The Whole Company Thinks I'm the Boss's Mistress, But Only the Boss's Wife Pays Me - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My name is Xu Mian. I’m twenty-six years old, and I had just been working at Xinglan Media for three days.

My job title was perfectly ordinary: administrative assistant.

The actual work was just as ordinary-booking meeting rooms, pasting receipts onto reimbursement forms, chasing various departments for contracts.

So when that photo appeared in the company’s main group chat, my first reaction wasn’t anger. It was confusion.

The photo was taken from an expert angle.

Lu Chengzhou was bending down. I was standing in front of him, my wrist slightly raised, as if I were waiting for him to put something on me.

In reality, my earring had fallen off.

That earring wasn’t worth much. It was an old silver stud my mother had left behind from when she was young, with a little dent along the edge.

I had crouched down and searched for ages without finding it. Lu Chengzhou happened to come out of the conference room, picked it up, and handed it to me.

That was all.

And yet someone had photographed it as the boss and a new employee flirting with each other.

The group chat went silent for ten seconds.

Then people started sending messages like, “Got it,” “No wonder she was seated next to the executive office as soon as she joined,” and “Even admin positions have shortcuts now, huh.”

Someone else asked in a pointedly sarcastic tone, “Is the boss’s wife in this group?”

Of course the boss’s wife was in the group.

The boss’s wife at Xinglan Media was named Song Wantang.

She was also a co-founder of the company. She held slightly fewer shares than Lu Chengzhou, but her temper was much harder than his.

I heard she used to work in legal affairs. Later, she started the business with Lu Chengzhou and struggled alongside him until the company secured financing. After that, she slowly stopped involving herself in operations.

I had met her once on the day I started.

She was wearing a black blouse, her hair gathered low at the back of her head. When she passed the front desk, an employee called out softly, “CEO Song.”

She didn’t answer. She only stopped and straightened a pothos plant on the counter that was about to fall.

Back then, I thought she was the kind of person who couldn’t be bothered with other people’s business.

As it turned out, I was a poor judge of character.

After she sent those two messages in the group chat, the entire company seemed to have been put on mute.

The finance manager reacted the fastest.

“Understood, CEO Song.”

Some people weren’t convinced and privately sent me screenshots from a smaller group chat.

“I’m dying. The boss’s wife must be furious.”

“Triple her salary? Did her mistress allowance just get upgraded to emotional damages?”

“Xu Mian is so lucky. Sleep with him once and she gets a raise.”

I stared at my phone, my fingertips going cold.

I could already picture HR calling me in for a talk.

Management wouldn’t investigate who started the rumor.

My colleagues wouldn’t care about the truth.

Everyone would simply wait until I couldn’t take it anymore, then watch me pack up my things and leave in humiliation. Afterward, they would add one final comment in the break room: “She must have had a guilty conscience.”

I saved the screenshots, got up, and went to the break room for water.

The moment I reached the doorway, the voices inside paused.

Someone pretended to laugh and asked, “Mianmian, you’re pretty close with CEO Lu, huh?”

I glanced at her.

Her name was Xu Jia. She was from the marketing department, had been with the company for a year, and loved sharing milk tea at her desk.

On my third day, I had even drunk half a cup of mango pomelo sago that she bought.

I said, “I’m not.”

She drew out an “Oh” for a long time.

“You’re not close, but he helped you pick up your earring?”

Someone beside her stifled a laugh.

I placed my cup under the water dispenser and turned on the hot water.

“Then the next time you drop something, you can try not picking it up.”

Xu Jia’s expression stiffened.

Just as the cup was almost full, someone reached past me from behind and turned off the switch.

“It’s hot.”

I turned around and saw Song Wantang standing in the doorway.

She didn’t look at anyone else. She only moved my cup slightly to the side.

“Come to my office.”

The break room fell silent again.

I followed behind her and heard Xu Jia mutter under her breath.

“She’s really protecting her now.”

Song Wantang did not stop walking.

After entering her office, she closed the door. The first thing she said was, “You can resign.”

I froze.

She sat down behind her desk and pushed an employment contract toward me.

“What I said in the group chat about tripling your salary was to shut them up. It wasn’t to make the decision for you.”

She looked up at me.

“If you leave now, I’ll have HR compensate you at N+3, and the reason for departure will be written as mismanagement on the company’s part.”

I looked at her.

“What if I don’t leave?”

Song Wantang placed an access card beside the contract.

“Then starting today, you’ll be transferred to the President’s Office and report directly to me.”

I didn’t move.

As if she knew what I was thinking, she added calmly,

“The tripled salary is real.”

“It’s not hush money.”

“It’s hazard pay.”