Chapter 244 – Report to the CEO: Madam Has Run Away Again – Gu Yan Strikes (08)
To Sha Yao, Jiang Hongzhe was nothing short of a nightmare. She seriously suspected that he was someone Gu Yan had arranged to come and give her a hard time.
This one wasn’t acceptable, that one didn’t meet the standards—clearly, everyone else had said it was fine, but it always got stuck with him. And once it was rejected, she had to redo everything from scratch.
Sha Yao irritably ran her fingers through her hair as the others passed by and said goodbye.
“See you tomorrow, Yao Yao.”
“See you tomorrow.”
At the Gu Group’s office building, employees were finishing up for the day and heading out. Soon, very few people were left in the company, and on the 35th floor, only Sha Yao and Jiang Hongzhe remained.
Every other team member’s section had been approved—it was just her, still grinding away at her proposal.
It was just data, right? Fine.
She pulled together nearly ten years’ worth of representative data from both domestic and international sources. Let’s see what else he could possibly nitpick.
Inside the CEO’s office, Jiang Hongzhe sat sipping coffee, watching through the one-way glass as Sha Yao worked alone under the light outside. He had to admit, the girl was pretty persistent.
He took a sip of his coffee, and the steam fogged up his glasses.
There’s something to be said for that hazy kind of beauty. Under the lights, a woman only looks more beautiful the longer you look.
After seeing plenty of hot, blonde-haired, blue-eyed women abroad, Jiang Hongzhe found he still preferred girls with black hair and black eyes now that he was back home. And Sha Yao was quite pretty. Having a beautiful woman around while working overtime wasn’t such a bad thing.
Sha Yao knocked on the CEO’s office door with her updated proposal. Jiang Hongzhe flipped through it, nodded after seeing the complete data set, then handed it back to her.
“The data analysis is decent,” he said, “but there’s too much useless fluff. Trim it down and refine it. If it’s too vague, even if I explained it to you, you wouldn’t believe it.”
Seriously, why couldn’t he just say everything all at once instead of splitting it up like this? If he gave all the notes at once, there’d be no problem.
Sha Yao clenched her back teeth. “Got it, Team Leader.”
She turned and went back to her seat. Realizing she might be pulling an all-nighter, she dialed Bai Tang’s number. After a few rings, the call connected.
“Hey, Tang Tang, I might be home really late tonight. Have you eaten?”
Bai Tang glanced sideways at the man busy in the kitchen and lowered his voice. “Not yet, but I’ll be eating soon.”
Sha Yao looked at the time in the bottom-right corner of her screen—it was already 8:30 PM. She had ordered delivery for Bai Tang at 6:30. No way he hadn’t eaten yet.
“The food delivery didn’t arrive?”
“It did, it’s just…”
“Tang Tang, come wash your hands—it’s time to eat.” Gu Yan brought out the last dish and placed it on the table.
Sha Yao sharply picked up on the unfamiliar male voice in the background—it sounded like Gu Yan.
“Tang Tang, is President Gu at your place?”
Bai Tang shushed Gu Yan and nodded. “Yeah. He said takeout isn’t healthy, so he came over to cook for me.”
Sha Yao clicked her mechanical pencil repeatedly—click, click.
“Alright, enjoy your meal. I still have work to do, so I’m hanging up. After dinner, don’t forget to thank President Gu, walk him to the door, rest a bit, then go shower and sleep. And make sure to lock the door before bed, okay?”
After giving her instructions, she hung up. She’d been guarding against Gu Yan day and night, only to have him catch her off guard like this. She couldn’t believe it—he didn’t cause trouble for her at the office, and now he pulled something like this?
Maybe she needed to consider moving.
But then she shook her head. If she moved, she’d have to report her new address to the company anyway—Gu Yan would still find out.
No, she had to think of another way. She needed a plan to drive Gu Yan away from Bai Tang.
Her eyes drifted from the proposal on her desk to the sections that Jiang Hongzhe had marked.
Jiang Hongzhe… Jiang Hongzhe… Gu Yan…
Wait a minute—Gu Yan only brought Jiang Hongzhe in so he would have time to hang around Tang Tang, didn’t he? Otherwise, Gu Yan would still be here working overtime himself.
So if she could get rid of Jiang Hongzhe, or prove that he was incompetent, Gu Yan would have no choice but to return and handle the work himself. That way, he wouldn’t have time to chase after Tang Tang. Genius!
Sha Yao was a professional. Even if she didn’t like Gu Yan, she’d never do anything unethical like sabotaging the company or intentionally creating major loopholes to force him back.
Her plan was simple: take on a project—something incredibly difficult—so that Gu Yan would be forced to return and work on it with her.
Once she had a goal, she lit up. The fatigue from earlier was gone in an instant. Brimming with energy, she focused on quickly finishing the proposal on her desk so she could take on a new project.
…
Meanwhile—
Bai Tang was called to dinner by Gu Yan. He reluctantly tore his eyes away from the Animal Migration documentary playing on his tablet. After watching a little longer, he finally hit pause and set the tablet down.
His teacher had told him before that watching TV while eating was distracting, bad for the eyes, and could even make you choke. Better to finish eating before watching more.
He went to wash his hands, then sat down at the table. The dishes laid out were all his favorites.
Stir-fried corn with pine nuts, stir-fried lettuce stem with Chinese yam, pork ribs in pumpkin bowls, kelp and pork bone soup… Everything was colorful, aromatic, and appetizing—just looking at it made his mouth water.
Bai Tang didn’t usually like eating meat, but if it was cooked with vegetables and tasted good, he’d eat it. And tonight, Gu Yan had made exactly what he liked.
“Try it, Tang Tang. It’s my first time making it—give me some feedback,” Gu Yan said as he scooped up a spoonful of stir-fried corn with pine nuts and held it to Bai Tang’s lips.
“Ah… mmm…”
Bai Tang took a bite without hesitation. The dish was fragrant and sweet, with the corn crisp and the pine nuts roasted to perfection. It tasted great—perfectly seasoned, not too salty or bland. It definitely didn’t taste like something a beginner had made.
“It’s delicious~” Bai Tang praised him without holding back.
Gu Yan let out a breath of relief. As long as Tang Tang liked it.
He didn’t even know why, but when he was looking up recipes earlier, he instinctively gravitated toward dishes that used nuts.
Something told him Tang Tang would like them. But then he worried that nuts were too heat-inducing and unhealthy in excess, so he kept only one nut-based dish—this stir-fried corn with pine nuts—and paired the rest with healthy, green, veggie-friendly ingredients. Thankfully, it turned out to be just right for Tang Tang’s tastes.
“Eat more.”
Gu Yan looked at Bai Tang’s puffed-out cheeks—he just looked so cute, no matter how he looked at him.
“You eat too,” Bai Tang said, noticing Gu Yan’s bowl was still empty.
“You eat,” Gu Yan replied, but Bai Tang picked up a rib and placed it in Gu Yan’s bowl anyway.
Gu Yan bit into the rib and thought it was the best one he’d ever eaten in his life. It even tasted sweet.
Since coming to this world, Bai Tang had rarely eaten so happily.
Takeout was tasty, sure—but food made by his own “husband” tasted even better.
Maybe his mindset had changed. Everything looked more pleasing now. Even the way Gu Yan sneakily peeked at him felt especially adorable.
After dinner, Gu Yan helped Bai Tang wipe his hands, then had him curl up on the sofa to watch a wildlife documentary.
“Today’s star is Puluo. He’s a baby elephant who’s only five hours old. He’s already able to walk and run—full of energy…”
As the narrator’s voice came from the tablet, Gu Yan quietly cleaned up the remaining dishes and took everything into the kitchen.
Xiao A quietly watched everything unfold, grumbling inwardly.
No wonder they say men need to be “trained”—without proper training, they won’t turn out well.
Just look at the male lead now—he practically looked like the perfect, doting husband.
The funny thing was, this “training” wasn’t done by the host—it was the male lead who trained himself.
If the male lead could successfully win over the host in every world, he obviously had some strengths of his own.
Xiao A silently jotted down the male lead’s wife-chasing strategy for this world in its notebook: Shamelessness.
Gu Yan had torn off all pretenses with the host from the very beginning.
After discovering and falling for the host, he embraced his thick-skinned nature—unafraid of embarrassment, unbothered by being kicked out, clinging on like sticky candy.
He even leveraged his advantages to “remove” obstacles (like Sha Yao).
Xiao A sighed in admiration. “Worthy of being a male lead.”
Bai Tang: “??? Xiao A, what are you talking about?”
Xiao A: “Oh, nothing. Just saying your husband is really impressive.”
Bai Tang’s face flushed pink. “W-What are you saying~”
He couldn’t help feeling like there was something deeper behind Xiao A’s words, and it reminded him of certain moments he’d shared with his dear husband.
“Huh?!” Xiao A was genuinely confused.
Gu Yan finished washing the dishes and walked out to see the young man staring blankly at the tablet, face red.
Gu Yan picked up a jacket draped over the back of a chair and gently placed it over Bai Tang’s shoulders.
“What’s Tangtang thinking about?” he asked, wrapping his arms around Bai Tang from behind.
“Huh?” Bai Tang snapped out of it, realizing he’d ended up in Gu Yan’s embrace. His face turned even redder.
“N-Nothing,” the young man mumbled softly.
Gu Yan touched Bai Tang’s forehead—his temperature was normal.
“It’s hot during the day and cold at night—don’t go chasing cool air for comfort, alright?”
He glanced at the time—it was almost 10 p.m.
“I warmed up some milk for you in the kitchen. Drink it before bed—it’ll help you sleep, remember.”
Bai Tang grabbed Gu Yan’s sleeve. “Are you leaving?”
He really didn’t want him to. They had just made up—not long ago—and now he was already leaving?
“It’s getting late—I should head home,” Gu Yan said considerately. “Sha Yao will probably be back soon too. She’s a girl—if I stay too late, it might affect her reputation.”
Bai Tang thought about it. Even though he was staying with Sha Yao under the label of being her cousin, they weren’t actually related by blood. Would this living arrangement affect his reputation too?
“Mm-hmm. Thank you for today. Be careful on your way home~” Bai Tang reluctantly let go of Gu Yan.
Gu Yan’s lips curved slightly into a smile. Taking advantage of Bai Tang’s unguarded moment, he suddenly swooped in and stole a kiss.
“Consider it payment for tonight’s cooking.”
Gu Yan was already prepared for the worst—he expected Bai Tang to yell at him.
But instead, Bai Tang simply turned his face away, the tips of his ears flushing red.
Tang Tang was shy.
The realization made Gu Yan ecstatic. It meant Tang Tang didn’t feel nothing for him.
If that was the case, his chances of winning him over had just gone up.
Gu Yan practically floated downstairs, walking as if carried by the wind.
Meanwhile, Sha Yao had finally finished her proposal. Exhausted, she returned home to find a warm little nightlight glowing in the living room and a sticky note on the fridge.
[You’ve worked hard! There’s food in the fridge for Ling Xue—feel free to eat it if you’re hungry (>.<)]
Sha Yao felt a wave of warmth in her heart.
Having someone waiting at home for her… that was such a wonderful feeling.
She had grown up in a blended family. It wasn’t that her stepfather treated her badly, but he wasn’t her real dad, and there was always a bit of distance.
After her mom had a child with her stepfather, they paid even less attention to her. If she didn’t reach out to them, they wouldn’t check in on her at all.
But now that Bai Tang was part of the household, even her dull life seemed to carry a touch of sweetness.
It felt so nice.
Author’s Note:
Today’s update—muah! 💕