After everyone finished their late-night snacks, they continued setting up the event venue. Su Tao was a bit late getting back from outside. She worked with everyone to finish up the last few things. Looking at the time, it was already 2 AM.
The event was scheduled to start at 8 AM, and since the venue was in the suburbs, they'd have to spend half of the 6 hours just on the round trip.
At such a crucial moment, it was still Jin Chuiwen who had arranged a hotel early on, just a 5 minute walk from the venue.
The hotel was a standard luxury chain, with two people to a deluxe room. Room keys were handed out, and Su Tao noticed she wasn't on the same floor as everyone else.
Before she could raise any objections, Xie Jin grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into the elevator.
None of their colleagues dared step into the elevator, stunned for a moment before pretending to be blind, suddenly very interested in the lobby murals.
Only after the elevator doors closed did they exchange knowing glances, communicating their shock silently.
Since they were all senior and mid-level leaders, they tacitly agreed not to spread this around, after all with such high salaries, one wrong word could get them fired.
Su Tao sat at the work desk in the outer room of the luxurious suite, with her laptop open, continuing to review the event flow.
She didn't like clashing with people, even if there was some grievance, she wouldn't make a scene and argue in an undignified way.
So after Xie Jin forcibly pulled her into the room, she only expressed her displeasure. Knowing he wouldn't let her leave, she didn't struggle excessively, instead going straight to her laptop, planning to work until dawn.
"Little peach, go to sleep!" Xie Jin came out of the bathroom, the loose dark blue bathrobe draped over him.
He shook his still-damp short hair, looked up, but didn't see the little peach who should have been curled up in bed, drowsy and ready to fall asleep.
Instead he saw her diligently working in the outer room. He strode over and slammed her laptop shut with one hand.
Su Tao looked up. Xie Jin's bathrobe had no buttons, revealing half his chest. He made no move to cover up, as if deliberately showing off to her. He leaned down over her.
Su Tao's gaze calmly swept over his muscular chest before settling neutrally on the documents, saying lightly: "You go to sleep."
"If I sleep, you'll just run away, right?" Xie Jin wrapped his arms around her and picked her up.
Suddenly losing her footing, Su Tao panicked, branches trembling in the wind. She gritted her teeth. "Put me down."
Of course Xie Jin wouldn't listen to her. Holding her was like holding a cat. He easily placed her on the bed and tucked her in, lying down beside her and hugging her tightly from behind.
When he clasped her small hand in his, she scratched him. He turned her hand over, straightening her fingers, and saw one nail had split without being trimmed, leaving a sharp slanted edge.
"Your nail split again?" Xie Jin frowned unhappily at her, his voice low but tender. "Does it hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt." Su Tao scrambled up, just showing her head before he pressed her back into his embrace.
"If it doesn't hurt then lie still."
"I want to shower." Su Tao scrambled out again. Using her agile figure she slipped out from under his arm and raced into the bathroom.
Taking advantage of her shower time, Su Tao quietly opened the bathroom door and peeked into the bedroom, guessing Xie Jin had fallen asleep. She successfully snuck over to the sofa.
Only to be startled by Xie Jin, who had been leisurely waiting for her on the sofa.
"You're not asleep yet?" Su Tao's expression was a little awkward.
"How could I sleep if you don't?"
Su Tao was fished out of the sofa and bundled up into Xie Jin's arms. He carried her back to the bed and wrapped himself around her limbs, sighing softly and hoarsely, "You're less and less well-behaved as you grow up."
After muttering this, he peacefully closed his eyes, falling asleep within two seconds.
The room became tranquil. Su Tao turned to look at the suddenly sleeping Xie Jin. She could feel his exhaustion and slight cold over the past few days.
She quietly watched him as memories of their past played through her mind like a slideshow - their acquaintance, their love, seemed like a dream, unknowingly arrived at the time to wake up.
She had loved Xie Jin. She hoped that even if the dream ended and the love was gone, they could have a clean break, and not hurt each other.
-
Xie Jin slept his first good sleep in days, not waking until 7 AM.
If Jin Chuiwen hadn't come to knock on the door with the makeup artist, Xie Jin would probably have kept sleeping, seeming to want to make up for his recent sleep deficit.
Opening his eyes, the bed was empty. His heart suddenly sank as he scanned the vacant room. The anger welling up was quelled by the two boxes of medicine left on the bedside table.
One was cold medicine, the other cough syrup.
Pressed between them was a note.
Take medicine after breakfast, three times a day. Drink more water. I've gone to the venue.
It was his little peach's handwriting.
A trace of warmth passed over his cold, stern face. His pitch black gaze softened as he went to open the door that kept insistently ringing.
Jin Chuiwen was stunned for a full three seconds seeing his boss's face, whose sculpted features were suffused with gentleness, before recognizing this was his fearsome boss.
Xie Jin's face didn't need much makeup, just his hair styled and clothes matched, and he could go out perfectly.
The event started with the midyear meeting and talk. Xie Jin took the stage right at 9 AM, gave a 40 minute speech, and allowed 20 minutes for Q&A with reporters.
Next was the brand publicity fashion show, with famous actress Jiang Wan walking the runway to promote the newly launched portal video site.
Under Su Tao's direction, everyone carried out their work part by part.
The talks also went very smoothly. On stage Xie Jin gave a calm, composed summary and outlook. In the flash of cameras, he was like a natural born king, exceptional temperament and vigorous spirit.
Under his steady yet piercing gaze, the media didn't dare ask anything too sharp, mainly orderly asking pre-approved questions from the PR department.
After the midyear meeting ended, it was time for brand publicity.
The spokesperson had arrived backstage. Su Tao accompanied Xie Jin to the dressing room to rest for a bit before making a brief appearance at the end of the publicity event.
Passing through a narrow hallway backstage, they overheard quiet discussion.
A few unfamiliar colleagues were passionately chatting around the corner. They were probably temporarily borrowed from other departments to help out.
"Really? Just openly getting out of the same car like that?"
"I saw it with my own eyes in the parking lot. Su Tao driving the boss's car, with the boss getting out of the passenger seat."
"So what? Qin used to sit in the passenger seat too."
"That fits! Qin was the boss's white moonlight, Su Tao is the stand in. Now Su Tao has taken over."
"Clearly Su Tao is more capable. She approves budgets and reimbursements, so much power!"
"Other than obedience what else can she do? Why does she have so much power? If just obedience is enough, I could do it too. Does that mean I could take over too?"
"Just obedience definitely won't cut it. Have to be like Qin Xuexi."
"I suspect she didn't even really come up with yesterday's proposal herself. The boss probably did it all for her. She probably can't do anything herself."
...
Su Tao followed Xie Jin into the dressing room and closed the door, blocking out the gossip.
She had been hearing this kind of idle chatter for half a year already, and had completely become immune. She didn't react like at first, naively asking him to explain. She also didn't care whether Xie Jin would clarify things or not.
After all, he would only respond crudely - don't listen to others, just listen to him.
She glanced at the expressionless Xie Jin sitting on the sofa fiddling with his phone, seeming to not have heard the gossip at all.
So Su Tao didn't say anything to disturb him, sitting to the side waiting for the publicity event to start in 10 minutes.
Xie Jin's phone kept ringing with WeChat alerts. He responded briefly to a few, then put his phone away.
The 10 minutes passed quickly. Music could already be heard outside. As the event director Su Tao had to stay and watch the whole thing. As the big boss, Xie Jin didn't need to appear again.
But as soon as Su Tao stepped out, Xie Jin followed along. She didn't think anything of where he was headed, just curiously glanced back at the earlier corner, now empty of people.
-
As the hottest current little flower, Jiang Wan diligently acted, with several hit shows under her belt, considered the actress with the most commercial value.
She was gentle, but not falsely modest. After guesting on some variety shows and speaking too bluntly, she had offended quite a few industry insiders and lost some general favor.
If her team didn't have her randomly appearing on those variety shows, instead maintaining an appropriate level of exposure, her fanbase might be even bigger.
Watching Jiang Wan shine brightly on stage, Su Tao couldn't help sinking into thought, not even hearing Xie Jin calling her.
A pair of strong hands covered her eyes, warm breath tickling her ear, making her shiver. His hoarse low voice seductively spread into her ear, "Like what you see, little peach?"
Su Tao's gaze shifted, meeting his overbearing yet tender look. Her expression faltered for a second before nodding cooperatively, refocusing on the stage.
Taking advantage of the dim lighting below the stage, Xie Jin reached out and grabbed her hand. Su Tao slyly glanced at him, checked their surroundings, and seeing no one was paying attention to the dark audience area, didn't forcibly struggle free.
She didn't want any incidents at such an important event.
Holding her hand, Xie Jin became much better behaved, also letting her continue watching Jiang Wan.
Su Tao noticed one of the stage edge spotlights was sticking up.
Jiang Wan was wearing a full skirt. When she walked near the stage edge, the skirt brushed against the light.
From Su Tao's angle she could clearly see the skirt get caught on the jutting light. And her dress was strapless.
She would be exposed!
Almost as soon as Su Tao realized, she shook off Xie Jin's hand, took off her windbreaker and ran up on stage. She got there just before Jiang Wan's skirt got pulled down, using her jacket to cover Jiang Wan's body.
It happened in a flash, too fast for the reporters to react. Su Tao pulled Jiang Wan's skirt back up, covering her chest, shielding her all the way off stage.
Jiang Wan went back to the dressing room to change outfits.
Since it happened at the end of her appearance, when she was about to leave the stage anyway, her manager and the Tianjin PR staff decided she wouldn't go back on stage after changing out of the gown.
The PR staff arranged for media to leave for lunch.
Soon the venue quieted down, left only with the mess after the departure, and colleagues cleaning up equipment and supplies. It seemed somewhat desolate.
"Little peach, when you rushed onstage just now, did you think you were Superman?" Xie Jin leaned in close, strong fingers clasped behind her neck, forcing her to come closer to him. His voice wasn't loud but laced with danger. "Which hand pushed me away earlier?"
"Let go." Su Tao lowered her voice.
Some staff were still coming and going. He might not care, but she didn't want to constantly become office gossip.
Before Xie Jin could say anything, a slightly fat man of around 30 appeared, wearing jeans and an orange cap, interrupting the undercurrents between them.
He was still holding the windbreaker Su Tao had used to save the situation for Jiang Wan.
"Hello, I'm Jiang Wan's manager. Thank you so much for just now, here's my card."
Xie Jin took the card with an unfriendly look at the chubby man, tone cold. "Give me the jacket."
The manager was frightened by Xie Jin's terrifying aura. He hurriedly returned the jacket draped on his arm, hesitantly adding, "Wanwan wants to take you out for a meal to express her gratitude."
"No need." Xie Jin coldly declined, and casually threw Su Tao's jacket in a nearby trash can. He wouldn't let her wear anything another man had touched.
"Please tell Jiang Wan it was a trivial matter, no need to think much of it." Su Tao gave the manager a gentle smile to smooth things over for him.
The agent shrank back in fear from Xie Jin's dangerous aura that warned people to keep their distance. Staring at Xie Jin's piercing yet alluring eyes, he gulped nervously and cursed under his breath that this man was insane. He fled as if avoiding the plague.
Only after the agent left did Xie Jin's frosty demeanor dissipate. Seeing Su Tao glance at the trash can, he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent as his heart gradually calmed.
"Little Taozi, are you afraid of me?"
Su Tao was not afraid of Xie Jin's possessiveness. It was precisely because of his intense possessiveness that she felt secure.
What frightened her was that her feelings and belongings might not be exclusively hers anymore.
Now he could no longer give her that sense of security.
Just like with that coat, if he didn't discard it, she would.
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