Chapter 20

Not long after the movie started, Ji Mingfei's shoulder suddenly slumped as Chu Yue leaned against her and fell asleep. She slept for the entire movie, only waking up when the end credits rolled.

Chu Yue rubbed her sleepy eyes, "Is it over?"

"There's an Easter egg too." Ji Mingfei rubbed his sore and numb arm.

Chu Yue yawned and explained, "I get sleepy as soon as I watch a movie."

"..."

Then why did you suggest watching a movie?

The lights in the screening room came on, and Chu Yue stood up, swaying her tired and sore back, and asked, "What do you want to buy? Let's go shopping."

"I don't need to buy anything." Ever since witnessing Chu Yue's extravagant spending at the supermarket, Ji Mingfei vowed never to shop with her again. What if Chu Yue suddenly decided she wanted to buy a stroller or crib for the baby? She couldn't possibly repay such a huge favor.

"We only bought clothes last time, let's go buy a stroller today! And a crib and formula too," Chu Yue suggested.

"..." Ji Mingfei quickly stopped her, "My bed is big, so I don't need to buy a crib. We won't need the stroller and formula for a long time, so let's wait until closer to the due date to buy them."

Chu Yue explained to Ji Mingfei in a very serious tone: "Every year there are many cases of infants suffocating to death because their parents and children sleep in the same bed, so this must be taken seriously."

"Is that so?" Ji Mingfei was shocked, and immediately changed his mind and urged, "It's still early, let's go take a look at the cribs first!"

Because Chu Yue had done her homework beforehand, after leaving the movie theater, she took Ji Mingfei straight to the largest maternity and baby chain store on the commercial street.

As soon as he entered, Ji Mingfei was drawn to the various adorable cribs in the hall.

Chu Yue pushed the handle of a double-decker stroller and waved to the shop assistant who was about to walk over to introduce the product. The shop assistant understood and immediately stepped aside, letting the customer choose on her own.

"Which one have you taken a fancy to?" Chu Yue asked as she walked up behind her.

Ji Mingfei shook his head and whispered to Chu Yue, away from the shop assistant, "The things here are too expensive."

Chu Yue casually picked up the price tag of the stroller in front of her and said, "When you go back to the marketing department, it'll just be a month's bonus."

"..."

That's so easy to say.

"Here's what you're looking for. Tell me which style you like, and I'll ask someone to get you a factory price."

Ji Mingfei looked up, "How much difference could there be?"

"Half and half!" Chu Yue made up.

Ji Mingfei covered her mouth and asked in a low voice, "Is the profit margin really that high?"

"This isn't a convenience store. Think about the projects you've handled before, which one didn't have a high profit margin?"

Ji Mingfei glanced at the price of the crib closest to her and hesitated, saying, "I'll think about it."

This time, Chu Yue said nothing.

The next day, the crib that Ji Mingfei had chosen was delivered to his door.

Chu Yue rushed over from next door immediately and signed for the goods at Ji Mingfei's door.

"What's going on... When did you buy this? I haven't decided yet!"

Chu Yue returned the pen to the staff member, smiled as she walked past Ji Mingfei, and said, "Take your time to think it over. It can be returned or exchanged within seven days without any reason."

"..."

Ever since buying this crib, Chu Yue seems to have started some strange shopping spree, and Ji Mingfei receives all sorts of bizarre and unusual baby products every day.

At first, it was all normal: baby walkers, diapers, bottles, pacifiers, teething rings. Later, it turned into remote-controlled toy cars, game consoles, early childhood education machines, and children's bicycles.

They'll schedule it for children before they start school at age 6!

Ji Mingfei looked helplessly at Chu Yue, who was sitting on the living room carpet, engrossed in studying the remote-controlled helicopter. It was clearly just her own idea to play around with it!

"Ah!" Chu Yue suddenly exclaimed, jumping and bouncing around the ceiling light, "I flew up there!"

Without a word, Ji Mingfei turned around, went to the balcony, grabbed a clothesline pole, and quickly brought the helicopter down. The helicopter swooped down headfirst, its left wing successfully disintegrating upon landing.

Chu Yue stared at the plane wreckage: "..."

Two knocks on the door broke the awkward atmosphere, and Ji Mingfei quickly slipped away to open it.

A moment later, she came over with difficulty, pushing a huge box, and asked Chu Yue with barely suppressed anger, "What did you buy again? My house is practically a warehouse."

Chu Yue thought for a moment and said uncertainly, "It seems to be... a BMW."

Ji Mingfei: "??"

Chu Yue deftly opened the drawer of the TV cabinet, took out a utility knife, and began to unpack the boxes.

When a scaled-down, brand-new convertible BMW was unloaded from the box, Ji Mingfei was completely speechless.

"Not bad, right?" Chu Yue boasted to Ji Mingfei.

Ji Mingfei completely ignored her and turned to go back to her bedroom. She paced back and forth in the bedroom, trying to find something to do to pass the time. When she looked down, she saw that the toys on the floor were so numerous that she could hardly step on them.

Buzzing—

Hearing the "noise," Ji Mingfei turned around and saw that Chu Yue had shoved him into the small car and was driving arrogantly into the bedroom.

The poor car was barely recognizable; its four wheels were crushed and almost deformed. Completely unconcerned about the damage, Chu Yue happily honked the horn—beep!

Then, she and her car were kicked out of the house.

…

The short holiday is over.

After returning to work at the start of the new year, Chu Yue, busy with work, immediately forgot about her shopping addiction. If it weren't for the mountain of toys piled up in Ji Mingfei's house, she would have thought she was having a fantastical dream.

Every time she encountered Chu Yue, who was always serious and worked diligently at the company, she couldn't help but wonder if this woman had a split personality.

The woman who would drive her remote-controlled car under the bed and search for it on the floor without a care for her image seems to have disappeared as the holiday ended.

That day, Ji Mingfei was taking a break from her work in the office as usual. Around noon, someone came to the general affairs department and asked for her, saying that General Manager Chu wanted to see her in his office.

Ji Mingfei checked her phone immediately, but there was no message from Chu Yue. Chu Yue usually contacted her via text or phone; this was the first time she'd sent someone to notify her. She didn't think much of it and got up to go upstairs.

The door to the general manager's office was ajar. Ji Mingfei knocked on the door first, and after waiting for a while without hearing any response, she pushed the door open and went in.

The office door slowly closed, revealing a glamorous woman standing behind it. She suddenly hugged Ji Mingfei from behind.

Ji Mingfei thought Chu Yue was up to something again, and after her initial surprise, she smiled and asked, "Did you call me up here for something?"

The woman chuckled in her ear, gently kneading her chest with her hand, and said, "Nice figure, no wonder she hasn't spent New Year's holidays at home for you."

"..."

It's not Chu Yue!!

Ji Mingfei tried to break free from her embrace, but the other woman grabbed her wrist and pressed it against the door. She nervously looked behind her and asked, "Who are you?"

The woman pressed herself against Ji Mingfei's back and told her, word by word, "Shen Qing'an."

…

Chu Yue had just finished a video conference when she opened the door and bumped into her anxious assistant pacing around outside.

"Boss, something bad has happened! President Shen has come to Shantou and is currently in your office!"

"Why is she here? When did this happen?"

“An hour ago,” the assistant paused before continuing, “as soon as President Shen arrived, he called Mrs. Ji to your office.”

*

The door to the general manager's office was pushed open roughly, and the chair behind the desk, which had its back to the door, slowly turned around.

Shen Qing'an clasped her hands together, rested her elbows on the armrests, and smiled brightly at Chu Yue, who had just entered the room.

"You're done so quickly?"

Seeing that Shen Qing'an was the only one in the office, Chu Yue quickly calmed down and asked, "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

"Isn't the point of inspection work to be done without anyone noticing? That's what you taught me."

Chu Yue walked towards Shen Qing'an. "So, you came here this time to investigate me?"

"I just want to know, what kind of job would make President Chu rush back to the company on New Year's Eve?" Shen Qing'an looked at her with a half-smile, her words carrying a hidden meaning.

"You've got the answer you wanted."

"She's definitely a beautiful omega! But there's still one thing I don't understand. That child...could it be yours?"

Chu Yue calmly replied, "She said no."

Shen Qing'an was even more confused. She smiled and asked, "What did you see in her?"

Chu Yue said with a hint of regret, "We're not in the kind of relationship you're thinking of."

Just then, the assistant suddenly rushed in. He immediately sensed the tense atmosphere in the office, but disregarding Shen Qing'an's presence, he whispered to Chu Yue in front of her, "Boss, Madam Ji isn't in the office, and no one else has seen her either."

Chu Yue looked at Shen Qing'an again, "Where is he?"

Shen Qing'an did not answer her question. Instead, he presented Chu Yue with a new choice: "Will you resign from your position as general manager of Shanhe on your own initiative, or should I notify the human resources department to fire her?"

"Where is she?" Chu Yue asked again.

Shen Qing'an was defeated in her confrontation with Chu Yue. She looked at the filing cabinet next to her, and that glance almost frightened the little assistant behind Chu Yue.

The assistant slipped and sprinted toward the filing cabinet, but Chu Yue didn't even glance at it, her eyes fixed on Shen Qing'an, who was determined to succeed, behind the desk.

"It seems you're not worried at all," Shen Qing'an said with a smile.

Chu Yue said with certainty, "You won't do anything illegal or criminal."

Shen Qing'an shook her head. "This time is different."

Chu Yue didn't reply. Although she didn't know what Shen Qing'an would do after losing her mind, she was certain she wouldn't give up everything she had worked so hard to achieve.

Shen Qing'an stood up with a relaxed expression, walked around the desk to Chu Yue, pointed to the little assistant who was squatting in front of the filing cabinet looking empty-handed, and said, "Is it too much to ask to borrow your assistant to take me back to the hotel?"

"Deng Jie".

The assistant closed the cabinet door, stood beside Shen Qing'an as Chu Yue instructed, and said respectfully, "President Shen, I'll see you off."

Shen Qing'an tossed her bag to Deng Jie and said with a smile as she walked away, "Fuyue Hotel."