48 Glass Cabinets

Zhou Qi's phone kept vibrating in his windbreaker pocket. He reached in and turned it off without hesitation, feeling uneasy. Yang Xiao subconsciously raised her hand to smooth his frown. "What's wrong? Is it the hospital or a secret you can't tell me?"

"It's okay, it's probably from the hospital. We'll take care of it tomorrow morning. Don't worry." Zhou Qi took her hand that was placed between his eyebrows and squeezed it soothingly. "The flight tomorrow is too early, so you can rest assured. You don't have to see me off."

"I didn't say I'd give you a gift." Yang Xiao smiled and pulled her hand away. "I really can't give you a gift. I'm going to try importing the data tomorrow. Their technical department is probably busy, so I have to go take a look."

"Okay. Let me take you back to rest. It's quite far from the hotel to your company." Zhou Qi nodded and took her other hand. "Are you cold? I'll take a taxi right away."

"It's not cold, no rush. I want to stay with you a little longer." Yang Xiao felt that people really do change. She used to be unable to say such cheesy words, but now she can blurt them out naturally, and can also observe Zhou Qi's expression after hearing it. Well, the expression is still the same, first stunned, then smiled.

"Go back and have a good rest. I'll come when I'm free."

"I'll come find you next time. It's almost time to go back to see Uncle Zhou." Yang Xiao felt a little breathless at the mention of Zhou Daye, as if her trachea had narrowed, making it difficult for oxygen to get in. Moisture welled up in her eyes. If Uncle Zhou were still around and knew about her and Zhou Qi...would he be angry or happy?

Zhou Qi fell silent again, looking as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

Yang Xiao opened her mouth, but didn't ask. He'd agreed to be allies, sharing the good and the bad. He'd tell her what he wanted to tell her. Why should she keep asking about what he was holding back, only to cause more trouble? He should know that trust like that is much easier to destroy than to build.

The reluctance to part, tinged with the test of trust and the pain of Uncle Zhou's passing, led them to say goodbye in silence, without even a hug. Yang Xiao suddenly recalled a concept in economics: adverse selection amidst information asymmetry. She was like a buyer in the used car market, trading her heart for a used car whose quality she couldn't tell.

Yang Xiao turned around and went upstairs without looking at him again. She had just given him the chance to confess.

As soon as Yang Xiao arrived at the company on Monday, she ran into Liu Xingyang downstairs. She was wearing a navy blue plaid shirt and still carrying a gray computer bag. She waved at her and said, "Good morning, Sister Yang."

"Good morning, Yingyang. Why are you up so early?" Yang Xiao noticed he yawned again after he finished speaking, and asked casually, "Didn't you get enough rest? Go lie down on the sofa for lunch break. We have the data for today, so the workload should be quite heavy."

"I'm so worried I can't sleep. What if this batch of data doesn't work?" Liu Xingyang sighed and looked at his reflection in the elevator window. His eyes were dark. "POC is just the first step after all."

"Things are always solved step by step. Don't worry, don't be too stressed, we're here for you." Yang Xiao patted his shoulder, forced a smile, and comforted him, "Actually, I was just taking a deep breath downstairs. I was nervous too."

Liu Xingyang nodded, then turned and looked at Yang Xiao in the mirror with a surprised look, "Sister Yang, I thought you and Mr. Yang would never show or tell us no matter how nervous you were."

Yang Xiao grinned, unable to hold back her laughter, and admitted frankly, "Yeah, isn't this just to comfort you? Hahahaha, just kidding. I don't know how things are going over there with Boss Yang, but I'm just as nervous, excited, and worried as you are. After all, to put it bluntly, I invested so much money in this."

After hearing this, Liu Xingyang's tense expression relaxed a little. "Don't worry, Sister Yang. This money won't be wasted. I'll make more in the future."

Yang Xiao hummed a nod and didn't reply. Seeing his expression soften, she knew her words had worked. As for Xing Yang's promise of making more money in the future, she hadn't really considered it. Right now, if she could just recoup her investment, she'd be incredibly lucky.

Yang Zhi finally seemed to be more normal today. He wasn't deliberately making small talk, nor was he giving Yang Xiao any ambiguous glances. His outfit, however, had changed from Sanlitun style to Haidian style, switching from his usual trendy male style to that of an artistic intellectual. He wore a light navy blue sweater and brown suit pants.

Yang Xiao wished he was more normal. As for his clothes, that didn't matter; he wasn't wearing them for her to see. At lunch break, Yang Xiao moved back into the office and placed a money tree in the space where the green ivy used to be. This was a good thing; after all, if she saw some gorgeous flowers the moment she entered, she would have turned away.

"Does this outfit look good on me?" Yang Xiao had just put her things down when she heard Yang Zhi's sudden question. She subconsciously turned around and saw that there was no one inside or outside the newly closed glass door. Could he be talking to her? What's going on again?

"Does it look good, Yang Xiao?" Yang Zhi raised his head. This time, he didn't even give her the chance to pretend he didn't hear, and asked by name.

"Okay." Yang Xiao said honestly. After all, Yang Zhi was quite conspicuous in a crowd. With a figure like that, even a sack would look better than others. But why bother with this? It wasn't like she was going to a fashion show after work, so she added, "I have to work."

"As long as it looks good, I have to work too." After saying that, Yang Zhi began to type quickly, looking very busy.

Yang Xiao swallowed the rhetorical question that was about to burst out of her mind, nimbly slipping under the desk to plug in her computer. As she bent over, she saw Yang Zhi wearing a pair of student-like black canvas shoes, a departure from his usual flashy footwear. What a strange sight. Had someone possessed him? But she didn't have time to dwell on it. She quickly plugged in the power cord and started working on her computer.

While Yang Xiao was getting some water, she glanced back at the technical department. Xing Yang was glued to his computer, while Xiao Fei leaned back in the chair behind him, stroking a gel pen with his mouth. Both of them had the same serious expression. Yang Xiao stood at the doorway, silent, until Xiao Fei noticed her and nodded through the glass door.

Yang Xiao pointed to her office and left with the cup of water.

"How's it going over there?" Yang Zhi said lightly without raising his head when he saw her come in, as if asking if she had eaten.

"I don't know. I'll ask them when they're almost done with their work."

"I saw you and Zhou Qi over the weekend. We were over at Beihai." Yang Zhi's tone remained calm as usual, but he dropped a bolt of lightning on Yang Xiao, "And we were holding hands. Yang Xiao, are you in love? He told me last time that you were his sister, and I actually believed him. It turns out that the meaning of "sister" in your context is quite different from what I understand."

Yang Xiao pulled out her office chair. The usually subtle sound of the wheels scraping against the ground became incredibly sharp in this situation, as if she was taking out her anger on company assets. "So what does this have to do with you? Who are you to judge me? We're just partners."

"Yes, we are just partners. I certainly can't control what happens to you, but the company is going to be listed in the future, and I hope that Mr. Yang can set an example and not reveal any gossip that will affect the company's stock price." Yang Zhi still didn't look at her, as if he was talking to a computer, but his words became more and more sharp.

"Thanks for the reminder." Yang Xiao was too lazy to argue with him about these inexplicable things. Going public, angel investors really are as angelic as they are now. "You don't have to pick on me with these things."

"Challenging you? I just feel sorry for my money." Yang Zhi closed the entertainment hot search page and clicked on Plants vs. Zombies. He urgently needed something to divert his attention. He was very irritated. To be precise, this irritation started when he saw Yang Xiao and Zhou Qi holding hands.

He couldn't understand how his adopted brother could be with his own sister. How could Yang Xiao still smile in such a disgusting and twisted relationship? That smile was so glaring to him from across the street. If someone like Zhou Qi could win Yang Xiao's love, why couldn't he? Besides, Zhou Qi's whole body that day was no better than a watch he'd grabbed from his drawer.

"If you really care about money, you should close your 4399 account." Yang Xiao hadn't intended to expose him, telling him that the glass behind him reflected light, and from her end she could see the pea shooter on his computer screen rhythmically spitting out peas. But he was the one who insisted on being so stubborn today, insisting on saying such cold and unpleasant words.

Yang Zhi suddenly stood up from his chair. The impact caused the chair to slide backwards and hit the glass cabinet with a dull thud. Then, the sundries inside the cabinet shook and shattered against the cabinet door. "What's so good about him? How can he be a good person if he can do this to you even though we grew up together? Yang Xiao, I thought you were smart."

Yang Xiao raised her eyebrows slightly, looking at Yang Zhi, whose emotions were almost out of control, without any emotional fluctuations. Instead, she gently crossed her right leg over her left leg, as if she was not a participant in the conversation, but more like an observer of the quarrel. "Are you done? Go out and calm down for a while. Close the door, I have work to do."

Yang Zhi walked straight towards the door, paused, and then turned back.

Before Yang Xiao could react, she felt a sharp pain in her left arm. Yang Zhi's fingers gripped her upper arm like a pair of iron pliers, his nails digging into her flesh. Then, mercilessly, he yanked her from the chair. The chair clattered to the ground with a resounding thud of something heavy falling. Her feet felt light, and she felt a wave of nausea and fear and a sense of loss of control.

He roughly dragged Yang Xiao in front of him, his eyes filled with jealousy and anger. He gritted his teeth and asked her, "Don't you like me dressed like this? Do you like Zhou Qi and others like him? How am I not as good as him? What is wrong with me?"

With that, he slammed her against the wall in a fit of rage. Yang Xiao's upper body slammed uncontrollably into the glass cabinet, her lower back slamming hard against the door handle with a thud. Waves of excruciating pain radiated from her waist throughout her body, causing her vision to go black and a cold sweat to form. Inside the glass cabinet, there was a clanging and banging noise.

Yang Xiao leaned against the cabinet, trying to steady her breathing. However, her face turned pale from the pain, and the look she gave Yang Zhi became unfamiliar and cold. Then, in a calm tone as if nothing had happened, she asked him:

"Are you going to hit me next because you're angry and embarrassed?"