Qi Shi'an's voice was low and deep. At this moment, he was also trying hard to suppress his emotions, so these short words sounded like they weighed a thousand pounds, and all the weight was pressing on Shen Duoyi's taut nerves.

The narrow staircase was like a dead end, and it seemed as if four impenetrable walls had grown around them. The two of them were stuck in between, unable to move an inch. Qi Shi'an still tightly grasped Shen Duoyi's arm, trapping his flesh and bones in his palm.

Suddenly, he thought, rubber bands snap when stretched too hard, so would crushing taut nerves also cause irreparable damage?

He suddenly became afraid.

Shen Duoyi's thin lips, which had been tightly closed for a long time, finally parted, and his brows and eyes were filled with an indescribable sadness. He said in a small voice, "My grandfather is waiting for me, I want to go home."

The welcome party finally came to an end. Those who didn't drink sent those who did drink home, while others who weren't satisfied yet were planning to go to another venue. Zhang Yiming, reeking of perfume and intoxicated, was waiting for the revelry after the end. But when he looked up, he saw Qi Shi'an leave without a word. He had no choice but to take up the flag of the closing speech and said, "As long as everyone is happy tonight, don't be late on Monday. If it affects work, the bonus will still be deducted."

Before he finished speaking, the car engine was already roaring recklessly downstairs. Qi Shi'an drove out of the block in the blink of an eye.

After the crowd dispersed, Shen Duoyi also said goodbye to his colleagues and superiors, got his car and left. When the car door closed, he was restrained under the seat belt, and the unventilated space made him feel a little breathless.

But he also gained a little sense of security.

The neon lights made the entire city still dazzling in the dark night. The towering buildings on the roadside made pedestrians and cars look like scattered chess pieces in comparison. He stared straight ahead all the way, forcing himself to arrive at Wenhu Apartments single-mindedly.

The parking lot was cold and quiet. Shen Duoyi parked the car and turned off the engine, then unfastened his seat belt. He bent down, resting his forehead against the horn button on the steering wheel, and slowly touched his right elbow with his left hand.

Qi Shi'an was very strong and had a big temper, leaving him still aching faintly now.

"You know, the one I want to sleep with the most is you."

The single-minded state was completely shattered. Shen Duoyi became a newly hatched chick. No, he was worse than a chick. Without any protective layer, he also didn't have a hard beak.

He picked up his phone and spoke softly in the empty parking lot, in the small, enclosed car compartment.

"I haven't been to a party for a long time. I was very happy today."

College classmates came from all over the country, so it was actually very difficult to get together. He had been separated from his middle school classmates for too long, and everyone was not in such close contact. But high school classmates gathered every year, yet he never attended.

"Because I had a bad reputation at that time. I had to earn money in my spare time and had to study hard at school. Gradually, I became less sociable. I was even seen by classmates when I got off work at the nightclub. It spread and became impossible to explain."

"They gossiped about me, and the content was not pleasant to hear."

"What you said tonight made me feel like I was back then. It was very uncomfortable."

Shen Duoyi spoke very slowly, and the bad emotions slowly disappeared. When there was only a little left, he stopped, then exhaled heavily, expelling the remaining bit.

After a while, his emotions returned to normal. He pulled out the key, got out of the car, and left the parking lot. The phone screen remained black and never dialed any number from beginning to end.

From campus to society, from the past to the present, Shen Duoyi was used to this kind of self-regulation. It would be very uncomfortable to hold words in his heart, so he would say them out and consider it turning the page. But he wouldn't really dial the number, let alone tell others, because he wasn't sure if his discomfort was reasonable.

He was afraid of being too sensitive, and he didn't want to be a sensitive person. He didn't want to tire himself out, and he didn't want to tire others out either.

Two doors separated by several blocks opened at the same time, both making a "beep" sound.

Then the sound of slamming doors resounded throughout the apartment. When Qi Shi'an changed into slippers, he slammed the keys on the glass coffee table, and the key chain that had been used for ten years had a bit more paint scraped off.

After speeding all the way and the slamming just now, one-third of his anger had finally subsided.

This anger was directed at himself, so he planned to keep the remaining two-thirds in his body as self-punishment.

He took off his coat in the living room, pulled off his tie, and unbuttoned the top two buttons as he walked down the hallway. Qi Shi'an paced to the dining room and sighed as he turned on the light.

The dining room was not right next to the kitchen, but a separate small sunny room. In the center of the light coffee-colored floor was a milky white round table, with four wooden leather-padded chairs forming a circle.

Qi Shi'an pulled out a chair and sat down, his gaze falling on the hydrangea in the center of the round table.

The petals were a bit wilted, and that aggrieved and powerless look was like the sadness condensed between Shen Duoyi's brows.

He poured the remaining half cup of water from the morning on the hydrangea and said helplessly to himself, "If you hadn't misunderstood me, I wouldn't have spoken without thinking and embarrassed you."

In a state of losing reason, he said, "The good-looking people in nightclubs, I've done them all," followed by a sentence that seemed to say Shen Duoyi was no different from the people in nightclubs.

But in fact, he was just angrily expressing his desire to possess.

Qi Shi'an sat alone for half the night and despairingly found that under his gaze, the petals seemed to deteriorate further. He didn't know if Shen Duoyi's mood had eased, and hoped that after the two-day weekend, he could still hear that pleasant "Mr. Qi" when they met again on Monday.

On the first weekend after changing jobs, Shen Duoyi slept and wrote work summaries. He grew on the bay window, his slender fingers almost never leaving the keyboard. After finishing these, he still felt it wasn't enough, so he took out the "Platinum Plan" he had designed before and made modifications and additions for Meng Liang's new product.

"Duoyi, come and watch this show."

Shen Duoyi wanted to pretend he didn't hear, but he knew that if he did, the old man would have to walk a few more steps to call him. So he got up and left the bedroom, asking with a lack of interest, "What show are you watching again, 'The Way to Wealth'?"

Grandpa Shen replied, "The news is reporting on sky-high burial plots. Watching it makes me want to live another twenty years and wait for the price to drop before I kick the bucket."

Shen Duoyi cut an apple, then used a spoon to scrape the flesh into a bowl. After scraping, he handed the spoon together with the apple puree to Grandpa Shen, saying: "Grandpa, don't worry, I've already bought a cemetery plot for you, but please don't be in a hurry. Can you live for another fifty years?"

"You want me to cultivate immortality?" Grandpa Shen ate the apple. "It's not an exorbitant price, right?"

"No, it's an affordable price." Shen Duoyi smiled while eating the other half. "It's next to my parents'. By the way, next time we visit their graves, we should tell them I got a new job."

Grandpa Shen asked: "How's the new job? Don't focus on making a lot of money, as long as you're happy doing it."

Shen Duoyi finished the apple. "I'm quite happy."

Qi Shi'an's face surfaced in his mind. He pinched the apple core with more force, guessing whether the other party's anger had subsided after two days, after all, he had badmouthed him first and wasn't really in the right.

Both sides spent the holiday restlessly, turning it into a long torment. After the sun rose and set several times, a new week finally arrived.

Qi Shi'an didn't eat breakfast at home, but sat at the round table in his suit, drinking water. He reached out to touch the flower petals, and the hidden expectation in his heart increased by half. It wasn't that he was stingy, but expectation was like stocks and needed to be treated cautiously, otherwise one might not be able to bear unexpected disappointments.

The flower shop sent new hydrangeas, a round plant placed in a transparent wide-mouthed small vase, hoping that Shen Duoyi had also become energetic.

The coffee shop next to Ming'an Building was crowded with people, as if all the office workers on the street were queuing here for breakfast. Shen Duoyi left home very early, with only two people ahead of him in line.

"Team Leader Shen, good morning."

Shen Duoyi turned around and saw Annie. He smiled and said: "Morning, what do you want to eat? I'll buy it together with mine."

"Thank you, Team Leader Shen. I was stuck in traffic." Annie glanced at the long queue and recalled the menu. "Please get me two salted meat sandwiches, a cream bun, a morning snack, and a black coffee."

"Okay, I'll remember that." Shen Duoyi smiled in response, but clicked his tongue inwardly. After buying, he left with Annie and entered Ming'an Building. Annie carried two bags of breakfast and explained: "This is for Mr. Qi. He always eats breakfast at the company."

Shen Duoyi was surprised. "He's used to eating this much for breakfast?"

Annie said softly: "Compared to his lunch, this is considered little."

Shen Duoyi racked his distant memories and recalled that when he worked part-time at the bar, Qi Shi'an seemed to have ordered many dishes. At that time, he thought the other party wanted him to be busier with more trips, but unexpectedly, his appetite was truly astonishing.

When Qi Shi'an arrived on the thirtieth floor, Annie had already started working. After entering the office, he smelled the aroma of coffee. When he took a sip, he found that a considerable amount of milk had been added.

Annie knocked and entered. "Mr. Qi, this is the information sent by Mr. Zhang's secretary."

Qi Shi'an ate the cream bun. "Just put it on the table, and make me a new cup of black coffee."

Annie reacted quickly and immediately reached out to take the cup on the table. She explained: "There were too many people in line. Team Leader Shen helped buy breakfast and probably took the wrong one. I'll go make you a cup right away."

The office door closed. Qi Shi'an swallowed the last bite of the cream bun.

He didn't expect Shen Duoyi to add so much milk to his coffee. It seemed he really feared bitterness.

"Mr. Qi," Annie returned with an extra cup of coffee in hand, "I'm sorry, this kind of mistake won't happen again. I made an extra cup with more milk and will send it to Team Leader Shen immediately."

Qi Shi'an didn't look up. "No need, going back and forth will only make him tired."

Shen Duoyi met with a client in the consulting department's meeting room. Coincidentally, this client had taken out a huge insurance policy, and they had met before. From the selection of investment projects to risk assessment, as well as prospect analysis and the establishment of a loss model, Shen Duoyi gave a detailed explanation without even taking a sip of water.

At the end of the conversation, the client asked: "The insurance policy I took out before was designed by you. I heard it recently became a star product. It seems your prospects at the insurance company were pretty good, so why did you change jobs?"

Shen Duoyi smiled and skirted the issue. "You flatter me. In the future, if you have any questions about insurance, feel free to ask me anytime."

After seeing the client to the door, he encountered Team Leader Qi on the way back to the office. The other party said: "It's lunchtime, let's go directly to the cafeteria."

"Okay, I didn't expect to chat with the client all morning." Shen Duoyi was surprised at how quickly time had passed. On the way to the cafeteria, he shared the client's thoughts with the other party. Although he felt that each team should maintain clear boundaries, they ultimately belonged to the same department, so he didn't hide anything.

The company cafeteria had small spaces between seats, and there weren't too many people at this time. Team Leader Qi swept a glance and said: "Mr. Qi came down so early today. He usually comes after the peak period."

Shen Duoyi's heart skipped a beat. He thought that after the awkwardness that night, he had regained his composure, but unexpectedly, he wasn't prepared for a face-to-face greeting.

He found an excuse: "I just remembered I bought breakfast but didn't have time to eat it."

Qi Shi'an, who had eaten a lot for breakfast, had a full table of dishes again. Just as his chopsticks touched the rice in the bowl, he felt his eyelids twitching. Frowning, he looked up and saw Shen Duoyi's back disappearing at the cafeteria entrance.

He called out: "Team Leader Qi, I ordered too much. Let's eat together."

Team Leader Qi sat down, and the two ate face to face. Qi Shi'an was silent and only asked halfway through the meal: "After attending a meeting with my side, how was it? Did your department find it helpful?"

Team Leader Qi answered earnestly, and then said objectively: "It's a pity Team Leader Shen went back just now, otherwise he could have given you more feedback."

Qi Shi'an asked indifferently: "What did he go up for? Not eating?"

"He said he bought breakfast but didn't have time to eat it." Team Leader Qi showed understanding. "There was a big client in the morning, so he was probably busy."

More and more people came to eat. Qi Shi'an finished quickly and ordered another cup of coffee with extra milk. On the way, he engaged in an intense mental struggle, hesitating whether to deliver takeout to the consulting department.

But his body seemed to obey another system. After entering the elevator, he directly pressed the floor where the consulting department was located.

The receptionist had lost her will to live. Qi Shi'an walked by with a cup of coffee and said unhappily, "Change to some more expensive makeup. Touching up your makeup by the entrance every day is an eyesore."

He went straight to Shen Duoyi's office, but when he got to the door, he found no one inside.

Qi Shi'an felt awkward and even grew sullen about taking the initiative to come. Now that he was trying to be a gentleman, he was treated this way instead. He went in and replaced the untouched black coffee, then left without looking back.

He was the boss. Getting Shen Duoyi to come up to the thirtieth floor would only take a word from him. Why bother going through so much trouble?

However, even if he wanted to hide, he couldn't have foreseen it. Shen Duoyi was sitting in the break room, about to eat a freshly washed large pear.