When Xi Xiaye returned to the bedroom, there were already no signs of him. The room was still cloaked in darkness, while the bathroom was brightly lit.
Xi Xiaye stood at the door and struggled for quite a while before she finally walked over to the bedside. In a glance, she saw that the needle on the clock showed 10 p.m. It was late. However, to someone like her who always pulled all-nighters, it was still very early.
The bed was huge and it would not be a problem fitting five to six people. With a cozy, simple and elegant light color and the dim yellow light shining down from the wall, it gave anyone a snug and warm feeling.
She walked over to pull up the curtains, then turned back to sit down quietly by the bed. She could not help but feel a little nervous.
As it would be her first time sharing a room with a man that she did not know very well, she now suddenly thought of many things she would have never considered before.Do I kick away the blankets when I sleep? Will I sleep talk in the middle of the night?
After the endless stream of thoughts ran through her head for a long time, she snapped back to reality when she heard the bathroom door open. She turned to look and noticed that Mu Yuchen had walked out in a black robe. With a towel in his hand, he was ruffling it through his slightly damp, dark hair.
When he saw Xi Xiaye staring blankly at him from the bedside, he stopped what he was doing and looked at her. Picking up the uneasiness in her eyes, he noticed that her fingers that hooked onto the bedside were also turning a little pale…
He did not say anything and just walked over in huge strides, pulling out the chair from the bedhead and sitting down. He took Xi Xiaye’s laptop and briefcase from the short side table. Then, he casually opened the laptop and asked softly, “Where’s the City S project?”
Xi Xiaye then reacted, quickly moving and sitting closer. She looked at the laptop screen and reached out to point at the hard drive that he had clicked open. She replied softly, “It’s in this drive. It’s the seventh document. The password is XXX. You can look for it…”
Mu Yuchen had very quickly found the document and opened it to see the project details of City S.
“Why did the Commerce Department reach out to you? These data analyses are quite complex. Can you handle it?” His profound eyes stared at the computer screen as he asked.“The expatriate, Director Chu from Externals previously asked me to watch their Commerce Department. Besides, I’ve dealt with this project before, so I understand it a little. It’s only right that I help out too,” said Xi Xiaye.
“Your work on the South River project is quite extensive. From now on, let the other departments resolve them internally. I can’t be paying a bunch of good-for-nothings,” Mu Yuchen said as he swiftly typed a long line of alphabets on the keyboard. Then, the chosen data very quickly appeared in a diagram, below which displayed a string of results.
Xi Xiaye did not say anything either. She just watched as he skillfully maneuvered, compared the analysis from the diagrams, and then begin writing the conclusions. Sometimes, she would ask about some results.
The time passed and in the blink of an eye, the clock on the cabinet showed that it was midnight, yet the two of them who were immersed in the work were totally unaware. Quite a while passed and upon Mu Yuchen’s final typing in of an alphabet, the data was generated. Ease covered Xi Xiaye’s tensed expression.
“When you get to work tomorrow, help me print it out and hand it to Assistant Director Wang of the Commerce Department, please.”
Xi Xiaye found a USB flash drive from her briefcase, handed it to him, and indicated for him to copy the item over.
“Be good and stay at home to rest for a few days. Consider it as the company giving you a break. Your body is your temple. If you ruin it, the person who’ll suffer is you,” advised Mu Yuchen as he turned off the laptop. He put the things on the table aside, and then suddenly got up to walk out. Soon, he returned with a glass of water and her medicine.
“It’s late. Take the medicine and quickly get some sleep, okay?”
He handed the water to Xi Xiaye, his deep voice sounding very gentle. His silent eyes held a hint of concern. She could not help but nod before she took the medicine and swallowed it.
After that, she lifted the blanket on the bed nervously. Mu Yuchen took his coat from the chair and put it around his shoulders before walking out.
“Where are you going?”
Xi Xiaye propped herself up and looked at him, puzzled.
“You go to sleep first. I’ll go to the study room to send some documents to the French office,” he said before his tall and thin figure vanished outside the door, leaving with a shadow.
Quite a while after that, Xi Xiaye tore her twinkling eyes away, mixed emotions swirling in them. She pulled on her blanket and slowly closed her eyes, yet she could not sleep. Helplessly, she just opened her eyes again and quietly watched the wall lamp at the bedhead giving out a faint light.
She stared and stared, then suddenly drowsiness engulfed her. She did not know when slumber claimed her.
Later on, after some time had passed, she vaguely heard the sound of the door opening. Then, she faintly heard rustling beside her as if someone had lifted the blanket beside her and laid down.
Xi Xiaye wanted to open her eyes to take a look at her side, yet her eyelids felt extremely heavy. A faint fragrance relaxed her as all of the suppressed fatigue from the past few days could not be held in anymore. Finally, she fell into a deep sleep.
Before the darkness surrounded her, she was still silently telling herself—
Sleep. When you wake up, it’ll all be a new beginning.
