Chapter 39
“Secretary Bai, I’m giving you one month to take care of the most important matter of your life.”
“For this month, you don’t need to come to work. Your salary will still be paid.”
Lu Lou’s expression was gloomy, as if he’d taken a huge loss in the business arena. In reality, all he’d lost was one month’s salary—tens of thousands at most, not hundreds of billions—but it felt even more frustrating than having an overseas project strangled by a new policy.
Bai He had never seen Lu Lou like this. Under normal circumstances, he would have been more than willing to help him ease his worries.
As one of the group’s top commanders, Lu Lou was practically an emotional stabilizer. Unlike his love-brained younger brother who was prone to life-and-death dramatics, Lu Lou quickly analyzed the situation: Bai He simply felt his holidays were too few and that he had no private life. The good-tempered secretary had finally risen up in resistance.
If giving him a month off could solve the problem, gritting his teeth and agreeing wasn’t impossible.
Bai He asked, “One month? Starting from today?”
In a month, the queen bee’s partner would be back from a business trip. They wouldn’t need to devote themselves entirely to taking care of Meng Xueyuan anymore. Coming back to work then would be fine—job hunting again would be troublesome anyway.
Lu Lou let out an unwilling “Mm” through his nose.
Bai He smiled. “Thank you, President Lu.”
“I’ll CC all my unfinished work to Liu Qian before eight tonight. She’ll accompany you for work during this month. I wish you a pleasant time.”
Lu Lou thought: I won’t have a pleasant time.
—
“Yue… sao.” Lu Yushu enunciated the two characters word by word, then calmed down. “A so-called maternity nanny works for one month at a time. You can go try it—see whether being a maternity nanny for someone else is any easier than being a secretary.”
Lin Xilan said, “So Second Young Master means you’re giving me a month off.”
A whole month off… how daring, when your boss is still working overtime. Lu Yushu smiled. “You could understand it that way.”
Lin Xilan replied, “Thank you, Second Young Master.”
If Lu Yushu really blocked him from resigning, company regulations required two months’ notice for resignation. By the time those two months were up, Meng Xueyuan’s fake pregnancy symptoms would already be over.
Even the aggressive Lawyer Lu could sometimes consider a compromise: if you want time off, first submit your resignation.
…
When a personal secretary wants to resign, it makes the president who promoted them lose face. So the resignation letters were hidden—heaven knows, earth knows, you know, I know.
No third person knew what the presidents had compromised on that day.
When they ran into each other in the company elevator and saw that the secretary following behind his brother had been replaced, with a hint of covert probing, Big Brother Lu asked casually, “Where’s the previous secretary?”
Lu Yushu replied, “On sick leave.” Lin Xilan was at the point where he really needed to have his head checked.
“And yours?” Second Brother Lu asked lightly in return.
“There’s a company in X City with some problems—pretty tricky. I sent Bai He to handle it,” Big Brother Lu answered just as calmly.
Second Brother Lu said, “Oh.”
Each other’s answers were disappointing, but at least they had both maintained their composure.
…
That very day, Lin Xilan and Bai He moved into Meng Xueyuan’s apartment.
In truth, their task was simply to make sure someone was on call whenever Meng Xueyuan felt unwell, so he didn’t have to endure all kinds of discomfort. There wasn’t actually much real work to do.
Meng Xueyuan got nauseous easily in cars, so Lin Xilan drove for him—no need to endure it.
Meng Xueyuan had become picky about food, so Bai He cooked for him—no need to force himself to eat foods he’d suddenly started disliking overnight.
Lin Mu worried that Meng Xueyuan’s work schedule was too tight and that he’d overstrain himself, only for Lu Xiao to come back and fire him. He hurriedly used every method he could to clear three days off for Meng Xueyuan.
For a while, several naturally overachieving workaholics stared at each other at home, feeling strangely empty.
Meng Xueyuan suggested, “How about we play mahjong together after the forensic pathologist gets off work?”
#A mahjong buddy’s work ran into trouble so he’s staying here temporarily—for convenient mahjong anytime#
They couldn’t not play even a single round. There had to be some photo evidence saved on their phones. Even though he didn’t plan to tell Lu Xiao, if Lu Xiao ever found out, at least there’d be something to say.
After work, Fang Furong arrived as promised, even buying three small bouquets at 9.9 each at the subway entrance, offering them to the queen bee and the caretaker bees.
Whether queen bee or worker bee, everyone liked receiving flowers.
Meng Xueyuan had many beautiful vases at home specifically for arranging flowers. Flowers fans gave him were brought home, carefully water-cultured, then posted on Weibo with thanks.
After arranging the flowers, the four of them sat around the mahjong table together for the first time.
Meng Xueyuan took out a tablet, searched for Nan Cheng mahjong rules on a certain site, and placed it in the middle to play. The four of them listened as seriously as if attending a briefing.
One listen was enough to learn.
Then they started playing. All of them were smart people with high math scores, and no one went easy on anyone else. Their skills kept improving—back and forth—pretending to look at work group chats while actually reading mahjong strategy guides.
“I win.” Meng Xueyuan pushed his tiles forward, his long fingers pressing the red shuffle button in the middle of the table.
A slit opened in the tabletop. The four of them pushed the tiles into the table’s belly. The surface closed, and a new set of tiles was raised.
The old tiles buzzed and clattered as they were rearranged inside. Suddenly, Meng Xueyuan found the sound irritating. Nausea surged up. He hurriedly covered his mouth and rushed to the bathroom, bracing himself against the sink as he vomited sour liquid.
This episode was severe and even triggered coughing.
“Are you okay?” The forensic pathologist quickly followed him in, patting his back and pressing the Neiguan acupoint on his wrist. “Think about something else—distract yourself.”
Lin Xilan went to make honey water. Bai He took strawberries and imported oranges out of the fridge.
After a few deep breaths, Meng Xueyuan came back out with reddened eyes, tears welling. He sat on the sofa, took some tissues, and wiped his face.
Luckily, the ones with him were worker bees. If it were Lin Mu, or an assistant, or the cooking aunt, they would have reported it to Lu Xiao immediately.
His chest was still rising and falling. He quickly popped a strawberry into his mouth. The crisp, sweet-and-slightly-sour juice burst in his mouth, rapidly easing the nausea.
“Thank you.”
Only then did Meng Xueyuan check the time and realize it was already 10:30 p.m. They’d played mahjong for four whole hours! No wonder his body was protesting.
“Furong, why don’t you just stay here tonight? We can play again tomorrow. I’m sleepy tonight.”
“Sure.”
The worker bees were still unsatisfied—mahjong was irresistibly addictive to beginners.
Meng Xueyuan tucked an orange under his arm and went back to Lu Xiao’s place to sleep.
His phone vibrated. Lu Xiao messaged to ask whether he’d fallen asleep.
“No.” Meng Xueyuan sat cross-legged on the bed, peeling an orange as he replied.
He peeled off the bright orange rind and even lifted it to his nose to sniff.
Lu Xiao was stunned. Why was he like a little animal?
Meng Xueyuan realized it and apologized, “Sorry, I think I got your bed dirty.”
Sure enough, there were a few splashes of juice on the blanket from peeling.
Lu Xiao said, “It’s fine, what’s that matter? You could even spill instant noodles on it. I’m just not there to help you change the sheets.”
With the peel removed, the orange flesh nestled intact in Meng Xueyuan’s palm. He put a tissue underneath, lowered his head, and took a bite. Juice stuck to his lips, which he gently licked away.
Lu Xiao said, “Wife, you’ve really been loving oranges lately.”
Every video call, his wife was eating oranges. Lu Xiao could practically smell the citrus through the screen. He had nothing against oranges—he just thought the juice at the corner of those lips should be licked clean by him.
A perfectly good food stream, watched like borderline content.
Meng Xueyuan lowered his lashes, hiding a faint sense of guilt. Wasn’t it just because he was afraid of vomiting during video calls with Lu Xiao? Taking a quick bite of orange would help him bluff his way through.
Lu Xiao was busy with work and always video-called Meng Xueyuan around mealtimes. In frame was not only his handsome face, but also his work meal on the table.
Lu Xiao had a big appetite and loved meat.
In his meal trays, Meng Xueyuan often saw braised pork that would now make him black out at the sight, or steamed fish, or poached chicken.
In short, Third Young Master Lu had no idea that at every meal, there was at least one dish dancing right on his wife’s landmine.
Not only did he not know—he showed them off.
Lu Xiao picked up a translucent, crystal-clear piece of pork skin jelly with his silver chopsticks and said, “The taste is just okay—not as good as what I make. When I get back, I’ll cook it for you.”
Meng Xueyuan took a deep breath and viciously bit into his orange.
Lu Xiao misunderstood. “That eager—are you craving my cooking?”
Meng Xueyuan said, “…Mm.”
Lu Xiao aimed the camera at a fish dish. “Guess what fish this garlic-braised fish is made from?”
Looking at the fish chunks already wrapped in starch and seasoning, Meng Xueyuan shook his head.
“Shark,” Lu Xiao said. He’d gotten it from the staff cafeteria buffet. “Who knew the chef would make this stuff? I only found out it was shark after I’d taken it.”
“Sharks excrete urine through their skin. It’s like their whole bodies are soaked in urine their entire lives. The smell is fishy and rank—even if you remove the skin and cook it, it still doesn’t taste good,” Lu Xiao laughed. “The Greenlanders used to eat sleeper sharks. Those fish live a long time—soaked in urine for hundreds of years. You can imagine the taste. Wife, have you ever smelled raw shark? I have—it’ll make you puke.”
Meng Xueyuan: “……”
Quick as lightning, he grabbed a dried sour plum from the bedside table to steady himself, so sour his expression didn’t even change.
“Wife, what are you eating?” Lu Xiao looked like he was trying to make a food stream that wouldn’t tempt his wife, but in reality his eyes never left her.
Meng Xueyuan said, “Raisins.”
Lu Xiao said, “You really have been loving fruit lately.”
Meng Xueyuan felt like there was something wrong with him too—asking for trouble. He wanted to know about Lu Xiao’s daily meals, and Lu Xiao was knowledgeable, and he liked listening to whatever he said. It felt as if they were eating together.
Lu Xiao ate while enjoying Meng Xueyuan’s beauty. He didn’t remember what anything tasted like—only that his wife looked very well-behaved watching him eat, occasionally knitting his brows slightly, showing concern like you’re eating such lousy food.
After thinking for a moment, Lu Xiao still asked, “Why didn’t you let the cooking aunt come?”
Meng Xueyuan replied, “I got tired of the food at home. I wanted takeout.”
Lu Xiao didn’t say anything about takeout being unhealthy. His wife’s happiness was the most important thing. Eating it for a month wouldn’t kill him—he’d just cook properly when he got back.
After eating, Lu Xiao happily told Meng Xueyuan that he’d recently accomplished a major feat—opening up a new market that the Lu Group had long wanted to develop but had never managed to secure.
He was especially awesome; even Lu Fengge had taken a new look at him.
Meng Xueyuan was sincerely happy for him. “Anything you do is top one.”
If he could even win over his wife, what else couldn’t he win? Lu Xiao preened like a peacock and didn’t forget to jab at his big brother, exaggerating: “This achievement was huge. The Lu Group is shaking—I’ve got my brother unable to sit still.”
“My eldest brother forgot our online meeting. My second brother even sent me the wrong version of a contract.”
“That’s never happened before.”
Even Lu Xiao was surprised. “Someone like my brother—he’s a workaholic who thinks finding a good secretary is more important than finding a good wife. Strict with himself, always striving for perfection, rarely makes mistakes.”
And certainly not multiple mistakes at the same time. There had to be a deeper connection.
But the core secret that the two of them were deliberately hiding was sealed tight. Lu Xiao had no way of knowing for now, so he simply slandered his brother as being rattled.
Meng Xueyuan believed it completely. “Wow, the new waves push out the old. You just started working and you’re already better than your brother. You’ll be the big brother in the future.”
That was exactly what Lu Xiao wanted to hear. He was so pleased he didn’t know which way was north and immediately worked overtime through the night.
“Wife, go to sleep. Don’t hang up the call.”
But Meng Xueyuan refused. “My phone’s low on battery. I need to charge it.”
His reactions had been stronger today; he was afraid he’d wake up in the middle of the night to vomit.
Lu Xiao said, “Okay. Charging while calling isn’t safe, so let’s stop here.”
What a pity—less reward for working overtime.
Lu Xiao took out a paper monthly calendar and drew an orange in today’s date box. Another day of watching his wife finish an orange.
Time was passing so slowly.
