Teasing the Icy President - Chapter 12 - A Day of Silence

After rummaging through the trash, Mu Qingtian saw Ye Ziqian about to drive off. She dashed out, stuffed a half-filled garbage bag-half her height-into the yard’s trash bin, and then climbed into the car, sitting confidently in the VIP seat. Ye Ziqian was driving himself, with the butler, Lu Zizhong, seated on the right.

Lu Zizhong smiled at Mu Qingtian sitting in the back and sat upright.

“Uncle Zhong, it seems like this is the first time in three years you’ve ridden in my car, right?”

“Yes, President Ye. The driver, Xiao Chen, had something come up today and couldn’t make it,” Lu Zizhong replied politely.

What’s that supposed to mean? Just telling me his car isn’t something you can just hop into, huh? Well, I’m sitting here anyway, and I’m not moving.

Mu Qingtian shifted her weight firmly into the seat. It was indeed a luxury car-the Ferrari’s seats felt nothing like those in a regular taxi. She made a face at the rearview mirror, pulling the chubby flesh of her cheeks downward, stretching her face horizontally by five centimeters.

Ye Ziqian happened to glance in the rearview mirror and caught sight of the annoying girl making faces in the back.

“Uncle Zhong, are we settling it today?” Ye Ziqian suddenly asked Lu Zizhong in a serious tone.

The sports car accelerated abruptly, nearly throwing Mu Qingtian off balance in the backseat. She swayed sideways but quickly straightened her plump body.

Mu Qingtian looked down at her thick, sturdy thighs. If they were cut off and sold as meat, they’d probably fetch a good price.

“Yes, today should be the final step,” Lu Zizhong replied.

“Call Nan Yan and Qing Shan and tell them to come to the office immediately. I’ll send them to handle the aftermath later. Just say there’s something to take care of-don’t tell them what it is. Have them get to the office first,” Ye Ziqian instructed.

Lu Zizhong opened his tablet, made the call, and instructed the two to arrive at the president’s office by 8:30. Then he sat upright beside Ye Ziqian.

Mu Qingtian watched this peculiar master-servant pair from the backseat. Ye Ziqian had told her not to speak today, offering her a thousand yuan. Their conversation just now must be plotting something shady-maybe even a murder. Definitely! The thought sent a shiver down her spine.

Lu Zizhong noticed Mu Qingtian’s reaction in the rearview mirror and rolled up the window.

“President, what do you think An Shaochen’s reaction will be?”

“Trapping him like a turtle in a jar-killing not just the person but the spirit. What else could his reaction be?” Ye Ziqian smirked slyly, a cold, ruthless glint flashing in his eyes. It was the kind of ruthlessness that recognized no family ties.

Ye Ziqian glanced back at Mu Qingtian, who was dozing off in the backseat, carefree and oblivious.

“Don’t wake her. Let her sleep in the car,” Ye Ziqian said dismissively to Lu Zizhong.

“Understood,” Lu Zizhong replied, a faint smile flickering across his face for a brief moment.

When they arrived at the company, Ye Ziqian hit the brakes, and Mu Qingtian’s head bumped against the back of his seat.

She sat up, her eyes dazed as she looked around, seemingly unsure of where she was. When she saw Ye Ziqian, her expression immediately sharpened.

She didn’t say a word.

“Uncle Zhong, take her to the fourth floor and show her where the cash is stored. Assign her to handle the cash deposits and withdrawals,” Ye Ziqian instructed Lu Zizhong.

“Right away, sir.”

Mu Qingtian followed Lu Zizhong reluctantly, grumbling to herself, “Just because I’ve been a bit obsessed with money lately, you want to embarrass me in front of it? Money is just paper to me! If it weren’t for my dad’s illness, I wouldn’t be running around trying to earn so much. What a petty man!”

“Uncle Zhong, call a beauty over,” Ye Ziqian ordered Lu Zizhong.

Mu Qingtian shot him a disdainful look, but Ye Ziqian ignored her and walked away.

When Mu Qingtian entered the office, she smiled at Li-Jie and quickly ran over with a piece of paper to show her.

The note read: “Li-Jie, I can’t speak today. The president told me not to talk at all.” Li-Jie laughed for a while after reading it.

The office phone rang, and Li-Jie picked it up. “Have Mu Qingtian bring over today’s important documents,” the voice on the other end said. It was the president calling.

Li-Jie organized the documents and handed them to Mu Qingtian with a smile.

Mu Qingtian took them with a solemn expression and hurried out.

Li-Jie watched her leave with a smile. After just a few days of working together, Li-Jie had come to realize that Mu Qingtian was a carefree little girl.

In Ye Ziqian’s office, the atmosphere was heavy. Ye Ziqian’s face was dark, as if it could drip water. “What kind of job was this? If you don’t pull out the roots, the problem will keep coming back! And what about those four elderly people? Have you figured out who they are yet? Who planned this operation? Who else knows about it besides you and me?”

Lu Zizhong thought carefully and replied, “Only the two of us know. The people we used were all suicide warriors from the Flame Gang.”

Mu Qingtian walked into the office without knocking or saying a word, barging in just in time to overhear something about the Flame Gang’s suicide warriors. She couldn’t help but feel a secret thrill. The Flame Gang? Such a big-shot president playing around with boyish things like forming a gang. And where was that beauty he mentioned earlier?

She sniffed the air, her little nose twitching. Besides the tobacco-scented cologne Ye Ziqian wore, there was a faint trace of mango perfume-sweet but not cloying. The woman must have already left.

Mu Qingtian cradled the documents in one arm while using her other hand to rub her nose, squishing her plump little nose out of shape. As she did, she stared straight at Ye Ziqian.

Ye Ziqian closed his eyes slightly, his posture stiff as he waited for Mu Qingtian to awkwardly apologize, then clumsily retreat, only to come back and make things worse with another apology.

But Mu Qingtian said nothing. She stood there quietly, observing the worried expression on Uncle Zhong’s face and the smug, all-knowing look on Ye Ziqian’s.

She walked forward respectfully, handed over the documents, and then stepped back without uttering a single word.

Ye Ziqian watched her retreating figure with a hint of surprise.

“Mu Qingtian, go with Uncle Zhong to inspect the cash reserve storage. From now on, all cash handling will be under your management.”

Lu Zizhong walked out with Mu Qingtian, smiling warmly at her. “Little girl!” he said, clearly noticing the stubbornness she’d been holding onto since that morning. The term of endearment carried a deep, genuine affection for the young woman.

“Working as a housekeeper for the Ye Family involves a few responsibilities,” he explained. “What you see and hear in the Ye Family must never be shared with outsiders unless permitted-not even your own parents. You’ll oversee cash transactions; the cash is stored in the Ye Mansion’s cellar, and you’ll be in charge of the keys and managing the tokens for withdrawals. You’re also responsible for the mansion’s cleanliness, but you’ll coordinate and delegate tasks rather than doing everything yourself. And incidents like this morning’s shouldn’t happen again.”

A faint smile appeared on Lu Zizhong’s face. This chubby, soft little girl seemed to act without much thought, relying solely on her instincts to decide what to do, never questioning whether it was right or wrong.

Mu Qingtian still didn’t say a word. She nodded vigorously to show she understood Uncle Zhong’s instructions, biting her plump lower lip with her upper teeth, her expression serious and determined.

Lu Zizhong opened the company’s cash reserve storage, and Mu Qingtian saw rows of shelves filled with cash. She glanced at it indifferently, memorized the numbers on the ends of the two shelves, and smiled at Lu Zizhong.

Lu Zizhong watched the little girl remain calm in the face of such wealth, and his fondness for her grew even more.

It was this money that had caused the trouble. Earlier that morning, while Mu Qingtian was exchanging notes with Li-Jie in the office, An Shaochen’s family of eleven and two other unidentified middle-aged couples had been found dead in their homes.

The news on the television reported: “This large-scale gas explosion occurred at 8:30 a.m. According to the police, fifteen people lost their lives in the incident. Further details will be revealed after an investigation by the relevant authorities…”

As Lu Zizhong and Mu Qingtian passed the elevator on their way back to the office, the TV beside it was broadcasting the morning news. After they stepped into the elevator, Mu Qingtian’s mind was still lingering on the report.

Lu Zizhong knew the full story behind the incident because he had orchestrated it all. A premeditated murder had been cleverly disguised, and the Flame Gang was indeed formidable.

Mu Qingtian looked at Lu Zizhong with pleading eyes, and he smiled at her. “Go back to the office. I’ll call you if I need anything.”

Mu Qingtian’s plump figure happily walked away from Lu Zizhong.

She was a cheerful little girl.

The workday ended quickly, though the day of silence felt particularly long. While doing her daily tasks, Mu Qingtian was already planning what she would do later at the Ye Mansion. In her value system, she believed in earning what she could through her own labor and would never take shortcuts. So, when Lu Zizhong showed her all that cash, she didn’t even blink. That money wasn’t hers, and all she could do was work hard to earn as much as possible.

When it was time to leave, Mu Qingtian wrote a note to say goodbye to Li-Jie. Her phone rang-it was Nie Shuangshuang. She must have come up with some new scheme and wanted Mu Qingtian to join her.

Mu Qingtian hung up the phone and sent Nie Shuangshuang a message.

“Sorry, Shuangshuang, I can’t hang out with you tonight. I have to go do my housekeeper job and earn some extra money. The boss told me not to speak all day today, so I didn’t answer your call.” The message was enough to explain everything.

“Go find yourself a man. Honestly, your president is really handsome. From the moment I first saw him, I wanted to throw you at him. Alright, you go do your thing. Bye~” Nie Shuangshuang replied.