“Ahan.”
Xia Zhiwan’s voice rang out again from upstairs, and Li Xiaohan immediately turned to look.
“Hm? I’m here.”
Standing by the railing and looking down, the woman smiled sweetly. “Ahan, good night.”
“Good night.”
Just those two short words, yet Li Xiaohan’s heart took a long time to calm down.
Suppressing his wildly pounding heart, he took out his phone and called Ye Qi.
Late at night, Ye Qi was tossing and turning in bed, drenched in sweat, when the soul-snatching phone rang nonstop.
He soothed the person beside him, reached under the covers, and pulled out the phone that had been buried beneath his clothes.
When he saw who was calling, the hot sweat on his body instantly turned into cold sweat.
He answered the call. “Li… Li President.”
“Notify everyone. Emergency meeting. I want to see all your faces within one minute.”
Ye Qi sprang up from the bed. “Yes.”
“Qi-qi, it’s so late—who’s looking for you?”
The woman behind him was still in the same position as before. When she turned around, she saw Ye Qi already putting on his clothes.
It had ended just as it began, and her voice carried dissatisfaction.
“Little ancestor, this is life-or-death stuff. Don’t mess around.”
Ye Qi hurriedly dressed while fiddling with his phone, calling people one by one.
“Old Wang, one minute—video conference.”
“President Sun, one minute—video conference.”
“Xiao Li… yes, yes, emergency meeting again.”
Meanwhile, the instigator of all this chaos calmly finished the last sip of millet-and-oat porridge.
He walked lightly upstairs.
In the study, he slowly sat down and opened that terrifying video conference.
On the screen were people half-dressed, some wearing the wrong spouse’s clothes, some bare-chested.
There were even those whose backgrounds were flashing with colorful lights—obviously just finished partying at a club and hadn’t even made it home yet.
Among all of them, aside from President Li himself, only Ye Qi was sitting upright and properly dressed.
“President Li, what urgent matter is this?” Ye Qi asked.
Li Xiaohan glanced around to make sure everyone who should be there was present, then spoke leisurely.
“Tonight’s matter is very important. I hope everyone here can focus.”
He raised an eyebrow toward the screen and continued, “Especially the one with someone eating a late-night snack beside you. The lip-smacking noise affects others’ thinking.”
A middle-aged man shot a vicious glare to the side, and the screen instantly went quiet.
“President Li, please go ahead.”
Seeing Li Xiaohan’s serious expression, everyone looked ready for action.
“I see everyone’s awake enough. Good. Tonight’s meeting ends here. Meeting adjourned.”
The screen went black as the instigator ended the call.
“?”
“?”
“?”
Everyone was completely dumbfounded. The executives’ (hapless victims’) group chat instantly exploded.
Of course, bosses never exist in employees’ group chats.
So Ye Qi, as the boss’s special assistant, naturally became the target of collective outrage.
“Is President Li playing games with us?”
“We have dignity too! Dragging us out of bed in the middle of the night just to mess with us—what is this?”
President Gao, who was half dressed, was furious when he saw the messages and quickly scribbled a few words on his tablet and sent them.
President Gao: “Exactly! Assistant Ye, I can’t stay at this company anymore.”
“@President Gao, President Gao, please submit your resignation first. We all support you.”
“Yes, yes, President Gao, you take the first step.”
The middle-aged man who had said that grew flustered when he saw everyone urging him to resign.
Joking aside—Li Group’s pay and benefits were top-tier.
He was just venting; he had no intention of actually resigning.
His hands trembled as he tried to withdraw the message, but his finger slipped and he hit delete instead.
Now it was really over.
He turned his head and glanced at Wangcai, who was happily eating, looking like someone being roasted over a fire.
Wangcai smacked his lips noisily, enjoying his food, completely unconcerned about his owner’s troubles.
After all, the dog had gotten to enjoy a midnight snack too.
Those who had been woken up naturally couldn’t fall back asleep, and the group chat buzzed nonstop.
Ye Qi didn’t dare say a word. If he spoke now, those old foxes would skin him alive.
They wouldn’t dare touch President Li—but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t bully a mere assistant.
At Wanhanyuan.
After ending the meeting, Li Xiaohan went to the guest bedroom.
Under the showerhead, the man stood stiffly as cold water poured down.
Trying to numb the image of the woman in his mind with work had failed; he could only use cold water to lower his temperature.
But as everyone knows— plants only grow more vigorously when watered.
The next morning.
Xia Zhiwan woke naturally. With her eyes closed, she stretched lazily, waiting for her mind to wake up.
She had slept exceptionally well. The weakness she’d clearly felt before was gone.
She wondered if it was because of the millet-and-oat porridge from last night.
But she remembered she’d only had a little; the rest had been “taken” by the man.
Thinking of the two of them kissing in the living room last night, Xia Zhiwan shyly pulled the blanket over her head.
She tentatively patted the bed beside her—but didn’t touch anyone.
Her eyes flew open. Only then did she remember that she had fallen asleep on her own last night.
And Li Xiaohan hadn’t come back to this room to sleep at all.
Alarmed, she quickly got out of bed and sneaked out of the room.
Downstairs, the kitchen lights were already on, and someone was preparing breakfast.
She quietly opened the door to the room next door and tiptoed inside.
She’d noticed it yesterday—this was Li Xiaohan’s room.
Because the curtains were drawn, the room was still pitch-dark. Xia Zhiwan stood still, letting her eyes adjust.
She planned to wait until she could see clearly, then sneak onto the man’s bed.
But Li Xiaohan, who slept poorly, had already sensed someone entering.
He couldn’t tell who it was, but a dangerous glint flashed in his eyes.
Back then, for the convenience of secretly checking on Xia Zhiwan in the middle of the night, he never locked this door.
And the servants would never enter his room so disrespectfully.
He stared intently at the figure that had slipped in, but once inside, it seemed to merge completely with the darkness.
He frowned, maintaining his lying position, while his hand slowly moved, intending to turn on the bedside lamp.
Suddenly, as he reached out, his hand touched something soft.
At that very moment, Xia Zhiwan was carefully climbing onto the man’s bed.