The warm sunlight gently streamed into the bedroom, and Du Xiaoruo opened her eyes to the sounds of birdsong and babbling brooks.
She stared at the chandelier on the ceiling. Starting today, the live stream is officially over. She is now completely unemployed, which means there are no more tasks, no need to earn money, and she can just lie around and do nothing every day.
Du Xiaoruo turned over, her gaze passing through the light green gauze curtains to the warm morning sun outside the window. Even the silhouette of the big tree cast on the window looked particularly lovely.
Such a beautiful time shouldn't be wasted... She thought for three minutes, then lay back down in her soft blankets and peacefully closed her eyes.
Du Xiaoruo slept until almost 10 a.m. before getting up. After a quick wash, she changed into a comfortable loungewear outfit consisting of a knitted camisole and polka-dot wide-leg pants, and leisurely walked out of her room.
As she reached the stairwell, Du Xiaoruo sensed that the atmosphere at home was a bit strange.
The housekeeper and the chef stood at the kitchen door, their hands clenched and their brows furrowed, looking as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
Du Xiaoruo tiptoed over and whispered behind them, "What are you doing?"
The chef jumped in fright, turned around and saw it was Du Xiaoruo. He then patted his pounding chest and whispered, "..."
"Madam, the master is inside; he's going to make breakfast himself."
Du Xiaoruo, "...Hmm? Why would he be so desperate?"
The butler shrugged helplessly, "We don't know, and we dare not ask."
Qiao An has always had unconventional thinking. Du Xiaoru thought about it and felt that it was not safe to stand at the kitchen door, fearing that there might be an accident such as the kitchen exploding, so she turned around and walked away.
Du Xiaoruo sat down on the sofa, and the housekeeper brought over coffee. She took the coffee, took a sip, and then casually scrolled through her phone.
There was a red dot on the social media app. Du Xiaoruo clicked on the new message, which was from the small group chat that Xia Qing had created last night.
Fan Yue: [I've found out that when Liu Zhi suffered from depression before her death, the psychologist who treated her was Li Zhesheng. After Liu Zhi's death, it was also Li Zhesheng who provided psychological treatment for Mu Hua. I think Li Zhesheng could be a breakthrough.]
Du Xiaoruo felt that Li Zhesheng sounded familiar. After thinking back, she realized that he was probably the father of Qiao Qingmeng's deceased boyfriend.
What a small world! All sorts of invisible networks of relationships have already been laid out in places unseen. Thinking of this, she recalled Zhang Yanshu's insistence on going to another city for a paternity test and admired this woman even more. She was indeed prescient.
Xia Qing also replied with a message in the group.
【Then let's go see Li Zhesheng first and see if we can get any useful information out of him.】
Fan Yue: [Okay, @Xiaoruo, I happen to be near your house, I'll come over to find you.]
Xia Qingye: [Let's meet at Xiaoruo's house at 10:30.]
Du Xiaoruo only saw the message now. She checked the time and realized that Xia Qing and the others should be arriving soon.
She belatedly sent a reply.
Okay, I'll be waiting for you at home.
Just after sending the message, the butler walked over to Du Xiaoruo and stood in front of her with his hands at his sides. "Madam, please move to the dining room for breakfast."
"good."
Du Xiaoruo stood up and looked at the butler strangely. Why did she see a trace of pity on his chubby face?
The breakfast prepared by Qiao An was already laid out on the table: a large bowl of bluish-gray porridge-like substance and two sausage-like things that were neither black nor yellow.
Qiao An had already taken his seat in the dining chair, and he looked at Du Xiaoruo with a kind smile.
"Xiaoruo, this is breakfast I made for you myself: purple cabbage and oatmeal porridge and fried sausage with butter. Have a taste."
Du Xiaoruo swallowed hard, trying to recall what she had done to offend Qiao An that she had to suffer such torture.
Qiao An probably has a father's eye, and couldn't see how bizarre his own creation was, and kept urging Du Xiaoruo to try it quickly.
Du Xiaoruo dared not, for fear that if she ate this stuff, her back would stop aching, her legs would stop hurting, and her heart would stop beating.
Fortunately, the doorbell rang twice at that moment. The housekeeper opened the door, and Fan Yue and Xia Qing arrived.
After changing into the slippers handed to them by the housekeeper, Fan Yue and Xia Qing walked over to the dining table. They were stunned when they saw what was laid out on the table.
Fan Yue looked terrified and pointed at the sausage, screaming, "Who pooped on your dining table?"
Du Xiaoruo, "..."
Coming to her senses, she quickly helped Joan regain her dignity.
"Fan Yue, this isn't the one you're talking about. This is breakfast that Qiao An made herself. It's purple cabbage and oatmeal porridge, and fried sausage."
Fan Yue patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief.
"I was so scared! I thought someone was so wicked."
After saying that, Fan Yue noticed that the atmosphere in the restaurant had become very strange.
Qiao An had a long face, looking like she was about to punch someone. Du Xiaoruo looked at the two plates of unidentified creatures at a loss, her toes already poised to run away in her slippers. Xia Qing was also trembling from holding back her laughter.
Fan Yue realized she might have said something inappropriate, so she tried to make up for it with a remark.
"Is this purple cabbage and oatmeal porridge? Wow, it...it's so good...never mind, I can't keep praising it. Qiao An, if you want to be angry, then be angry. Why can't you just be a CEO? Why do you have to do these silly things? Look at this thing yourself, does it even look like food? If you have this skill, you might as well apply to be a cook for the enemy army during wartime. You could at least contribute to protecting your country."
Then, Du Xiaoruo, Fan Yue, and Xia Qing were kicked out of the door by Qiao An.
After they were kicked out, the door was slammed shut. A few seconds later, the door reopened, and Du Xiaoruo's coat was thrown out.
Du Xiaoruo nimbly caught her coat, and the door slammed shut again with a loud bang.
The trio of unfortunate sisters, "..."
Joan crossed his arms and stared intently at the food on the table, his expression as if he were looking at a company's financial deficit report.
After examining it for a while, he instructed the housekeeper to hand him the phone.
Qiao An took photos of the two dishes with her phone and uploaded them to the company's tech department's grudge group, asking,
Who told me yesterday that making breakfast for someone you like would be incredibly touching?
Secretary Kim [is lost in thought.]
Otto, [If my mom's cooking were even half as good as yours, I wouldn't need to lose weight.]
Yu Pan: [I said those words, but I meant doing something normal, like the breakfast we usually eat, not murder. Thank you.]
Secretary Kim, [You did a good job, don't do it again next time.]
Since Kerr's accident, Li Zhesheng has not been to the hospital. Du Xiaoruo and the other two went to the hospital first, but couldn't find him.
Fan Yue found Li Zhesheng's home address through connections, and after discussing it with Xia Qing, they decided to visit him at home.
The Li family lived in an old villa area in the city. After finding the place, Fan Yue rang the doorbell first.
An older woman's voice came from the access control system on the wall.
"Who are you looking for?"
Fan Yue replied, "Hello, we've come to visit Mr. Li Zhesheng. We were recommended by Professor Xiao Ze."
Xiao Ze was also Fan Yue's classmate. It was said that he had a good relationship with Li Zhesheng. It was he who told Fan Yue the address of Li's family. Fan Yue gave Xiao Ze's name because she was afraid of being turned away.
A little while later, the aunt's voice came through the access control again.
"Dean Li said he doesn't see any guests, please go back."
Fan Yue wanted to say something more, but the other end of the call was abruptly ended.
The three people looked at each other, and Xia Qing asked, "Fan Yue, are you sure Xiao Ze and Li Zhesheng have a good relationship?"
Fan Yue said impatiently, "I don't know either. Didn't Xiao Ze say that himself?"
It was almost noon, and the bright sunshine made the world scorching hot. The weather was so hot that people were starting to feel irritable.
Seeing that Fan Yue and Xia Qing were also speaking in a somewhat unfriendly tone, Du Xiaoruo quickly stepped in to act as a peacemaker.
"There's a coffee shop across the street. I'll treat you to coffee. Let's go in and cool off first."
Feeling comfortable in the air-conditioned coffee shop, the three of them sat down calmly to discuss what to do next.
Fan Yue took a big gulp of her iced Americano and was the first to suggest...
“I think we should put this matter on hold for now. We can visit him directly at the hospital after Li Zhesheng has finished dealing with his family matters and returned to work. I’ve always felt that going directly to his home is not appropriate, especially since his family has just gone through such a crisis. Maybe we should just forget about it for now.”
"No way." Xia Qing immediately objected. "I don't think we can wait any longer. Mu Hua might get into trouble at any time. As a friend, we can't just stand by and watch him get hurt, can we?"
While the two of them were arguing, Du Xiaoruo kept her head down and scrolled through her phone, searching for Li Zhesheng's personal information online.
In the section on Li Zhesheng's relationships, I was surprised to see Zhang Yanshu's name listed as "Friend".
Du Xiaoruo suddenly stood up. "I have to go first. You guys finish your drinks and go back quickly. I've already paid the bill."
After leaving the coffee shop, she first called Qiao An, but no one answered. Then she contacted Secretary Jin and learned that Qiao An was at the company. Du Xiaoruo then took a taxi directly to the Little White Building.
Joanne is approving proposals for the next season's fashion show, her desk piled high with various drawings and documents.
Hearing the knock on the door, his gaze remained fixed on the documents, and his voice betrayed a hint of weariness.
"Please come in."
Du Xiaoruo pushed open the office door and walked in, with Secretary Jin following behind, reminding Qiao An,
"Mr. Qiao, the boss's wife is here."
Qiao An looked up and saw Du Xiaoruo. An unexpected joy welled up in her eyes, but the anger from the morning hadn't subsided. Even though her eyes showed happiness, her mouth remained stubborn.
What are you doing here?
Du Xiaoruo turned her head and looked at Secretary Jin with a smile, "Secretary Jin, you can go ahead and do your work. I need to talk to Qiao An about something."
Secretary Kim had originally planned to stay and read the gossip, then sell it for money. Somewhat disappointed, she nodded and closed the door for them.
Only the two of them remained in the huge CEO's office.
Du Xiaoruo walked over to Qiao An, leaned over the pile of documents in front of him, and smiled ingratiatingly.
"Are you still angry?"
Qiao An didn't say anything, just grabbed a document and continued writing and drawing with her head down. But when she smelled that familiar citrus scent, she was already distracted and didn't even know what she was annotating.
Du Xiaoruo looked down and saw Qiao An's scribbles. She smiled but didn't call him out on it.
She pursed her lips, leaned forward, and kissed Joan's lips.
Xiao Ruo seemed to be born with the ability to kiss. She closed her eyes, raised her hand and pressed down on the back of Qiao An's head. Her wet, hot tongue traced across his sexy lips, slowly probing in and gently yet domineeringly sucking until she had Qiao An breathless from the kiss, before reluctantly letting go.
"Are you still angry?" she asked breathlessly.
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