Indeed, after listening to what Fu Zheng had to say, Ning Wan once again admired him for his meticulousness and thoughtfulness.

True, she wanted to join a senior partner's team, but Ning Wan's character made her prefer opportunities won through fair competition. If Fu Zheng had really been biased toward her, Ning Wan wouldn't have been happy about getting in at all. Instead, she would have felt ashamed for using connections to squeeze out her competitors.

She wouldn't have broken up with Fu Zheng because he had hidden his identity from her, but she might have if he had played favourites, because that wouldn't only have been disrespectful to her, but also to her other colleagues who had participated in the selection. 

However, without Ning Wan ever having said anything, Fu Zheng had understood. Not only had he treated her with utmost respect and fairness, he had even thoughtfully made plans for possible disputes that might crop up in the future.

She and Fu Zheng were together, and she had been admitted to his team. Even if they kept their relationship under wraps, it would eventually be revealed through their eyes and interactions. Eventually, gossip would make its way around the firm. However, Fu Zheng's approach was not to explain things to them, because no matter what he said or how he said it, there would always be someone who would think that the explanation was just covering things up.

It was much more convincing to straightforwardly announce the test standards without any explanations. Because the written test divided up questions equally among other senior employees and the interview scoring standard removed the highest and lowest scores to obtain an average, there was no possibility that some high-ranking person might be biased toward one of the interviewees and thereby affect the test results.

When she thought of this, Ning Wan couldn't help but praise Fu Zheng. "You're unexpectedly quite thoughtful."

"I never thought about these things much before."

"Then why now? Was it because you had just shifted your career focus back to China, so you wanted to go all out?"

"I was afraid that if I hadn't been thoughtful enough, I wouldn't have a girlfriend any longer." Fu Zheng gave her a meaningful look and said teasingly, "If we were together and you were gossiped about every day every day because of me, you'd definitely break up with me, wouldn't you?"

"Never! Rest assured!" Ning Wan comforted almost immediately, "I've been working in the community for two years now, and the biggest thing I've learnt is that you have to be thick-skinned. Don't care about what anyone else says, just live a good life!"

"Anyway, my greatest advantage is my self-confidence! People who break up after being gossiped about do it  because inside, they feel inferior and believe that they're unworthy  of the other person. Although it's thanks to the support of others that I am where I am today, I'm also confident that everything I have today was achieved by my own effort and ability. So even if others talk about me, I will never swerve from doing what I want to do."

Confident women were the most beautiful of all. Every time a case was settled, Fu Zheng saw the same bright, gorgeous expression on Ning Wan's face, so this wasn't the first time for him to see her like this. However, at that moment it felt as though his heart had been shot once again. 

How wonderful that Ning Wan was so confident and happy. This was just how the girl he liked should be. 

Ning Wan, across from him, was still preening. "You said so yourself, Fu Zheng, you had wild desires for me. You weren't even willing to give me up to avoid suspicion as my future boss, but would rather take the risk of imposing 'hidden rules' to be with me. Tell me, was it because I'm beautiful, smart, lively, cute and capable?"

Fu Zheng couldn't help but laugh. "Don't forget you're the one who confessed first. At that time, I was still your 'subordinate'. It was you who first imposed 'hidden rules' in me." He paused, then added, "But you are beautiful, smart, lively, cute, and capable, and I really do love you."

In order to emphasize his point, Fu Zheng repeated himself. "I really love you."

It was obviously Ning Wan who had started this, but when Fu Zheng made his point, she felt rather embarrassed. "Oh, I'm not that good, just so-so, just a few little things in which I'm good at..."

As she talked, Ning Wan thought of something else. "But, if you like me so much, then would an office romance be... problematic? Will it be a bit too show-offish? You and I will be in the same team in the future. Isn't this kind of like 'falling in love on the company dime¹Literally 'love at public expense', used to refer to situations when you don't need to pay to go out on dates because you work together or go to school together and see each other all the time.'? Will Gao Yuan and the other high rankers have any objections?"

"What sort of objections could they have? The amount I rake in every year from cases is enough for me to fund loving on my own dime for an entire lifetime." Fu Zheng leaned over and kissed Ning Wan on the cheek. "Besides, we've been in a relationship in the community this whole time, right? They had no objections before, so what objections could they possibly have now? They call this tacit consent."

"As for Gao Yuan, he doesn't care. After all, just for you, I've sorted out all the HR issues in Zhengyuan Law that he should have dealt with, including preventing sexual harassment, making sure the community job rotation works as it should, and selecting teams.”

"Of course, from a management perspective, I'm doing these things to solve the issues once and for all. A good system protects good people and punishes bad people; a bad system doesn't only allow bad people to harm the good ones, but also makes good people lose confidence in the long run and go bad. This is the significance of having good rules and laws, to prevent, warn and punish. Only a good talent selection system can ensure that everyone's rights and interests are protected and that everyone is convinced of it." Fu Zheng smiled and said, "So whether public or private, there are no problems." 

"Is this the reason why you came to the community incognito in the first place?"

"No," Fu Zheng said honestly. "That was a bonus, just like you."

"Why does that make it sound like I'm just a freebie²Something that a merchant would 'throw in' to make a customer happy..."

Fu Zheng smiled and kissed Ning Wan's cheek. "Not at all. It's as if a knight whose fate was to cut through thorns with a sword, kill the dragon, and kiss the princess, met a girl halfway through who was also out on her own adventure and fell in love with her. Then he found that a life like that was just as good, and that his goal wasn't the end, but that the process and the girl he had fallen in love with were more important than slaying the dragon and becoming a great warrior who could kiss the princess."

He looked into Ning Wan's eyes. "You are the most important."

Ning Wan's heart skipped a beat. He was obviously already her boyfriend, but she still felt shy and embarrassed, and so nervous that she began to fidget. Trying to suppress the urge to run away, she had no choice but to pretend to put on a calm face, and looked both calm and anxious at the same time, both completely contradictory.

Unfortunately, this didn't seem to be enough for Fu Zheng. He leaned over and kissed Ning Wan on the cheek, and then moved closer to her ear. "Did you really mean what you just said?"

Her mind dizzy, almost not knowing how to work her hands and feet, Ning Wan asked reflexively, "What?"

"Didn't you say that when seeing me like this, not only would you not break up with me, but instead you would cry out, 'babe, there isn't enough time in the world to love you'?”

Ning Wan was so nervous that her voice trembled. "I was just joking..."

"You can't joke about this sort of thing." Fu Zheng held onto her tightly and brushed little kisses across her skin like a dragonfly skimming the water. "Although I can't strictly be called a little baby³'Babe' from earlier was used with a diminutive, you can consider me your big baby."

Ning Wan stared at him, a confused look on her face. "Huh?"

"Didn't you want to love me?"

"..."

Fu Zheng kissed her hot, red ear. "Then come on."

His voice was slightly hoarse. Ning Wan felt that she could hardly breathe.

Kissing her neck, Fu Zheng whispered, "Promises should be kept." He returned to her ear and pecked it again. "Your big baby is ready."