The door to Yuxuan's office clicked shut behind her, and Xia Yuwei let out the breath she'd been holding since their awkward encounter. She wiped her palms on her uniform and narrowed her eyes.
Mission: Back in motion.
She wasn't here for nostalgic eye-contact battles. She was here to uncover the identity of the elusive CEO of XuanTech Group — and she was determined to sniff him out like a bloodhound in sneakers.
Adjusting the earpiece hidden beneath her janitor's cap, she whispered, "Agent Xia initiating Phase Two. Target: Shadow Boss."
The cleaning cart squeaked as she rolled it down the hallway, but with each step, her eyes were sharp — scanning doors, surveillance cameras, air vents (just in case), and any oddly handsome men in suits who walked suspiciously fast.
The 39th floor was a fortress of sleek panels and secretaries with dead-eyed smiles. Everyone looked busy. Too busy. Suspiciously busy. But none of them seemed like the real boss.
She tried to peek into a conference room by pretending to wipe the glass. Instead, she accidentally bumped her forehead against it. The two men inside stared at her. One of them mouthed, "Are you okay?"
She gave a thumbs-up, then promptly knocked over her mop bucket.
Smooth.
She darted through stairwells. She ducked under desks. She pretended to polish doorknobs while planting tiny listening devices — most of which were really just Bluetooth chips she stole from her cousin's karaoke machine.
At one point, she tried sneaking into the executive pantry, thinking maybe the CEO was secretly eating spicy potato chips there.
Instead, she bumped into a terrifyingly tall intern who screamed and dropped an entire tray of bubble tea.
"I'M SORRY," she shouted, slipping on a tapioca pearl and crashing straight into the fridge. "I'M HERE TO… CLEAN THE MILK."
"Ma'am," the intern said, trembling, "I think your mop just winked at me."
She grabbed the mop, whispered, "You're blowing our cover," and vanished into the hall.
By mid-afternoon, she had evaded four security guards, climbed two air vents (and gotten stuck in one), and accidentally joined a finance meeting because someone handed her a clicker and she panicked.
"Uh, yes," she'd said to a room of professionals, clicking random slides, "as you can see… the blue graph is... very blue. And the profit is shaped like a... duck. Next slide."
The applause was thunderous. Someone offered her a promotion.
By 8 p.m., the building began to empty. Lights dimmed. Desks were abandoned. But Xia Yuwei remained, crouching behind a potted plant in the hallway.
She had followed a man who looked important — expensive shoes, Bluetooth headset, and the kind of watch that whispered, "I have offshore accounts" — only to realize he was the coffee machine repair guy.
"Maybe I am losing it," she muttered.
Finally, her legs gave up. Her back hit the corridor wall outside the executive wing. She slid down and hugged her mop like a sad teddy bear. Her eyes blinked once… twice… then shut.
Ten minutes later, footsteps echoed.
Yuxuan, paused mid-step.
There, outside the corridor of the restricted zone, wrapped in a cleaning apron and snoring lightly on the marble floor… was his ex.
His very dramatic, mop-hugging, dream-mumbling ex.
He stared.
She kicked in her sleep. "l want to eat pizza..."
Yuxuan looked at her and smiled after a long moment, then gently placed his coat over her shoulders
Nobody saw that. Right?
Zhao Lei, from behind a vending machine: "Awwwww, he cares!"
"ZHAO LEI GET OUT OF THERE!"
To be continued....