After Xi Mushan finished preparing the dishes, Xi Xiaye called Mu Yuchen and found out that he had lunch with Shen Yue outside, so the three of them enjoyed the lunch instead.

From what she recalled, the last time the three of them had shared a meal like this was almost more than 20 years ago.

That was already such a distant memory.

Now that they could relive such moments again, she felt quite emotionally stirred.

Throughout it all, Xi Mushan had carefully taken care of Shen Wenna, picking out the fish bones, spooning the food for her, wiping away the residue of soup at the corner of her mouth...

Xi Xiaye did not say anything. She silently watched Xi Mushan and Shen Wenna across her. She took in all their movements that were full of chemistry and could not help but feel a pang of sadness and tenderness.

It was not sure whether it was because Xi Xiaye, their daughter was present, but Shen Wenna did not reject Xi Mushan serving her, she silently lowered her head and ate the food in her bowl, but she did not say anything to Xi Mushan, instead, Xi Mushan spoke up from time to time.

After lunch, Xi Xiaye went straight back to the office while Xi Mushan remained in the Shen residence to accompany Shen Wenna. Of course, before she left, she handed the letter that Xi Jiyang gave her to Shen Wenna, but Shen Wenna did not open it. She just quietly kept it away.

The afternoon sky was still gloomy. The horizons held hints of rain whilst both sides of the walkway were filled with pedestrians rushing through with their umbrellas.

Xi Xiaye's car drove underneath the cold rain and went to the parking spot before the Glory World Corporation plaza.

...

Xi Xiaye had just reached her office and sat down when Xiao Mei walked in.

"Director Xi, Qi Kai's Vice President Qi came over. There's a document that needs to be discussed for amendment. VP Zhang Lan and Chairman Mu are doing inspections at the South River, so they asked you to review it on behalf of them."

Xi Xiaye frowned slightly and subconsciously looked up to see Qi Lei standing casually behind Xiao Mei. However, his handsome face seemed a little pale.

She hesitated momentarily before pointing to the sofa on the side. "Have a seat!"

Xiao Mei knowingly came up to steep the tea while Qi Lei sat down on the sofa. Xi Xiaye sat leisurely across him too.

Her assistant, Xiao Mei, left after steeping the tea.

"What document is it? Let me take a look," Xi Xiaye said plainly.

Cough cough!

Just as Xi Xiaye said this, Qi Lei suddenly coughed severely. His eyes filled with a demonic air and contained some fury as he glared at Xi Xiaye.

It was all because of this annoying woman!

Initially, his cold had not been getting better. After being caught in the rain that day and being tormented by her like that, he suffered a high fever for quite a few days upon his return. Following that, his cold became more severe. He had been staying at home for quite a while, yet his throat still hurt like it was on fire. He almost could not speak!

He coughed for quite a while, causing his demonically charming face to redden. He was clearly holding back his urge to cough with a lot of effort.

Xi Xiaye held her teacup and looked at him calmly with raised eyebrows. An amused smile could not help but surface on her fair face.

He held back, sipped some tea, and managed to suppress his frustration. Then, he frowned and cleared his throat to softly speak with a raspy and dry voice, "What are you smiling for? It's all because of you. I've never seen a woman as annoying as you!"

When Xi Xiaye heard his comment, she raised her brows even more and casually had a sip of tea. As she recalled the scene of tricking this lecher in the rain, she felt smug on the inside. She pursed her lips and smiled wider. "I think you're quite comical and funny. Besides, I don't need you to like me. Whether or not I'm annoying is none of your business."

Qi Lei coughed a few times again. He took a few deep breaths, then gasped. "You're really one to talk! Women who mess with me receive a slap and become handicapped if I go easy. In a worse case, you should be grateful that I've been happy to be a good person recently, so I won't be bickering with you. Otherwise, you would've been done for— Cough cough... Cough cough!"

As Qi Lei spoke, he drank some tea and then with a scarlet face, he turned to take a document out from his briefcase. He flipped through it before handing it to Xi Xiaye.

"This is the rough plan. It's already been amended according to your company's comments. Take a look... Cough cough! Cough cough..."

Qi Lei hacked quite badly and his handsome face turned red from trying to suppress the coughs down. When Xi Xiaye saw his agony, she reached out to take a tissue and handed it to him as she smiled coldly. "I couldn't tell that you're quite dedicated to your work, VP Qi. You're already this sick and still, you insist on working. The award for the model employee of the year should just be given to you."

As Qi Lei took the tissue Xi Xiaye handed, he covered his mouth and coughed quite a few times again before he calmed down after a while.

"You speak with such harshness. Every time I talk to you, it's quite upsetting! Take the things and look for yourself!" Qi Lei flushed red as he breathed in and then tossed the document to Xi Xiaye who squinted at him before picking it up and looking through it.

It was the plan for the water palace surrounding the music fountain. This was what Glory World had requested for before, and Qi Kai had very cooperatively made amendments. Because Xi Xiaye was personally in charge of this project, she naturally had a very clear grasp of it.

"Wasn't this part supposed to be supported by rhombus jades? Why... is it like this now?" Xi Xiaye squinted at the sketch and asked in puzzlement.

Qi Lei coughed lightly, then slowly got up to lean in and look. In one look, he replied, "A triangular shape would have higher stability and be steadier for support. Don't these two look quite good joined together? Do you even know anything about construction?" He rolled his eyes at her.

Xi Xiaye then slowly looked up and glared at him. She then recalled that Qi Lei seemed to have been an outstanding student who had graduated from a certain prestigious school in construction!

Previously, she seemed to have heard VP Zhang Lan mention this before!

Would that then mean that this blueprint was personally designed by him?

Xi Xiaye raised her brows and looked at him. "Did you personally plan and design this yourself?"

She remembered that back then when Mu Yuchen suggested having a water palace and musical fountain, he had been hesitant because not many companies in City Z were well-versed with this aspect, yet this land required extreme perfection. It was a very important highlight in the entire South River project, so you could tell how important it was.

Now, by the looks of Qi Lei's blueprint design, it looked pretty impressive.

However, Xi Xiaye obviously did not know much about these. Perhaps she would need to bring it home to discuss with Mu Yuchen first.

"Do you think this little project will require my personal involvement? Hmm!"

Qi Lei shot Xi Xiaye a side look of disdain. He lowered his head and sipped his tea. However, he could not help but cough quite a few times again.

Xi Xiaye abruptly looked up and looked contemplatively at him. She did not say anything and just got up to return to her desk. Then, she pulled open a drawer and took out a pen.

She was about to close the drawer after taking out a pen, but then she noticed that in the corner of the drawer, there was the medicine for flu and sore throat Ah Mo had brought her last time.

She took it out as well.

Thud!

As Qi Lei was coughing non-stop, Xi Xiaye tossed a tiny metal box to him. He stared at her in surprise while she was already reading the document on hand.

Qi Lei picked the metal box up and realized there were pills for flu and sore throat inside. A faint light appeared in his eyes as he glanced at her for a while before popping a pill into his mouth.

"I'll pass this document back to you in a few days. There are several parts that need to be discussed," Xi Xiaye told him after a while.

Qi Lei coughed again before pointing to the blueprint to say in his hoarse voice, "Here's the part you guys requested for amendments. The effect graph is over here."

"Mmm, I got it. I'll take a look at it and leave feedback later."

Xi Xiaye closed the document and stood up. "Vice President Qi, you should head back now. Thank you for coming all the way here." She used a clipped, business tone.

Qi Lei's scarlet face was sweaty and he looked pretty uncomfortable. He grabbed the pen from Xi Xiaye and wrote a bunch of numbers in the empty corner of the document.

"Give me a call after you're done." Without staying any longer, he left after he packed up his stuff, taking the pills along with him too.

When he arrived at the door, Qi Lei suddenly turned back and looked at Xi Xiaye. He waved the little metal box in his hand, but his eyes did not have the usual wickedness he had before.

"I know you guys have been gunning for Yueying, but my advice to you is to back off a little. Things have been rather chaotic lately. Glory World isn't the only one aiming for it. Well, I'm taking this as compensation to my reminder. That's fine, isn't it?"

Qi Lei left after saying that to Xi Xiaye. She stood there, listening to the sound of his coughing in the corridor.

Xi Xiaye clenched the document in her hand after he left. Her eyes quieted down before they became clear again.

In his words, was he telling her that Qi Kai was gunning for Yueying too?

She remembered that he was the representative of Qi Kai who was handling Yueying, as well as one of Xi Xinyi's strongest back-ups, so he should not be telling her this.

Xi Xiaye was getting more and more confused as she thought about it.

Inspector Zhang's words flashed in her mind. Qi Lei and his father Qi Qiming were not on good terms.

Qi Qiming obviously favored his eldest son Qi Feng more and was not very pleased with this other son of his.

Having investigated deeper on her own, Xi Xiaye found out that Qi Qiming and Qi Lei's mother, Huang Qin, were just purely connected by marriage. Currently, Wang Qin held most of Qi Kai's stock, thus Qi Qiming could not just do anything he wanted.

Wang Qin was being considerate about her own son. It had been forever since she wanted Qi Lei to become CEO of Qi Kai, but Qi Qiming never agreed. The couple was cold to each other, and apparently, it was not really a secret.

However, she felt something was wrong with what Qi Lei said.

Could Qi Qiming want Yueying as well?

...

She was troubled for quite some time until the end of the workday. Finally, she kept her thoughts to herself and went to meet Mu Lingshi and Su Nan.

Back in Maple Residence, Mu Yuchen arrived home in the evening. Together with Su Chen, Zhou Zimo, and Ah Mo, they were planning to go Imperial Sky initially, but Su Chen would not let this chance slip by.

He missed the excellent wine in Mu Yuchen's cellar, so the few of them went to Maple Residence as well.

Mu Yuchen was busy cooking in the kitchen while the three of them were playing cards in the living room. Afterward, they felt a little uneasy, so they went to help Mu Yuchen.

Su Chen was peeling the potato skins as he asked, "I don't see your wife around. Is she still at work?"

"She went out with Lingshi and might come back late tonight," Mu Yuchen replied while he was concentrating on mixing some spices.

"Regarding your father-in-law, Xi Mushan, is that just going to happen? I heard about it during the meeting today. It felt..." Su Chen frowned as he looked at Mu Yuchen.

"Father doesn't want to work in the political field anymore. It's enough that he stayed in the field for decades, so he's decided to quit now and spend time with Mother, which isn't a bad idea," Mu Yuchen replied.

Su Chen nodded. "How about your mother-in-law? The media went crazy about her a while ago. I know Shen Yue and you suppressed the news, plus the government helped out a bit as well. Now that it's in the past and with Xi Jiyang left, you wouldn't just let those women go, would you?"

"I'll hunt them until the very end."

His tone was firm, "At the same time I want to see what Qi Kai will do. I have a feeling that we'll find something out after this storm is over."

"I heard you're sending Ah Mo and Lingshi over to Los Angeles?"

Su Chen gave Mu Yuchen a meaningful stare, "Are you thinking that someone might be there?"

"Xiaye said she wants to visit South America, the view is nice over there, it'd be good to have our wedding there too, Ah Mo and Lingshi are back together now, I'm letting them take a short vacation together while they scout the place."

Su Chen nodded. "I had a talk with Zimo yesterday. Every time Qi Qiming went abroad, he'd always pass Los Angeles. I think we can leak this information to Qi Lei or Wang Qin to test them."

"It might be better if we let them struggle among themselves while we take action only when needed."

...

Su Chen had put a lot of effort into this lately. It was evident that he worked hard to track Qi Qiming down.

"Zimo purposely went to a hotel in San Francisco that Qi Qiming has stayed in before. He found out that he actually went there for business. Nothing seemed odd."

Mu Yuchen's eyes darkened, but his hands did not stop at all.

Su Chen's expression darkened as he hesitated for a moment. "Get Ah Mo to investigate it thoroughly when he's over there this time. We might be able to find something out."

"Qi Qiming is really skilled at anti-spying. His background has made him really sensitive about it. I tried sending people to follow him, but all of them lost him somewhere. He must be really vigilant."

Mu Yuchen's expression turned serious as well while a cold light was emitted from his deep, dark eyes.

Su Chen suddenly thought about it and asked, "How's the investigation on the accident in City B? Don't tell me it's really just an accident. It doesn't add up. That's the Gu family's turf. You might've been watched the whole time you were there. Moreover, it's such massive news that you came back to take over Glory World. They must have been aware."

Mu Yuchen put aside the spices he just mixed, then he took the potatoes Su Chen washed and started slicing them up. His expression returned to his usual calmness.

"The driver is in the last stage of lung cancer and he's unconscious now. Before that, his lover suddenly received a transaction of $200,000. After some investigation, we found out the driver transferred it to her, but the clues ended right there."

Mu Yuchen's voice was calm, but Su Chen frowned. "So, the driver might have something about that person? Didn't you check his account?"

"The driver banked the cash in. We couldn't get any useful information about it unless the driver can talk."

Su Chen held his forehead. "This seems really tricky. I think you should be more careful as I'm feeling quite uneasy about this. If someone were behind this, they'd be coming for you. You should be more alert from now on. Assign more bodyguards with you. You've got many anyway."

He continued, apparently worried about it, "I'm worried that the Gu family or the Qi family might be behind this. You'll be in a very passive position. Be careful before we're clear what's happening. The enemy is in the dark, after all, so be cautious."

"Don't worry. They need to reevaluate themselves if they really want to come at me."

Su Chen shrugged when he heard Mu Yuchen's relaxed tone. "You're really not worried at all, huh? You'd better take care of yourself. If something happens to you, your wife might just go down with you. I know it's not something nice to hear, but I don't think she can take a second blow now. I heard from Lingshi that Xiaye almost broke down when Elder Xi passed away."

When Xi Xiaye was mentioned, Mu Yuchen's expression was not as cool as before. He paused his a little. "She's just like that. She's very fragile emotionally. Although she's a totally different person than when she's at work, I'm used to it already."

Su Chen laughed and teased him, "Look at you caring about her. Are you really a man?"

"A real man cares about his woman. Smart men should be like me. Find someone and settle down. Zhou Zimo and you are like the clouds in the sky floating casually. I feel lonely for you guys up there."

Mu Yuchen's serious words made Su Chen roll his eyes at him. "Although I don't agree with people saying that women are tools to warm the bed up, don't you think that marriage is really like a cage?"

"A cage? That's how they see it. I don't know, and I don't want to know. Only people who know how to appreciate it can be happy, wise, and accepting, and you'll be fine."

While Mu Yuchen felt it was relatable, his tone started to become low. "If you feel that you can live better after marrying someone, that means you've made the right choice, and now I'm feeling it."

Su Chen sighed as he looked at Mu Yuchen with an envious smile. "You're lucky to have met the right person. My father always tells me and Zimo to follow your example, but they don't understand how hard it is to find true love in this world."

"When I just met Xiaye, I just admired her and didn't dislike her. Thinking back now, I'm surprised that I suggested marrying her." Mu Yuchen stopped his hand movements and looked at Su Chen.

Su Chen gave him a wry smile while he patted Mu Yuchen's shoulder. "You think I don't know you? You must be lusting after her beauty. The way you call Xiaye is so flirtatious... Ah!"

Before Su Chen could finish his sentence Mu Yuchen gave him an uppercut. Su Chen groaned and then shut up, swallowing the blood that came from biting his tongue.

"That was harsh! Are we really friends?" Su Chen groaned again as he gave Mu Yuchen a frown.

"I don't think you transferred the money to me the last time we played cards, did you?" Mu Yuchen said.

"I'll go and see what they are up to!" Su Chen swiftly ducked away.

The dinner was a feast. It had been a long time since they gathered, so they drank a lot right until midnight, then Su Chen and Zhou Zimo went back drunk.

After sending Zhou Zimo to his car, Ah Mo turned around and told Mu Yuchen, "Master, Vice President Liu has started taking action. More than half of Yueying's stakeholders are willing to join Chenye Movies and Televisions. I'm sure the directors, as well as the actors, will support us too."

Mu Yuchen nodded. "I'll wait for your good news then. After the preparation is complete over there, you can start spreading the news. Let them struggle after that."

"Yes, Master, Li Si is working on it already. I'll bring you positive news in a few days' time. After everything is settled here, I'm sure you can have a peaceful wedding with Missus." Ah Mo smiled genuinely.

"Mmm, it's pretty late now. You should go back. Ask the chauffeur to send them home. Your sister-in-law and Lingshi should be heading back as well."