After that night, Shen Duoyi never went to that nightclub again.

He went home and slept for a whole morning, nursing his stomach that occasionally twinged with pain. Lying flat on the bed, he recalled how his stomach had been warmed by that hand all night. He tried to cover it with his own hand, but his palm wasn't particularly warm, nor was it icy cold. Touching his skin had no effect.

Shen Duoyi gave up. Before closing his eyes, he turned on his side, tightly hugging the quilt into his arms, filling all the gaps and voids. He wanted to sleep a bit more. After waking up, he still needed to muster up the energy to figure out a new job.

He suddenly felt especially tired.

It wasn't a physical exhaustion, but a helpless weariness that arose from the depths of his heart.

The 30th floor was so quiet that only the ticking of the clock could be heard. Annie had already left work. The door to the senior partner's office was tightly shut. Inside, the two people had argued and fallen into an infinite dead silence.

Shen Duoyi felt a surge of helplessness, and the feeling of fatigue spread rampantly through his body. If Qi Shi'an hadn't been holding his arm, he probably would have collapsed into the sofa after a couple of sways.

In a daze, he felt like he had returned to that day in the past, feeling like he needed to figure out a new job.

Qi Shi'an had achieved the final victory in the argument just now. Seeing Shen Duoyi's clean face gradually turn red, he had a sense of satisfaction from a successful prank. But when the flush faded from Shen Duoyi's face, his cheeks and thin lips turning pale, Qi Shi'an felt a hidden regret in his heart.

The phone, set to silent mode, was lying flat on the desktop. The screen lit up at an inopportune moment, flashing the name "Meng Liang". Shen Duoyi had already forgotten that he had made plans with someone. He didn't know how long he would be stuck here, so he thought he should at least notify the other party. He softly asked, "Can I take this?"

Qi Shi'an's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed a mouthful of air. This air traveled down his throat, carrying a colorless, tasteless acidic substance that softened his heart considerably.

"Go ahead." He let go. "Go to your appointment. We'll talk more tomorrow."

Shen Duoyi picked up the phone and answered, his gaze lowered on the folder that had been slammed on the desk. "Meng Liang, I have some unfinished business here. Let's meet tomorrow instead, and bring Teacher Meng too."

"Bring Uncle along?" Meng Liang responded. "Okay, see you tomorrow then."

After hanging up, Shen Duoyi had regained his composure. He reopened the black folder and carefully read through it again. Upon reaching the last page, he solemnly said, "I just made plans to meet Teacher Meng tomorrow, so I will give the company an explanation as soon as possible within two days. Let's be rigorous and do it in writing. I will submit an explanatory report then."

Qi Shi'an took the folder back and placed it on the corner of the desk. "I'll wait for your report. You can go off work now."

Shen Duoyi never raised his eyes. He pulled out the chair blocking his way, not even looking straight ahead as he walked out. With just a few steps left to the door, he suddenly stopped, his back to Qi Shi'an.

Qi Shi'an gazed intently, not knowing what the other person was hesitating about.

"Actually," Shen Duoyi clenched his hanging fist, "as a boss, you're very good."

In the few emails that weren't impatient.

In the ease with which he spoke under the projector light.

In the aroma of the replaced coffee.

Really very good.

Qi Shi'an forgot about the wound on the corner of his mouth. He hissed in pain but still smiled. He pushed his luck and asked, "Then between me and that Teacher Meng, who is better?"

He didn't want to make it difficult for Shen Duoyi, so he answered himself, "I know, I'm better."

Shen Duoyi slowly walked to the edge of the door. "My report is one aspect, but the company's view may be another. When the time comes, bring Mr. Zhang along too. No matter how it's handled, I won't object."

"What if you're fired?" Qi Shi'an nonchalantly took his coat and bag, then slowly approached the person standing by the door. "And if your explanation isn't convincing, you'll have to compensate the company."

Shen Duoyi turned around. "If the amount is large, can I pay in installments?"

Qi Shi'an laughed and winced at the same time, the wound at the corner of his mouth bleeding from being stretched by his laughter. Taking the tissue Shen Duoyi handed over, he gently wiped it and said, "You can hire me to help you trade stocks. I make money very quickly."

Shen Duoyi asked, "How much do you charge per hour?"

The two of them stood by the door, wasting time on a few meaningless but amusing exchanges. As soon as Shen Duoyi said that last sentence, they both froze. Under each other's gaze, they simultaneously sank into the depths of the other's dark pupils, shuttling into the memories deep in their minds.

Qi Shi'an had once gone to the bar to confront Shen Duoyi and also asked this question: "How much do you charge per hour?"

Shen Duoyi lied and said "two hundred", then used the full two hundred to treat Qi Shi'an to buttered beer as thanks for that night at the nightclub. After drinking, Qi Shi'an didn't make any more trouble and just quietly watched the other person work.

He waited persistently at the door until closing time, but when he looked up, he saw Shen Duoyi coming out in a neat school uniform.

In that instant, Qi Shi'an thought of countless ways to entangle himself, even wondering if Shen Duoyi had good grades. Did he have a part-time tutoring job? If so, he would definitely force Huo Xuechuan to find Shen Duoyi for lessons.

The clock chimed, and the two people withdrew from their memories, each averting their gaze. They left the office one after the other. The numbers on the elevator changed at a steady pace, but the two faces reflected in the elevator door showed no change in expression.

When getting his car, Qi Shi'an discovered that Shen Duoyi drove a black Volkswagen.

Nearly 70% of people in the country drove black Volkswagens, so he didn't have any wild fantasies.

The two cars disappeared into the streets in opposite directions. As Shen Duoyi gripped the steering wheel to turn, he glanced at the back of his hand and saw that a small patch of skin had been scraped off, probably from hitting Qi Shi'an's teeth when he punched him. The amazing thing was that he hadn't felt any pain at all.

Maybe he had been too angry at the time, feeling the despair of a scholar encountering a soldier.

Drowsy from the spring weather, Grandpa Shen was already resting when he got home. Shen Duoyi mopped the living room floor twice, then sat on the balcony and scrubbed Grandpa Shen's cloth shoes clean. After finishing, he was still rolling up his sleeves. He looked up at the sky outside the window, but unfortunately couldn't see the stars behind the haze, only the hazy moon.

It was getting a bit cold on the balcony, so Shen Duoyi moved to the bedroom. He leaned against the headboard, sat cross-legged with his laptop, while wisps of white steam rose from the hot tea on the bedside table. After creating a comfortable environment, he opened the file and continued working on Mr. Xu's proposal.

No one disturbed him the entire time. After 10 o'clock, his phone started vibrating by his leg.

"Duoyi, I just finished a meeting. Is something the matter?"

The direct question saved the need for greetings and preamble, so Shen Duoyi answered straightforwardly: "Teacher Meng, the company found out about my information with you."

The TV was on, broadcasting the tennis finals. Take-out boxes were sprawled on the coffee table, along with three or four cans of beer. Zhang Yiming had long adored the pure wool soft cushion in front of the sofa, so he sat on the floor. Qi Shi'an was half lying on the sofa, operating his computer while paying attention to the match.

"The last spicy chicken wing, are you still eating it?"

"No, the corner of my mouth hurts." Qi Shi'an stared at the screen. "You eat more, investigations are tiring."

Zhang Yiming stuffed the chicken wing into his mouth, his sharp teeth stripping the meat from the bone, basically separating the flesh from the bone. He raised his eyebrows and said, "Which mid-to-high level employee who suddenly jumps ship doesn't get investigated? Not to mention his prospects were so good at his previous company. Don't make it sound like I'm targeting him, I actually quite like him."

Qi Shi'an typed harder on the keyboard: "Is there anyone you don't like?"

"Yes, you." Zhang Yiming smiled as he cleaned up the trash. "Shen Duoyi was recommended by You Zhe. Although we're all friends with You Zhe, I had my reservations from the start."

"You do know to be vigilant, but who would have thought his connection was with his former boss." Qi Shi'an hit enter. "Shen Duoyi's information has already been taken down, quite quickly too."

Zhang Yiming asked, "How do you think this matter should be handled?"

Qi Shi'an deliberately said, "The consulting department is under your management, don't ask me."

"Oh, alright then." Zhang Yiming cleared his throat. "Let's not bother with submitting a report, to be safe, I'll directly issue a dismissal letter."

Qi Shi'an closed his laptop and turned to watch the match, saying without taking his eyes off, "Whatever, if the Shengzhao deal falls through because of this, you pay out of your own pocket to make up for it."

He then added, "Meng Ping's consulting company, Shen Duoyi is not a partner."

After he said this, Zhang Yiming didn't make a sound. The entire room was silent except for the commentator making noise on the TV.

No-name, no-reputation consulting companies are a dime a dozen. They can't take on big clients, their target demographic is scattered, and they work their tails off handling a dozen or so deals, only to end up with profits that might only amount to the spare change of one of Ming'an's client transaction amounts. Shen Duoyi wasn't even a partner, so he had no dividends or commissions, only a salary to collect. Therefore, anyone with any sense wouldn't risk Ming'an's generous compensation and room for development for that meager pay.

Qi Shi'an glanced at him sideways, figuring he had made it obvious enough. The match ended with the player he supported winning, so he turned off the TV and got up. "Forget the dismissal letter, you just wait for the explanation report."

Zhang Yiming seemed listless, but a hint of mischief flashed in his eyes as he said, "Your speculations are reasonable, but there's something in this world that can break reason, and that thing is - emotion. Shen Duoyi worked for four years with great prospects, why did he suddenly resign? Something must have happened."

Qi Shi'an's hand holding the laptop was a bit sore, and he said irritably, "Are you investigating him for the company, or to satisfy your own gossipy heart?"

"Both, I guess." Zhang Yiming answered righteously. "Then why are you speaking up for him, for the company, or for something else?"

Qi Shi'an was not only righteous, but eloquent: "Of course it's for the company, Shen Duoyi just arrived not long ago and is about to secure Shengzhao."

He had always been stingy about sharing his emotional activities, especially not with a playboy like Zhang Yiming who wouldn't be pulled back even if you threw tens of thousands at him. Or maybe, he himself wasn't sure what that "something else" referred to.

Was it liking him?

But Shen Duoyi had just punched him, even drawing blood. He had also angered the other quite a bit.

Qi Shi'an moved the corner of his mouth. "I'm going to sleep, suit yourself."

It's said that deep blue bedding is most conducive to sleep, but unfortunately Qi Shi'an's sheets and quilt covers were either dark gray or light gray. He pulled the double-layer thick curtains closed, then turned off the lights without any reluctance. Before sleeping, he couldn't help but think, pitch black, how could you tell what color it was, the theory probably doesn't hold up.

Also needing judgment on whether it held up was the self-proving explanation Shen Duoyi sent.

Affiliated information doesn't use real names externally, and there were no photos shown, so it meant that Shen Duoyi was specifically investigated. That night after he informed Meng Ping, the consulting company immediately took down and permanently deregistered his information.

In the meeting room, Qi Shi'an and Zhang Yiming sat on one side, Shen Duoyi sat opposite, separated by a wide conference table. The two bosses each held a copy of the explanation report, flipping through it. Shen Duoyi interlocked his ten fingers on the table and said with appropriate urgency, "My information was put up almost as soon as I graduated, up until yesterday it had been nearly four years, so long that I forgot about it myself."

"Teacher Meng is Meng Liang's uncle, and Meng Liang and I were senior and junior schoolmates in the same major, so Teacher Meng took good care of me. At that time I was saving up to buy a house, so in order to let me earn a bit more, he had me put up the information."

Actuaries rarely affiliate their licenses, and at that time Shen Duoyi was only a prospective actuary, so the consulting company's external information had no gimmicks. "If Teacher Meng wasn't the boss, there probably wouldn't be any companies letting me affiliate," Shen Duoyi lowered his head slightly, a bit embarrassed. "They were really just helping me."

Zhang Yiming waved his hand in a "pause" gesture. "Let's not discuss this point for now, at the end of the day it's just earning some extra cash. What the company is concerned about is - competition between peers."

Any bit of inside information or client data from Ming'an would be enough to feed a small consulting company for two years, and Shen Duoyi also felt grateful towards Meng Ping, so it was hard not to think more of it. Qi Shi'an scratched his eyebrows with his short, well-manicured nails, thinking to himself that Zhang Yiming was clearly trying to pry into the other party's private matters regarding his resignation. He looked up at Shen Duoyi and said, "What Mr. Zhang is asking can only be explained verbally by you, and cannot be stated in writing."

Shen Duoyi unlocked his interlocked fingers, a gesture that showed he was completely relaxed and had let down his guard of self-protection. He answered unhurriedly, "Only small consulting companies need to post information to attract clients because they don't have the capital to hire so many professionals and can't afford the big clients that Ming'an is responsible for. The total transaction price of ten of their orders is not even a few tenths of one of Ming'an's orders. Giving them data is not for them to consume for two years, but they simply can't consume it at all."

"Teacher Meng was indeed very good to me. In those two years, he gave me a total of 600,000 yuan for the posted information. But for me to repay him by choosing to resign and enter the financial industry, and then steal data to feed back to him so that he can develop clients, it's too complicated and time-consuming." Although it was Zhang Yiming who asked the question, Shen Duoyi was looking at Qi Shi'an, without even realizing it himself.

Qi Shi'an asked with interest, "So how did you repay him?"

Shen Duoyi was stunned, "Do I have to say this too?"

Zhang Yiming tapped the table, "You don't have to say it, but the overall credibility will be reduced a bit."

Shen Duoyi was still looking at Qi Shi'an as he candidly said, "I paid him back before I resigned. The 'Platinum Plan' product launched by the insurance company last year was actually designed by me. I gave it to Teacher Meng."

The "Platinum Plan" was the hottest insurance product last year. Zhang Yiming found it a bit hard to believe and asked, "He gave you 600,000 yuan, and you paid him back over 10 million?"

Shen Duoyi finally stopped looking at Qi Shi'an and lowered his eyes, nodding, "Kindness cannot be calculated that way. Sending charcoal in the snow may only be a small piece of charcoal, but the warmth it brings is infinite."

Zhang Yiming had not expected such a pure mentoring relationship in the workplace. After a moment of silence, as his surprise gradually subsided, his curiosity grew even stronger. He asked, "Then why did you resign? Did your relationship break down? I heard that Meng Ping even introduced his daughter to you."

Although he had his eyes lowered, Shen Duoyi could feel a gaze on him. He nodded and answered truthfully, "We had a blind date before, but it wasn't very suitable. However, we have always been friends."

A good attitude and reasonable explanation were one thing, while profitability and professionalism were another. Shen Duoyi had too many weapons. Even if his methods were gentle, he could still cut off the branches that the other party extended to him one by one.

He took the initiative to propose signing an additional agreement to provide an extra layer of protection for both parties.

After the agreement was signed, Zhang Yiming took it away for sealing and filing, leaving only him and Qi Shi'an in the conference room. Qi Shi'an didn't say anything, but at this time, he was leisurely sipping water from a cup, as if on a date in a coffee shop.

Shen Duoyi looked at his watch, "Mr. Qi, I'll be going back then?"

Qi Shi'an held the water cup, "Why were you looking at me the whole time when you were explaining earlier?"

Shen Duoyi was quiet for a moment before answering, "I wanted to prove to you that I don't do anything just for money."

The window paper was suddenly poked through, and a light rain and gentle breeze rushed in together. If there was a wind chime hanging from the eaves, it would surely be tinkling at this moment. Qi Shi'an's heart was enlightened. The prejudice between them was originally like the ebb and flow of the tide, but Shen Duoyi had actually taken the initiative to plant a dense forest in his heart and build a long embankment, intending to keep all prejudice out.

He had already retreated, but he still wanted more, "Not allowed, even for personal favors."

"What?" Shen Duoyi didn't react in time.

Qi Shi'an put on a false show of force, "If you go on any more blind dates, I will personally send out a warning letter."