By the time everything was over, it was already past midnight.
Qi Ye’s habits were appallingly bad—he didn’t even bother cleaning up afterward, simply holding the person close and falling asleep.
The two of them completely forgot that Shi Sheng was still right there beside them.
“…”
Great. Another mess for her to clean up.
As the canary who had stayed by Qi Ye’s side the longest, Shi Sheng knew this was the moment to shine!
This determined whether she could secure enough—or even above-budget—year-end bonus when her work concluded this year.
Shi Sheng pulled out her phone and deftly dialed the housekeeper’s number.
At the same time, she twisted the doorknob and stepped out of the room:
“Hello, yes, it’s me. Could you come over and help clean up right now? Mm, that’s right—I’ll pay you double.”
After making that call, Shi Sheng returned to her own room feeling refreshed.
Perfect. Now she just needed to wait for the housekeeper to arrive, tidy up the room, wipe down the couple who had just finished their workout, and then claim the credit tomorrow.
Delightful.
Shi Sheng kicked off her slippers and headed straight into the bathroom for a shower.
The next morning, Shi Sheng woke up bright and early.
She prepared breakfast for two in advance, then left a note on the table.
In it, she craftily wrote that she had already cleaned everything up for them last night, so all they needed to do after waking up was wash up and eat.
After doing all this, Shi Sheng clapped her hands in satisfaction, slung her bag over her shoulder, and headed out the door to the company.
Not bad. She truly was the most thoughtful and dedicated canary.
The company Shi Sheng worked for wasn’t part of the Qi family’s business empire.
Because she figured working under Qi Ye was already miserable enough—if her day job were also under the Qi family, wouldn’t that just be misery without end?
So when she submitted her resume, she deliberately chose a company with absolutely no ties to the Qi family’s sprawling commercial empire.
That company was called Shengjing, and at the time it was just getting off the ground, desperately in need of people.
Over the past five years, the company had steadily found its footing, revenue growing day by day, prospects looking brighter and brighter.
Shi Sheng was quite satisfied with her current situation.
Before heading to the office, Shi Sheng bought herself a milk tea from the shop downstairs, then went up to her workstation.
The work atmosphere at Shengjing was excellent, especially in their newly established studio. The employees were all old acquaintances, with no complicated office politics to speak of—the overall environment was relaxed and easygoing.
Shi Sheng yawned, connected her drawing tablet, and idly worked on her illustrations.
She had already finished the male lead’s character design yesterday; now she just needed to add a few small details.
A large LCD TV hung at the front of the office, currently broadcasting the capital city’s news.
To be fair, the capital news knew exactly how to grab people’s attention—the very first segment was gossip about the young master of the Qi family and a rising starlet from the entertainment industry.
Shi Sheng glanced up and happened to catch sight of the starlet, who was said to have made her name on looks alone. Her gaze lingered for a moment on that familiar head of golden hair, then she disinterestedly looked back down.
The illustration was more important.
She wasn’t interested, but plenty of people in the office were eagerly discussing it.
Take the girl sitting next to Shi Sheng, for instance.
She excitedly grabbed Shi Sheng’s arm and pointed at the TV not far away:
“Sheng Sheng, look! How many is this one this month?”
The colleague’s name was Tong Lian, and she loved following celebrity gossip in her daily life. She was especially interested in the scandalous news surrounding the young master of the Qi family, and every time she would drag her coworkers into heated discussions about it.
And Shi Sheng was the frequent unfortunate victim of this.
Shi Sheng yawned and counted with her eyes closed: “…I think that’s the thirteenth one.”
Tong Lian immediately clicked her tongue in amazement:
“Tell me, how many days are there in a month? He actually managed to date thirteen female celebrities one after another.”
“Truly worthy of being the playboy of a wealthy family. I salute him, I salute him.”
Shi Sheng said casually, “Who knows, maybe he’s got iron kidneys.”
Hearing this, Tong Lian was momentarily stunned, and after the words sank in, she burst into laughter, clutching her stomach.
She smiled brightly and reached out to pinch Shi Sheng’s soft cheeks:
“I never would’ve guessed it, Sheng Sheng. You’re usually so well-behaved, but here you are cracking dirty jokes.”
Shi Sheng found it amusing: “What, is this your first day knowing me?”
And besides, she wasn’t wrong. Qi Ye was practically fooling around with women every single night, and each session lasted for hours.
Although Shi Sheng always teased him for being a little brat, she had to admit that the little brat possessed two incredibly formidable iron kidneys that could hold up.
She brushed away Tong Lian’s hand: “Stop pinching. My face got this big because of you.”
Tong Lian smiled sweetly: “How could that be? Our Sheng Sheng is the cutest.”
She took out a piece of chocolate and handed it to Shi Sheng: “Here, have it.”
Shi Sheng didn’t refuse.
Just then, the television flashed past Qi Ye’s scandalous news, and right after came the eldest young master of the Qi family, Duan Yujing.
It was about the Qi family’s new product launch event.
Tong Lian immediately got excited and grabbed Shi Sheng, saying, “Look, look. They’re from the same family, but how is Duan the First Young Master so much more proper?”
Tong Lian cupped her face in her hands, swooning: “And he’s so handsome too. How is it that both young masters of the Qi family are this good-looking? How are ordinary people like us supposed to survive…”
After saying this, as if something crossed her mind, she shook Shi Sheng: “I wonder what kind of woman Duan Yujing will end up liking in the future.”
Hearing this, Shi Sheng thought about it seriously for a moment: “She should be very outstanding, I’d think.”
After all, that was Duan Yujing. Thanks to Qi Ye, Shi Sheng could barely claim some familiarity with him, and over the years, Shi Sheng found that she couldn’t find a single flaw in Duan Yujing.
It was truly unbelievable.
Tong Lian let out a wail and turned her head to ask seriously, “Do you think I have a chance?”
Shi Sheng smiled: “Want to give it a try?”
Tong Lian burst out laughing: “Just try it like that? I don’t have that kind of ability.”
She picked up her drawing tablet and said casually, “I wonder what kind of celestial beauty could catch Duan Yujing’s eye. Can’t wait to see.”
Shi Sheng smiled helplessly but ultimately said nothing.
But honestly, she was indeed a little curious about what someone like Duan Yujing would be like when it came to romance.
He was just… too perfect to be real.
Just as Shi Sheng was lost in thought, her phone suddenly vibrated.
She picked it up and glanced at it, and couldn’t help but freeze—it was Duan Yujing.
Shi Sheng’s first reaction was to sneak a peek at Tong Lian beside her, and only after confirming that she wasn’t paying attention did she start replying to the message.
ss: [Big Brother, is something the matter?]
Almost the instant the message was sent, the “typing…” indicator appeared in the chat box.
Very quickly.
Duan Yujing: [I saw today’s news.]
Shi Sheng took two seconds to process what he meant—he was referring to the news about Qi Ye being seen entering and leaving a private club with the blonde actress.
She was somewhat surprised. How could Duan Yujing have seen that?
Qi Ye played the role of the well-behaved son at home perfectly. Whether around their parents or Duan Yujing, he had people planted to completely block out any negative news about him.
In the past, whenever something like this broke out, the Qi family had been completely in the dark.
So why did Duan Yujing suddenly see it this time?
Shi Sheng immediately panicked.
Damn it. What if this affected her ability to leave her job under Qi Ye safely?
Just as she was agonizing over how to reply, another message popped up on the other end.
Duan Yujing: [This was wrong of Qi Ye.]
Duan Yujing: [Have you considered breaking up?]