Step by step
The next morning, sunlight streamed into the living room through the gaps in the curtains.
After waking up, Su Wanwan rubbed her slightly messy hair.
Shen Qingyi and Gu Yanxi arrived on time, moving around as if this were their second home.
"Shiyao, it's time to get up!" The three of them walked to Qu Shiyao's bedroom door in tacit agreement and knocked gently.
After waiting for a while, there was no movement from inside the door.
Su Wanwan frowned and knocked a few more times with more force: "Qu Shiyao?"
It remained completely silent.
The three people's expressions changed slightly.
Su Wanwan pressed the doorknob and opened the bedroom door.
In the bedroom, the curtains fluttered slightly in the breeze, the window was wide open, the bed was empty, and the blankets were neatly folded.
Shen Qingyi's face turned deathly pale instantly. She staggered to the window, trembling as she looked down, already prepared for the worst.
"What are you doing in my room?" A slightly panting voice came from the doorway.
The three of them turned around abruptly and saw Qu Shiyao standing there in a light sportswear outfit, with fine beads of sweat on her forehead and a healthy blush on her cheeks from exercising.
She had just returned from her morning run when she saw these three people in her room, their expressions somewhat off.
"You went for a run?" Su Wanwan was the quickest to react, looking Qu Shiyao up and down, trying to cover up her earlier lapse in composure, her tone carrying a hint of deliberate criticism:
"That's really rare. He just got out of bed yesterday, and he's already jumping around today? He's got some serious vitality."
"You underestimate me." Qu Shiyao walked past them and headed straight for the bathroom.
"I have to go to work. I've lost several figures by taking these past few days off, so I need to make it back quickly."
Hearing her mention work in a normal tone, and even express concern about the losses, the three of them finally felt relieved.
The fact that she's concerned about money suggests she's genuinely trying to return to a normal life.
The deceased are gone, but the living must continue to move forward.
Su Wanwan followed her to the bathroom door, crossed her arms, and said in her unique tone, "That counts as paid sick leave, you'll still get paid, they won't deduct your salary!"
With a toothbrush in her mouth, Qu Shiyao replied indistinctly, "Chairman Su, with you doing so much charity, are you sure the company won't go bankrupt under your management?"
"Don't want it? Fine, I'll have finance deduct it as usual..."
"want!"
When Qu Shiyao reappeared at the Su Group, she inevitably attracted a lot of attention.
Colleagues had already been whispering about it, and combining the recent announcement from the Public Security Bureau with Qu Shiyao's sudden sick leave, they pieced together the truth:
Assistant Qu's boyfriend was murdered by a jealous woman. Overwhelmed with grief, Assistant Qu fell ill. President Su helped handle the aftermath and caught the murderer, but the body has not yet been recovered.
At first, some people hesitated whether they should step forward and offer a few words of comfort.
But seeing that Qu Shiyao had been arriving at work on time for several days in a row, handling her work efficiently, and appearing calm and composed, everyone tacitly stopped bringing up that heavy topic.
It's the best outcome that she can pull herself together.
In the following weeks, Qu Shiyao's life seemed to really get back on track.
Going to work, coming home, and occasionally having small gatherings with friends.
Yi Yu's good friend Zhao Henxi and his sister Cai Yixuan also came to visit her.
Tsai Yi-hsuan was understanding and did not take her anger out on others; instead, she offered gentle words of comfort.
Zhao Henxi, however, was unusually stubborn, firmly believing that Yi Yu was still alive, and repeatedly emphasizing that his tarot card predictions could not be wrong.
Nearly two months have passed, and Qu Shiyao has maintained this regular lifestyle.
After observing the situation and confirming that the salaries at Su Group were more competitive, former colleagues on the 66th floor of CAQ Group began to switch jobs one after another.
Jin Yuxi was the first to surrender, and he acted swiftly and without hesitation.
Zhang Li was the second. In her words, "Where aren't you working like a slave? Might as well choose the one with more money."
Wang Qian and Lin Weiwei arrived last.
When signing the contract, Lin Weiwei was extremely conflicted. She complained to Wang Qian privately, "If we go there, will Qu Shiyao make things difficult for me? She's a senior executive now!"
In the end, it was only after much persuasion from Wang Qian that she was finally persuaded to come over, and even contacting Qu Shiyao was done by Wang Qian.
When Qu Shiyao later learned about this, she told the system, "Senior Lin, you're still so naive."
The system was speechless: [...] Who is more childish here?
It remembered that on Lin Weiwei's first day at work, Qu Shiyao deliberately passed by their office, did nothing, but just gave Lin Weiwei a meaningful look, which scared the other party so much that she didn't dare to look up all day.
Meanwhile, the colleagues on the 8th floor of CAQ Group felt that they rarely met with President Si and were content with the status quo, so they politely declined Qu Shiyao's invitation.
The search at sea has continued intermittently for the past two months, but Yi Yu's remains have not yet been found.
Everyone tacitly agreed not to mention this matter in front of Qu Shiyao.
Qu Shiyao seemed to have truly sealed away that past, and everything appeared calm and peaceful.
However, the business world is rife with undercurrents.
Si Cheng was furious that Su Wanwan had poached his capable subordinates one after another, and began to target the Su Group with all his might.
In the past, he might have had some reservations, but now the Su family is experiencing turmoil and its foundation is not yet stable.
What's even more troublesome is that Si Cheng actually holds a portion of Su's shares. Although he doesn't have enough to control the company, he's enough to stir up trouble at the board meetings, frequently tripping up Su Wanwan and making her wake up in the middle of the night in anger.
After investigation, they discovered that these shares originated from Wu Dong, who had been arrested earlier, and had been transferred to Sicheng before Su Wanwan took over Su's Group, and the public notice period had already passed.
Looking back at how Si Cheng had always been so accommodating to Su Wanwan, it now seems that it was nothing more than a strategy to lull the enemy into a false sense of security and infiltrate the Su family.
If Su Wanwan hadn't acted swiftly and decisively to seize control, given time, the Su family might have truly fallen into Sicheng's hands.
This period became the battleground for Su Wanwan's power struggle with Si Cheng.
Recently, Sicheng has used his influence to monopolize several key supply channels, causing considerable losses to the Su family.
The system's evaluation: "As expected of a reborn individual, possessing unparalleled foresight, like a prophet."
As a result, Su Wanwan had to frequently go out for social engagements and search for alternative suppliers in an effort to break the monopoly.
At the same time, she also began to secretly collect evidence, preparing to seize the right opportunity to give Si Cheng a big blow and send him to prison to keep company with his fanatical fans.
【Host! Host! 100,000! 100,000! Our real fan count has reached 100,000!!!】That day, around 2 or 3 pm, the system suddenly exploded with celebratory sound effects and virtual ribbons in Qu Shiyao's mind.
God knows that the plot has been uneventful for the past two months, and the growth rate of followers has been as slow as a snail. It took so long to climb this last little bit of distance.
Qu Shiyao was engrossed in reviewing a market analysis report when she heard this. She simply grunted "Mmm" without looking up, her pen not even pausing.
The system was displeased. It gave a pitiful look and sadly gazed at the French windows, saying, "Alas, it was all for naught. Even I, the system, am now past my prime, my beauty faded, and feelings have grown so easily..."
Ignoring the system's internal monologue, Qu Shiyao didn't even lift her eyelids, continuing to focus on her work.
Some decisions cannot be made by the system and must be decided by her personally.
It wasn't until after 7 p.m. that Qu Shiyao finished reviewing the last document, signed her name, and stamped it.
She finally raised her head, rubbed her slightly sore neck, and looked at the system that was growing mushrooms in the corner.
“Mission milestone achieved, worth celebrating. Let’s go, let’s get some barbecue after get off work.” She started tidying up her desk and said to the system in a relaxed tone.
[Hmph! At least you thought of celebrating!] The system immediately revived, proudly raising its head.
Although it couldn't actually eat the barbecue, it wanted that atmosphere.
Tonight, Su Wanwan is taking Shen Qingyi to a charity gala. Gu Yanxi's R&D department is in a critical phase of a project and will likely be working overtime all night. The other friends also have their own plans.
Qu Shiyao then decided to go alone.
She was riding her pink electric scooter when a black luxury car silently pulled up in front of her, blocking her way.
The car window rolled down, revealing Si Cheng's sharply defined face.
"Shiyao, I..." His voice was deep and magnetic, as if he wanted to say something.
Qu Shiyao didn't even bother to glance at the car; she nimbly steered her electric scooter around the car and merged into the traffic.
Si Cheng's face darkened instantly, but he quickly regained his composure and said coldly to the driver in the front seat, "Follow them."
Qu Shiyao arrived at the barbecue stall she had visited when she first came to this world.
The familiar aroma of cooking wafts over me.
She skillfully ordered a whole bunch of grilled skewers, but not a single drink.
"Boss, a bottle of iced cola, please," she explained to the system.
"There's an early meeting tomorrow; drinking will ruin things."
The system muttered to itself that it had noticed that the host had never touched alcohol since that incident, and always managed to come up with various excuses.
But in the past, when she wanted to drink, she never had so many concerns.
It reminded it of something a senior colleague had written in their diary: when a person suddenly stops doing things that seem willful, it might mean that she has truly grown up.
The system wondered, "Could it be that the host grew up overnight?"
"Shiyao, these street food stalls aren't healthy, eat less of them." Si Cheng's voice rang out again. He had somehow appeared beside the table, frowning, his tone filled with what he thought was well-intentioned concern.
The system thought to itself: "Dude, it's just barbecue. If the host has no objection, I have no objection. If Yi Yu is here, it will only taste better. Who gave you the right to complain?"
Qu Shiyao didn't even bother to lift her eyelids, completely immersed in her own world of food, enjoying a bite of grilled skewer and a sip of iced cola, completely carefree.
Si Cheng looked a little embarrassed, but he still sat down on the plastic stool opposite Qu Shiyao.
He began to ramble on about his so-called past life, things that were completely unfamiliar to Qu Shiyao.
The atmosphere became extremely strange: one person was incessantly reminiscing about the past, while the other was focused on enjoying the food, as if they were in two parallel worlds, undisturbed by each other.
The system sensed that its audio receiving module was about to be contaminated.
It was genuinely afraid that its host, while listening, might take action without regard for the situation.
Finally, Qu Shiyao finished the last skewer of grilled meat and wiped her mouth with satisfaction.
Sicheng was at a loss for words, and the scene fell silent for a moment.
Qu Shiyao got up, scanned the QR code to pay, and completely ignored the man opposite her throughout the entire process.
She walked to her electric scooter and just as she straddled it...
"Shiyao!" Si Cheng suddenly stood up, his voice carrying a barely perceptible urgency:
"Did our relationship over the past many years really not bring you even a little bit of happiness?"
Qu Shiyao stopped moving.
She tilted her head slightly, carefully recalling everything the female protagonist experienced in the original work, then sneered: "Ha! Where do you get the confidence to think that those days were happy for me?"
After saying that, she turned on the throttle, and the electric scooter sped off without a second thought.
Si Cheng stood frozen in place, his face ashen. He suddenly kicked over the empty plastic stool next to him, the loud noise startling the barbecue stall owner.
Qu Shiyao returned to the apartment building and skillfully parked her electric scooter in the bike shed.
As she walked toward the apartment door, a figure suddenly darted out from the shadows, raised a bottle with lightning speed, and sprayed it violently in her face!
A pungent odor wafted towards her, and Qu Shiyao's expression changed drastically. She tried to hold her breath, but it was too late.
A strong wave of dizziness washed over her, her legs went weak, her vision went black, and she completely lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground.
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