Much like Yan Shuyu had anticipated, business at the musical institution went up and up since she had become famed.

Truth was, it was already close to year end. Most of the students who were interested in signing up would have done so at the beginning of the winter vacation instead of waiting until now.

Yan Shuyu's musical institution did not let the opportunity slipped them by either. They, too, had attracted a lot of students and opened up classes of all sizes and trying to rake in as much money as possible. As such, even the classrooms were at the musical institution were filled up. Teachers like Yan Shuyu had a strict schedule nowadays to follow because, if they missed their time slot, they very well might not be able to have a room to use.

As busy as the musical institution was, there was no reason why there would be an uptick in sign ups at this time. That was certain not a trend that would be normally seen. It was, for sure, the effect of the internet.

Yan Shuyu became an instructor that was raved on the internet and all of these students rushed to Fengyu because of her. As much as she had already stressed that her schedule was already quite full and she could take at most two additional sessions a day and that would be her limit, Boss Liu and the other handsome boy and pretty girl instructors were able to successfully convince most of the students and parents who came for fun to sign up and pay for their sessions. Yan Shuyu, too, had already received subtle hint from Boss Liu that she would not be disappointed at the amount of her year-end bonus.

Naturally, she looked forward to her bonus. She knew that Male God Liu was a generous man and if she said the amount would be high, it must be true. She was already planning how to spend the money before she received it.

That being said, she felt that with the exception of her higher income and more students, there didn't seem to be much difference in her life before and after she became famed. Mainly she attributed her peace and quiet to Manager Yang turning down all invitations from investors that wanted to sign contracts with her or wanted her to return to the coffee shop - at least that was what she insisted on believing. She felt that her little buddy had done her a solid.

As there hadn't been much changes in her life otherwise, Yan Shuyu started to cool down after being excited over this for a few days. Her attention had quickly turned to something else the boss's sudden invitation for her to be his date and accompany him to the Zhou's year end party.

Yan Shuyu was very honored and surprised when she received the invitation. She had heard that many of these large company had very impressive year end party. Some of them were even hosted in a stadium with entertainment provided by stars. Yan Shuyu had never been to Tall, Big, and Upscale events like these before and would very much like to experience it.

After looking forward to it for a little while, something else had occurred to her, the boss was the president of the entire Zhou's Corporation. He wasn't just anyone. She had attracted so much attention when she was just delivering a document to him and now she was going to attend an official event as the boss's girlfriend? What was the significance of that? Was she really going to become Mrs. Zhou and become the little male lead's stepmother?

Yan Shuyu, who didn't want to cause any misunderstandings, finally turned down the boss painfully. "I can't. I have never attended events like this and I'm nervous and intimidated."

"Don't worry about it. Just stand by me. You don't need to do a thing." Boss Zhou's tone was genuine and comforting.

Yan Shuyu was very tempted but she continued to wave her hand frantically like a timid person. "No, I can't."

It was true that she had never attended events of this scale and the boss had a pretty good idea about what kind of a person he was, so she didn't worry about being with him.

Yan Shuyu was very tempted but she continued to wave her hand frantically like a timid person. "No, I can't."

It was true that she had never attended events of this scale and the boss had a pretty good idea about what kind of a person he was, so she didn't worry about being with him.

The boss was, after all, the boss. He quickly figured out that she was trying to weasel out of it. Raising his brows, he said, "You didn't want to go?"

Yan Shuyu was just about to nod when he said in a moderate tone, “I seem to recall that you said you owe me one before we went on our trip..."

He didn't finish his sentence but what he was suggesting was quite obvious. He wanted to use that as leverage.

Yan Shuyu wasn't easily fooled. She immediately stood up for herself. "What I meant was I owe you for an activity after I was paid; I didn't say I owe you one. They are two different things. I can take you out for a fancy meal, buy you a gift, but you can't use this as a leverage to force me into participating in an activity against my wish."

"I didn't use it as a leverage. I just would like you to spend more time with me is all." Sweet words coming suddenly from Boss Zhou had Yan Shuyu blushing right away. Even her chin that was held up high lowered a little.

Having said that, Zhou Qinhe continued to make his point. "You said you were going to take us on a vacation after you were paid but I ended up paying for the entire trip because an oversea trip was out of your budget. Then you said you owe me one. Was I not right?"

Yan Shuyu wasn't sure how to respond to that. She felt that the boss's logic was a little bit off but she couldn't quite put her fingers on it. She just looked at him wordlessly.

The boss's aura grew as hers diminished. The boss became more confident. Crossing his arms in front of his chest, he said, "I wanted to have you attend the annual party with me in return but you are making up all sorts of excuses. Are you trying to go back on your words?"

"No, that's not true. I am not." Yan Shuyu denied frantically. Being true to her words, after all, was one of her very few positive character traits. She would not allow the boss to ruin her reputation that way.

Zhou Qinhe stuck his head over happily, his cheek almost touching hers. "Okay, it is decided then."

Yan Shuyu opened up her mouth and was about to decline when the boss glanced over immediately. "You have something else to add?"

Yan Shuyu, "....”

What else could she say? In order to prove that she was, indeed, a person who was true to her words, Yan Shuyu finally, while feeling being unfairly treated, mumbled and accepted the boss's invitation. =.=

That afternoon, she received ball gown and jewelries sent by the boss. He said to have her try out the size first and it could be switched out if it didn't fit.

Even her entire ensemble was ready by now. The efficient of it all made Yan Shuyu wondered whether the boss had this planned all along. Nevertheless, Yan Shuyu didn't have much time to mull over that. Her attention had been drawn by the gown that was so dazzling that she could go blind - the boss was, after all, the boss. The gown that he sent over was a custom-made designer brand gown that only stars would wear when walking down the red carpet. And just who was she to be able to receive the same treatment?

And, just like that, Yan Shuyu was completely mesmerized by her aura-that-rivals-an actress self.

***

One she had accepted the fact that she was going to attend the annual party with the boss, not only did Yan Shuyu no longer resent that, she was looking forward to it more and more. Mainly she was very pleased by her all dolled up and adorned by jewelries self.

The boss was not one to compromise for anything less than perfect. Now that both the gown and accompanying jewelries had been decided, Secretary Lu brought with her a team of makeup artists the next day to work on Yan Shuyu.

As the saying goes, the clothes make the person. Yan Shuyu only had on light makeup when she tried to gown on previously. She was already so beautiful that she hardly wanted to take off her outfit when she tried them on. Now that she had the complete makeover, she finally knew what stunning meant.

The rigged-out Yan Shuyu was completely mesmerized the two little boys who were officially on vacation and didn't need to go to school and had been surrounding her the entire afternoon. The two brothers who had agreed to wait for them at home while they attended the annual party suddenly each grabbed onto one of her legs and wanted to tag along.

That didn't bother Yan Shuyu but Boss Zhou wasn't one who'd change his mind once it was made. He had turned down the little kiddos request using they were too young as a reason. And then, Yan Shuyu, who had never shined more in her life, left the house confidently with her arm in the boss's.

Both Yan Shuyu and the boss were dressed up and, the way they were dressed, they could totally walk down a red carpet. Even so, Yan Shuyu was still surprised by the scale of the boss's company's annual party.

Even the venue was more Tall, Large, and Up scale than she had expected. The banquet hall was resplendent and the guests were well dressed. The guests were chatting elegantly. It was the live scene of the upper class. Yan Shuyu, who had never attending an event like this, was stunned by the scene that looked even more realistic than what she had seen on television.

In her mind, an annual party would be like how they were described online by the netizens. The location would be a stadium that could hold up to tens of thousands of people. All employees, regardless of their levels would be there together. There would be stars singing and dancing. The annual party would resemble a concert and everybody was excited. Was what she was seeing a little on the pretentious side?

Walking inside of the magnificent banquet hall, Yan Shuyu finally couldn't help but whispered into the boss's ear, "How is it this kind of an annual party?"

She wasn't too explicit with her words but Zhou Qinhe had listened to her speculations at home before now. He didn't respond at the time but he had an idea what she was talking about. Naturally, the kind and gentle Boss Zhou would not make fun of her. Instead, he leaned over to her and whispered into her ear nonchalantly. "This one is only for upper management. The one that you are thinking about was held last week."

So a large company would hold a normal annual party and one for upper management? Yan Shuyu was enlightened and, when she saw the room full of upper management elites, she was surprised again. Were there a little too many elites at the boss's company? There were at least several hundreds if not over 1,000 people there.

Yan Shuyu even spotted a few blond-haired and blue-eyed foreigners, blacks even. She could hear Chinese spoken with all different accents. It was true that the whole world could speak Chinese.

At that very moment, she felt that the boss next to her had just become even bigger and taller.

Speaking of, Yan Shuyu was quite familiar with the venue of the Zhou's Corporation's upper management annual party. In fact, so familiar that she felt somewhat embarrassed.

That's right. The location was Dorsett Hotel.

As the saying goes, one should not be afraid of a ghost knocking on the door at night if one has nothing to hide. The opposite is true too. Yan Shuyu had dark history that could not be erased associated with Dorsett Hotel. To a point that she felt uneasy every time she walked past it, let alone walking inside of it openly. Unfortunately, by the time she realized it, she was already sitting inside of the luxury car on her way there. Her hand was grabbed by the boss gently that she wouldn't be able to run away even if she had wanted to. As such, she had no choice but to walk inside.

Luckily, she had always been a lucky one. The headquarter's upper management annual party was held in Dorsett Hotel's largest banquet hall. The hotel was large and the guest rooms and the banquet halls were very far away. As much as the workers on both sides were colleagues, but they were never closed with each other. In addition, the turnover rate in the hotel industry was high and in half a month's time, it was enough to have gone through several batches of employees. Yan Shuyu glanced around the venue and did not spot a single familiar face. She let out a sigh of relief immediately. If there was nobody there who recognized her, she could very well pretend that nothing has ever happened.

What Yan Shuyu didn't notice was that even though none of the servers recognized here, someone among the guests immediately noticed the intimacy between her and Boss Zhou. And that person was the original owner's previous boss, General Manger Han Yu of Dorsett Hotel.