The next day, when Xu Ye got up, there wasn’t a soul left in the house.

Old Zhang and Old Xu, Little Aunt and Wang Yuxin, and Second Aunt’s family of three who had come all this way — all of them had gone down to the countryside to his grandmother’s.

Xu Ye glanced at the note on the table, brushed his teeth and washed his face alone and in a hurry, ate a couple of mouthfuls of something, and drove to Red Leaf Estate.

In a few more days it would be Major Heat, one of the twenty-four solar terms.

By around eight the sun was already hanging high overhead.

Getting into the car felt like stepping into a steamer basket. It was a good while before the air conditioning got going and his forehead stopped beading with sweat.

The car stopped in front of the villa.

Xu Ye sounded the horn twice, and Chen Qingqing came running out with a bounce in her step. She had on a pale blue floral dress and a sun hat. The effect was fresh and simple, and at the same time somehow that of a rich girl.

She pulled the door open, got into the passenger seat, fastened her seat belt in high spirits and said playfully, “Off we go.”

Yesterday’s misunderstanding had made one thing clear to Chen Qingqing.

She had discovered that she liked Xu Ye completely and utterly. In all the time they had been together before, she had never had any concrete sense of what that liking amounted to. But after what happened yesterday she realized she could no longer do without him.

The car had barely left Red Leaf Estate when Xu Ye said, out of nowhere, “Lying to me again?”

Chen Qingqing turned to look at him, her big eyes full of confusion.

She didn’t follow. “What did I lie to you about?”

Xu Ye said with a completely straight face, “Didn’t we agree last night that you’d put them on for me today?”

Chen Qingqing hadn’t expected that to be what he meant. She turned her head to the windshield immediately and muttered, “I… I am wearing them.”

“Your legs are obviously bare. You’re lying with your eyes wide open.”

“I am not.”

Xu Ye’s goading worked quickly. Chen Qingqing pulled her skirt up a little way and said loudly, “Feel it if you don’t believe me.”

That was exactly the line Xu Ye had been waiting for.

The words were barely out of her mouth before his right hand came to rest on her thigh. He felt it twice, quite brazenly, and after that he never took it away again.

Only now did Chen Qingqing realize that rotten Xu Ye had set her up again. But she didn’t move his hand off the way she had before. She only turned her head to the window and tried to distract herself.

Twenty-odd minutes later.

The car pulled up below the Youwei garment factory.

Xu Ye parked and the two of them got out.

It was Monday.

The workers had all come in early.

Once inside, Xu Ye started greeting the workers himself.

“Morning, Zhou-jie.”

“Morning, Director Xu.”

“Xiao Lan-jie, you’re dressed up nicely today.”

“Ha, really?”

Somebody else asked outright, “Director Xu, who’s the pretty girl with you?”

Xu Ye introduced her openly. “My girlfriend.”

“You two really are a match — brains on his side and beauty on hers.”

“Chen-jie, now you’ve offended me. What do you mean brains on my side and beauty on hers? Am I not good-looking?”

“Ha.”

Chen Qingqing didn’t much like dealing with strangers. Watching Xu Ye greet the older women of the factory so easily left her feeling awkward, and all she could do was press close to him, one small hand taking his arm.

Chen Qingqing had prepared herself for it well in advance, but when she saw the lingerie hanging piece by piece in the air over in the production workshop, she found herself blushing for no reason she could name.

Xu Ye took Chen Qingqing upstairs. In the office he carried a chair over and set it beside his own seat, explaining as he went. “There isn’t much room, so I have to share an office with Boss. But in a while, once we’ve scaled up, we’ll probably move into a bigger one.”

He had barely finished speaking when Zhang Xiaonuan came in from outside. Seeing Chen Qingqing there, she greeted her warmly.

“Let me get you something to drink. What would you like?”

Chen Qingqing answered quickly. “Just water, thank you.”

Xu Ye turned on the computer at his desk, opened his email first, and started dealing with the Shanghai company’s business.

Monkey King: Hero Is Back had been held over because of its solid reputation and steadily climbing box office, which was of course good news for Xu Ye.

Tang Bowen had also messaged him privately a few days earlier: he had decided to stay at Qingye Investment.

Naturally Xu Ye was delighted to have someone that experienced, an elite of the legal profession, staying at the company.

Once he had read through the emails he started replying to several of them.

His hands worked the keyboard with practiced ease, and his focus was unusually complete. What he didn’t know was that while he was deep in it, Chen Qingqing beside him was watching him the whole time.

It was rare for Chen Qingqing to see him concentrating on anything that hard, and she thought Xu Ye at that moment was simply… unbelievably handsome.

When he had finished replying, Xu Ye picked up the mug on the desk, found it empty, and was about to call Zhang Xiaonuan in when Chen Qingqing beside him held out the bottle of water she had just been given.

He took it and teased her deliberately. “Not put off by me anymore?”

“Just drink it.”

“True. We’ve both tasted each other’s spit by now — being put off at this point would be a bit much.”

Chen Qingqing slapped him on the back and said, mortified, “You shut your mouth!”

They were still laughing and carrying on.

Pei Youwei pushed the door open and came into the office. Seeing Chen Qingqing sitting next to Xu Ye, she laughed, a little surprised. “Qingqing. You came.”

Chen Qingqing was too embarrassed to say it had been her own idea, so she pinned it straight on Xu Ye. “He insisted on bringing me.”

“Ha. I told him to bring you over ages ago.”

The three of them talked for a while, and then Xu Ye and Pei Youwei went off to a meeting together. Pei Youwei had wanted Chen Qingqing to come along too, but she was far too embarrassed. It lasted half an hour, and afterward the two of them sat in the office talking about how the company should develop, then dealt with the internet-celebrity selling. The morning went by fast…

At noon Xu Ye, Chen Qingqing and Pei Youwei had takeout together at the company. They stayed until around two, and once Xu Ye saw that everything needing attention was done, he took Chen Qingqing by the hand and left the factory early.

In the passenger seat Chen Qingqing was curious. “Are we going back this early?”

“Mm. I’m tired. Going home for a nap.”

Xu Ye drove toward home along a route he knew well. Chen Qingqing could tell it wasn’t the right way, and only when they were nearly at the complex did she ask, “Where are you taking me?”

“Home.”

“Home?”

“Mm.”

Chen Qingqing caught on immediately. She reached out and took hold of the cuff of his T-shirt sleeve and said in a small voice, “Xu Ye, I… I…”

Xu Ye laughed. “My mom and dad have both gone to my grandmother’s. For the next couple of days there’s only me at home.”

“Huh?”

Chen Qingqing let go of him hurriedly and gave a meek little “oh.”

But she quickly asked, “You said just now… go home and do what?”

Xu Ye leaned in, a wicked grin on his face. “Sleep. Just the two of us.”

(End of Chapter 272)