Lu Haochen arrived at the company half an hour earlier than usual. There was no special reason. He was just seized by a whim.

He was a very strict person. He liked to abide by the rules. He liked to set everything in a fixed position, whether at home or in the office. He was nostalgic and remained the same style. Even his girlfriend had been the same person for many years. She was the daughter of a wealthy family with a well-matched background. She was elegant and showed a good temperament. She was a perfect match for him. Unfortunately, on the eve of their wedding two years ago, she had a car accident and died. Since then, Lu Haochen had kept single. That was not because he loved being single. He just enjoyed such state and did not want to invest energy in cultivating another relationship.

Seeing him coming so early, the security guard got startled. He quickly bowed and greeted Lu Haochen. Lu Haochen nodded slightly and entered the elevator. His office was on the highest floor. It was still early and the floor was thus quiet. He could only hear the sound of his footsteps that were neither fast nor slow, and were very rhythmic.

When he pushed open the door, he was stunned. There was someone in the room. A woman was lying prone on the ground. When she heard the sound, she quickly turned around. Lu Haochen had never seen such a pair of eyes. They were clear and ethereal, like the clear water on the top of the snow mountain and the clear spring in the deep valley. Her eyes were panicked and timid, and she slowly got up from the ground.

Only then did Lu Haochen see that she was wearing the uniform of cleaning staff and was holding a cleaning rag in her hand. She must have been wiping the dust under the cabinet with the cleaning rag back then. But no one would do like this. The cleaners always carelessly stuck their cleaning tools in to wipe the dust. It was the first time he had seen a cleaner doing this so meticulously.

Looking her up and down, he felt that the girl in front of him was very young. She probably just graduated from high school. At this age, she should find a better job. Why did she get a cleaning job in his company? He frowned slightly. “Who are you?”

The man in front of her had an aura that made her jittery. Du Xiaoxian lowered her eyes and said timidly, “I’m here to clean the room.”

“I know,” Lu Haochen said, “What’s your name?”

“My name is Du Xiaoxian.”

Lu Haochen nodded and took a few documents from the cabinet. He threw them on the desk and then sat down casually.

Du Xiaoxian looked at him in confusion and suddenly asked, “Who are you?”

Lu Haochen had just opened a folder. When he heard this, he looked up at her with a strange expression. “You don’t know who I am?”

Du Xiaoxian only knew that this was the boss’s office, but she did not know this man. She couldn’t let a stranger enter the boss’s office, nor could she let him touch the things inside.

She shook her head and said softly, “No matter who you are, this is the boss’s office. Miss Rose told me that a stranger was not allowed to come in, nor could he touch the things inside. It is not working time right now. Can you please go out first and come back when the boss or Miss Rose come to work?”

She had improved a lot now and could say such long sentences in one go.

She was so serious. Lu Haochen only found it funny. He said, “I am Lu Haochen.”

“No matter who you are, I am in charge of this room before working time.” Du Xiaoxian did not give way to him in the slightest.

Lu Haochen finally smiled. “You keep mentioning the boss. Have you met him?”

Du Xiaoxian blinked her eyes. Suddenly, an idea flashed through her mind. She finally saw the light and looked at him in surprise. “So you are the boss!” She immediately bowed and apologized with a flushed face. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I don’t know you. I’m really sorry, Mr. Lu. I didn’t mean to…”

Lu Haochen waved his hand, “It doesn’t matter. You can continue your work.”

“Won’t I disturb you?” Du Xiaoxian rubbed her hands. “Then I’ll do it quickly.”

“Good.” Lu Haochen said. Then he lowered his head to read the document in his hand. After reading a few lines, he looked up again. However, there was no trace of Du Xiaoxian in the room. He was puzzled. Did she go out so quickly?

He leaned against the back of the chair and slowly tilted his body to look at the file cabinet. Sure enough, Du Xiaoxian was still lying prone on the ground, with her hand reaching out under the cabinet to wipe away the dust.

Lu Haochen slowly pulled his tilted body back. He suddenly coughed and said, “Hey, you, come over here.”

Du Xiaoxian’s hand that was wiping the dust paused. He must be calling her because there was no one else in the room! She quickly got up and walked in front of Lu Haochen. “Mr. Lu, are you calling me?”

“Go and make me a cup of tea.” Lu Haochen pointed to a low cabinet against the wall. “The tea leaves are there. I want to drink the Longjing tea.”

“Okay,” Du Xiaoxian wiped her hands with her clothes. Then she picked up the porcelain cup on the table and went to the cabinet to get tea leaves. She used the hot water from the water dispenser to make tea, and respectfully placed the cup on Lu Haochen’s table.

“Mr. Lu, here is your tea.”

“Thank you,” Lu Haochen looked up at her and smiled, “You can go out now.”

According to the rules of the workplace, if the boss gave an order, she must obey it unconditionally. But she was an inflexible person. She said, “But I haven’t finished my work yet.”

“How can the work be done in one day? You can stop here today.” Lu Haochen picked up the cup of tea and took a small sip, “By the way, you don’t have to lie prone on the ground to wipe the dust in the future. I saw that other cleaners used cleaning tools in their work. Didn’t you get the cleaning tool?”

“I got the tool. But I just don’t think I can wipe it clean like that, so…”

“I appreciate your conscientiousness,” Lu Haochen said, “However, That place is under the cabinet. Keeping it clean is enough. There’s no need to wipe it so carefully. No one will pay attention to that place.”

“Alright, I understand.” Du Xiaoxian lowered her head and listened attentively.

“It’s fine now. You can leave.”

“Yes, Mr. Lu.” Du Xiaoxian packed up the cleaning tools and quickly left the room.

Lu Haochen looked at her back as she left. He was deep in thought. What a strange girl. He tapped his finger on the table and suddenly smiled. Why was he interested in a cleaner?

When Du Xiaoxian left Lu Haochen’s office, she began to mop the floor in the corridor. After that, she would clean the bathroom and conference room. For her, that work was not much nor heavy. Before the staff went to work, she could finish the cleaning.

This job was found by Du Huayue for her. Du Huayue was a security guard here. Because of his good performance, he had gotten promoted and become the deputy captain. When the company needed two more cleaners, Du Huayue recommended her. She was diligent and efficient in her work. After only one day of probation, she was recruited. That job provided her with a monthly salary of 2000, two sets of cleaning uniforms, and free lunches. If she did well, she would also get a bonus. Du Xiaoxian was very satisfied, so she worked hard every day.

After working downstairs for a week, Miss Chen, who was in charge of the Logistics Department, felt that she was good, so Miss Chen transferred her upstairs and asked her to be in charge of the boss’s office.

She had never seen the boss. There were no photos of him in the office. In Du Xiaoxian’s imagination, the boss should be a serious middle-aged man. Maybe he had a big belly. She didn’t expect that he was such a slender and handsome young man.

When she saw Lu Haochen, she thought of Gu Nianbin for a moment. In fact, she had not thought of him for a long time. Life was hard. She had no time to reminisce as she had endless things to do every day.

Du Niannian had a serious illness when she was two years old, which almost cost all her savings. At that time, the child was sick in bed. Du Xiaoxian could do nothing but stay nearby every moment. She looked at her daughter with tears in her eyes and did not even dare to blink. She was afraid that Little Niannian would pass away the moment she closed her eyes. If not for Du Huayue, she really did not know how to get through that difficult time.

After the child recovered, she began to look for work everywhere, desperately trying to earn money to support her family. Although Du Huayue had a salary, it was not enough. Everything cost money, such as rent, water, gas, clothes, and food. At first, she was still confident and carefully drew a few paintings at home. However, when she brought them to galleries, people there didn’t accept them at all. They looked at her with shock and disdain as if they couldn’t believe how she dared to make a fool of herself by intending to sell such awful paintings.

Because the child was still young, she could not work for a long time. So she did part-time jobs and even took some odd jobs to do at home. She often slept at one or two o’clock in the morning, but she could not make much money. This kind of life lasted until Du Niannian went to kindergarten.

After the child went to kindergarten, her expenses were even greater. So Du Huayue found this job for her. She estimated that if she spent her salary sparingly, it would be sufficient for monthly expenses. The only thing she was worried about was Du Niannian’s health. If her daughter still often got sick like before, that salary would not be sufficient.

During lunchtime, Du Huayue saw Du Xiaoxian sitting alone in a corner. When he carried the food over and glanced at the dishes on Du Xiaoxian’s plate, he frowned and gave half of the meatballs and scrambled eggs to her. “How are you able to have enough strength to complete your work if you eat this every day?”

Du Xiaoxian stopped him and said, “Enough, enough. If you give all your food to me, you will have nothing to eat.”

Du Huayue sat down and scolded her, “Spending less on food will not save you much money. If I see that there is only half a piece of fermented bean curd on your plate again in the future, I won’t be polite to you.”

Du Xiaoxian smiled awkwardly. “Brother Ah Yue, it’s fine. I just like to eat that.”

Du Huayue said, “I can get off work early today. I’ll pick up Niannian and buy some groceries along the way. You can go home directly after work. You don’t have to worry about anything else. Do you understand?”

Du Xiaoxian said, “You barely took a morning shift. Go out with Sister Cui to watch a movie. I’ll pick Niannian up.”

Du Huayue glared at her. “You are becoming more and more unreasonable now. You don’t use my money, and you don’t let me do anything for you. Am I still your brother or Uncle of Niannian?”

“Of course!” Du Xiaoxian smiled. “But you are 28 this year. You have to think about your future. Every time I called Aunt, she always asked me if you had a girlfriend. She wanted me to push you. So you have to save money and prepare to get married. How can you spend all the money on me and Niannian? I think Sister Cui is a good person and is quite fond of you. You have to work harder and marry her quickly. So when I call Aunt next time, I can tell her about this.”

Du Huayue didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “You still have the mood to care about me. You have a whole bunch of shitty things to deal with. If I really get married and leave, can you support yourself alone?”

“Why not? I can earn money now. Niannian is also in kindergarten. There is nothing I cannot handle.”

Du Huayue looked at her and shook his head. He didn’t feel like talking this nonsense with her. He did not know when Du Xiaoxian started to become eloquent, but he was sure that it was all because of her little smart child.

In other families, the parents were the teacher of their children. When it came to Du Xiaoxian’s family, it was completely the opposite.