Du Xiaoxian did not notice Lu Haochen. She was excitedly telling Du Huayue what she was going to do with her newly paid salary. It had been a long time since she had received such a large sum of money. It would be a lie to say that she was not excited.

“Buy Niannian a flower-patterned dress and order a box of milk. Buy her meatballs once a week. By the way, I will also buy her a pair of sandals. Now her sandals were cracked and her tiptoes even protruded from them. And…” She tilted her head and thought for a moment. “Her canteen is also not working. The lid is not tight and I have to change it. I will buy you a razor and a box of beer. After work, I will buy some shrimp and fish. Let’s have a good meal tonight!”

Du Huayue laughed and gave her the meat from his plate. “By the time you finish buying all these things, there isn’t much money left. How will you live the rest of the month?”

“How could that be? I have already calculated everything,” Du Xiaoxian was now budget-conscious. She counted on her fingers and explained to Du Huayue. “I just need 50 yuan for a skirt, 50 for a box of milk, 50 for meatballs per month, 30 for a pair of sandals, 20 for a canteen, 100 for your razor, and 40 for a box of beer. I only need a total of 340 yuan for all of them. Besides, I’ll pay 800 yuan for housing rent, water, electricity, and gas, 50 yuan for the mobile phone bill, 600 yuan for Niannian’s kindergarten fees, and 100 yuan for monthly fares. There are still 500 yuan for food and daily expenses, which should be enough.”

Du Huayue scoffed, “The living expenses are so high now. How can 500 yuan be enough for food for a month? Are you still going to eat a piece of fermented bean curd and a few bean sprout like you are now? If you continue to do this, you will be as thin as a bean sprout. There is no redness on your face at all. You should take care of your health.” He picked up two pieces of meat and threw them into Du Xiaoxian’s plate. “Don’t worry about the housing rent and expenses on water and electricity. Save the money to buy yourself new clothes and spend the rest on food. Got it?”

“That won’t do. You have paid for those expenses for the past few months, and I must pay for half amount of the expenses this month.”

“My salary is higher than yours,” Du Huayue said, “Don’t argue with me. Moreover, you have been taking care of the housework. So I should pay more for the expenses.”

“Brother Ah Yue, you can’t do this. We have agreed that you should save money for your marriage!”

“I am a man and your older brother. I have the final say in this family. It’s settled then. Don’t be so long-winded.” Du Huayue put down his chopsticks, took out a tissue from his pocket, and cleaned his mouth. Then he took out a cigarette box and threw a cigarette to his colleague at the table next to him. His eyes inadvertently glanced at the figure behind him and he was stunned for a moment. He turned around and looked at it seriously. Then, he whispered to his colleague, “Da Huang, isn’t that man the boss? Why is he here?”

The security guard called Da Huang leaned over and lowered his voice. “That’s right. Everyone thinks it’s strange. He probably had a whim!”

Du Huayue was not interested in his boss’s sudden whim. He just remembered that Lu Haochen always arrived at the company earlier recently, and Du Xiaoxian had made the boss lose temper last time. It was widely known that the boss was a difficult person to get along with. So he had to warn Du Xiaoxian to be careful.

“Xiaoxian, did you still often meet the boss?”

“I met him every day.”

“Then you should be careful when you do the cleaning. Don’t be as clumsy as the last time.”

“I know, Mr. Lu is actually a very kind person. He even specifically apologized to me for what happened last time!”

Du Huayue was shocked. “Did the boss apologize to you?”

“Yes, he said he had lost his temper and then apologized to me.”

Du Huayue felt that it was inconceivable. How could Lu Haochen apologize to her so easily? Moreover, it was for such a trivial matter. A sense of unease suddenly arose in his heart. He turned around and glanced at Lu Haochen again.

“Xiaoxian,” He whispered, “The boss… Anyway, you should be careful.”

He didn’t finish his words, but Du Xiaoxian seemed to understand and said, “Don’t worry, I know.”

Although Du Xiaoxian was simple-minded, she had a woman’s intuition. When Lu Haochen asked her to sit down and chat for the first time, her heart skipped a beat. A long time ago, in Gu Nianbin’s room, Gu Nianbin also looked at her with that kind of gaze. He asked her to sit down and chat with him, too. Then, what happened afterwards went beyond her imagination.

Lu Haochen’s eyes were more direct than Gu Nianbin’s at that time. Sometimes, he just stared straight at her. She was a little flustered in her heart, but she pretended to be calm. After many days, he hadn’t done anything to her. He did no more than stare at her. Du Xiaoxian felt that she was worrying too much. Although she did not have a deep friendship with him, she got along with him every day. Based on her intuition, she thought that Lu Haochen was not a bad person.

But soon, Du Xiaoxian felt that she came to that conclusion too early.

The next day, when she entered Lu Haochen’s office, he was sitting there and reading as usual. When he saw her coming in, he nodded and said, “You came at the right time. I have something for you to do.”

Du Xiaoxian didn’t mind being busy but was only afraid of staying idle. So she said happily, “Mr. Lu, just tell me what it is.”

Lu Haochen pointed to a carved mahogany folding screen in the middle of the room and said, “Wipe that after you finish your job.”

Only then did Du Xiaoxian find that there was a folding screen in the room out of blue. It was placed between the reception area and the office area. It had four parts that were carved with plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum respectively. They were carved very meticulously. Every flower petal was vivid and lifelike. The branches and leaves revealed clear veins and looked very beautiful. However, it looked very old and was covered with a thin layer of dust. It seemed to be a very valuable antique.

“Alright, no problem. Leave it to me.” Du Xiaoxian agreed.

Lu Haochen smiled and began to read.

Du Xiaoxian quickly finished the cleaning and began to wipe the screen. Lu Haochen’s office was simple yet luxurious in a European style. When an antique folding screen was added, it looked out of place. But Du Xiaoxian did not think too much about it. She only felt that now that the boss gave her a task, she had to do it well.

It was actually a difficult job to clean the folding screen even though it seemed to be easy. There were so many hollowed-out areas that her hands could not reach in. She could only roll the rag into a sharp stick and wipe them bit by bit. She wiped the screen seriously and concentrated on it, not noticing that Lu Haochen was staring at her with his hand holding his cheek.

She looked beautiful in this manner. Lu Haochen’s gaze became even more gentle. The smile on the corner of his mouth spread to his eyes. He thought for a long time before he got such a bad idea. He used a screen with complicated carved patterns to stop her from leaving. Then, he could stay with her longer.

Du Xiaoxian did not know what he was thinking about and continued to work seriously. However, this work was indeed dull and boring. She was also a little tired. Her arms felt a little sore as she kept raising them. When she stopped to take a break, she found that Rose was talking to Lu Haochen in the office. Before Rose went out, another person came in to ask for instructions from Lu Haochen.

She was puzzled for a moment and suddenly realized that it was work time!

God, she still had a lot of things to do! She hadn’t cleaned the corridor, the bathroom, and the conference room… All of these had to be cleaned before work!

But… she looked at the screen that was only half cleaned and felt worried. This was not done yet!

Just as she did not know what to do, her mobile phone rang. She quickly ran to the corridor to answer the call. It was Chen Liyi, whose tone was a little unfriendly. “Du Xiaoxian, what’s wrong with you? It has been working time for twenty minutes, and you haven’t cleaned the bathroom. Someone has complained about you. What are you doing? Hurry up and go to do your job!”

“I’m sorry, Miss Chen. I’ll go right away.” Du Xiaoxian no longer hesitated. She went in and packed up the tools. She glanced at Lu Haochen. Seeing that he was still talking to someone, she quietly left.

Lu Haochen was talking to someone but his eyes were on her. Before she went out, he stopped her. “Du Xiaoxian, are you done?”

Du Xiaoxian stopped. She turned around and said with a bitter face, “Mr. Lu, I’ll come back after I’m done with other tasks, okay?”

Lu Haochen deliberately pulled a long face. “You have to do things in order. You can only take your leave after you are done.” He was going to attend a meeting later, so he probably wouldn’t have the time to be with her this morning.

Du Xiaoxian couldn’t disobey the instruction of the boss. She had no choice but to return and continue to wipe the screen.

Ten minutes later, Chen Liyi called her again. Her tone was even more unfriendly. “Du Xiaoxian, haven’t you gone to clean the bathroom yet? In just a short while, I received three more complaints. You usually perform quite well. What happened to you today? Are you feeling unwell? If you can’t do it, you can tell me. I will find someone to help you. But you shouldn’t leave the bathroom uncleaned before work. This is a dereliction of duty. According to the company’s rules, half of your performance salary this month will be deducted.”

Du Xiaoxian felt a stifled feeling in her chest. Half of the performance salary was 300 yuan that was equal to half amount of Niannian’s tuition fees. She quickly put in a good word. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Miss Chen. I’ll go and clean it immediately. For the sake of my first mistake, don’t deduct the money. I really didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Xiaoxian, I have no choice.” Chen Liyi calmed down and said, “I am just a director and I’m supervised by the manager. The company has strict regulations. Now the entire Administration Department knew that someone has complained about you. It can only be like this.”

Du Xiaoxian hung up the mobile phone. When she returned to the office, her expression was very depressed. She walked to the screen, collected her things, and walked out directly.

Lu Haochen felt strange. He had clearly said that she could only take her leave after she was done. No one in the company dared to disobey his instructions, but Du Xiaoxian dared to do this in front of him.

“Du Xiaoxian.” He stopped her again. “Come here.”

Du Xiaoxian stood still, looking awkward. “Mr. Lu, I really have to leave. There are still many things to do. I will come and wipe this screen when I have time.”

Did those things matter more than his instruction? For the first time, Lu Haochen was unable to keep up with Du Xiaoxian’s thoughts.

He looked at her gloomily. “I am the boss. You have to follow whatever I say.”

“I know,” Du Xiaoxian said, “But you can’t be unreasonable even though you are the boss, right?”

Was he unreasonable? Lu Haochen narrowed his eyes. Well, even if he was unreasonable, who would dare to reason with him since he was the boss?

“Did you mean I was unreasonable?” He looked at her threateningly.

Du Xiaoxian stopped talking and just looked at him with a stubborn expression on her face.

Lu Haochen was originally a little angry, but when Du Xiaoxian had that expression, he was a little flustered. He could not help but wave his hand, “Alright, you can leave now!” It looked like he was in a fit of pique.