Chapter 44: He’s Very Busy

Chapter 44 He's Very Busy

In the early morning, the fish-belly white of dawn gradually spread, gilding the edges of the clouds. A crimson sun broke through, scattering golden light across the sea, dyeing the tide amber as it shimmered with the rolling waves.

The warm morning light pierced through the heavy curtains, suffusing the room with a strong brownish glow.

On the bed, Song Shimu’s eyelashes fluttered slightly as he was groggily awakened by a voice in his mind.

"Ahhhh! The black site swallowed the system! Help!!"

"Why am I locked up again!!!"

"Lousy main system! The more it fixes the program, the messier it gets! It doesn’t care since it’s not the one suffering! Just haphazardly fixing things!"

"Ahhhh, I’m going back to blow up the planet!!!"

[Favorability: 60]

"?"

"Holy—! Favorability, favorability… how did it reach 60!!!"

"Shimu, what did you do??!"

Song Shimu hugged the blanket and rolled over, gently sniffing the scent of ambergris on it, and said leisurely, "Just worked together, that's all. Yesterday, I even pissed him off so much he yanked me out of bed in the middle of the night."

"Huh? You argued?"

"My fault," Song Shimu buried his face in the blanket and admitted frankly.

073 thought it over for a moment, then said in surprise, "You argued and the favorability is still this high? How high was it before the argument then!"

Song Shimu raised an eyebrow. He had expected the favorability to rise yesterday, but not by this much. "No idea."

According to Qin Xu’s logic, his negative impressions were mostly due to threats to his career. Usually, the favorability lost from messing with him would bounce back because of decent work performance.

But with career pressures looming overhead, the favorability had never broken past 40.

Now, with such rampant corruption occurring in these companies in Nanbin City, it clearly dealt a blow to Qin Xu’s confidence in his own company, which in turn dissipated his negative emotions toward Song Shimu.

"Speaking of which, during the time I was in the black site, you two didn’t secretly make out, did you?" 073 eyed the favorability suspiciously.

"You’re still here, how could we kiss?" Song Shimu replied helplessly.

"Oh, right." 073 scratched its nonexistent head and muttered to itself, "So now I’m the stumbling block on your path to love?"

"..." Song Shimu rolled over, pulled the blanket over his face, and lay flat, dozing off.

Suddenly, an idea flashed through Song Shimu’s mind. He sat up abruptly and asked 073, "Has your system ever bound a host to the original owner?"

"Bind the original owner?" 073 murmured.

"Yeah."

"Let me ask the main system." 073 searched through all its data but found nothing, so it had to ask 001 for help.

After sending the message, 073 asked its host, "Why do you ask?"

"Because—"

*Knock knock—*

Before Song Shimu could finish, a knocking sound came from outside the door. Song Shimu turned to check the time, and the question he wanted to ask was instantly shattered by the unreasonably early hour.

"Why so early!"

Song Shimu flopped straight back onto the bed, lying still for a moment in protest. Then, upon hearing another knock, he pivoted at the hips, hauled himself out of bed, and went to open the door.

Lifting his eyes, he saw Qin Xu in casual sleepwear, his eyelids slightly drooping, with faint purplish-gray shadows under his lashes. His usually clear, cold eyes now seemed veiled in morning mist, and the bloodshot corners revealed that he hadn’t slept well either.

"So early?" Song Shimu looked at Qin Xu with a resentful gaze.

"Change clothes," Qin Xu said expressionlessly.

"Oh." Song Shimu stepped aside to let Qin Xu in, then followed him into the room and went to the window to draw the curtains.

"You two… didn’t you argue last night?" 073 asked suspiciously.

"Yeah."

"You argued, but his clothes are here?" 073 pressed.

"This was originally his room," Song Shimu explained.

"Then why were you in his room, sleeping in his bed?"

"Because we argued."

"?" After going in circles, 073 was baffled.

But combining it with the favorability, 073 concluded, "Did you two secretly get together behind my back!"

Song Shimu found it both funny and exasperating. "Where did you get that idea?"

"The favorability! I seriously suspect that while I was in the black site, the Repatriation System automatically shut down, and you two secretly kissed, hugged, and lifted each other up behind my back! The argument last night must’ve been because you didn’t sync well in bed! That’s why you fought!"

Song Shimu sighed helplessly. "You’re overthinking it. Qin Xu and I argued for other reasons."

"What reasons?" 073 didn’t believe it and wanted to hear its host’s explanation.

Song Shimu parted his lips, his expression complicated.

Just then, Qin Xu dug out clothes from his suitcase and headed to the bathroom to change. Song Shimu asked him, "You didn’t get… you know, by Xu Zhouzhi last night, did you?"

Qin Xu entered the bathroom without looking back. "If something really happened, you wouldn’t be standing here."

Song Shimu sighed and said, "Yesterday, I accidentally gave his room key to a customer, which almost got him assaulted."

"Ah?!"

"Then, then last night… he didn’t do anything to you, did he?" Seeing the antagonist’s cold response, 073 had already half-dismissed its earlier assumption. Now, with the host’s explanation, the logic made sense…

"No, he just switched rooms with me to sleep. But the person who got the key had it rough. If I have time after work today, I’ll go apologize to him," Song Shimu said.

"You should apologize…" 073 put itself in the shoes of the person who received the key—it was truly an unwarranted disaster.

Though lust is a knife hanging overhead, forcing oneself on someone is wrong, what the host did was practically a setup, deliberately screwing someone over!

While Qin Xu was washing up, Song Shimu also returned to his own room to freshen up and change clothes.

When he came out, he immediately saw Qin Xu sitting on the rattan chair on the balcony. The breeze gently ruffled the strands of hair on his forehead, and his exceptionally handsome face seemed even more dazzling under the morning light.

He wore a dark gray sweater with the collar slightly open, revealing the faint blue-green veins on his neck. His slender, long-fingered hands held a cup of warm milk. As he tilted his head back to drink, his Adam's apple moved—a seemingly simple action, yet radiating sensuality and charm in every detail.

Song Shimu stared at Qin Xu without blinking, then sat down across from him. Pointing at the breakfast placed opposite him, he smiled and asked, "Is this breakfast for me?"

Qin Xu shot him a subtle glance and retorted sarcastically, "It's for the dog."

Song Shimu was taken aback for a moment, then pointed at the identical breakfast on Qin Xu's plate and countered, "Then yours is dog food too?"

"...Say one more word, and you'll be the one eaten," Qin Xu glared coldly at him.

Song Shimu chuckled, his amber eyes sparkling with light. He picked up a sandwich and took a bite, then asked while eating, "Do you want to change rooms?"

Qin Xu nodded. "Yes. From now on, the room cards will be kept by me."

Song Shimu had no objections. Remembering what happened the previous night, the light in his eyes dimmed, and he said sincerely, "About last night, I'm sorry. I accidentally put the room card in the gift bag and forgot to take it out."

Qin Xu looked at Song Shimu, as if assessing his sincerity, then lowered his eyes and continued typing on his phone. "You should be glad I can protect myself. If it were someone who couldn’t, you wouldn’t be sitting here right now."

Song Shimu bowed his head, taking the lesson to heart. "I’ll be more careful in the future."

Qin Xu hummed in acknowledgment and put down his phone, sitting up straight. "Let's eat. Afterward, we’ll go to the police station to file a report. By the time we’re done, the legal team should have arrived. Then we’ll visit each of the three companies."

"Okay."

After Qin Xu reported the incident the previous night, the police quickly dispatched dozens of officers to conduct a large-scale search of Wuyi Hotel. The sudden operation alarmed many guests and staff members alike.

Though it created quite a commotion, the results were significant—over a hundred pinhole cameras were found, with concrete evidence. Chen's father, who was already under surveillance, was arrested on the spot once the evidence came to light.

The other two involved were also detained after the investigation.

This large-scale crackdown inevitably affected Qinfeng. As large corporations, they were constantly in the public eye. Since the night of the hotel's self-inspection, reporters had been staking out, updating the public on any developments.

So, any findings were quickly spread online. At first, everyone criticized the three companies, but later, when it was revealed online that all three were subsidiaries of Qinfeng, suspicions were raised about Qinfeng itself. However, it was soon discovered that the crackdown had been initiated by Qinfeng’s top management.

Public opinion was divided—some praised it as sacrificing smaller parts for the greater good, while others suspected darker motives.

Some expressed approval, noting that voluntarily initiating such a cleanup before any public exposure showed the company had a conscience.

Qinfeng accepted both praise and criticism but refused to tolerate malicious slander.

Song Shimu had instructed PR to prepare in advance, keeping a close eye on online discussions. They regularly updated the public on their stance and detailed planned reforms, demonstrating their commitment to preserving Qinfeng’s reputation as much as possible.

Meanwhile, Qin Xu sifted through the flattery at various companies to select new management. Together, they formed teams to identify companies that had been oppressed or unfairly treated, as well as those involved in substandard construction collaborations. They worked on compensation, repairs, calculating losses, and drafting terms for appeals.

After nearly a month, all matters were finally settled, and formal appeals were filed.

During this period, Song Shimu got by on just two or three hours of sleep each night. By the latter half of the month, he often felt like he was back under the exploitation of his previous boss.

But he quickly dismissed that thought, because his current boss was even busier and took good care of himself.

He never managed to apologize to Xu Zhouzhi—they were too busy, even mealtime had to be squeezed in, leaving no energy for a separate apology.

However, after some evaluation, Song Shimu found that although the "praise quartet" was somewhat sycophantic, they acted openly and never harmed others. So, Song Shimu referred all the canceled contracts from the three companies to them.

They collaborated on suitable projects, and for mismatched ones, the quartet helped find alternatives, which Song Shimu and Qin Xu then evaluated together.

As for Xie Guan and Chen Man, the two youngsters stayed at the hotel for half a month until things settled down before returning to school to continue their studies.

During that time, when Xie Guan learned about his father’s actions, he was depressed for a week. But afterward, it was as if he'd had an epiphany—he became much more composed, shed much of his laziness, and even began studying hard.

One afternoon, while solving problems together, Song Shimu curiously asked and found out that Chen Man consistently ranked first in his grade, while Xie Guan, though not far behind, stably remained within the top 100.

Hearing this, Song Shimu perked up, patting both on the shoulder and encouraging them to study well so they could work at Qinfeng in the future.

Once all materials were submitted to the court and they awaited the hearing, Song Shimu, Qin Xu, and the legal team finally boarded a flight home.

On the plane, Song Shimu looked exhausted, the dark circles under his eyes comparable to a panda’s. His tone was pleading as he spoke to Qin Xu, "Qin, can we have a couple days off? I’m really tired, so sleepy, I just want to sleep..."

As soon as Song Shimu spoke, the legal team across from them also looked at Qin Xu with hopeful eyes.

Qin Xu rubbed his temples, glanced at the calendar, and agreed that they had been too busy lately. He nodded, addressing both Song Shimu and his legal team, "Rest well when we get back. Work resumes in three days."

"Great!"

Everyone cheered.

After disembarking, Song Shimu was on the phone to the driver asking about their pickup location when he noticed a flash of red moving slowly against the crowd.

Song Shimu stared curiously, gradually making out that the red was a bouquet of roses. It grew clearer and larger until it appeared right in his arms.

Song Shimu: "?"

[Favorability: 74]

073 cheered, "Wow, he’s jealous."

"Shimu, long time no see. I’ve missed you so much." Gu Wenrui’s gentle, magnetic voice sounded by his ear. Song Shimu put down his phone and looked up at Gu Wenrui, just as he moved to hug him.

As Song Shimu reached out to push him away, a hand suddenly gripped his shoulder and pulled him back forcefully. He stumbled half a step backward, colliding with a firm chest.

"He’s very busy. No time to miss you."