Gu Shishi pursed her lips.
“What were the charges?”
Did that mean Boss Huo knew about the hiding inside of the closet and how she had set her up?! Then he took care of Fan Qing, for her?
“Dereliction of duty and thievery,” said Butler Lin.
“After you were ill, Dr. Qin said that it was because of what you had eaten. The young master asked me to find out what you had eaten, and we found out that your dinner night was prepared by Fan Qing. She wasn’t part of the kitchen team. Per our rules, she should not be allowed entrance into the main kitchen. The employees had their own kitchen.
“After the investigation, Fan Qing was let go. But while she was packing up, security and legal stepped in and discovered suspicious income under her name, and it appeared that she had stolen valuables from the mansion.”
Butler Lin paused.
“We are looking at a 10-year sentence.”
“Ten years?” Gu Shishi was very surprised.
Butler Lin nodded solemnly. “Partly it was due to my poor management.”
“No, no, no. I am just asking. I don’t mean anything by that.”
Gu Shishi quickly shook her hands.
“Okay, I am done with these gift boxes. You can go ahead and hand them out now.”
“Okay, Miss.” Butler Lin promised that he’d bring her hers that afternoon and walked away.
Gu Shishi, on the other hand, sat there and spun the color pencil still in her hand.
Ten years? How much valuables did she steal from the mansion?
And nobody ever noticed it?
Gu Shishi frowned and scanned around the living room.
She had been to the cleaning supply room before. There was a schedule in there, and two people were assigned to each location.
One responsible for performing the work and the other to double check and complete what had been missed. They were very well trained and very strict.
With Huo Sishen’s personality, the mansion was so clean that no visible dirt could be seen with naked eyes, let alone any large valuables.
How would it be possible that the person who was double checking would miss that fact that an item was missing? That was almost impossible. How was Fan Qing able to steal anything?
Gu Shishi mulled over it for a little bit before she gave up.
Soon after, she ran into Siyi, who just returned from the outside.
Siyi was the one closest to the boss and was also the one who could best read the boss’s mind. He knew very well that Gu Shishi’s status was going up and up by the minute.
He wasn’t as subtle as Butler Lin and just told her bluntly.
“It wasn’t possible to steal from inside of the mansion. There are security cameras and security guards performing daily checks.”
Having said that, Siyi scratched his head and pointed at the second floor. “The day that you got sick, Young Master got sick as well.”
“Oh?” That was the first time Gu Shishi heard about that.
Siyi nodded, more worried now that he was then. “He fell ill for three days with day one being the worst day of all. We found out about Fan Qing, and the boss was infuriated. He gave her one last chance to come clean.”
Gu Shishi didn’t really know what he meant by that and Siyi went on.
“We loosened up the security the day we let her go and let her roam around the mansion freely.”
Siyi stopped there, but that was enough for Gu Shishi to figure out the rest.
The boss had set her up. Had Fan Qing still had a shred of moral left in her, she’d just have been fired.
Yet she wasn’t able to resist the temptation of money and went to steal valuables on her last day. And that was an opportunity that was created for her intentionally.
They took her to court for stealing afterward.
“Miss Gu, she’d spend some time in jail and won’t be able to victimize anyone else,” said Siyi calmly. “If she learns her lesson, her sentence will be reduced.”
Gu Shishi nodded; letting Siyi know that she understood what he meant.
She was not a saint and had no intention to speak up for Fan Qing, who had tried to set her up time and again.
And the stealing was all her own idea. Nobody framed her or made her do it.
All she could say was she asked for it herself.
If one could steal freely because there was no surveillance, then why did we still need the law?
There were naturally consequences for breaking the law.
That being said, Gu Shishi was still a little stunned.
The boss had always been a cute tsundere in her mind.
She hadn’t expected his measures to be so... battling the evil with evil. That was truly the act of a villain!
But then again, he did all those... for her. That made it impossible for her to find that repulsive.
In fact, that was a little... sweet?
Gu Shishi blushed a little and quickly calmed down.
She asked immediately. “How did he get sick that time?”
That all she could think about right now.
He got sick the same day that she did? Was it because of her?
Gu Shishi felt her heart pounding.
A rich and handsome man, somewhat of an introvert and somewhat cute. He seemed evil on the outside but he had done a lot for her behind her back. And he had gotten sick with her?
Oh boy! What kind of a Mary Sue plotline was this?
“What kind of illness? Mentally or physically?”
The boss only had two years left to live. Could this be the reason for his illness?
Siyi suddenly took a step back.
“That I can’t share, Miss Gu. That’s the boss’s personal matter. It’s best if you ask him yourself.”
“.... You think your boss will tell me?” Gu Shishi could do nothing but smile bitterly.
Siyi shook his head.
“Alright, alright. I won’t put you on the spot. You go and take care of what you need to. I should head into work as well.”
Gu Shishi looked at the time. This would have to wait.
When the next opportunity arose, she’d need to find out more about it!
***
9 AM.
Gu Shishi had left and had already started work at the studio.
Siyi had already finished preparing for the morning meeting, notified everyone to attend, and was about to head into the office with Huo Sishen.
Huo Sishen, when he walked downstairs today, looked to be very good-spirited.
Even his normal black suit made him look particularly lively today. Even his usual cold aura had lessened.
Siyi looked over at him and was at loss for half a second.
Was this still the same boss that people referred to as the grim reaper?
He looked a little... warm?
When Huo Sishen reached the bottom of the stairs, he looked at Siyi with his eyes narrowed.
All of a sudden, his subordinate was very pleasing to his eyes today.
“Have you had breakfast?”
Siyi, pleasantly surprised, said, “Yes, I have. Two buns, an egg, and a serving of soy milk. Our employee benefits are amazing.”
He quickly took the opportunity to brown-nose.
Sure enough, Huo Sishen’s lips closed tightly. He seemed even happier. His lips twitched a little.
“Mmm. Just let the butler know if you need anything else. Budget is not a problem.”
And the benefits had just gotten even better!
Siyi, shocked, immediately looked very happy.
“Thank you, Boss!”
Sure enough, nine out of ten men who had midnight snacks from their loved one would be walking on heaven; the last one had lost his mind!
Huo Sishen, too, looked very satisfied.
Nobody tried the breakfast before him. She only made his share.
Just him...
When it came down to it, this woman still knew what to do.
Boss Huo, satisfied, his fondness for Gu Shishi grew a little right then and there.
Gu Shishi, who was instructing in her class, suddenly received the system notification. “???”
***
Nevertheless, when Huo Sishen got inside of his Cadillac ten minutes later, he had on a peculiar look.
Master Chen, the chauffeur, quickly put away the mooncake gift box when he saw the boss headed toward him and quickly thanked him. “Thank you for our employee benefit, Boss.”
Huo Sishen’s lips twitched.
His ears felt a bit hot and, looking outside of the window, he said, “Mmm.”
The employees received benefits on every holiday every year.
This was not the first time.
This was, however, the first time someone thanked him in person.
And it wasn’t just the chauffeur. On his way from the second floor out, he had run onto a lot of employees that looked familiar, but he didn’t know their names. All of them smiled awkwardly at him and gave him an appreciative look.
What happened this year? How were they all infected by that woman Gu Shishi?
Huo Sishen turned away and his lips softened some more.
Nevertheless, perhaps the chauffeur was in too much of a hurry when he put everything away, something fell onto the floor, making a small noise.
The chauffeur quickly picked it back up, but it had already gotten Huo Sishen’s attention.
Huo Sishen was a little stunned when he looked over with his cold, black eyes.
The little card that Master Chen had picked up was the printed one with greetings inside of the gift box. He recognized it because Butler Lin had confirmed the wordings on it with him.
But now... the card looked very different than he had seen before.
“Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to you and your family.”
And below the writing, there was a cute version of a little man in a suit.
The little man has a fuzzy pair of rabbit ears and is blushing on his chin. He had a head full of fuzzy black hair and a pair of piercing eyes on his round face... it looked almost a little like himself?!
Huo Sishen frowned.
A fluffy ball adorned the back of the very neat dress pants. Was that a... rabbit’s tail?
“Eh? Master Chen? Your little guy is different from mine.”
Siyi had gotten into the passenger seat and spotted the card right away. He had also received his gift.
Master Chen got excited all of a sudden. “Oh yeah? What does yours look like? If it isn’t a bunny, then it must be the mini Cheng’e version....”
163.jpg
Picture: Cheng’e (goddess of moon)
Source: jianbihua.com
Having said that, he stopped himself abruptly.
Huo Sishen, sitting in the back seat, his ears had already perked up.
Cheng’e?
That woman Gu Shishi didn’t just draw a bunny version of him, she also drew a Cheng’e version of him?
His brows furrowed deeply all of a sudden.
The husband of Cheng’e was Huo Yi, the mythological Chinese archer.
Did this woman Gu Shishi not even possess knowledge that even a grade school student should possess?
She drew him as a bunny...
How’s Cheng’e related to the bunny?
Exactly how stupid was that woman?!
“Hand it over,” said Huo Sishen coldly.
He reached his hand out at the passenger side in the front.
That woman had drawn so many cutesy versions of him and handed them out to so many... she was hopeless.
Siyi, sitting in front, froze for a second.
He almost wanted to punch himself. Him and his big mouth!
Even Master Chen, next to him, looked to be very awkward.
Finally, Siyi failed to stand his ground under the threat. He pulled out the card, which he had put away carefully inside his shirt pocket and planned to share with Sier when he reached the office, and handed it over reluctantly.
He had on him The-Boss-Is-Probably-Not-Going-To-Give-This-Back-To-Me sadness...
Huo Sishen humphed and said, “Hurry up!”
Having no other choice, Siyi finally handed it over with quivering hands.
Huo Sishen took it over and lowered his head to look at it.
His hand shuddered and his lips twitched.
Cheng’e flying toward the moon...
What a wonderful depiction of Cheng’e whose clothes were flowing in the air as though she was riding on the wind toward the moon!
It was a cute version of a little person clothed in elegant and floaty traditional garb and that cold little face was... him?!
GU– SHISHI!
Huo Sishen’s entire handsome face tensed up!
Siyi turned around and took a quick look from the passenger seat before he immediately shut his mouth and pretended that nothing had happened.
He was howling inside his head. Limited edition. That was for sure going to be limited edition!
Who else has seen Cheng’e version of the boss??
And now, it’s gone!
***
A mere half an hour later, there was a pile of cards piled up in front of Huo Sishen.
Other than the bunny and Cheng’e version, there were cute versions of Wu Gang, osmanthus tree, moon, mooncake.... drew in his image.
Every employee in the mansion received a different version.
All of them cute in their own way.
Nobody could read the look on Huo Sishen at this very moment.
Well, mystery solved.
This would explain why everybody at the mansion was smiling at him this morning...
His cold look had been turned into a cute version, and in all different versions. Now when others look at him, all they could think of was the cute boy on the cards and were no longer intimidated by him.
Those at the mansion had become bolder. They even picked up bartering with him.
For example, over the phone right now —
Butler Lin was inquiring, “Young Master. Can you please return the cards to everyone? Some of the employees will be taking off for vacation starting today.”
Huo Sishen’s lips twitched as he looked at the row of “him” in their... indescribable form.
“What do you think?” His voice was hoarse.
They wanted them back?
His eyelids twitched a few times.
What were they going to do with them? Keep these bizarre versions of his images as collectibles? Were they out of their minds?
Butler Lin, on the other hand, responded immediately. “I think it’s best to have Sier bring them on his way back to the mansion. After all, these are thoughts from you and Miss Gu and everybody likes them. We should give them back before they leave for the holidays.”
He paused, then added, “Even my daughter said the cartoon version of you is so cute that she wants to pick up drawing now.”
Huo Sishen, “......”
Cute? They dare use that word to describe him now?!
Had Butler Li lost his mind from being affected so much by Gu Shishi?!