No one responded to the person who had just spoken, and most of the people in the assistant department fell into silence.

There was only one young master from the Qin family in Shixing.

That was the heir of the Qin Group—Qin Shi.

Because of that, no one else in Shixing dared to call themselves “young master,” no matter how many resources were tilted in their favor. After all, there was a real young master still around.

However, this one didn’t have much of an arrogant personality. He usually stayed quiet, only showing a bit of presence this past week.

—After all, he had been sent by Chairman Qin to the countryside to assist with farming. Even though it benefited his career, no one thought it was an act of care from Chairman Qin. They all felt something was off.

But before they could figure out what exactly was going on, the young master who had been sent to the countryside came back.

And the moment he returned, a big piece of news broke—he had actually argued with President Ye.

And who was President Ye? He was none other than the new “queen” whom Chairman Qin had just married.

Chairman Qin had booked out three full days of entertainment headlines for their wedding photos. It wasn’t until the pictures hung on the pages for three straight days that the country finally accepted Chairman Qin’s marriage.

So how exactly did the two of them end up arguing?

Could it be that the newly appointed “male queen” was trying to seize power, and the young master, sensing the threat, used An Yang as a pretext to confront him?

After thinking for a while, the assistant department shifted their focus back to An Yang.

An Yang didn’t have many friends in the assistant department, and the news only reached them this morning.

The moment it spread, most assistants were struck with envy.

They had worked diligently for years, with solid performance, competence, and high emotional intelligence. How could they lose to someone so clumsy and silly, who had been bullied constantly?

Driven by jealousy, two assistants—provoked by others—stepped forward and began to mock An Yang with veiled sarcasm.

Yet all their sarcasm landed like punches into soft cotton—An Yang hadn’t even realized they were talking about him.

Before, they thought An Yang had low emotional intelligence and couldn’t understand what people were saying. He just laughed foolishly and seemed happy. It had its advantages—after all, they could insult him to his face and he wouldn’t even know. But now, all those jabs had turned into boomerangs and hit them instead.

They mocked An Yang for being dumb, but this “dummy” had suddenly soared to the top and caught President Ye’s attention. And what were they?

Not even as good as a fool?

Even if it was just because of the young master, so what? At least that counted as a reason. They didn’t even have what it took to be used as a reason.

The air in the assistant department became as thick as a brick. Just then, hurried footsteps sounded again outside the door.

“Where’s An Yang?!”

Before the person even stepped into the assistant department, their angry voice rang out.

The anger in the voice gave everyone still caught up in the previous mood a shiver.

Brother Zhang had still been zoning out, but upon hearing the voice, he snapped back to attention.

He had just texted Xu Feng, but didn’t expect Xu Feng himself to come. Brother Zhang had thought Xu Feng would just send a bodyguard—who would’ve guessed he’d come in person?

That meant things had escalated.

An ordinary assistant being bullied was one thing. A trusted assistant to a celebrity getting bullied? That was entirely different.

As Brother Zhang was thinking this and about to step forward, Xu Feng already stormed in with an aggressive air, frowning at everyone and repeating his question: “Where’s An Yang?! Even my man dares to get bullied?”

When Xu Feng got Zhang’s message, he thought An Yang was just trying to get his attention. After all, he had used similar tricks before. But he hadn’t expected that, upon arriving at the assistant department, people would actually say a newcomer had really been bullied. That made him quicken his pace.

Getting attention was one thing. Actually being bullied? That was something else.

And now, judging by the guilty looks on everyone’s faces, Assistant Zhang’s words were absolutely true.

Xu Feng’s expression darkened instantly. The assistants all felt guilty, but before Xu Feng could start yelling, Brother Zhang pulled him aside.

“…So you’re saying An Yang really got bullied, but before you arrived, the vice president had already taken him upstairs? And that President Ye and Qin Shi argued over An Yang?”

Xu Feng looked incredulous. Since when did An Yang have this kind of influence?

“I want to ask that too. So what exactly did An Yang negotiate yesterday? Did he tell you? Otherwise, how could this whole thing blow up like this?”

Brother Zhang lowered his voice.

Xu Feng, on the other hand, didn’t bother whispering. He touched his chin and said thoughtfully: “He told me he has a Level 2 Arabic interpreting certificate. Yesterday, he helped President Ye close a deal with some Arabs.”

There was a commotion from the assistants nearby.

Brother Zhang didn’t notice it and said in shock: “That certificate’s hard to get! And with everything happening to An Yang yesterday, why didn’t you tell me?”

Xu Feng frowned. “Tell you what? That small-time stuff is beneath me. Even with President Ye’s red envelope, he only made about 50,000.”

Brother Zhang was almost drooling with envy. His base salary was around 8,000, and even with all the bonuses and commissions, he barely reached 50,000 a month. That was already considered high income—many in his line of work didn’t even make 10,000.

Yet An Yang had earned his monthly income in a single day.

Xu Feng looked at Zhang’s pathetic expression with distaste. “Haven’t I sent you enough red envelopes? Why are you acting like such a loser?”

Brother Zhang just chuckled awkwardly. He thought, Those “red envelopes” were really just hush money for putting up with your temper. I earned that with my own ability to endure.

‘I wonder if the assistants can hold it together. A scene this dramatic, it’s like something out of a novel. Did anyone break down and yell?’ Brother Zhang thought.

But when he and Xu Feng stepped back into the assistant department, they didn’t witness any such “face-slapping” drama from a novel.

What they saw was everyone busying themselves.

Some were pouring water. Some were pointing at screens with colleagues. But Zhang, through the reflection in the back glass, saw clearly—it was just a plain desktop.

Xu Feng didn’t notice. He looked around in confusion, wondering what they were so busy doing that he couldn’t even threaten them properly.

But Zhang knew.

He looked at one assistant who had already poured water three times and had now started watering the plants. Zhang silently sighed.

—Turns out when people are awkward, they really do become extra busy.

‘If they’d known this earlier, why act like that in the first place?’ Zhang thought.

Xu Feng wasn’t paying attention to them. He wanted to scold someone, but finding An Yang came first, so he turned and left with Zhang.

The assistants all let out a collective sigh of relief.

Outside the door, Zhang asked: “There shouldn’t be any trouble with President Ye, right?”

Xu Feng replied: “But what if there is? You know his temper. If no one caught them in the act, An Yang would never say a word about being bullied.”

Zhang agreed. Especially with that young master involved—he didn’t seem like the easygoing type.

“I didn’t expect you to care about An Yang so much. Looks like marriage really gave you some sense of responsibility” Zhang teased, not noticing Xu Feng’s uncomfortable expression.

Actually, Xu Feng didn’t think he cared that much about An Yang—he just didn’t want him to get bullied.

But when Zhang said it out loud, Xu Feng suddenly felt like protecting An Yang was betraying Yun Cheng.

Still, the words had been spoken, and he couldn’t take them back. He followed Zhang to the executive floor with a stiff face.

But when they arrived, they found it eerily quiet. The usual hustle and bustle of secretaries was completely gone.

As they passed the secretary’s office, Xu Feng glanced inside out of habit.

—All the secretaries were quietly seated, typing away at their keyboards. From the doorway, it almost looked like a horror movie set.

Zhang, watching them pound keys and slam the Enter button with expressionless faces and wide eyes, instantly understood.

They were all secretly gossiping, and judging from their poker faces, the gossip was juicy. The speed those little message windows were refreshing could rival parent group chats after a teacher dropped an announcement.

But there was no need to explain that to Xu Feng.

Assistant Zhang silently guarded the secrets of working people, while the secretaries noticed Xu Feng poking his head in.

“Mr. Xu, is there something urgent?”

A secretary smiled.

“Uh, I came late this morning and had a bit of a disagreement with the staff. I just wanted to check with President Ye if I need to apologize or something.”

Xu Feng reflexively made up an excuse.

“Then you should go to the PR department, or find Vice President Wang. She’s in her office now. President Ye doesn’t handle business affairs.”

The secretary kept her smile.

Had Zhang not noticed her feet subtly turning back toward her desk, he wouldn’t have realized she was already annoyed.

“Alright, actually I came to catch up with Qin Shi. We’ve got an upcoming concert, and he’s one of the leads. Thought reconnecting might help the performance.”

Xu Feng threw out another excuse—but clearly, it wasn’t very convincing.

Everyone in Shixing knew that after the peak debut of their duo, the two members had gone their separate ways. Xu Feng had even gone out of his way to show loyalty to Yun Cheng, avoiding Qin Shi like the plague.

Even when the duo had a brief comeback to make some money, Xu Feng had made a huge fuss with the company.

And now he was saying he wanted to “catch up” with Qin Shi?

Only a fool would believe that.

The secretary naturally didn’t believe him, so she only asked Xu Feng to wait for the time being. Xu Feng immediately breathed a sigh of relief, he no longer wanted to go rescue An Yang. The secretary’s words came at the perfect time. Afterwards, he wandered around with the tea the secretary had poured for them. However, he didn’t go to anyone else’s workstation—he just walked back and forth by the window, looking at the scenery outside. Yet, when he reached one particular window, he heard a faint sound.

It seemed like an argument.

Xu Feng instinctively walked toward the source, and the voices grew clearer. He stood at the window closest to the sound, his back against the wall.

He pretended to admire the view, but his ears were straining.

“…An Yang is a very capable person. His certificates and abilities prove that, and besides, he’s already married.”

Xu Feng recognized the voice—it was CEO Ye’s. An Yang was beside him, explaining that there was absolutely nothing between him and Ye.

A subtle guilt rose in Xu Feng’s heart. He had just been thinking about not rescuing An Yang, yet An Yang was working hard to prove his innocence while being troubled by Qin.

After they explained for a long while, the neighboring CEO’s office fell silent, making Xu Feng start to doubt whether Qin was actually inside.

Not long after this thought appeared, he heard a low, somewhat melancholy voice say,

“…Brother Wangxing, you don’t care about me anymore.”

“Pfft—!”

Xu Feng immediately sprayed out his coffee.

The secretary hurriedly brought tissues, and Xu Feng dazedly wiped the coffee off his clothes and the corner of his mouth, then slowly turned to look at the CEO’s office on the other side of the window.

The words, sounding like those of a complaining woman, had truly come from the Qin who never spoke more than three sentences to him and was as cold as a machine???

An Yang also doubted his own ears.

He stared at the young man in front of him, dumbfounded.

The young man’s eyes, nearly identical to his father’s, should have been sharp, but now they were soft with tears. His thin lips were bitten, showing traces of blood, and his pale skin made him look so pitiful.

An Yang watched the Qin who had just aggressively questioned him about his relationship with Ye now resemble an abandoned puppy, radiating a pitiful aura.

Yet An Yang felt he had heard these words somewhere before.

—It was similar to what his mother had said to his father when they argued when he was a child.

But his mother had said: “You don’t love me anymore.”

Even An Yang, who initially thought both parties were good people, started feeling something was off.

Very off.

From the moment the vice president had grabbed him by the arm and run with him like a rag doll into the elevator, the entire situation had seemed strange.

Not to mention that he was only helping Ye with translation, yet it caused a quarrel between Qin and Ye—just the fact that Ye would quarrel with someone was incredible to An Yang.

CEO Ye was a gentle person, unless extremely provoked, how could he ever argue with someone?

An Yang thought about how Ye had shielded him from drinking yesterday, thoughtfully given red envelopes to all employees, and handed tissues when someone’s emotions broke down—Ye had done nothing wrong.

However, An Yang couldn’t just assume that because one person was good, anyone arguing with them was bad. So, in the elevator, he asked the vice president what had happened—was there some misunderstanding between the two?

“…After all, both young master QIn and CEO Ye are good people.”

As An Yang spoke, the vice president’s expression gradually twisted into a “Are you serious?”

But An Yang didn’t notice—he was still looking down, thinking about Ye, while the vice president, realizing he was indeed serious, momentarily distorted her expression.

President Ye was undoubtedly a good person, but the prince of the company…

Recalling how difficult he was to satisfy and the tense atmosphere in the CEO’s office, the vice president could not bring herself to call him a good person. She stiffly changed the subject: “You’ll understand once you go up. Just tell the truth.”

Hearing An Yang behave obediently, she felt relieved—at least he was compliant. Thinking about the grandpa in the CEO’s office, she wished the elevator would move faster.

—After all, she knew what had happened at the wedding.

Even if she didn’t know, seeing the prince not call for a stepfather, Ye not using full names, but addressing “Brother” while asking about yesterday’s whereabouts and companions, her internal radar should have gone off.

While President Ye didn’t say much, he just told him to calm down. But the combination of authority and hidden fear made the vice president’s brain race.

She then made a brilliant decision, worthy of replacing Ye as CEO of Shixing.

—She dashed to the secretary’s room and found the secretary responsible for reporting documents today, telling him to go immediately.

After confirming a third person was in the CEO’s office, she ran downstairs to fetch the assistant who had gone on the business trip with Ye yesterday.

Seeing that, aside from the secretary’s slightly dazed expression, the distance between the two was safe, the vice president finally relaxed.

She pulled the secretary out and pushed An Yang in, thinking the situation had ended.

However, she probably never imagined that ten minutes after she returned to her office, the scene inside had almost overloaded An Yang’s brain.

Yet An Yang’s brain was overloaded, while Ye’s was not. He suddenly lowered his head, staring at the documents on the desk, daring not to look at the tall, handsome young man in front of him.

The handsome man stood in front of the desk, flipping through papers busily, while saying,

“This is your father’s fault. I will talk to him. However, going to the countryside for a live-stream sales event actually benefits your career. You can discuss it with your manager and, with this opportunity to expand business globally, if a good script for a mainstream drama comes up, you could still participate…”

Every sentence was considerate of the young man, seemingly the template of a good stepfather.

But when the young man spoke, the previous concern suddenly felt off.

“You still care about me, don’t you?”

The young man’s voice carried a hint of joy. His pale skin, usually shut in a room creating, flushed slightly in excitement—like a handsome male ghost with a light blush.

The handsome man didn’t stop flipping papers, his movements even grew faster, but his mouth was tightly closed, and he dared not look at the young man.

At this moment, An Yang’s brain finally processed the situation. Seeing the escalating tension, he stepped forward to help explain for his very good President Ye.

“Of course CEO Ye cares about you! When Ye learned young mastr Qin was going to the countryside for live-stream sales, he even had a conflict with Mr. Qin. Later, when reviewing your performance, he praised you, saying you did well and helped local rural businesses prosper…”

An Yang spoke rapidly, praising Ye for his beauty and kindness.

He had noticed the tension but, with his shallow experience, could not imagine its depth, so he used his usual method to resolve conflict—praise both parties.

If both are good people, surely there is no real conflict, he reasoned.

In his eyes, CEO Ye was perfect in every way—ability, demeanor, kindness.

And Young Master Qin had never bullied him.

So the two good people must have had a small misunderstanding causing the quarrel.

However…

The situation unfolded, just like at the wedding, once again exceeding An Yang’s threshold.

“Really?”

Hearing this, the young man stopped and spoke, not turning to An Yang but keeping his gaze on the busy man.

An Yang immediately nodded.

“So young master Qin, you must treat President Ye well. You can’t doubt him like this—it’s disrespectful.”

An Yang reasoned logically. Whether he applied these lessons to himself was unknown.

Hearing An Yang, the young man seemed not to register the words at all.

His lips slowly curved, his handsome features radiating astonishing beauty.

He looked joyfully at the man.

“Brother, I’m so happy.”

The young man spoke gleefully.

“You planned my future and praised me. You actually care about me, you care about me…”

He spoke word by word, stepping closer to the handsome man with each syllable.

“Brother, you don’t dislike me, right?”

The young man leaned on the desk, smiling.

The handsome man finally raised his eyes. Seeing how close the young man was, he suddenly leaned back to leave the chair, but the young man quickly grabbed his arm, preventing escape.

“I am your stepfather now! Of course I care about you! Don’t overthink it!”

The man said, exasperated.

But these words seemed to touch the young man’s taboo. His expression suddenly changed, and in a few steps, he flipped behind the desk, pinning the man forcefully to the chair.

“Brother, how could you say that? You care about me, and I’ve been so good to you, but…”

Their faces drew closer. An Yang panicked and rushed to pull the young man away.

But as soon as his hand touched the young man’s arm, it froze.

“Then why Brother, why are you leaving me?”

The young man’s choked voice sounded. From An Yang’s angle, he could see tears slowly sliding down his cheeks.

So beautiful, like a 3D model face.

“…Back then, I pretended so well to be your father.”

An Yang: “…Huh?”

At this moment, multiple voices could faintly be heard from the distant window.

“Ah????”

 

 

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