After the Corporate Slave Beta and the Top Alpha Married - Chapter 26

Ji Yu sat on the sofa in a daze for a while before sluggishly getting up to continue packing.

Things had already come to this; there didn’t seem to be any other way. If they had to sleep together, they’d sleep together. He silently recited the contract amount in his head several times, and his ability to accept the situation improved instantly.

Remembering what Shang Yuanzhou had said, Ji Yu found his phone and sent a message to his landlord, informing them that he would be terminating his lease immediately.

He had to move his things out this afternoon, submit his resignation letter tomorrow, and attend a banquet with Shang Yuanzhou. Calculating it all, Ji Yu felt like he had quite a lot on his plate.

Once packed, he called Shang Yuanzhou and mentioned the wall clock. “So… what should I do with the clock?”

Shang Yuanzhou seemed to be busy; there were voices in the background, muffled and indistinct, serving as a backdrop to his own voice: “Just leave it there and wait for me to handle it.”

“The car to pick you up will be there shortly. If you’re tired, take a rest.”

Ji Yu’s eyes crinkled. “Okay.”

Before signing the contract, Ji Yu had actually been very hesitant. Living with a stranger for a long time and acting out a sense of seamless intimacy was no easy feat. But through his interactions with Shang Yuanzhou during this period, he found that the other man was actually a very good person he just looked a bit cold when he wasn’t speaking.

Was this the legendary “cold face, warm heart”?

Ji Yu sat on the sofa and dazed for half an hour. When he was young, he used to daze often, staring at the balcony or into empty rooms. Since becoming an adult, the pressure of life and dealing with work consumed too much time, making these moments of emptying his brain rarer and rarer.

It wasn’t until his phone rang that Ji Yu was startled out of his trance.

“Hello, who is this?”

The voice on the other end was somewhat raspy and heavy, sounding like an older middle-aged man. “Is this Mr. Ji?”

“I’m here to take you to the villa. Could you come downstairs first? You can leave your belongings where they are.”

Ji Yu hurriedly agreed and took the elevator down.

Standing at the entrance was a man in a tailcoat that looked remarkably like a butler’s uniform from a TV drama. He had a stiff expression, and before he even spoke, Ji Yu had a feeling who he was.

Sure enough.

“Mr. Ji, I am the butler of the villa. You may call me Uncle Yu.”

“President Shang asked me to pick you up. Later, I will help you familiarize yourself with the villa’s environment.”

Ji Yu couldn’t help but become serious and formal in his presence. “Then… then I’ll have to trouble you?”

The butler’s men moved his things into the car. Just as Ji Yu was about to hop in with them, the butler stopped him.

“You are President Shang’s spouse. How can you sit in the same vehicle as the cargo?”

Ji Yu opened his mouth, his expression blank and helpless, looking exactly like a small, unsophisticated country fish swimming from a fishbowl into the ocean for the first time.

So strict.

He had once thought Uncle Liu, the driver, could pass for a butler, but it seemed Uncle Liu still had a lot of room to grow.

However, this real butler looked so stern that he likely wouldn’t deliver any classic butler lines like “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the Young Master smile like this.”

As a “CEO’s Little White Flower” butler, he was unqualified. Minus one point.

While silently complaining in his head, Ji Yu obediently sat in a separate car.

They passed through the busy city center and reached a high-security villa district, where the car drove into the front yard of a detached villa.

The house was beautiful, complete with a garden and a lawn. Ji Yu looked at the garden through the car window, his expression gradually turning to one of confusion.

He had seen gardens planted with roses and peonies; he had even seen people plant vegetables. But planting a massive field of dandelions was a first.

Wouldn’t the seeds go everywhere once the wind blew? Unless the villa kept its doors and windows shut year-round, the house would be filled with drifting dandelion seeds.

Perhaps because the car had already passed the garden and Ji Yu’s head-turning was too obvious, the butler driving in front spoke up: “Planting dandelions is President Shang’s preference.”

“That is why many dandelions are planted at the villa. Every year, maintaining this dandelion field and dealing with the drifting seeds costs millions.”

Ji Yu: “A-Zhou likes dandelions that much?”

“No,” the butler shook his head solemnly. “To my knowledge, President Shang does not actually like dandelions.”

“Every year when the dandelion seeds are at their peak dispersal, President Shang doesn’t particularly enjoy seeing them.”

He doesn’t like dandelions, yet he likes planting them?

What a niche hobby.

The “Overbearing CEOs” in TV dramas usually had various ailments stomach problems, headaches, pheromone allergies, mania, or even allergies to women. Shang Yuanzhou had none of those. He lacked all the standard CEO quirks. It turned out he did have one; it just manifested in this bizarre way.

However, Ji Yu didn’t think dandelions were bad. On the contrary, he quite liked them. Wherever the wind blows, that’s where the seed settles it felt very much like freedom. Although not his favorite plant, seeing such a large field of dandelions every day put him in a good mood.

Still, when the wind blew all the seeds away, wouldn’t it just be a bald patch? From “beautiful” to “ridiculous” in an instant.

Ji Yu restrained himself and didn’t voice his thoughts. Facing this stern butler gave him a sense of tension, like being back in his student days facing a teacher.

The car stopped, and Ji Yu followed the butler into the villa. Upon entering, the butler’s first words were:

“Since I became the butler here, you are the only person President Shang has ever brought home.”

Ji Yu almost slipped on his next step.

The butler seemed to offer a faint smile. “What I mean is, President Shang must love you very much to have married you. He has never favored anyone else, nor has he had any messy relationships.”

“Though it may be overstepping my bounds to say this, I truly hope you and President Shang can get along well.”

“Sometimes President Shang may make mistakes, but I believe it is likely because he loves you.”

The expression on his face as he spoke was strange so complex that Ji Yu couldn’t decipher it. He could only reply with equal solemnity: “I will.”

At this moment, Ji Yu felt the heavy weight of the lie. From a professional standpoint, the butler was just an employee hired by Shang Yuanzhou. Beyond their superior-subordinate relationship, there was nothing else. But as he spoke these words, he was just an old man who genuinely cared for Shang Yuanzhou, much like Grandma Li.

And he and Shang Yuanzhou were conspiring to deceive this old man, even if it wasn’t intentional.

I hope Shang Yuanzhou explains things properly to him when this is all over. And I hope the person Shang Yuanzhou truly loves and marries in the future lives up to this old man’s expectations.

The butler led Ji Yu around, introducing every part of the villa the gym, the study, the piano room, the home theater, the indoor pool, and the master bedroom. When they reached a room adjacent to the bedroom, the butler stopped.

This room seemed different from the others. The door was tightly shut, and combined with the butler’s expression, Ji Yu’s heart skipped a beat.

The butler stared at Ji Yu with a strange yet solemn look. “President Shang has stated that no one is permitted to enter this room.”

“Even though you are married to President Shang, you absolutely cannot go inside.”

Ji Yu nodded obediently. “Okay.”

He was about to walk to the next area, but the butler remained stationary and spoke again: “You absolutely cannot enter. Do you understand?”

Ji Yu: “…” “I understand.”

Butler: “Aside from you, none of the rest of us are allowed near it either. Even the cleaning inside is handled by President Shang himself. Only he can enter.”

Ji Yu stood there listening to the butler emphasize the room’s importance repeatedly. Just as he was about to swear to the heavens that he would never go inside, the butler finally finished his lecture.

As they continued to the next location, the butler asked casually, “You don’t seem curious about what’s inside that room?”

Ji Yu replied without thinking, “Everyone has their own secrets. If it’s a place where entry is forbidden, why should I be curious? I’m not interested in prying into other people’s secrets.”

The butler led the way, his gaze seeming to sigh while his tone remained stern. “Are you not worried that there might be someone else’s things inside? For example… a ‘White Moonlight’?”

This time, it was Ji Yu who looked at the butler with a strange expression. If it weren’t for his stern voice remaining so devoid of emotional fluctuation, Ji Yu would have suspected he was a different person. An older butler using such a trendy term was this butler also a loyal fan of CEO dramas?

Besides, combined with his earlier words, it felt very strange. He was emphasizing that the room was off-limits while simultaneously dropping hints, almost as if he were trying to pique Ji Yu’s curiosity.

Could it be…

A bolt of inspiration hit Ji Yu. “Are you just curious yourself but don’t dare to go in, so you’re trying to egg me on to go inside? So, I can tell you what I saw, satisfying your gossip while you avoid A-Zhou’s punishment?”

The butler stopped and turned around, looking at Ji Yu with an indescribable expression for a moment. “You are overthinking it.”

In what environment did this child grow up for his nerves to be this thick?

Ji Yu didn’t believe him and shook his head disapprovingly. “It’s wrong to be so curious about other people’s private matters, Uncle Yu.”

Butler: “I simply feel that you don’t seem very concerned about President Shang’s affairs.”

Ji Yu stiffened, partially covering his face with his hand. “I believe A-Zhou wouldn’t treat me that way. This ‘White Moonlight’ you speak of I don’t believe it for a second, unless A-Zhou tells me himself.”

His tone was fragile, and his eyes looked like he was on the verge of tears. However, though he rubbed them until they were red, not a single tear appeared.

From these actions, the butler saw a trace of something familiar. He stiffly and quickly skipped over this segment, and both men let out a simultaneous sigh of relief.

Shang Yuanzhou returned late that evening and went straight to the study. He knew Ji Yu was likely very nervous, so he hadn’t appeared at dinner, giving the boy ample time to adjust.

“Knock, knock, knock”

The butler knocked on the study door and entered after receiving permission, closing the door behind him. He set down a cup and spoke: “President Shang, I have informed Mr. Ji that the room is strictly off-limits.”

Shang Yuanzhou’s hand, about to turn a page, paused. “How did he react?”

Butler: “Mr. Ji said ‘Okay’.”

Shang Yuanzhou was silent for a long time before slowly saying, “I see.”

The butler hadn’t left yet, and Shang Yuanzhou’s brow knit slightly. “Aside from emphasizing that the room cannot be opened, you didn’t say anything else to Ji Yu, did you?”

His heart sank slightly. “Uncle Yu, I won’t blame you this time, but Ji Yu is very wary. Saying unnecessary things will easily make him suspicious. Let’s not have a repeat of this.”

The things behind that door would only scare Ji Yu away if he saw them prematurely.

When Ji Yu finally pushed that door open of his own accord… that would be when Shang Yuanzhou was confident enough to close the net.

The inescapable net would hold his “Little Fish” it would be the most delightful moment Shang Yuanzhou had long anticipated. Until then, he wouldn’t allow a single disturbance to startle the cautious fish.

If Uncle Yu hadn’t been with him since his days as an illegitimate son at the bottom of the hierarchy uneducated and lacking in schemes, but always putting Shang Yuanzhou first—he wouldn’t have let him off so easily.

The butler looked apologetic. “It was an overstep on my part, President Shang. I will go down and reflect on my actions.”

Shang Yuanzhou rubbed his brow and waved him off. “Go and rest, Uncle Yu. And… stop learning from the butlers in TV dramas.”

One by one, everyone in this house is becoming a cast member for a low-budget CEO drama.