Chapter 3

If no one is playing a prank, then he has traveled back to the past.

Zhao Jiu frowned, his thin lips pressed tightly together; something big was about to happen, he had to go to the subsidiary tomorrow, and little Su was also making a fuss about resigning.

Speaking of Su Li, Zhao Jiu had a bit of a headache; he didn't know what had suddenly gotten into Su Li, but she was dead set on resigning.

The problem is, is she the same as everyone else?

She is a secretary who has been through thick and thin with him, they lived in a basement together, moved offices together, met clients together, and gotten drunk together; now that he has made it, the secretary has changed, not to mention that the clients might not be used to it, wouldn't others think he abandoned his "long-suffering" secretary?

Is this a matter of changing a secretary?

No, this is a matter of character.

Zhao Jiu couldn't be bothered to pay attention to the defeated opponent on the ground anymore; he had returned inexplicably, and he had to find a way to go back. At this moment, he suddenly sensed something, turned his head, and saw a girl wearing a blue and white school uniform standing blankly by the side of the road.

Zhao Jiu: "..."

How does this little girl look so much like Su Li?

Su Li's head was still spinning, and everyone she looked at seemed to be separated by a very, very thick fog.

She looked at the scene in front of her and simply couldn't react.

Is Zhao Jiu fighting?

Although he was usually a bit of a refined scoundrel, she had never seen him fight before; even during the hardest times abroad, when their dinner money was stolen, Zhao Jiu only crouched down to comfort her as she cried her eyes out.

"This girl is quite pretty?"

"But why does she look a bit silly?"

"Wait, this school uniform is from City No. 1 High School, right? Why is she here? It's over twenty kilometers away."

A few people on the side asked curiously, and Zhao Jiu realized, that's right, why is Su Li here?

At this hour, she should be in class at school.

Unless...

"Su Li?" Zhao Jiu called out tentatively.

Su Li slowly looked at him, the two stared at each other, and then they understood everything.

They traveled together.

Ten minutes later, Cheng Yu and the others watched in a daze as Zhao Jiu made a phone call; soon, a Maybach drove over, then that No. 1 High School student opened the car door, Zhao Jiu sat in calmly, and then that student also sat in with practiced ease, closed the car door, and finally, the car drove away.

"Why did the boss dump us here and leave with that girl?"

Zhao Jiu never does things like forgetting his friends for a pretty face.

In the car, Zhao Jiu leaned against the seat, his legs crossed, looking at the secretary beside him; she was a bit immature, but it was indeed his little Su, yet something was still not quite right.

"Were you this blank and silly before?"

Su Li shook her head: "No. I'm like this because I got motion sickness from the bus; I took four buses in total. Now, even when I hear you talking, I feel like I have cotton stuffed in my ears."

Zhao Jiu looked at her current appearance and raised his hand to pinch her cheek; Su Li turned her head to glare at him.

Zhao Jiu confirmed that she really had motion sickness, as even her glare lacked force, so he withdrew his hand.

"Why didn't you take a taxi..."

Zhao Jiu looked at her school uniform; oh, she is still a poor student right now.

"Why leave?" Zhao Jiu asked the question he hadn't finished before traveling.

Su Li turned her head to look at him; why she resigned, didn't he have any idea?

Zhao Jiu met her angry gaze and slowly turned his head to look out the window.

It wasn't just that he used her a bit too hard, right? But he also paid her a sufficient salary.

Su Li carefully parsed out these ten years; the first year was the hardship of living conditions, the next four years were the hardships of getting on the right track and developing and growing, and the last five years were not only about development but also about rectifying internal stubborn illnesses and dealing with those monsters and demons of the Zhao Family.

She slept later than a dog and got up earlier than a rooster; although the salary Zhao Gouzi paid was high enough to let her buy a large flat with a nice environment before she was thirty, she hadn't stepped into it even once in the year since she bought it. Last week, she originally wanted to go back, but when she drove Zhao Jiu's car halfway there, she couldn't for the life of her remember which building or floor her home was on.

So she realized that she was living a life where she had time to earn money but no time to spend it; she should retire, she should live that life of walking the dog during the day and petting the cat at night.

"I've earned enough money, I want to retire," Su Li said.

Zhao Jiu subconsciously reached out to turn his thumb ring, only to find that his hand was empty; that thumb ring symbolizing the person in power was still on his grandfather's hand.

He squeezed his fingers: "Only a few years? And you're retiring? Who would ever think they have too much money?"

Su Li was just about to say herself, but with one hand propped on the leather car seat, she fell silent; having money seems to be able to buy a Maybach of Zhao Jiu's level.

Su Li reached out a hand and tugged on his sleeve: "Boss, can you give me that Maybach of yours as a resignation gift?"

As soon as Zhao Jiu heard this, he immediately pulled back his sleeve: "Don't dream."

Which secretary has the guts to ask their boss for his beloved car?

And don't think he doesn't know what she calls him in private.

When there's something to do, it's Boss Zhao; when there's nothing to do, it's Zhao Gouzi; when her mood is neither bad nor good, it's Zhao Jiu.

Su Li thought about it, and it was true; Zhao Jiu loves his car like his life, especially his Maybach.

She felt a little disappointed and silently calculated her money; after she resigned, should she first make some investments to earn a car back?

Seeing that she remained silent for a long time, Zhao Jiu's gaze fell on her ugly school uniform.

"What class are you in?"

Su Li looked up: "Huh?"

She hadn't recovered from the motion sickness yet, and her rapport with Zhao Jiu had dropped a lot, so she didn't know what he was talking about for a moment.

"I said, what class are you in at No. 1 High School now?"

Su Li thought for a moment: "I remember it seems to be Class Thirteen?"

Zhao Jiu: "..."

"Student, where do you live?" the driver asked after reaching the city center; Su Li was just about to speak, but she froze again; what was her residential complex called again, Jin something?

Su Li subconsciously wanted to take out her phone to search the map, but when she reached into her pocket, she remembered again that she didn't have a phone now, so she looked at Zhao Jiu.

Zhao Jiu waited a moment, watching her stunned expression, and raised an eyebrow; ever since they had known each other, she had indeed never gone home, for ten whole years, even spending the Lunar New Year at his house, but he hadn't expected that she would have simply forgotten her home address.

Su Li felt awkward for a moment; actually, she hadn't forgotten it completely, she just needed a map to recall it.

The driver was driving, looking at the two students in the back seat, his mind blank; what were they talking about?

And when did his young master get to know a student from No. 1 High School?

And a girl at that?

Plus, when had he ever driven someone home?

Zhao Jiu rubbed his forehead and picked up his phone to call his father's secretary: "Secretary Fang, look up the home address of Su Li from Class Thirteen, Grade 1 of City No. 1 High School."

Su Li: "Grade 2."

Zhao Jiu took a deep breath: "Su Li from Class Thirteen, Grade 2."

The driver was driving, feeling a bit horrified; did she not even know where her own home was?

Secretary Fang on the other end was puzzled for a moment, but he looked it up for him anyway; for such a trivial matter, the address was sent to Zhao Jiu's phone in ten minutes, accurate down to the apartment number.

Su Li leaned over to take a look, and her memory instantly awakened: "That's it!"

Zhao Jiu gave the address to the driver, and the driver drove Su Li home.

Su Li's home was near a middle school with a high enrollment rate, and the area was surrounded by all sorts of snack shops; with the school dismissal time coinciding with the end of the workday, the road was incredibly congested.

After Su Cheng and the others finished customizing the clothes they would wear for the formation march at the sports meet, they had long since returned to school; they were day students, so after school, they went home together, stopping by the roadside to buy some snacks to eat.

"I went to check Class Thirteen, Su Li hasn't gone back yet, could something have happened to her?" Xu Lian was a bit panicked; dislike was one thing, but if something really happened, she was still afraid.

"What could happen taking the bus? At most she took a detour, she can just take the same route back herself," Hu Xiao said from the side.

"That car starts at six million!" Yu Yangfei said excitedly from the side; the few of them turned their heads to see a pure black car on the road outside, crawling slowly due to the traffic jam.

"Isn't that the kind of car Jiang Ge's dad drives?"

"It shouldn't be Uncle Jiang, Uncle Jiang doesn't have time to come here," Su Cheng said; although Jiang Xiangnan looked like he was at odds with President Jiang on the surface, in his heart, he still regarded President Jiang as his father.

However, there were quite a few wealthy people in their area, but it was still rare to see this kind of car; it was common near that private school twenty or thirty kilometers away from them.

It was said that the school was built ten years ago; originally it was just an ordinary private school, with expensive but normal tuition, but starting a few years ago, someone suddenly poured a lot of money into it, forcibly pushing the school to a point where ordinary families couldn't get in, and then starting last year, the threshold was raised significantly, to the point where even having money didn't guarantee entry.

The son brought by Jiang Xiangnan's stepmother also had to go through a lot of trouble to get in.

It seemed he was desperate to get in for someone's sake.

Su Cheng looked at the car, not knowing what kind of person was sitting inside.

At this hour, the road was too congested, and the car was crawling forward at a snail's pace.

Su Li looked at the cars outside and remembered that this road was super congested.

"Please let me off after you see the bus stop sign ahead."

The driver slowly looked for the bus stop sign.

Su Li looked at the youthful version of her boss sitting to the side wearing a private school uniform, legs crossed, tie not tied properly, his whole person radiating a devil-may-care attitude, and she reached out to tug on his sleeve again.

"Hm? What is it?" Zhao Jiu looked down at the claws on his sleeve; she usually only reached out like this when she needed something from someone.

"The salary for the month I resigned wasn't given to me, and neither was last month's."

Zhao Jiu raised an eyebrow: "Did I approve it?"

Su Li: "According to the Labor Law, I only need to provide written notice thirty days in advance."

Zhao Jiu: "..."

"Has it been thirty days yet?" Zhao Jiu said again.

Su Li: "..."

Not only had it not been thirty days, it had become over four thousand, nearly five thousand days.

"Then give me last month's salary first," Su Li said.

Zhao Jiu: "What for? No, wait, why does a high school student like you need so much money?"

Su Li: "I have no money now! The twenty yuan I had left was spent on water and bread."

Now she only had 17 yuan left.

Zhao Jiu was rarely stunned; was his secretary this poor?

Zhao Jiu took out his phone: "You're actually this poor?"

Zhao Jiu prepared to transfer money to her via WeChat, but after looking for the software, he discovered that WeChat didn't exist yet.

"Give me your bank account number," Zhao Jiu said.

Su Li: "No account opened, no account number, I want cash."

Zhao Jiu: "..."

Just how poor was she?

Zhao Jiu fished out his wallet, opened it, took out the stack of money inside, and handed it over: "This is all I have on me, take it first, it should be enough for a high school student."

Su Li took a rough look, it was about two thousand; she put the money away. The boss was actually quite good; if he weren't such a workaholic and so life-draining, she wouldn't have been reluctant to resign.

"Thank you, Boss." Su Li put the money away, the driver arrived at the bus stop sign, she opened the door to get out, and with one hand on the car door, she said, "Take care, Boss."

The car door was closed by her again.

Zhao Jiu rubbed his temples; the secretary he had tricked into working for him, the secretary who had followed him for ten years, he had to be more tolerant.

"Young Master?" the driver uncle called out tremblingly.

Zhao Jiu leaned back and said: "Just starting a business in secret, it was hard to pick someone, and now they don't want to work anymore."

The driver breathed a sigh of relief, but recalling the way the Zhao Family educated the next generation, he also felt it was quite normal.