By 9:06 a.m., the Financial Department of Xuantech Group was no longer a workplace.
It was a battlefield. A fashion runway. A drama set. A live gossip factory on turbo mode.
Liu Meihua from accounting whispered, "Did you hear about the coat?"
Tang Ruo, the marketing intern, gasped. "You mean that coat?? The night hallway scene??"
By 9:10 a.m., someone had already photoshopped Xia Yuwei sleeping in a janitor's cart with sparkles and angel wings, captioned:
"Cinderella fell asleep, but Prince Yuxuan covered her with a Versace coat."
By 9:13 a.m., the phrase "Miss Coat Girl" had officially entered the company slang dictionary.
The group chat was on fire.
The air was electric.
The coffee machine broke. (Possibly from gossip-induced overuse.)
Xia Yuwei walked into this flaming arena holding her mop.
Dead silence.
Eyes. So many eyes.
A guy from logistics dropped his pen.
Liu Meihua's mouth curled into a smug half-smile.
Tang Ruo nudged her friend and whispered loudly, "That's her. The cleaner who got the our director's coat. She must've done something."
Someone coughed. Someone fake-sneezed. Someone clicked a phone camera way too loudly.
Yuwei paused.
She knew something was off. She had sensed it even before stepping into the room. That classic shift in energy when the hunted walks into the hunter's den.
She clutched the mop handle a little tighter.
"Move aside," she muttered, pushing her cart forward.
A voice called from behind. "Must be nice, huh? Sleeping on the floor and waking up in luxury."
Yuwei turned.
It was Qin Suyin, one of the senior finance analysts. Her heels clicked as she walked closer, all perfect eyeliner and passive-aggressive venom. "Hope you returned the coat dry-cleaned."
Yuwei stared at her. "Hope you returned your humanity with your last bonus."
Someone gasped. Tang Ruo choked on her smoothie.
Before things could go full girlboss vs girlboss, the door to the private executive office slammed open.
Zhao Lei, assistant to the great and feared Chen Yuxuan, stormed out like a man on a righteous crusade.
"Alright, who the hell made a group chat called 'CoatGate 2025'?"
The crowd froze.
Zhao held up his phone like it was Exhibit A in a courtroom drama. "There's literally a poll in here titled, 'Did she seduce the boss?' — and someone voted 'Only on even-numbered days.' WHO was that?!"
No one spoke.
Zhao's voice dropped lower. "And who made a sticker of our head's face blushing? Huh? Huh?! That man doesn't even blink in meetings, let alone blush!"
Footsteps.
Sharp. Cold. Calculated.
Chen Yuxuan appeared behind Zhao, sleeves rolled, expression unreadable. He scanned the room like a general assessing a field of foolish peasants.
Dead. Silence.
"Back to work," he said.
No one moved.
Yuwei, trying to slip away with her mop bucket, was suddenly in the spotlight.
Yuxuan's gaze fell on her, but his face didn't change—not even a twitch.
"Miss Xia," he said in that perfect, formal voice that made interns pee a little, "I believe the third-floor pantry needs a deep clean."
She blinked. "Y-yes, sir."
"Then why are you here?"
"I—" she paused. "I'm going."
"Good."
He turned to the crowd again. "As for the rest of you... If you have enough time to make memes, stickers, and romantic fanfiction about a piece of outerwear, then clearly, we have overhired."
He looked at Zhao. "Make a list of all non-essential roles. Start from Marketing."
A squeak came from Tang Ruo. Someone dropped their stapler.
"Yes, sir!" Zhao grinned like a devil with a clipboard.
"Oh, and while you're at it," Yuxuan added without looking back, "delete the sticker pack."
Zhao dramatically deleted it on the spot. "RIP 'Coat of Love' sticker pack. You will not be missed."
Employees scattered like ants. The office was a ghost town in 3.5 seconds.
Yuwei pushed her cart away, heart pounding.
He didn't react.
He didn't protect her personally.
He just... shielded her with professionalism.
And somehow, that made it worse.
---
Meanwhile...
Somewhere in a hidden surveillance room, two women in black suits sat watching the footage.
Agent Lin squinted. "That's him, right? That has to be the hidden CEO she's looking for."
Agent Wu sipped her coffee. "I don't know... why would he help her?"
Lin frowned. "Because he still loves her."
Wu rolled her eyes. "What is this, a drama?"
Back at her cart, Yuwei's heart thudded.
She didn't know she was trending.
She didn't know he'd defend her like that.
She didn't know if the coat meant anything.
But she did know one thing:
She was now officially more than just a cleaner in Xuantech Group.
---
To be continued...