After the first month of the New Year passed, many things got back on track again, and the past year gradually faded away. The entire city returned to its usual clamor and bustle. People were constantly on the move were rushing at a fast pace again.

A black luxury sports car slowly rolled into the carpark in front of the entrance to Qi Kai Corporation and came to a steady stop.

Qi Lei wore the same metallic gray slim-fit suit. He looked dapper when he got down from the car while Yang Sheng followed beside him, holding a briefcase.

Yang Sheng clutched his briefcase as he quickly caught up with Qi Lei's long strides and said, "Master Qi, there's a meeting with the upper management at 9 a.m. At noon, you have a lunch appointment with the CEO of Feng Shun. At the same time, you need to discuss the materials for the South River Project. At 3 p.m. in the afternoon, Glory World's VP Zhang will be conducting an inspection at the construction site for the South River Project. Previously, you said you'll be going with VP Zhang. This is the itinerary for today."

"What time is it now?" Qi Lei put both hands casually into his pockets as he slowed down his steps and glanced at the frantic Yang Sheng.

"Master Qi, it's 8.55 a.m., soon to be 9 a.m. We should be quick. Otherwise, we'll be late for the meeting and CEO Qi won't be happy again. Master Qi, let's hurry."

Yang Sheng was very anxious. With a boss like this, his heart could not quite take all the scares!

Qi Lei was always the kind of person who did things unhurriedly and always seemed very unorganized. Every time he went to work or for meetings, he would be just as calm, and get into the office or meeting room right on the dot. Even Yang Sheng was anxious watching him.

"We still have five minutes then, so what are you worried about?"

Despite seeing Yang Sheng's red face, Qi Lei was calm as always. He strolled into the building casually and went right up to the elevator.

"Master Qi, CEO Qi... He'll be unhappy..."

Yang Sheng could only sigh to himself. If only Master Qi knew how to curry favor from CEO Qi, things would not be like this right now, and the CEO would like Master Qi more.

"I can't be responsible for his mood. It's up to him whether he wants to be happy or not as long as I'm not late." Qi Lei smiled coldly. Unaffected, he walked into the elevator with a cold expression while Yang Sheng sighed to himself helplessly as he followed him in.

The elevator reached a level below the top floor very quickly. The upper management meeting room was on that floor while Qi Qiming's office was on the top floor.

Ding!

The elevator chimed when it reached the floor where the meeting room was. When the doors slid open, Qi Lei walked out in huge strides, yet just as he turned—

Bam!

A loud crash was heard as he bumped into a soft wall.

"Ah!"

A familiar cry rang out. Qi Lei quickly looked down and then realized that he had bumped into Gu Lingsha!

She wore a light-colored Western dress from a spring collection. There was also a purple scarf tied around her neck while her beautiful hair was tied up into a beautiful bun. She wore light makeup, and her outstanding appearance naturally attracted many looks. Her entire presence made her seem extremely capable and intelligent.

Her appearance had no doubt become the attention of many. Everyone's gaze immediately followed her.

However, at this moment, her light purple skirt was a little moist. With the shattered porcelain pieces all over the floor, mixed with the wet fragments, she looked like a mess. Besides that, the documents that had fallen onto the floor were wet as a result of the collision.

Gu Lingsha froze. Annoyance flashed in her eyes as she looked up at the culprit who collided into her. When she saw that it was Qi Lei, her expression eased a little. She looked up silently at Qi Lei, then laughed gently as she greeted him.

"Lei..."

Nevertheless, Qi Lei's expression remained cold. His silent gaze turned to the mess on the floor calmly, but he did not say anything. When his tall figure just walked over without even a glimpse at Gu Lingsha, his gaze was no different from looking at a stranger.

As his fresh and clean fragrance walked past her, Gu Lingsha's expression turned pale and rigid in an instant. When she turned to look, Qi Lei's tall and lean figure was long gone as his steady footsteps did not stop.

Yang Sheng, who followed behind, was stunned for a while too. He forced a sheepish smile at Gu Lingsha, and then followed after his master without saying anything.

In a daze, Gu Lingsha could vaguely hear piercing ridicule from the side. Of course, it was all from those women. After a while, she bent down in a sorry state to wipe her skirt as she squatted down to pick the documents up from the floor.

However, there were some male colleagues who went up to help her because they could not bear to see this scene.

"Manager Gu, let me help you!"

"I'll help you too, Manager Gu!"

...

In an instant, a row of people got busy.

Gu Lingsha took those slightly wet documents and looked gratefully at the few male colleagues before her. "Thank you all!"

"Don't worry about it, Manager Gu!"

Gu Lingsha smiled a little bitterly and then turned around to look towards the direction that Qi Lei had left. Her beautiful eyes could not help but darken as she sighed and blinked her slightly hot eyes. She felt sad and wronged for some reason, yet she just gritted her teeth and continued walking ahead.

Gu Lingsha was obviously there for a meeting. She had just started working at Qi Kai, and Qi Qiming immediately gave her the position as a project manager and even made her his titular assistant. He took really good care of her. Naturally, she would be included in the Qi Kai upper management meeting too.

When she reached the meeting room, the meeting was just about to begin. Qi Lei had already taken his seat. Across him was Gu Lingsha's seat.

Gu Lingsha had just walked to her seat when Wang Qin said coldly, "Manager Gu, you're quite arrogant. You're almost late for your first upper management meeting."

Just as Wang Qin said that, quite a few people looked at her. Gu Lingsha immediately looked awkward as she quickly apologized, "My apologies. There was a small incident earlier. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be late!"

Then, she looked up at Qi Lei across her, hoping that he could explain things and help her out. Wang Qin had never liked her, but usually, with Qi Lei around, Wang Qin would not dare to trouble her much.

However, right now, Qi Lei was not looking at her at all. He was browsing through a document. It was really just as Gu Lingsha had said that day. In the office, they could pretend to be strangers.

After a stifling silence, some people were laughing at Gu Lingsha. After that, Qi Qiming shot Wang Qin an irritated glance and said coldly, "Shasha's just joined the company quite recently. She hasn't gotten used to things yet. As her superiors, you should all watch out for her. Okay, have a seat. Let's start the meeting now!"

When Qi Qiming said that, Wang Qin kept quiet and gave Gu Lingsha a look of disdain. Her gaze turned to the side and fell on Qi Lei. When she saw him nonchalantly flipping through the document with a calm expression and ignoring the little episode, she smiled gladly before shooting Gu Lingsha a delighted glance. In turn, Gu Lingsha looked extremely upset.

"My apologies, I'll be more careful next time."

After a while, Gu Lingsha bit her lip and said that before sitting down, feeling a little bleak.

The meeting was about the first half of the year's work plan and general direction as well as some transfer of upper management. Throughout it all, Qi Lei listened half-heartedly with one hand propping up his head and staring down at the table. If you looked closely, you could tell that he was probably sleeping.

Meanwhile, Gu Lingsha was tensed. She kept shooting glances at Qi Lei, her eyes holding a mix of emotions.

When the car drove into Glory World Corporation, the sun was high up in the sky. The mist that filled the air had gradually dissipated. However, there was still a faint, bleak coldness in the air.

"Missus, we're here," said the chauffeur ahead.

Xi Xiaye nodded. With one hand carrying her son, she handed her bag to Mu Zirui. "Xiao Rui, help me hold my bag."

"Yes, Mother!"

Mu Zirui quickly took it over while the door on Xi Xiaye's side was opened. Sis Wang stood outside respectfully. "Missus, let's get down from the car."

"Okay, you all just wait for me downstairs. Xiao Rui, go and bring Father's folder up."

Then, she walked into the building. Mu Zirui responded and quickly followed her with the items.

The moment Xi Xiaye appeared in the building, she attracted a lot of attention, especially the cute little boy following by her side and calling her 'Mother'. Of course, there was also the little bun that she carried in her arms.

"Hello, Director Xi!"

Along the way, many people greeted Xi Xiaye who had no doubt become the center of attention in the company. In just a few short minutes, all the departments knew that their Chairman's Missus had brought along a little master to the company. Even Mu Yuchen, who was on the top floor, had immediately received the news, so he came down to get them personally.

Xi Xiaye and Mu Zirui took the special elevator and reached the top floor. They had just walked out when they met with Mu Yuchen who was about to go down and meet them.

"Why are you here?" Mu Yuchen frowned at her and took the little bun from her arms.

"You left some things in the study room. I'm going to go to the hospital later, so I decided to swing by and send it over."

"Father, here..."

Mu Yuchen patted the folder in the boy's hand.

"Mother says she could also bring me and Little Brother out to walk around," Mu Zirui said as he tiptoed to look at the little baby in Mu Yuchen's arms.

At this moment, Xiao Zicheng was waking up. When he saw that he was in someone else's arms, his eyes widened and his gaze was fixated on Mu Yuchen. As he watched his father, he was spitting little bubbles, and a smile rippled across his face.

Mu Zirui's line of sight kept falling onto Mu Zicheng. When he saw the baby's faint smile, he could not help but cry out in wonder, "Father, does Little Brother know how to smile already?"

When Mu Zirui said that, Mu Yuchen straightened up and looked into his arms. He realized that the little bun was indeed looking joyful. As he looked indistinctly at him, Xi Xiaye smiled gladly. She could not help but reach out to gently poke the little guy's cheeks. "He really does like you more. I carried him the whole morning, but I didn't see him looking like this."

"Even our son knows that his father has charisma. This is a fantastic thing. Anyway, let's go in first."

Mu Yuchen caressed Mu Zirui's little head, and then carried the little guy a little clumsily into his office. Xi Xiaye held Mu Zirui's hand and walked in too.

The secretary quickly brought some snacks over while Xiao Rui sat down very quietly.

Xi Xiaye had just taken a seat when Mu Yuchen called Hospital T's Dr. Huang for an appointment. After he hung up, he turned to Xi Xiaye. "I've already made an appointment with Dr. Huang. Just go at 11 a.m. The meeting's been pushed to the afternoon. Rest for a bit, then I'll go over with you guys."

"Sis Wang's still waiting downstairs. I'll be making a trip back to the Shen residence in the afternoon, and I'll bring Xiao Rui back with me too. You..."

"Meeting's at 3 p.m. in the afternoon. I have some things to discuss with Grandpa too."

"Is it about the South River Project?" Xi Xiaye asked softly.

Mu Yuchen nodded while he handed the little boy to Xi Xiaye. He wanted to briefly explain himself to her when there was a sudden knock on the door. The husband and wife both instantly looked to the door.

Li Si walked in with a slightly solemn expression. When he saw that Xi Xiaye and Mu Zirui were around, he quickly bowed and greeted, "Master, Missus, Master Xiao Rui!"

Upon seeing Li Si, Mu Yuchen's eyes darkened a little. He roughly knew what it was about, and his whole body slowly moved towards the desk. Li Si quickly went up and stopped behind Mu Yuchen to say with a lowered voice, "Master, we found out that woman is."

"Who was it?" Mu Yuchen turned around and looked up through narrow and profound eyes at Li Si.

"It was Gu Lingsha. The car with no number plate is one of Qi Qiming's subordinate's cars." Li Si lowered his voice and subconsciously looked towards Xi Xiaye. When he saw that she was busy playing with her son and not paying attention to them, he turned to look at Mu Yuchen.

"Got it. Go down first." Mu Yuchen's gaze turned a little dark as his handsome face was gloomy too.

"Master, do we want to get people to stop her?" Li Si asked softly.

Mu Yuchen lifted a hand slightly and stopped him. "No need. I know what to do. Prepare the car right now."

"But this woman was reckless. If you hadn't rushed over in time, Missus... She's provoking you, Master!" Li Si brows frowned into a knot as he said in an urgent voice.

Mu Yuchen did not say anything, yet Li Si felt a coldness fill the air. When he looked up to Mu Yuchen, he realized that his Master had returned to his usual calm and quiet self. Naturally, he dared not say anything more, so he bowed and quietly left.

The meeting went on for over an hour before it ended. Instead of calling it a planning meeting, you might as well have called it a special meeting that Qi Qiming requested to introduce Gu Lingsha.

As expected, at the meeting, Gu Lingsha was delegated to the South River Project as one of the Project Managers working on the same tasks as Qi Lei.

Wang Qin knew about Qi Qiming's intentions very well. She made Gu Lingsha look bad many times, yet the latter silently endured it all.

After the meeting ended, the first to leave their seats were Qi Qiming, Wang Qin, Yue Hai, and the rest. Later, everyone else swiftly kept their things and left the meeting room too while Qi Lei was barely in a hurry. Many people probably knew that their Vice President Qi had fallen asleep for an hour at the meeting again, and they were quite afraid to see CEO Qi's furious expression when he left earlier.

"Master Qi! Wake up. The meeting's over!"

As the meeting room quickly emptied, Yang Sheng only felt even more pressure with Qi Qiming's extremely enraged expression earlier and Wang Qin's concerned yet disappointed gaze. He went up to shake Qi Lei who was still propping his head up with his eyes shut.

Qi Lei then opened his eyes in a daze. As he turned to look Yang Sheng grumpily, he looked around and saw that his surroundings had emptied. He then tossed the pen in his hand onto the table, and slowly stood up. "Tidy up and let's go back to my office."

Yang Sheng nodded and swiftly tidied things up. Qi Lei turned around and was about to walk to the door when that light purple figure entered his sight.

Qi Lei's gaze was quiet as he watched her. Having done packing up, Yang Sheng looked back and forth between the two of them. After that, he quietly walked out of the meeting room and closed the door behind him.

"Lei, do you have to act like this?"

When she heard the sound of the door closing, Gu Lingsha spoke up first. She broke the stifling silence, her beautiful eyes containing an indescribable sadness as she fixed her eyes on Qi Lei.

Qi Lei looked away and scoffed calmly. "What did I do now?"

"I know you're angry. You're angry at me, but this is my duty. I don't have a choice. My father wants me to be trained in Qi Kai, so Uncle Qi just agreed to my request. You don't have to be unhappy with him. If you want to blame someone, then blame me. You know that publicly treating your father like this will only make Uncle Qi sad. You don't have to direct all your anger toward Uncle Qi because of me. If you're not happy about something, you can hit me or curse me. I just hope that you won't have that attitude with us, with everyone!" Gu Lingsha spilled all of her unhappiness at once. There was already a faint light in her eyes, reflecting endurance and persistence, unlike the old her at all.

Nevertheless, when Gu Lingsha said that, Qi Lei just laughed and said frankly, "Shasha, you're wrong, or maybe I should say that you've overestimated yourself. I've always had this attitude. Do you think my mood could be affected by one person? Whatever that's between the old man and I has got nothing to do with you. Right now, I'm just doing as you asked and pretending like I don't know you at the company. Am I doing it wrong?"

When she heard Qi Lei, Gu Lingsha's expression instantly turned rigid and pale. Her gaze slowly turned bleak, and she could not help but laugh bitterly. "Lei, no matter what you think of me, I just wanted to say that I have my reasons. I'm helpless too. Do you think I want to live in hatred? You'll never understand the pain I've suffered, and the pain Ah Feng had to suffer. Also, why can't you just try to understand us?"

"Where's Qi Feng? I know he's not dead. All these years, he's never turned up alive or as a corpse. With all this hiding, I know very well what your plans are." Qi Lei looked up and stared at Gu Lingsha. "Shasha, tell me, where is Qi Feng?"

Meeting Qi Lei's forceful gaze, Gu Lingsha could only shake her head as she gritted her teeth and sighed. "Lei, forgive me. I can't tell you right now, but I have my reasons. I just don't want them to be hurt anymore."

When he heard this, Qi Lei's handsome face immediately flashed with a cold smile and his tone was unfriendly. "Fine, Shasha, I know you don't trust me. That's why you always have so many excuses. All the so-called reasons you have are probably very far-fetched. Since you insist on being this way, I can't stop you either, but I think I'll do my best to stop some things from happening."

"Are you saying that you must go against me?" Gu Lingsha clenched her fists, feeling a little shocked. There was disappointment in her eyes as she quietly looked at him. "You once said that you'd always protect me. You.. Are you saying that you want to break your promise?"

"I used to want to protect you because I thought you weren't strong enough, and that you needed protection, but now you don't need it anymore. You're so strong that you can plot against other people, so why would you still need my protection? Besides, all these years, you didn't seem to care about me. I've always been someone disposable." Qi Lei forced a smile while he turned to look out the window. His expression turned chilly in an instant too.

"No, Qi Lei, you're not. I've always treated you as my most treasured friend and even my own kin. You're not someone disposable," Gu Lingsha quickly explained impatiently.