The Restless Fish

In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.

Both Tang Keke and Bai Yuyou had gotten used to going to work. Compared with their usually more relaxed school life, the two girls now carried a hint of weariness—what people commonly called “the work grind.”

“Ah—why do I have to go to work again?” The moment her alarm went off, Tang Keke let out a miserable wail. Hugging her pillow, she rolled all the way from her bed to the floor, then yelped when she landed painfully.

After washing up and coming downstairs, she discovered that Bai Yuyou and Ye Shuang were already awake as well.

For the past few days, the two girls had been leaving together with Ye Shuang, so they no longer had to head out as early as they had at the start of the school term.

“Looks like you didn’t get enough sleep. What time did you go to bed last night?” Ye Shuang asked with a smile as he watched Tang Keke nodding off across from him.

“It was already midnight. I didn’t even get to play any games,” Tang Keke said.

“Want me to make you a cup of coffee to wake you up?”

“Huh—”

Tang Keke glanced at the coffee in front of Ye Shuang, then at how alert he looked. She seemed to realize something and began to grow suspicious. “Big brother, the reason you drink a cup of coffee first thing in the morning is to keep yourself from getting sleepy, right?”

“Yeah. We have to work later, so I need to stay focused.” Ye Shuang explained himself. It had more or less become a habit by now.

“You should just whip yourself with a little lash,” Tang Keke muttered.

But the moment she thought about her internship salary, she instantly came back to life.

“Oh!”

That was eight thousand!

Eight thousand yuan—that was amazing. And it was only an intern’s salary. Tang Keke was already thinking that after graduation, instead of joining her parents’ company, she would work for her big brother.

Working at her family’s company meant being free labor, with nothing to look forward to.

Ye Shuang and Bai Yuyou exchanged a glance, seemingly unable to understand why Keke had suddenly become so excited.

Could she have been stimulated by something?

…

After breakfast, Ye Shuang brought the two girls to the company.

“If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask your colleagues. If you really can’t solve it, come find me.” Ye Shuang sounded just like an overprotective father. Even though Bai Yuyou and the others had already been working for half a month, he still couldn’t help reminding them.

“If anyone bullies you, tell him to come to my office. I’ll have a little chat with him about life.”

“Mm-hmm.” Bai Yuyou nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

After parting with them at the entrance, Ye Shuang had barely returned to his office and sat down when he received a message from Chen Hai.

Chen Hai: I want to take a week off.

The sudden message caught Ye Shuang slightly off guard, but he still asked:

Ye Shuang: What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?

Chen Hai had changed so much that Ye Shuang couldn’t figure out why he would suddenly choose to take a week off.

Soon, Chen Hai replied.

Chen Hai: My daughter’s birthday is coming up. I’m going to see if I can win Feng Shan back. Divorce isn’t good for the child, after all. Since I can’t get custody, I should at least go over there.

Chen Hai: Besides, I’ve never even met my son. I don’t know how he’s doing.

Ye Shuang hadn’t expected Chen Hai to try to win Feng Shan back. But judging from his words, it seemed to be for the sake of the children. Thinking of this, Ye Shuang could only reply:

Ye Shuang: It’s your decision.

There wasn’t much he could do to help with Chen Hai’s situation. Ever since what happened with An Yao, Chen Hai seemed to have grown up overnight.

…

After working for two hours, Ye Shuang was still signing documents when a girl’s voice suddenly came from beside him.

“Oi, old man, let’s go out and have some fun.”

Without even looking up, Ye Shuang said, “If you want to go out and play, you didn’t have to come in today. The company doesn’t even keep track of your attendance.”

“You should come with us.”

Only then did Ye Shuang put down the document in his hand. He looked at An Shiyu and Anshi Yi beside him. The words “I’m bored” might as well have been written across their faces.

“Go out and have fun…” Ye Shuang thought about it carefully. During the first half of summer vacation, he hadn’t really taken any time off, and the two fish had also shown up to help every single day.

Considering how restless they were, the fact that they had managed to come to work every day was already quite a feat.

“But I still have some documents…”

Before Ye Shuang could finish, Anshi Yi had already placed the documents in front of him. She had even marked the places where he needed to sign with sticky notes.

“Just these. Sign your name!”

“Uh…” Seeing how enthusiastic the two fish were, Ye Shuang glanced at the watch on his wrist and could only say, “If we’re going out, can we just go for half a day?”

Taking an entire day off felt a little too extravagant.

“That’s enough. If we get a room, it’ll be enough to do it several times.”

“Hm?”

Ye Shuang had grown used to the two fish’s dirty jokes. He looked at the clothes he was wearing and was just about to say that he should change when An Shiyu beside him held up a bag.

“There are clothes for you to change into.”

“…”

Ye Shuang looked at the clothes inside the bag. They were a plain short-sleeved T-shirt, a pair of shorts, and a pair of flip-flops. There was nothing wrong with dressing like that during summer—it was a classic outfit, after all.

“When did you prepare these?” Ye Shuang began to suspect that the two fish had never intended to work today. Going out to have fun had clearly been part of their plan from the start.

“We’re ninjas. Amazing, right?”

Ye Shuang didn’t say anything more and simply went to change.

The short-sleeved shirt was black, with a white heart printed on the front. There was nothing particularly special about it, except that the heart was rather large.

When Ye Shuang came out after changing, he froze.

An Shiyu and Chao Yiyu had changed as well. They were wearing white T-shirts and shorts, each with a huge black heart on the front.

“Let’s go.”

“Our clothes…” Ye Shuang looked at his black shirt with its white heart, then at the two girls’ white shirts with their black hearts.

Weren’t these couple outfits?!

“W-Wait, this isn’t right, is it?”

“These are boss-and-assistant outfits. They’re very popular lately.” An Shiyu lied through her teeth with a perfectly serious expression.

“Yeah, big brother’s a little behind the times. Don’t you think so, O-O?” Anshi Yi asked Kou Kou beside her.

“Um… I’m COCO,” Kou Kou said helplessly. But when Anshi Yi asked her that, she fell silent for a few seconds before quietly nodding.

As a gold-medal employee, she offended no one and took no sides.

“I’d better change back,” Ye Shuang said.

But the next second, his arms were hooked from both sides. The two fish dragged him out, one on either side.

“Wait a minute?!”

“Well then, have a safe trip,” Kou Kou called from inside the office.