At the company’s grand kickoff meeting, I had the honor of stepping up to the podium as the representative for the entire tech division.

Looking down at the massive auditorium filled with hundreds of pairs of eyes locked onto me, my heart suddenly hammered against my ribs and my palms slicked with sweat. I had to grip the sides of the microphone just to keep from shaking. Right as stage fright threatened to swallow me whole, I accidentally glanced out and caught Li Shenhao’s warm, fiercely supportive gaze. Out of nowhere, a quiet wave of calm washed down my spine, instantly restoring my confidence. I casually pushed aside the scripted, cookie-cutter speech on the lectern and began speaking straight from the heart:

“Good morning, leadership and my amazing colleagues! Everyone has already showered this hall with plenty of polished corporate well-wishes today, so if you’ll indulge me, I’d like to share a few raw, practical truths.”

“For a long time now, I’ve witnessed and cataloged quite a few hidden corners of inequality and the invisible biases women are forced to carry in the workplace. First of all, the most ridiculous thing is this deeply ingrained misogyny. Some people in HR—even women themselves—harbor deeply prejudiced views against their own gender. They automatically assume women can’t handle pressure and aren’t built for heavy-duty tech work like the guys.”

“As a result, during every hiring wave or promotion cycle, the scales of opportunity tilt unfairly toward male colleagues. Second, we as women lack the necessary support systems and resources. Even with the exact same qualifications and starting line, a woman’s chances of climbing the ladder are depressingly slim, and many are subjected to subtle, sophisticated forms of workplace suppression.”

“Right here in our own software department, people still unconsciously assume that girls lack logical thinking, that we can’t write decent code or build standout products. But reality has proven the exact opposite! Plenty of the women here possess not just elite programming skills and rock-solid technical expertise, but also meticulous attention to detail, endless patience, and brilliant creativity. Those innate qualities give them an exclusive edge when it comes to untangling brutal algorithms or engineering buttery-smooth software.”

I took a deep breath, my voice sharp, steady, and blazing with passion: “That’s why, in this new year, I hope our company will shatter the glass ceilings and carve out plenty of breathing room for women to break through. We women don’t want to hit the age of thirty and suddenly be treated like breeding machines or parasites living off men! We spent years burying our noses in textbooks, pulling all-nighters, sweating, and pouring our blood, sweat, and tears into this just like anyone else. In fact, we often have to work twice or three times as hard just to be granted the basic fairness afforded to male developers.”

“So please, stop treating female software engineers like ‘eye candy’ or lucky feng shui trinkets to bless a project! Let’s tear down gender bias and unfairness together, and build a civilized, equitable, and genuinely respectful work environment!”

Silence hung heavy across the auditorium for a few seconds after I finished. Then, a roaring wave of thunderous applause broke out, endlessly echoing through the hall. Program Kid Hua got so excited he literally leaped onto his chair, grabbing an imaginary megaphone to scream at the top of his lungs: “Sis Tiao! You are an absolute legend!”

Down in the audience, more than a few female colleagues blinked away hot tears, looking like they’d finally found someone willing to voice the frustrations they’d buried for years. Murmurs rippled through the crowd: “That scumbag former manager should be dragged down to the labor bureau just to teach him a lesson for bullying women!”

At that moment, Li Shenhao calmly stepped up onto the stage, took the mic, and smiled. “Zhang is entirely right. Over the past few days, I’ve done some serious soul-searching on this issue. As a man, there are certain struggles female employees face that I simply can’t feel firsthand. So starting today, Shengshi Technologies is officially rolling out a brand-new wave of employee welfare policies.”

“Every month, all female employees will receive one day of fully paid menstrual leave. Any staff members who are married with young children will receive an additional five days of family care leave per year. On top of that, the company will fully subsidize comprehensive annual health screenings for all women every single quarter.”

“And that’s not all. Every female employee will get two special annual leave days to travel home and visit their parents. Male colleagues, don’t rush to complain just yet—if you’re married and raising little ones, you’re entirely welcome to apply for this leave to head home and share the load with your wives.”

A male colleague immediately shouted a playful tease from the back: “Boss, doesn’t that mean the poor singles in the office are getting the short end of the stick?!”

A roar of amused laughter rippled through the room. Shenhao chuckled, flashing an encouraging, witty grin. “To all our single folks out there, keep shooting your shot and working hard! Grind away, because who knows—maybe you’ll qualify for this leave by next year. Wishing the whole company a booming, joyful new year!”

As the year-end gala wrapped up, Shenhao swiftly and smoothly intercepted me, hauling me off into a shadowy corner of the underground parking garage. He gently nudged me back against the concrete wall, completely shedding his usual stoic CEO persona to flash the expression of a clingy, oversized golden retriever. “Wife… I want a special leave day too. So when are you finally going to let me meet my parents-in-law to make our paperwork official?”

I bit back a laugh, using my hand to shove his aggressively close face away before casually reaching for the car door. “Hop in. Right now. My parents are waiting at home.”

Stubborn as ever, he refused to let go, sticking to me like honeyed taffy as he leaned in close to murmur right against my ear in a low, seductive hum: “There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a very long time…”

My heart skipped a beat, hammering frantically against my ribs. Good grief—was this man actually about to pull off a dramatic, romantic, down-on-one-knee proposal right here in a parking garage?

Holding my breath, I whispered, “What… what do you want to say?”

Shenhao gazed down at me with pools of pure tenderness, the corners of his lips curving upward. “Happy New Year, my one and only girl.”