Chapter 449 It's still you, Xing

Qin Ce suddenly glanced at him and asked, "What's your second brother's name?"

Shen Jilan said somewhat defiantly, "I don't know, and I don't want to mention him."

Tang Xi tried to smooth things over by picking up some fruit from the table and stuffing it into his mouth. "Alright, alright, let's not talk about this anymore, let's talk about something else."

Seeing Shen Jilan's sullen expression, Qin Ce knew that asking further would only annoy her, so he didn't press the matter.

After chatting for a while, everyone had pretty much accepted Qin Ce, and the conversation went a little deeper.

Qin Ce didn't want to stay any longer, but the group wasn't planning to leave, and the yacht was still at sea, so he had no choice but to stay.

He didn't participate in the conversation after that. He took out his phone from his pocket, glanced at WeChat, and saw that Qiao Xing had sent him a message twenty minutes ago.

The message was simple: he asked if he had eaten.

He replied to Qiao Xing on his phone, and the two started chatting on their phones.

Qiao Xing was lying in bed unable to sleep. Because she had slept too much during the day, she was too lazy to type, so she sent him a voice message.

Qin Ce put the phone receiver to his ear to listen, but their voices were too loud, so he got up and went up to the deck.

"What was your brother doing running up there?" someone asked Qin Yi.

"He probably went to tell my sister-in-law."

"He's married?"

Qin Yi nodded. "Is there a problem with his marriage?"

He couldn't quite understand why people were so surprised; isn't marriage a normal thing?

Tang Xi said, "Of course, no problem. I'm just surprised by your mention of reporting. He was so serious when we were talking just now, he doesn't seem like the kind of person who would report things."

Shen Jilan nodded in deep agreement, "That's right. From the first moment I saw him until now, I've never seen him smile. Seeing him feels like seeing my dad."

Qin Yi grinned and said, "You guys don't understand. Although he seems aloof, he's probably henpecked."

Everyone was shocked again, their faces filled with disbelief.

Shen Jilan was dumbfounded. "Impossible, absolutely impossible, I don't believe it!"

"Really, I'm not lying to you."

"I don't believe it anyway."

"You don't believe me? Then I won't believe you either."

Qin Ce was completely unaware that his aloof image in front of them had collapsed after he had been gone for so long. He called Qiao Xing.

Qiao Xing heard a whistling sound on his end and asked, "Are you driving?"

"No, I'm at sea."

Qiao Xing asked in surprise, "Why did you go to sea?"

"Are you going to meet a few people? Do you still have to go to work tomorrow?"

Qiao Xing hummed in agreement. "Of course I'm going. Why are you asking?"

"Just asking." Qin Ce paused, then asked, "Are you happy at work?"

"I'm happy. I feel much more comfortable here than at Weisheng. We get along very well, and there's none of the backstabbing and infighting that you see in other companies. I really enjoy working here."

"Moreover, with the contract with Li Ya secured, the company will definitely gradually get back on track. I'm quite excited about it."

Qin Ce listened to her cheerful tone on the phone and remained silent for a while before saying, "As long as you're happy."

Qiao Xing sensed something was off about his tone and her expression turned serious. "What's wrong?"

"It's okay, it's just windy and a bit cold."

Are you on a ship?

"Um."

"Isn't there a cabin? Go inside, don't catch a cold standing outside."

Qin Ce sighed, "It's too noisy inside, let's go in later."

"Okay, you can go in now. I'm not talking to you anymore, I'm going to sleep."

Qin Ce knew she was saying this to get him to come in, but he still went along with her and agreed, "Okay, good night."

After saying goodnight to him, Qiao Xing hung up the phone and put it on the cabinet.

Thinking about having to go to work tomorrow, I have to force myself to sleep no matter how hard I try.

She turned over and lay down on Qin Ce's pillow. Even after being gone for so long, the pillow still had a faint scent of shampoo, and a faint trace of his scent.

Qiao Xing stared at the empty pillow for a while before hugging it and closing her eyes.

She tossed and turned until late into the night before finally drifting off to sleep.

She didn't wake up until almost 10 a.m. the next day. Seeing that it was almost noon, she bought groceries on her way to the company so she wouldn't have to go out again.

She hadn't been to the company for a day, and when she came in, the place was already a mess.

Qiao Xing put down the dishes, opened the window, and turned on the ventilation in the bathroom. The door and window faced each other, and when the window was open, a draft blew in, which dissipated a lot of the smell in the room.

The dining table was a mess, piled high with snacks and garbage bags, and all the things they had bought were also left on it.

"You guys tidy this up a bit," Qiao Xing complained under her breath as she tidied up, "It's like a pigsty."

Tao Yang turned and glanced at her. "Are you a germaphobe? We all think it's already very clean."

"I'm not a germaphobe." Qiao Xing thought she was being nice; if Qin Ce, who was a real germaphobe, saw this, he'd go crazy.

Tao Yang said, "Don't accept it yet, we're all waiting for you to arrive so we can pay your wages."

If he hadn't mentioned it, Qiao Xing would have forgotten about it.

"Yeah, have you sent them yet?"

"No, I don't know how to send it. Taking it out directly doesn't seem like a good idea."

Qiao Xing suddenly didn't know what to say. He didn't even know how to pay salaries. He suddenly felt that this company was running a ridiculous business.

Shen Boyan came downstairs and said, "I just called the finance department and they said I need a USB key to log in to the corporate bank, and that the bank can also make payments on my behalf."

Qiao Xing said, "No need for all that trouble. Just get a few invoices and transfer the money out through reimbursement. No need to deduct taxes."

Shen Boyan paused, looked down from upstairs, and stared at Qiao Xing for several seconds.

"It's still your punishment."

Qiao Xing scratched his head, a little embarrassed. Although he didn't know which form of punishment the man was referring to, his eyes had already told him everything.

"Then, how about we just pay the salary?"

Shen Boyan took out his phone from his pocket, opened the shopping app and scrolled down, "No need, just do as you say and see what I can buy online."

However, it's really not easy to issue invoices worth around 200,000 yuan.

Shen Boyan wandered around for a while, then suddenly stopped in front of Qiao Xing. "I don't have money to buy it."

Qiao Xing twitched the corner of her mouth. "Why do you think I'm rich?"

The two exchanged a silent glance. Qiao Xing also felt that this method was not very good. "How about we just pay salaries according to the profit-sharing method and be responsible taxpayers?"

Shen Boyan put away his phone. "Okay."

"The four of us will each start with 60,000, and we'll leave the remaining 20,000 aside."

Shen Boyan said, "Here's the 20,000. You still have a bunch of expenses to reimburse. If you're not in a hurry for the money, lend me another 30,000."

"...Then just give me 50,000 directly."

Shen Boyan rejected her suggestion, "That won't do. If you deduct that, it will be my tax, and I won't get 30,000."

Qiao Xing's lips twitched involuntarily, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.