Chen An had a total of three assistants. Two of them, due to their excellent performance, had been sent by Chen An to different cities in the north and south to serve as key personnel for several projects.

Tang Xin’s colleagues all said enviously that the best department at Ping’an Xile was the CEO’s office, which enjoyed the advantage of proximity to power. Perhaps the next person to be promoted would be Tang Xin.

After all, Tang Xin was now shouldering multiple responsibilities and was the most trusted person by the boss’s side.

But Tang Xin still worked in a state of confusion.

Days flew by rapidly, and the boss’s quirks were disappearing one after another. He no longer stayed in that remote small county town, no longer had her handle miscellaneous cinema matters, and no longer avoided business trips to Beijing. Besides all that, the boss came to the company every day, staying for entire days at a time. He finished the backlog of work, handled future tasks in advance, and even had the patience to debate at length with some idiotic clients—particularly diligent and devoted to his duties.

Strangely enough, logically speaking, a boss without quirks should seem like a normal person now, right? But he didn’t seem to have any vitality either. The boss was handsome—tall and upright, broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted, with distinct facial features and bright black eyes. Normally he already looked quite like a male model, but these days he looked even more like a male model—the kind of plastic male mannequin you’d put in a display window.

Just when Tang Xin thought she had figured out her immediate superior, she didn’t quite understand him anymore.

She vaguely felt that this change in the boss might have some connection to Manager Cheng. Because the only time she had seen the boss lose his composure since she’d known him was on the day when a certain woman called to frame Manager Cheng.

Trying to divine her superior’s intentions, she began to prioritize researching matters related to Tongda Group. Recently, the board secretary of Tongda Group had been beating around the bush, asking whether the boss had reviewed last year’s financing proposal. Now they had several debts coming due and were urgently seeking money to weather the crisis. They were targeting the boss, not because they were really counting on Ping’an Xile to invest much, but because if Ping’an Xile invested, other investors would have the confidence to follow suit. They wanted the boss to give people in the industry confidence.

Previously she had blocked these inquiries on behalf of the boss, but now she was somewhat uncertain, wondering whether she should put this matter at the highest priority level in her reports.

On Double Eleven, Chen An received a consumption notification text message for his Taixi Ghost House membership card.

During this period of time, he hadn’t really thought about Cheng Lele, locking her away in a corner of his memory.

Just like when inflammation occurs in some tissue or organ of the human body and the pain is unbearable, doctors give nerve block injections to prevent the pain from reaching the nerve center.

However, this consumption text message made him rapidly recall certain scenes he desperately wanted to avoid—Cheng Lele screaming in fear, Cheng Lele with weak legs hiding in his arms, Cheng Lele holding his hand and not daring to let go anymore—and then when he substituted Zhong Ming for himself in those scenes, his head began to hurt as never before.

He took medicine and rested for a long time. After the medication took effect, he opened his email to work.

He first saw an email that Tongda Cinemas had sent to all employees, copied to Chen An.

“In the past two months, the box office of our company’s franchise cinema Xingchen Cinema has experienced a significant decline compared to the original box office. During this process, dispatched employee Cheng Lele has worked passively, confronted leadership, and shown no remorse, bearing inescapable responsibility for this.

Our company regards franchise cinemas as important partners and will never tolerate employees who seek comfort and avoid work or damage the company’s brand image. After company deliberation, it has been decided to issue Cheng Lele a warning and deduct three months’ bonus.

According to the employee handbook regulations, if an employee receives two warnings, the company has the right to dismiss that employee. We hope all employees will take this as a warning.

This notice is hereby issued.”

The next email was sent separately to Chen An by Huang Tiangou.

“President Chen, Hello!

According to the company’s observations, Cheng Lele is insubordinate, works passively and slackly, and has caused certain impacts on your company’s normal operations. Our company takes this very seriously and has already implemented corresponding disciplinary action. If you are unwilling to give her another chance to reform, our company will immediately arrange for new employee dispatch to support your work.”

After reading it, Chen An’s face remained numb as he clicked on the next email.

Tang Xin, dressed in an office lady outfit, knocked and entered. She placed documents in front of Chen An, concisely explained Tongda Group’s intentions, then paused quite meaningfully, quietly observing his expression.

Chen An said expressionlessly, “I understand.”

Tang Xin was still waiting for a reversal.

Chen An looked up, “Next item.”

Tang Xin came back to her senses, opened her notepad, reorganized her thoughts, and rapidly reported a pile of company matters. Finally she said, “Your mother called me.”

Chen An frowned, “What about?”

Tang Xin said, “She had me remind you that tonight you will be having dinner with the Zhao family’s second daughter.”

Chen An frowned and opened WeChat, scrolling to his chat history with Wang Liting. He discovered she had indeed left messages and sent a bunch of photos of the second daughter’s daily life.

“Help me cancel it. If she contacts you about things like this again in the future, tell her to contact me directly.”

Tang Xin nodded but didn’t leave.

“Something else?”

“Boss, can I leave work early today?” Tang Xin smiled somewhat embarrassedly. “Today is Singles’ Day, and someone asked me to dinner.”

Chen An looked as if he’d had a sudden realization. “So today is Singles’ Day. Why do you all celebrate Singles’ Day like it’s Valentine’s Day?”

He seemed to smile, took out a card from his wallet and handed it to her. “Go buy some jewelry or something. Dress up prettily for your date.”

“Thank you, boss!” Tang Xin accepted the card and walked out cheerfully.

Chen An watched the door slowly close, smoked another cigarette, and began reading the document about Tongda Cinemas that Tang Xin had initially delivered.