CHAPTER 425: CHAPTER 393 DEDUCTING MONEY

When Qiao Yuxian got to the office, she was already half an hour late.

She snuck to her workstation, put down her bag, and turned on her computer.

Zhao Meng looked at her, then around them. Seeing no supervisor, she moved her chair closer to Qiao Yuxian and said, "I thought you weren’t coming today."

Qiao Yuxian whispered, "Did you see the news online?"

"Yeah," Zhao Meng said, "it’s Qin Xia. Three platforms crashed last night because of her."

Qiao Yuxian didn’t say anything.

Zhao Meng continued, "Last night at the New Moon Magazine gala, the trending topics were all about the celebrities’ outfits, but then it was all overtaken by Qin Xia. The gala hype disappeared completely. Xi Mei is basically in a frenzy now."

Qiao Yuxian still didn’t respond, looking a bit distracted.

She had contacted He Tu on the way from the hospital to the company.

Qin Xia’s fame is too big. With this incident, and without any response from her, only Xi Mei is handling the information.

Speculation is rampant online.

Both good and bad.

And as time went on, especially after Qiao Yuxian told He Tu that Qin Xia wanted to handle it herself, Xi Mei released a message to appease fans and then went silent.

Netizens’ guesses became worse.

Blaming Xi Mei for shirking responsibility, blaming Qin Xia for being irresponsible to fans, spreading wild rumors...

The internet is currently a mess.

"The boss of Xi Mei probably didn’t sleep a wink last night," Zhao Meng whispered, "I bet their hair is falling out in clumps now."

Qiao Yuxian looked at Zhao Meng, then at herself. She touched her head, as if checking if her own hair was still there.

"It’s Qin Xia, after all. Xi Mei’s cash cow," Zhao Meng added, "If this isn’t handled well, it’s like cutting off a part of Xi Mei’s boss."

Qiao Yuxian rubbed her arm.

It did feel a bit painful.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Zhao Meng suddenly asked, puzzled.

Qiao Yuxian looked at her for a while, then shook her head and said, "Nothing, just thinking you have a point."

"Right?"

Qiao Yuxian nodded.

"I thought you’d stay with Qin Xia and not come in," Zhao Meng said.

"She wants to be alone right now," Qiao Yuxian replied, "Me being there would just make her more stressed."

Zhao Meng nodded, "True. You didn’t sleep last night, did you?"

Qiao Yuxian nodded.

Zhao Meng asked, "So why didn’t you take a day off?"

"Internship is almost over. Might as well be here while I can," Qiao Yuxian said, "Besides, it’s just a night without sleep, no big deal. I can still work with energy today!"

Zhao Meng gave her a thumbs up, "Impressive."

Qiao Yuxian raised an eyebrow at her.

Half an hour later, Qiao Yuxian took out a pair of glasses from her bag, put them on, rested her chin on her hand, and fell asleep.

Zhao Meng took lots of photos of her and shared them all in their dorm group chat.

Qiao Yuxian slept fitfully, in and out, for almost the entire morning.

Just before lunch, she groggily checked her phone and instantly woke up upon seeing the message from Gu Yanjing.

Gu Yanjing: [Late, a deduction of a hundred. Sleeping during work hours, a deduction of two hundred.]

The message was sent two hours ago.

Gu Yanjing must’ve returned to the office and sent it shortly after not seeing Qiao Yuxian around.

All of Qiao Yuxian’s drowsiness vanished.

She immediately sat up straight, eyes wide open.

This startled Zhao Meng next to her, as well as Xu Qingqing and Lin You across from her.

Xu Qingqing asked, "Were you having a dream?"

Qiao Yuxian glanced at her, took a deep breath to calm herself, and said, "Did you all see me sleeping?"

Xu Qingqing and Lin You nodded.

Zhao Meng said, "We’re so close, it would’ve been hard to miss."

Qiao Yuxian thought she had a point, so...

She looked up at the ceiling.

How did Gu Yanjing, who’s so far away, know?

"Did anyone come by?" Qiao Yuxian asked.

"Not that I know of," Zhao Meng said.

Xu Qingqing said, "Minister Luo came by once. Zhao Meng was out delivering documents."

Qiao Yuxian’s eyes widened, "Why didn’t anyone wake me?"

"Minister Luo didn’t want us to wake you," Xu Qingqing said, "It should be fine."

After all, she’s Mr. Gu’s wife.

Just a nap at the office.

The minister probably won’t say anything.

Qiao Yuxian clutched her chest, feeling distressed and sad, even her breathing was full of sorrow.

"What happened?" Lin You asked.

"Nothing," Qiao Yuxian took another deep breath, "Just got some money docked."

"Huh?" Xu Qingqing and Lin You exclaimed, "No way!"

Could Luo Yin Ning really be that ruthless? Even dare to dock the boss’s wife’s salary?

Qiao Yuxian sadly thumped her chest twice and said, "Any plans for lunch? It’s on me."

"Huh?" Xu Qingqing was puzzled again.

"A good meal," Qiao Yuxian gritted her teeth.

Seeing her like this, Zhao Meng and the others understood.

Seems like it’s not Luo Yin Ning being bold, but Mr. Gu being bold.

Qiao Yuxian didn’t reply to Gu Yanjing’s message. At lunch, she directly took Xu Qingqing, Lin You, Meng Yuchuan, He Xin, and Zhao Meng out to eat.

Gu Yanjing thought Qiao Yuxian would come to the office after seeing the message to confront him at lunch.

But after waiting in the office for five minutes, she didn’t show.

He realized something was amiss.

So he directly called Qiao Yuxian.

As soon as the call connected, Qiao Yuxian said, "Hello. Who is this?"

Gu Yanjing: "......"

He didn’t speak, and Qiao Yuxian didn’t speak too, waiting for him.

Seeing she hadn’t hung up, Gu Yanjing knew there was still room to maneuver and asked, "Where are you?"

"Hmph," Qiao Yuxian lightly snorted, "Eating out."

After saying that, she hung up.

Gu Yanjing looked at his phone that was hung up on.

After a moment, he chuckled softly, opened WeChat, and started transferring money to Qiao Yuxian.

After transferring the money, he got up and left the office.

The lunch break wasn’t long, so Qiao Yuxian and her group didn’t go far.

After the meal, Qiao Yuxian went to pay the bill.

As soon as she stepped out of the private room, she saw Gu Yanjing outside looking down at his phone.

She got startled, instinctively taking a step back, thinking she might’ve mistaken him for someone else.

"What are you doing here?!" Qiao Yuxian was shocked.

Gu Yanjing didn’t answer, just pulled her to the neighboring private room.

At the door, he told Meng Yan, "Go settle the bill."

Meng Yan nodded and quickly left.

Gu Yanjing pulled Qiao Yuxian into the private room, closed the door, then pressed her against it and kissed her.

Qiao Yuxian struggled, but Gu Yanjing held her waist firmly with one hand and pressed her head with the other.

He only let her go once she was kissed into submission.

He wiped the sparkle off her lips and kissed her clear, watery eyes.

Qiao Yuxian leaned against the door, gently tapping his shoulder, "You’re bullying me."

Gu Yanjing looked at her lips, redder than usual, and kissed her again.

"You—don’t interrupt my train of thought," Qiao Yuxian said.

Gu Yanjing watched her and said, "Alright, go ahead."

"I—I..." Qiao Yuxian prepared to argue about today’s events, but after organizing her thoughts, she realized she had no case.

She wasn’t resting in the lounge but at work, she was late, she slept at her desk.

Getting her pay docked was fair.

"I—I..." Qiao Yuxian’s confidence deflated considerably.

Gu Yanjing looked at her.

After a while, Qiao Yuxian said, "I’m fine now."

Gu Yanjing chuckled.

Qiao Yuxian watched his amusement.

Anyway, she had no leg to stand on and deserved to be teased.

Gu Yanjing pinched her cheek and shook her head.

"Didn’t even coax you and you’re fine already."

Qiao Yuxian gave him another look and dryly spat out, "No grounds."

"No grounds, so leaving me and running off was just being coy?" Gu Yanjing coolly remarked.

Qiao Yuxian opened her mouth and said, "I, I wasn’t."

"Just messing with you, didn’t really dock your pay," Gu Yanjing said.

"Still, deduct it," Qiao Yuxian said, "Everybody knows. Besides, I took your money."

"Even docked, it’d still be yours," Gu Yanjing said.

Hearing this, Qiao Yuxian’s eyebrows lifted in delight, "Of course it’s mine, I’m the boss’s wife."

Gu Yanjing pinched her face and shook her head.

...