Chapter 55

Chapter 55

A red light was glowing above the emergency room door, like a one-eyed monster glaring at the crowd with bloodshot eyes.

Shen Gali sat silently on the bench in the waiting area, his head bowed. Today he wore an old shirt—the shirt he had worn for two days straight right after marrying Nan Liujing. After being washed, it was left in the farthest corner of the wardrobe, and over time, it had acquired a strange sweet smell.

Apparently, it was the smell of bacteria.

The person who had called said that Nan Liujing had fallen from the viewing platform in the company's lobby and slipped into a coma. Fortunately, a wheelchair had cushioned his fall, so he didn't die.

Shen Gali remembered that viewing platform; it was about six or seven meters high.

As for how he fell, the caller said that from the look of it, the railing's support pillars had rusted and snapped inside—they looked fine externally, but were severely rotted inside. Nan Liujing might have just stopped there in his wheelchair, and when the railing gave way, he fell with it.

But the truth of the matter remained unknown. At the time, there was a temporary power outage in the entire district due to road construction. The security guard, while walking to start the company's backup generator, suddenly heard a woman's scream. Rushing over, he found Nan Liujing already on the ground, unconscious, surrounded only by a broken wheelchair, fractured railing, and shards of glass—no sign of anyone else.

And as luck would have it, because of the blackout, all cameras were off, so no footage was captured.

The police had arrived at the scene to investigate, but the results wouldn't be available anytime soon.

In front of the emergency room, Shen Gali had maintained the same posture for over two hours. Li Shu paced back and forth, clasping his hands in prayer for the young master's safety. Nan Feng and his family also hurried over.

"How is Liujing?" Nan Feng finally acted like a father, his eyes reddening and hands trembling uncontrollably.

Li Shu didn't dare say anything for sure: "He's still in emergency treatment; the situation is unclear for now."

"How could he fall just like that? Even if the railing collapsed, no one pushed him—would he have fallen?" Yu Huaisu feigned indignation, though inwardly she was overjoyed.

Falling from six or seven meters—if not dead, then crippled. Now Nan Liujing would be crippled on top of crippled, perhaps bedridden for life.

A cripple like that—who would recommend him for chairman? All the benefits would fall into Feiyao's hands.

Nan Feiyao followed silently with a look of sorrow on his face. He looked as if he were worried about his brother—but it was only on the surface.

Throughout all this, Shen Gali had not uttered a single word. He remained with his head bowed for two hours, neither wailing like Li Shu nor blaming it all on a deliberate setup like Nan Feng's family. He was simply very silent, as if deep in thought.

While the crowd waited anxiously, the OR light turned off. The doctors emerged and removed their masks. Before they could speak, the crowd rushed forward to ask.

"The patient's life is not in danger, but he has multiple minor fractures. Once his condition stabilizes, a CT scan will be needed to check for brain injury."

Yu Huaisu thought: *Damn it—why didn't he die?*

Hearing this, the group breathed a sigh of relief. Soon, nurses wheeled Nan Liujing out of the operating room.

Shen Gali finally lifted his head and looked toward the hospital bed.

The usually overbearing and cocky Nan Liujing now looked like a lifeless dummy—eyes tightly shut, face pale as paper, a bandage around his forehead faintly oozing blood.

He was moved into the intensive care unit, and the doctor said no visits were allowed; they could only observe through the glass. His condition isn't fully stable yet, and when he'll wake up depends on how he recovers.

Nan Feng sighed heavily: "Since that's the case, Liujing's work will temporarily be taken over by Feiyao."

Yu Huaisu rejoiced inwardly but put on a virtuous appearance, saying dejectedly: "Feiyao is still young and inexperienced. I'm worried he might make mistakes taking over the company, but now that Liujing has had an accident, we have no choice but to arrange it this way."

At this moment, Shen Gali, who hadn't spoken a word since entering the hospital, lifted his head. His expression stayed faint: "Having trouble?"

Yu Huaisu didn't manage to wipe off her mournful look in time: "What?"

"If it's a hassle, then that's perfect," Shen Gali pulled an envelope from his pocket. "Nan Liujing wrote a letter. He said he has already had it notarized and also set up a trust company arrangement. If any accident happens to him while he's in office, I will take over all his work with full authority."

These words left not just Yu Huaisu but even Uncle Li completely stunned.

Who? Shen Gali? Make Shen Gali interim CEO? You might as well just throw the company away? Are they sure Shen Gali wouldn't sign the company away in his sleep?

And given how lazy he is, he'd probably just work from bed, lazy as he is.

In truth, Shen Gali didn't want to take over this mess either; he just wanted to lie low. He also knew that a deadbeat like him couldn't lead the company to glory—more likely, he'd drive it straight into a ditch.

But Nan Liujing said that during his tenure, he'd enjoy the same treatment as the former CEO, both in salary and benefits.

The CEO perks sounded pretty sweet.

But that wasn't the main point. The point was, he didn't want anyone coveting Nan Liujing's position. When Nan Liujing eventually comes back, he could easily hand back without any scheming, but others might not be so straightforward.

People can be complicated, always wanting more. If it meant causing more trouble for Nan Liujing later on, he didn't want that.

Sure enough, Yu Huaisu got suspicious:

"Jiali, what's your degree in? What do you even know about running a company? Even if Feiyao doesn't take this seat, his father can. And if that's not enough, there are multiple shareholders. I don't think Liu Jing would be dumb enough to let some outsider ruin his life's work."

She didn't say it outright, but she was probably thinking Shen Gali faked the letter, or coaxed it out of Nan Liujing while he was drunk.

Shen Gali put away the envelope, not even looking at her. "Nan Liujing may not be a genius, but he's still smarter than you, Auntie."

Otherwise, how could that arrogant, bossy king of a guy have prepared these things in advance?

Yu Huaisu was about to retort, but Nan Feng cut in: "That's settled. Since Liu Jing did this, he's got his reasons. I trust his decision. As for work, Gali, if there's anything you don't understand, you can discuss it with me. I'll be at the company these days to help you."

Unsurprisingly, Yu Huaisu would go home tonight and throw a fit with her son.

She didn't even wait for further explanation before dragging her son out of the hospital in a huff.

It was getting late. After handling the hospital admission for Nan Liujing, Uncle Li decided to head home first. Since the hospital wasn't allowing visitors, there was nowhere for him to sleep. Nan Feng felt the same.

Uncle Li offered to take Shen Gali with him. Shen Gali said, "It's too much trouble to go back and forth. I don't feel like moving."

"If you don't want to move, there's nowhere to stay."

Shen Gali stretched out on a bench and replied with his brainwaves: Give me a pillow. Anywhere is a bed.

Uncle Li knew his temperament and didn't insist. He kept rambling on with instructions until Shen Gali shut his eyes, then finally left.

One by one, people left. In the dim hallway, only Shen Gali and the occasional passing nurse remained.

The nurse took pity on him and even brought him a blanket.

Late at night, the hospital seemed quieter than anywhere else—so quiet Shen Gali could hear himself breathe.

He was tired, but he couldn't sleep.

He sat up and looked through the glass behind him.

Nan Liujing, just like he used to be, was covered in tubes, hooked up to machines ready to beep at any second. The Nan Liujing who had forced him to paint and cook had finally shut up.

But this silence made him uncomfortable.

After a long moment, he pulled out the letter Nan Liujing had written to him again.

The numbering was weird—it wasn't 1, 2, 3, 4, but a random order like 6, 1, 7, 8.

Apart from some work-related notes, he also rambled on with boring digressions.

For example, a line "At four in the morning, I saw the crabapple flowers still awake," and the letter stops abruptly there, followed by the date and his signature.

This sentence has no beginning or end, and I don't know what Nan Liujing was trying to say; it's not like he's been strange for just a day or two.

The crabapple flowers are still awake, but you've fallen asleep first.

*

The hospital bench was not comfortable to sleep on. When he got up the next day, a chill shot straight to his head.

Shen Gali checked the time: 7 a.m.

Time to go to work.

He took one last look at Nan Liujing, who was still asleep.

Suddenly he understood a bit how Nan Liujing felt every morning when he got up for work and saw him blissfully dead to the world.

Uncle Li brought breakfast, but Shen Gali didn't want to eat. He left in a hurry, and Uncle Li chased after him, holding a bowl in one hand and a spoon in the other, like a mother seeing off her child going to school early, coaxing him to take a bite, or else he'd have no energy at work.

Shen Gali took a bite. After washing up at the hospital, he went to the company wearing yesterday's shirt.

As soon as he arrived at the entrance, he saw a dense crowd of reporters. Seeing Shen Gali, they hoisted their cameras and microphones and swarmed him, surrounding him in the middle, asking about Nan Liujing's injuries, asking why Nan Liujing would choose him, someone whose expertise doesn't match the role, to replace the work.

The most frequent question was why Nan Liujing knew he would be injured in advance and thus entrusted Shen Gali as acting CEO.

Their every word doubted that Nan Liujing's entrustment was completely fabricated, and that Shen Gali wanted to usurp power.

Shen Gali didn't know either; he hadn't seen those entrustment documents, and Nan Liujing hadn't mentioned where the documents were in the letter.

The reporters had been staking out since early morning because Nan Feng had posted a statement on Weibo last night saying that Nan Liujing could not participate in work due to injury, and his wife would temporarily act as his proxy.

Netizens were all asking about Nan Liujing's injuries. Someone joked that falling from such a height, was his brain really not injured? Wouldn't he end up not only lame but also stupid?

Shen Gali, annoyed by the reporters' questions, only asked one question back:

"If Nan Liujing doesn't entrust me, his family member, then should he entrust an outsider? Your question is so strange."

The reporter was left speechless, feeling foolish, and sheepishly stepped aside.

After entering, even someone as dull as Shen Gali could sense the oppressive atmosphere in the company.

Not only because there was no leader, but also because the employees had been working overtime endlessly for days, and thinking about having to continue working on the weekend made them depressed. Their eye bags were nearly touching the floor, with dark circles, they weakly called out "Good morning, President Shen."

"President Shen" — the title sounded very strange.

There was also an employee with red eyes, crying to a colleague that she had worked overtime until early morning, encountered a ruffian on the way home, almost got into trouble, but fortunately a cleaner helped her. After reporting the case and completing the statement, she got home at three in the morning. She got up at seven today, crying and complaining that she didn't want to work.

Not wanting to go to work is the voice of every working person.

Shen Gali was no exception. He also wanted to cry, but couldn't. If Nan Liujing wasn't here, his tears wouldn't help at all.

At 9:30, Secretary Yan told Shen Gali to go to the meeting room for a meeting.

He didn't even know where the meeting room was, nor where he should sit after entering. He instinctively headed to the back, hoping to find an inconspicuous spot, but the meeting recorder told him he had to sit at the head of the table, the seat Nan Liujing always used.

After this, the management pretended nothing was wrong, but were laughing to themselves inside.

Once the news that Shen Gali would temporarily take over as CEO came out, everyone collectively suffered insomnia last night.

They worried about the company's future.

Shen Gali sat at the head seat and looked down. A dozen pairs of eyes fixed on him. He immediately saw Nan Feiyao and Yu Jinzhu sitting close to him on his left. The expressions on their faces were indescribably strange, like some kind of mockery.

Fortunately, the meeting recorder was Nan Liujing's trusted subordinate, diligently informing Shen Gali in detail about today's meeting agenda and what issues needed to be resolved.

"Mr. Shen, Chairman Nan just called and said if there's anything you don't understand, you can write it down and video call him for help after the meeting, he'll teach you how to do it."

On hearing this, Yu Jinzhu laughed, looked at the managers behind him, and said with a smile: "This is really a spectacle. You have to call home when you don't get something. I've never seen such a scene when President Nan was here."

The discerning managers didn't laugh along. As the saying goes, time flies, and the world changes with every move. Who the hell knows what tomorrow will bring? Times change, and nothing stays the same. Better to watch your words and actions.

Shen Gali didn't pay attention to this bald man either. At the recorder's announcement "Meeting start," he opened the meeting documents.

The first matter to address was the recent lack of initiative among employees.

With long hours and late-night overtime, complaints are inevitable. Even if there are no complaints, the body can't take it, and a bad mental state makes it hard to do a good job.

Yu Jinzhu flipped through the meeting minutes and started again: "Regarding the first point, the issue of employee passivity, President Shen, what brilliant opinion do you have?"

Shen Gali: Asking me? Then I'll just speak the truth.

"We'll start time off from tomorrow. Combined with the normal national holidays, the break will be extended to seven days."

Might as well give himself a holiday too.

As soon as he said this, everyone was shocked.

On hearing this, Yu Jinzhu laughed again: "Absolutely ridiculous! All domestic companies have this kind of adjusted holiday system, not to mention a large enterprise like Huanhai Electronics. Do you know how much work will pile up if employees take just one day off! Oh right, I forgot you're an outsider, so you wouldn't understand. Let me state clearly: I disagree."

The others dared not speak, but were watching the drama unfold.

Shen Gali glanced at him sideways and answered irrelevantly: "Why are you bald?"

Yu Jinzhu: ?

He silently touched his bald head, his temper rising: "We're talking about work now."

When excited, his entire scalp turned red. He hated being called bald more than anything. Actually, he wasn't originally bald; at least there were a few stubborn hairs on the sides, which he shaved off for looks.

Shen Gali repeated: "Tell me, why are you bald?"

The other managers could no longer hold back their laughter, covering their mouths.

Yu Jinzhu's face was as red as a rotten tomato: "This is a personal attack!"

Shen Gali: "No personal attack, just curious. Why. Are. You. Bald."

Hearing others laughing at him, Yu Jinzhu finally lost his cool, exploded in an instant, slammed the table and stood up: "My baldness is none of your business! You're too nosy!"

Shen Gali casually played with his pen and nodded: "So what does the CEO's decision have to do with you? You're too nosy."

Silence. Total silence.

The point wasn't the baldness; the point was that Shen Gali was putting them in their place, asserting his power.

Better to shut up, lest they be dealt with someday.

Yu Jinzhu visibly lost color, only his bald head was brighter than a lightbulb.

The leader beside him tugged his sleeve: "Forget it, forget it, sit down."

Shen Gali looked at the recorder: "Write this down: after the meeting, notify all departments that we'll be on vacation starting tomorrow and officially resume work on October 6th."

"Understood."

Shen Gali's impression of Yu Jinzhu only went as far as knowing that he was keeping a minor celebrity as a mistress, but in the letters Nan Liujing wrote to him, there was a description of Yu Jinzhu, which read:

"Male, bald, doesn't usually come to the company, and when he does, he throws his weight around. Ignore him, just treat him like air."

Such a plain and down-to-earth note of caution.

Recorder: "The second agenda item is about the uranium cooperation between the Rosander Family and Huanhai Electronics. They have proposed increasing the unit price to provide better uranium. However, after calculation, the total exceeds the budget by one percent. The topic is whether to agree to their request."

Afraid that Shen Gali would take the lead again, Nan Feiyao and Yu Jinzhu jumped out to express their disagreement.

"This batch of uranium, as fuel for aircraft carriers, is basically a charitable act to help the country share its burden. But we also have to consider our own interests."

Shen Gali weighed his options in his mind.

Spend less to buy ordinary uranium or exceed the budget by one percent to buy high-grade uranium and contribute to the country.

Shen Gali had never bought uranium—only salt; he had spent the least money on the worst industrial salt and saved a large sum.

But he just said: "Agree to their request."

Everyone: ???

Yu Jinzhu laughed angrily: "An amateur is an amateur. We are a company, with tens of thousands of employees across all subsidiaries to support. CEO Shen, surely you know exactly how much money exceeding the budget by one percent amounts to?"

He looked at the other leaders: "Tell me, isn't he ridiculous? Can he even afford the over-budget amount?"

Shen Gali remained nonchalant: "Yes, I'll cover it."

Everyone: ?!

"I hold one percent of Huanhai Electronics' shares, worth about a billion or two. Is that enough?" He said it as if it were nothing, though his heart was bleeding.

Shen Gali also understood that this was basically a charitable act for the country. He didn't consider himself a model patriotic youth with a spotless background, but he also realized that his life had been saved by the country's medical welfare. Though he wasn't exactly grateful, if it weren't for the country, he wouldn't have been able to see this bald-headed joke or meet his mother.

Repaying kindness is that simple. Although his Matryoshka doll-style lavish underground palace would lose a few layers of outer walls.

"If you want to go crazy, don't drag others down with you!" Yu Jinzhu slammed the table and stood up for the second time.

For no other reason, he didn't believe Shen Gali could actually cash out his shares. In the end, wouldn't he have to take back their shares to maintain normal operations? This guy was just flapping his lips and saying whatever he dared. Why didn't he just drop dead?

Shen Gali looked up lazily and glanced at Yu Jinzhu's bald forehead: "People say 'long hair, short knowledge.' Today it seems that's a paradox. What does a person's vision have to do with hair length?"

"You!" Yu Jinzhu was so angry his nose was twisted. He slammed the table and stood up for the third time.

"What 'you'? You're a loafer who works in fits and starts. You should thank the country for supporting you. Now that the country needs help, what's wrong with us giving full support? The country is still supporting you, yet you eat from the bowl and curse the cook. If all your benefits were taken away, you'd have nowhere to cry. Even a dog knows to bark a couple of times, but ingratitude that bites the hand that feeds it is rare."

Yeah, this was also written by Nan Liujing for him, telling him to memorize this passage.

Although he practiced for ages and still missed a few lines, it was enough.

At least he witnessed a middle-aged leader being scolded by a fresh graduate to the point of crying and storming out of the door.

He really cried, like a waterfall. Outside the door, he was still pounding the wall to let off steam, feeling incredibly wronged.

What a fragile ego.

Shen Gali ignored him: "Ignore the fragile ego. Continue the meeting."

No one dared to speak anymore; they lowered their heads with respectful expressions.

Shen Gali looked at the recorder: "Director Yu slammed the table three times and cried and stormed out once. Write it down."

The recorder silently typed "Director Yu Jinzhu stormed out crying" into the computer.

The long meeting finally ended. Shen Gali, dropping his earlier imposing demeanor, deflated, looked drained, and felt like he was about to collapse. He had to find a place to lie down for five minutes.

The only place he could go was Nan Liujing's office.

After the meeting, Nan Feiyao, who hadn't spoken during it—probably afraid he would be scolded into a breakdown like Yu Jinzhu—only dared to say after it ended:

"Don't think your decision is correct. Even my brother didn't dare to act like a dictator in the company, for fear of backlash one day. When that happens, you'll really have something to cry about."

He was waiting—waiting for the employees to drop their work and go on a long vacation, only to return and continue working overtime until dawn over the mountain of piled-up work, with heavy resentment and low spirits, falling into an infinite vicious cycle. They would begin to question Shen Gali's ability and his true intentions.

When that time came, all he had to do was laugh—laugh out loud.

After so many years, Shen Gali had learned to ignore "barking dogs." Without even a glance, he quietly returned to his office.

Once back, he slumped into the sofa and closed his eyes in exhaustion.

So tired. Only the first day and he was already this exhausted. When would it end? When would Nan Liujing wake up?

Although he had put on an imposing display in the conference room, deep down, facing those skeptical looks, he was terrified.

But Nan Liujing seemed to have foreseen this day long ago. He had for no apparent reason brought him into the company and for no apparent reason made him read those company documents. Looking back now, he understood it wasn't for no reason—everything had been planned in advance.

He weakly lifted his eyes and looked at the desk across the room.

He hadn't noticed before—the room was so big that it made him feel like a tiny ant in the universe, simply because the person who had once sat in that seat was Nan Liujing.

Shen Gali hesitated for a long time, then slowly got up and sat down at the desk.

Nan Liujing's desk was neat and tidy, with files clearly categorized. Besides that, there was a book on the right-hand side.

The book was titled "The Flowers Are Not Asleep," an essay collection by Yasunari Kawabata.

Shen Gali felt a strong sense of incongruity. Such elegant literature as an essay collection seemed totally out of place with a profit-driven businessman.

Bored, he casually picked up the book and flipped through a few pages.

At a certain moment, his hand flipping pages suddenly stopped.

He finally understood what the sentence that ended so abruptly meant in the ending of the letter Nan Liujing had written to him.

"At four in the morning, I saw the begonia was still awake."

It turned out the next line was:

"I always feel that at this moment, you should be by my side."

Shen Gali smiled wryly. He really knew how to copy.

*

"Hey, everyone! Check the group notification! Starting tomorrow, we're on vacation!"

“Holy shit, is that for real?”

“Seven days off in a row! Has the company finally found its conscience?!”

“No! It was Shen Gali who fought for us. They were discussing it at the morning meeting, and I heard Director Yu yelling at him really loudly.”

“Oh my god, hearing this makes me want to cry. Shen Gali knows nothing yet he bravely took on the work, with his husband still in the hospital. Everyone defies his authority, but he still did his best to get this for us.”

The emotional employees couldn't hold back their tears. They genuinely felt that Shen Gali was having a really hard time, facing tragedy alone and bearing everything by himself.

“Enough, enough. Let's get to work. We must maintain maximum efficiency today to complete the next two days' work. We absolutely cannot let Shen Gali down, and not let his scolding be in vain!”

The previously demoralized employees perked up as if injected with adrenaline, eyes wide open, fingers typing like lightning. They usually felt sleepy during lunch break, but today they were surprisingly energetic.

They gave up their break time. The important thing was to show their attitude and make those arrogant old farts completely convinced, showing them that Shen Gali's decisions were golden words.

Shen Gali's manipulation tactic this time was very successful.

Before the end of the workday, department heads received work documents from their staff. They thought the employees were just slacking off to leave early, but upon closer inspection—wow, the work plans for the next three days were so perfectly done that no mistakes could be found!

The leaders wanted to cry.

Fortunately, they kept quiet at the morning meeting, or else they would have been slapped in the face now.

Seeing it was time to get off work, Shen Gali finished reading the last document, turned off the lights, and left.

He thought about walking back or splurging on a taxi, but it was unnecessary—Driver Yang was already standing by outside.

Because when Nan Liujing was still at the company, the most common thing Driver Yang had heard was, 'Don't worry about me; just pick up Shen Gali on time.'

As they walked out together, he happened to run into Nan Feiyao.

Nan Feiyao glanced at him disdainfully and looked ahead to see a dense crowd at the company entrance. He said sarcastically, 'The reporters are here. Now think about how you're going to explain that prophetic letter to them. Reporters are stubborn; if they don't get a satisfactory answer, you'll be seeing their faces every day for the next month.'

Lucky for him, he successfully manipulated the mindless employees, but who knows if his luck will hold.

Shen Gali thought: It's fine to see them; I just don't want to see your face.

As they walked out together, a crowd immediately swarmed around Shen Gali.

Before Shen Gali could decide whether to make them cry like he did with Yu Jinzhu, a woman handed over a beautifully wrapped small box, her eyes still red.

“President Shen,” she said softly.

Indeed, no matter how many times he heard that title, it still felt strange.

“President Shen, I bought this gift just now. Please give it to President Nan on my behalf and wish him a speedy recovery.” As she spoke, she burst into tears.

The man behind stepped forward with a bouquet of flowers: “President Shen, these flowers are for you. Thank you for your wise and principled decision in getting us two days off. Everyone is very grateful. To be honest, we really hate make-up workdays. These past two days have been so exhausting that I feel like I'm dying on my feet, but thank goodness you're here.”

The woman cried, and the man also started crying.

Shen Gali couldn't handle the mushiness and quickly took the flowers, only then realizing that these people weren't reporters but Huanhai employees.

Employees who usually dashed home after work were all gathered at the entrance, waiting for Shen Gali to come out and personally thank him.

“I also heard that you were loudly scolded by the shareholders for fighting for our vacation. We feel terrible, but don't worry, every one of us will unconditionally support your work. Even if we're told tonight that we can't have the days off, it's okay. We know you care about us employees, and that's enough.”

Shen Gali thought: Could he have just been throwing a helpless tantrum instead of scolding?

Everyone took turns expressing their gratitude, making Nan Feiyao want to puke.

Clueless idiots, they would give themselves up over such a trivial matter. That's as far as their vision goes.

The employees all shoved gifts into Shen Gali's arms. With thousands of gifts, he couldn't possibly hold them all. Driver Yang, being perceptive, helped load them into the trunk. One car wasn't enough; they had to fetch another.

Shen Gali didn't have any grand speech. He just felt tired and wanted to go home and crash. So he said to everyone,

“Rest well and have fun. Don't think about work; we'll deal with it when you get back.”

The employees were moved to tears, bowing and thanking him repeatedly.

Shen Gali was trending on Weibo again.

#Thousands of employees thank Shen Gali at the company door#

It appeared right next to the still-hot morning topic 'A layman takes over Huanhai Electronics?' – extremely ironic.

Netizens who had to work the next day were insanely jealous:

“Is Huanhai Electronics still hiring? Even as a kitchen chef?”

“With my abilities, I can't get into Huanhai, but can our company's chairman find a way to poach Li Bao to be CEO? I'll work like a dog.”

“Holy crap, seven days off in a row is so awesome. What god did Shen Gali descend as? I'm dying of jealousy.”

“The capitalist bosses must be cursing when they see this. Shen Gali is breaking industry norms. But can he come to my company and break the norms too?”

“Huanhai employees are so lucky T_T They get to look at that godlike face every day, and even more infuriating, they don't have make-up days. I'm so jealous [crying lemon emoji]”

Shen Gali's Weibo followers were also exploding at a crazy rate.

“Shen Gali is amazing!!! [roaring], with his husband still in the hospital, he overcame every obstacle to take charge and led employees to perfectly exceed targets. I hereby declare him the person I admire most this century.”

“Sigh, although I hate that old ugly bastard, I don't want to see Li Li sad. Praying for Nan Liujing's speedy recovery. [hands together]”

“The Nan family really hit the jackpot with a beautiful and capable husband. So where did those rumors about him being arrogant and nasty come from?”

“Girl above, obviously someone's jealous.”

Soon, another hot search appeared:

#Don't want Li Li to be sad, so sincerely pray for NLJ's speedy recovery#

One wave after another. The strip-search case was still unresolved when another bombshell dropped— the highly anticipated CEO of Huanhai Electronics died in a mysterious fall.

As Nan Liujing's legal husband, the police would notify him first as soon as they had any leads.

There are currently two puzzling points:

Nan Liujing, sitting in a wheelchair, couldn't put all his weight on the railing of the observation deck like a normal person. Even if the railing broke, he wouldn't have enough momentum to fall.

The security guard said he heard a woman scream, but when he went to check, he didn't see anyone. Who was that woman? Did she see something?

The footprints at the scene were too many and too messy to extract any useful prints. So for now, they could only question the employees who were on duty that night one by one.

After hearing that, Shen Gali quietly put down his phone.

He hasn't eaten all day—no appetite, even though Uncle Li came to coax him many times.

Today, Nan Liujing's vital signs returned to normal, though he still hasn't woken. The hospital has allowed visits during designated hours.

Uncle Li gathered his things, chattering away, saying he was going to the hospital to see the young master, and asked Shen Gali if he wanted to come along.

Shen Gali felt like a limp noodle, didn't even have the strength to lift a finger, and said he wouldn't go.

Bai Wei received the news; she had originally planned to return the day after tomorrow, but worried, she booked a flight two days earlier than planned and would arrive tomorrow morning.

She said a lot of comforting things to Shen Gali, but he just kept responding with "uh-huh, uh-huh" as if nothing were wrong.

After hanging up, Shen Gali saw constant messages popping up in the employee group. Ignoring the company group rules, the employees all tagged him at once, telling him to stay strong, saying they would always support him.

Yu Jinzhu jumped in to tell the group admins to mute everyone, saying the company group was only for work discussions.

A group admin: "@Acting CEO Shen Gali: Stay strong, Boss Shen. We're all with you. I even folded a paper crane and wrote a wish for President Nan, wishing him a speedy recovery."

Without any organization or prompting, all employees took photos of the paper cranes they had folded and posted them in the group, some taken at home, some on trains, some by the roadside.

They knew it was childish, but they hoped their gesture would bring Shen Gali some comfort, and also to pray for President Nan's recovery.

Seeing the paper cranes, Shen Gali thought of the pure love warrior Nan Liujing's ten thousand paper cranes.

Uncle Li came back, started rambling on about the young master's condition again, but after knocking on Shen Gali's door for a long time with no response, he pushed it open—

The room was empty—no trace of Shen Gali.

By then, Shen Gali had already arrived at the hospital.

The hospital corridor was long; it always took him a while to walk down that corridor, and today, his steps were even heavier.

He wanted to go in for a visit, but the nurse on duty informed him visiting hours were over, and Shen Gali couldn't enter the ward.

He stared down the narrow, desolate corridor and asked blankly, "Then can I just wait outside?"

The nurse, feeling both helpless and sorry for him, went to the balcony to grab a clean blanket for him, without saying a word the entire time.

Shen Gali hugged the blanket and slowly sat down on the bench in front of the ward, turning his head to look inside the ward.

Nan Liujing was on an IV drip, relying on glucose to sustain his life. His posture hadn't changed since yesterday, and there was no telling when he would wake up.

Shen Gali felt so, so tired—a fatigue that a good night's sleep couldn't cure, not just physical but mostly mental exhaustion.

He had dealt with too many things today, many of which he didn't understand. He could only flip through old files to find answers, but some answers wouldn't be written on paper.

For instance, when Nan Liujing would wake up.