Marking My Arch-Rival [Rebirth] - Chapter 11

The meeting was long and tedious.

Ji Shihuan’s thoughts began to wander. If she ignored everyone’s overly formal business attire, she felt they were no different from elderly men and women haggling over a radish at a vegetable market.

When people became too bored, they naturally found their own entertainment.

So Ji Shihuan turned her attention to Jiang Boyan beside her.

A Huanji employee was explaining the actual condition of the production line. Jiang Boyan listened with her head slightly turned, occasionally using a pen to record important information.

Because of the angle, a small portion of the gland at the side of her neck was exposed within Ji Shihuan’s line of sight.

Ji Shihuan narrowed her eyes.

She lowered one hand beneath the table and began tapping her fingertips against her thigh without any particular rhythm.

When the negotiations reached a stalemate, she suggested taking a break so everyone could get some air. Then she was the first to leave the room.

The Hongxin team gathered together and quietly discussed their strategy for the second half.

Seeing how seriously everyone was taking the situation, Jiang Chengchuan suddenly laughed.

“Don’t overestimate them.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“This newly appointed President Ji is nothing but an empty-headed pretty face. I saw her zoning out several times during the discussion just now. She probably didn’t even understand what we were talking about.”

“Someone like that is easy to fool. We’ll exaggerate the handover costs and take a hard line to intimidate her. Then the battery production line will be ours.”

Someone agreed.

“That’s right. Huanji’s technical personnel are difficult to deal with. I think President Ji is our opening.”

Jiang Chengchuan scoffed.

“I have no idea what’s wrong with Huanji. They actually appointed a freshly graduated art student as CEO.”

“Don’t discuss these things here,” Jiang Chengchuan warned quietly.

He turned toward Jiang Boyan.

“Sister, what do you think?”

Jiang Boyan appeared not to have heard anything they were discussing.

She opened the unread text message she had just received.

President Jiang, come to my office on the twenty-eighth floor. ^-^

Jiang Boyan frowned slightly at the abstract smiling face, as though something had occurred to her.

Then she swiped left, exited the message, and ignored it completely.

She had only exchanged a few words with Jiang Chengchuan when her phone vibrated again.

We agreed before that once I became CEO, you would spare half an hour to speak with me in person. >-<

Jiang Boyan turned off the screen.

She stood.

“You continue discussing.”

Nie Zheng had received instructions and was waiting beside the elevator.

When Jiang Boyan approached, he guided her directly into the private elevator reserved for the president’s office and took her to the top floor.

After entering the office, she found Ji Shihuan sitting leisurely on the long sofa by the eastern wall.

Ji Shihuan was looking at her phone.

Sensing Jiang Boyan’s gaze, she raised her head and casually invited,

“Sit.”

Jiang Boyan approached but remained standing about two meters away.

Her expression was entirely businesslike.

“What is it?”

Seeing this, Ji Shihuan turned off her phone and tossed it aside.

She stretched both arms across the sofa’s backrest, looking completely unguarded.

“What do you think?”

Jiang Boyan turned toward the door.

Ji Shihuan hurriedly added,

“Of course it’s about the acquisition.”

Jiang Boyan considered it, then walked around the sofa and sat down.

She seized control of the conversation.

“Frankly speaking, Hongxin’s current offer is already approaching our limit. What remains is the division of other benefits.”

“If President Ji is straightforward, Hongxin can take responsibility for the future placement of every employee at the factory, ensuring Huanji has no remaining concerns.”

Ji Shihuan suddenly laughed.

The toe of her crossed leg swayed elegantly through the air, and the metallic ornament on her high heel reflected silver light.

“If I wanted to discuss those things with you, I could have done it downstairs. Why would I trick you into coming up here?”

She was too lazy to pretend.

She used the word trick directly without even attempting to conceal her intentions.

Jiang Boyan moved her gaze away from Ji Shihuan’s delicate ankle.

“Then please share your brilliant insight, President Ji.”

“I wouldn’t call it brilliant.”

Ji Shihuan rose and walked gracefully toward her.

The sofa in Huanji’s president’s office was extremely expensive.

Even the single armchair beneath Jiang Boyan was wide and soft enough to be exceptionally comfortable.

Yet when Ji Shihuan’s figure descended over her, Jiang Boyan suddenly felt an indescribable sense of confinement.

Instinct warned her that she needed to leave immediately.

But before she could move, Ji Shihuan leaned down and planted both hands on the armrests, firmly trapping Jiang Boyan between the sofa and her embrace.

They were far too close.

The marine scent of Ji Shihuan’s Alpha pheromones began invading the surrounding space.

The gland at the side of Jiang Boyan’s neck throbbed faintly, and an inexplicable irritation arose within her.

“Don’t be in such a hurry.”

Ji Shihuan looked into her eyes.

Noticing how tense Jiang Boyan’s body had become, she reached out and touched her forearm.

“Why are you so nervous?”

Jiang Boyan frowned deeply.

“If you don’t intend to discuss serious business, please don’t waste my time.”

“Does avoiding serious business mean we can’t still advance the project?”

Ji Shihuan’s soft laughter sounded directly beside her ear, sending numbness through half of Jiang Boyan’s body.

She attempted to push Ji Shihuan away.

But the moment she felt the warmth of the other woman’s body, she rapidly withdrew her hand.

“Would President Jiang like to try my method?”

Ji Shihuan began tempting her.

“It might differ somewhat from what you imagined, but I guarantee…”

She deliberately paused.

Only after forcing Jiang Boyan to look at her did she slowly continue,

“It will be extremely effective.”

Jiang Boyan secretly clenched the hand hanging at her side.

She struggled to remain calm and asked expressionlessly,

“What method?”

Ji Shihuan answered carelessly,

“An unspoken rule arrangement~”

Before Jiang Boyan’s overloaded mind could process those words, Ji Shihuan reached toward the gland at the side of her neck.

After feeling something against the skin that resembled adhesive tape, she frowned in disgust and lowered her voice.

“Didn’t I tell you not to use a scent-blocking patch?”

The patch was almost invisible and blended with the skin after application.

Ji Shihuan had only suspected it during the meeting downstairs.

Now that she had touched it herself, she confirmed her guess.

“You used a scent-blocking patch and then placed a suppressant patch over it…”

Ji Shihuan nearly laughed from anger.

“What kind of demons and monsters does Huanji contain that made you guard yourself like this?”

Jiang Boyan slowly raised her hand and seized Ji Shihuan’s wrist.

The corners of her eyes were red, and her face revealed a deeply offended expression as she glared at Ji Shihuan.

Ji Shihuan showed no fear.

“How long have you been wearing it? Doesn’t it feel suffocating?”

Then she said,

“Be good and let go. I’ll remove it for you first.”

Jiang Boyan had never dealt with someone like her.

Her path to her current position had never been easy.

The difficulties and suppression she had faced throughout the first half of her life might have exceeded everything a pampered heiress like Ji Shihuan would encounter in an entire lifetime.

But Jiang Boyan understood those people’s methods and knew how to respond.

She remained cautious and careful. Even when temporarily unable to turn the situation around, she never showed vulnerability.

Yet before Ji Shihuan, that balance had been broken again and again.

At that moment, the “demon” in question was leaning over her.

Ji Shihuan’s knee pressed against her thigh, their strands of hair tangled together, and her gaze wrapped tightly around Jiang Boyan.

Then she calmly asked why Jiang Boyan had erected such high walls to protect herself.

“What does it have to do with you?” Jiang Boyan asked through gritted teeth.

“How does it not concern me?” Ji Shihuan countered.

Jiang Boyan assumed she was about to make another outrageous, suggestive remark.

Instead, Ji Shihuan’s expression became unusually serious.

“A scent-blocking patch smothers the gland and obstructs the release of pheromones. It can make you irritable and impair your judgment.”

Despite speaking about something serious, she could not stop herself from mischievously poking Jiang Boyan’s cheek with one finger.

“We’re negotiating a project worth tens of millions. If President Jiang can’t maintain a clear mind, is that fair to me?”

Jiang Boyan stared at her.

Realizing she had misspoken, Ji Shihuan coughed lightly.

“Is it fair to Huanji?”

Jiang Boyan froze.

Her ten fingers slowly relaxed.

She felt Ji Shihuan’s gentle and restrained touch at her gland.

First, the suppressant patch was removed.

Immediately afterward, Ji Shihuan peeled open one edge of the scent-blocking patch that had tormented her for nearly twenty hours.

The separation caused pain, and Jiang Boyan’s body trembled involuntarily.

But soon, a breeze carrying the scent of the ocean brushed across her, soothing the hot, unbearably itchy wound.

Ji Shihuan blew gently against the skin to ease her discomfort while coaxing her like a child.

“All right. It’ll be over soon.”

“Be good. Hold on a little longer.”

Jiang Boyan thought she might have gone mad.

For one brief moment, she actually wanted to wrap her arms around Ji Shihuan’s lean waist and use her as a shore to cling to.

She came to her senses as she extended her hand.

After pausing, she changed direction and tightly gripped the loose hem of Ji Shihuan’s clothing instead.

When the scent-blocking patch was finally removed, Ji Shihuan pulled back slightly.

Jiang Boyan released a breath as well.

She told herself she had not entirely believed Ji Shihuan’s sophistry.

She had maintained her disguise for too long, leaving both her mind and body under constant strain until she had reached her limit.

Of course she knew there were countless flaws in the argument that wearing the patch made the negotiation unfair.

But Ji Shihuan had used business as an excuse to offer her a way out, so Jiang Boyan had simply taken it.

Staring at the pattern of Ji Shihuan’s clothing beneath her fingers, she repeated silently to herself:

Yes.

She had desperately needed a way out.