After a moment, Cheng Mingjiao said coolly, "I'm not going to give you a raise because of this."
Zhang Xiyue looked disappointed. "Fine."
They both turned their faces away in tacit agreement—one staring down at the gray concrete beneath her feet, the other watching a tiny flying insect circling the streetlamp.
One of the white insects was bigger than the others, blundering about clumsily, looking like it didn't have much going on upstairs.
Zhang Xiyue: "Pfft."
Cheng Mingjiao, in his white shirt, turned sharply. "What are you laughing at?"
Big. Clumsy. Not too bright.
But alert.
"Mr. Cheng, do you need me to arrange for a few 24-hour personal bodyguards recently?"
Zhang Xiyue didn't explain. Instead, she quickly came up with a new topic to cover up her laugh. Sure enough, Cheng Mingjiao followed her lead. "No need."
"But—"
Zhang Xiyue glanced at Yang Fei's family from a distance. Sensing her gaze, they immediately glared back viciously.
Cheng Mingjiao opened WeChat and held down the voice message button. "Have the three of them record a video apology saying they'll never dare glare at Cheng Mingjiao again. Otherwise, I won't accept mediation."
He released. Sent.
Ding-dong.
The lawyer's phone rang. He stopped his bickering with the opposing counsel and pulled out his phone.
The voice message was on speaker, loud enough for everyone to hear.
The lawyer was clearly already accustomed to his boss's whims. After listening, he gave Cheng Mingjiao a gentle smile, then turned back around and put on his fighting face again.
Yang Fei's family: "…"
Yang Fei's family's lawyer: "…"
Zhang Xiyue: "…"
The situation escalated again because of Cheng Mingjiao's voice message, but the advantage was on their side. Before long, the other party agreed. The family of three huddled in a corner, recording the apology video with bitter resentment.
"Paper tigers, that's all." Cheng Mingjiao said contemptuously.
Zhang Xiyue recalled how Yang Fei, after being thrown over Cheng Mingjiao's shoulder, had refused to get up from the ground—until the police arrived, at which point he scrambled to his feet in a flash. She found herself agreeing with Cheng Mingjiao's assessment.
But asking whether he needed bodyguards was just a distraction, not something she was actually considering.
Zhang Xiyue breathed a sigh of relief.
Cheng Mingjiao: "What were you laughing at just now?"
Zhang Xiyue: "…"
Cheng Mingjiao: "Laughing at me?"
Zhang Xiyue: "…No."
Cheng Mingjiao said nothing, studying her.
Zhang Xiyue kept her expression unchanged. "But it's true that I laughed because I thought of you."
Cheng Mingjiao's brow furrowed slightly.
Looking at his frank, stubborn features, Zhang Xiyue was reminded of her friend's kid.
The child was five years old. Every time he saw her, he would repeatedly ask very simple questions—like why hot water is hot, or why bananas need to be peeled.
After answering a few times, she realized the kid didn't care about the correct answers at all. What he cared about was the praise adults gave him for "thinking deeply" every time he asked a question.
Mm. Praise.
Zhang Xiyue cleared her throat, doing her best to look sincere. "Because I thought about the reason you offended Yang Fei, and realized I've followed a very kind, very righteous boss. My future is practically bright. That's why I laughed."
After hearing her explanation, Cheng Mingjiao—who had been sitting ramrod straight the entire time—condescended to lean back against the bench. "You're overthinking it. I told his wife about his affair, not out of a sense of justice."
Zhang Xiyue humbly asked, "Then it was because…"
At the mention of it, Cheng Mingjiao's face twisted with disgust. "Fooling around is one thing, but doing it right outside the restroom—it made me walk two extra floors just to find another bathroom."
Zhang Xiyue: "…"
How dare they delay the emperor's call of nature. A crime punishable by death.
Cheng Mingjiao lazily swept his gaze over her, his face strikingly handsome under the light. "But you got one thing right—being my employee, your future is indeed bright."
Zhang Xiyue smiled along cooperatively.
By the time they walked out of the police station, it was already eight in the evening.
Zhou Ce, who had rushed over after receiving the news, took the keys from Zhang Xiyue's hand with a look of utter misery, ready to drive the emperor home.
"Take a cab back. It's reimbursable." After saying this to Zhang Xiyue, he hurried off after Cheng Mingjiao.
Zhang Xiyue pinched the bridge of her nose and waited until they left before hailing a ride home.
And just like that, her first day on the job was over. When Zhang Xiyue lay down on her bed after showering, she felt like she'd already been working for Cheng Mingjiao for eight hundred years.
She lay sprawled out like a star for a while, then opened the group chat titled "What Does the Emperor Want."
It had only been a few hours, but the group already had 99+ messages.
Zhang Xiyue scrolled up and accidentally tapped to "pat" Fangfang.
Fangfang replied instantly: Home yet?
Zhang Xiyue: Yeah.
Fangfang: How does it feel to end up at the police station on your first outing with the emperor?
So everyone already knew.
Zhang Xiyue let out a sigh and replied with a string of ellipses. Fangfang immediately sent a "so tragic" sticker.
The others started following suit.
Zhou Ce, being the last one out, single-handedly broke the sticker army with a line of text: Can any of you top my misery? I'm still at the hospital right now.
Zhang Xiyue paused, about to type, when Li Dong replied first: What are you doing at the hospital?
Zhou Ce: Accompanying the emperor to treat his injuries.
Fangfang: The emperor is injured?
Zhou Ce: Yeah, two superficial scratches. They would have healed if he'd come a bit later, but he insisted on deep disinfection and a full-body examination. If the empress dowager hadn't called to stop him, he'd have gotten a rabies shot too.
Fangfang: Tsk.
Li Dong: Tsk.
…
Zhang Xiyue: Tsk.
They chatted until ten, then she turned over and fell asleep.
A dreamless night, and a new day began.
Although Cheng Mingjiao hadn't brought up firing her again last night, Zhang Xiyue still had a moment of worry when she arrived at the turnstile entrance of Yuhuang Tower that her work badge might have been demagnetized.
Fortunately, the next second, she swiped her card and entered successfully.
If Monday was just a rehearsal, then Tuesday marked the start of formal office life.
The assistant work in the novel world was no different from that in the real world—if anything, the division of labor was clearer and the colleagues friendlier. Everything was going smoothly, all things considered.
Unfortunately, while work was going well, the mission wasn't.
Contrary to her initial expectations, even as Cheng Mingjiao's assistant, she didn't have many opportunities to interact with him.
Aside from arriving quite early on Monday, Cheng Mingjiao only came in the afternoons for the rest of the week. When he did come, he either stayed in his office the whole time or made a quick round before taking Zhou Ce to the R&D base.
Before she knew it, Zhang Xiyue had been at the company for five days.
In those five days, she had only seen Cheng Mingjiao three times. On one occasion, she saw him sitting upright at his desk and assumed he was handling some major matter.
But when she got closer, she realized he was folding paper airplanes out of contract pages.
…Extremely unprofessional.
Ever since Zhang Xiyue had entered the novel world, a yandere productivity progress bar had appeared in her mind. It was normally invisible, but would briefly appear whenever she focused her attention.
The day she first arrived, the progress bar showed 0.
It was still 0 now.
She reasonably suspected that Cheng Mingjiao's constant paper airplane folding was exactly why he'd gone from a social elite to an unemployed yandere in just three short months.
This made her anxious and frustrated, but she was completely helpless.
After all, she and Cheng Mingjiao weren't close yet. If she rashly urged him to be more productive, he'd probably fire her for being crazy.
Before she knew it, it was Friday evening. After clocking out for the last time, Zhang Xiyue turned around and saw Fangfang and the other two staring at her expectantly.
She couldn't help but laugh, raising her hand like a little tour guide. "Let's go!"
The group cheered and crowded around her as they headed out.
This was a dinner they'd planned three days ago. Zhou Ce was still attending to the emperor with no set return date, so the rest of them went to the barbecue restaurant first.
"Come on, cheers to our Xiyue for smoothly surviving the week she was most likely to get fired! May everything go smoothly from here on out!" Fangfang raised her beer, her voice loud and cheerful.
Sun Nian and Li Dong joined in: "Smooth sailing!"
Zhang Xiyue clinked glasses with them, laughing, and chatted about gossip amid the barbecue smoke.
Zhou Ce joined midway. The moment he walked in, he grimaced and downed three large glasses of beer before the conversation started revolving around Cheng Mingjiao.
Having known him for this long, Zhang Xiyue hadn't seen his crazy side again and had gradually let her guard down around him. Still, she kept the electronic riot-control device on her person every time they met.
Today was no exception.
The group grew livelier as they talked, and Zhang Xiyue hugged her cup, quietly leaning in the corner as she listened to them vent about Cheng Mingjiao.
When the conversation got interesting, she couldn't help asking, "Since the pressure is so high, why don't you quit?"
She was only getting close to Cheng Mingjiao because she had to return to her own world—but what about them?
The moment she said it, the private room fell silent.
Zhang Xiyue was already slightly tipsy, her reactions slower than usual, but she still sensed something was off. "…Did I say something wrong?"
"No," Zhou Ce coughed and answered on behalf of the group. "The reasons we don't quit are, one, we enjoy working with you all too much and worry the next company won't have colleagues this good, and two…"
He trailed off mid-sentence, looking helplessly at the others. They all looked embarrassed but gestured for him to continue.
Zhou Ce really couldn't bring himself to say it, so he just mumbled vaguely, "You'll find out on June first."
June first?
Children's Day?
What did that have to do with Children's Day?
Zhang Xiyue didn't understand, but recalling Cheng Mingjiao's yandere persona, she guessed they might be under some kind of coercion and had no choice but to stay and work for him.
Yeah, that must be it.
The dinner didn't end until ten o'clock, and the group staggered out with unsteady steps.
As the guest of honor tonight, Zhang Xiyue took the initiative to pay the bill, only to be told it had already been settled.
She turned around in confusion and met Fangfang's sly gaze.
"Zhou Ce paid," Fangfang explained proactively, as if knowing what she wanted to ask. "Don't be polite with him—he can get reimbursed."
…That can be reimbursed too?
Zhang Xiyue was speechless for a moment, then went to find Zhou Ce to thank him. But just as she stepped out of the barbecue restaurant, she saw him plop down on the ground.
Li Dong and Sun Nian beside him were doubled over with laughter, and Fangfang, who had rushed over, joined in laughing too.
Zhou Ce sat there amid the laughter for a moment, then said calmly, "Call 120."
Zhang Xiyue: "…"
An hour later, the examination results came back.
"A fractured coccyx. You'll need to rest for two to three months."
Upon hearing the diagnosis, Zhou Ce suddenly buried his face in his pillow, his shoulders trembling as if he were crying.
No one had expected such an accident to happen. Zhang Xiyue and the others gathered around the hospital bed, momentarily at a loss for how to comfort him.
In the end, it was Fangfang, the secretary, who spoke first: "Assistant Zhou…"
"I can finally rest!" Zhou Ce suddenly lifted his head, weeping tears of joy. "I can finally escape that tyrant for a while!"
Fangfang: "…"
Li Dong: "…"
Sun Nian: "…"
Xiyue: "=_="
After his wild elation, Zhou Ce quickly began drafting his leave request text message.
Watching his fingers fly across the screen, everyone suddenly realized a grave problem—
If Zhou Ce took sick leave, who would replace him as the emperor's new slave?