Chapter 141

At 7:30 p. m., Xie Shiyu closed the video call and shut down his computer.

Today's work was finished.

Tushan Jiu didn't leave; she stayed on the sofa wearing earphones, playing a game while waiting for him.

Xie Shiyu glanced out and saw that the CEO's office still had its lights on.

Don't blame Zhou Hao for being so busy he had to go to the restroom to call his 'girlfriend,' because he really has been swamped lately.

Recently, the company has had too many projects; not only is he busy, but the people in the CEO's office are naturally very busy as well.

He took out his phone and sent a message to Assistant Li.

【Tomorrow notify Finance: overtime pay will change from triple to quintuple the salary; after year-end, the year-end bonus will be doubled; and next year, annual leave will increase by five days.】

Just as the message was sent, Assistant Li replied instantly: 【Okay, Manager Xie.】

After thinking, Xie Shiyu sent a follow‑up message: 【This matter was suggested by my fiancée; as a shareholder, the company has adopted her proposal.】

【I understand, Manager Xie; I will notify everyone tomorrow.】

Xie Shiyu glanced at Tushan Jiu, curled the corner of his mouth, put away his phone, and got up to go to the lounge.

He was about to go ghost‑hunting with Tushan Jiu, and he planned to change out of this suit that felt restrictive.

In the lounge closet, there were several outfits that Tushan Jiu had picked out for him.

Since Tushan Jiu was wearing a black‑and‑white horse‑face skirt today, he chose a white shirt embroidered with green bamboo in a new Chinese style, black casual trousers for the lower half, and for an outer layer he selected a black‑patterned windbreaker.

However, he didn't put on the coat; he just draped it over his arm and then left the lounge.

He remembered that he had especially liked this outfit when Tushan Jiu picked it out.

So, as soon as he left the lounge, he went straight to Tushan Jiu.

Tushan Jiu wore her earphones, deeply immersed in her game, and completely failed to notice Xie Shiyu's movements.

Only when he stood right in front of her did she look him over from head to toe.

A cool, noble, graceful young man appeared before her eyes; Tushan Jiu took off her earphones, smiled, and teased: "Sir Xie, you are remarkably handsome; I am taken with you. May I ask, sir, are you already engaged?"

Xie Shiyu gave a low laugh and played along: "Miss, you overpraise me; I am already spoken for. My fiancée is the sole daughter of the Tushan Manor, Tushan Jiu—she is extraordinarily talented, gentle, and wise. We were betrothed in childhood, and as we grew I fell for her at first sight; she is the very apple of my eye."

Hearing this, Tushan Jiu's face flushed and her heart raced; she rose from the sofa, grabbed Xie Shiyu's wrist, and headed for the door: "Enough, enough—let's go, we've got ghosts to catch!"

Seeing her shyness, her ears turning red, Xie Shiyu felt that the day's fatigue vanished in an instant.

He let out a light laugh, then turned and took hold of Tushan Jiu's hand, interlocking their fingers.

Leaving the office, Tushan Jiu glanced at Zhou Hao, who was still organizing the documents to be distributed to the various departments.

These are the documents Xie Shiyu just finished signing; they need to be sent out to each department first thing tomorrow morning, so they must be sorted and organized quickly—that's their job.

Xie Shiyu also glanced over and said, "You've all worked hard; finish what you're doing and then you can leave for the day."

Everyone replied in unison to Xie Shiyu: "Okay, Manager Xie."

As Zhou Hao raised his head to respond, his gaze happened to meet Xie Shiyu's.

He first froze for a moment, then felt a bit dazed.

He wondered whether it was his imagination, but the way Manager Xie had looked at him just now seemed to carry a hint of sympathy.

Could it be because everyone else has a partner while he doesn't?

After thinking it over, he guessed that was probably the reason.

After all, his fiancée had come today, so showing her off was perfectly normal.

Zhou Hao chuckled and thought, "Manager Xie, Manager Xie, I'm not forever single anymore—I've got a significant other too!"

He and his girlfriend had only just started dating; besides, she's busy during the day, so they can only meet in the evenings, which is why she always invites him to her place.

She lives alone, and coincidentally they happen to reside in the same building.

His girlfriend's apartment is right upstairs from his!

What puzzled him was that he knew the upstairs unit had been sold, and the renovation noise hadn't been minor, but all of that had taken place nearly a year ago.

Over the past year, how had he never once run into her?

But later she explained to him that it was because her work transfer hadn't come through yet; she had first learned of the news, and then her parents, who had bought the apartment in advance, were renovating it to air it out.

She had only recently been transferred back to Nan Cheng.

With that explanation, things made much more sense, and he no longer had any doubts.

Still, the decor of his girlfriend's home always gave him a slightly creepy feeling.

He had never seen anyone whose floors were pure black, whose ceilings were also black, and whose lights were that dim.

However, that wasn't a problem; the main thing was that their personalities clicked, she could observe and note down many of his habits in minute detail, and she spoke with particular erudition and reasonableness, a trait he greatly liked.

Thinking of this, his thoughts returned, and he hurriedly pulled out his phone to send a message to the contact labeled Mingxi.

【Mingxi, I still have some work to finish, about forty minutes, plus the time to get home, altogether about an hour; have you finished your side?】

【Mm, I'm done, but I still need a little while before I can get home; don't rush, drive slowly on your way back from work.】

【Okay, I love you (づ￣3￣)づ╭～】

【Me too!】

Zhou Hao gave another kiss, then hurriedly finished his work so he could go home to kiss, hug, and lift his girlfriend high!

At the same time.

Located in a mid-range residential complex about a twenty-minute drive from the Xie Clan Group.

The bedroom of a unit in Dongshan is located on the fourteenth floor of Building Six.

The originally pitch-black room strangely lit up with two small red lamps.

With a creak, the door opened.

A girl walked out of the bedroom.

She stretched and yawned.

Her skin looked somewhat pale in the moonlight.

She tossed the phone in her hand onto the sofa, then casually gathered the hair hanging at the back with her hand and tied it up with a hair tie.

She went to the room opposite and lit some incense for herself.

She began eating her breakfast.

Her movements were very ladylike; ordinary people really couldn't tell that her mouth actually had nothing—she was just chewing air.

After finishing her meal, she went to the living room and turned on some light music.

In the living room she didn't turn on the lights; it was dark and murky, yet she could see everything clearly.

She glanced at the time, then lowered her head to look at the sexy nightgown she was wearing.

Thinking of something, she lowered her eyes slightly, showing a shy expression.

She never expected that the guy downstairs, who snored loudly every night, would actually be quite handsome.

At first she just wanted to pop up from the floor to see how that guy downstairs could snore so loudly.

So every day after he fell asleep, she would poke her head through the ceiling to observe him.

But she never expected that, just by observing him like that, she would actually fall for him.