"CEO Wen? Are you outside?"

Hearing Lu Xing's voice from inside the room, Wen Lingxiu frantically wiped the tears from her face and left in a bit of a panic.

Although she was in her own home, Wen Lingxiu felt like a thief. She didn't dare to stop until she had run all the way into the study!

Wen Lingxiu leaned on the study's desk, tears dripping onto the tabletop with a soft patter.

So happy.

Lu Xing holding Nannan in the room, gently humming a song. It looks so happy.

Wen Lingxiu lowered her head, her messy long hair covering her face. Only tears fell continuously like broken strings of pearls.

People are truly strong, strong enough to grit their teeth and endure through storms.

People are also so fragile, able to cry a river of tears for a single word of gentle comfort.

Wen Lingxiu took a deep breath, forcibly calmed her emotions, and took out her phone to dial her secretary's number.

"Secretary Zhao, help me with something."

"Okay, CEO Wen. I'll take a note."

As a secretary who received a high salary, Secretary Zhao was full of enthusiasm to serve Wen Lingxiu.

After all.

A boss who is so generous and doesn't engage in PUA or gratitude education is truly rare. 

(TL: PUA - Pick-up artist, used here to mean manipulative tactics. Gratitude education is when a boss tries to make employees feel indebted for having a job.)

"Help me investigate someone. Organize all of his past experiences for me."

Wen Lingxiu took a deep breath.

"Also, no matter how much it costs, create a normal past for him. A past that appears normal no matter who investigates it."

This was the last gift she would give to Lu Xing—

A clean, innocent background.

Hearing the specific content of the task, Secretary Zhao was stunned on the other end of the phone.

No, CEO Wen.

I was all prepared for you to assign me a job worth tens of small goals. 

(TL: "Small goal" is a meme for 100 million yuan. People will say "set a small goal first earn 100 million yuan", if you have read other urban novel you have probably heard of this sentence.)

But the result is you want me to be a resume painter?

Good, good, good.

You're the boss, you call the shots!

Ancient servants said "Zha", modern servants say "Received!"

Secretary Zhao quickly replied.

"Received!"

"There's one more thing..."

Wen Lingxiu fell silent. Secretary Zhao also waited patiently on the other end of the phone.

After a long while.

Wen Lingxiu said.

"Recently, pick out some profiles of unmarried men with clean backgrounds and send them to my office."

Secretary Zhao: ???

Holy f*ck!

What's the meaning of this, what's the meaning of this, what's the meaning of this!

Is CEO Wen going to start eating meat?

Fuck!

A world-shattering melon!

Although Secretary Zhao was a woman, she suddenly felt like she had become the eunuch next to the emperor!

Good, good, good.

Speaking of this, Secretary Zhao became interested, her tone even noticeably more excited as she asked.

"CEO Wen, are there any specific requirements?"

Wen Lingxiu was taken aback for a moment and said.

"Height between 176 and 183, muscular but not exaggerated, broad shoulders and long legs, short black hair, very long eyelashes, a spirit in his eyes, loves to smile, very white teeth, patient with children, knows how to make people laugh, a pleasant voice, has candy in his pocket, doesn't get angry easily..."

At first, Secretary Zhao was secretly grinning, taking advantage of the fact that the phone couldn't see her.

But listening to CEO Wen's requirements, the more she listened, the more something felt wrong!

Holy f*ck!

So specific???

No, CEO Wen.

It's fine for you to have requirements, but it's obvious you already have a specific person in mind!

Why don't you just state the size requirements as well?

Is this stating requirements, or is it describing a picture?

Secretary Zhao collapsed.

She had never expected that CEO Wen, who usually didn't like to find fault, would now give her such a big one!

After a long string of requirements, Wen Lingxiu finally stopped and asked.

"That's about it."

Secretary Zhao was in tears.

"Received!"

...

After hanging up the phone.

Wen Lingxiu leaned on the desk, took a deep breath, and finally calmed her emotions.

Why is it that I can be calm in the face of violent storms, yet cry over good things?

When she heard Lu Xing humming, her eyes suddenly stung, and tears fell without warning.

After handling everything, Wen Lingxiu looked at herself in the mirror. Seeing no abnormalities, she slowly walked to the bedroom door and pushed it open.

Lu Xing had already coaxed Nannan to sleep and was looking at the small English vocabulary booklet in his hand.

After seeing Wen Lingxiu come in, he immediately put it away and stood up.

"CEO Wen, Nannan is asleep."

Wen Lingxiu looked at Lu Xing's smooth and fluid motion of putting away the book and couldn't help but laugh softly. She said gently.

"It's fine to read it. You can also go to the study to read. It's okay."

Lu Xing nodded gratefully, but his eyes surreptitiously glanced behind Wen Lingxiu.

Oh.

There's a shadow.

A person, not a ghost.

Damn it!

It's not his fault for being paranoid. Nannan's words were just too damn scary!

This is clearly a modern-day slice of life. How did it switch to the supernatural channel for me?

Goddamn director, I'm calling the cops on you!

After confirming that Wen Lingxiu was a person, Lu Xing was much more relieved.

"Thank you, CEO Wen. Then I'll be leaving now?"

"Wait."

Wen Lingxiu lifted a corner of the quilt and slowly lay down.

"The song you sang just now was very nice. Can you sing it again?"

A moment of pause.

"I can sing it to Nannan in the future too."

Lu Xing smiled.

This is clearly what Wen Lingxiu herself wants to hear, right?

Adults are just like this.

Saying their true needs is like asking for their life!

But satisfying the client's small needs is an essential professional quality for a professional simp.

Lu Xing first twisted open a bottle of water and handed it to Wen Lingxiu. "CEO Wen, your throat seems a little hoarse."

As if she had cried.

Wen Lingxiu stared at the water handed to her and suddenly felt that she would probably never meet a better person than Lu Xing.

Lu Xing then went to dim the bedside lamp and leaned against the side of the bed.

Under the dim light, Wen Lingxiu's eyes were brighter than the stars in the sky. She stared at Lu Xing's face as if he would disappear in the next second.

Lu Xing sighed and reached over to hold Wen Lingxiu's hand.

Her soft and smooth hand was tightly enveloped by Lu Xing's large hand. Wen Lingxiu felt a rare sense of security.

"Sleep. I'll be right here."

His low voice coaxed Wen Lingxiu to close her eyes, and then a gentle song slowly began.

"...The candlelight sways, dappling the corridor of childhood, whose white wall?

Illuminating which family's daughter's face?

Rocking and swaying, fifteen rocks past the spring equinox is grandma's bridge.

Waiting and waiting, for grandma, for grandma, calling sweetly.

Noisy and noisy, puffed rice candy sticking to the corner of my mouth, never getting enough to eat..."

Goodnight, CEO Wen.

For me, who cannot dream, have a good dream.

Creak.

The door opened and closed.

Lu Xing entered the guest bedroom. After checking that there were no cameras in the guest bedroom, he turned on the computer.

A long time ago.

He had unintentionally seen Wen Lingxiu's ID.

Wen Lingxiu had changed her name. She wasn't called Wen Lingxiu before.

Lu Xing searched for Wen Lingxiu in the search bar. The information he found was scarce.

He thought for a moment.

He typed Wen Lingxiu's former name into the search bar.

The first title that popped up was very eye-catching.

【Wen Residence Arson Case, Fifteen Dead, Eight Injured】

Fifteen minutes later.

Lu Xing cleared all the usage history on the computer and then shut it down.

Wen Lingxiu's younger sister had fallen in love with a man. The two were a golden couple, got married, and had a daughter.

Except for the daughter being weak and always living in the hospital, there were no other regrets.

The story should have been that the prince and princess lived happily ever after.

But unfortunately.

The prince liked men.

He got married just to find a suitable woman to carry on the family line.

When the prince was having an affair with the gardener, the princess found out. The princess was furious and wanted a divorce, wanting to ruin the reputation of the prince and the gardener.

The prince begged the princess, saying he would definitely break up with the gardener.

The reason humans will not be replaced by AI is that AI needs logic to operate.

But people don't.

People just need... a whim.

Hearing about the breakup, the gardener got angry. Relying on his knowledge of the Wen family's structure, he directly set a fire that burned the Wen residence to the ground.

Let's all die together!!!

But as luck would have it, Wen Lingxiu was not at home that day. She was at the hospital watching over the child.

By the time Wen Lingxiu heard the news...

Her parents, grandparents, sister, brother-in-law, and even the gardener had all turned into a pile of scorched earth.

Dust to dust, earth to earth.

From then on.

Wen Lingxiu's life of over twenty years was all consumed by the great fire.

No one would remember when she first spoke, when she learned to walk, when she wrote her first character.

The people she could share these things with were gone.

All gone.

The only person in this world with whom she had a blood connection was that little milk dumpling lying in the hospital.

Lu Xing stared at the sky outside the window and murmured.

"A besieged city..." 

(TL: This concept of the "besieged city" is a powerful metaphor in Chinese culture for any situation in life where one is trapped, feeling that the grass is always greener on the other side.)

...

...

Challenge Goal Ongoing!!

[Challenge Goal 1 :

Mission: Reach 15 votes for this novel on NovelUpdates.

Reward: One additional chapter.

Progress: 10/15.]

NovelUpdate Link: Here

If you have any question or doubt about this novel you can ask me in the iNoveltranslation Discord Server in the dedicated channel of the novel-discussion section.