The pushover offended a top-tier boss

As if sensing her pause, Chen Yu said calmly, "When I was little, every time I did something wrong or my grades didn't meet my dad's expectations, I would be locked in the basement and beaten."

"When he turned eighteen, I kicked the door open from the inside and told him, 'If you hit me again, I'll kill you.' After that, he stopped hitting me."

Lin Zhi's heart skipped a beat. She remembered him saying, "I understand," that day.

It turns out he truly understood that some parents don't love their children.

She lowered her head and gently pressed an iodine swab onto his wound.

"How could someone be so cruel..." she couldn't help but ask.

He wanted a child who was exceptionally good and absolutely obedient.

Chen Yu's voice was calm, "Fortunately, I was free after I turned eighteen. My younger brother didn't follow in my footsteps."

"You're a very good older brother," Lin Zhixiao said.

"Not exactly good, I didn't raise him well, he's always causing trouble." He paused for a moment, then added, "However, his personality is much better than mine."

She listened without replying, and then lowered her head to finish applying the last layer of ointment to the wound.

As darkness fell, the last glimmer of orange light outside the tent disappeared.

She opened the bread and handed it to him.

"Have something to eat to tide you over."

I opened a bag and ate some myself. The bread was dry and hard, but it was enough to fill me up.

Chen Yu turned his head to look at her; her face still had some mud stains, and her hair was messy.

He recalled the first time he saw her, and how he thought she was like a flamboyant flower with thorns.

Now, however, he feels that she is a resilient grass, able to take root with just a ray of sunshine or a drop of rain, regardless of the winds from all directions.

He recalled the information he had found, about a little girl who, from such a family, gritted her teeth and forged a bloody path.

There are no shortcuts; it relies solely on its own tenacious vitality.

After finishing his meal, Lin Zhi pulled up the tent and lay down.

Goodnight, boss.

The tent was small, and the two of them squeezed together, their sleeping bags next to each other.

All the lights went out, and it was pitch black inside the tent. The enclosed space was like a closed hand, trapping all the light.

She closed her eyes and heard rapid breathing beside her, like someone desperately suppressing something, their fingertips gripping the edge of the sleeping bag, making a soft sound.

Lin Zhi sensed something was wrong. She reached out and touched his fingers, which were icy cold and trembling.

"Mr. Chen, you—" she realized what was happening, "claustrophobia?"

He grunted in response, looking somewhat embarrassed.

Lin Zhi recalled what he had said about being beaten in the basement. He roughly understood the reason for his fear.

She didn't loosen her grip; instead, she tightened it around his hand, her palm pressed against his knuckles.

He spoke very softly: "Close your eyes—take a deep breath."

Chen Yu listened to her voice, tried to close his eyes and breathe.

"Yes, take a few more breaths—it's okay, take your time."

Her voice was exceptionally clear in the darkness, like a rope reaching out from an unseen place.

"Imagine sunshine and grass in front of you—take a deep breath—it's okay."

His breathing gradually calmed down.

"Don't think about anything else, it will be dawn when you wake up," she whispered.

The hand in his palm was warm, as if a continuous warmth was flowing into his heart.

He actually fell asleep, his breathing became even and deep, and his brows relaxed, as if he hadn't slept so soundly in many years.

When Lin Zhi realized he had fallen asleep, she tried to pull her hand back, but he gripped it even tighter in his dream, as if afraid something would slip away in the darkness.

She stopped moving and closed her eyes.

Early in the morning, the embassy's rescue team arrived, and the two boarded a plane for their return journey.

The Spring Festival is approaching in China, and red lanterns are hung in the streets and alleys, while New Year's songs are playing on a loop in shopping malls.

Chen Yu asked her, "Where are you going to spend the New Year?"

She paused for a moment, then said, "I don't celebrate the New Year."

He thought of her family and didn't ask any more questions.

"That's perfect, then I can work overtime."

Lin Zhi almost choked on his breath.

I almost lost my life on a business trip, and now I'm being exploited by capitalists when I get back.

But when she received her year-end bonus, looking at the string of numbers in her bank account, the corners of her mouth finally curled up slightly.

He leaned back in his office chair, feeling quite pleased with himself, and started reviewing the unread messages from the past few days.

"Of course I miss you too, baby."

"There's no signal while I'm on a business trip, how could I not want you anymore?"

"Nice abs, I'll come another day—"

She was replying to voice messages one by one, a shadow looming over her.

Chen Yu stood in front of her, holding a document in his hand, expressionless: "Handling matters unrelated to work during work hours will result in a deduction of 500."

Lin Zhi:? ? ?

Is he crazy?!

She's like a reincarnation of Zhou Bapi; she can't stand not exploiting her for a day.

After the holiday started, she slept for a whole day. The next day, she went to the supermarket. She originally wanted to ask a young man out, but all the college students had gone home for the holiday.

Ye Zhenzhen called her and asked her to come back to Nanjing to spend the New Year at her home, saying that her parents had cooked a lot of dishes.

She replied, "No need, I have plans."

Actually, she didn't have any plans.

She never knew how to fit into other people's families. Ye Zhenzhen's parents were very kind to her, warm, considerate, and took good care of her, but the more they did so, the more she felt like an outsider.

She had never experienced that kind of family warmth before; she wasn't used to it and didn't know how to respond.

On New Year's Eve, she was alone in her apartment, with the lights of thousands of homes and the occasional sound of electronic firecrackers outside her window.

She turned on the TV, and the Spring Festival Gala had already started. The screen was filled with festive red and happy laughter.

She rummaged through the freezer and found a bag of frozen dumplings. She boiled water, put them in the pot, and scooped them out. The plump, white dumplings were placed on a plate, steaming hot. But the room was still empty, with only the laughter from the TV bouncing back and forth between the walls.

She picked up her chopsticks, and just as she reached out and lifted the plate, the doorbell rang.

She got up and opened the door.

Chen Yu stood at the doorway, a layer of fine snow on his shoulders and a few flakes in his hair. His coat collar was turned up, as if he had come on a whim, standing under the porch light.

"Boss? What's this—"

"Is there any food?" he asked her.

"Would frozen dumplings be okay?"

She stepped aside to let him in.

The two sat side by side at the coffee table, each with a plate of dumplings. The Spring Festival Gala was playing on TV, but the excitement belonged to others; the only sounds in the room were the steam from the pots and pans and the soft clinking of chopsticks against the rim of the bowls.

The frozen dumplings didn't taste very good; the skin was a bit thick, and the filling wasn't fresh enough. But Lin Zhi felt that the dumplings tasted a little better than in previous years.

She disliked the Lunar New Year the most; while others were reunited with their families, all she felt was an empty echo.

With one more person this year, things aren't so bad.

After finishing the dumplings, she opened two cans of beer and handed one to him.

The two leaned back on the sofa, watching a lively comedy sketch on TV. Neither of them laughed much, only occasionally clinking glasses as the cold beer slid down their throats, as if all the twists and turns of the past year had been diluted a little.

The sound of firecrackers outside the window rang intermittently, coming in through the glass.

At midnight, the TV presenter finished counting down to the last number.

They clinked their beers together and said to each other:

"Happy New Year."

This was the simplest New Year's Eve dinner Chen Yu had ever eaten, but it was also the most comforting meal since her mother passed away.

There was no clinking of glasses, no polite conversation about what should or shouldn't be said.

Just a plate of frozen dumplings, a can of beer, and someone who doesn't need to explain anything.

This was also the first time in many years that Lin Zhi felt that New Year's Eve was not so difficult to endure.

Chen Yu stood up: "I'm leaving, you go to sleep."

He didn't know how he got there. It took him almost forty minutes to drive that road, on a night when he shouldn't have gone out, he drove around most of the city and stopped downstairs at her building.

He could roughly guess that she was spending the New Year alone; he understood that feeling all too well.

He pushed open the door and went out. A few snowflakes fell on his shoulders, and the streetlights cast long shadows of him, illuminating the road he had come from.

Lin Zhi walked to the window, pulled back a corner of the curtain, and watched the figure walk further and further away under the streetlight. She stood there for a long time until the figure turned the corner and disappeared from sight completely before she lowered the curtain.