All the way until they reached the waiting lounge, Luo Qi was still holding the suit jacket.

The boss’ call had ended long ago, but he didn’t look at her and didn’t take it back, as if he had forgotten all about it.

Apart from taking care of her father and Pei Shixiao, she has never held on to clothes for another member of the opposite sex for so long.

Arriving at the lounge, Jiang Shenghe found a seat, opened his laptop, and put it on his lap.

Luo Qi was now sure that the boss had indeed forgotten his suit jacket in her hands. He probably often asked Secretary Ju or the bodyguard to help him with his clothes before, so he was used to someone else taking care of it.

Jiang Shenghe glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the laptop—if he let her carry the suit jacket any longer, it would seem deliberate.

He turned around and pretended to have just remembered it. Without saying any polite words like ‘thank you’ or such, he stretched out his hand and simply said, “Jacket.”

“Yes, here,” Luo Qi handed it to him.

There was an empty seat between her and the boss, and the boss’s laptop bag was placed on it.

Jiang Shenghe took the suit jacket and put it on top of his laptop bag. One of the sleeves hung down along the edge of the seat. He didn’t pay it any attention and turned his face to continue looking at the laptop.

Luo Qi saw the hanging sleeve and couldn’t possibly turn a blind eye. She leaned forward slightly, picked up the hanging sleeve, and put it away properly.

Jiang Shenghe saw her bending down to tidy up his suit jacket, but he didn’t express his thanks.

… …

On the plane, Luo Qi sat next to Jiang Shenghe.

She didn’t sleep well at all after moving to a new house. She originally planned to take a nap on the plane to recuperate her energy, but the boss was sitting next to her and as a result she didn’t feel sleepy at all.

The last time she experienced this was at Jiang Yueru’s house. That Saturday, she worked through the night the evening before. She was so sleepy the next day that she couldn’t keep her eyes open. After reporting her work to Jiang Yueru, she almost fell asleep on the sofa.

Unfortunately, Jiang Shenghe’s father passed by the villa that day, and the moment she saw him, Luo Qi completely lost all sense of sleepiness. The boss’ father, much like him, has an overwhelming and intimidating aura.

Outwardly noble and cold, his thoughts were always hidden and unpredictable.

Among the three sons, Jiang Shenghe has the most similar temperament to their father. However—and very probably because of this same reason—the father and son were incompatible with each other. One could not tolerate the other, and no one even tried to persuade the other.

Everything she knew about Jiang Shenghe and the Jiang family came from Jiang Yueru. Even though Jiang Yueru was her boss, she often complained to her about them, saying that it was sometimes difficult to be caught between the father and son.

When they arrived in Haicheng, the sun had already set. Still, when they came out of the airport, an unexpected heat wave hit their faces.

They were booked at a seaside hotel with its own private beach. Luo Qi was feeling even more regretful now that Secretary Ju could not come with them on this trip.

The car stopped in front of the hotel. The attendants hurried over, but Xiao Jiang had already helped lift her suitcase from the trunk.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Xiao Jiang remembered Secretary Ju’s instructions, “Sister Luo, if you have anything to do these days, just arrange for me to do it.”

Jiang Shenghe got out of the car and happened to hear Xiao Jiang’s words.

He knew that Xiao Jiang had a girlfriend, but he still couldn’t help but take a second look at him.

After checking in, Jiang Shenghe told them, “There is no work for tonight, you can make your own arrangements.”

They sorted out their luggage and prepared to go to their respective rooms.

Jiang Shenghe took the first elevator, while Luo Qi and Xiao Jiang took another elevator to go upstairs. Today, in addition to the boss staying in a suite, each of them were also booked in a sea-view suite complete with sea-view terrace.

Xiao Jiang said that this was the compensation given by Chief Jiang for having to go on a business trip during their long vacation. Every time they had to go on a business trip during the long holidays, Chief Jiang would spend his personal money to upgrade their rooms.

Luo Qi once again thought of Secretary Ju’s words that Jiang Shenghe was the best among the bosses.

After unpacking her luggage, Luo Qi took a piece of fruit from the coffee table and took it to the terrace to eat.

After just a few bites, her eldest cousin called her.

Luo Yuli could hear the whirring sound of wind over the phone, “Where are you?”

“Haicheng. Went on a business trip with the big boss.”

“Is it convenient to talk?”

“Convenient,” Luo Qi said, deliberately lifting her tones to seem to be in a good mood. “We each have our own suites. The company paid for it. I can see the sea from my terrace—I’ll take a few pictures for you to see.”

“Is your boss so generous?”

“Yes. I often hear from the people in the president’s office that he is very generous. I have only been on a business trip with him twice.”

Luo Yuli has only heard of Jiang Shenghe’s name before; he has never met him and didn’t understand his style of doing things. But Jiang Shenghe was extremely rich, as everyone well knew, and he probably didn’t care about the cost of the suite.

He told Luo Qi that all the things given by Pei Shixiao’s family during the engagement were returned in full.

“I went over with second uncle.”

“Thank you, eldest brother.” The kiwi fruit in Luo Qi’s mouth suddenly lost its taste, “My dad is still angry with me, right?”

“It will be fine in a few days,” Luo Yuli said.

Luo Qi had an intuition that this matter might not be so easy for them to get through. Her parents were almost overwhelmed by debt, and it must be unbearable for them to suffer this sudden loss.

It was easy to lose your rationality when things fell apart.

Luo Yuli said a few more words then hung up the phone. He sent her a list of the returned items.

Luo Qi put down the now unpalatable fruit, having completely lost her appetite.

She has settled everything that needed to be settled with Pei Shixiao. 

She opened the list her cousin sent her and read it from beginning to end. All the valuable things that needed to be returned were on it.

=======

T/N: It’s not that Jiang Shenghe is being ungrateful for Luo Qi’s help, but he desperately wants to close the gap between them so that she would do things for him without needing him to say ‘thank you’—just like he can call up Qin Moling, ask him to very kindly mess up Pei Shixiao’s life, and Qin Moling would just say ‘got it’ and hang up the phone. The idea is that between people who are close, polite words are unnecessary.

Except he’s her boss and not her childhood friend. So we’ll see where this campaign goes (´ ᴗ｀✿)

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