Chapter 74 A Glimmer of Light

As night deepened, the neon lights outside the floor-to-ceiling windows gradually dimmed, and the entire city fell into a drowsy silence.

Shangqiu Zhu hasn't returned yet.

After taking a shower, Yan Shuang collapsed onto the soft bed.

She closed her eyes, letting weariness consume her consciousness.

"bite..."

The phone screen suddenly lit up. Yan Shuang frowned, barely opened her eyes, and glimpsed a text message popping up on the lock screen.

Zhou Yaqin: "How have you been lately? Is there anything unusual at the company?"

Yan Shuang stared at the message for two seconds, her mind too foggy to process anything.

Too lazy to reply, she loosened her grip, and the phone slipped to the side of her pillow, the screen still lit, the chat box wide open.

At 2:17 a.m., a very faint sound of a door opening came from the entrance hall.

When Shangqiu Zhu stepped into the bedroom, she was still carrying the coolness of the night breeze.

He moved quietly, but when he saw Yan Shuang on the bed, his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

She lay sprawled on the bed, half her face buried in the pillow, her hair disheveled and scattered over her shoulders. The blanket was completely rolled up under her, leaving only a section of her fair calf exposed, which she unconsciously rubbed against in the cool air conditioning.

Shangqiu Zhu walked to the bedside, bent down and picked her up, gently placing her back in the center of the bed. Then, with one hand, he pulled the crumpled blanket over her and carefully covered her up, tucking her in tightly.

After doing all this, he didn't leave immediately, but sat on the edge of the bed and quietly watched her for a while.

The girl's long, black hair spread out like silk, making her small, delicate face appear even more fair and radiant.

When she occasionally furrows her brow, a very faint wrinkle appears between her eyebrows, which is quickly smoothed out by her steady breathing.

Shangqiu bamboo gently brushed a strand of hair from her cheek.

He was about to get up and go to the bathroom when he caught a glimpse of Yan Shuang's phone screen suddenly lighting up on the side of her pillow.

Zhou Yaqin sent another message: "Why aren't you replying? Did something happen?"

The entire unanswered conversation was displayed on the lock screen, spread out before his eyes.

"How have you been lately? Is there anything unusual at the company?"

Shangqiu Zhu's fingertips paused slightly as he stared at the message, his eyes filled with an unreadable emotion.

A cool, damp night breeze blew in through the half-open window.

A moment later, he reached for his phone, his fingertip hovering over the screen for a second, but he didn't tap it. Instead, he gently placed it face down on the bedside table.

He lowered his eyes to look at Yan Shuang, who was fast asleep, and stood silently for a while.

As he turned to walk towards the bathroom, his eyes turned completely cold.

Yan Shuang frowned in her sleep, her consciousness gently pulled back by the sound of pattering water.

She turned over, half-asleep, feeling as if there was something important she hadn't finished.

Her eyelashes trembled, and she barely opened her eyes. Only a dim yellow night light was on in the bedroom, and light shone through the crack in the bathroom door. Shang Qiuzhu was taking a shower.

She forced herself to sit up, and a sudden inspiration flashed through her muddled mind.

She recalled the parameter optimization of a financial model.

Without even bothering to put on slippers, she stepped barefoot onto the cold floor.

She had to write down that brilliant idea immediately, or she would forget it when she woke up tomorrow.

Yan Shuang hurriedly ran downstairs, went straight to the study, turned on the computer, and the blue light from the screen was extremely dazzling.

She narrowed her eyes, and her fingers instinctively began to tap on the keyboard.

The bathroom door opened, and Shangqiu Zhu walked out, drying her hair, and looked up at the bed.

It's empty.

The bedding was piled haphazardly to one side, and there was a shallow indentation on the pillow, but the person who should have been lying there was nowhere to be seen.

He frowned slightly, his gaze sweeping across the empty bedroom before finally settling on the open door.

The faint sound of keyboard typing could be heard from downstairs.

Shangqiu Zhu put down the towel and went downstairs silently.

The study door at the end of the corridor was half-open. He pushed it open, and the scene before him made him pause.

Yan Shuang was practically lying on the keyboard, her cheek pressed against the cold keys.

Her fingers were still lightly resting on the edge of the keyboard. With her even breathing, she would occasionally touch a key unconsciously, and the computer would make a few sporadic sounds.

The screen displays an incomplete financial model, with densely packed data tables covering the entire interface, and the cursor stubbornly blinking at the end of a series of formulas.

Shangqiu Zhu approached, leaned down to look at her profile where red marks were pressed, and then glanced at the complex algorithm on the screen.

He reached out to close the laptop, but the instant his hand touched the screen, he heard her mumble indistinctly, "...weighting coefficients..."

The outstretched hand froze in mid-air.

He gently supported the back of her neck with one hand, and with the other hand he slipped under her knees and lifted her up from the chair.

Yan Shuang snuggled closer to him, finding a more comfortable position.

He carried her back to the chair and let her sit sideways on his lap.

Yan Shuang's head rested naturally on his shoulder, her hair falling loosely over the collar of his bathrobe.

Shangqiu Zhu wrapped one arm around her waist, while holding the mouse with the other, gently scrolling the page.

Instead of directly modifying her model, he held her with one hand and opened the notes section with the other, quickly typing out a few lines of suggestions.

The cursor blinked as he looked at the model, which was already far more complete than the initial version, and a very faint smile unconsciously appeared on his lips.

Two months ago, she couldn't even set up the basic infrastructure, but now she can handle projects of this complexity.

My gaze swept to the calendar in the lower right corner of the screen. The date two weeks from now was marked with a red circle and a small heart next to it: "Final Report Date".

The person in her arms suddenly stirred, and Yan Shuang groggily opened her eyes.

Shangqiu Zhu tightened his arms around her, then lowered his head and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "Awake?"

Yan Shuang gave a muffled "hmm," her eyes still half-closed, as if she was too sleepy to keep them open.

She snuggled against him, her voice soft: "Shangqiu Zhu... I was dreaming..."

He lowered his head and kissed her slightly parted lips. Yan Shuang was not fully awake yet, and instinctively tilted her head back to respond.

Only when her breathing became erratic did he step back slightly, press his forehead against hers, and ask, "What did you dream about?"

Yan Shuang blinked and finally saw the handsome face so close to her.

"I dreamt... about the day of the report... that I got scolded..."

Shangqiu Zhu frowned slightly. "Who dares to insult you?"

Yan Shuang was so sleepy that her thoughts were wandering, and she mumbled intermittently, "Well... there was a bald judge... who said my model calculations were wrong..."

She wrinkled her nose. "He was so angry he slammed his fist on the table... his wig flew off... and landed in the coffee cup..."

Shangqiu Zhu chuckled softly and kissed her slightly warm cheek: "And then?"

“Then…” Yan Shuang shrank back, tickled by his kisses, “you suddenly pushed the door open and came in…and said…”

She suddenly stopped, because his lips had moved down to her neck.

"What did I say?" Shangqiu Zhu asked vaguely, his hand slipping under the hem of her nightgown.

Yan Shuang was so weak from the kisses that she didn't even notice when the strap of her nightgown slipped down.

Her sweet gardenia scent was enveloped in layers of his cologne.

Yan Shuang felt dizzy and her eyelashes trembled.

She gasped, grabbing his half-wet hair: "You're saying that the employees of the Shang Corporation... are not for others to dictate to..."

"Your dream was quite accurate," Shangqiu Zhu chuckled, and carried her to the desk.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and tilted her head back to meet his lips.

The screen went dark from being inactive for a long time, and the only sound in the room was the sound of our breathing.

"Wait, wait a minute..." Yan Shuang suddenly remembered, "The model hasn't been saved yet..."

Without even looking up, Shangqiu Zhu moved his thin lips downwards and said, "I've already saved it for you."