Chapter 33: You Can’t Exploit Female Comrades

Speak of the devil, and the devil arrives.

That very night, the project hit a snag.

The problem was with the self-inspection module: when an anomaly alert appears, how should it be classified to determine whether it needs to be escalated to the top-level account?

To address this, the team convened a voice meeting.

“As soon as an alert is triggered—regardless of its severity—it should immediately be connected to the internal public disclosure system of the National Development and Reform Commission. The information will be sent via email to every IP.”

That was the final plan Gu Yao confirmed.

Under the reformed system, all corruption would be laid bare.

Even if the sky were to fall, someone would be there to hold it up.

As an executor, her only task was to complete the assignments handed down by leadership. Everything else was not her concern.

The team, upon hearing this, was visibly stunned.

Especially Xiao Yu—he brought up several potential risk points, all out of concern for her.

But Gu Yao knew—this was exactly what Secretary Zhou intended.

If they were going to do it, they would do it to the level that would make him 100% satisfied.

She said, “If any of you have concerns, feel free to save a copy of my voice message, just in case it comes in handy in the future.”

Ahem.

That was a bit heavy-handed.

Team leader Xiao Lu awkwardly spoke up, “No need to be so formal, Teacher Gu. Our principle is to unconditionally fulfill every client request.”

Is that so.

According to industry insiders, the founder of Yaoke was known for being highly principled and opinionated. He had once unilaterally terminated a contract and forfeited the final payment just to persuade a client to take down a link suspected of false advertising.

It was precisely this strong professional integrity that made many clients wary of working with him.

However, in Gu Yao’s experience, since the formation of the project team, Xiao Yu had never interfered or objected to any of her requests. In fact, he was almost always compliant.

Which goes to show—you can’t always go along with hearsay and rumors.

—

During the National Day holiday in October, Old Gu and Teacher Shen had time off and came to Qionghai.

It was a rare opportunity, so Gu Yao got up early to clean and tidy up. While brushing her teeth, she glanced at her bank account balance and wondered whether to treat her parents to a trip.

But as soon as she picked them up from the train station and casually brought it up on the ride home, Teacher Shen shut the idea down.

“Save your money. You’ll need it for next year’s mortgage.”

At first, Gu Yao didn’t catch on.

Then—

Old Gu added, “If things go smoothly, you may not even have to wait until next year.”

What was that supposed to mean?

It finally clicked. Comrade Xiao Gu blinked and lightly asked, “Are we… buying a house?”

The couple nodded in unison.

Yes.

Not only were they buying one, it had to be in a prime location near the subway, for the convenience of their daughter’s commute.

The decision had been made so suddenly, without even consulting her.

But wasn’t her name going to be on the deed? Didn’t that entitle her to a say?

Gu Yao was a bit upset.

“Who said you had to spend your savings to buy me a house? I don’t want it.”

Hey now!

What kind of talk was that?

Old Gu flushed and asked, “You’re our only daughter. If you don’t want it, who does? What—want your mom and me to give it another shot and have you a little brother?”

Shameless, even at his age.

Teacher Shen shot him a look, and he immediately shut up.

Gu Yao couldn’t help but laugh, turning her head to look at the buildings whizzing by outside the window, explaining her objections seriously.

“First, I only just got officially hired. Sure, it looks stable on the surface, but who knows what could happen in the next few decades? I might get transferred somewhere else halfway through.”

“Second, if we really are buying a house, I should contribute to the down payment. I won’t let you drain your entire savings.”

“And third—and this is the most important—”

She paused, then abruptly changed tone.

Under her parents’ intense gaze, she seriously hypothesized: “If I don’t end up settling in Qionghai, and the house can’t appreciate in value, wouldn’t that be a huge loss?”

Aside from the second point, none of what she said was true.

Since childhood, Comrade Xiao Gu had mastered the art of blending truth and lies to confuse her parents—and it worked like a charm every time.

Sure enough, after hearing her reasoning, especially the last point, Gu Jingming couldn’t sit still.

Alarm bells went off in his head. He glared at his daughter and asked, “What do you mean, not settling in Qionghai? Where are you going? Planning to marry off to Mars?”

“Mars would be fine. What I’m worried about is your daughter secretly boarding a pirate ship again.”

And the pirate ship… might even be from out of town.

One had to admit, Teacher Shen was sharp, always sniffing out the unusual in the mundane.

But Comrade Xiao Gu remained expressionless from beginning to end. No matter how her parents speculated, she gave them nothing.

It was a bit painful to pretend.

So she decided to end it quickly.

She cleared her throat and deliberately steered the conversation: “You two are too old-fashioned. What era is this? Parents should support their children’s freedom to date and marry.”

There it was.

Exactly what she’d been suspected of.

Teacher Shen was furious and tossed the mess onto Director Gu’s lap, leaving it to him to handle.

Gu Jingming fell into deep thought.

Internally, he was worried—if his daughter insisted on marrying far away, then her natal family would need to be even stronger.

Thinking it through, he decided to hold onto the money.

Keep it—for her backup.

A house could be bought anytime, but savings could be critical in an emergency.

And just like that, without breaking a sweat, Gu Yao successfully talked her parents out of buying her a house.

But fate is full of irony.

She never imagined that a single joke she made that day would eventually come true.

—

Half an hour later, they arrived at the apartment.

As soon as they stepped inside, Teacher Shen headed straight for the kitchen.

Gu Yao put her hand to her forehead—she could already feel a scolding coming.

Sure enough, when Shen saw that the fridge was cleaner than her own face, she immediately launched into a sermon.

After inspecting the rooms and bathroom, Teacher Shen officially began her renovation plan. All afternoon, she tirelessly went back and forth to the supermarket—stocking the fridge, buying cookware, swapping curtains, airing out bedding. A full-service transformation, with a level of care that was truly breathtaking.

As for Old Gu, he didn’t get to rest either. One moment he was changing the locks, the next he was fixing the plumbing, all while finding time to help his wife hang the curtains—he was practically flying around the place.

Meanwhile, the ‘unfilial daughter’ sat peacefully on the couch, browsing travel guides on her phone, living her best life.

After securing attraction tickets and hotel reservations, Gu Yao picked the highest-rated private kitchen restaurant near her apartment and carefully selected a meal for three—to reward her hardworking parents.

By the time it was all done, the sun had already set.

In the living room, Old Gu switched to the news channel right on time, as usual.

Out on the balcony, Comrade Xiao Gu set up two chairs and leaned her head on her mother’s shoulder for a heart-to-heart chat.

After a few probing questions, Shen Min could tell that her daughter had mostly moved on from her breakup. As for that so-called “out-of-town pirate ship,” it seemed to be a complete fabrication.

Running her fingers through the fluffy hair on her daughter’s head, she sighed, “In relationships, breakups and makeups are the norm. To make it to the end, you need the right timing, the right place, and the right people. Nothing can be missing.”

“You believe in feng shui now?” Gu Yao raised an eyebrow.

It wasn’t about feng shui.

Teacher Shen rephrased, giving her a metaphor: “Remember when you were in high school, competing in the physics contest? To help you perform well, I made sure your breakfast was never greasy or cold. Worried about traffic from roadwork, your dad even took a half-day off to drive the long way to get you to the test site. But despite all our efforts, your period came a week early, and your cramps threw everything off. In the end, you missed the championship.”

Even after all these years, she still remembered the details—details Gu Yao herself had forgotten.

Gu Yao naively asked, “But is it possible… that even without the period, I still wouldn’t have won the championship?”

At the time, she was just two points away from first place.

Such a pity.

Shen Min smiled and said, “Your assumption might be valid, but once something unknown exists, it becomes a lifelong mystery.”

After all, time doesn’t go backward.

Feelings don’t either.

Many people always say, “If only back then…” not realizing that every regret is, at its core, a reflection of their own unwillingness to let go.

But when it came to Cheng Mu—

Gu Yao didn’t feel that way.

She didn’t see the end of her first love as a result of some missing piece in the grand puzzle of timing, place, or people.

What she and Young Master Cheng lacked… was far more than just one piece.

—

The next morning.

After checking their gear and supplies, Gu Yao set off with her parents for a vacation in Yuncheng.

They arrived at the scenic area around 6 p.m.

The moment they checked into the hotel, before she could even catch her breath, Secretary Xu messaged her with a request—an urgent dataset that required expertise in both economics and computing.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Gu Yao opened the spreadsheet and saw how complex it was. The key data fields were linked to fifteen sub-tables—tug on one and the whole thing could unravel. Trying to operate it from her phone would almost certainly lead to mistakes.

Thankfully, she’d brought her laptop with her, as she always did when traveling.

Given the urgency, she couldn’t delay.

With no choice, Gu Yao asked her parents to go down for dinner without her, while she stayed behind to work.

Midway through, her stomach started growling.

Seeing the food growing cold, she finally set the mouse aside, stretched a bit, and decided to take a short break.

She snapped a photo of the meal and casually posted it to her Moments feed.

Caption: [Sigh. Life of a workhorse.]

A second later, her post happened to pop up on Zhou Xingduan’s screen back in the capital.

Zooming in, he could tell from the background that it was taken in a hotel.

The young master was no fool—although Gu Yao wasn’t in the frame, it was the holidays, so he easily guessed she was on vacation.

Working during a trip? That was just too much.

He thought back to the idea of setting up Gu Yao with his second uncle. Look at that—an opportunity served on a silver platter.

So, Zhou Xingduan took a screenshot of the post and forwarded it to a certain someone.

He even added a comment: “Second Uncle, you really shouldn’t be squeezing female employees like this.”

—

Second floor study.

The notification sound chimed.

At his desk, Zhou Zhengliang calmly picked up the phone and unlocked it.

He stared at the picture for a moment.

Then gave a soft chuckle.

Switching apps, he called Secretary Xu.

His first words startled the man on the other end.

“You sure know how to push your responsibilities onto others,” Zhou Zhengliang said as he lit a cigarette and walked out onto the balcony.

The sun was setting, and the sky was painted with a soft blush of evening light.

The glow wrapped around the man’s handsome features. From the study’s vantage point, his tall figure stood still at the railing—calm, composed, unreachable, like a mountain peak.

On the line, Secretary Xu wiped sweat from his brow and said sheepishly, “I only asked Xiao Gu because it was outside my area of expertise.”

After a short pause, he quickly added, “I’ll find someone else to handle it right away.”

There was a moment of silence.

“No need.”

The deep voice came quietly through the receiver.

Resting his cigarette-holding hand on the railing, Zhou Zhengliang exhaled a ring of smoke and said in a mild tone, “Extend the deadline to one week after the holiday. Once the data’s done, send it directly to my inbox.”

Secretary Xu understood.

But he still had questions.

“Are you sure it’s not urgent? If not, I could just—”

Before he could finish, the call ended.

Only the beeping of a busy line remained, leaving him to figure out the rest.

Well, I’ve done it again.

Secretary Xu closed his eyes in resignation.

—

They stayed in Yuncheng for two days.

By the next afternoon, the family of three headed to the nearby Shuimo Ancient Town.

What was supposed to be a quick favor had now turned into a post-holiday assignment. Gu Yao felt uneasy—afraid that just when she was enjoying herself, a sudden work call would ruin everything.

To be safe, she left a message for Secretary Xu.

Told him she’d be out for a few days and might not reply in time.

A subtle way of saying, If I happen to miss something, don’t blame me.

Seeing his daughter constantly on her phone even during vacation, Professor Shen couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

He started to grumble, but was quickly cut off by Director Gu: “The capable are always burdened with more. If young people are afraid of hard work, over time it’ll reflect in their sense of responsibility.”

Gu Yao didn’t catch most of it, but the phrase “the capable are always burdened with more” definitely rang a bell.

Back in spring during a field trip to Nanning, she’d heard Secretary Zhou say the same thing in the control room of the Culture and Tourism Bureau.

Clearly, the thinking of senior cadres was strikingly similar.

If Director Gu ever learned that his daughter was comparing him to Secretary Zhou, he’d probably be over the moon.

But Gu Yao herself didn’t agree with that reasoning.

Expression calm, she put away her phone and replied slowly, “That so-called ‘burden the capable’ stuff? It’s just a pretty excuse. If we keep blending work and life, burnout isn’t far behind.”

Professor Shen nodded furiously.

Then teased Director Gu again, “Just watch—your daughter’s going to outshine you one day.”

And why?

Because she knows how to enjoy life and take care of herself.

Director Gu looked completely wronged.

These two had ganged up on him—right in public, no less.

He couldn’t take it anymore. Leaving behind his unfinished tofu pudding, he stomped off toward the stone bridge to watch old men fish.

Gu Yao laughed so hard she almost cried.

She hugged her mother’s arm and whispered, “Mom, to be fair… Dad wasn’t wrong.”

Think about it—if she only ever did what was assigned to her, she’d always remain just ‘Little Gu.’

She hoped that decades down the line, she’d find her place at the top.

So Director Gu, let’s both keep working hard.

—

The days spent with her parents were full and joyful.

But good times fly by. After the National Day holiday ended, Gu Yao overcame the post-break slump and threw herself back into work.

The project was nearing its end.

After two months and eight days, by 10 a.m. Friday, Yaoke had officially delivered all source code for the system.

At 3 p.m., Gu Yao arrived punctually in the sixth-floor conference room, carrying her laptop and charger, to conduct a live test in front of several supervisors.

Meanwhile, the city government building had connected via remote video.

Secretary Xu mentioned that once Secretary Zhou finished his meeting, he’d join in.

Secretary Zhou too?

She’d expected it, but still, when it came time to actually present, Gu Yao couldn’t help feeling nervous.

She took a quick trip to the restroom to clear her mind, and returned to the conference room in a much steadier state.

Ten minutes later, Secretary Xu called and said she could begin.

Walking calmly up to the podium, the young speaker faced a long conference table where the Director of the Development and Reform Commission, Director Meng from the Economic Planning Department, Chief Xu from the Project Section, and two officials from the municipal office were already seated.

Unlike her usual casual attire, Gu Yao had dressed more formally today.

She wore a light taupe blouse with ruffled cuffs, the structured hem neatly tucked into a dark pencil skirt that highlighted her slender waist. From top to bottom, the outfit was simple yet elegant—professional but not stiff.

As she stood at the podium, the side projector slowly unfolded, and the silver beam cast against her back only accentuated her gentle and poised demeanor.

At twenty-three, all she needed was a chance—and she would shine.

—

City Hall, top-floor office.

That was the first image Zhou Zhengliang saw when the screen lit up.