The next morning, Lu Zhe woke up to the sound of his phone alarm.

I get up, get dressed, brush my teeth, wash my face... I complete these tasks step by step, then pick up my phone and prepare to leave for work.

But when he reached the door and opened it, he froze.

Because he glanced at his phone instinctively.

There's a message on WeChat from my boss, sent an hour ago: "I've called in sick for you; you don't need to come to work today."

What's going on?

What kind of treatment is this?

Lu Zhe froze, feeling somewhat lost and unsure of what to do.

Just then, the door next door opened.

Xue Xiaodie approached and asked with a smile, "You're up early today, shall we go to work together?"

Lu Zhe: "I'm not going to work today..."

Xue Xiaodie was taken aback: "Why?"

Lu Zhe couldn't help but laugh: "Because I worked too late last night, I was given the day off today."

He was laughing, but the smile on the girl's face disappeared.

Because Xue Xiaodie realized something was amiss.

In most companies, no matter how late you work overtime, you usually won't get a full day off. At most, you might not need to come in the morning, or you could clock in a little later. Company bosses aren't charities; why would they give out holidays so readily?

Judging from Lu Zhe's current state, he looked quite energetic and didn't seem unable to work at all. Moreover, he had just said that he was "given leave directly" rather than "I asked for leave"—which meant that the company had taken the initiative to grant him leave.

But since it's unlikely that the company's boss or HR would readily grant him leave, who would voluntarily grant him leave?

Xue Xiaodie immediately thought of President Xia, who was extremely dangerous.

She then recalled what Lu Zhe had said at lunch yesterday: that although President Xia hadn't gone to the company, she had still assigned Lu Zhe a task. Although she didn't know what the task was, there was no doubt that it had caused him to get home very late last night, and then she had given him the day off today.

So what will happen today?

Xue Xiaodie's face stiffened. The alarm bells in her mind had already sounded at the highest level.

Lu Zhe asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Xue Xiaodie barely managed to control her expression, not revealing any major flaws, and said as naturally as possible, "I just suddenly remembered something. It seems that what I drew last night... didn't quite meet the client's requirements."

Lu Zhe: "Does that mean we need to revise the draft?"

Xue Xiaodie: "Yes, it's quite troublesome."

Lu Zhe said with some sympathy, "You have to go to work and draw your own pictures now. Isn't that a bit too tiring?"

Xue Xiaodie gently shook her head, adjusted her glasses, and said softly, "Being a little tired now is so that I can enjoy life comfortably in the future."

Lu Zhe: "That's true, but I still like to lie down occasionally. You go to work, I'm going to rest at home."

"Okay, bye-bye then..."

Xue Xiaodie finished speaking with a smile, but as soon as she turned around, her smile vanished, replaced by an extremely serious expression. Her beautiful peach blossom eyes also revealed a sharp glint, as if she were facing a formidable enemy.

The girl entered the elevator and went downstairs, but did not head towards the software park where the company was located.

She didn't even leave the apartment building.

Xue Xiaodie found a rattan chair near the elevator entrance on the ground floor, sat down, and then opened the company's Dingding system, sending out a leave request without hesitation.

Among the types of leave reasons such as personal leave, sick leave, annual leave, maternity leave, and marriage leave, she selected the first line, personal leave.

Then fill in the specific reason: "My house was burgled."

After sending out the leave request, Xue Xiaodie hesitated for a moment, gritted her teeth, and dialed Tang Qi's mobile phone number.

Before the call connected, the girl murmured to herself, "A fool is always better than a bad person..."

————

Lu Zhe sat in front of the computer and first habitually opened his bookmarks for Python learning materials... but before he could even start looking at them, he abruptly stopped his learning.

"It's a holiday today! I've been working myself to the bone for so many days!"

Lu Zhe decisively closed his favorites, launched Steam, and then found that two of the dozen or so games 'locally installed' needed to be updated.

"Dyson Sphere" and "Ghost Valley Four Directions" were the two games he played the most after he quit his job, but now that they need to be updated, he doesn't even know about them.

After all, these days, when he plays games, he usually does so at Miss Tang's house, playing with her.

"Even playing games has become part of the job? This working life is so fulfilling..."

Lu Zhe clicked "Update" and rubbed his hands together expectantly. While waiting for the game to update, he decided to check out the update content for both games.

He first clicked on the update content of the game "Ghost Valley Four Directions".

He glanced at the dozen or so updates casually and noticed that one of them seemed... somewhat suggestive.

[The description of dates and outings with cultivators of the opposite sex has been optimized, and the probability of being caught in the act by one's cultivation partner has been increased.]

This update note made Lu Zhe fall into deep thought.

Is this game biased against scumbags?

Lu Zhe had always believed that he was definitely not a scumbag, and even in this kind of game, he was a pure player who only wanted one partner. Thinking of this, he became even more determined.

That's right, I'm definitely not a scumbag.

Just then, the phone rang.

He answered the call without checking the caller ID, and then heard a sweet, youthful voice: "Assistant, are you not at work today?"

Lu Zhe was taken aback: "How did you know?"

Tang Qi said happily on the other end of the phone, "I was just talking to Xue Xiaodie, and she told me!"

Lu Zhe: "When did you become able to talk to Xue Xiaodie again...?"

Tang Qi: "Hehe, don't you understand? Girls can easily make friends, and Xiaodie is quite friendly anyway."

Xue Xiaodie, Tang Qi, making friends, friendly?

These keywords left Lu Zhe somewhat bewildered. Based on his observations over the past few days, the two girls didn't seem to get along particularly well, and there were even occasional signs of minor conflicts.

But before he could think any further, Tang Qi said, "Since you're not working today, how about... coming to my house to play games? Don't forget, this is your job too!"

Lu Zhe found himself unable to refute.

He sighed and replied, "Understood, I'm coming right now."

Tang Qi hummed in agreement, raising her voice slightly: "You don't want to?"

Lu Zhe knew that the young lady was just joking with a touch of arrogance, so he casually said, "How could that be? Playing games with you is my duty, it's my responsibility. I'll be there in half an hour."

Tang Qi couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Although he couldn't see the young lady's face at this moment, Lu Zhe could imagine her happy smile—especially her big eyes filled with joy, and the little tiger teeth showing at the corners of her mouth.

————