Chapter 289: A Day in the Life of CEO Qiao (Part 5)

Qiao Suisui decided to ignore this friend request.

She then quickly replied to several work inquiries and asked her secretary about the day's schedule before finally getting up to shower, put on makeup, and get ready to leave. Before heading out, she grabbed the leftover bread and milk from the fridge, hastily choked down a few bites, and rushed out with her car keys.

All morning, Sang Yan watched her rush back and forth barefoot, eating things straight from the fridge. His brow remained tightly furrowed, but no matter what he said, or even when he tried to touch Qiao Suisui, she felt nothing.

Sang Yan just followed her and sat in the car like that.

This was fine, too; he could understand Sui Sui's life and know what she did when she wasn't entering their world.

But everything he saw was completely contrary to what he had once imagined.

From the moment she arrived at the company in the morning, Qiao Suisui was in meetings—big meetings followed by small ones—until one o'clock. She hadn't eaten a single bite of food. Then, without a moment's rest, she went to see two downstream partners. By 4:30, she was eating half a sandwich in the car while attending an online meeting, with constant phone calls cutting in: "CEO Qiao, this plan needs your final approval as soon as possible," "CEO Qiao, is this channel okay?" "CEO Qiao, the team on Ye's side says they'll be online later; the technical issues aren't resolved yet. What do you think..."

Sang Yan couldn't understand their professional jargon, but he began to feel inexplicably restless and even pressured within this massive, invisible magnetic field. It was hard to say which specific event or sentence caused this feeling; it was more like the helplessness of one person trying to handle four or five things at once.

Yet, Qiao Suisui answered them one by one with a calm expression, making quick judgments. She decisively pushed back against unreasonable demands and offered affirmation and encouragement to insecure employees. In the process, she not only provided concrete solutions and suggestions but also took care of people's emotions—something only a very small number of managers could do.

Sang Yan suddenly felt self-reproachful; he was sitting right beside her, but he couldn't do anything.

At 5:30 PM, Han Chen's calls came in repeatedly. Qiao Suisui finally had no choice but to answer.

As soon as the call connected, a voice struggling to suppress anger came from the other side: "You made me wait for you at the airport for five hours."

Qiao Suisui asked, unafraid of death: "You're still at the airport?"

"Otherwise?"

"I thought you came straight to the company."

It's not like it's your first time here, do you need someone to pick you up? What are you trying to prove? Qiao Suisui thought to herself.

Han Chen gritted his teeth: "You think just because you've separated from me, I can't do anything to you, right?"

Qiao Suisui smiled nonchalantly, "How could that be, CEO Han? You will always be the founder of my career, the lighthouse guiding my path, you are my..."

"Enough." Han Chen was so angry he laughed, his temper inexplicably dissipating. After a moment of silence, he said, "Come pick me up."

"I can't get away."

"Why?" His volume rose.

"Busy."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line, and then a 'beep' as he hung up on her.

Qiao Suisui, looking like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, tossed her phone aside and drove back to the company.

The phone landed on Sang Yan, who was sitting in the passenger seat. He looked down and saw messages constantly popping up on the screen—

"Is this fun?"

"When you're happy, you summon me at will, and when you lose interest, you leave me hanging."

"I'm telling you, I must see you today."

Sang Yan looked at the man's crumbling yet useless threats and silently turned to look at Qiao Suisui.

Could it be, as Laiboli said, that she had someone else in this world? At six o'clock, during a meeting, Qiao Suisui began to have stomach pain. Sang Yan was the first to notice her face turn pale; he was anxious to pull her hand and knelt before her, wanting to tell her to get treatment, but he could do nothing.

Ye Xi was also at the meeting and, noticing something was wrong, leaned in and whispered: "Old problem acting up again?"

Qiao Suisui nodded and whispered: "It's fine, let's get this schedule finalized first."

Ye Xi nodded, but turned and whispered instructions to an employee. Shortly after, the latter returned with takeout food and medicine.

Qiao Suisui endured the pain to speed up the meeting. She saw that Ye Xi had bought her food, but she was the boss; what would it look like if she ate while a subordinate was reporting? So, by rushing through it, the meeting finally ended at seven, and the food had gone cold.

She opened the lid, intending to force down a few bites, but Ye Xi stopped her: "At least microwave it, or don't eat this at all; let's just go to a restaurant."

"I'd have to wait in line at this hour, it's a hassle."

She shoveled a few bites of rice, took her medicine, and then discussed the company's next strategic direction with Ye Xi.

By the time they finished, it was pitch black outside. Ye Xi beat her chest and stomped her feet: "Tell me, what kind of life are we living? We earn a decent amount, but why does it feel like we're living worse than dogs?"

"Isn't that what starting a business is like?"

Finally, by the time Qiao Suisui finished her day's work and returned home, it was already 9:30.

She tossed her bag aside and sprawled out on the sofa like a pancake.

Sang Yan sat quietly beside her, stroking her back, feeling immense heartache.

It would be a lie to say he hadn't resented her in the past. Even with Sang Yan's restrained and sensible personality, he would often wonder why she no longer entered their world. Was it because she had found someone better to replace them, or had she found satisfaction in the modern world and was living a life more exciting than here? But when he spent the whole day by her side today, he realized how heavy the responsibilities on her shoulders were.

Running a company, she had to be responsible to investors above, employees below, and clients in the market in between. She balanced all these interests perfectly.

Sang Yan felt that this version of Qiao Suisui was so far, far away from him. He felt he wasn't good enough for her, and he couldn't even bring her a cup of hot water in the modern world.

While he was lost in thought, Qiao Suisui suddenly got up from the sofa. She removed her makeup, showered, changed her clothes, and sat down in front of the computer.

Today was Friday. She had worked herself to the bone and rushed through her tasks just to spend a full weekend with them in the game.

She clicked to log in with her mouse, and when she opened her eyes again, Qiao Suisui was already inside her palace in the game world, where she still had long hair.

The first thing Qiao Suisui saw was Luka sleeping soundly on her bed. She walked over on tiptoe, pinched the man's cheek, and lay by the bedside to watch him.

Luka's fever had broken by now. He opened his eyes weakly and saw the person he had been longing for standing right in front of him. He whispered weakly to himself: "It really worked, or is this my hallucination..."

Qiao Suisui smiled at him: "Are you delirious from sleep?"

Luka's pupils shrank instantly. He regained clarity in a flash, then cupped her face with both hands, constantly stroking her to confirm she was real.

"You're back?"

"Yes."

She wanted to say more, but the next second she was pulled into a forceful kiss by Luka.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 290 =====