Su Zhi took the cushion, which had a pitch-black wolf head on it. The packaging was newly opened, as their company only distributed new cushions and did not reuse old ones.
When he went to get it, the colleague in charge of managing miscellaneous tasks and supplies saw him pick this one and said, “You picked this one? It’s been here for a long time, and no one has taken it. They all prefer those cute, cartoonish ones like little yellow ducks and chicks. This one is too realistic and fierce. Do you want to change it? I remember there’s still a cute bird one. Shall I find it for you?”
Indeed, the wolf’s head was printed very realistically, with triangular eyes and yellow-brown pupils that exuded ferocity, making it a bit unsettling. No wonder it wasn’t popular and lost out to the little yellow duck pattern.
The expression in those eyes inevitably reminded him of someone.
Xie Yi’s eye shape was different. The man’s eyes were actually thin peach blossom eyes, but due to his high brow bone and deep eye sockets, they appeared more profound and elongated. They were actually quite attractive.
But the ferocity and greed in those eyes were identical.
Su Zhi looked at it for a few seconds, declined his colleague’s offer to change the cushion, and said, “No need to trouble yourself. It’s just a random pick. You can’t see it once you sit on it.”
The colleague laughed, “Haha, that’s true.”
As he spoke, he handed Su Zhi a handful of candies. “These just came in. They’re imported and haven’t been put in the snack basket yet. Here’s some for you.”
Su Zhi went back and divided the candies, giving some to his colleagues around him and keeping a few for himself. He ate one and found it quite tasty, a sweet and sour flavor that he liked. However, he was a bit picky with sweets, easily getting tired of them after a few. He only ate two and stopped.
With one piece left, Su Zhi didn’t want to force himself to eat it, and one piece wasn’t worth giving to someone else. After some thought, he put it in his pocket.
The candy was small and not noticeable in his pocket, so he quickly forgot about it.
When Su Zhi first sat on the cushion, he paused, remembering the fierce wolf head.
For some reason, he had the illusion of sitting on a certain man’s head.
It was oddly satisfying.
But Su Zhi thought, if he really sat on Xie Yi’s face, the man would probably be excited.
“…”
Su Zhi lightly sucked in a breath through his teeth.
Forget it, forget it. It’s broad daylight; he shouldn’t be thinking about these things.
The female colleague sitting next to him went out for a while and came back with two cups of milk tea. She leaned over and asked, “Which one do you want?”
This was to repay Su Zhi for delivering documents to the chairman’s office for her last time.
She had initially said she would treat Su Zhi to a meal, but Su Zhi felt he didn’t deserve it. He had gone to deliver the documents because he had other business with Xie Yi, not purely to help her, so he didn’t let her treat him.
After that, this colleague would occasionally bring small snacks to Su Zhi.
Over time, their relationship became a bit closer.
From “ordinary colleagues sitting next to each other,” they became “fairly familiar colleagues.”
In his past life, Su Zhi wasn’t familiar with her. He maintained a lukewarm relationship with all his colleagues, friendly but not particularly close, with no interaction beyond work topics.
In this life, a small incident led to more interactions with this colleague, resulting in an inexplicable half-friendship.
Su Zhi didn’t know if this was a good or bad thing, but he accepted it naturally.
He couldn’t pinpoint why, but it seemed like in this second chance at life, he had learned to notice many details he hadn’t seen before.
It wasn’t about grand events, but sometimes just small things in life could bring a bit of joy.
The colleague was impatient and couldn’t wait a few seconds. As she spoke, she already took the milk tea out of the bag and handed him a cup.
The cup she handed over was light green, and Su Zhi saw the label that said “Mint Milk Green.”
He thought for a moment.
Due to a childhood incident of mistakenly licking mint oil, Su Zhi would reflexively frown at anything mint-flavored.
Logically, he should refuse without hesitation since he hated anything mint.
But for some reason, he suddenly wanted to try it.
The female colleague saw his hesitation and, thinking he didn’t like it, quickly took back the cup and handed him the other one with a regular flavor. “You don’t like this, right? Mint Milk Green is quite special. Some people love it, some people hate it. It’s personal preference.”
“Not really,” Su Zhi said. “I’ve just never tried it.”
The female colleague said, “You can try it next time. This time, I won’t let you try it because I really like it. If you try it and don’t like it, I’ll feel heartbroken.”
Su Zhi said, “Okay, next time.”
He didn’t necessarily think he would dislike it, but there was no need to say that out loud.
He smiled and thanked her, then started drinking the regular milk tea.
The texture was smooth, and the sweetness was just right, a flavor Su Zhi was used to.
But thinking about the Mint Milk Green he didn’t get to try, he felt something was missing.
While they were slacking off at work and drinking milk tea, his colleague suddenly said, “Hey, what’s the publicity department talking about with photos from University A? Weird, I’m going to check it out.”
Su Zhi caught a few keywords and looked over questioningly.
The colleague waved her phone. “Check the group chat.”
Su Zhi reached for his phone.
He opened the company’s anonymous chat group.
[Our company’s perpetually unchanged homepage has finally been updated! When was the last update again?]
[So weird, what’s so special about this collaboration with University A? Why did the chairman personally go, and why post the report photos on the homepage? It’s too grand, right?]
[Our homepage is finally not in a pure minimalistic style anymore… so touching…]
[But in this photo, the chairman is really handsome. Though I’ve occasionally seen him in the company, it’s the first time I’ve seen his photo.]
[Saving with the speed of my single 28-year-old hands!]
[Hehe, that little employee is also very cute, looks soft and huggable. Let me kiss you, hehe…]
[Sisters, tone it down, tone it down. The anonymous group is not a lawless land… add me too!]
[…It’s better to say less of these things, for your own good. It’s fine to say it online, but don’t say such things in person.]
[The one above is being cryptic, are you a riddler in the anonymous group?]
[So can anyone explain what’s special about this collaboration?]
A bunch of people frantically sought out colleagues from the publicity department to ask what was going on.
Employees from the publicity department were summoned to explain: they didn’t know the reason either!
A few days ago, their manager received instructions from above to create a special edition, so they rushed to complete it.
Xie Corporation is a technology-based company, and most of its business doesn’t directly interface with customers. The publicity department has the easiest job in the company, spending twenty-five days a month in a relaxed state with not much to do.
It was rare for them to have to rush a project, and they found it strange too.
Everyone: “…”
That explanation was as good as no explanation.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
They still felt there was something fishy about this, but after looking it over, it seemed to be just a regular promotional activity with a university, nothing deep.
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Someone even speculated that the chairman was the principal’s illegitimate child, a guess that was outlandish.
Although the real reason wasn’t much more reliable, this was too far-fetched.
Su Zhi recalled the principal’s appearance: an unremarkable, bald old man.
It couldn’t be said they were exactly alike; they were completely unrelated.
He nearly choked on his milk tea and moved his phone a bit further away.
…He suddenly felt that Xie Yi taking him on a business trip to insert his personal agenda wasn’t so hard to accept.
His colleague was also puzzled. “I don’t get it either. Why such a big fuss? This collaboration seems to have been going on for years without much actual substance.”
Su Zhi didn’t dare make a sound.
He quietly sipped his milk tea, acting like a silent little quail.
She turned to look at Su Zhi. “But, our big boss is really handsome! Damn, if he hadn’t messed with the thermostat last time, I could’ve seen the handsome guy up close. In the end, we’re fated but not destined, sob sob sob.”
“Of course,” the colleague’s tone shifted, quickly declaring her stance, “In my heart, Xiao Su is still the most handsome. Although the boss is also very handsome, we older sisters still prefer your type!”
Su Zhi didn’t know what to say; he didn’t have this kind of competitive spirit. He couldn’t understand why there was a need to compare this. So he could only blink his eyes.
The colleague was still looking at the photos, and suddenly her eyes narrowed as she mumbled, “The boss’s chest is really big. Why is it so noticeable in this shirt? Isn’t it bigger than mine—”
“Pfft—” Su Zhi really choked this time. He held a mouthful of milk tea, barely managing to keep it from spewing out, feeling very uncomfortable.
In his mind, he suddenly recalled the moment in the gym yesterday when his phone corner hit the man’s chest, squeezing out a bit of curvature.
He thought: It seems a bit…
Just as he started thinking about it, he quickly stopped his thoughts.
He didn’t know if it was because of the choking or what, but his face was a little hot, and blood rushed up.
The colleague hurriedly handed him a tissue.
Su Zhi spat the un-swallowed milk tea onto the tissue and coughed for a long time before finally catching his breath.
The discomfort left a trace of mist in his eyes, giving his usually detached and indifferent eyes a rare vulnerable look.
His eye corners and cheeks were all flushed.
The colleague stared at him for a few seconds: “Oh dear, you’re too cute like this, I can’t keep looking, I can’t look anymore. You already have a partner, if I keep looking, I’ll lose my moral compass.”
Su Zhi embarrassedly reached out to cover his face.
—
The chief assistant helplessly closed the group chat.
Seeing the company’s anonymous group discussing Su Zhi’s appearance, the comments made his scalp tingle, and he couldn’t help but kindly remind them.
No matter what, don’t go crazy over the boss’s partner, right?
This was more outrageous than pulling a tooth from a tiger’s mouth!
Although it was an anonymous group, and the average executive couldn’t trace the specific accounts back to the employees, if the boss himself wanted to investigate, he surely had the authority to do so.
He kindly reminded them but got rebuked.
Didn’t they want him to be clear? Should he just directly say that he didn’t care about his job anymore?
He was so angry.
Forget it, forget it.
Why was he meddling in this?
The chief assistant thought that since the boss had been in a good mood these past few days, maybe there was a chance to appropriately adjust his salary.
He felt he had been working pretty hard recently, not only working hard but also thinking quickly, often completing tasks with great ingenuity. He could give himself a score of 105.
He carried a stack of reviewed documents, knocked on the door, and entered the boss’s office in a light-hearted mood.
But as soon as he entered, he froze.
The boss, who had looked like he was in a good mood half an hour ago, had his brows furrowed again at some point, with his elbow propped on the dark wooden desk, half-closed eyes and expressionless face.
The phone was placed right under his nose, and the screen was still lit, showing something.
It probably wasn’t anything good.
The chief assistant’s heart slowly rose: “……”
Even without an overtly angry expression, after working together for many years, his corporate risk radar was blaring.
Sometimes, the boss was most dangerous when he was as quiet as ice water flowing, rather than directly angry.
Xie Yi took the documents, glanced over them, suppressed his emotions while reading, found no major issues, handed them back, and only said one sentence, “Go down.”
The chief assistant walked out of the office with a solemn face.
When he saw the boss’s dark face a moment ago, he really wanted to rush downstairs and drag Su Zhi over to calm the boss down.
Although he didn’t know why the boss was in a mood, he felt this was definitely the right solution.
Yes, absolutely.
Betting on his pride as a corporate slave.
But he could only think about it.
Not to mention that the relationship between the two wasn’t something he could interfere with, and since the boss hadn’t spoken, it wasn’t his place to make decisions on his own.
They were a serious company, after all, and couldn’t just use employees as fire extinguishers whenever they wanted, right?
…right?
…
Today, Xie Yi rarely left work early, leaving the company before the end of the day.
When the elevator passed the floor where Su Zhi worked, he pressed the stop button.
The elevator doors opened for a few seconds, and he looked through the hall’s glass at the crowd. He remembered where Su Zhi sat and could accurately place his gaze on that spot, even if he couldn’t see him.
After a few seconds, the elevator doors closed, and the view was blocked.
The closed metal doors reflected his brows and eyes, his gaze deep, perhaps due to the cold metal surface, it looked like it was covered with a layer of frost.
The indicator light came on, and the elevator continued downward.
Su Zhi seemed to sense something and looked up.
But everything was normal.
—
Getting off work on time and going home.
When Su Zhi walked into the villa, he saw someone moving in the courtyard.
Normally, he wouldn’t pay attention to the staff in the villa.
Even though Xie Yi forced him to live here, he always felt that he would leave one day, and he was somewhat resistant to the villa itself. Recently, while lounging around the house, he discovered many details he hadn’t noticed before.
It was like exploring a new continent.
Not to mention the silent staff.
Xie Yi liked peace and quiet, so the staff in the villa were specially arranged to be as quiet as possible, working without disturbing them.
In the previous life, besides the aunt who often cooked for him, who required necessary interaction, he almost never spoke to the other staff.
Many things didn’t need to be said explicitly. People who often came to work here could more or less guess his relationship with Xie Yi, unless they were very dense.
So Su Zhi tried to avoid interacting with them, almost deliberately.
It felt like as long as he pretended to be deaf and mute, he could avoid this twisted fog.
The worker tending to the flowers was trimming the branches in the villa’s garden.
Hearing the sound of someone entering, he didn’t look up much, focusing diligently on his work.
Su Zhi didn’t rush into the house, watching for a while, then asked the worker with interest, “Excuse me, I’d like to transplant a few gardenia trees here. Is the soil suitable for that?”
The worker had never been spoken to by Su Zhi before, and when he heard the question, he stood there dumbfounded for a moment.
Then he quickly said, “No problem, no problem. Gardenias don’t have strict growing conditions. We can make minor adjustments if needed. Actually, the mountain’s summer temperatures are low, which is very suitable for growing this kind of tree. Too high temperatures can cause issues…”
He explained a lot to Su Zhi.
Su Zhi learned some new things, didn’t find it boring, and remembered the key points.
The worker went to ask the more prominent owner of the villa because on his first day working here, he was told that all matters in the villa could be decided by the other owner without needing to consult the boss.
But he had worked here for more than a year and had never been given any instructions by Su Zhi, rarely even seeing him.
This was the first time Su Zhi asked him about wanting to arrange something here.
He didn’t understand the relationship between the villa’s owners, just working for them.
But Su Zhi’s first question to him gave him a sense of pride from being noticed.
He was a very experienced horticulturist, working here for a high salary doing simple tasks every day, and if given a chance, he also wanted to show his skills.
It was like a switch was flipped, and he couldn’t help but say a few more words.
Realizing it, he quickly said, “Sorry, I talked too much. In short, don’t worry, leave it to me.”
Su Zhi: “Haha, it’s okay. If I want to plant trees, I need to learn a bit.”
…
Su Zhi walked towards the house in a good mood.
His mind was filled with information about caring for gardenia trees, feeling a subtle excitement. His steps on the small steps were even lighter than usual.
It was as if he could already see the trees being planted and well cared for.
By early summer next year, the branches would be full of pure white flowers.
He seemed to experience a bit of farming fun.
—Though he wouldn’t actually have to do it, just watching would give him a sense of accomplishment!
Seeing it would mean he had made an effort!
Su Zhi walked into the house, thinking Xie Yi hadn’t come back yet, but the aunt said, “Mr. Xie came back half an hour ago. He’s been in the study since he returned, not sure what he’s doing, and hasn’t asked me to cook. Mr. Su, should I start cooking now?”
Su Zhi said, “Cook, but don’t make too much. We can’t finish it between the two of us. Two or three dishes are enough.”
Auntie replied, “Alright, alright.”
Su Zhi didn’t think much about it. When Auntie mentioned it, he was just a bit surprised that Xie Yi had come back so early today.
Is the company not busy?
Although he was a bit annoyed thinking about the bite mark on his body, he still needed to tell Xie Yi about transplanting the gardenia trees.
After all, it was Xie Yi who bought the house, so he still needed to inform him.
Su Zhi was very polite.
He walked to the study door and knocked.
There was no response the first time, so Su Zhi, puzzled, knocked a few more times. Only then did the door open with a delayed response.
He pushed the door open and found that the light was not on inside.
It wasn’t completely dark, but at this hour, the light was already dimming, and the room, which naturally had weak lighting, was shrouded in a layer of gray shadow.
As the door opened, the hallway light shone into the room at an angle, creating a small, sharp angle of light. The door acted as a dividing line, with bright light outside and a shadowy gloom inside.
For a moment, under the contrast of light and dark, the dim room seemed extremely pitch-black and gloomy.
It was as if it could swallow everything.
Weird. Why didn’t he turn on the light?
Su Zhi stepped inside.
He wanted to turn on the light but couldn’t immediately recall where the light switch was in the study. He rarely came here and wasn’t familiar with the layout.
After glancing around the wall a couple of times and not finding the switch, he gave up.
Su Zhi looked at the man sitting at the desk.
There were documents in front of Xie Yi, but they were not opened.
The computer was on but in sleep mode, with only the screensaver animation moving.
The faint light from the screen fell on him, illuminating half of his face while the other half remained in shadow, making his expression hard to discern.
The man looked at him without speaking.
Su Zhi felt something was off but didn’t think too much about it in those few seconds.
He remembered that he needed to tell Xie Yi about transplanting the gardenia trees.
Taking a few steps forward, he said, “You…”
Before he could finish his sentence, his wrist was suddenly grabbed.
The hand holding him was still warm.
But for some reason, under the slightly excessive force, Su Zhi felt a chill that was hard to describe, making him shiver instinctively.
—
Xie Yi had been sitting in the study for half an hour.
He had initially wanted to go back to the bedroom, where he could find traces of Su Zhi. Instinctively, he wanted to seek out something related to Su Zhi, to smell Su Zhi’s scent.
But he feared Su Zhi might go to the bedroom first when he got home. Su Zhi had recently enjoyed lazing around and often went straight to bed.
In his current state, it wasn’t suitable for Su Zhi to see him.
He sat in the study, unable to suppress the memories of the past.
It was when he was first sent abroad. The people from the Xie family who accompanied him to the plane left him at the airport as soon as the plane landed, as if spending even one more minute with him was a contamination.
It was snowing when they landed.
He was still wearing the light clothes suitable for the domestic climate, and within minutes outside the airport, his face turned pale, his lips turned blue, and his teeth chattered uncontrollably.
It was only because a kind passerby gave him a coat that he managed to wait until someone came to pick him up.
It wasn’t his mother as he had expected, but a man, tall and handsome, with a white face, but speaking fluent Chinese.
At that time, he was just his mother’s friend, but later he became his stepfather.
“Where’s Mom?” He seemed to have asked then.
However, perhaps because the cold made the memory dull and numb, he didn’t remember clearly.
In any case, it was a question like that.
The man obviously knew about the Xie family affairs. He looked at him with a gaze mixed with pity, surprise, and a natural sense of rejection and disgust.
At that time, Xie Yi only thought that his wariness stemmed from the horrific events involving the Xie family and the chilling role he played as a child, not knowing that part of it was also due to the man’s frustration with the burdens brought by his romantic interest.
The man didn’t answer his question, only said, “Kid, I know you’re very smart. Your mom needs rest, she needs to heal. You should be able to understand her… Don’t ask anymore, come with me. I’ll provide you with a place to live, you won’t be mistreated.”
Xie Yi refused to go.
He understood, of course, he did. He understood many things, being a precocious child.
But he was still too young, with a part of his emotions naturally driven by instinct. At that moment, he was just a child longing for his mother.
A child who had nothing, just wanting to see his mother.
They stood outside the airport for half a day.
Xie Yi waited outside the airport until evening but never saw her.
In the end, frozen to the point of losing feeling, he was forcibly taken away by the man, not to the place he was supposed to be settled in, but to a hospital.
Because he was too young and looked too pitiful, the hospital almost called the police.
It was only because the man’s family was influential locally that the matter didn’t reach the police station.
That was not the first day he waited.
He asked the man many times afterward, but every time he received the same refusal.
For every day after that, he never saw that figure again.
…
The country where the plane landed was in the north, with a climate vastly different from the tropics, where it snowed most of the year.
When he was sent abroad, it was still summer domestically, seemingly still able to catch the tail end of warmth and fantasy.
The moment he landed, he entered a cold winter.
He forgot how long it had been, perhaps a very long time.
When he no longer pondered the question of whether he could wait, the long-extinguished news suddenly lit up again.
It said: wanted to talk to him.
…
Su Zhi inexplicably shivered, feeling that Xie Yi’s grip was too tight, his knuckles too forceful.
But Xie Yi often grabbed him inexplicably. This man was like that, so he was somewhat used to it and didn’t react much.
He finally saw the light remote on the corner of Xie Yi’s desk, reached out with his other hand, and turned on the light.
“Click.”
The study became brightly lit, and the darkness was dispelled like a phantom.
Su Zhi then noticed that Xie Yi’s expression wasn’t good. He realized that since he entered, Xie Yi hadn’t spoken, being unusually silent.
He asked curiously, “What’s wrong with you?”
Was work not going well? That expression was too sour.
Xie Yi closed his eyes briefly. When he reopened them, much of the gloom had been hidden, almost normal.
He didn’t answer Su Zhi’s question but asked, “Why are you looking for me?”
Su Zhi rarely came to his study. He never restricted Su Zhi from doing so, and the company’s documents weren’t something Su Zhi couldn’t see.
But Su Zhi still consciously never came in.
Xie Yi knew it wasn’t out of respect for his privacy, but merely an avoidance of things that belonged to him.
Just like Su Zhi avoiding being close to him in front of others and avoiding the conveniences his wealth provided.
In theory, unless there was something important, Su Zhi wouldn’t take the initiative to come in.
Rationally, he knew he should let Su Zhi go and not keep him with his current self.
But all his instincts and actions were still unconsciously trying to keep this unguarded little thing that had strayed into the monster’s lair.
Su Zhi gradually felt something was off.
Xie Yi’s eyes were very calm, but they were too calm, carrying a peculiar hidden darkness.
However, he had to answer Xie Yi’s question first, “I want to plant some gardenia trees in the yard. I came to ask you. I just asked the gardener, and he said the soil here is suitable. Can I plant them?”
Talking about planting the trees made him happy again. The enthusiastic introduction from the gardener had stirred a bit of entrepreneurial spirit from some hidden corner of his mind.
Indeed, farming is a common talent among people of this country!
His dark eyes brightened slightly, looking at Xie Yi with an unconscious hint of expectation.
Xie Yi took a minute to understand what he was talking about.
They stared at each other silently, and from those bright eyes, Xie Yi saw his own shadow, with a gloomy expression.
Xie Yi let out a breath, loosening his grip on Su Zhi’s wrist for a moment, as if intending to let him go.
But before Su Zhi could react, the next moment, his grip tightened even more, almost with a force that seemed intent on devouring him, veins bulging on his hand like the snarling, hungry tendrils of a beast.
I don’t know how to feel about Xie Yi’s mother 😥
Same
+1
Me too, I feel like I understand his mother but at the same time I want her to show some affection to her son.
And we all thought his mom cared for him 😔 or maybe she’s really sick and was unable to meet him?? Hopefully our little beast xie yi will find closure soon