Chapter 88: Extra 5 Working Together

When Mi Zhao woke up, both online and at the university, there was an uproar. Online, people were discussing Mi Zhao’s live stream from yesterday, while at school, people were shocked that such a big internet celebrity was right beside them.

Mi Zhao lay in bed, scrolling through his phone for a while, and then, while the topic was still hot, he posted a Weibo accepting commissions.

At eight in the morning, a group of people seemed to have been waiting in the comment section, and messages started flooding in.

[Winter Melon: ???]

[Big Bear Bear: His mental strength is really strong, the comment section of the last Weibo post was a mess.]

[Falling Leaf: Of course, making money is the most important thing~]

[MoMo: When will he stream again? I want to see him and his boyfriend. Show their faces!!!]

Mi Zhao replied to a few comments, tossed his phone aside, turned around, and hugged the person next to him.

“I’ve always kept the internet and reality separate because I was afraid of things like this, but it still happened.”

Li Sipei’s arm was around Mi Zhao’s shoulders, gently patting his back. “The bigger the fame, the more attention you get. Some of it’s good, some bad. Even strangers want to join in the excitement. This is inevitable.”

“You’re right.” Mi Zhao said, “But I don’t want to go to school today.”

“Then what do you want to do?”

Mi Zhao slumped. “Just stay at home.”

Li Sipei asked, “Do you want to come to the company with me?”

Mi Zhao was startled, then smiled excitedly. “Sure!”

•

Half an hour later, Ruan Xin arrived to pick up Li Sipei for work. Seeing Mi Zhao following Li Sipei into the car, she asked, “Is Xiao Mi going to school?”

“He’s coming to the company.” Li Sipei said.

Ruan Xin didn’t immediately react.

Li Sipei added, “He’s coming to work with me.”

Ruan Xin: “…”

Only someone like Third Master Li would do something like take someone to work…

Well, who made him the boss?

At eight or nine in the morning, it was peak traffic time. Not only was there a jam on the road, but the lobby of the office building was also packed with people waiting for the elevator. There was an elevator at the farthest side, but almost no one was getting in.

Ruan Xin walked ahead, heading straight for that elevator.

A group of people immediately turned to look, some of whom recognized Ruan Xin and Li Sipei and greeted them.

Mi Zhao’s nervousness flared up again. He walked stiffly beside Li Sipei, not daring to glance to the side, until his hand was gently taken. He looked up and met Li Sipei’s gaze.

“It’s fine.” Li Sipei said.

Mi Zhao nodded absentmindedly, and only after stepping into the elevator did his racing heart finally calm down.

Outside the elevator, the crowd went wild.

“Didn’t CEO Li just hold that guy’s hand?”

“Right? Did you see it? I thought I was seeing things!”

“You didn’t check Weibo yesterday? I heard there’s an artist who does live streams, and CEO Li appeared in the stream. Seems like that artist’s partner is CEO Li. That guy in the stream must be him…”

“Wow, you’re in on the gossip too? I’ve been following that artist for a while. I’m sure the person in that photo posted by the artist is CEO Li!”

“No way, no way, no way! CEO Li has a partner? And it’s a guy?!”

Upstairs, Mi Zhao was settled on the sofa in Li Sipei’s office. Just as Li Sipei arrived, he got a message about a meeting. He asked Mi Zhao if he wanted to join, but Mi Zhao immediately shook his head and refused.

“Are you kidding me? It’s already unusual enough that I came to the company. If I join the meeting too, it’s just giving people more gossip material.”

After Li Sipei left, Mi Zhao, having nothing to do, wandered aimlessly around the office building.

The floor was almost empty, with all the office doors tightly shut. At the far right of the corridor was a break room, which was bigger than Li Sipei’s office. It was simply decorated, clean, and fully equipped.

Mi Zhao was about to graduate but had never interned at a company. He had heard stories from some classmates about their experiences interviewing at big companies. These companies offered great benefits—break rooms, lounges, entertainment rooms, gyms, and even cafeterias. He couldn’t imagine it back then, but now, seeing it with his own eyes, he felt a bit envious.

After walking around and returning to the office, Li Sipei came back. He was sitting behind his large desk, looking at something.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Li Sipei looked up. When he saw it was Mi Zhao, his brows relaxed, and the coldness on his face instantly disappeared. He smiled and said, “You’re back.”

Mi Zhao closed the door behind him and asked, “How did the meeting go?”

Li Sipei placed the folder he was holding on the desk. Although his tone was casual, it was clear he wasn’t in a good mood. “It’s still the same argument. The issues that weren’t resolved yesterday are being dragged into today. They’ve even dug up all kinds of old stuff.”

So, when the people below fight, the ones above still have to deal with the headache.

Mi Zhao leaned over to take a look at the materials Li Sipei had thrown on the desk. The papers were densely packed with words, and even had charts. After flipping through a page or two, Mi Zhao quickly started to get a headache. To exaggerate, it felt like there were two incense coils spinning in his eyes.

Li Sipei couldn’t help but laugh at Mi Zhao’s deliberately dizzy appearance, and the gloom in his heart lifted considerably. He reached over and took Mi Zhao’s hand. “Are you getting used to things here?”

Mi Zhao leaned against him. “It’s fine.”

“Once your classes are over, I’ll hand over the company affairs to others and go out with you to do some sketching,” Li Sipei said.

Mi Zhao tapped Li Sipei’s chest with his finger, full of envy. “Having wealth accumulated over three generations is nice. You can live a carefree life without worries.”

“It’s not three generations,” Li Sipei corrected. “Strictly speaking, my family’s wealth was accumulated over two generations.”

After a pause, he added, “But we’re lucky, two generations are worth five generations for others.”

Mi Zhao: “…”

So envious.

Li Sipei just smiled, raising his hand to stroke Mi Zhao’s chin.

Mi Zhao lowered his head and opened his mouth.

The two naturally exchanged a kiss.

•

The two had lunch in the office, with Ruan Xin ordering takeout from a nearby restaurant. The average spending there wasn’t low, and the delivery price was higher than eating in the restaurant. Moreover, the food had been packed for a while, and the taste wasn’t as good as it would’ve been on a plate.

Mi Zhao thought that if they could eat in the restaurant, it would be better than delivery, but this was just once, there would be plenty of time in the future.

After eating, Li Sipei got back to work.

Mi Zhao slouched on the sofa, looking at Weibo. His hands were holding the phone, and his thumbs were tapping the screen rapidly.

Li Sipei sat behind his desk, continuing to look at the materials that had been brought to him. Occasionally, someone knocked on the door and entered—these were the two groups of people who hadn’t finished arguing during the morning meeting, coming one after the other to Li Sipei to patch things up. They bumped into each other, and an all-out battle nearly broke out, with both sides directly arguing in Li Sipei’s office.

The two sides argued back and forth, but after a while, no one could win.

Li Sipei, stuck in the middle, had the usual numb expression on his face.

Suddenly, a cup of water appeared in front of him. He looked up and found Mi Zhao had somehow come to stand beside him.

“Thirsty?” Mi Zhao asked.

Li Sipei took the cup and had a sip. “I’m not the one talking, they’re the ones who should be thirsty.”

Mi Zhao quietly asked, “Since they’re arguing so fiercely, what do you think would happen if we just left?”

Li Sipei said, “I’m not sure.”

But this was Li Sipei’s company, and no matter what they said, they couldn’t just walk out. So before going out on a business trip, Li Sipei told Ruan Xin to send the two groups to the meeting room and told them they had to come to a conclusion before he returned.

The two groups immediately couldn’t continue their argument, standing in the meeting room, completely confused.

After getting in the car, Mi Zhao couldn’t help but feel a little gloating.

It turned out that one of the people who had been arguing was the leader who had come to their school to select interns. Back then, he had been so arrogant, practically looking down on everyone, and the students had fawned over him to the point where he couldn’t even tell which way was north.

But just now, that same person had been bullied by the other group, stuttering for ages and unable to get a word out.

“I’m glad I didn’t intern at your company,” Mi Zhao said to Li Sipei. “Before coming to your company, one would need to learn how to argue first.”

Li Sipei replied, “They’re from the project team, so they deal with people all the time. They need to be quick with their words. If you came, you’d probably be assigned to the art team.”

Mi Zhao asked, “What’s the art team like?”

Li Sipei threw the same question to Ruan Xin, who was driving.

Ruan Xin answered, “The project team is straightforward, while the people in the art team all have their own opinions, and communication is all about finding something to talk about.”

Mi Zhao: “…”

Looks like freelancing is more suited for me.

Speaking of arguments, Mi Zhao suddenly remembered someone. He had asked Yan Qinting for a WeChat ID, sent a friend request, and wrote his name in the note.

Within five seconds, the request was accepted.

[Don’t bother me: ?]

[Don’t bother me: Is this really you?]

[Don’t bother me: What do you want with me?]

Without hesitation, Mi Zhao directly sent a video.

The video’s sound echoed for a while. The screen flickered, and then Lin Qiuzu’s face appeared, full of vigilance but with a hint of suspicion.

Lin Qiuzu instinctively found a quiet place, tilted the camera up, and adjusted to a better angle. “What’s up?”

Mi Zhao deliberately turned his back to the car window. He asked, “Lin Qiuzu, did you see Weibo?”

Mentioning Weibo made Lin Qiuzu recall the restless night and how he couldn’t sleep, and his face darkened. “Are you here to gloat?”

“So you saw it?” Mi Zhao said. “You know Li Sipei, right? He’s the uncle of Li Yan. You’ve probably heard of him if you pay attention to the Li family, right?”

Lin Qiuzu already seemed impatient. “What do you actually want to say?”

“Nothing much, just wanted to have him say hello to you.” Mi Zhao said, then suddenly turned the camera toward Li Sipei, who was sitting next to him. “Come on, say hi.”

Li Sipei, who was also looking at his phone, looked up. After seeing the face on the screen, he paused.

Mi Zhao shook the phone. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, it’s you.” Li Sipei said in surprise.

Just as he finished speaking, the video was abruptly hung up with a click.

Mi Zhao looked at his phone and asked Li Sipei, “Do you know him?”

Li Sipei didn’t have a good impression of Lin Qiuzu, so he didn’t elaborate, simply summarizing, “I’ve seen him a few times. He’s quite an impatient person.”

Though he didn’t say it explicitly, Mi Zhao understood. He sent another message to Lin Qiuzu, only to see a red exclamation mark pop up.

After a brief silence, Mi Zhao burst into laughter.

Today’s happiness was thanks to Lin Qiuzu.