Chapter 46

When Shen Man learned that her daughter had been transferred from Shantou, she stormed into Shen Qing'an's office and confronted her, "An'an, why didn't you tell me you were calling Qianqian back?"

Shen Qing'an leaned back in her chair, neither getting up to greet him nor having her secretary bring her tea or water. She said unhurriedly, "It's just a normal job transfer. The personnel department is in charge, and it's just a matter of following the procedures. Even I only found out about it recently."

"The appointment of the general manager doesn't require your approval?"

“Aunt, the Shanhe project has been losing money for a long time. If we were to bring this up in public, it wouldn’t be as simple as just being transferred to another position.”

"you…!"

Shen Manqi couldn't utter a single word.

“Your aunt isn’t good at business, but the shares she holds are enough for you to live comfortably. Why don’t you choose a place you like to retire? I can give you an extra sum of money.”

Unable to reason with Shen Qian about the matter, Shen Man had no choice but to bring up old grievances, "Qing An, if I hadn't helped you back then, would you be where you are today? And now you want to kick me out of the company?"

“It’s because you have too big an appetite, Aunt. I was afraid of hurting our relationship, so I made arrangements for your remaining years in advance.” Shen Qing’an took out a stack of equity transfer agreements from the drawer and threw them in front of Shen Man, saying, “How many shares do you still need? How about I give you some?”

"..."

Shen Man gripped her handbag tightly, gritting her teeth.

Finally, Shen Man, who was at a disadvantage in the confrontation, slammed the door shut and left in her high heels.

Shen Qing'an closed her eyes and slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

…

A month later, Qin Liang, the human resources manager, handed Chu Yue's resignation letter to Shen Qing'an's desk.

"I can't handle this."

After seeing who the applicant was, Shen Qing'an laughed in anger, "If she wants to resign, she can resign. Does she think this is a vegetable market? Let her tell me herself!"

Qin Liang picked up the phone on his desk and pretended to be clueless, saying, "Shall I dial for you?"

Shen Qing'an glared at him, and Qin Liang slowly put the receiver back and said respectfully, "I'll go right away."

A moment later, there was a knock on the office door.

Shen Qing'an stared at the door, deliberately remaining silent. The person outside knocked three times, and then there was no response.

My phone vibrated.

Shen Qing'an picked it up and looked at it angrily.

[Mr. Shen, aren't you in your office? I brought Shanhe's financial statement.]

The message was sent by the secretary.

“…” Shen Qingan frowned, picked up the phone on the table and called her secretary in.

Ding ding.

The knocking sounded again.

Shen Qing'an was very annoyed and didn't want to control her emotions, so she turned her chair towards the French windows and said, "Come in."

Pushing open the door, Chu Yue walked in carrying the financial report she had taken from her secretary and placed it on Shen Qing'an's desk.

Not hearing the secretary leave, Shen Qing'an said with her back to her, "I'm fine now, you can go out!"

Chu Yue, as always, couldn't speak properly. "Why don't you take a look at who I am first?"

"..."

The chair slowly turned around, and Shen Qing'an looked at Chu Yue across the table, momentarily bewildered.

Chu Yue was dressed in loose casual clothes, her hair was neatly pinned up in a bun, and she wore no other decorations except for the ring on her hand. Even her makeup style had changed.

How long has it been since they last saw each other?

"Didn't you ask me to come?" Chu Yue looked down at the resignation letter on the table. "This is what I submitted. Have you signed it? Hurry up and sign it. I'll give it to Qin Liang while I'm at it."

It seems like nothing has changed.

"Why did you resign?" Shen Qing'an asked.

Chu Yue smiled sheepishly and said, "It's easy to get a higher salary by changing jobs, and you earn more the more you switch!"

"Haven't I given you enough? Where else can you get such a high annual salary! And shares too!" Shen Qing'an understood that Chu Yue was making up excuses to leave more gracefully. But she wouldn't let Chu Yue have her way; she was determined to lay everything out on the table.

Chu Yue tugged at her earlobe, saying with difficulty, "I haven't even submitted my resume yet! If you don't let me go, I can't look for a job. What if people say I leaked trade secrets?"

Shen Qing'an had no choice but to say angrily, "I won't approve it! Pack your things and get ready to go to Shanhe!"

"Shanhe?"

"The mess that the person you recommended made, if you don't clean it up, who will? You want to bring your wife and kids along, I'll approve it, so you won't think I'm deliberately separating you two," Shen Qing'an said aggressively, her hands crossed on the table.

“I’ve looked at that; it’s not a big problem. A purchasing company had a cash flow problem before, and we can help them out.”

Shen Qing'an persisted, saying, "Then you can manage the funds yourself. You can submit a report to the finance department about how much money you need, and I'll sign it off."

"..."

This is just to prevent her from leaving.

"Is there anything else?" Shen Qing'an was about to send him away.

Chu Yue patted the financial report she brought in and said, "The secretary gave it to you and brought it in for her."

Just as she was about to leave, Shen Qing'an said again, "Take your resignation letter with you."

Chu Yue glanced at the resignation letter on the table. "Keep it for now, after I've dealt with the Shanhe matter..."

Beep!

The paper shredder is started.

Shen Qing'an put the resignation report in right in front of her, and it instantly turned into a pile of scraps of paper.

Chu Yue reassured herself, "It's okay, I have a backup."

…

After get off work, Chu Yue made a last-minute decision to take his wife out for French food.

They sat in a quiet corner, listening to beautiful piano music, enjoying exquisite food and red wine in the glow of flickering candlelight.

"Are you going bankrupt tomorrow? Coming to such an expensive place to eat." The pragmatist Ji Mingfei almost left after looking at the menu.

"This might be our last meal together, so of course I want you to eat well." Chu Yue picked up her wine glass, clinked it against Ji Mingfei's glass, and started drinking.

Ji Mingfei was a little flustered by what she said, "What do you mean by 'last meal'? Does the company want you to take the blame? I haven't heard of any major problems with the project recently!"

"I'm going back to Shantou for a while." Chu Yue didn't intend to hide Shen Qing'an's arrangements and explained to Ji Mingfei, "Shen Qian is too young and has no experience in managing a company. At first, I was just doing her a favor. I just didn't expect Shen Qing'an to be so determined to fall out with her aunt. Plus, I'm going to resign, so she pulled this stunt. But don't worry, I'll be back soon."

"Do you really have to sever your long-standing friendship with President Shen? Maybe... she doesn't want you to leave?" Ji Mingfei was wavering because of Shen Qing'an's purpose in sending Chu Yue to Shanhe. If she was just being wary of her, why not just agree to her resignation?

The usually insightful Chu Yue got stuck on this one thing.

“Even if she doesn’t want me to leave now, problems will arise later. It would be awkward if I left then!” Chu Yue insisted on her opinion.

Ji Mingfei couldn't persuade her, so he could only let her do as she pleased.

A few days later, Ji Mingfei helped Chu Yue pack her luggage and saw her off for her second job at Shanhe.

Returning to the old place, without Ji Mingfei, Shanhe felt like an eternity, both at work and in life.

The employees of Shanhe had mixed feelings about their old leader, a mixture of joy and worry. Especially after being led by a young leader like Shen Qian who wasn't focused on the essentials, they were even more intimidated by a pragmatist like Chu Yue. The only positive thing was that under Chu Yue's leadership, the company turned a profit, and bonuses increased.

After get off work, Chu Yue's only pleasure is video chatting with Ji Mingfei, and occasionally she can see the children.

"It's getting cold, be careful not to catch a cold, and wear more clothes as needed. Drink less alcohol, have fewer social engagements, don't drink and drive, and don't drive when you're tired..." Ji Mingfei reminds you almost every day.

Chu Yue laughed as she was being talked about, "You're not even thirty yet and you've already become as nagging as my mother! What will you be like when June gets a little older?"

"Who are you calling nagging? Caring about you is nagging! If I didn't care about you, would you have grown up like this? You're just as heartless as your father!" Chu's mother suddenly appeared in the frame, and Chu Yue's smile froze. Ji Mingfei was pushed aside and remained silent, watching Chu Yue get scolded.

"Mom... what are you doing at home? Hahaha." Chu Yue stared at the cabinet behind Ji Mingfei, making sure again and again that this was her home, not her parents' new house.

Ji Mingfei explained with a smile, "Mom came to pick up June's change of clothes. Didn't you buy a lot before? June has grown a little bit recently."

"I really want to grow up with our June too!" Chu Yue said coquettishly, lying on the sofa. "Wife, I'll come back to see you when I have a holiday, just hang in there a little longer!"

“What do I have to insist on? When you’re not home, I leave work on time every day, have dinner, and play with June until dark before going home. I have time to play on my phone after showering, go to bed and wake up on time, without having to stay up until midnight, and without being bitten by you before I’m fully awake in the morning.” Ji Mingfei spoke with a happy expression, showing no desire for Alph Sulfate.

Chu Yue felt inexplicably sad, "Does my wife not need me anymore...?"

Ji Mingfei touched his neck and said, "I've already done a permanent marking, so I'm not easily affected by other Alph hormones. As long as you don't hang around in front of me, I don't need any inhibitors."

"..."

Suddenly it became even more useless.

"When do you get your holidays? You should be able to come back before the Lunar New Year!" Ji Mingfei asked, flipping through the calendar on his phone.

"It'll be soon after New Year's Day. Chinese New Year is early this year, and I'll try my best to fly back to you and June as soon as possible!"

"Okay, then you should get some rest!"

Goodnight, my wife.

…

"Starting today, Takito City will conduct a citywide epidemiological investigation..."

"Cases of novel coronavirus infection have appeared across the country, confirming human-to-human transmission. General medical masks can block most droplet transmission..."

"In order to ensure victory in the fight against the epidemic, the Takito City government decided to lock down the city, and all public transportation was suspended at 10:00 AM on January 23..."

At the highway entrance, cars were lined up in a long queue. Deng Jie stuck his head out of the window and anxiously honked the horn.

"Boss, I don't think we can leave. Should we go back? If we get stuck on the road, and Takito can't get back, and his family won't take him in, we'll be wandering the highway..."

Chu Yue's phone suddenly rang; it was Ji Mingfei calling.

"Where are you? I heard Takito is going to lock down the city, you didn't come out, did you?"

"The highway exit is blocked, and I can't get out even if I want to."

Ji Mingfei urged anxiously, "Hurry back! The highway to our home is closed, and no one coming back from Takito is allowed to enter the city!"