A good assistant never just completes what the leader assigns—nothing more, nothing less. After dropping off the person, Xu Yi turned back to the Zhang family villa. Upon entering the house, he saw Li Weiyi sitting at the dining table with a bowl of bird’s nest soup in front of her. Wu Xinhui was accompanying her at her side. Zhang Moyun wasn’t there.

Xu Yi walked over with a smile: “Sister Hui, A-chan.”

Li Weiyi held a mouthful of bird’s nest soup, her eyes wide and round: “Brother Xu Yi, did you take him home?”

Xu Yi nodded: “Don’t worry, I watched her go inside.”

Wu Xinhui said: “Little Xu, I’ll have Sister Liu make you something to eat too. You’ve been running around all day—you should fill your stomach.”

Xu Yi didn’t stand on ceremony with her and nodded in agreement.

Wu Xinhui went to the kitchen to arrange things. Xu Yi sat down beside Li Weiyi, watching as she ate the bowl of bird’s nest soup with her eyebrows curved in happiness. As he watched, he smiled too.

Li Weiyi: “What is it?”

“Nothing, just feel you’ve been… a bit different lately.” Xu Yi said gently.

Li Weiyi immediately reined in her expression and said: “Everyone’s like this when they’re in love. When my girlfriend is happy, I’m happy.”

Xu Yi smiled without speaking.

Seeing he said nothing more, Li Weiyi relaxed and lowered her voice to ask: “Brother Xu Yi, what’s on my dad’s schedule for tomorrow morning?”

She had a mouthful of bird’s nest soup, so Xu Yi didn’t hear clearly: “What?” Li Weiyi leaned forward closer, but she really underestimated her own size and weight. She leaned too far, and even the chair legs lifted up. She didn’t take it seriously, thinking she could play with balance as lightly as before. There was a “clang” sound as the chair fell and Li Weiyi tumbled down.

Xu Yi was sitting very close to her. With quick eyes and hands, he caught her. Li Weiyi’s heavy body crashed directly into him.

Although Xu Yi was one-eighty tall, his build was on the thin side. He let out a muffled grunt, and the chair he was sitting on slid back a distance—he was almost knocked over. Fortunately, he grabbed the table surface hard with one hand and steadied himself. Li Weiyi lay in his arms, also feeling quite embarrassed. She quickly climbed out of his embrace and went to pull him up: “I’m, I’m sorry…”

Xu Yi shook his head with a laugh and slowly sat upright: “It’s fine. You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”

“I didn’t.” Li Weiyi looked at his face, which was still a bit pale, and laughed with a “pfft,” saying, “I’m too heavy, aren’t I? Look how I crushed you.”

Xu Yi smiled and lowered his eyes, his cheeks slightly flushed, and said: “What were you trying to tell me just now?”

Li Weiyi simply pulled the chair right in front of him, propped her chin on one hand, and asked in a low voice: “What’s on my dad’s schedule tomorrow morning?”

“An appointment to meet with an official.”

“Can it be postponed? Or delayed?”

“A bit difficult.”

“What if I insist you cancel it? If my dad holds someone accountable, I’ll take full responsibility.”

This actually completely violated Xu Yi’s professional principles. In theory, he only needed to listen to one person’s orders—Zhang Jingchan’s. However, after a moment of silence, he answered: “Alright, understood. I’ll handle it first thing tomorrow morning.”

Li Weiyi’s brows and eyes relaxed all at once.

This special assistant, this high-end elite—he was so useful. She looked at his tall, slender frame, his fair and gentle face, and the pair of long, bright eyes beneath his fine wire-rimmed glasses. Yet what came to mind was the blurry face of the lofty Chairman Xu from the Muchen Company employee handbook in her memories.

The future super big boss was now obediently following her orders—this really gave her a kind of empty, wonderful, inflated feeling. She clapped Xu Yi on the shoulder and said: “Thank you, Brother Xu Yi. You’re a dragon and phoenix among men. In the future you’ll definitely rise rapidly and achieve great things. I wish you a bright future ahead and that all your wishes come true.”

Xu Yi froze, gazing at her eyes rippling with light under the lamp, feeling somewhat dazed. But she curved her lips in a smile, waved her hand, and went upstairs with light, cheerful steps.

Xu Yi kept staring until she entered the second-floor room. It wasn’t until the nanny Sister Liu brought out the noodles and said, “Mr. Xu, eat while it’s hot,” that he glanced at Sister Liu and finally began eating.

——

Early the next morning, to appear solemn and serious, Li Weiyi deliberately searched through the wardrobe for a suit. Upon looking, it was Armani. She found a white dress shirt and blue checkered tie, changed into the complete outfit, and stood before the full-length mirror, stunned.

If twenty-seven-year-old Zhang Jingchan in a suit was cold, steady, and imposing—

Then the nineteen-year-old him in a pure black suit was handsome and unruly, radiating youthful vitality.

Li Weiyi reached out to pinch her own face, then pinched her shoulders, pinched her waist, pinched her thighs. Her face felt a bit hot.

She walked out of the bedroom and heard from the half-open door of the second-floor study Zhang Moyun’s angry roar: “How could you follow along with his nonsense too? Is Secretary Zhang someone who can be postponed just like that?”

Li Weiyi quickly walked over and pushed open the door.

Sure enough, Zhang Moyun was scolding Xu Yi. Zhang Moyun stood behind the desk, his face full of anger. Xu Yi stood in the middle of the room with his head lowered, his expression unclear.

Zhang Moyun turned to see Li Weiyi’s outstanding appearance in her suit and tie and froze. However, he had really lost his temper this time and roared: “Get in here!”

Li Weiyi lowered her head and walked in, standing side by side with Xu Yi.

Zhang Moyun glanced at her but didn’t scold her. He continued scolding Xu Yi: “You’ve been my assistant for how many years? You’ve always had the best sense of propriety. Originally, after this year passed… I was planning to have you manage the market department. But what have you done now? In this corporation, do I have the final say, or does someone else?”

Xu Yi’s voice was respectful and calm: “Of course you have the final say.”

Li Weiyi: “Dad, don’t scold him…”

Zhang Moyun said coldly: “Shut up. It’s not your turn to speak. Xu Yi, then let me ask you—why did you do this today?”

Xu Yi raised his face. His expression was composed, but his eyes were slightly red—clearly he had never suffered such criticism in the workplace before. He said word by word: “Because A-chan is someone with good judgment. If he said this, there must be something more important than meeting with the secretary. I acted first and reported later—that was my mistake. But I trust A-chan.”

Zhang Moyun stared at him, then swept a glance at Li Weiyi, saying nothing. Li Weiyi’s heart warmed as she said loudly: “Dad, don’t blame him. It was all my idea! Anyway, it’s already canceled. Even if you scold people, you can’t change anything. Accept reality!”

Zhang Moyun: “……”

How could he have thought his son was pitiful and adorable yesterday? Looking at his son’s shameless rogue appearance today—it was even more contemptible than his former cold, arrogant personality! He grabbed the pen holder from the desk and threw it at Li Weiyi.

Li Weiyi jumped nimbly on one foot to dodge. Xu Yi shifted his body to block in front of her. Looking at his tall, thin, resolute back, Li Weiyi felt extremely guilty, thinking he was truly a person of great righteousness and magnanimity—no wonder he became a big boss later.

Fortunately, Zhang Moyun hadn’t really wanted to injure his son. The pen holder fell at their feet. He exhaled sharply twice and said to Xu Yi: “Go out first.”

Xu Yi nodded and withdrew. Just as he was about to close the door, someone walked up behind him.

Zhang Jingchan had claimed to be going to school today, leaving the house in his school uniform with his backpack. He entered the Zhang household with practiced ease. Downstairs, Wu Xinhui, though feeling her son leading astray a minor was truly unbearable, didn’t stop the girl from going upstairs in broad daylight.

When Xu Yi saw it was him, his tone softened somewhat: “Miss Li, the chairman and A-chan are talking. Why don’t you wait downstairs?”

Zhang Jingchan hadn’t spoken yet when Li Weiyi’s voice came from inside: “Is that Weiyi? Let him in.” Then she said to Zhang Moyun again: “…I already said I get chest pains when I can’t see him and won’t perform well. He must come in.”

Zhang Jingchan smiled faintly, glanced at Xu Yi, who stepped aside. Zhang Jingchan entered the room and turned to close the door. The two people’s gazes met—both deep black and calm.

Xu Yi stood in place for a while, walked a few steps downstairs, then stopped and looked back at the study once more.

He thought—something was off somewhere, yet it seemed everything was off.