An Xun touched his nose, “Uncle Lin, I really need to go to work. Didn’t President Bo tell you?”

On second thought, he wasn’t that close with Bo Xiangzhou; Bo wouldn’t consider every little thing for him. The clothes and breakfast were just a bit of care for him being new, nothing more.

He tried to keep up appearances, “Uncle Lin, why haven’t I seen President Bo?”

Uncle Lin answered meticulously, “President Bo had an early meeting today, so he went to the office earlier. Madam, you needn’t be too sad, you can have breakfast with him tomorrow.”

“I’m not sad…” said An Xun.

His instincts told him to explain, or who knows how it would get twisted by the time it reached Bo Xiangzhou’s ears.

Uncle Lin gave a small smile, “I understand.”

No, you really don’t.

An Xun forced a smile; his reputation was on the line.

Uncle Lin asked, “Where does the madam work? What time do you start? I’ll call driver Zhang to take you.”

An Xun suddenly stood up, waving his hands, “No need, no need, I’ll take a cab myself.”

Too many people were jealous of him; he preferred to keep a low profile.

Having been driven to the company by the Bo family’s driver today, he’d probably drown in the saliva of omegas infatuated with Bo Xiangzhou by evening.

Uncle Lin offered, “Then should I have the driver drop you off across from the company?”

An Xun shook his head again, “Really, it’s not necessary.”

After a few minutes of back and forth, Uncle Lin was the first to give in.

An Xun, after a struggle, coldly slung his black dumpling bag over his shoulder, took a pitiful last glance at the food, and left without looking back after finishing a bowl of chicken soup.

Darn it, he hadn’t eaten enough—curse his façade.

Jia He Estate was quite remote, far from the city center with few vehicles passing by. An Xun stood in the wind for five or six minutes before he spotted the shadow of a rideshare.

The driver was a middle-aged man, looking like a beta. He glanced at An Xun getting into the car, then at the distant estate, and finally couldn’t help asking halfway through the drive, “I haven’t seen you before. Which young master are you? How come you don’t have a driver to pick you up?”

“You guess.” An Xun lowered his head and ordered some takeout on his phone to be delivered to the office.

After ordering a cup of oatmeal porridge and a salted egg yolk rice ball, he slowly looked out the window. The road to the office wasn’t the same as the one he took yesterday; just one day later, he already missed his little room.

He wasn’t usually one to be nostalgic.

Feeling the driver’s glance, his mood for poetry was interrupted, and An Xun retorted, “What are you looking at?”

“Handsome guy, I hope you don’t mind me asking.” The driver lowered his voice, “You aren’t President Bo’s kept lover, are you? Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

“I didn’t realize you were so nosy.” An Xun asked curiously, “Why do you suspect President Bo would keep a lover?”

The driver said distractedly, “Think about it, alphas are intense in their desires. I might not be an alpha, but I understand that no suppressants for alphas have been developed yet. Bo Xiangzhou is already thirty, how could he resist during his susceptible period? If he really could, there’d be only one reason.”

“Nowadays, not only celebrities fake their public images, even famous philanthropists are exposed for multiple infidelities. It’s not impossible for Bo Xiangzhou to do the same.”

“That actually makes sense.”

Bo Xiangzhou probably had no other reason; he just had self-control, judging by his abstinent demeanor yesterday.

He truly admired Bo Xiangzhou; even pretending to be modest for half an hour felt exhausting to him.

The driver gossiped, “So are you or aren’t you?”

“We’re here.” An Xun felt he needed to defend Bo Xiangzhou a bit, considering his care, “President Bo’s character is still trustworthy.”

Entering the company and clocking in, An Xun could already imagine the boss’s furious face, likely ready to scold him the moment he sat down.

But when he quietly searched for the boss for five or six minutes at his desk, he saw no sign of him.

Dropping his concerns, he buried his head in work, but that annoying voice came from behind.

“You really picked your time, the boss is out for business this morning, won’t be in.”

Meng Xiao, holding a cup of tea, his eyes circled with purple like a ghastly ghost, appeared silently.

An Xun found him irritating, “You’re the one who picks times, so busy with work and still finding time for fun. Tsk tsk, who sucked the life out of you?”

“If you hadn’t left your post without approval yesterday afternoon! And you didn’t work overtime last night, would these tasks have fallen to me?” Meng Xiao was shaking with anger, the tea in his cup dangerously close to spilling.

An Xun’s temper flared, “What are you yelling for? How many times have you worked overtime? Every time the boss asked you to stay late, you had an excuse to refuse, saying you were not well, couldn’t handle nights. When I was working late, you were probably sleeping in bed. Don’t think just because you’ve been here longer you can criticize me. After several years, you haven’t progressed, just a waste.”

Meng Xiao’s tone was mocking, “That must be really tough for you.”

An Xun shot back, “Not as tough as you, getting older without a partner, not much savings, causing trouble at work and still can’t argue back.”

“Is that how you treat a senior employee?”

“You haven’t stopped stirring things up in front of the boss; I haven’t even settled that with you yet. I’m not in a good mood these days, I advise you not to provoke me.” An Xun’s temper slightly receded as he rolled his eyes, “In the workplace, we are all corporate slaves, don’t think too highly of yourself.”

Meng Xiao’s face alternated between pale and flushed; he couldn’t stand An Xun starting trouble, usually quiet and reserved, only daring to speak up against An Xun. But An Xun not only overpowered him in arguments but also made sense, leaving Meng Xiao speechless and unable to retort.

He couldn’t swallow his anger, his chest heaving dramatically, and he slammed the teacup down on the table with a loud sound.

An Xun frowned, “Didn’t you get your rabies vaccine last time?”

He exaggeratedly shrank his shoulders, looking wary as if Meng Xiao was some kind of contagious germ.

Meng Xiao didn’t speak to him all morning.

An Xun knew he was just waiting for the afternoon meeting to see him embarrassed.

Scold him all you want; he wasn’t listening. If the boss yelled at him, he might just yell back.

An Xun propped his chin, his eyes on the resume, his mind on Bo Xiangzhou.

Thinking of the An family’s fall into bankruptcy, his heart felt a rush of satisfaction, eager to see the An family’s disgraceful mudslide.

That’s what they deserved.

His phone vibrated once; Tao Nian had sent him a message.

[Nian Nian]: I have shocking news for you.

An Xun set aside his work.

[Nian Nian]: I saw An Xin and Cheng Song together! Cheng Song was holding his waist, and they were buying clothes at a luxury store.

An Xun was slightly stunned, and behind his back, the industrious Meng Xiao suddenly opened his phone.

[Gulu Gulu]: He hooked up with Cheng Song?

Cheng Song was well-known as a playboy in Jiang City, and also one of Bo Xiangzhou’s good friends. Both were business elites with rare talents, but their personalities were polar opposites; the former had many lovers and constant scandals, while the latter was clean and honorable.

[Nian Nian]: Pretty much, I can’t be sure whether Cheng Song is just a flirt or really likes him.

Either way, it wasn’t good for him.

What if Cheng Song suddenly decided to have a long-term relationship with An Xin? The An family would gain another layer of protection.

Distracted by this, An Xun couldn’t concentrate on his work, his mind occupied with how to sabotage the relationship between An Xin and Cheng Song.

“An Xun!” A shout pulled him back to reality.

In his line of sight, the boss was sitting at the head of the conference table, looking displeased, while Meng Xiao smugly crossed his arms.

It then dawned on him; he had been lost in thought too long, drawing the boss’s ire.

The boss said, “I’ve called you three or four times, and you didn’t snap out of it. Are you so distracted even during a meeting? Did you not get enough sleep after going home so early yesterday? I won’t pursue the matter of you leaving your post without permission, but you better watch yourself.”

The boss’s hands were on the table, “I hope you’ll learn from Meng Xiao in the future. Stop being so sloppy and undisciplined, playing with your phone during work hours for forty-three minutes straight. Do you even see your work anymore? Do you even see me as your boss?”

A torrent of words smashed into An Xun; he wasn’t angry or annoyed, just turned his head to look at Meng Xiao, a slight smile playing on his lips, chilling the other’s spine.

·

Today was a light day, and the boss, in a rare act of kindness, let them leave work early. An Xun returned to the estate and still didn’t see Bo Xiangzhou. He handed his bag to Uncle Lin, curious, “Uncle Lin, isn’t President Bo off work yet?”

Uncle Lin replied, “President Bo has a business event tonight.”

“Oh.” Rich people sure are busy.

After saying that, An Xun’s eyes landed on the private wine cabinet ahead. The cabinet was a metal design recessed into the wall.

He hadn’t paid much attention to it yesterday, but now, looking at it revealed its intricacies. The glass door design was grand and simple without seeming out of place, instead making the whole space look extraordinarily luxurious. The cabinet’s built-in temperature control system maintained the wine’s taste by regulating the inside temperature and humidity.

Looking at the wall of treasured wines, he was tempted.

He wondered when Bo Xiangzhou would open a bottle and if he could shamelessly snag a few sips.

An Xun shamefully swallowed his saliva, as if he could already smell the wine’s aroma.

It was torturous, seeing but not drinking.

That evening, as An Xun was gaming and chatting with Tao Nian about the wine, his bedroom door was knocked on.

He hid the spicy strips he had bought on the way home like a thief, sprayed some perfume, and then wiped away the traces of his sneaky snack with a wet wipe before nervously peeping through the opened door.

“Uncle Lin?” An Xun was surprised, “What’s up so late?”

Uncle Lin was still dressed as he had been during the day, but now he was carrying a cup of freshly ground coffee, its rich aroma suggesting it was just made.

An Xun was puzzled, “Huh?”

So why tell me this?

Uncle Lin didn’t say a word, just smiled at him.

An Xun felt uneasy, grasping at straws for conversation, “Uncle Lin, drinking coffee at night isn’t good, right? You should drink less in the future.”