Silence.
Complete silence.
For a moment, Zhang Xiyue wondered if she had misheard him.
But Cheng Mingjiao’s Mandarin was standard, his pronunciation clear. Even if it wasn’t quite at a professional broadcaster’s level, it certainly wasn’t unclear enough to be misunderstood.
He really had said, “Drive into her.”
In broad daylight, under the clear blue sky—even if this was a fictional world, things couldn’t be this lawless… could they?
At this point, Zhang Xiyue no longer doubted his yandere tendencies. She simply glanced at the man in the suit, wanting to see how he would refuse his boss’s unreasonable order.
The man’s expression turned grave. The foot resting on the brake slowly lifted…
“Mr. Cheng!”
Zhang Xiyue suddenly spoke. The man in the suit jolted, and the car crept forward half a meter. The tires scraped against the road with a harsh, fleeting squeal, frightening him into hurriedly turning off the engine.
The jolt nearly shook Zhang Xiyue’s soul out of her body, but she still managed to keep her composure. “Mr. Cheng, she probably wasn’t deliberately blocking the road. I’ll go remind her.”
Cheng Mingjiao and the man in the suit both turned to look at her.
“You’re sure?” Cheng Mingjiao narrowed his long eyes, a hint of scrutiny showing in their sharp depths.
Zhang Xiyue smiled politely. “May I?”
Cheng Mingjiao said nothing. He only regarded her thoughtfully, while the man in the suit wore an expression that seemed to say he wanted to speak but didn’t dare.
Seeing that Cheng Mingjiao wasn’t objecting, Zhang Xiyue quickly unfastened her seat belt and got out of the car.
The moment the door shut, Cheng Mingjiao issued an important instruction: “Get ready to leave.”
He absolutely refused to let someone covered in dirt sit in his car.
The corner of the man’s mouth twitched, though he was already used to this. “Yes, Mr. Cheng.”
Zhang Xiyue had barely reached the old woman when she heard the engine start behind her.
She turned around nervously. The man in the suit met her gaze and gave her a guilty smile.
Zhang Xiyue had no time to analyze his expression. Once she confirmed that he had no immediate intention of driving into her, she turned back around.
“Grandma Zhao.”
The old woman didn’t respond. She continued staring at the car.
“Grandma Zhao!” Zhang Xiyue raised her voice slightly.
The old woman finally looked at her.
“I’m Xiyue. Don’t you remember me?”
The old woman paused. A trace of confusion surfaced in her murky eyes. “Xiyue…”
“Yes, Xiyue—the volunteer at the temple.” Zhang Xiyue patiently reminded her.
The old woman was named Zhao Yuzhen. Like Grandma Qian, she was a pilgrim who lived at the temple year-round.
She was elderly and often became confused, but she insisted on staying at Yunxi Temple. Her family had no choice but to arrange for two medical caregivers to accompany her around the clock. Even so, she still managed to sneak out alone from time to time.
She had probably slipped away today when the caregivers weren’t paying attention.
“Do you remember me now?”
As she spoke, Zhang Xiyue sent a message to the other volunteers at the temple.
After sending it, Zhao Yuzhen was still staring at her.
Zhang Xiyue smiled helplessly.
She was a very patient person. Under normal circumstances, she could stand there with the old woman for an entire day, until Zhao Yuzhen fully came to her senses.
But today was different…
The car behind her was watching them like a predator. Who knew when it might suddenly charge forward?
This was a matter of life and death. She couldn’t afford to waste time.
“It’s all right if you can’t remember. Let’s go somewhere else and take our time.”
Zhang Xiyue tentatively took hold of the old woman’s wrist. When she saw that Zhao Yuzhen didn’t resist, she led her toward the roadside. As they walked, she helped brush the dirt off the old woman’s hand and even pulled out a wet wipe to clean it.
Zhao Yuzhen cooperated the entire time, though she muttered unhappily, “This is what I use to beat bad people…”
Zhang Xiyue replied without thinking, “Mud can’t beat bad people. Next time, we’ll use rocks.”
Zhao Yuzhen found that reasonable and committed it seriously to memory.
Seeing how harmoniously the two of them got along, the man in the suit let out an astonished sound. Looking at Cheng Mingjiao through the rearview mirror, he asked, “Mr. Cheng, should we wait for Ms. Zhang?”
Cheng Mingjiao gave him a strange look, as though he had asked an especially foolish question. “In your eyes, am I really that heartless?”
He had told him to get ready to leave because he thought Zhang Xiyue would end up covered in mud.
Now that she hadn’t been splattered and had even successfully persuaded the crazy old woman to leave, why would he abandon her?
Faced with his boss’s questioning, the man in the suit gave a weary smile. “Of course not. You’re the kindest and most considerate boss in the world.”
Cheng Mingjiao crossed one leg over the other and folded his hands elegantly on his knee, taking the compliment as a matter of course.
The two people in front of the car slowly made their way to the roadside. The caregivers hurried over as well, and everyone breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief.
Not daring to delay, Zhang Xiyue handed Zhao Yuzhen over to the caregivers before jogging back to the car and pulling open the door. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“Come on in.” The man in the suit was much more enthusiastic than before. He even bent down to pick up the backpack that had fallen to the ground.
Zhang Xiyue smiled and placed one foot inside the car…
“Stop.”
Cheng Mingjiao suddenly spoke.
The movements of both Zhang Xiyue and the man in the suit froze.
Amid the silence, Cheng Mingjiao slowly asked, “What’s that on your sleeve?”
Zhang Xiyue looked down.
A bit of black mud had somehow rubbed onto her pristine white cuff.
There was only a tiny spot. If one wasn’t looking closely, it was practically invisible.
Ten seconds later, the business van sped away.
Zhang Xiyue stood by the roadside with her backpack in her arms. Amid the exhaust fumes trailing from the car, she took out her phone.
She called a cab.
There weren’t many temple visitors that day, and taxis passing by were scarce. Zhang Xiyue waited a full half hour before finally getting into a car.
By the time she reached the city in the ride-hailing car she had ordered with a twenty-percent surge charge, she received a message from an unfamiliar number.
[Hello, Ms. Zhang. This is Zhou Ce, Mr. Cheng’s assistant. We met earlier. Have you reached the city yet?]
Zhang Xiyue replied that she had.
[That’s great. Please arrive at the company before 4:00 p.m. to complete your onboarding paperwork. I’ll be waiting for you there.]
The message also included the company’s address.
She hadn’t even started working yet, and she was already feeling tired.
Zhang Xiyue glanced at the backpack beside her and abandoned the idea of going home to drop off her luggage first. She looked up and gave the driver the address.
She arrived at the company at exactly four.
The ride-hailing car pulled over by the roadside. As soon as Zhang Xiyue got out, she saw several large characters scrolling across a display screen on the building opposite:
Yuhuang Intelligent Equipment.
In the original novel, the male supporting character had appeared from the very beginning as a shut-in who kept himself locked at home all day. The story never mentioned what he had been like before becoming reclusive.
To learn more about the male supporting character as quickly as possible, she had asked Grandma Qian for some information and then searched online.
The results were astonishing.
According to news reports, Cheng Mingjiao had been born into an old-money family and had displayed remarkable academic talent from a young age.
After graduating from university, he hadn’t chosen to join his family’s company. Instead, he had started from scratch and built his own business. In just a few short years, he had transformed a team of barely more than a dozen people into a major corporation with several hundred core employees alone.
Now, not only did he own an entire office building in Phoenix City, where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold, he also had a research and development facility covering tens of thousands of square meters in the suburbs. He held a position of considerable influence in the field of intelligent machinery.
Highly intelligent, ruthless, and capable—just as Zhang Xiyue had initially judged him, he was a textbook example of a high-powered elite.
…So how exactly does a member of the social elite manage to turn himself into an unemployed, friendless yandere who does nothing but cling to the female lead in the span of just three months?
Unable to figure it out, Zhang Xiyue slung her backpack over her shoulder and walked into the lavish office building.
The man in the suit had been waiting for her in the lobby. The moment he saw her enter, he hurried over. “Hello, Ms. Zhang.”
“Assistant Zhou.” Zhang Xiyue remembered the name he’d used in his text and nodded politely. “You can just call me Xiyue.”
Zhou Ce agreed. Just after asking her for the receipt, he noticed the sleeves she had deliberately rolled up and suddenly looked a little embarrassed.
“Was it hard to get a cab from Yunxi Temple?”
“Not really.” Zhang Xiyue glanced at her sleeves as well, hesitation flickering across her face. “Should I find a restroom and change first?”
“No, no. Mr. Cheng drove home three minutes ago. He won’t be coming to the office today,” Zhou Ce hurriedly said.
The two of them walked toward the elevators together.
Zhang Xiyue took the initiative to make conversation. “Is Mr. Cheng’s cleanliness obsession really that severe?”
“He doesn’t have a cleanliness obsession,” Zhou Ce replied.
Zhang Xiyue stopped in front of the elevator. “Hm?”
Zhou Ce turned to look at her, his face full of sincerity. “He doesn’t have a cleanliness obsession. He’s just being an ass.”
Zhang Xiyue: “?”
Ding.
The elevator arrived, and the two of them stepped inside one after the other.
It wasn’t until the elevator doors cut them off from the noise outside that Zhang Xiyue carefully ventured, “What exactly do you mean by ‘being an ass’?”
“What being an ass, not being an ass? Just don’t say anything for now.” Zhou Ce cut her off rapidly. At the same time, he nervously glanced at the upper-right corner, signaling that she should keep quiet.
Watching his expression change before her very eyes, Zhang Xiyue suddenly remembered how, not long ago, Cheng Mingjiao had told him to run her over—and Zhou Ce had nearly released the brake.
She had almost forgotten. He was a lunatic too.
Zhang Xiyue edged one step closer to the elevator doors.
For the rest of the ride, Zhou Ce remained completely silent. It wasn’t until they entered an office piled high with documents that he finally relaxed.
“By ‘being an ass,’ I mean he’s fussy, sharp-tongued, nitpicky, and difficult to please—in short, he makes trouble for no reason.” He smoothly picked up where they had left off.
He changed expressions again.
Zhang Xiyue maintained her smile. At the same time, she checked the distance between herself and Zhou Ce, as well as the distance between herself and the office door. When she realized she was closer to him than to the exit, she took two steps toward the door.
Zhou Ce didn’t notice her little movements. While organizing the documents, he explained why he had reacted that way in the elevator.
“There are surveillance cameras in the elevator. After the office was burglarized last time, they checked the footage and discovered that employees had been bad-mouthing him. Ever since then, Mr. Cheng checks the elevator cameras whenever he has nothing better to do. So you have to watch what you say in there.”
With that, he gave Zhang Xiyue a bright smile. “But you can say whatever you like anywhere else. No one’s going to report you.”
Zhang Xiyue smiled along with him and silently surveyed the large private office on the top floor.
The office was spacious, and the surroundings were pleasant. Every workstation had plenty of room, with enough privacy between them. The plants were lush, the temperature was comfortable, and there was no unpleasant draft from the air-conditioning.
Although Zhang Xiyue’s sole purpose for joining Yuhuang was to complete the mission of “helping the yandere become a motivated, productive person,” having a pleasant work environment would at least make the process less unbearable.
Thinking of the president’s office just one step away, Zhang Xiyue felt that her future was looking bright.
While she was examining her surroundings, Zhou Ce had already finished organizing the documents and started rummaging through the cabinets.
“Do you need any help?” Zhang Xiyue asked proactively.
Zhou Ce waved her off. As he searched, he explained, “Mr. Cheng currently has two secretaries and five assistants. Normally, everyone except me works here, but a few of them are away on business trips, and the rest have gone to the research base, so the office is empty today.”
“Of the two secretaries, one handles external coordination and the other handles internal coordination. The other assistants take care of various support duties.”
“Officially, I’m the chief assistant for the office. In practice, I have to manage a little of everything, including Mr. Cheng’s daily schedule, personal engagements, and day-to-day life—as well as filing a noise complaint about his neighbor’s dog every three days. Never mind that he lives in a detached villa and his neighbor is separated from him by two gardens and a road. You could say I’m Mr. Cheng’s twenty-four-hour, on-call personal eunuch.”
Zhou Ce made a joke, but the fine lines at the corners of his eyes were filled with the weariness of a man who had seen too much.
Zhang Xiyue didn’t know how to respond. Not wanting to offend him, she went along with it. “Then Mr. Cheng must trust you a lot.”
Zhou Ce rubbed his nose, found a form, and handed it to her. “Fill this out.”
Zhang Xiyue took the form and found a desk to sit at.
“Although you were recommended by the old madam, I still have to conduct a simple background check on my end. I can process your onboarding once everything checks out.”
“Of course.”
She had transmigrated into this world. There should be no record of her here.
But perhaps because the world of the novel automatically filled in the gaps, her ID, academic credentials, and professional history had all become real. Some of the details were different from those in the real world, but nothing that mattered.
In short, she wasn’t worried about the background check.
Zhang Xiyue quickly completed the form and handed it back to Zhou Ce.
“Okay.” Zhou Ce gave it a brief look, confirmed that everything was in order, and put it away. “You can go home and wait for the news. You’ll have a definite answer within three days. Actually, this is just a formality. You’re definitely getting the job.”
“Okay.” Zhang Xiyue nodded.
Zhou Ce looked at her bright, gentle eyes. For a moment, he seemed to see his younger self, back when he had just graduated and was full of beautiful hopes for his career. His conscience, dormant for a long time, suddenly gave a little twitch.
“Good luck.” For one sincere second, he meant it.
One second later, he lowered his head and began rummaging around in a panic. “Where’s my phone?”
Zhang Xiyue: “...It’s here.”
She picked up the phone from the desk. Just as she was about to hand it to him, the screen suddenly lit up. Two enormous words appeared on the six-point-three-inch lock screen:
RUN
Zhang Xiyue: “...”
“Thanks.” Zhou Ce calmly took the phone and left.
Zhang Xiyue stood there for a while. Only after confirming that he wasn’t coming back did she go downstairs by herself to hail a cab.
The moment she got a taxi, her phone chimed with a text message showing that she had received 89 yuan.
It was the fare from the ride over.
She had to admit, their reimbursement process was pretty efficient.
Zhang Xiyue got into the taxi, gave the driver her address, then rolled down the window and rested her chin on the sill as she stared blankly at the passing streets.
The taxi drove through the bright and glamorous commercial district, past one bustling street after another, and headed toward the old part of town.
Zhang Xiyue was beginning to doze off. She didn’t wake fully until the car stopped at a red light.
When she opened her eyes, she immediately spotted a somewhat familiar car at the nearby intersection—and a somewhat familiar person standing beside it, furiously stabbing at his phone. His handsome face was filled with impatience.
It looked like his car had broken down, and his phone had run out of battery too.
Alone and helpless, trapped in a difficult situation with nowhere to go—just waiting for some unlucky fool to take him home while staying behind to clean up his mess.
This was a great opportunity to get close to him. But she would have plenty of chances after she started work, and he had abandoned her alone in the parking lot at Yunxi Temple just two hours ago, so...
“Driver,” Zhang Xiyue said, “step on it.”
The driver had no idea what was going on, but when the light turned green, he still slammed on the gas and sped away.
Cheng Mingjiao looked up sharply, feeling as though he had caught a glimpse of his new assistant through the rear window of a taxi.
