Is not being able to do as you please also called rebirth?

Chapter 199 In the Office
The morning light, sparingly filtering through the 270-degree floor-to-ceiling windows of the top-tier duplex apartment in Lujiazui, casts a few pale golden spots onto the expensive Italian limestone floor.

The air was filled with the cool, woody scent of top-quality fragrance, mixed with a faint hint of rose and cedar that belonged to Li Qingning, as well as the more primal and ambiguous scent lingering from last night.

Jiang Xun opened his eyes, his consciousness rising from a deep sleep.

The space beside me was empty, and the thin velvet blanket had a slightly cool touch.

There was still a noticeable indentation on the pillow, and a slightly curled chestnut hair was wrapped around his slightly bent knuckles.

He shifted, a sense of deep satisfaction washing over him. This capable Secretary Li, 'Sister Yuzu,' had zero practical experience before, but a solid theoretical foundation, and now she had mastered it all. She was just as good as her older sister, Yang Huimin.

The sound of running water came from the bathroom, and a slender, hazy silhouette was visible through the frosted glass door.

In the misty steam, he could even hear her humming an off-key tune, seemingly the background music from the rooftop restaurant on the Bund last night, "Night Shanghai," with a languid sense of post-coital smugness.

Jiang Xun sat up, the thin blanket slipped off, revealing her smooth-lined upper body.

The scratches left from last night were particularly clear in the morning light, stretching across between the shoulder blades and the chest and abdomen, like some kind of wild medal.

He grabbed his phone, and the screen lit up, revealing seven unread messages and three missed calls.

The senders were, in order, Hai Feng, editor-in-chief of Qidian; Wei Ming, the core technical expert of the Bitcoin trading platform; and Yan Jin, who was far away in Beijing.

The sound of water in the bathroom stopped. The door was opened, and wisps of white steam rushed out first, followed by Li Qingning wrapped in a white bath towel.

She was barefoot, and water droplets slid down her fair and slender neck, rolled over her delicate collarbone, and finally disappeared into the deep "V" shadow of the edge of the bath towel.

Below her collarbone, a fresh, slightly purplish hickey was exposed to the air without any attempt to conceal it.

Her chestnut-brown hair was wet and cascading down her back, with a few strands clinging to her cheeks and neck, adding to her fresh-out-of-the-shower charm, while her eyes had regained the sharpness they usually displayed at work.

"Mr. Jiang, your phone has vibrated for the seventh time." Her voice was slightly hoarse from the moisture, as if still carrying the seductive charm of last night.

As she bent over, the edge of the bath towel opened slightly, revealing more of her skin that sparked the imagination.

"Editor-in-Chief Haifeng sent three messages urging you to confirm the final schedule for the overseas rights signing event for 'Lord of Mysteries.' Old Wei sent five urgent encrypted emails; the priority number is off the charts. Oh, and there's someone else named Professor Yan…"

She paused deliberately, her fingertips seemingly unintentionally tracing his firm and beautifully sculpted abs, feeling the tension in his muscles for a moment, and asked, "Have you arrived safely in Beijing? When will you report to Peking University?"

Jiang Xun caught the phone precisely, but with his other hand, just as her fingertips were about to leave, he swiftly grabbed her slender wrist and, with a slight pull, drew her into his arms.

Her soft, fragrant body beneath the bath towel bumped against his bare chest, the touch of skin against skin sending a slight shiver through them both.

“Secretary Li,” Jiang Xun lowered his head, his warm breath brushing against her sensitive earlobe and neck, his deliberately lowered voice carrying a hint of teasing, “You seem to be jealous.”

As he spoke, his other hand had already slipped inside his bathrobe.

Li Qingning blushed and glared at him, then bit her lower lip and pressed herself against him.

Jiang Xun only opened his phone at this moment, and raised an eyebrow the instant he saw the message.

It's here! Even earlier than the timeline of his past life in his memory! This is precisely the trigger that caused Bitcoin to suffer its first global regulatory blow in 2013, leading to a sharp drop in price from its peak! Huge wealth fluctuations were brewing in this seemingly calm morning light.

Li Qingning keenly sensed his muscles tense up like rocks and the serious aura emanating from him.

She immediately leaned over to look at the screen, and after just a few glances, as someone involved in the core trading operations, she instantly understood the gravity of the situation. All the ambiguity vanished in an instant.

“I’ll contact Manager Zhang at the UBS Shanghai office right away.” She spoke rapidly and clearly, without any hesitation, as if the woman who had just been pulled into her arms wasn’t her at all.

She even stood up abruptly, her bath towel loosening as she moved and quietly slipping onto the carpet.

But she nonchalantly displayed her flawless body in the morning light, walking barefoot to the dressing room; the curves of her back were breathtaking, yet her voice was as calm as a precisely operating machine.

"According to Plan B, you need to personally authorize the key and complete three biometric verifications. I will coordinate with Manager Zhang in a private meeting room in Puxi to try to complete the asset separation and path confirmation within three hours. Additionally,"

As she quickly pulled out underwear and a crisp white silk blouse from the dressing room, she turned back and added:
"After breakfast, you need to go to miHoYo. The three founders of Honkai Impact 3rd are waiting for your final approval and signature. The car will be downstairs in ten minutes."

She went into the dressing room to change. The door wasn't closed properly, and Jiang Xun could see her quickly and efficiently putting on stockings and a pencil skirt. Every movement was precise and efficient, characteristic of a professional secretary. Only her slightly swollen lips and the marks under her collarbone showed how blurred the line between last night and this morning was.

At 10:00 AM, in the conference room at miHoYo's headquarters in Zhangjiang High-Tech Park.

Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows lay Shanghai's booming science and technology skyline. Inside the meeting room, however, the atmosphere was somewhat somber.

The three young founders, Liu Wei, Cai Haoyu, and Luo Yuhao, along with the core technical, artistic, and planning staff, sat around a long table.

The projection shows a complex skill tree model and elemental reaction mechanism diagram of the Valkyrie "Raiden Mei" from "Honkai Impact 3".

"President Jiang, this is the third version of the plan." Cai Haoyu adjusted his glasses and pointed to the screen. "We've optimized the trigger conditions for the 'electrified' state of the lightning element, lowering the entry barrier for players, while also improving the visual presentation of chain reactions. We've also made the monetization points more smoothly designed..."

Jiang Xun leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the gleaming conference table, his sharp gaze sweeping over each parameter.

He had barely finished listening to the introduction when he raised his hand to interrupt Cai Haoyu: "Stop."

The meeting room fell silent instantly, and everyone held their breath.

Li Qingning sat slightly behind and to the side of Jiang Xun, rapidly taking notes on a tablet. Her dark gray business suit was impeccably tailored, and her long hair was pulled back, revealing her elegant neck. Only upon close inspection from the side could one notice a pair of small, exquisite platinum stud earrings on her earlobes, one of which was identical in style to the almost forgotten old earring on Jiang Xun's left ear. "What is the core of the elemental reaction?" Jiang Xun stood up, walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and wrote several large characters in a flowing, elegant style:

"Strategy! Environmental interaction! Visual appeal!" He turned around, his gaze sweeping over the crowd. "Your current 'electrocution' is still stuck at the level of simply stacking numbers! Player A hits with lightning, Player B hits with fire, triggering an extra damage number? Is that what you call reaction?"

He forcefully poked the tip of his pen next to the formula "Thunderfire Overload" on the whiteboard:
"Think about reality! What happens when lightning strikes a tree? It ignites! It forms a fire! And it burns continuously! What about in a game?" His voice carried an undeniable penetrating power.

"After the 'Overload' explosion, it shouldn't just blow enemies away! It should ignite flammable materials in the scene, such as grass and wooden crates! Creating a fire zone that lasts for several seconds and causes area-of-effect burning damage! Players can use this to block paths, divide the battlefield, and create advantageous terrain! That's strategy! That's the core competitive advantage that distinguishes us from all other ARPGs on the market!"

He quickly sketched a simple diagram on the whiteboard:
"Art team, max out the fire effects! Get that explosive, rapidly spreading, raging fire dynamic! Design team, immediately add a mechanism to determine flammable materials in the scene and the impact of combustion status! Numerical team, rebalance the benefits and risks of this environmental interaction! This…"

He emphasized the words "environmental interaction," stating, "that's the real 'elemental reaction,' not just addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division!"

His words were like a thunderclap, leaving the three founders and core members dumbfounded, and then their eyes blazed with a tremendous light.

Liu Wei slammed his hand on the table excitedly: "That's right! How come we didn't think of that! This suddenly increases the depth of the gameplay!"

Cai Haoyu quickly scribbled notes in his notebook, nodding repeatedly.

Luo Yuhao even gave Jiang Xun a thumbs up, his eyes glancing unintentionally at Li Qingning, who was quietly taking notes, as if to say: Look at our boss's brain!
While everyone was excitedly debating the technical details and artistic expression, Jiang Xun had already returned to his office. Li Qingning stood up and followed him, naturally picking up Jiang Xun's empty coffee cup.

Jiang Xun walked back to his seat and loosened his tie as soon as he sat down.

The moment he sat down, a familiar, aggressively cool rose scent approached.

Li Qingning, carrying two cups of freshly brewed coffee, seemed to be merely passing by his chair back, but her body leaned slightly forward, her ample bust almost touching his shoulders and back.

She leaned down and whispered in his ear in a low, husky voice that only the two of them could hear:

"The way the young boss gets angry... is so incredibly cool, it makes my legs go weak." Warm breath brushed against his earlobe.

At the same time, a slightly cool hand slid down the seam of his trousers with extreme boldness and slowness, its target clear.

Jiang Xun chuckled, "Secretary Li, you just finished breakfast not long ago, are you hungry again?"

He patted Li Qingning's shapely buttocks and gave them a squeeze, then whispered, "What, you're trying to seduce the boss in the office? Want me to punish you there?"

Li Qingning's breathing became noticeably more rapid, her cheeks flushed, but her eyes shone with an astonishing brightness. Far from being afraid, they seemed to be ignited with an even more intense flame.

Instead of backing down, she pressed herself even closer to him, whispering provocatively in his ear, "Which punishment... would make you 'angrier'? Boss?"

Jiang Xun reached out and gently brushed his hand across Li Qingning's soft lips, his gaze becoming deep and aggressive.

Li Qingning instantly understood what he meant, blushed, and slowly squatted down.

More than half an hour later—

"Knock knock knock!" A clear and rhythmic knocking sound suddenly rang out.

When the assistant cautiously pushed open the door to the president's office, he was met with an utterly "normal" scene:

The young boss, Jiang Xun, was already dressed impeccably and sitting upright in a large black leather executive chair, intently signing a document on the table.

Meanwhile, the alluring Li Qingning stood behind Jiang Xun, seemingly leaning down to speak to him.

"What is it?" Jiang Xun didn't even look up, his tone flat and indifferent, as if nothing had just happened.

“Mr. Jiang…” the assistant stammered, “Editor-in-Chief Haifeng is here, waiting for you in the reception room. Also, Mr. Wei Ming sent someone to deliver the first batch of physical encryption USB tokens for transferring keys, which you and Secretary Li need to sign for together…”

"Understood. Please wait five minutes, Editor-in-Chief Haifeng. Send the U-shield directly here." Jiang Xun finally looked up, his gaze calmly sweeping over his assistant before returning to the computer screen. "Secretary Li, are the documents ready? If so, get up and prepare to receive the key."

"Yes, President Jiang." Li Qingning's voice was as steady as ever. As she stood up, she subtly smoothed out the wrinkles on the back of her skirt with her hand, concealing the several incriminating scratch marks.

She lowered her head slightly, walked quickly to the door, took a document receipt from her assistant, as if the torn black stockings were just a trivial accident.

The assistant left as if granted a pardon, gently closing the door behind him.

The moment the door closed, Li Qingning looked up at Jiang Xun, her face showing no trace of the "panic" and "apology" she had just displayed.
A faint, yet defiant and smug smile curved her lips, her eyes shining with an astonishing light, silently conveying a message: You see, I can handle anything, no matter the "situation".

The meeting with Editor-in-Chief Hai Feng lasted for nearly two hours, finalizing the specific schedule for the overseas book signing event for "Lord of Mysteries" and several important copyright derivative cooperation intentions.

Looking at the increasingly composed and charismatic young platinum author before him, Haifeng was filled with emotion.

There was a time when he thought the other person would become the best online novelist, but who knew that this was just the tip of the iceberg of their talent.

After seeing Haifeng off, the handover of the Bitcoin key U-shield was completed under the leadership of Li Qingning in a highly confidential environment.

She changed into a brand new pair of flawless nude stockings, restoring her impeccable image as an elite secretary, handling procedures professionally, efficiently, and flawlessly.

The afternoon's schedule included signing the final purchase contract for the penthouse duplex in Lujiazui and processing related payments. The meeting was arranged at the developer's VIP lounge on the top floor of the IFC Mall.

The signing process went smoothly. When Jiang Xun signed his name on the last page, signifying that this sky palace overlooking the Huangpu River, boasting an unparalleled view and valued at 1600 million yuan, was completely his, he felt calm and undisturbed, as if he had only bought a bottle of water.

(End of this chapter)