Who should I spend Christmas with?
I've already promised Chen Qin, and it's unlikely to change. As for Yu You asking me so suddenly, she must have plans too, and it doesn't seem right to refuse her.
As for An Shiyu, while refusing wouldn't be a huge deal, Christmas day is her birthday. Since she extended the invitation herself...
Or maybe I should just skip all of them and spend the day with Chen Hai.
"Hmm." Ye Shuang thought about it. Wouldn't it be better to go ask Chen Qin?
If I just change the timing a bit, she'd probably understand, right?
"But I always seem to let her down." Ye Shuang fell silent, lost in thought. He habitually felt his pocket and pulled out a piece of candy—since quitting smoking, he always kept a few candies in his pocket for when the craving hit.
Once you've smoked, the addiction stays with you for life, let alone for someone like him who smoked for over a decade.
"No, I can't let Chen Qin down." Ye Shuang murmured to himself. It's probably better to refuse Yu You and An Shiyu, right?
But...
"Heh, I can't believe I'm stressing over something like this." Ye Shuang gave a self-deprecating smile and shook his head, which made Kou Kou, who wasn't far away, glance over a couple of times.
Has Manager Ye run into some trouble today?
"Hmm..." Ye Shuang's pen unconsciously scratched on the paper before he slowly pulled it back.
This is the only way.
Ye Shuang picked up his phone and replied to both Bai Yuyou and An Shiyu.
To Bai Yuyou — Ye Shuang: I'm free in the morning. What's up?
To An Shiyu — Ye Shuang: I should be free around noon.
As for the afternoon and evening, that would be Chen Qin's time.
Ye Shuang interlaced his fingers on the desk, continuing to ponder. This seemed like the best solution.
The best, and also the worst.
Ye Shuang never thought he'd become a master of time management one day.
A cold sweat broke out.
Just then, his phone rang again. Ye Shuang glanced at it—
Tao Xiaotao: Brother Ye, are you free on Christmas day?
Ye Shuang: "..."
Then his phone vibrated again.
Zhixia: Teacher Ye, we're planning a party on Christmas day. Do you have time to join?
Ye Shuang fell into deep thought once more: "..."
Silence is golden.
...
...
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was mid-month.
In mid-December, a cold front swept south, and the people of Haizhu City practically changed into warm winter clothes overnight.
Ye Shuang was no exception. Even bundled in a thick coat, he could still feel the chill when walking outside.
"This weather is brutal." Ye Shuang muttered in his office. Just yesterday the temperature had risen enough for short sleeves, and now suddenly it's down to puffer jackets, with no warning at all.
"I told you it was getting colder, I warned you." Chen Qin sat across from him, smiling. She was also dressed warmly, no longer in a fitted silk dress, but in a dignified white wool coat and beige trousers.
"Who knew it would drop from 20 degrees to 4 degrees?" Ye Shuang was a bit helpless.
Chen Qin asked, "Did you buy Yu You some warm clothes?"
"I did." Ye Shuang described, "She's wearing a lot."
"How much is 'a lot'?"
"Probably looks like the Michelin Man."
Ye Shuang's description was vivid, making Chen Qin understand immediately.
Ye Shuang rubbed his hands. Even with the office's constant temperature, he still hadn't warmed up.
Noticing this, Chen Qin reached out and gently took his hands in hers. Her palms were very warm, instantly heating up Ye Shuang's hands.
"Hehe." Chen Qin chuckled, looking pleased.
Feeling the delicate touch of her hands, Ye Shuang said, "Your hands are quite warm."
"Other parts of me are warm too. Want to try?" Chen Qin pulled down her collar slightly, revealing her woolly-clad "slimes."
As she spoke, her face flushed, she placed Ye Shuang's hand right on the "slimes."
"You can just keep it there, no moving around."
Ye Shuang slowly averted his gaze.
"Eek, I said no groping!"
After fooling around for a bit, there was a knock on the office door. Chen Qin zipped up her coat, her expression quickly returning to composure, though the blush on her cheeks seemed stubborn.
She first gave Ye Shuang a coquettish glance, then said, "Come in."
The assistant opened the door and said, "Manager Chen, Manager Xu is here."
"Let him in."
"Okay."
"Manager Chen, good morning... Huh?" Soon, Xu Yitian appeared in the office. He had just started speaking when he noticed Ye Shuang there.
"What a coincidence, Manager Ye, you're here too." Xu Yitian said with a strained smile, his tone even a bit sarcastic, "So happy to see you here."
Hearing this, Ye Shuang retorted,
"Oh? How happy exactly?"
Ye Shuang's question made Xu Yitian pause, momentarily at a loss for words. Chen Qin instead spoke up, asking Xu Yitian what the matter was.
"These are the several partnerships secured from the last event." Xu Yitian also handed the documents to Chen Qin.
"You could have had the assistant bring them over, no need to come yourself." Chen Qin remarked.
"These partnerships are quite important, it's more secure to deliver them personally."
Chen Qin began reviewing them. Seeing she was working, Ye Shuang stood up, "Manager Chen, I'll head back now."
"Alright, go ahead and get back to work." Chen Qin looked up and gave a faint smile.
Under Xu Yitian's gaze, Ye Shuang left the office.
Chen Qin spent a long time reviewing the documents. When she finally pinched the bridge of her nose and looked up, she realized Xu Yitian had been standing there the whole time. She apologized, "Sorry, Manager Xu, I got absorbed in reading. Perhaps you should go back and rest?"
"It's no trouble. Manager Chen is as beautiful as ever when focused on work." Xu Yitian said.
Hearing Xu Yitian compliment her like that, Chen Qin felt it was a bit odd, but didn't dwell on it. She just asked, "Manager Xu, was there anything else you wanted to discuss?"
"Oh, it's like this..." Xu Yitian began, "It's about Manager Ye."
"Manager Ye?"
"Yes... That new assistant he recently hired seems to enjoy wearing all sorts of strange outfits, like maid costumes, catgirl outfits... I was wondering if this might set a bad example for the other employees in the company?" Xu Yitian said.
Upon hearing this, Chen Qin's brows furrowed slightly.
Seeing her frown, Xu Yitian showed a satisfied expression. "This seems to be Manager Ye's preference... I didn't feel comfortable mentioning it to him directly."
Meanwhile, what Chen Qin was thinking was whether An Shiyu would catch a cold wearing so little.
I really should remind her.
"I'll go remind her. Thank you for your concern, Manager Xu." Chen Qin said.
"Not at all, not at all. I just happened to notice and wanted to ask about the situation." Xu Yitian also smiled.
Two people on completely different wavelengths had somehow managed a coherent conversation.
iemie, male, Race: Moon. Hobby: Collecting anomalies. At first, he thought he possessed two systems: the Crimson Rainbow Moon and the Clear Cold Frost Moon. One day, he discovered that he himself could also become a system for others, holding the chessboard of fate. The Eighth Epoch, also known as the Eternal Moon Epoch. Humans, witches, elves, bloodline descendants, specters, demons, and spirits together compose a new history. Walking the path on behalf of the moon, before he knew it, Chen Miemie's footsteps were followed by all manner of strange and wondrous anomalies. As time passed, many titles circulated about him—The King in Yellow, Lord of Anomalies, Heart of the Eternal Moon, and more. "Me? I'm just a traveler who enjoys collecting interesting creatures," Chen Miemie said.
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
