August 7th was the first day of autumn by the traditional calendar.

But it was still thirty-four or thirty-five degrees that day.

Pei Youwei was busy receiving guests and members of the press. Tomorrow night, on top of all of them, several senior Jiangzhou city officials would be attending. She hadn't invited them. They had contacted the company themselves, out of regard for her father and brother.

Xu Ye stole a lazy morning and slept until nine. Once he got to the venue, he held another meeting with the department heads, mostly about how to handle any emergencies that came up during the show.

Around noon, a little before twelve.

Xu Ye got a call he wasn't expecting. It was Yu Beiwang…

"Brother Yu, you mean… you're in Jiangzhou right now?!"

Ever since he'd joined the group, almost everyone apart from his parents and a few elders had called him Director Yu. So when Xu Ye called him Brother Yu, it threw him for a second. He found he liked it a lot.

"Bro" would have sounded like trying too hard.

"Director Yu" would have sounded too distant.

"Brother Yu" was just right. It showed respect, and it struck the right balance, given how far apart they were in age.

"Mm. I'm in the hotel right in front of you. Let's get lunch. You pick the place. It's on me."

"Jiangzhou's my turf. No way I'm letting you pay. Where should I wait for you?"

"I'm heading down now. Just wait at the hotel entrance."

"Okay."

The second he hung up, Xu Ye called Pei Youwei. "Hey, Boss, where are you?"

"Still at the office."

"Quick, quick. I'll send you a location in a minute. Come have lunch with us."

Pei Youwei sounded exasperated. "Have you been working so hard you lost your mind? With all the people here today, when would I have time for lunch with you?"

Crap. Forgot about that.

Xu Ye hung up and thought it over. Yu Beiwang hadn't come all the way to Jiangzhou purely for work. There'd be other chances.

He'd only been…