Wife Takes the Reins: The Calm CEO

Chapter 20: Counterattack

Better to act than to hesitate. Li Xiaowan grabbed her phone from the nightstand, unlocked it, and opened her text messages. Wait a minute... hadn’t she seen this number somewhere before? Li Xiaowan rubbed her eyes hard and took another close look. What? It was that “rude” person again. The message contained only a few more words than the last one: “Nine o’clock tomorrow morning! Meet on the top floor! Consequences are your own responsibility if you’re late!” Three huge exclamation points stood out starkly. Just what she’d feared. She’d thought that since Feng Lingzheng had mentioned the wedding would be held in a month, he—based on what she knew of him—wouldn’t reach out to her again for at least that month. But not only had he reached out, he’d done so so quickly. Hadn’t they just finished talking? Was he going to make some other demand now? At the thought, Li Xiaowan felt her anger flaring up again, but she had no one to vent it on at the moment. Wait, that’s not right—there’s a perfect target right in front of her. So, Li Xiaowan typed the following message in the text box: “Who’s this lunatic? It’s the middle of the night—why aren’t you sleeping? Instead, you’re sending these nonsensical messages to harass people. Don’t you have even the most basic manners? Hasn’t anyone ever told you that this is extremely rude?” Alright, click “Send.” “Hmph! Let’s see what you can do to me. It’s death either way, so I might as well have some fun before I die.” At that moment, Li Xiaowan felt completely satisfied. Strangely enough, although she’d been wide awake just moments before, a sudden wave of drowsiness washed over her. Before she even had a chance to put her phone back on the nightstand, Li Xiaowan had already fallen into a deep sleep. Meanwhile, in the luxurious bedroom on the third floor of the Feng Family Mansion, an enraged voice burst through the door, its volume nearly loud enough to make the entire Mansion tremble—though that might be a slight exaggeration, it was certainly enough to demonstrate just how out of control the speaker’s emotions had become. “Good! Very good!” Feng Lingzheng was like a lion on the verge of going berserk at that moment, as if he were about to devour someone the very next second—only to find that the person he wanted to devour had already drifted into a sweet slumber. But that didn’t matter. When dealing with his prey, he couldn’t be impatient—and certainly couldn’t settle for a quick victory. That would rob him of all the fun. He had to break down his opponent’s defenses step by step until their fortress crumbled completely. It was this gradual process that made the experience truly unforgettable and utterly exquisite. “The Sun is shining high in the sky, the flowers are smiling at me, the little birds are chirping ‘Good morning, good morning, good morning’—why are you putting on your little backpack...?” Li Xiaowan’s alarm is extremely unique, but it also brings back memories of herself as a child going to school—those beautiful childhood days are gone forever. “Stop making noise! You’ve ruined my sweet dreams!” Li Xiaowan, still half-asleep, picked up her phone, intending to turn it off and doze for a little while longer. But on second thought, she decided against it—she was afraid she’d drift back to sleep if she closed her eyes. So she forced herself to wake up from her daze, washed up, got dressed, and headed out for her usual morning run. The morning air was truly refreshing; every now and then, she could catch the scent of leaves and soil. It was another sunny day—truly wonderful. Some say that a person’s mood changes with the weather, and there’s actually some truth to that. Good weather can make a person feel exceptionally excited and fulfilled, and it can fill them with hope for the future. However, without taking concrete action, all of this amounts to nothing more than daydreaming—it’s merely a form of self-comfort for a dusty, lonely heart. Li Xiaowan couldn’t quite say which category she fell into, but the one thing she was certain of was that she would never continue to drift aimlessly like this forever. Someday, she would find the place that was right for her. Moreover, she and Qi Xin'er shared a common—though seemingly unrealistic—dream: that one day, in a bustling metropolis like City Z, they would own a home of their own. It didn’t have to be too big—just big enough to live in. Aside from this dream, Li Xiaowan had another: she hoped that someday she could drive her own car—it didn’t have to be too expensive, just suitable—and then set off on a spontaneous trip. Having read many travel journals, the place that captivated Li Xiaowan the most was Tibet—the land of a thousand mountains and the source of countless rivers. Just imagine how exhilarating it would be to roam freely across the snow-capped plateau beneath a blue sky dotted with white clouds. Although such a dream may seem trivial to some—or not even qualify as a dream at all—to Li Xiaowan, it’s a dream worth striving for her entire life. In the end, what they really want isn’t much: just a house, a car, and a spontaneous trip. It may seem simple, but achieving it is incredibly difficult. So, filled with hopeful visions of the future, Li Xiaowan had long since cast the text message Feng Lingzheng sent last night to the back of her mind—and, naturally, had completely forgotten the reply she’d sent back at the time. Li Xiaowan and Qi Xin'er chatted and laughed as they walked through the Company’s revolving doors into the lobby. However, every time they passed through the revolving doors, Li Xiaowan became unusually cautious; she hated going through them the most because she was afraid of getting stuck. “Look, aren’t those two…” one of the petite beauties waiting by the elevator doors said to the other, a tall beauty. Neither Li Xiaowan nor Qi Xin'er knew the names of these two women. Since they had no interaction with them on a daily basis—and given the Company’s large workforce—it was perfectly normal not to recognize them; after all, they didn’t possess Yu Feilan’s ability to remember faces at a glance. They could only hear the tall woman whispering urgently, “Yes, don’t say anything. Let’s get in the elevator quickly!” There were quite a few similar whispers buzzing in Li Xiaowan and Qi Xin'er’s ears. The ones who spoke like that were actually being relatively polite. Fortunately, Li Xiaowan and Qi Xin'er were both in a fairly good mood today and didn’t let it bother them—especially Qi Xin'er. In the past, she would have stepped forward to argue by now, but the main reason she’d managed to hold her tongue today was to avoid causing trouble for Li Xiaowan. The events of the past couple of days had already been stressful enough for Li Xiaowan; she couldn’t add to her worries. “Xin'er, let’s grab lunch together!” Since the two of them no longer worked on the same floor—and especially since Li Xiaowan had to take a dedicated elevator to the top floor—they could only say goodbye before stepping into the elevator. “Sure, no problem. See you in the lobby after work,” Qi Xin'er replied promptly, then stepped lightly into the elevator, completely ignoring the strange glances from the other passengers. Li Xiaowan then pressed the elevator button and rode up to the top floor. As she passed the secretaries’ office, Li Xiaowan greeted Li Lingling and Fu Xiyue with a warm smile: “Lingling, Yueyue, good morning!” “Xiaowan, good morning!” Li Lingling replied with a smile. “Xiaowan, why didn’t you come to work yesterday?” Fu Xiyue asked curiously. “That’s right, Xiaowan. Yueyue and I were actually going to ask President Yu about it, but then we figured you must have taken a day off for a valid reason, so we held back,” Li Lingling chimed in, picking up where Fu Xiyue left off. Li Xiaowan was genuinely stumped by the question, but she certainly couldn’t tell the truth. She could only smile and brush it off: “You guessed right. I really had something urgent to take care of yesterday, so I didn’t come to work. Lingling, Yueyue, could it be that you already feel like a day without me is as long as three autumns?” Li Xiaowan said playfully. “Pfft! We’re just worried about you!” Li Lingling said, feigning annoyance, before sitting back down in her seat. “Xiaowan, who feels like ‘a day without you is like three autumns’?” Yu Feilan’s warm voice suddenly rang out from behind Li Xiaowan. “Ah… no one, President Yu. I was just joking. Good morning, President Yu,” Li Xiaowan said, then hurried past Yu Feilan as if fleeing and entered the assistants’ office. Seriously, not only did she skip work yesterday, but now, first thing this morning, she’d been caught by President Yu chatting idly. She wanted nothing more than to find a crack in the ground to crawl into. But Li Xiaowan had overlooked one thing: it wasn’t even official working hours yet. Seeing Li Xiaowan enter the assistants’ office, Yu Feilan followed her in and locked the door from the outside. Li Xiaowan knew that Yu Feilan’s reaction meant something was up, but she wasn’t so conceited as to think Yu Feilan had any ulterior motives toward her, and besides, she trusted Yu Feilan’s character. “President Yu, is there something you’d like to ask me?” Li Xiaowan said respectfully as she stood before Yu Feilan. “Xiaowan, you really are a smart young woman. That’s right—I’d very much like to know the exact reason why you and your friend Qi Xin'er skipped work together yesterday. You must know that the Company’s rules and regulations are extremely strict. However, in this Company, nothing happens without a reason; everything has a cause. Therefore, decisions are made on a case-by-case basis,” Yu Feilan said solemnly. Li Xiaowan remained silent for nearly a minute, her mind racing: Should she tell the truth, or come up with some other excuse? In the end, honesty prevailed over lies. She brushed a strand of hair from behind her ear and said softly, “President Yu, I’m sorry. It was wrong of us to skip work yesterday. Please feel free to discipline us according to Company policy. However, I’d rather not discuss the reason for our absence today. I hope you’ll understand.” Yu Feilan noticed the faintly sad expression on Li Xiaowan’s face. Not only did he stop pressing her for answers, but he also reached out and gently patted her on the shoulder, saying comfortingly, “Xiaowan, get back to work for now. We’ll discuss this matter later.” “Thank you, President Yu.” Li Xiaowan understood that Yu Feilan didn’t want to put her in an awkward position. In that moment, she realized how fortunate she was to have a boss like him. Her life had been a mix of good and bad fortune, but as long as she looked on the bright side, there was nothing she couldn’t get through. After all, in this world, there are ultimately more good people than bad.