Shang Fuyan remained silent for a long time, letting out a helpless sigh beneath her intense gaze.
"Once you're done rubbing it, go back."
"Mm-hmm."
Given permission, Shang Fuyan finally tried to gather his focus, directing his attention toward the injury on her ankle.
The delicate jade ankle twitched as it was touched. "How did you hurt it?"
"I don't know, bumped it, I guess."
The spicy medicinal oil was massaged into her ankle by his warm palms. Fu You'an quieted down, wanting to pull away in discomfort, but the back of her knee was pinned by his hand, leaving her unable to move.
The man said coldly and indifferently, "Now you know it hurts?"
"It hurts, go easy."
She pleaded in a muffled, tearful voice. Hearing this, Shang Fuyan eased the pressure of his right hand, his fingers lingering over the bruised area to soothe and massage it. "Don't come here to disturb my sleep next time, or I'll press harder."
Faced with this feather-light threat, Fu You'an gave a cold huff and flatly refused, "I'm coming to find you anyway!"
...
Shang Fuyan had a headache. True, if she wanted to come, there was no way his dreams could hide from her.
"I said it before, don't come looking for me in the future. You're making things very difficult for me."
The moment he said it, he regretted it. This was just a dream; he couldn't control how the dreamscape unfolded.
She murmured softly, "If I don't come to see Baichuan, I'll be so bored all by myself."
"I've missed you so much these past few days, but you never replied to my messages."
"I don't want to break up. Can you give me another chance? I'll try my best to squeeze out some time to spend with you, okay?"
These few sentences carried an overwhelming amount of information.
Yet could anything in a dream be believed? Today, Secretary Fu was in fine condition; she showed no signs of being someone who had just been dumped—wait, he was looking for information in his dreams again. None of this was reliable.
While Shang Fuyan was deep in thought, a pair of soft hands cupped his cheeks.
"How about a kiss?"
This time, he was resolved not to break his vow.
"No."
She bit her lip in disappointment, then rebelliously grabbed his collar, intending to force him to yield. "Kiss me already!" Like an angry kitten that bristled without posing any real threat.
"No," he repeated.
"It won't kill you to kiss!"
"No."
"Did you cheat on me or something?! Why do you have zero interest in me?!"
"...... No."
"Then what is it?! I'm mad. I swear I'm never coming to find you again, never!"
Shang Fuyan smoothly and flatly replied, "Good."
Her throat choked on the words. Puffed up with anger, she glared at him as teardrops welled in her round eyes. "I don't like you anymore either!"
"Glad to hear it."
"......"
Seeing her tearful eyes, Shang Fuyan felt an itch in his heart and reached out to wipe them away, but she instantly vanished into thin air before him, leaving the seat beside him empty.
When he finally snapped back to reality, pitch-black ceiling tiles greeted his vision.
He had finally woken up.
In a daze, he sat up and looked toward the sofa, which was flooded with moonlight and completely empty.
Awakened by a phone call in his sleep, Assistant Li forced his eyes wide open. Recognizing his boss, he cleared his throat and hurriedly answered, "Hello, sir?"
"Find me a smartwatch with rapid eye movement tracking that vibrates."
What on earth?
He had no choice but to agree first. "Alright." After hanging up, he checked the time—it was only six a.m.
Waking up this early!
Later on, Assistant Li looked up information about rapid eye movement. The phone showed that most dreams occur during the REM stage, so did the boss want to buy this kind of smartwatch to stop himself from dreaming?
He was out of his mind! It wasn't enough that he worked himself crazy with overtime; now he even wanted to police his own dreams.
Though he clicked his tongue in disbelief, Assistant Li quickly made a note of it.
Just get it done.
When Assistant Li woke up again, it was already seven a.m. He packed up and headed out to catch up with the two people leaving for work. Secretary Fu stood beside the boss, wearing a sharp, tailored suit skirt. The two exchanged a casual greeting upon meeting.
"Let's go." One-handed, the boss lifted his elbow to check his watch, grabbed his briefcase, and walked ahead.
The two of them followed behind.
Today, Secretary Fu sat in the front passenger seat. Assistant Li, having just returned to sitting in the back with Shang Fuyan, felt a bit unaccustomed to it and half-expected another wave of assigned tasks.
He was used to it—Shang Fuyan always found work for him to do.
The boss was very quiet today, but instead of looking at documents or his phone, he simply leaned silently against the seat, staring straight ahead at an angle that afforded a clear view of Secretary Fu's profile.
Was he actually looking at Secretary Fu? And so intently?!
Could Secretary Fu have a hidden agenda too? Was she trying to seduce the chairman?
Assistant Li's mind immediately flashed to the fate of the previous secretary who had landed in prison. It never crossed his mind that Shang Fuyan could have any other motives, yet the boss hadn't ordered him to investigate Secretary Fu.
Better wait and see.
Taking advantage of his free time, he had his subordinates search for the smartwatch the boss had requested.
His subordinates moved quickly, instantly sending over a list of smartwatches on the market that met the requirements. Filtering out the options that were too cheap or simplistic, Assistant Li finally handed the tablet to Shang Fuyan.
"Sir, take a look and see which one you like."
Having his gaze interrupted, Shang Fuyan shot Assistant Li an unhappy glare, but instinctively took the tablet a moment later and ultimately selected a luxury black design.
After that, Assistant Li didn't dare disturb him again; that sharp look from moments ago was still fresh in his mind.
When the car reached their destination, the person Shang Fuyan was meeting was already waiting in a private dining room. He instructed the two of them to stay in the adjoining lounge, presumably for a private meeting.
The two nodded and stepped into the lounge once the boss had left.
Assistant Li poured a cup of tea for Fu You'an and began striking up a rapport with the newcomer. His social skills were exceptional, allowing him to quickly close the distance with his target and dissolve any sense of alienation.
Of course, he also had every intention of probing Secretary Fu.
Through their conversation, Assistant Li learned that Secretary Fu had a boyfriend of ten years—a campus romance that had blossomed from their school days. It seemed she had no romantic interest in the boss.
Even though the boss was extremely charming.
Instead, the two of them found some common ground in poking fun at Shang Fuyan being a workaholic.
"Right? Right? He used to work even harder of-times, busy right up until one in there morning. For a while, he wouldn't return to the Shang Residence for a whole month, living entirely in the office. Compared to that, you getting off at ten p.m. now is practically an act of charity."
"File formats have to be pristine; even the shopping lists I set up have to be sorted and numbered. He's picky about food, his undergarments must be made of the finest fabrics, and he has severe obsessive-compulsive cleanliness—his standards are impossibly high..."
By the time Assistant Li stopped talking, half an hour had passed. Secretary Fu had simply sat nearby, smiling in silence, occasionally nodding to show she was listening.
A very smart person indeed.
Assistant Li sighed inwardly. As expected of someone raised by a distinguished family—her poise and breeding were stellar, and she knew better than to badmouth people behind their backs.
As for why he dared to badmouth his boss behind his back, it was naturally because all of that was wildly exaggerated fiction. Apart from treating him like a donkey that didn't need sleep, Shang Fuyan was actually pretty decent, and the pay was exceptionally high.
Realizing he wasn't going to fish out any juicy secrets, Assistant Li tried to backtrack, "I'm just joking, the boss is actually a really great person."
With nothing much left to talk about, Secretary Fu turned the tables and brought up a topic of her own: "Just now in the car, what kind of watch was the chairman looking at?"
"Oh, just a smartwatch."
She had already seen the pictures on the screen, so hiding it was pointless—besides, it wasn't a state secret.
Fu You'an sighed softly. "The chairman's sleep hasn't seemed very good lately. I heard smartwatches have new features that can improve sleep quality, so that's not a bad choice."
She even knew that much?