Yesterday's Qixi Festival wasn't exactly pleasant. When Fang Qia came to work the next day, her face was much more haggard and she still carried the lingering smell of alcohol. She was lying motionless on her desk, and when someone spoke to her, they didn't get a single word in response.

Jiang Xu was used to being carefree and couldn't do anything about it, so he could only continue with his own work. Li Si'ao asked the team members to copy and send him the parts of the design drawings they were each responsible for. Only Fang Qia didn't move, still lying on the desk and sleeping groggily. It seemed she drank quite a bit yesterday.

Li Si'ao subconsciously glanced at Jiang Xu, then walked over and patted Fang Qia's shoulder, saying in a low voice, "Fang Qia, where are your drawings? The deadline is coming up."

"Ugh..."

Hearing this, Fang Qia frowned and groggily sat up, but because of her headache, she couldn't process it for a long while. She opened her handbag and fumbled around inside for a USB drive, but couldn't find it. Her expression couldn't help but change, and she sobered up considerably.

Li Si'ao also noticed something was wrong. "Did you put it in the drawer?"

Jiang Xu saw that Fang Qia was still wearing yesterday's clothes and guessed inwardly that she probably hadn't gone home all night. Most likely she went to a place like a bar to get drunk. A USB drive is so small, it might have really been lost. He quickly got up to help look for it.

Fang Qia was already getting flustered. She pulled open the drawer and searched it thoroughly, not even sparing the floor, but there was no sign of it. There were plenty of people in the office who schemed against each other, so Li Si'ao didn't dare make a big deal out of it. He could only say that Fang Qia's necklace was lost, his back breaking out in a nervous sweat.

Fang Qia's mind had been a complete mess yesterday, and she hadn't paid any attention to where she put the USB drive. She looked at Li Si'ao helplessly, on the verge of tears. "What do I do? I can't find the USB drive, and I didn't back it up on the computer yesterday..."

This kind of thing could be major or minor, but it wouldn't be good if word got out, especially for such a big project. Gu Qingzhou had assigned the Huaji project to Li Si'ao's team, which had already attracted envy and jealousy, both openly and secretly. Fang Qia wasn't a newcomer to the industry; logically, she shouldn't have made this kind of mistake.

Seeing that it wasn't going to be found, Jiang Xu could only say, "Hurry up and draw another copy now. Later, discuss it with the person in charge at Huaji and see if you can delay the submission by a few days."

Fang Qia cried softly while shaking her head. "The construction team is all ready. How can we delay for a few days for no reason? It would be fine for a small, ordinary project, but Manager Gu is also following this one. What if he finds out?"

Business was business, and personal matters were personal matters. Even if Dou Xun was easygoing and willing to extend the deadline, this was her professional mistake and couldn't be mixed with personal favors. In any company, she would be disciplined.

Although Gu Qingzhou didn't usually lose his temper, his cold, grim-faced appearance still made people keep their distance. Some of the female colleagues in the company liked the stoic, ascetic type and would fangirl over him behind his back every day. Yet, when they saw him in person, they didn't even dare to speak and would all slip away faster than rabbits.

Li Si'ao was silent for a moment, then comforted her, "You start drawing. Do what you can to catch up. If you can't, we'll figure something out."

Dou Xun didn't manage things much; he only looked at the renderings. The follow-up on the later stages of the project was handled by a dedicated person. By noon, he was already prodding them in a private message in the work group. Li Si'ao, under pressure, managed to stall until the afternoon, but in the end, he was called into Gu Qingzhou's office.

Jiang Xu had been keeping an eye on the situation over there. After about ten minutes, Li Si'ao finally came out and gave him a meaningful look. The two of them went to the outer area to talk.

Jiang Xu asked, "Did the manager say anything?"

Li Si'ao pinched the bridge of his nose, looking a bit tired. "He didn't say much. Manager Gu said my position as team leader is suspended for now. You'll be in charge of the project's follow-up, and I'll be your deputy. We'll discuss it again once this project is wrapped up."

Jiang Xu paused at his words, thinking, 'No matter how you look at it, this shouldn't be Li Si'ao's fault.' He temporarily set aside the team leader issue and asked, "You didn't take all the blame on yourself, did you?"

Li Si'ao was silent for a moment. "...I'm the team leader. If she makes a mistake, I'm also responsible. It's better for one person to go down than two. I told Manager Gu that I lost the USB drive. If he asks about it later, don't let it slip... Don't tell Fang Qia about this yet. Manager Gu has already contacted Huaji. There shouldn't be any major problems."

Jiang Xu didn't like to meddle in other people's business; he just couldn't quite understand Li Si'ao's actions. After all, in his opinion, although this matter wasn't huge, its subsequent impact was irreversible. Not only would the leadership question Li Si'ao's work ability, but if there were similar large projects in the future, he basically wouldn't get a chance. After all, the industry competition was fierce now, and not a single mistake was allowed.

It would be one thing if Fang Qia liked him, but Fang Qia didn't like him. Wasn't everything Li Si'ao was doing a waste of effort?

Obviously, with Jiang Xu's stingy and miserly personality, it was hard for him to comprehend this level of selfless dedication—like Li Si'ao now, and like Gu Qingzhou back then...

The two returned to their desks. Fang Qia anxiously asked about the situation. Li Si'ao downplayed it, saying, "The manager said to be careful next time and told you to hurry up with the drawings in the next few days. He didn't say anything else."

Jiang Xu didn't really want to take Li Si'ao's position. Acting team leader wasn't the real thing—it was more work for less pay, and it would hurt the bond between brothers. Just as he was pondering what to do, he saw Gu Qingzhou walk out of his office and say to another colleague, Yao Qiguang, "There's a client in the East District. It's an old house with a somewhat complicated layout. You come with me. We'll go take a look at the situation first."

Hearing this, Jiang Xu swiveled his chair around. 'I still need to discuss this team leader change with Gu Qingzhou privately,' he thought, then spoke up, "Manager, I'm familiar with the East District. I'll go with you."

Gu Qingzhou shot him a wary look, probably thinking Jiang Xu was up to no good, and refused directly. "No need. Just manage the project you have on hand."

Seeing Gu Qingzhou leave, Yao Qiguang was about to get up and follow when a sudden strong force on his shoulder pushed him back down into his chair. Yao Qiguang instinctively looked up and was caught off guard by the sight of Jiang Xu's face. He heard him say with a grin, "Stay seated. I'll go check things out for you. It's so hot outside, isn't it better to stay in the office with the air conditioning?"

Yao Qiguang was a little four-eyes. His work wasn't great, but he was quite shrewd and loved to tattle behind people's backs. He didn't want to give up this opportunity to get closer to the boss. He adjusted his glasses and said reluctantly, "But Manager Gu asked me to go with him..."

Hearing this, Jiang Xu's smile vanished instantly. His voice was low as he repeated, word for word, "I said, I'm going with Manager Gu. Do you understand?"

His expressionless face was quite intimidating. Yao Qiguang was the type to bully the weak and fear the strong, and he had heard that Jiang Xu used to be a hoodlum. His own presence unconsciously weakened, and for a moment, he was speechless. Seeing this, Jiang Xu curled his lip, uninterestedly released his shoulder, and said without much sincerity, "Sorry, just kidding."

With that, he walked out, speeding up to catch up with Gu Qingzhou downstairs.

It was already approaching afternoon, and the sunlight wasn't very strong. It had actually rained lightly last night, but people were still asleep then and didn't hear the pitter-patter outside. By morning, the faint traces of water had evaporated quickly under the sun, leaving no sign behind.

Gu Qingzhou drove the car out and parked it at the company entrance. Not long after, the passenger-side door was pulled open, but it wasn't Yao Qiguang who got in; it was Jiang Xu.

Gu Qingzhou glanced sideways at him without saying a word, his gaze icy and unfriendly.

A whole row of plane trees was planted along the road. Faint sunlight spilled down through the layers of leaves, forming shafts of light. Jiang Xu snapped his fingers in front of Gu Qingzhou's eyes and said pointedly, "Don't glare at me like that. The roads in the East District are bad. It's better if I go with you, hmm?"

The East District was only half a street away from Hai Cheng High School. The surrounding area was filled with old residential buildings, with dense webs of electrical wires crisscrossing overhead. Because the roads were narrow, they were often impassably congested. Gu Qingzhou's car got stuck in traffic at the intersection, so he could only find a place to park and walk the rest of the way.

After walking a few steps, they could see students in school uniforms walking out in twos and threes. Occasionally, a few young hooligans were squatting at the gate of Hai Cheng High School, smoking. They were either from other schools here to pick a fight or third-year students skipping class. Jiang Xu had once been one of them—and the biggest gang leader at that.

Hai Cheng High School had the worst college acceptance rate in the entire school district. Most of the students there didn't finish their studies and started working for various reasons. Those who could get into university were as rare as a phoenix's feathers. Back then, Gu Qingzhou had gotten into A University with a high score, becoming the school's living advertisement.

Jiang Xu didn't know that in recent years, Hai Cheng High School's acceptance rate had gone up a lot. He just glanced at the peeling paint on the gate sign, then clicked his tongue and shook his head, unconsciously pulling a cigarette from his pocket. "This dump of a school hasn't closed down yet."

Revisiting an old haunt, Gu Qingzhou seemed to recall something and remained silent.

It was after school, and the gates were wide open, so it couldn't be easier to slip inside. Jiang Xu flicked the ash from his cigarette, then stubbed it out on a trash can by the road and said to Gu Qingzhou, "Since we're here, might as well go in and take a look."

The old security guard at the gatehouse had aged a lot. He was sitting at the entrance reading a newspaper. Seeing them, he glanced over and inexplicably found Jiang Xu a bit familiar, like some major troublemaker from a few years back. But his appearance in a suit and tie was a far cry from back then, so he couldn't be sure. Shaking his head, he went back to his newspaper.

Jiang Xu saw this and couldn't stop laughing. Back in the day, he had been caught by the old security guard countless times for skipping class and climbing the school gate. It wasn't until they reached the sports field that he said to Gu Qingzhou, "His eyesight is failing. He didn't recognize me."

Gu Qingzhou shot him a sidelong glance. "Would it be glorious for you to be recognized?"

Jiang Xu pouted and sat down by the flagpole platform. The broadcast room wasn't far behind. Seeing that the ground was dusty, Gu Qingzhou couldn't bring himself to sit on it like him and could only lean against a pillar. As he looked at the sports field, he seemed to recall something and suddenly said, "Sometimes, when you get older and think back on the things you used to do, it's just so stupid."

The red flag on the platform fluttered in the wind. Jiang Xu subconsciously looked at him, only to see Gu Qingzhou leaning against the pillar, closing his eyes lightly as he said, "Back then, even just standing on the speech platform with you without saying a word could make me happy for a long time..."

At the time, he didn't think much of it, but thinking about it now, Gu Qingzhou felt it was nothing but stupid. So at this moment, his eyes showed nothing but mockery.

Hearing this, Jiang Xu glanced at him expressionlessly, thinking, 'Of course you were happy. You went up there to receive an award; I went up there to read a self-criticism for fighting.'