"It's a secret. You'll find out after you see your company."

She hadn't originally planned to take him so soon, but since the time and place were perfect today, she might as well take him there.

Shang Duojin didn't ask any more questions about it. Instead, he asked her if it would be convenient for her to explain why she didn't celebrate her birthday.

Is it because you have too few friends and life isn't lively enough?

The little green snake, Thunder, could tell that Shu Qingqing didn't really want to talk about this topic. It flicked its tail at Shang Duojin's neck, signaling him not to ask any more questions.

If someone really wanted to say it, they would have said it themselves before.

But to its surprise, Shu Qingqing told Shang Duojin the answer after a moment of contemplation.

She lowered her eyelids, her voice hoarse: "Because today is also the anniversary of my father's death."

Shang Duojin: "?!"

He immediately panicked, never expecting to be so unlucky as to bring up someone's painful past. He hurriedly apologized, "I'm so sorry, I really didn't know!!"

Shu Qingqing shook her head: "It's nothing. There's nothing wrong with talking about the fact that my father passed away."

At this point, the aircraft was almost at its destination, and Shu Qingqing swallowed the words she wanted to say.

Shang Duojin got off the aircraft, still looking a little bewildered.

The little green snake, Thunder, sighed inwardly, thinking, "Why bother? I should have just listened to it from the start."

Compared to them, Shu Qingqing herself seemed completely unaffected, and after getting off the aircraft, she was still reassuring Shang Duojin not to worry too much.

"Now the main purpose is to go and see your small, run-down company, and see how the renovation is going."

Mentioning this immediately stirred up Shang Duojin's emotions.

"It definitely won't be too bad, I guarantee you'll be blown away when you see it!"

"Really? Then let's go in and take a look."

Seeing that Shang Duojin's mood had improved a bit, Shu Qingqing couldn't help but smile, and then followed him.

Merchants are the wealthiest people in the entire galaxy. Shang Duojin is also the only son in his family. Even if he starts his own business, he will still have a lot of investment funds at his disposal.

Shu Qingqing followed him through the area that looked like an abandoned zone. After taking the light elevator to the sixth floor, she was almost speechless when she saw the place that resembled a royal institution.

"You... this is the most advanced identification system?"

Shu Qingqing strode to the eye-tracking entrance, and after the scan was complete, she quickly walked to the machine that could perform daily rapid physical examinations, exclaiming in surprise, "Isn't this the latest physical examination machine developed by CSD Company? You even have this?!"

Shang Duojin followed behind Shu Qingqing, watching her run to one machine to exclaim in amazement, and then to another to ask questions, her nose practically pointing to the sky.

"Hmph, what do you say? I told you, I can definitely dazzle your eyes!"

Looking at the remaining pile of advanced machines, Shu Qingqing remembered a very important question: "Wait a minute, how much did you invest in all this stuff? Will you be able to recoup your investment?!"

Having so many good machines is one thing, but whether you can break even is another.

Investing so much right away could result in a huge loss if it doesn't work out.

Shang Duojin was so focused on making the company look impressive that he completely forgot about the real business.

After touching his nose, he stubbornly insisted, "Of course it's possible. Once the company's benefits are good, how could the employees we recruit be bad? Don't worry, my older sister runs an entertainment company, and she'll teach me how to do it."

He is a newcomer to this industry and definitely needs a knowledgeable senior to guide him.

If he hadn't mentioned it, Shu Qingqing would have forgotten just how formidable his older sisters were.

Nodding in understanding, she then thought of herself.

Given her current circumstances, if she hadn't met Qiao Mei and hadn't been admitted to the Federal Academy, she might never have had any interaction with someone like Shang Duojin in her entire life.

Even if they were to be friends now, she'd already be climbing the social ladder...

Shang Duojin had no idea what Shu Qingqing was thinking. He then took her to see the company's overall layout and the studio where she would be staying.

"You can use this area as you see fit. I've seen your profile. Since you were able to become the top streamer on X site, you must have had a lot of assistants. I've already recruited five for you, but they're still on probation. Whether they can come over and let you see them depends on their performance."

After speaking, Shang Duojin cleared his throat, took out the gift he had prepared in advance from his smart bracelet, and handed it to her: "This is a birthday present for you tonight. When Sister Qiao and the others sent the message, I forgot about it. Take it, consider it a welcome gift for your new employee. You can't refuse it, or you'll be disrespecting me!"

Shu Qingqing looked at the exquisite wooden box in his hand. Without even opening it, she knew that the contents were very valuable.

A hint of inferiority flashed in her eyes. As she accepted the gift, she said half-jokingly, "I'm sorry to have troubled you, Mr. Shang. I wonder how much this gift cost you?"

Shang Duojin touched his nose and said honestly, "It wasn't much. I bought it for you with a portion of my allowance. It cost a little over five million interstellar coins, which isn't too expensive."

After saying that, he remembered that Shu Qingqing's savings of more than two years amounted to only a little over five million yuan. He immediately slapped his mouth in frustration, wondering why he always spoke without thinking.

Shu Qingqing had expected it to be expensive, but she hadn't expected it to be exactly this price.

The smile on his face froze for a moment before quickly returning to normal.

"I see. That's really too much trouble. I'll definitely keep it safe when I get back."

She didn't even open the wooden box to see what was inside. Even though she knew it was a small amount of money for Shang Duojin, she still felt embarrassed at that moment.

Shang Duojin, being straightforward, didn't notice Shu Qingqing's unusual behavior and, relieved, told her she didn't need to do that.

"I'll give you an even better one for your birthday next year. What's the point of buying something if you just take it home and treat it like a statue? Alright, open it and see if you're satisfied. The materials may have cost this much, but I'm the one who made it! This is the first time I've ever made something by hand."

"You made this yourself?" The girl looked surprised, chewed the lollipop in her mouth, and reached out to open the wooden box.

Inside lay a turquoise emerald necklace, its entire surface shimmering green, and the necklace was also inlaid with many silver diamonds.

However, upon closer inspection, one can see that some of the diamonds are not neatly arranged, indicating that they were set artificially.

"Take a look and see what you think. If you don't like it, I'll take it back and see how to re-set it."

The little green snake, Thunder, had long sensed Shang Duojin's feelings for Shu Qingqing, and seized the opportunity to help, saying, "It shouldn't be a problem. Master, you spent three nights setting it up, so there shouldn't be any major issues."