Chapter 42 - It's Not Like I'm Lying

Qiu Qingcang: "......"

He Zhou: "......"

The atmosphere instantly intensified.

To be honest, Qiu Yanzhi wasn't sure what was going on exactly.

He had his headphones on the whole time and the walls here were pretty good at blocking out sound. He had no idea what disagreement He Zhou and Qiu Qingcang had gotten into outside.

He only heard Qiu Qingcang's last words to He Zhou after the door was opened.

But there was too little context for Qiu Yanzhi to understand what they meant.

All he knew was that his dad was about to find out about his internship here.

And that his dad was in a very bad mood.

Qiu Yanzhi knew that everything had a time and a place. He silently set his laptop down and jumped off the bed.

Qiu Qingcang finally opened his mouth, but his words came out with much difficulty. "...Why are you here?"

Qiu Yanzhi quietly looked up and glanced at Qiu Qingcang's face before quietly admitting, "...I'm interning here."

Interning?

This kid turned me down last week so he could run to He Zhou’s company and intern here??

Qiu Qingcang suspected his son was trying to anger him into an early grave.

Qiu Yanzhi asked He Zhou, "...What were you talking about outside?"

Even if Qiu Qingcang found out he was interning at He Zhou's company, there was no need to be this angry, right?

He Zhou hesitated. "Uncle heard some rumours going around about me."

Qiu Yanzhi managed to react quickly. He said with a smile, "Aiya. Dad, there's nothing to be angry about! It was me! I was the one who got caught with He Zhou!"

Qiu Qingcang: "......"

Qiu Qingcang gave Qiu Yanzhi a fierce look. "What? Are you proud of that or something?"

Qiu Yanzhi immediately curbed his smile and said in a serious manner, "...Not at all."

He Zhou's phone suddenly rang. He glanced at Qiu Qingcang and was about to reject the call.

Qiu Qingcang said, "Don't worry about us. Go answer your phone first."

He Zhou apologized before retreating to the other side of the screen.

"What do you even do at He Zhou’s company? How many days have you been working here?" Qiu Qingcang questioned.

Qiu Yanzhi replied obediently, "I’m a German translator and I just came in yesterday morning."

Qiu Qingcang: "...And you already got caught up in a scandal in the afternoon?"

Qiu Yanzhi lowered his head in shame.

Qiu Qingcang sighed and rubbed his temples. He sounded somewhat tired.

"I actually arranged a more suitable position for you in the company a long time ago, but there’s nothing I can do if you think love is more important than work. Stay here if you want.”

Qiu Yanzhi tried to defend himself, “Actually, I’m learning a lot here since it’s relevant to my major. All I’ll learn at your company is management and business, right? It’s not like I'm interested in that…”

“Also, everyone at your company knows who I am. I don’t want to be treated differently. Only in a place like this where no one knows me can I really learn a few things and focus on my work…”

Qiu Qingcang: "So you focus on your work by hiding in He Zhou's office during work hours to play games?"

Qiu Yanzhi: "......"

Qiu Yanzhi’s head was almost buried in the ground at this point.

Qiu Qingcang looked at Qiu Yanzhi with a bit of disappointment. “Do you really like him this much?”

He Zhou had already ended his call. He was just about to head over when he heard Qiu Qingcang's question.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

Qiu Yanzhi didn't understand how Qiu Qingcang had come to the conclusion that he liked He Zhou just because he had come to intern at He Zhou's company.

But since he and He Zhou were now an engaged couple in his dad’s eyes, Qiu Yanzhi didn't want to bother arguing. He looked down and said, “En, I do like him that much.”

When Qiu Yanzhi looked up after saying that, he saw He Zhou.

Qiu Yanzhi instantly felt quite embarrassed.

He didn't expect He Zhou to be around to hear that.

But He Zhou's dark eyes were staring him right in the face. Their intensity made his cheeks flush and his eyes shift away uncomfortably.

Qiu Qingcang and He Zhou went to the conference room to sign the contract.

Meanwhile, Qiu Yanzhi sat behind He Zhou's desk and ate a piece of candy. When he finished, he sat there and started folding the wrapping paper because he was bored. He wanted to fold a paper crane with this colourful square, but he failed every time.

Then he tried to fold a heart and found he didn’t even know how to do that.

Qiu Yanzhi sighed. He was about to give up when he saw He Zhou pushing the door open.

He walked up to Qiu Yanzhi and asked, "What are you doing?"

Qiu Yanzhi said glumly, "I wanted to fold a paper crane but I forgot how to."

He Zhou took the candy paper on the desk and carefully started folding.

His long, slender fingers flipped and turned the colourful wrapping paper in a way that looked very pleasing to the eye. After a brief moment, a beautiful paper crane was presented to Qiu Yanzhi.

Qiu Yanzhi stared at it and exclaimed in shock, "He Zhou! How are you so good with your hands just like..."

...Like Little Trash.

Qiu Yanzhi managed to shut his mouth in time.

"Good with your hands like what?" He Zhou asked.

Qiu Yanzhi said, "...Like a girl. When did you learn how to do that?"

He Zhou smiled and handed the crane to Qiu Yanzhi. "I don't remember. I just folded it by instinct."

That made sense. Of course the game couldn't make up a memory for every single skill of a NPC.

Qiu Yanzhi unwrapped another candy and threw it into his mouth.

He suddenly noticed that He Zhou had always been staring at him. Blinking, he took another candy out of the jar and gave it to the man. “Do you want one too?"

He Zhou shook his head.

"Qiu Yanzhi," He Zhou suddenly asked him, "was what you said to your dad today true?”

He didn't point out which part he was talking about.

Because Qiu Yanzhi knew already.

He Zhou continued to fixedly stare at Qiu Yanzhi without blinking once. The light reflected in his dark eyes resembled both stars and flames.

So Qiu Yanzhi was taken aback. Then he whispered, "En, it’s true."

He Zhou suddenly smiled. His eyes were as beautiful as a rippling lake under the stars near a campfire.

He asked again, "Qiu Yanzhi, do you like me?"

"...Yes." Qiu Yanzhi said.

He Zhou came over and kissed him.

Qiu Yanzhi closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around He Zhou's neck.

He thought.

It's not like I'm lying.

He Zhou was indeed his favourite NPCs in the game.

***

Thanks to the two secretaries that were in the office, in less than half a day, everyone in the company knew that Qiu Yanzhi was:

• The only son of Qiu Qingcang of the Qiu Corporation
• He Zhou's fiancé
• And the other person in the utility room yesterday at noon

Not to mention his face, Qiu Yanzhi felt that he had even lost his underwear.

In particular, Zhao Rui snuck up to him and said, "Yanyan, should I call you Young Master Qiu or Madam He from now on?"

Qiu Yanzhi pushed his face away. "Zhao Rui, Laozi’s not going to help you with translating anymore."

Yang Fengcheng was watching from the sidelines. His words made fun of not only Zhao Rui but also Qiu Yanzhi. "That’s not threatening enough, Yanyan. You should’ve threatened to have that person in your family dismiss him."

"Is that so? If a round of layoffs were in order, shouldn’t you be one of the first to go?” The deep voice of a man came from behind Yang Fengcheng.

"Who are you to--" Yang Fengcheng turned. His face immediately paled from fear.

"P-President He..."

He Zhou stood up there with a cold expression. "What are you all gathered here for? Aren’t you going to work?"

"I, I'll get back to that right away…”

After Yang Fengcheng finished speaking, he immediately rolled back to his desk.

Ever since their relationship was exposed, He Zhou no longer tried to hide at all. He directly pulled a chair over and sat next to Qiu Yanzhi with a smile. "What? Are you angry?"

Qiu Yanzhi gave him a look. "Oh Great President He, while you're managing your business everyday, could you please control the mouths of your two secretaries a little?"

He Zhou reached out and stroked his hair, saying, "I can't infringe on other people's freedom of speech."

Qiu Yanzhi slapped his hand away and glared.

"...Ahem, but I do have the right to control the mouths of my subordinates." He Zhou said.

Then he put two fruit candies into Qiu Yanzhi's palm.

"A new flavour came out."

Qiu Yanzhi's eyes immediately curled into crescents.

He was a very easy person to please.

Since he promised Qiu Yanzhi that he would deal with his blabbermouth secretaries, He Zhou had to do something.

As He Zhou walked to their office, he caught a glimpse of the junior secretary scrambling to stuff something into the drawer.

"Take it out."

The junior secretary carefully handed the yellow folder in the drawer to He Zhou.

He Zhou didn't take it. "The snacks. The one with the green packaging. I saw it."

The junior secretary reluctantly handed the bag of snacks to He Zhou.

He Zhou continued, "There's another big bag at the back. Our company has a rule that snacks aren’t allowed in the office."

The junior secretary felt a sharp pain in her heart as she took the second bag out and handed it to He Zhou.

She grit her teeth, deciding to capitalize on how this force of evil seemed to be in a good mood today and fight back. "P-President He...the jars of candy hidden in your office...they're also snacks!"

He Zhou took the bag without mercy. "Those aren’t snacks."

"Then what are they?”

He Zhou: "They’re animal feed."

The junior secretary: "......"

I can tolerate not letting me bring snacks, I can also tolerate double standards! But why oh why, oh Great President He...why stuff me with dog food?!!!

He Zhou swept through the office of the secretaries and confiscated two more pockets of loot. He left everything with the head secretary.

"Keep this stuff with you until the end of the day. You can give it back to them then.”

"Got it President He."

The head secretary respectfully got up and took the two bags of snacks, only for a bag of chocolates to slip out of her sleeve.

The head secretary: "......"

He Zhou: "......"

As expected of the head secretary, she managed to maintain her composure and calmly set the chocolates to the side. “Sorry President He. I thought the rule was no longer in effect since you keep sweets in your office.”

Those jars of candy really dispelled any justification He Zhou might’ve had. Plus, the head secretary was not as easy to fool as the junior secretary from earlier. The man could only silently consider the situation for a moment before saying:

"...Hide things better in the future. Don’t let me see them.”

Once this sentence was uttered, the rule in the office about no snacks truly became just for show.