Chapter 30 Gao Yan: Except for You, My Arm Will Never…

Chapter 30: Gao Yan: My Arm Would Never... Except for You

Gao Youhe was very self-disciplined.

After finishing dinner, she sent her brother and sister-in-law her little red flower for the day, watched them stick it on the reward chart, and then, without any adult prompting, got out her homework and started working on it. She said, "I'm going to finish all my homework tonight so I can have the whole weekend free to have fun!"

Lu Yingxiao gave her a few words of praise.

She also thought of her own "homework"—she had to memorize the whole employee handbook by the weekend.

If Gao Youhe understood that finishing homework was necessary for carefree play, Lu Yingxiao naturally couldn't procrastinate either. She also took out the employee handbook and began quietly memorizing it.

Gao Yan finished up some work and came out of his room.

The living room was silent.

Gao Youhe was scribbling away diligently, head down, focused on her homework.

Lu Yingxiao held the employee handbook against her chest, murmuring the rules and regulations to herself.

Gao Yan first went to check on Gao Youhe.

Seeing she was focused and didn't need his help, Gao Yan walked over to Lu Yingxiao, who was memorizing the handbook on the sofa.

Lu Yingxiao was sitting in the middle of a couch that seated four.

Gao Yan sat down on a single armchair to the left of it.

Just as Lu Yingxiao finished reciting and was about to open the handbook to check if she had gotten it right, Gao Yan said with certainty, "You've already memorized the entire employee handbook?"

The employee handbook was Gao Yan's idea.

Its specific content was also determined through discussions between him and the HR department, finalized line by line.

Naturally, he knew every rule and regulation in the handbook better than anyone. Without needing to open it to check, just from listening to her recite it, he knew Lu Yingxiao had gotten everything correct.

Lu Yingxiao already knew Gao Yan was a good boss.

He wasn't harsh or overly demanding, providing every employee with opportunities to move up.

He also led by example and was understanding with others.

The rules and regulations he himself established, he naturally followed more strictly than anyone.

Therefore, since Gao Yan said she had recited it correctly, she must have gotten it right. She didn't open the handbook to check, just looked up at Gao Yan and replied, "I've memorized it, but not fluently enough. There are two rules I have to stop and think before I can get them out."

Gao Yan: "Rules fourteen and sixteen?"

While quietly listening to Lu Yingxiao recite earlier, he had clearly noticed her pause for a few seconds at those two points.

Lu Yingxiao nodded, "Yes."

Not being able to recite these two fluently wasn't simply a matter of not memorizing them; it was because these two rules were just too abstract and seemed somewhat... unconventional.

Gao Yan smiled, "If you knew why these two rules were established, you wouldn't pause when reciting them again."

Seemed like there were stories behind them. Lu Yingxiao turned to face Gao Yan, waiting for him to tell the stories behind these two rules.

Gao Yan: "Clause fourteen of the employee handbook: no singing any creepy or scary songs in the company's underground parking garage. This is because once, an employee was leaving work and, on a whim, started singing a spine-chilling song. Since it wasn't rush hour, the garage was nearly empty and the space was echoey, making the song sound particularly chilling. An employee who was a bit timid got so scared she ran out of the garage screaming and almost had a heart attack."

The underground parking garage is also a common spot for spooky happenings in many horror films and TV shows.

Suddenly hearing someone singing an eerie song, coupled with not seeing the singer, it's really easy to let your imagination get the best of you.

Lu Yingxiao said, "I get why they made that a rule. If not prohibited, it could easily frighten people." Then she asked, "Clause sixteen: The sales department is prohibited from using a colleague's prosthetic limb to hit a client. If encountering a client who oversteps boundaries, immediately call 110 to report to the police and contact the legal team to be present. Did someone really use a prosthetic limb to hit a client?"

Gao Yan: "Not only hit, but multiple times."

Lu Yingxiao: "Huh?"

Gao Yan cleared his throat lightly, "After all, when going out to meet clients, who carries a weapon? When encountering unreasonable, handsy clients, a colleague's prosthetic limb is the handiest weapon."

Lu Yingxiao: "...That... actually makes sense."

Gao Yan: "Now that you know the stories behind these two rules, you should be able to recite them fluently, right?"

Lu Yingxiao: "Yes. Should I recite it for you?"

Gao Yan: "Okay."

Her soft voice immediately filled the spacious, elegant living room.

Gao Yan listened attentively, watching her intently.

Lu Yingxiao also looked back at Gao Yan.

If you blocked out the sound of Lu Yingxiao reciting the employee handbook, the two of them seemed to be gazing at each other affectionately.

Gao Youhe, tired from doing her homework, stretched to relax.

Her eyes drifted towards her brother and sister-in-law. She saw that Lu Yingxiao, who had originally been sitting in the middle of the four-seater sofa, had somehow moved to sit right next to the armrest, getting closer and closer to Gao Yan, who was sitting on the single armchair to the left. Their knees were even intimately touching. Gao Youhe couldn't help but cover her mouth and giggle softly a few times.

It seemed Sister-in-law was liking Brother more and more.

She watched for a good while, burning this image into her brain, before reluctantly withdrawing her gaze and continuing to bury her head in her homework.

Lu Yingxiao smoothly recited the entire employee handbook.

Gao Yan: "Word perfect, and a lot smoother than before."

Having learned from clauses fourteen and sixteen that each rule in the handbook was specifically formulated based on the internal circumstances of Shengzao Construction Company, Lu Yingxiao couldn't help but think of clause seven: If someone attempts to seize the company seal, employees must prioritize their own personal safety. This implied the company seal had truly been seized by others before, leading to a fierce conflict.

She asked Gao Yan, "Did your uncle once come to the company to seize the seal?"

From what she learned online and heard from Xia Huaimeng, Gao Yan's uncle was a prime suspect.

Gao Yan: "After I removed him from the board of directors, he remained unwilling, wanting to return to Shengzao. But he lacked the capability to come back. Taking advantage of my business trip out of town, he brought seven or eight idle individuals to the company to seize the seal. Company staff fought with the people he brought to protect the seal. Manager Zhang's head was even split open, bleeding profusely."

Hearing this, Lu Yingxiao's opinion of the seemingly flattering, slick-talking Manager Zhang changed significantly once again.

He might appear unreliable on the surface, but when something happened, he really stepped up.

Since she had nothing else to do, Lu Yingxiao, based on the rules in the employee handbook, proceeded to ask Gao Yan one by one about the reasons behind establishing such regulations.

Gao Yan patiently answered each one.

His principle was simple: if Lu Yingxiao wanted to know, he would hold nothing back.

By the end of the evening, Lu Yingxiao had gained an understanding of how today's Shengzao had step by step reached its current state, and she also learned more about the hardships Gao Yan had experienced while managing Shengzao.

As she lay in bed that night, Lu Yingxiao's mind was still echoing with Gao Yan's deep voice telling his story.

Neither angry nor happy, just calm and matter-of-fact, as if he was talking about someone else's story.

His demeanor was remarkably composed, forming a stark contrast with his fierce appearance.

Lu Yingxiao reflected, realizing that she had previously judged him too much by his looks and relied too heavily on past experiences to define a person.

She rolled over and looked at the vase on the bedside table.

When she went to sleep last night, the three-dimensional wolf relief on the vase was facing the bed.

At the time, she figured that Youhe must have turned it.

She had wanted to turn it back, but considering Youhe was holding her arm tightly and she couldn't move, forcing a move to turn the vase might wake Youhe, so she let it go.

When she got up in the morning, she forgot to turn the vase, so in theory, the wolf relief should still be facing the bed now, but instead, it was facing the window...

Could it be that the cleaning lady who came upstairs to tidy the room earlier that day moved the vase?

With this thought, Lu Yingxiao reached out to turn the vase, making the three-dimensional wolf relief face her.

She had just reflected on judging Gao Yan too much by his appearance. Now, looking at the wolf relief again—which she once thought looked fierce and reminded her of Gao Yan—she actually found it quite cute. Even though it bared its teeth and its eyes looked fierce, Lu Yingxiao still didn't think it looked scary. She even reached out and touched its sharp teeth.

"Goodnight, little wolf."

Lu Yingxiao pulled her hand back and, for the first time, said goodnight to the wolf relief.

She slept soundly through the night without any dreams.

The next day, woken by her biological clock, Lu Yingxiao woke up early.

After washing up, she went downstairs and unexpectedly didn't run into Gao Yan, but she did meet Gao Youhe.

Lu Yingxiao asked, "Why are you up so early today?"

Her eyes instinctively went to Gao Yan's room.

The door was tightly closed.

She then looked outside the villa but didn't see Gao Yan either.

What's wrong with him?

Youhe was already up, so why wasn't he around?

He couldn't have gone to the company before dawn, could he?

Gao Youhe, unaware of Lu Yingxiao's swirling thoughts, looped her arm through Lu Yingxiao's and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law, have you forgotten? Yesterday morning, I said I wanted to exercise early with you and brother. I specifically set an alarm to avoid oversleeping, but in the end, the alarm wasn't needed. Just thinking about spending the whole day with you and brother made me so excited that I couldn't sleep at all. I woke up a full half hour before the alarm. I didn't expect you to be up so early too."

As she spoke, Gao Youhe pulled Lu Yingxiao toward Gao Yan's room, muttering along the way, "What's with brother? We're both up, and he's still not awake."

Lu Yingxiao let out an almost imperceptible sigh of relief.

So it was just that she and Youhe had gotten up too early.

Gao Youhe raised her hand and knocked on the door.

"Knock, knock, knock—"

She knocked without any hesitation.

Lu Yingxiao wanted to stop her but couldn't in time.

The door soon opened from the inside.

Gao Yan stood at the doorway in his pajamas. His bangs were slightly damp, and his face was moist, as if he had just finished washing up.

The pajamas were made of silk.

Water had splashed on them, and the already well-tailored pajamas clung even more closely to his body, outlining his strong physique.

The buttons on the pajamas were fastened neatly.

However, the overly open collar still revealed his sexy collarbone.

As soon as Gao Yan appeared in Lu Yingxiao's line of sight, she saw it.

It wasn't intentional to let her gaze linger there; it was mainly due to their height difference. Looking straight ahead, it was just at eye level.

Lu Yingxiao glanced a few times, trying hard to shift her gaze upward.

Unfortunately, she happened to meet Gao Yan's eyes.

Lu Yingxiao's face immediately flushed with heat, feeling the awkwardness of being caught peeking.

Fortunately, she wasn't alone. With Gao Youhe chattering beside her, complaining about Gao Yan getting up too late, the awkwardness in Lu Yingxiao's heart quickly dissipated.

Gao Youhe urged Gao Yan, "Brother, hurry up. Sister-in-law and I are waiting for you. After exercising and having breakfast, we need to go to the flower and bird market."

Gao Yan said, "I'll go change clothes. I'll be ready soon."

Gao Youhe said, "We'll give you three minutes."

She pulled Lu Yingxiao back to the living room.

Suddenly noticing that Lu Yingxiao seemed distracted, Gao Youhe leaned in and asked, "Sister-in-law, what are you thinking about?"

Lu Yingxiao tried hard to control the warmth on her face, shook her head, and replied, "Nothing."

Gao Yan came out after changing.

Today, like yesterday and the day before, he wore a well-tailored tracksuit.

However, the style was slightly different from the previous two days.

The previous days' clothes had round necks, while today's had a shirt collar with two buttons. Unlike earlier when he had fastened his pajama buttons neatly, now he hadn't buttoned a single one, leaving them wide open, boldly displaying his well-defined neck and smoothly contoured collarbone.

Gao Yan walked toward Lu Yingxiao.

Because of their height difference, Lu Yingxiao had to tilt her head slightly to move her gaze away from the open collar, but keeping her head tilted would eventually strain her neck.

Thus, in the few seconds it took for Gao Yan to walk over, Lu Yingxiao unavoidably glanced several times at his open collar.

"What were you talking about?"

Gao Yan stopped in front of Lu Yingxiao and asked with a smile.

Gao Youhe replied quickly, "Sister-in-law was spacing out earlier, so I asked her what she was thinking about."

Gao Yan looked at Lu Yingxiao and asked further, "What did your wife say?"

Gao Youhe imitated Lu Yingxiao's earlier manner, shaking her head and saying, "She said it was nothing."

Gao Yan smirked, "Then she might have just been zoning out. Sometimes zoning out is really relaxing; I quite like zoning out too."

At the same time, he said to Lu Yingxiao, "Yingxiao, we both enjoy zoning out. Does that count as a shared hobby?"

What kind of hobby is that!

Lu Yingxiao glared fiercely at Gao Yan; she couldn't shake the feeling his words had a double meaning.

"Youhe, let's go exercise."

She took Gao Youhe's hand and walked ahead.

Gao Yan smiled and followed behind the two of them.

Before exercising, the three of them warmed up.

After Gao Yan's strict guidance yesterday morning, Lu Yingxiao had the routine down pat and went through the warm-up smoothly.

Gao Yan made a habit of jogging every morning.

Gao Youhe pulled Lu Yingxiao to run together, "We can't lose to brother!"

She was full of competitive spirit.

And indeed, she was a natural athlete, running lap after lap around the garden track without feeling tired at all.

Lu Yingxiao, on the other hand, couldn't keep up. After only half a lap, she was struggling to match Gao Youhe's pace. Not wanting to hold Gao Youhe back or push herself too hard, she told Gao Youhe to run at her own pace while she jogged slowly. After just two laps, her legs felt unbearably heavy, and she was gasping for breath, unable to run any further.

Seeing a stone bench nearby, Lu Yingxiao made for it.

Gao Yan saw this and called out to stop her, "Sitting down right after exercising is not good for you; it can hamper your circulation. Let me walk with you for a bit to cool down."

Lu Yingxiao looked at Gao Yan in surprise.

She hadn't noticed Gao Yan come up behind her; just moments ago, he had been jogging side by side with Youhe.

She knew perfectly well that sitting down right after exercising was bad, but she was just too exhausted and couldn't walk anymore. Even standing felt like her legs were trembling.

Gao Yan then said, "I'll get Youhe to come help you."

He shouted over to Gao Youhe, who was jogging on the opposite side of the track.

Gao Youhe heard him and shouted back, "I'm coming right over!"

But Gao Youhe didn't have the ability to teleport; no matter how fast she ran, it would still take a minute or two. Meanwhile, Lu Yingxiao was wobbling, completely on the verge of collapse.

Sitting wasn't an option, and there was nothing nearby for her to lean against. Exhausted, Lu Yingxiao was getting irritable.

She looked at Gao Yan and commanded, "Lend me your arm."

When they were pasting little red flowers in the living room the evening before last, she knew his arm was remarkably strong, fully capable of supporting her entire body weight.

She also knew that his arms, which looked so powerful, wouldn't harm her. Instead, they would hold her steadily, giving her a feeling of safety she'd never known.

She needed his arm now, and she had a peculiar certainty in her heart that as long as she needed it, he would lend it to her without hesitation.

Sure enough, as soon as she finished speaking, Gao Yan extended his sturdy, muscular arm.

Lu Yingxiao leaned against it heavily.

Her feet finally got some rest, and most of her irritation faded.

Turning her head to glance at the arm behind her, which was steadily supporting her entire body weight, Lu Yingxiao smiled and asked Gao Yan, "I ask to borrow it, and you lend it. Aren't you afraid I might do something bad to your arm?"

Gao Yan: "You wouldn't."

Lu Yingxiao: "So confident?"

Gao Yan: "It's not confidence; it's trust in you. Besides you, if anyone else asked to borrow it, I absolutely wouldn't lend it."

Lu Yingxiao: "Not even Youhe?"

Gao Yan: "No."

Lu Yingxiao: "Why?"

Gao Yan: "Because she would draw a watch on my wrist with a marker, and it wouldn't wash off for days."

Lu Yingxiao chuckled, "So even a kid like Youhe likes drawing watches on wrists?"

Gao Yan: "She also likes sticking shiny stickers on me."

Lu Yingxiao: "It's really hard to imagine you covered in stickers."

Gao Yan: "It can be described in four words."

Lu Yingxiao: "What?"

Gao Yan: "A pitiful sight."

Lu Yingxiao laughed again.

Gao Youhe came running toward Lu Yingxiao.

Halfway there, Butler Zhan stopped Gao Youhe.

Gao Youhe: "Brother told me to go support sister-in-law."

Butler Zhan lifted his chin, gesturing for Gao Youhe to look at the garden track not far away, "Why would you need to go support her now? Sir is steadily holding Madam. Seeing Sir with his arm around Madam's waist, strolling in the garden, reminds me of how the old master and mistress used to be when they were alive. They would also wake up early together and take walks in the garden, especially affectionate."

Gao Youhe stood still and looked over.

Her brother's arm was steadily supporting her sister-in-law's waist, guiding her forward.

As for her sister-in-law, she was leaning intimately against her brother's arm.

The two walked while talking.

Occasionally, they could hear her sister-in-law's light laughter, though it was unclear what they were discussing.

The scene was beautiful.

Gao Youhe took a picture of it with her smartwatch.