Is This What You Call Handling a Little Matter

After dinner, they walked out of the Michelin-starred restaurant.

The river breeze on the Bund blew against their faces, feeling truly refreshing.

Pei Ningxue walked on the inside, linking her arm through Chen Zhi's with perfect naturalness. The two strolled along the riverbank just like any ordinary college couple.

Pei Ningxue's good mood was visibly apparent.

Chen Zhi had been dragged around by her for a huge lap, and his legs were already incredibly sore. Accompanying a woman shopping was heavy manual labor to begin with, not to mention they had spent the entire afternoon wandering around Plaza 66.

President Pei. Chen Zhi stopped walking and rubbed his aching calves. Can we head back now? Aren't we supposed to meet President Li from NIO tomorrow at noon? We should go back and recharge.

Pei Ningxue was in an excellent mood today. She turned to look at Chen Zhi's exhausted appearance and nodded. Let's go back first then.

Chen Zhi breathed a sigh of relief and quickly reached out his hand. Can I have my phone back now? Today's work is over. You have to give me some personal space after work hours.

Pei Ningxue ignored his outstretched hand and walked straight ahead.

I'll give it back to you when we get to the hotel.

They arrived at their room in the Bulgari Hotel.

As soon as the door closed, Pei Ningxue fished the black-screened phone out of her bag and casually tossed it onto the sofa.

Here.

With that, she took off her trench coat and turned to enter the bathroom.

Chen Zhi grabbed the phone as if he had found a precious treasure and long-pressed the power button to turn it on.

The moment the screen lit up, WeChat notification chimes began to ring like crazy.

Ding, ding, ding, ding!

Unread messages: 99+.

At the very top, without any suspense, was Lin Wanwan.

Wanwan: Chen Zhi, are you out of class yet?

Wanwan: Sister Su said I have half a day off tomorrow. How about I go to your school tonight and we grab a late-night snack? I miss you so much.

Wanwan: Where are you? Why aren't you replying?

Wanwan: Did you fall asleep?

Wanwan: I can't even get through on the phone. Is it turned off?

The last message was sent ten minutes ago.

Wanwan: Stinky Chen Zhi! Pay attention to me! [Pouting Cat.jpg]

Looking at the screen, Chen Zhi felt his scalp tingle.

He hurriedly typed a reply.

Chen Zhi: Just saw your messages! An emergency came up at the company this afternoon, so I was busy all day. My phone ran out of battery and turned off.

The other side replied instantly.

Wanwan: Really? You're not lying to me?

Chen Zhi: Why would I lie to you? I just got back to the dorm and plugged it in. Don't you have a gig tomorrow? Get some rest early and protect your voice.

Wanwan: But I want to see you. After winning the championship, Sister Su took on a lot of jobs for me. My schedule is packed for the coming days, so I probably won't be able to see you for a while.

Chen Zhi secretly rejoiced. It was better if they didn't meet; only then could he stay in Shanghai and accompany Pei Ningxue in peace.

Chen Zhi: Career comes first, you're a big star now. Once you're done with this busy period, I'll take you out for a nice meal to properly reward you.

Wanwan: It's a promise then! No going back on your word!

Chen Zhi: Absolutely.

Wanwan: Then give me a kiss, and I'll forgive you for ignoring me today.

Chen Zhi sent a kiss sticker to the screen, followed by a few long voice messages. Coaxing and deceiving, he finally managed to pacify this little princess's emotions.

Putting down his phone, Chen Zhi let out a long breath.

Pei Ningxue came out of the shower wearing the white bathrobe provided by the hotel. The belt was tied loosely around her waist, and the neckline was open a bit wide, revealing a large expanse of fair skin and delicate collarbones.

Pei Ningxue sat down close beside Chen Zhi.

The scent of body wash from her fresh shower drifted into Chen Zhi's nose.

Pei Ningxue extended a finger and traced circles on Chen Zhi's chest, her tone laced with a touch of laziness and teasing.

Boss Chen, we've seen the night view of the Bund and we've eaten our fill. In this long night, shouldn't we get down to proper business?

The eldest Miss Pei, who had high attack but low defense, was once again starting her routine verbal flirting.

Chen Zhi didn't even have the strength to lift his eyelids right now. Accompanying her shopping in the afternoon had drained his physical strength, and frantically providing emotional value in the bathroom just now had drained his mental energy.

Right now, he only wanted to sleep.

Seeing him ignore her, Pei Ningxue grew bolder. She simply leaned her whole body over, her warm breath hitting Chen Zhi's neck, and her hands restlessly groping downwards.

Stop messing around, Chen Zhi muttered with his eyes closed.

Who's messing around with you. Pei Ningxue bit her lip and continued to push her luck.

Chen Zhi grew a bit irritated by her actions. He suddenly rolled over and swung his large hand.

Smack!

A crisp sound rang out, exceptionally clear in the quiet room.

Chen Zhi had slapped Pei Ningxue right on the butt.

The hotel room instantly fell silent.

Pei Ningxue froze in place. The expression on her face shifted from astonishment to shock, and finally, a blush spread all the way to the roots of her ears.

You... you hit me? Pei Ningxue covered her behind, her voice stuttering.

Chen Zhi didn't even open his eyes. He pulled the blanket over himself, wrapping it up tightly.

Go to sleep. We have to meet a client tomorrow. If you keep messing around, I'll throw you out the window and into the Huangpu River.

Pei Ningxue gritted her teeth and stared at Chen Zhi for a long time.

Normally, she would definitely raise a massive fuss. But today, for some reason, after being scolded by Chen Zhi like this, an inexplicable sense of obedience welled up in her heart.

She rubbed the spot that was hit, gave a soft hmph, and obediently lifted the covers to lie down. With her back to Chen Zhi, she quieted down after a short while.

The next morning.

Chen Zhi woke up bright and early.

Since he was meeting President Li from NIO at noon, and this was a multi-billion pre-installation contract for autonomous driving, as the CEO of Deep Space Technology, he had to look the part to the absolute maximum.

He purposely washed his hair, styled it with a blow dryer, and then changed into the haute couture suit that Pei Ningxue had spent over a hundred thousand yuan buying for him yesterday.

Looking in the mirror, with his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and crisp suit, he looked quite dashing.

Chen Zhi nodded in satisfaction.

Not long after, the bathroom door opened.

Pei Ningxue walked out, yawning.

Chen Zhi turned to look and froze.

Pei Ningxue had changed into a white hoodie printed with a Mickey Mouse pattern, paired with light blue straight-leg jeans and a pair of little white sneakers.

Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail, and she wore only light, natural-looking makeup.

She looked just like a pure and innocent college freshman.

Wait, no, she actually was a youthful college freshman.

The two stared at each other in bewildered silence for a few seconds.

Why are you dressed like that? Pei Ningxue looked Chen Zhi up and down, her brows furrowing.

Didn't you say we were meeting President Li from NIO at noon? Chen Zhi tugged at his tie. You picked this outfit out yourself yesterday. How is it? Pretty handsome, right?

Pei Ningxue rolled her eyes.

Who told you we were meeting President Li at noon today?

Chen Zhi was dumbfounded. You said it yourself yesterday at Plaza 66! The dinner was moved to noon today!

Oh, I remembered wrong. Pei Ningxue took a sip of water, her tone entirely nonchalant. President Li's assistant just messaged to say they have an emergency internal board meeting, so the dinner has been postponed to tonight.

Damn it! Chen Zhi was speechless. Then why didn't you say so earlier?

"It is not too late to say it now." Pei Ningxue put down her water glass, walked over, and tugged at the lapel of Chen Zhi's suit. "Hurry up and take it off. Change back into the casual clothes you wore yesterday."

"Why?"

"Because we have some business to take care of today." Pei Ningxue looked at him as if it were obvious. "Dressed like that, people will think you are out selling insurance."

Chen Zhi sighed and had no choice but to go change his clothes.

By the time he came out in a loose, casual outfit, Pei Ningxue was already waiting for him at the door wearing a backpack.

"Let's go take care of business."

An hour later.

Chen Zhi pushed the car door open and stepped out. He looked up at the massive, dreamy fairytale castle in front of him, as well as the bustling crowd around him wearing all sorts of cartoon headbands.

He stood frozen in place, falling into a long, deep silence.

The cheerful theme song of the amusement park played in his ears, and a few little girls in princess dresses ran past him, laughing.

Chen Zhi turned his head to look at Pei Ningxue, who was standing next to him, excitedly taking pictures of the castle with her phone.

"President Pei." Chen Zhi took a deep breath and pointed at the giant Mickey Mouse statue not far away. "Is this what you meant by... taking care of business?"

Pei Ningxue put away her phone, turned to look at him, and asked with absolute justification, "That's right. We are inspecting the foot traffic at Shanghai Disneyland to do field research for our future amusement park AI scheduling system. Is there a problem with that?"

Amusement park AI scheduling system, my ass.

Chen Zhi did not even have the energy to retort.

Pei Ningxue pulled a fluffy Mickey Mouse ear headband out of her bag, stood on her tiptoes, and without leaving any room for argument, shoved it onto Chen Zhi's head.

"Keep it on, you are not allowed to take it off. Your mission today is to accompany me on all the rides, and conveniently carry my bag and buy me water." Pei Ningxue clapped her hands, looking at her masterpiece with satisfaction.