Chapter 4

After the door closed, Chen Yu leaned back in his chair and rubbed his brow.

“Speaking of which, hasn’t your family been on your case lately?”

“Have they been on yours?”

Chen Yu’s mouth twitched. “My mom set me up on three more blind dates last week. It’s driving me insane.”

Shi Xiao crossed to the sofa and sat down, crossing his long legs. “Same here.”

“So when are you planning to get married?”

Shi Xiao rested against the sofa, his gaze wandering toward the ceiling. “Haven’t thought about it. No hurry.”

“Not even anyone you like?”

“No.”

His tone was indifferent. “I won’t be considering marriage for the next few years.”

Chen Yu scoffed. “Fine. Don’t ask me to be your best man when you do.”

“You’re not getting out of it.”

Chen Yu spoke again, a little more seriously this time. “Lan Zhizhi is actually a smart student. She’s just restless and can’t sit still. If she makes any mistakes at your company, go easy on her.”

Shi Xiao raised an eyebrow. “Protective of her, aren’t you?”

“She is my student.”

Shi Xiao suddenly remembered that day in the car.

The young woman opening her eyes in a daze, staring at his face, and saying, “Pretty man. I like you so much.”

The faintest smile flickered in his eyes.

“I know.”

The next day, I got up extra early to report to Shi Group.

The company building was ridiculously grand.

One of Shi Xiao’s secretaries took me to my desk.

There was something complicated in the way he looked at me.

I was a little confused.

Until—

I discovered my desk was inside Shi Xiao’s office!

Sure, the office was huge, and my desk occupied a tiny corner near the door.

But what was someone who’d come to do odd jobs doing in the boss’s office? Any way you looked at it, that was weird.

No wonder the secretary had looked funny.

At nine, Shi Xiao appeared in the office right on time.

“Good morning, Mr. Shi!”

I jumped up to greet him.

He nodded. “Morning.”

At ten, a department manager came in to give a report.

The man was in his forties, his hair slicked neatly back, but he looked terrified.

“Do you believe these figures yourself?”

“Do it again. On my desk tomorrow morning.”

“I don’t want excuses. I want results.”

Shi Xiao wasn’t speaking loudly, but every word was cold as shards of ice.

With that utterly unsmiling face, he looked like Satan incarnate.

I huddled at my desk, barely daring to breathe.

Ten minutes later, the department manager emerged.

His face was white, his forehead covered in sweat. Even his steps were unsteady.

Then came a second, a third, a fourth…

Each went in looking perfectly respectable and came out looking as though their soul had been sucked out.

I understood now.

The first rule of survival here was to read the room.

I spent the morning observing, then drew a “Mr. Shi Mood Forecast” on a sticky note.

☀️ Sunny: Mr. Shi gets up to refill his own water, expression relaxed—normal conversation permitted.

⛅ Cloudy: Mr. Shi starts turning pages loudly—do not approach unless necessary.

🌧️ Downpour: You hear the words “Do it again”—going in means certain death.

⛈️ Thunderstorm: Mr. Shi comes out looking for someone himself—playing dead recommended.

Very pleased with my survival skills, I stuck the note below my computer screen.

At noon, Sun Hao sneaked over for a chat. He saw the forecast, fell silent for three seconds, and gave me a thumbs-up. “Genius.”

I smiled. “Mostly, I just want to live.”

Little did I know, it would all go wrong the very next day.

That afternoon, I went to the break room to make tea.

When I came back carrying my cup and humming a little tune, Shi Xiao was standing at my desk.

Bracing his hands on it, he was leaning over to read something, eyes lowered toward the bottom of my monitor.

My blood ran cold.

He was reading my forecast.

I nearly lost my grip on the cup.

At the sound of me returning, Shi Xiao turned his face toward me. His expression barely shifted, but there was no reading those deep, dark eyes.

“Lan Zhizhi.”

“H-here!”

I rushed over, put my tea on the desk, and reached to tear off the sticky note.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Shi! I’ll take it down right now! I shouldn’t be messing around with this stuff during work—”

“Leave it.”

My hand froze in midair.

“Look at me now.”

He straightened, put both hands in his pockets, and looked down at me, one eyebrow slightly raised. “What would you call the weather?”

“S-sunny!”

“Oh?” He seemed interested. “How so?”

“You haven’t yelled at me yet, so the skies must have cleared!”

I tipped my face up and gave him an ingratiating smile. “You’re a generous man, Mr. Shi. You wouldn’t hold a grudge against a little intern.”

He watched me for a few seconds, then gave a soft laugh.

A trace of amusement warmed his eyes. Even the hard line of his jaw seemed to soften.

“Keep updating it.”

I stared. “Huh?”

“Keep updating it. I’d like to see what other weather you’ve got in store for me.”

And so my forecast gained new entries every day.

“Mr. Shi spun his pen three times today—mood reasonably good.”

“Mr. Shi didn’t finish lunch—can’t handle spicy food.”

“Mr. Shi frowned during a phone call—someone’s in trouble!”

“…”