Chapter 135

Chapter 135

It was Monday, a workday. Yu Fei came out of the President’s Office beaming. After only a few steps, he could no longer hold back the grin tugging at his lips and sprinted toward his workstation. He hauled Huo Yang, who was typing away at his computer, to his feet with an expression of gratified pride that practically said, “You really are my good son.”

Huo Yang used two fingers to flick his hand away. “Don’t make me send you to a Mental Hospital.”

Yu Fei’s eyes were shining with excitement. “Secretary Huo! Consort Huo! You really are something! You actually guessed it. President Xie gave the entire company a bonus!”

“And me? For my meritorious service in welcoming him yesterday, I got the biggest bonus in the whole company!” Yu Fei was so smug he snapped his fingers and spun in a circle.

Huo Yang smoothed the creases in his suit, expressionless. “Oh. I figured.”

“Such a poser.” Yu Fei was practically floating with joy and couldn’t be bothered with his joyless attitude.

Once he had finished celebrating, Yu Fei began reviewing the situation. Something that could make every employee in the company receive a bonus had to be an event worthy of universal celebration. But their president hadn’t even been happy enough to hand out bonuses when he got proposed to. What else could be happier than that?

Aside from getting the marriage certificate, Yu Fei couldn’t think of anything else.

To verify his theory, Yu Fei scrolled through his contacts, found the little assistant from Xia Wanzhi Studio whom he had added not long ago, and began probing for intel.

The two of them were on the same wavelength, both lovers of gossip. Yu Fei traded the gossip that Xie Qiyan had given the entire company bonuses with Zhuzi, and in the end, he obtained definite information.

“Holy shit-” Yu Fei blurted out.

Huo Yang took a deep breath and deducted a full five points from Yu Fei’s personal moral conduct under the personal qualities section of that month’s employee evaluation form.

The evaluation forms were divided into self-evaluation and superior evaluation. Their direct superior was Xie Qiyan.

Xie Qiyan was too lazy to evaluate them, so he had Huo Yang and Yu Fei evaluate each other.

One was a secretary and the other an Executive Assistant, and almost every month, the two of them would mark something against each other on their evaluation forms.

Yu Fei saw what he was doing and rolled his eyes at him. “Do you want the juicy gossip or not?”

Huo Yang capped his pen. “No.”

“Exclusive news. Miss Xia’s entire family of elders is coming back to the country next week…”

Huo Yang paused, tore the evaluation form into pieces, threw it into the trash, and turned his chair around as if nothing had happened. “Go on.”

Yu Fei was practically glowing. “The two families are meeting. They’re planning to spend Little New Year’s Eve together. According to reliable sources, they’re coming to discuss the wedding.”

In other words, after the New Year, they would truly have a CEO’s Wife / Madam President.

A joyous occasion. Worthy of universal celebration.

Yu Fei had already started thinking about the next bonus.

When Xie the King of Hell was happy, he rewarded people. Generously!

For the next few days, it rained in Beicheng. The closer it got to the end of the year, the colder the weather became, and the festive atmosphere of the New Year gradually grew stronger.

Over the past few days, quite a few reporters had been staking out the entrance of Xie Corporation, specifically waiting to ambush Xie Qiyan. Handing over business cards didn’t work. Requesting interviews didn’t work either.

So all they could do was muster up the courage to hide in corners with cameras on their shoulders and try to sneak shots.

The entire internet wanted to know what Xie Qiyan looked like. Whichever media outlet managed to take a photo and release it would create a massive sensation, and their year-end performance would be secured on the spot.

But if Xie Qiyan didn’t want something to happen, no one would get the chance to make it happen.

Even if someone took a photo, there was no possibility of it being published.

In the face of capital, no media outlet dared act recklessly. As time passed, the number of people trying to take candid shots gradually decreased. All they could do was stubbornly continue handing over business cards and requesting interviews.

Every media outlet in Beicheng was waiting for that stroke of dumb luck.

Since Ms. Ross and the other three were coming to Beicheng for Little New Year’s Eve, Xia Wanzhi wanted to buy back the house in Qingcheng Villa Area.

But when she contacted the buyer, she discovered that the buyer of Qingcheng Villa was actually Xie Qiyan.

The moment she learned it was Xie Qiyan, Xia Wanzhi was both angry and amused. Angry because he had hidden it from her, amused because he always managed to surprise her in the most unexpected ways.

Back then, Ms. Ross had handed the decision of whether to sell the house to Xia Wanzhi. Xia Wanzhi had thought that she wouldn’t live there, that her parents were far abroad and wouldn’t be coming back, and that she had already bought the house in Lanting Bieyuan from Xie Qiyan. If her parents returned, they could simply stay there. So she had decided to sell that villa.

She didn’t have much attachment to the house itself.

But Xie Qiyan had bought it because it was the place where Xia Wanzhi had lived since childhood.

Simply because it had once been Xia Wanzhi’s home and held the traces of Xia Wanzhi’s life.

“I want to buy back that villa in Qingcheng,” Xia Wanzhi discussed with Xie Qiyan. “Before, I never thought I’d be with you, and I didn’t expect my grandparents to come either…”
Technically, they could just have them stay at Lanting Bieyuan, but Xia Wanzhi knew exactly what kind of person Mr. Richard was.

If that old man saw her living in a large flat, he would probably think she was being mistreated and insist on buying her a villa to move into.

The snow pear with fritillaria simmering in the pot gave off a sweet fragrance. Xia Wanzhi tugged on Xie Qiyan’s sleeve, waiting for his answer.

Xie Qiyan turned off the heat, then turned around and leaned against the kitchen counter, one hand in his pocket and the other braced on the counter.

In that position, he was just at eye level with Xia Wanzhi.

“Please? Just say something.” Xia Wanzhi coughed a few times, then blinked at him, acting spoiled.

It had been raining these past few days, and the weather had turned cold. The temperature had dropped below freezing. Xie Qiyan drove Xia Wanzhi to and from work every day, and there was heating in both the car and indoors, but he still could not understand how she had caught a cold.

Whenever Xia Wanzhi caught a cold, it took at least a week for her to recover. This time, it came with a cough too, leaving her listless and wilted. Who knew when she would get better?

Xie Qiyan had tried every method he could think of to treat her cough. He was one step away from dragging her to the hospital for an IV.

But Xia Wanzhi refused.

She was afraid of needles.

Seeing him stay silent with his brows tightly furrowed, Xia Wanzhi tried to speak, only to cough several more times the moment she opened her mouth.

At the sight, Xie Qiyan covered her mouth and sighed helplessly. “If you want to buy the unit across the hall, I’ll go along with you. But not the one in Qingcheng.”

He did not want to see Xia Wanzhi treat him like an outsider.

Everything he had, including himself, belonged to her.

“I…” Xia Wanzhi still wanted to speak.

Xie Qiyan cut her off. “Your name has already been added to the property. There’s no need to buy it.”

Xia Wanzhi blinked, stunned.

“From now on, you’re not allowed to talk. If you have something to say, write it down.” Xie Qiyan issued the order, tapping a fingertip against her lips as he said earnestly, “Protect your throat.”

Xia Wanzhi pressed her lips together and nodded hard. Then she took his hand and wrote the character for “house” in his palm before tilting her head, waiting for an answer.

A smile glimmered in Xie Qiyan’s eyes. He answered, “Our marital home.”

That apartment had been listed at eighty million. When Xie Qiyan thought of buying it, it happened to still be unsold.

And the day he bought it was the second day after he and Xia Wanzhi got together.

That was why both his and Xia Wanzhi’s names were on the property.

Back then, he had not thought of using it as a marital home. He had simply wanted to tie himself to Xia Wanzhi.

Their names appearing together on the property deed-was that not, in another sense, a marriage certificate?

Xia Wanzhi wanted to speak again, but Xie Qiyan bent down and sealed her lips with his.

It was only a light press, yet Xia Wanzhi’s heart skipped half a beat.

After hearing that it was their marital home, and with this intimate kiss falling upon her, her entire body tingled.

Because she was sick, Xie Qiyan was not in a good mood. His breathing carried a heavy weight as he rubbed his forehead against Xia Wanzhi’s and sighed softly. “Baby, hurry up and get better.”

Xia Wanzhi’s lashes trembled as she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist.

After a long while, she murmured two little sounds of assent, then wrote the word “hospital” in his palm.

It was true that she did not want injections or medicine, but getting an IV was the fastest way to recover.

And so, the next day, the two of them appeared at the hospital. Xia Wanzhi endured three needle sticks, her mouth bitter and her face full of despair as she waited for the three IV bags to finish dripping.

Xie Qiyan stayed by her side, his expression awful.

Xia Wanzhi had been pricked three times.

The first two were for blood draws. Only the last one was for the IV.

He knew Xia Wanzhi was not in good health, but when he watched the nurse draw blood from her and then, halfway through, fail to get any more and have to switch hands to draw again, his entire heart clenched.

His whole body had gone taut. He had not even had the courage to watch. Even now, thinking back to that moment made his breath tremble slightly.

The flu had been going around lately. Xia Wanzhi had guessed that it might be a viral infection and that they would need to draw blood, which was why she had refused to come to the hospital.

This was not the first time they had failed to get blood from her.

Her reaching fingertips touched Xie Qiyan’s slightly cool palm. Xia Wanzhi pressed her lips together and smiled faintly, mouthing, “I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

Xie Qiyan only leaned over and held her in his arms.

The highest form of love was endless heartache for the one you loved.