QT: Don't fall in love with the Male Lead

Xi Zirui turns around to greet her with an amenable smile.

"I'm just having an informal chat with Ji laoshi." To Ji Limei he says, "Sorry to disturb you, you can go back to your work, now."

She looks frightened by Bai Mi's presence and ducks her head shyly before turning back to her computer screens.

According to Ni Ni, Bai Mi has been in the company since the beginning. Although it doesn't look like she and Su Xueyi knew each other before he started Greydot. Her role in the company is murky to say the least.

Technically, she's the head of Human Resources, all new hires must first go through her.

However, as her presence in the Costumer Support sector indicates, she is also frequently there. She'll even man the computer at specific times and take a few calls, before leaving as suddenly as she appeared.

Ni Ni doesn't know any details about the nature of those calls.

But Xi Zirui thinks there's something there.

Bai Mi gives him an assessing look as if she's also trying to take the measure of him.

"I didn't know our President's husband would be paying us a visit," she says, tucking a strand of silky hair behind her ear. 

"I'll be working here from now on." He smiles when she can't help her frown. "I hope older sister can show me the ropes."

The look on her face when he calls her older sister is priceless.

"I'm sure younger brother's husband will be happy to teach him everything he needs to know about the company." Her smile is as perfectly sculpted as her eyebrows, but doesn't reach her eyes.

"I think it would be beneficial for me to learn from such an exemplary employee."

She narrows her eyes. "I'm curious...what exactly will younger brother be doing in our company?"

"Oh, this and that. Much like older sister."

Her nostrils flare, and Xi Zirui experiences the familiar thrill of poking a slumbering tiger. 

"Well, I wish younger brother the best of luck," she smiles cordially one last time before leaving the room. 

Xi Zirui stays put leaning against the window next to Han Yu before following after her.

"Let's go," he says to Han Yu when he looks to be more engrossed in his own mobile than in what is happening around him.

He pockets the mobile and follows Xi Zirui. "Where are we going?" he asks, his tone bored.

Xi Zirui winks at him over his shoulder. "We're going eavesdropping." 

---

Han Yu leans against one side of Su Xueyi's door, and Xi Zirui's the other, hidden from the inside by the drawn blinds.

Some of the staff give them odd looks, but no one dares tell the CEO's husband anything.

As such, Xi Zirui is free to listen in as much as he wants.

"I don't know what you think you're doing letting him snoop around like that!" Bai Mi growls, her voice muffled through the glass walls.

Su Xueyi's dry laugh is almost imperceptible, but his gruff next words are very clear, "Chill out, he's harmless." His voice takes on a dirty drawl when he speaks with her, as if all his high class polish comes off. 

"He doesn't look harmless to me, you're just cock drunk and can't tell he's a little snake," Bai Mi insists, her voice raising an octave.

"All Rui'er wants to do is buy new clothes and travel to exotic places." He scoffs, and Xi Zirui hears the sound of the hinges on his chair groaning when he gets up. "He's probably just bored and wants to try something different. He'll get tired soon enough."

"He called me older sister, when we just met...Could he know something?"

Xi Zirui straightens up. Now this is interesting. He called her older sister because of their interactions in the previous world. 

But she seems to think he had ulterior motives. What exactly does she think he knows?

Han Yu gives him a sharp sideways look, probably wondering the same thing.

"He was just trying to get you riled up," Su Xueyi says. "Judging by your reaction he succeeded." Oddly, he seems to be proud of Xi Zirui for that.

"Don't tell me I didn't warn you when he goes around poking his perky little nose where it doesn't belong."

Her footsteps approach the door, and Xi Zirui turns to leave, but Han Yu's arm shoots out to keep him in place.

Xi Zirui gives him a confused look, but Han Yu raises on finger to his lips and moves his ear closer to the door.

"There's a big shipment arriving soon, and we can't have him sniffing around then," she hisses. 

Han Yu and Xi Zirui's eyes meet in mutual shock, at the same time Su Xueyi says, "I can handle Zirui, you worry about your own people."

There's a finality to his words, and Bai Mi falls silent, even though Xi Zirui can feel her hostility through the door.

The hand around Xi Zirui's wrist tightens as Han Yu pulls him away from the office and into the nearby bathrooms.

Han Yu clasps one hand over Xi Zirui's mouth and pushes him into an empty stall.

"There's something really fucked up going on," Han Yu says, still covering Xi Zirui's mouth.

Xi Zirui's eyebrows scrunch up in confusion, he tries to speak through Han Yu's fingers but his words come out muffled.

"No, listen, listen!" He waits for Xi Zirui to stop struggling before continuing. "That back there is your warning to get out while you still can."

"I don't know what's gotten into you, but I know better than to hope you'll leave well enough alone", he sighs, and fixes Xi Zirui with a limpid stare. "Don't fuck around or you might not like what you find out."

Xi Zirui is a little touched with how well Han Yu knows him already, seeing as he couldn't be more different than the original.

Slowly, he takes his hand away from Xi Zirui's lips.

"I need to know."

"Why? Is it some kind of rich bastard compulsion?" He scoffs and runs a hand through his hair, freeing a few strands from his short pony tail, making them brush against his buzzed undercut. 

"Because I'm married to the bastard? The shit he steps on splatters on me!" Xi Zirui groans.

That's only part of the reason, but he doesn't know if it's a good idea to tell Han Yu his plan right away, or in a public bathroom.

He leaves the stall and a frustrated Han Yu behind. 

Only to walk straight into Su Xueyi's chest, who steadies him with a hand on the shoulder.

"Darling? What are you doing here? The staff use this bathroom, you can use the one in my office."

Xi Zirui darts a panicked look at the stall he just vacated, but the half-opened door thankfully obscures Han Yu.

"I just wanted to wash my hands," he says, sparing a distracted smile at Su Xueyi.

Su Xueyi frowns. "In the stall?"

"Right. As soon as I walked in, I felt like I really needed to go." This is such a pointless conversation. Xi Zirui hates Su Xueyi for making him have it in the middle of the bathroom.

"It's good I ran into you here, actually, I need to meet a few clients for lunch and I was wondering if you'd like to come with me."

"Sure, I'll go." He nods distractedly, edging towards the bathroom exit in the hope that Su Xueyi will follow after him thus giving Han Yu an opportunity to escape.

"Your hands?" Su Xueyi says.

"What about them?"

"Didn't you come in here to wash them?"

They've reached some sort of stand off, where they circle each other like cowboys ready to draw their guns at any moment.

"Why did you come in here, if there's a bathroom in your office?" Xi Zirui soaps up his hands looking at Su Xueyi through the mirror.

He seems surprised by the question. "I thought I saw you coming in."

Now that's a big fat lie, because if Su Xueyi came in at the same time he did, he would have heard him having a very interesting conversation with Han Yu.

Xi Zirui narrows his eyes at him, and at the same time, the stall on the farthest wall from the door slides open and a grim faced Cao Fei comes out of it, looking dispiritedly at his phone's screen.

He almost jumps out of his skin when he raises his eyes and sees both Su Xueyi and Xi Zirui, just standing there.

Smirking, Xi Zirui tugs on Su Xueyi's tie until their eyes meet. "So this is why you came here."

"Baby, it's not what you th-"

Xi Zirui pulls the tie sideways, cutting off Su Xueyi's air supply. "I can't even listen to you right now. Just because of that, Han Yu is going to be sitting at our table during lunch with your important clients."

"Whatever you want, baby," Su Xueyi says, between gasps.

He pulls on the tie one last time, before letting go. Su Xueyi clutches at his neck and takes in big lungfuls of air. 

"Pathetic," Xi Zirui spits down at him, his upper lip curling in disgust. 

Almost at the door, he turns around with one hand on the doorframe to smile sadly at Cao Fei, who looks close to tears. "You can do better. I can introduce you to my driver. I think the two of you would get along."

Looking straight at Su Xueyi he adds. "I bet his cock is bigger too."

He's barely outside the bathroom when Ni Ni pings. "Congratulations, Host! CEO's favor went up by 4 points, now at 40 of a possible 100 points."

---

It should stand to reason that Su Xueyi would have his own driver, but somehow, Xi Zirui is still surprised when a sleek Tesla model pulls up to the front of the building being driven by Liao Min, cool as ever in a short pixie cut, and tinted shades.

She tips two fingers down at Su Xueyi from the open window but doesn't climb down the car to open the doors for anyone.

Which is incredibly odd, to say the least? Another good friend of Su Xueyi's, on Bai Mi's level?

"No," Ni Ni says excitedly, and doesn't elaborate further, to Xi Zirui's great frustration.

The ride is tense, with Han Yu sitting in the front next to Liao Min, and both Xi Zirui and Su Xueyi in the backseat.

Xi Zirui can feel the lust coming off Su Xueyi in waves. It's giving him a headache. 

He wants to tell him something along the lines of, "you want to fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid." Unfortunately that would only make him hornier.

The restaurant they go to overlooks the Imperial gardens, and is so exclusive that Su Xueyi is able to book an entire floor for them.

Xi Zirui makes a point of waiting for Han Yu to sit down before sitting next to him, completely ignoring Su Xueyi.

The hungry look Su Xueyi shoots him over the glassware is absolutely revolting.

---

The three of them, but mostly Han Yu, have already gone through a great deal of the appetizers when their guests arrived.

Two non-descript middle-aged men with expensive suits and bad haircuts, enter the room ushered in by one of the waiters. Behind them, a young man with a sickly pallor and bird-like bone structure walks in with leisurely strides.

"I'm sorry to make you wait," Shen Yun says, sitting down across from Su Xueyi. "My father couldn't come, but he sends his regards."