Chapter 2: The Golden Son-in-Law

The moment I got home, I urged Xiao Li to send me Lian Rong’s résumé.

Xiao Li was impressively efficient. Less than five minutes later, a polished résumé was already sitting in my WeChat.

There was a headshot in the upper-right corner.

I tapped it open.

The girl in the photo had long, silky black hair. She wasn’t the kind of beauty who made people stop dead the moment they saw her, but there was no way anyone could call her ordinary.

Lian Rong had a delicate oval face and well-balanced features. At first glance, she wasn’t particularly striking. But when she smiled, two tiny dimples appeared at the corners of her cheeks, instantly brightening her entire face.

She was the kind of girl who became prettier the longer you looked at her.

No wonder Lu Mingxing liked her.

That spoiled rich kid had never been interested in sharp-featured, seductive beauties.

From beginning to end, his type had always been sweet, gentle girls like Lian Rong.

No wonder the two of them had broken up and gotten back together, only to break up and get back together again, for years. He still had the nerve to be the one crawling back to make peace every single time.

Come to think of it, he was pretty devoted.

Just… devoted in a way that was slightly annoying to everyone else.

I stared at my phone, suddenly unsure.

This résumé…

Should I actually send it to Lu Mingqi?

But I was a woman who kept her word.

If I’d promised to help, then I would help.

Besides, I didn’t believe I was suddenly going to develop some bizarre illness that made me jealous of Lian Rong.

I didn’t even like my own husband.

If those memories were real, and Lu Mingqi truly had feelings for Lian Rong…

Then we could stay married if we wanted to.

And if we couldn’t, so be it.

We’d divide the assets, I’d take my money, and disappear somewhere far away.

Who had the energy to fight another woman over a man?

Especially over some ridiculous plot where I was supposed to wedge myself into the love story of the male and female leads.

It was exhausting and practically guaranteed to get me hated.

What was so great about being the villainous female lead?

Wouldn’t it be much better to take my money and enjoy retirement?

Lu Mingqi was working late that night.

He didn’t get home until after nine.

After Xiao Li went downstairs to tell the chef to prepare dinner for him, she came upstairs to find me.

“The Second Young Master is home. Would you like to go downstairs, ma’am?”

I gave her a sideways glance.

That girl was obviously reminding me not to forget about Lian Rong’s résumé.

I climbed out from under the covers and casually threw a knitted cardigan over my shoulders.

“Yeah, yeah. I know.”

I waved her off.

“Go take care of your own things.”

Xiao Li left happily, smiling so brightly she looked ready to bloom.

Apparently, she and Lian Rong weren’t just ordinary friends.

When I went downstairs, Lu Mingqi was already sitting at the dining table.

He had chopsticks in one hand and a tablet in the other.

The screen was filled with financial news and market reports.

He was the kind of man who probably wished he could stretch a single minute into three.

Even while eating, he couldn’t stop making money.

A textbook workaholic.

At least Lu Mingqi still made time to have a wife.

His eldest brother was even worse.

I’d heard that Lu Mingli had a lounge installed directly inside his office.

He only came home for the family dinner once a month.

The rest of the time, he was practically a ghost. Everyone knew he existed, but actually seeing him was about as difficult as running into a high-ranking official on an undercover inspection.

Sometimes, the employees at his company probably saw him more often than his own family did.

Lu Mingli would turn thirty next year.

Looking at the tangled mess between Lian Rong and the three Lu brothers, I figured it would probably be a while before she ended up with him.

A thirty-year-old eligible bachelor wasn’t exactly rare.

But a thirty-year-old virgin…

Now that was a nationally protected species.

Lu Mingqi had once told me that his eldest brother had never dated anyone from childhood to adulthood.

His first kiss was still factory-sealed.

At this rate, give it a few more years and he might actually qualify to join the legendary “Ultimate Mage” club.

I was still lost in my ridiculous thoughts when I pulled out a chair and sat down beside Lu Mingqi.

He set his tablet aside and looked at me.

“What did the doctor say?”

“I’m fine. Everything checked out normally.”

Only then did the tension between his brows ease slightly.

“That’s good.”

He paused before adding,

“You’re not exactly short, either. Maybe lay off those ridiculously high heels from now on.”

It had been five days, and this was the first time he’d mentioned my fall.

Thinking he was subtly blaming me, I immediately apologized with the utmost sincerity.

“I’m sorry. I ruined such an important dinner.”

“It’s fine.”

Lu Mingqi shook his head.

“Your health matters more.”

I blinked.

“Did Grandpa say anything?”

“No. He only asked how you were doing.”

I figured whatever pressure had come from the Lu family had probably been absorbed by him.

Strangely enough, my own family hadn’t made a peep either.

Other than my mother’s obligatory phone call asking how I was doing after I woke up, no one had blamed me or questioned me about anything.

Then again, I supposed that made sense.

Family affection in wealthy households was usually paper-thin.

The Jiang family was especially cold.

Ever since I was little, every penny they spent on me had been treated like an investment.

And investments, naturally, were expected to generate returns.

The moment I was old enough to marry, I was sent on blind dates.

If the man’s family was below the Jiangs in status, they wouldn’t even bother looking twice.

After going through countless candidates, they finally chose their “golden son-in-law”—Lu Mingqi.

At our wedding, the elders of both families conveniently announced a major joint project as well.

The project was handed over to Lu Mingqi.

It was essentially his reward for sacrificing his marriage for the benefit of both families.

Of course, he hadn’t agreed to the marriage because he was in love, either.

As the second son, his position in the Lu family was rather delicate.

Above him was an outstanding eldest brother who had been groomed as the future heir.

Below him was a youngest brother who specialized in causing trouble.

If Lu Mingqi wanted to move up, he had to carve out his own path.

And marrying into the Jiang family was the shortest route available.

Fortunately, the three Lu brothers actually got along quite well.

There were no power struggles or sibling betrayals like you saw in TV dramas.

All three were now working within the family corporation, supporting one another as they prepared to take over the Lu empire in the future.

Even Lu Mingxing, who had once been notorious for his reckless lifestyle, had changed quite a bit.

After spending a year being dragged through the wringer by his two older brothers, he’d lost much of his spoiled-prince attitude.

These days, he even knew how to say “please,” “thank you,” and “sorry” when talking to people. Every now and then, he’d even use formal language.

Now that was some serious progress.

Compared to the Lu family, the Jiang family was the real disaster.

My father had so many illegitimate children that if they ever lined up to collect New Year’s gifts, they’d probably need numbered tickets.

My older brother wasn’t any better.

He wasn’t even married, yet he already had three children outside the family.

As for my mother, she used the money my father gave her to support an entire lineup of pretty young men on the side.

Basically, everyone had a life of their own.

No one bothered controlling anyone else.

In our circle, it was hardly a secret that married couples often lived separate lives.

As long as you didn’t bring the other person home and shove it in your spouse’s face, nobody cared.

To this day, I had never even met most of my half-siblings.

I was still lost in thought when Lu Mingqi suddenly asked,

“Have you contacted your family?”

“Not yet.”

“Find some time to go see them. They’re worried about you.”

I nearly laughed.

They were probably worried about how the incident might affect the family’s reputation.

My actual life or death probably wasn’t high on their list of concerns.

According to those strange memories, after Lu Mingqi and I divorced, the Jiang family wouldn’t even let me step through their doors.

My father froze my bank accounts, revoked my trust fund, and forced me to apologize to Lian Rong and beg the three Lu brothers for forgiveness.

Eventually, I took whatever little money I had left and fled to a small city to start over.

Then I was robbed of everything.

After that, I starved to death in a rented room during a freezing winter.

The Jiang family sent someone over to handle my funeral as a mere formality.

Once I was cremated, they scattered my ashes across some deserted wasteland.

Thinking about it now, having that kind of family or not probably made very little difference.

I didn’t want to continue the subject, so I changed the topic.

I picked up my phone and forwarded Lian Rong’s résumé to him.

“I heard Big Brother is looking for an assistant. Xiao Li has a friend who just graduated. Her major is a good fit for the position. Take a look.”

Lu Mingqi looked slightly surprised.

He knew perfectly well that I had never cared about company affairs.

But he quickly figured it out.

“Xiao Li asked you to put in a good word?”

“Yeah. I’m only asking you to give her a chance to interview. Whether you hire her is up to you.”

Lu Mingqi chuckled.

“That girl gets internal information fast.”

“She works at the family residence. It’s only natural she hears a few things.”

He gave me a knowing smile before opening the résumé.

The company had a dedicated HR department.

Normally, a résumé had to make it through several rounds of screening before it reached him.

By that point, the candidate was usually already among the strongest applicants.

He read through it for a while before his brows drew together slightly.

“This résumé is a little rough.”

His assessment was blunt.

“Her internship experience fits the position, though.”

I wasn’t particularly concerned about the outcome.

“Just let the process take its course. I only promised to pass it along.”

“She can have the interview.”

He scrolled down a few more lines before continuing.

“But if she submits this exact résumé to HR, there’s a good chance she won’t even make it past the first round.”

“Huh?”

“The wording is too emotional, and the key points aren’t clear.”

“HR goes through hundreds of résumés every day. If one doesn’t stand out, it gets tossed aside immediately.”

“Hiring a senior executive assistant is even more demanding.”

“An assistant handles contracts, documents, reports, and all kinds of sensitive materials on a regular basis. If someone can’t even present their own résumé properly, it’s hard to trust them with their work.”

He paused before delivering his final verdict.

“Hiring someone is easy.”

“But if that person causes trouble later, I’m the one who has to clean up the mess.”

I fell silent and nodded thoughtfully.

It made sense.

After all, they were hiring an assistant.

They weren’t hiring the heroine of a romance novel.