Heaven, Earth, and Man

Wanliu House.

The privacy of the top-tier luxury mansion was excellent. Once the heavy curtains were drawn, the room was completely isolated from the rest of the world.

When Chen Zhi was shooed into the bathroom by Pei Ningxue, his mind was still calculating how to deal with Li Zhiyi.

The warm water cascaded down his back, slightly easing his exhaustion.

After his shower, Chen Zhi walked out wearing a bathrobe.

Pei Ningxue was sitting on a barstool in the living room, with several unsigned documents spread out in front of her.

"All clean?" She turned her face, her eyes scanning Chen Zhi before finally stopping at his collar.

He casually picked up a black pen from the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down next to her. "Where does Boss Pei want me to sign? How would a humble worker dare to disobey?"

"Sign first. Once the business is settled, we can take our time settling your messy private affairs." Pei Ningxue pushed the contracts beside her toward his hand.

"The funds from Jingzhou Investment will all arrive by tomorrow afternoon. Deep Space Tech currently has over four billion US dollars sitting in its corporate account. As for those overseas shell companies, I've already started the compliance process through Goodnight Capital."

Chen Zhi took the pen and swiftly scribbled his name on the documents, nodding.

"David is quite efficient over there. Now that Taylor's global endorsement contract is signed, Moss's overseas user growth is expected to double next week. Server expansion can't wait. We aren't short on money now, so we must maintain server quality at all costs to guarantee our expansion speed."

"We certainly aren't short on money," Pei Ningxue stared at the tip of his pen, her tone flat. "To help Lin Wanwan win the championship, just the sponsorship fee for Hunan TV plus Taylor's appearance fee cost five hundred million RMB in total. Boss Chen, you fought a beautiful battle indeed. Now the whole internet is searching for the identity of that mysterious capital tycoon."

"People were already guessing your identity yesterday. What happened between you and Lin Wanwan in high school is practically public knowledge. I had several posts about you taken down last night."

Chen Zhi's signing hand paused.

He turned his head and looked at Pei Ningxue's slightly tired profile.

"You've worked hard. Thank you," Chen Zhi said sincerely.

"Don't thank me, I did it for the company. If news of the founder's messy private life leaks now, it won't do our Series B valuation any good."

Chen Zhi knew she was just being tough on the outside but soft on the inside.

If she really didn't care, she could have just spent the company's money to hire an outsourced PR team to handle it slowly. There would be no need for a dignified CFO like her to personally make calls in the middle of the night to monitor post deletions.

Pei Ningxue stood up, walked around from behind the bar, and came to stand in front of Chen Zhi.

She reached out and grasped Chen Zhi's wrist.

Tied around it was a red string.

Pinching the slipknot of the red string with two fingers, Pei Ningxue pulled it up with a bit of force, pulling the string taut.

"Did you pray for this at Changchun Temple?" she threw out out of the blue.

Chen Zhi's expression didn't change. "Yeah, I kowtowed with every step on the bluestone slabs to get it. I prayed for a long time."

Pei Ningxue wasn't in a hurry. She even smiled slightly. "Lin Wanwan has an identical one on her wrist."

The air suddenly fell silent.

"During the live broadcast last night, she was hugging the championship trophy." Pei Ningxue leaned down, getting close to Chen Zhi's ear. "I saw it crystal clear."

"What, did you kowtow back and forth twice?"

The hairs on Chen Zhi's back stood straight up.

"Oh, you mean that." Chen Zhi flipped his hand over with extreme naturalness, showing off his wrist. "You can't call them identical. They are a pair. Mine is the primary string, and hers is the secondary string."

Chen Zhi was spouting absolute nonsense: "The old Daoist priest at Changchun Temple said that while these things look similar, the weaving techniques and the yin-yang knot formations inside are actually completely different..."

Before he could finish making up his story.

Pei Ningxue fished another red string out of her pocket.

She slapped it directly onto the bar counter.

It was the exact same one that Chen Zhi had personally tied on her wrist at the Wanda Reign Hotel on the night of the second day of the Lunar New Year.

"Come on, Boss Chen, give me a lesson." Pei Ningxue extended her index finger and tapped the red string on the table, a half-smile on her face. "Explain to me, is this one also a secondary string? Boss Chen, do you buy these red strings wholesale by the dozen?"

"Look at you, getting anxious again." Not only did Chen Zhi not panic, but he actually sighed.

"Who told you this was a pair? This is a three-piece set."

Pei Ningxue's movements paused.

"A three-piece set?"

"Right." Chen Zhi pointed at the red string on the table and began to explain with a straight face. "What does the Daoist school emphasize? It emphasizes that the Dao produces One, One produces Two, Two produces Three, and Three produces all things! What it seeks is the unity of the three realms: Heaven, Earth, and Humanity!"

"Wanwan's string represents Humanity, meant to show its face in the secular world. The one on my wrist represents Earth, meant to serve as a solid foundation underneath. And this one of yours!"

"Represents Heaven!" Chen Zhi grabbed Pei Ningxue's hand, his tone sincere. "The meaning is that no matter where we are, no matter how the business world churns, we are a trinity. Heaven covers and Earth supports; you will always be at the very top of this system."

Pei Ningxue was left speechless by her anger.

"A trinity? I think you just want us all in bed together, don't you?"

"Ningxue, although this string looks ordinary, the heart that bought it is true." Taking advantage of the moment, Chen Zhi wrapped his arm around her slender waist and shamelessly refused to let go.

"How true is your heart?" Pei Ningxue stared at him.

"It's all right here. If you don't believe me, feel it."

Chen Zhi directly grabbed her hand and pressed it against the left side of his chest.

Pei Ningxue struggled twice but couldn't break free, so she simply gave up, letting him press her against his embrace.

"Save that routine for someone else," Pei Ningxue muttered, burying her face in his firm chest. Suddenly, she threw out another lethal question, "Does Li Zhiyi... have one too? Are you trying to form a Four Symbols formation?"

"She studies law; she doesn't believe in this stuff."

"It better be."

Pei Ningxue didn't probe any further, nor did she want to. She had been bustling about all morning, checking flights in the middle of the night and picking him up at the airport in the morning; her emotional threshold had long reached its breaking point. She leaned against Chen Zhi's chest to rest for a moment, before her tone suddenly shifted to a business-like manner.

"Tomorrow afternoon I need to take a trip to Shanghai to negotiate pre-installation contracts for the autonomous driving kits with the people from NIO and Li Auto."

"So urgent?" Chen Zhi was somewhat surprised.

"Can I afford not to be? With the boss busy dating in Changsha, if I, the humble employee, don't work harder, the company might as well shut its doors."

"I'll go with you," Chen Zhi blurted out.

Pei Ningxue froze for a second.

With Chen Zhi's sudden offer to accompany her, the cold expression she had maintained all morning finally broke, and the corners of her lips twitched upward uncontrollably.

But her tone remained haughty. "Oh, Boss Chen finally has the time and is willing to spend the effort to keep this tool of an employee company?"

"What tool? This is the Empress Dowager of Deep Space Tech going on an inspection tour. Little Chen must act as her royal escort." Chen Zhi took the opportunity to cup her face.

Pei Ningxue gave a soft hmph but didn't dodge.

Chen Zhi lowered his head, just about to lean in and finish what they had started in the car.

The phone resting on the bar counter suddenly buzzed with a vibration.

[Li Zhiyi: Has your flight landed yet? I'll come pick you up at the East Gate at 4 PM! (Cute peeking cat.gif)]

Pei Ningxue slowly shifted her gaze away from the phone screen and stared straight at Chen Zhi.

"So these are the... important investors you said you were meeting at school this afternoon?"