CH 52

When Xu Xinghe walked out of Mr. Liang’s office, the clock had just reached nine in the morning.

He returned to his office as usual, then took the materials and coffee and went to the Third Group to continue the work that was unfinished yesterday.

Gu Nai didn’t come to work today. When someone in the same group said that he had taken sick leave, a hint of surprise flashed in Xu Xinghe’s eyes, and then he nodded calmly: “I see, let’s go to the meeting.”

Time has turned into autumn, and the light of the artificial sun spreads into the Ark, revealing a bit of bleak warmth.

It should have been an ordinary morning at work, but no one expected that a sudden emergency investigation was quietly staged inside the Ark, breaking the original tranquility.

The reason was a post that appeared in the Xingzhou forum last night. Due to the confidential project involved, the investigation was not carried out with great fanfare. However, because the post involved multiple parties, even some people who left replies were called up, so things inevitably leaked.

Undercurrents surged all morning. After hearing the news, some people who relied on anonymity to speak nonsense, went online to delete their replies with a guilty conscience, for fear of getting burned.

However, Xu Xinghe, who was concentrating on the meeting, was unaware of this.

For the whole morning, he spent the whole morning in the conference hall with the Third Group’s Team Leader, Conrad Alva, and other team members to study how to solve the problem of inter-planet network communication delay and how to reduce the loss when transferring data.

The fierce debate and in-depth meeting lasted for more than three hours. Team Leader Conrad, who had been in this position for more than 10 years, was both helpless and gratified to find that Xu Xinghe at work was really as serious and stubborn as the rumors, as well as highly professional and reliable.

When an initial solution was finally formed, everyone finally hurriedly broke up for lunch.

Xu Xinghe returned to his office and turned on the electronic smartphone on his wrist.

Originally, he wanted to see if Ling Changfeng had sent any emails, but unexpectedly, he saw an unfamiliar account requesting to add him as a friend on LINK.

Postscript: “I’m Gu Nai.”

Xu Xinghe was slightly startled and clicked to agree to the application.

Gu Nai: “Sorry.”

Almost as soon as the application was approved, Gu Nai sent these two words.

Xu Xinghe: “?”

The other side was silent for a while, and suddenly a word came out –

Gu Nai: “I saw the post. The person who posted the candid photo in the Ark Building obviously made a serious violation. I’ve already contacted Mr. Liang and reported the situation. He said he would deal with it. I just went to the forum to check, and the post has been deleted. I just hope this matter doesn’t affect you.”

Xu Xinghe: “…”

He was a little surprised to find that some of Gu Nai’s ideas are quite consistent with his.

Xu Xinghe replied unhurriedly: “It’s too late.”

Gu Nai: “What’s wrong?”

Xu Xinghe: “I already told Mr. Liang.”

After a while, he continued: “It wasn’t a big deal at first. Is this why you asked for sick leave?”

Gu Nai: “…”

Xu Xinghe teased him: “With the Third Group so busy, it’s not very kind for you to skip work.”

As soon as the words were sent out, he remembered that he had also taken sick leave the day before yesterday. Losing the confidence to scold others, he simply stopped the previous topic, and just typed: “No one should say anything after today, you can come to work tomorrow.”

After a while, a word came from the opposite side: “Okay.”

At four o’clock in the afternoon, Xu Xinghe was writing code with the Third Group when he was called to the office by Mr. Liang.

“Do you know this person?” Liang Shilei stretched out his hand, and a picture of a young man appeared on the screen.

Xu Xinghe looked at the image, feeling he looked similar. Tilting his head, he frowned and said, “Dong Yue?”

Mr. Liang nodded: “Well, Dong Yue from the logistics department is the one who secretly photographed you yesterday. His behavior seriously violated the regulations of Ark, and has been officially dismissed after approval from HR. As for whether he violated the rules and leaked secrets, the results can only be obtained after the investigation. The specific situation has also been reported to public security, if convicted, he may face 3 to 5 years of prison time…”

After speaking, he raised his head and glanced at Xu Xinghe: “Do you think this is okay?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t look at me, Boss Liang, it’s not what I want him to do. It doesn’t matter if he causes himself to be fired or goes to prison. You can deal with it according to the regulations. You don’t need to notify me.”

Xu Xinghe shrugged, but then his expression slowly faded. “I’m just curious, this isn’t the first time this guy has lied about me behind his back. I have no grievances with him, so why does he have such malice towards me?”

Liang Shilei opened his mouth. but did not speak. He hasn’t been completely deaf to the criticism surrounding Xu Xinghe over the past year either.

After a long silence, he slowly opened his mouth. “There is a saying in the ancient books – when one is above others, they will definitely be slandered. This is an unavoidable thing. But Xinghe, you have to believe that as you climb higher and higher, as you go further and further, these gossips, like those who talk about you behind your back, will be left behind by you sooner or later.”

Xu Xinghe listened, and smiled without a sound. “Then it seems that I have to speed up my pace… I’m going back to work now, Mr. Liang, and will endeavor to have the thunder engine’s trial operation start this week.”

After turning around, he walked out of Mr. Liang’s office as usual.

The news that Dong Yue was expelled and taken away by the security department for investigation soon spread inside the Ark.

After an afternoon of fermentation, Xu Xinghe clearly felt that some of his colleagues looked at him differently.

Some people became very enthusiastic, while some people evaded and shrunk back, as if they had done something wrong and were afraid of being held accountable.

Xu Xinghe also knows the reason for this change, but by now, he has learned to ignore all kinds of eyes around him. He doesn’t have any time or energy to think about it either given the huge workload. He just continued his work calmly.

At 6 o’clock in the evening, when he should have gotten off work, Team Leader Xu still had a lot of work and had to stay and work overtime.

At about half past six, he received an email from Ling Changfeng: [Are you still working overtime today?]

Xu Xinghe: [Yes]

Ling Changfeng: [When do you get off work? I’ll pick you up]

Xu Xinghe: [No, I don’t know what time I’ll work until, you go back to eat first]

After a while, Ling Changfeng replied: [Tell me before leaving work]

Xu Xinghe: “…”

He stared at the email for two seconds, then closed the mailbox, and threw himself into work wholeheartedly.

But unknowingly, he quickened his movements.

It wasn’t until after nine o’clock in the evening that Team Leader Xu finally rubbed his sore shoulders and got up to move his limbs.

Then he reopened his mailbox and sent an email to Ling Changfeng saying: [I’m getting off work]

Within five seconds, I received a reply from Ling Changfeng: [I am in the T0 parking lot]

Xu Xinghe: [? Have you arrived?]

Ling Changfeng: [Arrived]

Xu Xinghe was stunned for a moment, then he quickly closed his terminal, pulled his jacket and went out.

Seeing two other people in the group on their computers, he said to them as he walked, “Ethan, Ryan, I’ll leave first. You guys should go back as soon as possible, it’s not too late to finish the rest tomorrow.”

Then he disappeared like a gust of wind at the door.

Ryan raised his head and asked Ethan, who was on the opposite side, dumbfounded. “What did the team leader just say? It’s not too late to finish the rest tomorrow??”

Ethan put down the work in his hand, got up and said, “Then let’s listen to our Team Leader Xiao Xu, get off work.”

Ryan suddenly said: “Something’s wrong, is this the team leader I know? Didn’t he always say that his head can break, blood can flow, but the work must be completed?”

Ethan shrugged: “He’s not what he used to be. In the past, we couldn’t urge the team leader to stop working overtime. Now…”

Ethan dragged his sentence out, then looked at Ryan and shook his head. “If you have someone to pick you up every day, you must also want to leave work early.”

Xu Xinghe walked through the gates and quickly came to the T0 special parking lot.

Ling Changfeng’s car was already waiting in his dedicated parking space.

Xu Xinghe got into the car, and while wearing his seat belt, he asked, “How did you get here so fast? What time did you arrive?”

Ling Changfeng’s eyes glued to Xu Xinghe for a moment before he said calmly, “I didn’t have anything after work, and got here early.”

He didn’t go home last night, and he hasn’t met Xu Xinghe for more than 36 hours.

I miss him.

Ling Changfeng looked back leisurely and asked, “Have you eaten dinner?”

Xu Xinghe leaned on his seat and said casually, “Of course, it’s half past nine. If I don’t eat it, I’ll starve to death… How about you? What did you have for dinner?”

As soon as he finished speaking, he realized that he was asking too much.

Sure enough, Ling Changfeng replied with an expression unchanged for thousands of years: “Nutritional supplement.”

Xu Xinghe changed to a more comfortable position and began to close his eyes to rest his mind. “I pretty much had the same. I didn’t have time to go to the cafeteria for dinner, so I just ate a light meal with my colleagues in the office.”

“It’s hard on you.” Ling Changfeng turned to look at his face. Seeing that his little spouse was indeed tired, he didn’t say that he originally planned to take him out for supper, and silently adjusted the route back to the mansion.

“How long will your project last?” Ling Changfeng asked.

“Next Wednesday at the latest, there may be an extra day on the weekend.” Xu Xinghe said, yawned, stretched out his body, and relaxed without defense. “But fortunately, there are three extra days of vacation after the project is completed.”

A faint smile flashed in the mismatched eyes. Ling Changfeng had a plan in his heart, but on the surface he still asked calmly, “What do you want to do on vacation?”

Speaking of this, Xu Xinghe regained his spirit and opened his eyes. “Maybe the two groups will go out to build a tour group together. Our President Liang said that as long as we can get things done by next Wednesday, all the expenses for the group tour will be reimbursed!”

Ling Changfeng: “…”

With a twinkle in his eyes, Ling Changfeng asked with an expressionless face: “Oh, is three days enough for you?”

“Five days with the weekend!”

“Going out of town?”

“En, though we haven’t decided on a destination yet. We’ll talk about it when we’re done with the project.”

Ling Changfeng observed the expression on Xu Xinghe’s face. There was a little excitement and joy in his eyebrows. He obviously looked forward to this vacation trip.

So Marshal Ling opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing.

It was just his heart was irritated for no reason at the thought of not seeing his little spouse for five days.

Xu Xinghe felt sleepy, yawning, but stopped abruptly mid-yawn.

He blinked at Ling Changfeng, and immediately leaned over to look at him. “What’s wrong? Are you unhappy?”

Ling Changfeng’s eyes flickered, and the fluffy dark chestnut head had rubbed against himself.

He wants to rub it.

He was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized that even if he was not in the susceptible period, his emotions would be more and more easily perceived in front of Xu Xinghe.

He lowered his eyes, pursed his thin lips, and said in a low voice: “It’s nothing.”

Xu Xinghe leaned back on his seat and raised his chin with a smile. “Why? Envying me for having a vacation?”

“…” Ling Changfeng shot him a slightly salty look. “En, I’m very envious.”

After that, he suddenly thought of something: “Do you have any other vacations that you haven’t used?”

Xu Xinghe looked at him confused. “What?”

“Honeymoon leave.” In the dimly lit car, Ling Changfeng’s voice came in a low and soft voice, “Ark has a two-week honeymoon leave, when are you going to use it?”