“What?”
A rare trace of blank confusion appeared on Qi Mu’s face. He wondered whether he had misheard.
So this formidable ancestor had deigned to call him personally for the first time, speaking in such a grave tone about having something to discuss… merely to ask for an advance on next month’s salary?
An unprecedented sense of absurdity rose in Qi Mu’s heart.
You’re seriously short of one month’s salary?
If there was not some greater scheme concealed behind this, then Jiang Shao was deliberately messing with him.
All Qi Mu’s nervousness, worry, and unease instantly transformed into dissatisfaction and anger.
His breathing, which had not yet settled, grew heavy again. His face flushed slightly, and he could barely keep his expression under control.
His emotions surged through him like a roller coaster. In the heat of the moment, he even forgot the iron rule that he must never offend the Long Aotian.
Qi Mu asked angrily, “You called me back just for this?”
Seeing Qi Mu’s eyes redden with anger, Jiang Shao inexplicably felt a little guilty. He lowered his eyes and said in a subdued voice, “Today is the anniversary of my mother’s death.”
The anger filling Qi Mu’s chest faltered for a moment, but he quickly gave a cold laugh. If he believed this bastard again, he would be an idiot.
Qi Mu remained unmoved as he looked at him.
Jiang Shao sighed. “I went back to my hometown to pay respects to my mother. The round-trip fare alone cost over a thousand yuan, and I genuinely don’t have any money left now.”
Qi Mu remained expressionless.
Jiang Shao said sincerely, “I promise I’ll work seriously next month and won’t take any more leave.”
Qi Mu finally spoke, his voice faintly mocking. “Really?”
Jiang Shao looked at him earnestly. “Really.”
Looking like this, all he lacked was raising his hand and swearing to heaven on the spot.
Qi Mu stared at him for a long while.
In the end, he was left utterly speechless.
Forget it.
He could not be bothered to figure out what Jiang Shao was plotting. One month’s salary was hardly a serious matter. As long as this formidable ancestor stopped causing trouble for him, that was enough.
Qi Mu’s expression returned to calm. He said indifferently, “Fine.”
With that, he turned and left.
Jiang Shao remained where he was, watching Qi Mu walk away. His expression became complicated. He stood there for a while before turning and heading in another direction.
He did not drive the black sedan from earlier. Instead, he walked back to the employee dormitory and sent the car key to Lu Jin Wen by courier.
That evening, the curtains in the dorm room were drawn, leaving the room dim.
Jiang Shao stretched as he looked at his computer screen. He had just hacked into the Li Group’s system. It was such an ancient piece of junk that he had no idea how they had managed to keep using it until now. Breaking in had been far too easy; he had barely needed to use his brain.
After obtaining the data he wanted, Jiang Shao prepared to rest.
But just after lying down, he suddenly remembered something. His eyes snapped open, and he took out his phone to set an alarm.
He had just promised Qi Mu that he would work properly. He could not be late on the very first day.
After considering whether he had forgotten anything and deciding that he had not, Jiang Shao closed his eyes again. His phone suddenly began ringing.
When Jiang Shao saw the caller ID, he did not particularly want to answer. After a moment of silence, however, he held the phone farther away and pressed the answer button.
Sure enough—
Lu Jin Wen’s furious voice came through the phone. “What the hell are you playing at?”
He had sent someone to pick him up earlier that day. After waiting outside in the freezing weather for an hour, he had finally managed to get home that evening—only to receive a notification from the Traffic Management 12123 service informing him that the car had been illegally parked and that he needed to pay a fine.
Lu Jin Wen was so furious that he simply had to settle the matter with Jiang Shao.
Jiang Shao certainly did not feel guilty toward Lu Jin Wen. Without the slightest remorse, he said, “What could I possibly be playing at? Weren’t you the one who brought it up first?”
Lu Jin Wen: “…”
He finally understood why Jiang Zong Chao was driven half to death by this bastard every time. Jiang Shao truly had a gift for infuriating people.
Jiang Shao had been about to hang up, but after thinking for a moment, he added, “Don’t contact me unless something important comes up. I’m going to work seriously now, so I can’t take leave whenever I feel like it.”
Lu Jin Wen could hardly believe what he was hearing. “You’re going to work seriously?”
Who had spent the previous month taking leave and skipping work?
Jiang Shao gave a quiet scoff. “I just told Jiang Zong Chao that I would work seriously. He’s still waiting for me to go crawling back and beg him. If I stop going to work now, wouldn’t I be slapping myself in the face? Besides, my dear mother and younger brother may be watching me. Naturally, I can’t leave them any opening.”
Lu Jin Wen listened to Jiang Shao explain himself with perfect seriousness and froze for a moment. Everything Jiang Shao said sounded logical, yet he could not shake the feeling that something was not quite right…
Jiang Shao said, “That’s enough. I have to get up early tomorrow.”
Then he hung up with a sharp click.
Lu Jin Wen: Fuck your dad.
…
When Qi Mu arrived at the company the following morning, he thought it over and ultimately called the Finance Department, instructing them to advance Jiang Shao one month’s salary.
He did not believe for a moment that Jiang Shao would genuinely work hard. Still, since Jiang Shao did not intend to resign for the time being, there was no harm in giving him the salary. After all, Qi Mu had also benefited from the Long Aotian’s protagonist luck. The clients Cheng Huai Song had introduced to him alone were worth far more than one month of Jiang Shao’s wages.
After making the call, Qi Mu went to deal with other matters.
He would be meeting Professor Lai at H University in a few days and needed to prepare some materials in advance. He had people gather Professor Lai’s research achievements so he could study them thoroughly and be fully prepared. That would make the negotiations easier later.
Establishing a university-industry partnership with Professor Lai’s laboratory would also require the board’s approval. Qi Mu needed to spend time persuading the senior executives, so he spent the next several days running from one task to another without a moment to spare.
Although he was extremely busy, he still frequently ran into Jiang Shao.
Not only had Jiang Shao returned to work, he was neither late nor absent. Compared with the way he had originally coasted through his days, he now appeared far more dedicated…
Qi Mu genuinely could not understand what the Long Aotian was planning.
What had suddenly made him change his mind?
Since Qi Mu could not figure it out, he stopped trying.
The busy day quickly passed.
It was only when the workday was nearly over that Qi Mu finally had a little free time. He unlocked his phone, intending to see whether he had received any messages.
He noticed a red notification dot on the friend-request page.
Qi Mu had many clients and company employees on WeChat, and people often added him. He did not think much of it and opened the page directly, but his hand paused when he saw the note attached to the request.
The note contained nothing but a name: Jiang Shao.
Qi Mu frowned and stared at it for a long while.
In the end, he accepted the request.
Another person immediately appeared on his friends list.
Jiang Shao’s profile picture was the system default, his personal signature was blank, and his Moments appeared never to have been used. There was no information to be gathered from any of it.
Normally, Qi Mu would have accepted the request and thought nothing more of it. Today, however, he felt strangely restless. He would read his documents for a while, then glance at his phone again, unable to stop wondering why Jiang Shao had added him…
Unfortunately, although plenty of other messages arrived, Jiang Shao’s profile remained completely silent.
Qi Mu turned his phone facedown, forcing himself to redirect his attention.
He continued working.
After finishing the work in front of him, Qi Mu picked up his phone again and discovered that Jiang Shao had sent him a message.
Qi Mu opened it.
It was a data report he had requested.
He froze briefly.
He remembered assigning it to Zhan Xiao Hui. Had she passed the task to Jiang Shao?
The message had been sent more than ten minutes earlier. There was nothing else.
The tension in Qi Mu’s heart gradually eased.
He had clearly been overthinking things.
Jiang Shao worked in the President’s Office. It was perfectly normal for him to add Qi Mu on WeChat and send him documents. If anything, the strange part was that he had waited until now to add him.
Qi Mu laughed at himself and replied: Received.
…
In the office on the other side of the wall—
Jiang Shao stared at Qi Mu’s brief reply, studying it over and over as though examining every stroke of the Chinese characters used for the word.
He had actually submitted the friend request early that morning, but an entire day had passed without it being accepted. He had assumed Qi Mu was still angry with him and would refuse to add him. Unexpectedly, by the afternoon, Qi Mu finally approved the request.
Jiang Shao rarely used WeChat. He had no habit of chatting with people, no close friends or buddies, and he never truly fit in with anyone.
He did have a few fair-weather friends he occasionally partied with, but after falling out with his family, he had gradually stopped contacting them. As long as he ignored those people, none of them dared bother him.
The only person he remained in contact with was Lu Jin Wen, but even their messages were few and far between. They were planning too many things that could not conveniently be discussed through ordinary communication tools.
That was why Jiang Shao had never considered adding Qi Mu on WeChat.
It was not until he saw Qi Mu and Yang Ke adding each other that day that he realized he had never called Qi Mu before and had no ordinary way of keeping in everyday contact with him.
There was no connection between them at all. It was as though the moment Jiang Shao left, everything between them would be severed cleanly.
They would disappear completely from each other’s worlds.
To keep his actions from appearing too abrupt, Jiang Shao had voluntarily approached Zhan Xiao Hui and asked her for an assignment.
After Qi Mu accepted his request, Jiang Shao resisted the urge to message him immediately. He waited for roughly ten minutes before sending over the report he had prepared.
As expected, Qi Mu did not become suspicious.
Jiang Shao stared at the brief Received for a long time. The reply was so strictly businesslike and distant. Wasn’t Qi Mu clearly very concerned about him? If Qi Mu did not care, he would not have worried about whether Jiang Shao was sick or feverish, nor would he have rushed over because of a single phone call from him.
But at other times, Jiang Shao felt that Qi Mu did not care about him at all.
He suddenly became restless and irritated.
At that moment, a text notification arrived informing him that money had been deposited into his account.
Qi Mu had genuinely advanced him one month’s salary.
Jiang Shao remained silent for a long while before slowly breathing out. The chill in his eyes quietly softened.
…
Several days passed in the blink of an eye.
That morning, after Qi Mu arrived at the company, he stopped by the office opposite his before going to his own. He said to Zhan Xiao Hui, “Get ready. You’re coming with me on a business trip tomorrow.”
The trip to H University had been scheduled long ago, so Zhan Xiao Hui immediately understood what he meant.
She had handled much of the preliminary work. She nodded and was just about to agree when a tall figure in the corner of the office rose to his feet and spoke before she could.
“Let me go with President Qi.”
Qi Mu and Zhan Xiao Hui both turned toward him.
They were both somewhat surprised.
Zhan Xiao Hui remembered that when she had previously sent Jiang Shao to Song’an Group with President Qi, he had still worn that lazy, indifferent expression. Since she was also responsible for the current project, Jiang Shao had not even occurred to her. She had never expected him to volunteer.
Come to think of it, Jiang Shao’s attitude had genuinely improved a great deal since returning. Not only had he stopped arriving late and leaving early, but he had also become increasingly proactive in his work.
It now appeared that Jiang Shao truly had turned over a new leaf. He was still teachable after all.
However, deciding who would accompany the boss was not her place, so Zhan Xiao Hui said nothing and waited for Qi Mu to decide.
Qi Mu also looked at Jiang Shao in confusion.
The young man no longer looked as cynical and frivolous as before, nor did he have that lazy, languid manner. He met Qi Mu’s gaze without avoiding it, his dark eyes revealing little of what he was thinking.
For some inexplicable reason, Qi Mu felt slightly uncomfortable beneath his gaze and looked away first.
He hesitated.
His previous business trip with Jiang Shao had certainly been rather awkward…
But there had also been some unexpected gains.
Although this young master often caused him trouble, it seemed that whenever something important happened, Qi Mu could always borrow a little good fortune from him. Viewed that way, having him along as an auspicious mascot was not a bad idea…
Besides, Jiang Shao had volunteered to go on the business trip. What was Qi Mu being so hesitant and apprehensive about?
It would only make him appear afraid to face Jiang Shao.
Moreover, after interacting with him over the past few days, Qi Mu was certain that Jiang Shao did not remember what had happened that day. There was no reason for Qi Mu to remain preoccupied with it. He could simply pretend that nothing had happened.
After considering it briefly, Qi Mu said, “Then you can come with me.”
The corners of Jiang Shao’s mouth lifted faintly. “All right.”
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