My CEO Keeps Wanting to Eat Me - Chapter 3

After that meeting, I began to suspect Shen Qinglan actually suffered from pica.

If the first two incidents had been minor, the banquet three days later confirmed the seriousness of my boss’s condition beyond all doubt.

I attended the business dinner with Shen Qinglan as a representative of the Marketing Department.

To avoid embarrassing the company, I spent a fortune renting a backless, sequined evening gown.

Under the lights, I looked like a human disco ball. I sparkled so violently my own mother wouldn’t have recognized me.

Shen Qinglan wore a black velvet gown, her hair swept up to reveal her long neck. Regal and chilly, she resembled a black swan.

Halfway through the evening, several wily old competitors came over with drinks and began making barbed remarks.

Shen Qinglan was a rare member of the industry’s younger generation. She was also a woman in power, so it went without saying how much contempt she’d endured.

She had weathered every kind of storm and still held her place at the top.

We had all witnessed her ruthless methods.

But some people were too blind to know better and insisted on inviting humiliation.

Shen Qinglan swirled her wine gracefully without even lifting her eyelids. In a few sentences, she struck directly at the weak point in their financing.

To finish, she smiled and wished them “a speedy bankruptcy, so I can acquire you cheaply.”

The old men flushed purple with rage, yet none dared make a scene.

Shen Qinglan inclined her head politely and turned away.

With her full aura unleashed, she looked like a queen surveying her domain.

I felt enormously inspired. Even my spine seemed to straighten.

I turned around, champagne in hand, and began chattering at length with a bald client called Mr. Wang, practically spraying him with enthusiasm.

I wanted to demonstrate my professionalism and, while I was at it, secure a project for the next quarter.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Shen Qinglan standing in the shadows nearby with a glass of red wine, watching me.

Her gaze was deep and contemplative.

She seemed to be inspecting my work.

I immediately flashed the standard professional smile—all eight teeth on display.

The familiar inner voice floated over the next second.

*Sparkly…*

*She practically glows…*

*…Want to eat.*

My smile cracked and froze.

Boss, isn’t your diet a little too broad?

Those are plastic sequins! Polyethylene terephthalate!

They’d perforate your stomach!

This wasn’t mere hunger. This was definitely pica!

I thought of news stories about people who ate glass and dirt. When I looked at Shen Qinglan again, my eyes were full of sympathy and horror.

Who knew the aloof, domineering CEO hid such an unspeakable affliction?

She needed treatment!

Then Shen Qinglan set down her wine and truly started toward me, her eyes fixed on the sequins of my dress.

I panicked.

I was genuinely afraid she would pounce and take a bite out of my skirt in front of everyone.

My gaze darted around and locked on the dessert table nearby.

With lightning speed, I snatched a pink macaron and lunged in front of Shen Qinglan.

“Ms. Shen!” I cried, shoving it toward her lips. “Eat this! It’s sweet! It won’t cut your mouth!”

I startled her into stopping.

She looked at the macaron nearly touching her nose, then at my panic-stricken face.

Though her expression was puzzled, she eventually opened her mouth and took one elegant little bite.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

There was still hope for her. My boss could still be saved.