Chapter 318 – My Dear CEO Wife – The Workaholic (18)
As soon as Mother Wen heard that her son might be seeing someone outside, she was utterly shocked.
She didn’t even bother to finish the grapes Father Wen had peeled for her — she grabbed her bag and went straight to invite Master Li over.
In her mind, there was only one person worthy of being her daughter-in-law — Bai Tang. She had to see for herself who dared to bully her precious Tang Tang.
That night, Wen Changhe didn’t return home with Bai Tang until nine o’clock.
The moment they stepped through the door, Mrs. Wen slapped a talisman onto her son’s forehead, then turned to Master Li and said, “Master Li, take a look — is there something… strange around Changhe?”
Wen Changhe helplessly tore the talisman off his forehead.
“Mom, what are you doing this time?”
Master Li looked him up and down carefully but found nothing unusual.
“Don’t worry, Madam Wen,” he said. “Mr. Wen is perfectly normal.”
After hearing the full story from Qiu’er and Xiao A, Bai Tang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He looped his arm through Mother Wen’s and guided her to sit down on the sofa.
“Auntie, don’t worry. I’m keeping an eye on A He. If anything happens, I’ll tell you right away~”
See? Mother Wen thought with delight. This was exactly the kind of sweet, thoughtful daughter-in-law she wanted.
Mother Wen smiled.
“I’ll be even happier the day Tang Tang starts calling me ‘Mom.’”
Bai Tang’s face turned crimson at her words. He muttered softly, “No rush… work comes first~”
Mother Wen patted his hand.
“What work could be more important? Changhe will be thirty-one by the end of this year. He’s already well established. I’m just waiting for the two of you to get married.”
The young man glanced at Wen Changhe and said in a soft, sticky voice, “No rush. I haven’t made my career yet…”
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to — it was just that Wen Changhe hadn’t proposed yet. And since the original plot still hadn’t played out completely, who knew what kind of tricks the heroine might pull next? It was better to wait a little longer.
At the end of the day, the real reason was that Wen Changhe hadn’t proposed.
Wen Changhe walked over to Mother Wen, pulled the young man into his arms, and said, “If Tang Tang’s willing, we can get our marriage certificate tomorrow.”
Being openly affectionate with his man in front of elders made the young man a little embarrassed. He squirmed his shoulders, but couldn’t escape the man’s embrace — so in the end, he just let it be.
Mother Wen was overjoyed to see how affectionate the two of them were.
Since it was her daughter, Wen Changrou, who had first told her about all this, she decided to ask her about it later. For now, she didn’t want to interrupt the couple’s time together and waved them upstairs with a smile.
For the whole day, the only time Wen Changhe and Bai Tang truly had to themselves was after work.
After sending Master Li off, Wen Changrou was called upstairs by Mother Wen again, leaving only Wen Changhe and Bai Tang in the living room.
Wen Changhe had his arms around the young man, wanting to whisper a few sweet words, but Bai Tang’s thoughts jumped too fast for him to keep up.
“A He, what do you think about the color scheme for the design draft…”
It was Bai Tang’s first day at the company, and his colleagues were all easy to get along with. Whatever he did, he did it with full energy. If Wen Changhe hadn’t insisted on taking him home, Bai Tang might have pulled an all-nighter at the office.
“It’s already late,” Wen Changhe said. “You can continue working tomorrow.”
Bai Tang nodded. “Alright then.”
They returned to their room, but when Wen Changhe came out of the shower, Bai Tang was gone again.
The little squirrel, now in full workaholic mode, was bursting with energy. He was sitting in the study in front of the computer, adjusting the linework on his digital sketch.
He still felt that the lines weren’t soft enough — the whole picture looked a bit too stiff.
Wen Changhe sighed helplessly. He had never hated work this much in his life.
He was competing with work for his lover’s attention — and losing.
By midnight, the little squirrel was still wrestling with color palettes, while the two systems diligently supplemented his design knowledge.
Wen Changhe, wearing only a robe loosely tied at the waist, his chest half-bare, came up behind him and pressed close.
“Tang Tang, it’s been two and a half hours since you last talked to me~” His voice was filled with mock grievance, sounding just like a wife who’d been ignored by her husband.
A faint, pleasant sandalwood scent lingered in the air. The little squirrel sniffed, relaxed his tense shoulders, and leaned back against his man’s chest.
“I’m almost done, just a little longer, okay? Once this project is finished, the company will finally have income~” Bai Tang said earnestly.
Even though it was all for the company — and technically earning money for him — Wen Changhe was still not pleased.
“Tang Tang only loves work now… not me anymore…” he said in a tone that was even more pitiful than before.
After a moment of silence, Bai Tang sighed softly in defeat.
“Alright then, I’ll keep you company tonight.”
What else could he do when his man started acting spoiled? He could only indulge him.
Wen Changhe gently took the tablet from Bai Tang’s hands, saved the file, shut down the computer, and then scooped him up into his arms.
On the way back to their room, he was already scheming — maybe tomorrow he should “accidentally” break the study door, so Bai Tang couldn’t get in. That way, the boy would have no choice but to rest properly.
After taking a shower, Bai Tang came out of the bathroom, and Wen Changhe immediately clung to him again.
He took a towel and gently wiped the water from Bai Tang’s hair, then plugged in the hair dryer. Under the warm, gentle breeze, the exhausted boy’s head slowly drooped lower and lower.
Looking at the young man’s tired face, all of Wen Changhe’s earlier passionate thoughts faded away, leaving only a quiet, tender ache in his heart.
He carried the young man back to bed, tucked him in, and gently traced the contours of his face with his fingers. In a soft voice, he said, “I’ll take care of you.”
The sleeping boy murmured twice, turned over, and rolled into the man’s arms, finding a comfortable position before drifting into a deep sleep.
Early the next morning, Bai Tang was woken up by Wen Changhe’s gentle morning call. Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he yawned and slumped onto Wen Changhe like a koala. “A He, I’m sleepy~”
Wen Changhe supported the boy’s back so he wouldn’t fall backward.
“I told you to go to bed earlier last night.”
“Mmh~ let me sleep a little longer~” The little squirrel clung to Wen Changhe, resting his head in the man’s shoulder hollow.
His warm breath brushed across Wen Changhe’s collarbone — ticklish, soft, and a little sweet.
Wen Changhe slowly lay back down with him. Hmm… he’d worked tirelessly for the company for years, practically without a single day off. The vacation time he’d accumulated must be quite a lot by now — he might as well use some this year.
He picked up his phone and applied for a half-day leave for both himself and Bai Tang.
Manager Luo had no objections. After all, Wen Changrou had already hinted to them the night before — this was the future president’s spouse. A quick look online confirmed it: the trending “sweet couple” CP everyone had been shipping turned out to be their own president and Bai Tang.
At two in the afternoon, Wen Changhe dropped Bai Tang off at the entrance of the design department. Manager Luo observed the two for a moment and couldn’t help noticing how close they were — before leaving, the president even managed to sneak a kiss from the young man.
After saying goodbye to Wen Changhe, Bai Tang turned and entered the office, only to find all his colleagues staring at him.
“W-what’s wrong?” His cheeks were still tinged with a faint blush, making him look even more alluring.
Everyone had known since yesterday that Bai Tang was good-looking — but they hadn’t expected he could look this good.
They said people in love were the most beautiful, and Bai Tang was living proof of it.
Under everyone’s gaze, the little squirrel’s cheeks grew even redder, turning the color of a ripe apple.
In the end, it was Manager Luo who came to his rescue.
“Alright, everyone, get back to work. We’ll have a short meeting in an hour, so prepare what you need.”
Bai Tang returned to his desk, took a deep breath to calm himself, and began to focus on work.
Meanwhile, on another side of the story—
Zhu Shuang had reached a mutual understanding with Director Liu of the Liu Corporation. The company offered her a high salary to join them as the head of their design department.
Within less than a year, Zhu Shuang had risen from a junior designer to department head — an impressive promotion by any standard.
Of course, there was a deal behind it. Zhu Shuang would secretly hand over the preliminary design drafts of Wen Corporation’s competition entries to Liu Corporation.
Wen Corporation had long been Liu Corporation’s strongest rival. Back when Mr. Wen was in charge, the two companies had been evenly matched. But ever since Wen Changhe took over as president a few years ago, Wen Corporation had flourished, growing stronger every year.
Liu Corporation, lacking momentum, could only watch as Wen Corporation continued to dominate the high-end custom design market.
This year’s International Design Competition was a golden opportunity. The rules had been changed — entries would now be submitted by teams. The Liu Corporation had been worrying about how to defeat the Wen Corporation and reclaim its former status. Just when they were scratching their heads, Zhu Shuang appeared — and brought them a copy of Wen Corporation’s preliminary competition design draft.
Not long after joining the Liu Corporation, Zhu Shuang received a court summons. Bai Tang’s attorney had filed a lawsuit against her for plagiarizing Bai Tang’s designs for personal gain, and for falsely accusing Bai Tang of copying her — thereby violating copyright law and infringing upon Bai Tang’s right to reputation.
Zhu Shuang had been so focused on planning her job change and revenge against Wen Changrou that she had completely forgotten Bai Tang’s warning that he would sue her.
The summons was first delivered to her old address. But now that she had money and had moved to a better place, the kindhearted landlord forwarded the court document directly to her new company — the Liu Corporation.
She had only recently been promoted to design director, yet now the entire company knew about the lawsuit. She had lost all dignity and face.
With tears in her eyes, Zhu Shuang went to Director Liu’s office and twisted the story completely, speaking ill of Bai Tang in hopes that he would believe her. If she lost her position at the Liu Corporation too, where could she go? She didn’t want to settle for small firms after having worked at prestigious companies like Wen and Liu.
Director Liu’s eyes flickered with disgust, but his expression quickly softened into a kind smile.
“Zhu Shuang, it’s not enough for me to believe you — your colleagues have to believe you too. How about this: until the case is settled, take some time off at home. After the verdict is announced, you can come back to work. How does that sound?”
After all, they already had the Wen Corporation’s design draft in hand. Zhu Shuang had outlived her usefulness.
But Zhu Shuang was shrewd. After what had happened with Wen Changrou, she trusted no one but herself.
If she lost the case in court, would the Liu Corporation still keep her?
Lowering her head, impatience flashed through her eyes. When she looked up again, tears slid down her beautiful face.
“Director Liu, I know I’ve caused trouble for the company. I’ll resign now — I don’t want to make things difficult for you.”
Her tact pleased Director Liu, and he was about to say something polite when Zhu Shuang spoke again: “It’s a shame I won’t be able to contribute to Liu Corporation anymore. I just don’t know how the company plans to handle Wen Corporation’s competition designs and creative strategies — I suppose I won’t be able to discuss them with everyone now…”
The implication was clear — Zhu Shuang knew more about Wen Corporation’s inside information.
Director Liu didn’t dare let her go. He immediately changed his expression to one of pained concern and gentle understanding.
“You’re part of this company. You can’t just give up on yourself like that.”
Whatever happened, he needed to keep her around for now.
Author’s Note:
Actually, the painting Tang Tang drew in the previous chapter is a scene that appeared in one of the earlier worlds. Do you still remember it?