Going home for Chinese New Year, I squeezed onto a bus with three energetic young women.

"Don't say that about me again!"

An Yaoyao's spicy snack voice came from the stairwell on the second floor.

She finally couldn't take it anymore, and carrying her skirt with both hands, she ran down the stairs in her slippers.

An Yaoyao ran to the coffee table, her face flushed, and protested to her parents:

"That happened so long ago, why do you all talk about everything?"

Seeing An Yaoyao come down, Bai Li stood up and sat on the large sofa opposite.

The other girls followed Bai Li and sat on the large sofa, leaving the long sofa space for the family gathered together.

An Yaoyao squeezed next to her mother and nestled in.

She hugged her mother's arm with both hands, nuzzled her head against it a couple of times, and began to whine sweetly:

"The stinky boss has finally stepped down; this sofa is so comfortable."

Seeing An Yaoyao's uninhibited demeanor, An's mother could tell that her daughter was not bullied while working here and was having a good time every day.

However, in front of Bai Li, Mother An still put on a stern face and scolded him:

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"He's your boss. No matter how good your relationship is or how much he takes care of you, you can't call him that to his face."

Mother An reached out and tapped An Yaoyao's forehead:

"No respect for elders."

"No!" An Yaoyao couldn't suppress her rebellious emotions when she heard her mother defend Bai Li.

She raised her head and retorted defiantly:

"He's so annoying!"

An Yaoyao, quick to speak, blurted out the words she usually cursed Bai Li in her heart:

"He saw my... who told him to..."

He was only halfway through his sentence.

An Yaoyao got stuck, her words stuck in her throat.

Bai Li sat opposite, her hand holding the water glass trembling slightly.

He put down his water glass and quickly coughed twice to cover it up.

Father An turned his head and looked at An Yaoyao with a face full of doubt:

"What did you see?"

"Look..." An Yaoyao's eyes darted away, not daring to look at her parents or Bai Li.

Her mind raced, and she made up a random, nonsensical excuse:

"After reading mine..."

Before she could come up with a story, Bai Li immediately took over and salvaged the situation:

"I read Yao Yao's work diary!"

"Yes!" An Yaoyao went along with it, her words quickening: "She read my work diary!"

To increase her credibility, she even glared at Bai Li:

"My work diary is a private matter, and he went through it without my permission. It's so annoying!"

These words were spoken with absolute confidence.

Father An looked at An Yaoyao with a puzzled expression, as if she were an idiot:

"You're a cleaning lady, mopping toilets and still writing a diary?"

An's mother chimed in from the side:

"Exactly. You can't even write an 800-word essay without bursting into tears. What are you pretending to be, some kind of literary genius?"

"oops!"

An Yaoyao was embarrassed when her parents teamed up to sabotage her.

She quickly changed the subject:

"Don't worry about that, it's none of your business."

An Yaoyao took out her phone and opened the group-buying app:

"Dad, Mom, where are you staying tonight? Have you booked a hotel?"

She swiped her search bar across the screen:

"I'll book a hotel for you nearby, and I can take you to see your workplace tomorrow."

Father An waved his hand, refusing decisively:

Why book a hotel? What a waste of money.

"Your mother and I took a day off to come out. We have to go to work at the factory tomorrow morning, so we'll head to the station in a bit."

"Yes." Mother An glanced at the time on her phone screen:

"I bought a train ticket for 10 p.m., so I can get home and go to sleep right away, which won't interfere with my work tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, An Yaoyao exclaimed "Ah!" and looked up at the clock on the wall.

The clock hand has already pointed to 9:30.

"But it's already 9:30." An Yaoyao's voice lowered. "You've only been here a short while and you're already leaving."

Mother An stroked her daughter's hair and gently comforted her:

"Your dad and I mainly came to see you. We wanted to see how you were doing out there, whether you'd been cheated, and whether your work was tiring."

"Now that I see it, it's great."

After finishing speaking, Mother An turned to look at the sofa opposite her.

Bai Li sat in the middle.

Zhang Qian rested her head on Bai Li's left shoulder, while Li Mengmeng leaned on his right shoulder.

The girls chatted and laughed, not at all like strangers.

Mother An withdrew her gaze and looked at An Yaoyao, instructing her:

"But seeing that you're working for Director Bai makes me feel at ease."

An's father agreed from the side:

"Yes. Director Bai is a very capable person. Working for him is definitely the right choice."

An Yaoyao laughed in exasperation at the way her parents praised Bai Li so highly.

The elderly couple were completely blinded by this big stallion.

She glanced at Bai Li, who was flanked by two women, and decided to drop the pretense and lay her cards on the table:

"What ability?"

"Harem ability?"

An Yaoyao pointed at Bai Li with a look of disdain:

"Aren't you two afraid that I'll become part of his harem too?"

Upon hearing this, An's father's expression was even more disdainful than An Yaoyao's:

"What? A domineering CEO falls for me, a cleaning lady?"

"Girl, you've watched quite a few of these short dramas, haven't you?"

An's father earnestly educated her:

"You're an adult now. Before you dream, think about yourself and see if you're worthy of it."

An Yaoyao was stunned by these words.

She glared at her own father:

"What's wrong with me working as a cleaner?"

"Why am I not good enough? I'm not worthy of him!"

"And!" An Yaoyao continued:

"I lied to you on the phone and said I was renting a place and everything was fine so you wouldn't worry."

"You've come all this way, how can you say that about me!" An Yaoyao stomped her feet in anger.

An's mother interrupted An Yaoyao's complaints by speaking from the side:

"See, see, I told you this girl has no manners."

Mother An pointed at An Yaoyao:

"You just said it yourself, you want to be paired with Director Bai, but you're pretending to look down on him."

Mother An lowered her hand and offered her suggestion in a low voice:

"If you can really do this, you should do it sooner rather than later."

"Then I can ask Director Bai to pull some strings for me and give me a sneak peek at the plot of the second season."

"Aaaaaaah!"

An Yaoyao's defenses collapsed.

She grabbed her hair with both hands:

"I'm so angry!"

An Yaoyao grabbed her parents' arms and forcefully pulled them up from the sofa.

"Let's go, let's go!"

An Yaoyao pushed her parents towards the entrance:

"Don't you have to go to work tomorrow? Hurry up! You'll miss your bus if you don't leave now!"

Bai Li stood up.

He had never seen such an unconventional family atmosphere.

Bai Li walked to the entrance and greeted them politely:

"Uncle and Aunt, let me take you to the station."

"No need, no need to trouble Director Bai, we can just take a taxi at the door." Mr. An said as he walked out.

"My daughter is so immature and always causes you trouble."

Mother followed behind, giving instructions:

"Yaoyao, when you work under him, be more diligent with your legs when cleaning. Maybe Director Bai will take a liking to you and teach you a trick or two."

"If I learn a trade in the future, I won't have to clean toilets for the rest of my life."

Bai Li helped open the door:

"Don't worry, uncles and aunts," he assured them.

"You can rest assured that Yaoyao is with me."

Following up on An's mother's words, Bai Li began to praise An Yaoyao:

"And Yaoyao is actually very smart; she can learn many things very quickly."

Bai Li looked at An Yaoyao standing beside him and recounted her performance that day:

"She's usually very meticulous when she works. Today in the studio, she wiped the baseboards clean, and there weren't any fingerprints left on the glass."

An Yaoyao stood by the door and heard Bai Li's words.

She kept her head down, her fingers twisting together.

[He was so busy today, working on the script and checking data, yet he still had time to notice what I was doing...]

When Mr. and Mrs. An heard the boss's praise, their smiles grew even wider.

"Okay! We feel relieved with Director Bai's words." Mr. and Mrs. An stood on the steps:

"Director Bai, let's go!"

Zhang Qian, Li Mengmeng, and several other girls also walked to the door and waved in unison.

Goodbye, Uncle and Aunt!

"Drive carefully!"

An Yaoyao followed them out and put her parents in a taxi.

Watching the taillights disappear into the night, An Yaoyao turned and walked back to the Cloud Top Heavenly Palace.

An Yaoyao closed the door.

She stood in the entryway, looking at Bai Li's tall figure, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

There was embarrassment, anger at being undermined by her parents, but more than anything, there was an emotion that even she herself couldn't quite explain.

Just then, a crisp notification sound rang in Bai Li's mind.

[Target Person: An Yaoyao gained her parents' approval due to the host's praise, increasing her affection level by 5 points.]

[Current Affection Level: 64 (Admiration)]

[Your Affection Points have exceeded the critical threshold (60), and 1 reward point has been credited to your account.]