Chapter 6 — The Mighty, All-Powerful Genie

Three months after the southern inter-regional transport route project was implemented according to the new plan, the results far exceeded all expectations. The on-time delivery rate increased to ninety-seven percent, operating costs decreased by nearly twelve percent compared to the same period last year, and most importantly, this became the clearest demonstration of Đường Nhã Kỳ's capabilities before the entire board of directors who once doubted her.

During the quarterly summary meeting, the interim chairman of the board of directors — a distant uncle of Nhã Kỳ named Đường Bảo Long, who was assigned temporary executive responsibility until Nhã Kỳ had enough experience to take over the top position — publicly praised her in front of the entire board of directors.

"Miss Nhã Kỳ has proven herself worthy of the trust that boss Vĩnh Bảo has placed," he said, his voice filled with pride. "I propose to put you in charge of two more strategic projects in the next quarter, as a springboard for the official succession roadmap."

Nhã Kỳ stood up to accept the compliment with radiant confidence, a feeling of satisfaction that she had never felt before. She had proven that she was not just a name supported by her family, but a person truly capable of handling the most complex problems of the corporation. That feeling made her believe even more absolutely in herself, and also unintentionally made her disregard everything around her even more, including her nominal husband who still lived quietly in the outhouse behind the garden.

After the meeting, Đường Bảo Long kept her for a few minutes. His eyes were still a bit cautious even though the compliment just now was sincere. "You did well, but I want to remind you of one thing. Continuous success sometimes makes people forget that luck also plays a role. Don't let confidence turn into subjectivity."

"I understand, uncle," Nhã Kỳ replied, even though in her heart she didn't really believe in that warning. She firmly believes that her success comes entirely from her sharp analytical ability and tireless efforts, without any luck interfering.

That evening, when she returned to the villa in an excited mood, she happened to meet Bách Nguyên helping the gardener clean up a black star tree whose branches had broken after the afternoon's heavy rain. He stripped off his upper body, revealing his strong body as he struggled to pull the heavy tree branch out of the way, sweat beading on his forehead under the garden lights.

"What are you doing?" She asked, her voice a bit annoyed when she saw that scene.

"Tree branches are blocking the path. I'll help Uncle Sau clean it up," Bách Nguyên replied, not showing any shyness about physical work.

"You don't have to do such things." Nhã Kỳ frowned, her voice was harsher than she wanted. "You are my husband on paper, even if it's only in name, you shouldn't let outsiders see this scene. People will rumor that my husband is nothing more than a gardener in his wife's house."

Those words made the gardener standing nearby look down, a bit embarrassed on Bách Nguyên's behalf. But he just quietly put his shirt back on, his face not showing any displeasure.

"I get it," He just replied, like every other time.

"Do you ever react to anything?" Nhã Kỳ asked, her voice suddenly harsher, almost a provocation. "Or do you just bow your head and accept everything for my inheritance?"

Bách Nguyên looked at her for a long time. There was no anger in his eyes, only a deep calmness that made her even more uncomfortable. "I'm not here for your fortune. But I understand you're under a lot of pressure, so I won't argue with you about small things like this."

"Do you think I need your mercy?" She gritted her voice, her unreasonable anger flared up stronger than she expected, perhaps because the work pressure had been pent up for too long and she needed a place to vent. "I don't need anyone to pity me, not even you."

"I don't pity you," he replied, his voice still calm. "I'm just trying not to make things worse."

Nhã Kỳ was speechless for a moment, unable to find a worthy response, so she turned around and walked into the house, leaving an oppressive silence behind her. Bách Nguyên stood looking at her figure, his heart filled with a dull sadness that he had gradually learned to name during the past few months as a human - the feeling of being treated unfairly by the very person he was silently protecting.

The gardener, witnessing the entire incident, waited until Nhã Kỳ was out of sight before daring to speak up. "Master, what you say is too much. You help me clean up the trees, there's nothing wrong."

"It's okay, uncle." Bách Nguyên smiled and put his shirt back on his shoulders. "She's under a lot of pressure, she just hasn't found the right way to relieve it."

"You're so gentle." The gardener shook his head, both impressed and a little embarrassed for him. "If it were me, I would be very angry."

Bách Nguyên did not answer, just looked at the light in the third floor window, where Nhã Kỳ had just disappeared behind the slammed door. There was no resentment in his heart, only a quiet patience that he himself did not know where he got it from.

In the weeks that followed, Nhã Kỳ's attitude towards him not only did not improve, but also became worse in a different way - not with spontaneous harshness, but with a calculated coldness, viewing him as an invisible decoration in her house. She began to organize meetings with business partners right at the villa, and each time, she told the housekeeper to arrange so that Bách Nguyên did not appear in the guests' sight.

"Mr. Đắc Tường, today there is a partner from Kim Thinh Group coming to discuss cooperation. Please remind Mr. Bách Nguyên to stay in his room and not go out." She gave instructions before the important meeting, her tone was calm as if she was arranging things in the house, not talking about her husband.

Hearing that, Đắc Tường just silently nodded, but his heart couldn't help but feel bitter for Bách Nguyên. When he conveyed that advice, Bách Nguyên only smiled slightly, not showing any indignation.

"She has her reasons," he said. "I understand, business partners looking at a mysterious husband with an unknown background can raise unnecessary questions about an important deal."

"Aren't you angry?" Đắc Tường asked, unable to hide his surprise at Bách Nguyên's seemingly limitless tolerance.

"I'm angry," Bách Nguyên answered honestly, an honesty that only Đắc Tường could hear. "But I understand that if I let that anger take over, I will only make things worse between the two of us, and that won't help the promise I made to my boss. I can wait. A thousand years trapped in a lamp is bearable, a few years waiting for someone to change their perspective isn't too difficult." But even though he said that, there were nights when Bách Nguyên still sat alone at the window of the annex, looking up at the still bright light on the third floor of the main building, feeling a deep sense of loneliness that he had never experienced in his thousand years as a genie - the loneliness of a person living near someone he cares about, but being treated as if he completely did not exist.

He remembered what Vĩnh Bảo once told him before he passed away: people are always afraid of being hated, because people always want to be loved. Only now did he fully understand the meaning of that sentence, when he himself began to yearn for someone to see him not as a condition in the will, but as a real person worthy of respect.

But he also knew that change in a person's heart could not be forced, and true feelings, if any, must come from their own experiences and perceptions, and cannot be rushed. Therefore, even though he had to endure coldness and sometimes contempt from Nhã Kỳ every day, he patiently continued to silently watch over her, ready to act whenever she needed it, without expecting any recognition or gratitude in return.

He sat down on the porch steps, looked up at the cloudless night sky, wondering if Nhã Kỳ would ever see him differently, or if he would have to accept living for five whole years under the same roof with the person he cared about without ever being able to reciprocate. But even with that thought, he still did not regret his decision. A thousand years of silence in the lamp had taught him that, sometimes, the meaning of an action did not lie in the results it brings, but in what it came from in one's heart.

What he didn't know was that on the other side of the city, in a flashy building of the Long Thịnh Group, a man named Hứa Việt Long was sitting in his private office, watching the news about the rapid rise of Đường Nhã Kỳ with cold, calculating eyes, secretly planning a business war that he had been cherishing since he was a boy who witnessed his father fall because of the Duong family.