Guilt

After arriving at the company, Chen Qin also learned during lunch break that Alice was staying with them temporarily. However, she didn’t feel much of anything toward that little girl. She was simply puzzled about why Bobo had left.

She was only a little girl. Could she really steal Ye away?

Besides, Ye wasn’t a lolicon.

None of this was worth Chen Qin’s concern. After all, what mattered most to her had always been getting along well with Ye Shuang, seeing whether they could recover his lost memories, and, at the very least, preventing the situation from getting worse.

That was the outcome Chen Qin wanted to see least.

Chen Qin propped up her chin and seemed to be studying the man beside her. Ye Shuang, meanwhile, was eating the meal delivered from the cafeteria. Ye was still Ye—but he wasn’t the Ye she remembered.

Chen Qin sighed inwardly. But with her personality, she naturally wouldn’t give up. She had endured all those years already, so what was a minor setback like this worth?

After thinking it through, Chen Qin suddenly let out a little “whoop.” Her abrupt exclamation made Ye Shuang, who was eating, pause slightly. He seemed unsure why she had suddenly made that sound.

“Are you… all right?” Ye Shuang asked.

Chen Qin realized that the voice she had used to encourage herself had been a little too loud. She quickly shook her head, blushing. “N-no, no, I’m fine. I’m fine.”

Ye Shuang couldn’t help smiling. “You’re pretty cute, you know, especially for someone who’s already a mother.”

Chen Qin hadn’t expected him to say that so suddenly, and the blush on her cheeks deepened. Still, she muttered, “Are you saying I’m old?”

It was as though he had just been presented with a deadly question. Ye Shuang said helplessly, “I’m older than you.”

Besides, Chen Qin was nowhere near old. Neither he nor Chen Qin was even thirty, and judging from their appearances, they looked barely over twenty. They simply dressed a little more maturely.

That said, Chen Qin possessed a charm that was difficult to describe—a mature woman’s gentle warmth, mixed with a touch of cuteness. Ye Shuang could understand why he had married her.

After thinking for a moment, Ye Shuang suddenly said, “Are you free this afternoon? How about we go out, see a movie, and then find a restaurant for dinner?”

Chen Qin froze for a moment before scooting closer, looking delighted. “Really?!”

Her sudden approach—even bumping into him with her ample chest—made Ye Shuang glance down instinctively. “Uh… why are you so excited?”

“Hehe, it’s been a long time since you’ve gone out with me, Ye.” Chen Qin fiddled with her fingers, looking a little bashful. “And I’m busy sometimes too, so it’s not easy for us to find time to go out together.”

Ye Shuang suddenly realized that he might have cared far too little about Chen Qin. Perhaps because something had gone wrong with his memories, he always devoted more of his attention to Bai Yuyou. If Chen Qin hadn’t messaged him every day to chat, he might even have unconsciously neglected his own “wife.”

She… must be hurting too, being forgotten by her husband.

Ye Shuang fell silent. When he looked up at Chen Qin again, she was wearing a bright smile. As his wife, she was already this happy just because he had offered to take her shopping.

Thinking of that, Ye Shuang felt an indescribable sense of guilt.

However, he didn’t show it.

He understood to some extent that Chen Qin wasn’t the sort of person who wanted him to pay more attention to her out of guilt. She didn’t want to hold him hostage emotionally. She had simply continued to respect and go along with his decisions.

So Ye Shuang could not—and would not—show those emotions. He merely kept them in his heart and quietly tried to understand the woman before him.

“What’s wrong?” Chen Qin noticed that Ye Shuang had remained silent and asked curiously, “Do you already have something planned for this afternoon?”

“If you do…” Although she was a little disappointed, there was nothing she could do if Ye Shuang had other plans.

“No, I was just thinking about where we should go this afternoon. Is there anywhere you’d like to visit?” Ye Shuang smiled and placed his hand over the back of hers. In a gentle voice, he said, “Anywhere you want is fine.”

“Okay.” When Chen Qin saw this, she clasped Ye Shuang’s hand with both of hers. The warmth from his palm made her very happy.

Once lunch break was over, Ye Shuang and Chen Qin dealt with a few work matters before preparing to leave the company.

“What? You’re slacking off during work without taking me with you?” Anshi Yi immediately raised her hand when she found out that Ye Shuang and Chen Qin were going out. “How can you do this? Are we supposed to stay here and work?”

An Shiyu also looked over, her expression gradually turning disdainful. “Going out with a girl during work hours and abandoning us here. What a scumbag. What do you think we’re staying here to work for?”

“That’s right,” Anshi Yi chimed in with a nod. “As third-generation elite agents, we have even more important missions weighing on us.”

Ye Shuang: “…”

Was it really that serious?

There was no way Ye Shuang could bring the two fishes along. The four of them together would be far too strange.

He couldn’t exactly go out with Chen Qin and then say, “Oh, perfect timing—you’re here too.”

But Ye Shuang knew the two girls’ personalities well. He said, “I’ll bring you gifts when I get back. Consider them payment for all your hard work.”

“Tch, a gift?” Anshi Yi crossed her arms. “We don’t need any gifts. What kind of people do you take us for? Just one measly gift…”

“Then you’ll have to pay us more.”

Ye Shuang: “…”

He had no idea how Grandpa An Shi had raised these two girls into such little money-grubbers. Come to think of it, though, the allowance he gave them wasn’t small. They had mentioned before that each fish received tens of thousands in spending money, on top of the several thousand in salary they earned here.

Good grief. Was nearly a hundred thousand a month still not enough for them?

Forget it. They had earned that money through their own abilities. How they spent it was their business.

“Fine, I’ll raise your wages. It’ll come out of my allowance,” Ye Shuang said. That would count as overtime pay for them.

“That’s more like it.” Anshi Yi took a noisy sip of her milk tea.

After briefly assigning them their tasks, Ye Shuang left the office.

Watching him disappear down the corridor, Anshi Yi glanced at An Shiyu. “How long are we staying here?”

“Staying? We finished our work ages ago.” An Shiyu shot her a sideways glance. “Overtime? We’ve just been slacking off here this whole time, haven’t we?”

“Oh—right.” Anshi Yi flashed her pearly white teeth. “Let’s go see what they’re up to.”