Reason: Stayed on the winning side.]
Fang Zixuan leaned toward her and whispered, "Impressive, huh?"
Jiang Yue nodded mutely. "He's… scary."
Fang grinned. "Scary gets results."
And judging by the absolute silence in the boardroom, he wasn't wrong.
After the meeting, Jiang Yue decided to reward herself with a quick bathroom break.
Which, in retrospect, was her first mistake.
Five minutes later, she realized the door handle wasn't turning.
"Oh, come on," she groaned, jiggling it. "Not again!"
The system chimed unhelpfully.
[Luck Event: Locked in bathroom. Probability of rescue: 97% (due to proximity of ML).]
She slumped against the door. "Why is my life like this?"
A knock came.
"Jiang Yue."
Her head snapped up. "Boss?! I—uh—funny story, I'm just… testing the lock. Quality control!"
There was a pause. And then, unbelievably, a sound she had never heard from him before.
A low, quiet chuckle came from him.
"Move back."
A second later, the lock clicked, the door swung open, and there stood Li Zhenkai, one brow raised in that infuriatingly calm way of his.
She wanted to sink through the floor.
"Thank you," she mumbled.
He studied her for a moment, then said, "You're a full-time disaster."
"I prefer the term 'adventure-prone,'" she muttered.
His lips twitched, just barely but it was there.
Her system nearly exploded.
[Emotional Impact on ML: 18%.]
"Stay out of trouble," he said again, his tone softer this time, before walking away.
And Jiang Yue, still standing in the doorway, could only stare after him, her heart doing that inconvenient flutter thing again.
Tessa was going to scream when she heard about this.