Chapter 131: Right Back On Schedule (CEO + Taiga)

"Where are you going, Uncle Yang?" Chunhua grasped the edge of his coat and looked up at him. She was sleepily rubbing her eyes with her other hand and yawning. Although it was barely six in the morning, somehow she woke up and caught him before he left. 

Li Yang bit back a chuckle at her sleepy expression, before he cleared his throat. "I have work, Chunhua. I'll be going to the office today, well… for the next few days." He couldn't exactly just throw his schedule into the air because she arrived into his life, and he didn't even do it when the System arrived. He hoped she didn't find it too troublesome.

"Oh…" She tugged his coat again. "But you'll be back right?"

He ruffled her head. "I'll be back at six tonight, so have a good day today, Chunhua and listen to your uncle." He paused for a moment and said. "Well… not everything he says. If he says anything weird or strange, don't pay attention to him."

Memories of their childhood days came to his mind and he found good reason for Chunhua to act mischievous if she wanted to. His brother being a headache of his own in the past despite being the older one.

"You mean Uncle Liang and Aunt Gabrielle?"

"Mhmm." He nodded. After she had slept last night in a guest room, a discussion happened between them to clarify the situation. They would share the responsibilities of taking care of his daughter, between his brother and his partner, and at least for that, Li Yang was grateful for the man's presence. 

"Chunhua, I'll entrust you to feed Pinkie alright?" He took out another strip of seaweed and a pearl from the System's inventory and handed it to her. "If she can eat the pearl, then all the better."

"Did you do that like magic?" Her eyes widened.

He really shouldn't have been doing this in front of her, but he nodded. "You can say that—keep it a secret though, alright?"

Chunhua nodded seriously. "I will, Uncle Yang!"

"That's good. Thank you."

"Uhh… Uncle Yang?"

"What is it?" He glanced back at her, somewhat glad he had enough time to spare for this moment.

She looked up at him. "Can I visit my Mama even if I'm staying here?"

"Yes, of course. I think your Uncle Liang and Aunt Gabrielle will be happy to take you there when you wish."

"Okay. Please have a good day too, Uncle Yang."

"Thank you." He waved at her before he left.

His aim and goals didn't change at all, but how he would accomplish such desires were in part affected by the fact he had a daughter. Things weren't so simple. But he placed such thoughts aside as he stepped out of his house and was greeted by a figure jumping off a tree.

The Tigress Spirit tilted her head at him and smiled. "Taiga will come with you today, Bossman?"

"Yes. Thank you."

—-

"Good… Good morning, Mister Li!"

"Yes, good morning as well, Miss He. Is there anything immediate to report?"

"None, so far."

"Then I'll leave the rest to you. Miss Taiga, please stay with Miss He."

"Right, Bossman!"

He greeted his secretary briefly, albeit Ying Yue He looked distracted when she greeted him. The woman ducking her head and not exactly meeting his eyes when she reported to him. Somewhat avoidant, even—but he stepped into his office and left Taiga with her. Li Yang sat down and pulled his drawer, clearing his table of his laptop and other papers to put everything he had in his arsenal in front of him.

The LSO water-breathing bubblegum

A bag of goblin toenail clippings

His saber-tooth dagger

And finally, the LSO Starglitter pen

Yin-Yang Qi Pill

Those were the things he owned through accomplishing special tasks given by the System, but mostly by opening the Mystery Boxes he had purchased. Not that much if he were to weigh them based on usefulness. He would consider the two as non-essential items unless he needed to go underwater or use the nail clippings for some other purpose that he couldn't fathom.

He picked up the dagger and allowed his qi to flow out from his meridians, into his body and finally coating the weapon in a thin layer of his energy to strengthen it. It was a Skill he had gained along with the Mental Fortitude Skill from undergoing and breaking through the influence of a Siren's voice.

Li Yang was in the seventh stage of being a Qi Condensation Cultivator.

He only needed to go through two more stages before he began Foundation Establishment and actually began using the spiritual qi he observed in order to form a golden or nascent core in the future…

"Is this enough?"

He was twenty-eight years old, and he had a feeling that it was not impressive. He had already gone past the perfect age for the start of cultivation—but Li Yang accomplished this all in less than a month, which was surely faster and even at an outstanding speed than most could dream of.

The CEO could not be satisfied with just this—and so he was waiting.

Li Yang glanced at his watch and waited for that person to arrive.

—-

"Haaah, I guess Bossman doesn't want to be distracted." Taiga glanced at the closed doors to the office of Li Yang. She was currently sprawled on the couch once again, before she eyed Ying Yue He. "Do you have anything for Taiga to eat?"

Ying Yue He looked up. "The kitchen is on the third door on this floor, Miss Taiga. You'd easily find something there if you wish."

"How about you get Taiga some food?"

"No."

Taiga frowned at the woman and huffed. "Is that how you'll treat your teacher in the arts of cultivation? Have you been practicing even?"

Ying Yue He was focused on the screen before she glanced back at the tigress spirit. "I'm busy with work, Miss Taiga. I think you can do it by yourself—or do you want to keep complaining and cause a fuss? There's time for cultivation and there's time for working. It just happens your work is lying around and doing nothing."

"Doing nothing?" Taiga sat up from the couch. "You think Taiga is doing nothing when Taiga showed off her cultivation prowess? Taiga thinks that you're in a foul mood."

"... you should have been there."

"Been what there?" Taiga raised a brow.

Ying Yue He's gaze swerved back to the screen of her monitor. She inhaled and then said, "Maybe nothing bad would have happened if you were present yesterday."

"Yesterday..." Taiga raised a brow. "Why? Did something bad happen while the two of you were doing it—was he bad? Did you want to do it with Taiga too?"

Ying Yue He threw a sharp look at her. "I don't know where you got the idea—"

"Well, you two went out for a date last Saturday, and he returned home on a Sunday morning. It's basic math, even Taiga knows it."

A smile formed on Ying Yue He's lips. "I wouldn't have minded if that was what happened, but… it's nothing like that." Her expression faltered, and she clenched her fist. She took a deep breath and straightened up. "We encountered some trouble after the concert and… I was just useless."

"It can't be helped."

The secretary hung her head and eventually rested her forehead on the table. "You're not helping at all, Taiga. It might have seemed like I couldn't do a thing and it was out of my grasp… but I let him down. And then there was Luo Ju Di and her child—"

"Bossman's daughter?"

She raised her head. "What?"

"His kid." Taiga shrugged, before she barely managed a weak smile. "Taiga met her and Bossman brought her home since the mother was in the hospital..."

"He didn't tell me…"

"Oh, is that what you're sad about?" Taiga asked before she leaned back against the couch. "You couldn't even look him in the eye, though. Not that Taiga thinks he'd tell you, even if you greeted him all cheerfully. Taiga found out about it by accident."

Ying Yue He's expression dampened. "Yes, he probably wouldn't, unless I needed to prepare documents for her or something along those lines." She glanced at the closed doors to the CEO's office with a silent look..

"Who knows?" Taiga shrugged. Not exactly bothered about the situation as the secretary was clearly being right now. Instead she grinned and waved her hand to capture her attention. "Are you feeling better enough to get Taiga some food and practice cultivation again?"

She groaned and stood up. Her gaze hardened and focused on the tigress. "Fine, fine—I'm only doing this because I know you can take care of him. At least, I hope you can." She chewed on her lip and said, "Don't leave his side next time… even if I want you to. Please make sure of it."

"Taiga hopes you remember that~" She stuck her tongue at the secretary.

Right before Ying Yue He could leave the office, someone cleared their throat and spoke up by the doors. "Uhh hey, CEO Li Yang sent me a text to come over here—can I ask someone to tell him, I'm here?"

—both Taiga and Ying Yue He rushed for the door.

Ying Yue He smiled at Taiga and held onto the doorknob. "I got this."

"No, get my food." She grinned back at her. "This is a simple task for Taiga."

"I'm the secretary, sit down Taiga and let me do my job."

"Then properly greet the visitor."

Ying Yue He whispered back. "Shouldn't you inspect them first?"

—-—-

Author's Note: Hello! I got to rest my wrist *cough* symptoms of carpal tunnel and repetitive strain injury are acting up. Hospital bills are a little bit out of my price range, so I'll return to one-daily updates. Thank you for the patience!