"Cough, cough... ugh... cough, cough, cough..."

  Peering through the crack in the door, the Young Girl saw Yan Feng wearing a mask, hat, and a pair of goggles he somehow acquired, using a specially extended spatu to stir the bright red pot from a distance, looking somewhat comical.

  The pot was filled with a rge amount of chili peppers, beef, and other spices, emitting a tantalizing aroma. Chen Xi couldn't help but swallow, watching the man suppress his coughs while making beef sauce for her, unconsciously biting her lip.

  She didn't say anything, just turned to the bathroom, washed up, and returned to her room, lying on the bed and deliberately gncing at the clock on the wall.

  11:30

  She sighed deeply, slowly closed her eyes, but her lips curled up involuntarily, thinking that tonight might be a rare beautiful dream.

  …………

  Feng Yao had just started her job at the company today.

  Initially, she was just a fresh graduate, nding this job thanks to her decent university credentials.

  She was quite happy at first, after all, her peers were still preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination or were stressed about job hunting. Although her internship sary wasn't high, at least she had a legitimate job, which was enough to make others envious.

  As long as she worked hard, endured the internship period, things would get better after becoming a full-time employee.

  At least, that's what she originally thought.

  But now, just one morning into the job, she was already in trouble with the company's boss.

  "What's your name?" Feng Yao heard the inquiry, looked up, and saw a handsome man. His charming face paired with a stern expression made her momentarily think a domineering CEO from a shoujo manga had come to life.

  "Ah? Ah..." Feng Yao swallowed, mesmerized by his face, smoothing her hair by her ear, her lips slowly curling up.

  Until she heard his cold, sharp voice.

  "I asked, what's your name!?"

  Her fantasy shattered, Feng Yao was startled, quickly coming back to her senses, looking at the man in front of her, stammering, "Feng... Feng Yao..."

  "Then I'll call you Xiao Yao," Yan Feng frowned, spping a printed document onto her keyboard, questioning, "Did you make this proposal?"

  "Ah... ah yes... yes, I did..."

  "Redo it! What is this you've written!?" Yan Feng showed no regard for her dignity, flipping open the proposal and pointing to paragraphs, criticizing:

  "This won't do, it's all nonsense, delete it, don't add things unnecessarily!"

  "This part was done by the previous person you coordinated with, I saw it, why did you change it? If it was improved, fine, but this just creates trouble for others!"

  "Tsk... no, there are too many problems at the back, I feel your attitude towards this job is too poor, if this continues, you won't be working here anymore!"

  "......"

  After his reprimand, the woman didn't absorb much, just kept her head down, silent, with a good attitude of admitting mistakes.

  But what she couldn't accept was the frustration of having her self-worth denied. She had been working so hard, why wasn't there a single word of acknowledgment...

  Yan Feng left, and she finally got to sit down and rest, revising the proposal while biting her lip, her heart full of bitterness and grievance.

  Just starting a job and encountering such a nitpicking boss, whether she could continue was uncertain, and the deposit on her rented apartment couldn't be refunded...

  Feng Yao thought, bearing all the pressure silently, revising the proposal from afternoon to evening, showing it to several colleagues who all said it was fine, yet it was still rejected by that heartless boss in the office.

  Her inner pride was utterly shattered, she suddenly recalled the joy of learning her college entrance exam scores and the looks from neighbors after entering university.

  A surge of determination filled her heart, Feng Yao gritted her teeth, reviewed the electronic version of the proposal again, and continued making changes as Yan Feng instructed, printed it, and took it to him.

  By then, the sun had long set, most colleagues had left, she gritted her teeth, picked up the newly printed proposal, and marched towards the CEO's office.

  The result was still rejection and denial.

  Feng Yao was utterly lost.

  She wandered out of the office, like a machine, bought a cup of instant noodles from the vending machine outside, habitually added a sausage, finished it tastelessly, and threw it away.

  Opening her computer again, she no longer knew why she was still working, or why she was still at the company, only a single word kept repeating in her mind:

  "Redo, redo, redo..."

  As night fell, in the empty office, only her workstation was still lit, but she sat there, eyes vacant, staring at the screen, motionless.

  Until... a phone rang.

  Feng Yao immediately snapped back to reality, took out her phone from her pocket, gnced at it, then pursed her lips and answered:

  "Mom..."

  "Yeah... I found a job... it's going well... yeah..."

  As Feng Yao spoke, tears unknowingly streamed down her face, yet she had to suppress her grievances, chatting with her mother about daily matters.

  But no one knows a daughter better than her mother, how could Mother Feng not hear the suppressed tone in her child's voice?

  "Yao'er, are you having trouble at work? If you're feeling uncomfortable, just talk to mom..."

  That one sentence broke Feng Yao's defenses, tears flowed uncontrolbly as she cried out:

  "Mom! I feel like I can't go on, our boss is picking on me on purpose... no matter how many times I revise the proposal, he says it's not good, I've been revising all afternoon, and he still says it's not good... I really feel like I can't go on..."

  With no one working overtime in the office, she didn't have to worry about her conversation being overheard, so she could cry freely in front of the one who loved her most, her mother.

  After venting and receiving a few comforting words, Feng Yao finally took a deep breath, hung up the phone, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and looked back at the computer.

  However, behind the computer, there appeared a man who shouldn't have been there.

  It was Yan Feng, who had just come out of the office.

  In the dim room, his already cold face looked even more chilling and terrifying, staring straight at her like a ghost coming to cim a soul.

  Clearly, everything she had just vented on the phone had been heard by him.

  The man slowly spoke, enunciating each word:

  "Why are you still here?"