Lu Nan’s feelings towards Chen Xiao were indeed a bit complicated, but the earplugs were innocent. After finishing her skincare routine, she peacefully inserted the earplugs into her ears. 

As expected, the price was justified. The noise from the mahjong game downstairs was still loud, but Lu Nan could only faintly hear it. 

Before long, she fell asleep. 

Her sleep, however, was not very peaceful as she dreams about things from her past life. 

∼ Dream ∼ 

It was her third year working at Yuan Chuan, and she had been promoted to city manager, finally eligible to attend the annual meeting at headquarters. She was a little excited, which was directly reflected in the fact that she couldn’t sleep the night she checked into the group’s hotel. 

Insomnia wasn’t always a bad thing. It was because she was still wide awake at one or two in the morning that she was able to hear the faint “click” of the hotel door being opened.  

Fortunately, Lu Nan had a strong sense of security. Whenever she went on business trips, she always made sure to put the door chain on, even when staying at a company-owned hotel with colleagues surrounding her.  

When she heard the door open and the sound of a metal chain being latched, Lu Nan’s hair stood up. She quickly turned on all the lights next to her bed and called out, “Who’s there?” 

The other person was clearly startled by Lu Nan, who was still very much awake at this point. He cleared his throat and said, “Wrong room,” before quickly running away. 

Lu Nan tightly grasped the collar of her nightgown, rushed over to lock the door, and then called the front desk. 

On the phone, the front desk didn’t offer much of a solution, only advising her to keep the door locked and stay safe. 

By around six in the morning, Lu Nan dressed and went to the front desk to raise the issue. She chose this less busy time out of consideration for the hotel’s reputation. 

With three years of professional experience and exposure to various social scenes, Lu Nan was no longer the ‘newbie’ she once was. However, considering the hotel was part of a larger group and she had yet to receive her year-end bonus, she kept the conversation polite. 

But when the front desk said she didn’t have permission to check the surveillance footage and mentioned that the lobby manager wasn’t in, Lu Nan became angry: “Fine, let’s call the police.” The front desk clearly didn’t expect the polite customer (a colleague from the same group company) to turn so quickly. 

Lu Nan wasn’t joking. She had given the hotel some time to handle the issue in hopes of resolving it quietly, but that didn’t mean she was willing to accept being brushed off. She took out her phone and pressed the emergency number. Before she could dial, she saw the front desk staff bowing respectfully behind her—apparently, someone with authority had arrived. 

Lu Nan adjusted her expression, took a deep breath, and turned around. 

“Chen Xiao?” She called out his full name in surprise. 

“Hello, Lu Nan,” Chen Xiao, dressed in a suit, nodded to her. “It’s been a while.” 

∼ End of Dream ∼  

Later, with Chen Xiao’s help, the group’s hotel quickly accessed the surveillance footage from the corridor the previous night and identified the person who had attempted to break into her room. They confirmed his identity—Zhou Lei, a former colleague from her time in Hailing City, who was also a regional city manager attending the company’s annual meeting. Zhou Lei claimed he had drunk a bit that night and wasn’t fully aware of his actions. He also mentioned that he had only wanted to play a joke on her. As for how he managed to open her door, he admitted that he had used some tricks to get a universal, no-password key card used by the housekeeping staff. 

Afterward, Chen Xiao asked whether she wanted to handle it publicly or privately. Some colleagues, who were familiar with her, suggested that she choose a private resolution since she was still working at Yuan Chuan and hadn’t suffered any actual harm.  

But after hearing the full story, she felt a chill. Even though the person hadn’t succeeded in committing a crime, this was clearly a planned act with extremely bad intentions. If she chose to resolve it privately, it would be equivalent to condoning such behavior.  

She chose the course of action that most of the company’s people didn’t agree with. Chen Xiao listened to her decision and simply nodded, saying, “The company respects your opinion.” He didn’t try to stop me from calling the police.  

Lu Nan opened her eyes. The midday sunlight sneaked through the gap in the curtains of the skylight, a small issue that couldn’t be avoided in a stargazing room. Lu Nan also knew that, on rainy nights, the sound of the rain tapping on the glass would be especially loud, and that the top floor was indeed cold in winter and hot in summer.  

But these small inconveniences were nothing compared to the charm of the stargazing room. 

The layout and decor of the stargazing room were enough to make Lu Nan, a beauty enthusiast, to tolerate these minor imperfections. 

It was just like how, given the care and help Chen Xiao had given her in the past, Lu Nan could overlook the issue of her material being used under someone else’s name. 

Of course, the buyout fee was non-negotiable. 

After removing the noise-canceling earplugs from her ears and placing them on the bedside, Lu Nan washed her face and got to work on her writing. 

The mahjong game downstairs had stopped, likely because Chen Lu had taken the newcomers to Green Trading. 

The dorm was very quiet throughout the afternoon. Lu Nan was inspired and managed to write four chapters. When she stood up to stretch her arms and legs, her phone rang. 

Chen Xiao wanted to meet with her. 

Lu Nan guessed that the buyout fee issue had been settled.  

“If Brother Xiao is worried that I might record the phone conversation, there’s no need for concern. Similarly, whether it’s public or private, I will say that the money I received is an activity fund from you, for maintaining dealer relations. Since you trust me, there’s no need for me to submit the tickets for reimbursement. How does that sound?” Lu Nan, who had completed her skincare and had assumed she’d be resting today, was reluctant to go out, especially since she had done some mental preparation four hours ago and now preferred not to face Chen Xiao directly, since it might ruin her mental preparation. “By the way, what’s the final buyout amount?” 

Chen Xiao almost forgot the original purpose of his call. He followed her train of thought: “Fifty thousand.” Uncle Tong’s suggestion was to offer twenty or thirty thousand, and Liu Tao was supposed to cover that part (after all, she was the one who got the spotlight). After considering it, Chen Xiao added a bit from his own pocket.  

Lu Nan felt like whistling: it was more than expected. 

“Brother Xiao, you’re very generous.” Lu Nan asked, “I’ll send you my bank account number shortly. If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up now”  

By the time she hung up the phone, Chen Xiao was still a little puzzled. 

Lu Nan was still upset in the morning, but by evening, she spoke to me without any emotion. Does she really not care, or is she just very calculating? What did she mean when she said I acted generously at the end? Was it simply to thank him for helping her negotiate a price of fifty thousand? Or was she guessing… no, no, no, that can’t be it. 

In less than half an hour, 50,000 was added to Lu Nan’s account. 

She invested this amount in the stock market. 

By now, she had purchased a total of three hundred thirty thousand worth of a certain media stock, and she had already seen a small profit. 

… 

Afterwards, Lu Nan’s work and life were quite calm.  

While coordinating with Feixiang, she kept an eye on the store’s renovation progress. At the same time, she was busy delivering materials or tasting wines. Her workdays lasted only two to three hours and her daily work reports felt very fulfilling! 

Lu Nan smiled: This is the kind of leisurely life I want. 

In July, Feixiang would hold six small events in total, and Chen Xiao would participate in the first three 

The small events were routine business for the group purchase department, and Chen Xiao personally guided Lu Nan through the entire process. 

First, she needed to obtain a form from the administrative office and fill out a reserve stock wine application at least one day in advance. Different grades of distributors had specific regulations regarding the types and quantities of wine they used, so apart from the date, the details didn’t change for each event. However, Feixiang had a special small event each month, approved by Director Tong, which meant Feixiang’s monthly wine application had two formats: one for the routine five events and one for the special event. 

Secondly, before the small event began, she needed to arrive at the dining location and use a camera with a date stamp to take a photo of the wine bottle caps’ QR codes and the wine displayed on the table. 

The next step, which has now been removed, was to take photos during the small product meeting. Chen Xiao deleted this step: “A few years ago, this was required, but both the distributors and guests disliked it (some guests’ identities weren’t suitable for being photographed), so now distributors no longer need to provide such photos to avoid unnecessary trouble.”  

Afterward, at the end of the small product event, they need to gather the empty wine bottles, with the main focus on collecting the bottle caps.  

Finally, after the meeting, Lu Nan needed to promptly collect the meal invoices from the distributors (the invoice format has already been provided to them), and get the names and contact information of the guests (Chen Xiao emphasized this point). All text and photos needed to be organized and bound into a small event archive list and reimbursement documentation. 

The data for the small events of the month needed to be compiled and submitted to the city office’s administrative staff between the 1st and 3rd of the following month, and then the city office would forward it to the provincial office. Of course, this part is no longer Lu Nan’s responsibility unless there is an issue with the submission format, and the documents are sent back for resubmission. 

*** 

The guests at the banquet were hosted by Mr. Yang, Pei Xuedong, and two key account managers from Feixiang and was entirely managed by Chen Xiao. 

However, sharing the same table inevitably involved small talk and toasts. As Pan Shasha and Chen Lu had said, Chen Xiao was indeed a graceful and considerate person who looked out for his colleagues. 

In the second half of the banquet, he even took the opportunity, while standing, to offer a toast and switch the fuller wine pitcher from in front of Lu Nan to his own. 

As the banquet was nearing its end, Chen Xiao told Lu Nan, “Mr. Yang and the others are heading to the after-party. You’ve had enough to drink so you don’t need to go.” As long as this doesn’t get brought up, they won’t try to get Yuan Chuan’s group purchase manager involved again. 

Lu Nan nodded and, when the banquet concluded, declined Pei Xuedong’s invitation. Seeing Mr. Yang’s reaction, Pei Xuedong didn’t insist. 

However, Chen Xiao wasn’t as fortunate. Although he had warned Lu Nan, he himself could not escape the after-party. 

Lu Nan chuckled to herself on the way back in a taxi, thinking that Chen Xiao’s expression when he was pulled away looked like an innocent monk captured by the Spider Demon.