It was morning. A young couple walked slowly about on the grass. The man was tall and handsome, and the woman was sweet and gentle. The two of them held hands, making a pretty picture in the golden morning light.

Xia Lei watched the couple and a faint smile came unbidden to his lips. The man was Liu Zhengnan, and the woman was his sister. He was glad to see that his sister was able to find happiness for herself. Liu Zhengnan was outstanding in his work, conducted himself well, and most importantly, he had a good character and was a man who knew how to be responsible. Xia Lei could rest assured, and entrust Xia Xue to him.

Xia Lei walked over.

“Brother. You’re out for a stroll too?” Xia Xue spotted Xia Lei, and greeted him warmly.

“Good morning, Director Xia.” Liu Zhengnan greeted him too.

Xia Xue nudged Liu Zhengnan with her arm, hinting something to him.

Liu Zhengnan then changed his greeting. “Brother.”

The greeting seemed to be an attempt at confirming something.

Xia Lei was a little embarrassed, but he still nodded. “Nn. Zhengnan, you go buy a house today.”

“What do I need to buy a house for? I have my own house,” said Liu Zhengnan.

“Brother, do you mean to say that Zhengnan has to buy a house and a car before he can marry me?” said Xia Xue with a laugh.

Xia Lei glared at Xia Xue. “What are you talking about? If the two of you get married, I’ll give you a building. There won’t be a need for Zhengnan to buy a house. I’m getting Zhengnan to buy a house for my Master, and have the property deed registered under Liang Zhengchun’s name.”

“Yes, no problem.” Liu Zhengnan agreed right away.

“Brother, Liang Siyao has come back, hasn’t she?” asked Xia Xue tentatively.

“Yes, she’s back,” said Xia Lei.

“Brother, you can’t have gotten back together with her, have you?”

“Why are you asking so much about it? Don’t you bother about my affairs.” Xia Lei added, “Zhengnan, get 5,000,000 from the finance department when you go buy the house. This money shall be given to my Master, along with the property deed.”

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“Yes, no problem Directo... Brother.” Liu Zhengnan didn’t seemed used to this new form of address.

“I’ll be going to the workshop now.” Xia Lei turned to leave.

“Brother, I’ll go on the trip to buy a house too,” said Xia Xue.

Xia Lei waved. “Go on, go on. Buy a villa. No need to save money for me. It’s going to be under Master’s name so it has to be grand.”

“Yep, don’t worry. Just leave this to Zhengnan and me,” said Xia Xue with a smile. She waited for Xia Lei to walk far away, and said, “Zhengnan, let’s go look for houses under the Vientaine Group banner.”

“Buying a building from Sister-in-law?” Liu Zhengnan had a bad expression on his face. “Director Xia didn’t say to buy it from her. He wouldn’t want it, would he?”

“Still calling him Director Xia? Then give me back what you took from me.”

Liu Zhengnan was speechless.

“Listen to me on this,” said Xia Xue coyly.

“But...” Liu Zhengnan started to say something, then stopped.

Xia Xue took Liu Zhengnan’s arm and shook it gently. “So are you going to listen to my brother or listen to me?”

“Y... You.” Liu Zhengnan had no defences against the adorable Xia Xue, but he had his opinion too. “But why do you want to buy a building from Sister-in-law? She definitely wouldn’t take money if we went to her.”

“Dummy,” said Xia Xue with a laugh. “Liang Siyao is back. Sister-in-law knows about this for sure. Liang Siyao was my brother’s first girlfriend, and they almost got married. Now that she’s back, Sister-in-law won’t have a chance to reunite with my brother anymore if she doesn’t take the initiative. I’m doing this to send her a signal. Besides, it’s just a villa. My brother thinks nothing of spending money for it, so it will be even less of a bother to Sister-in-law.”

“But what if Brother find out and scolds me?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll block him off.”

“Then give me a kiss.”

“Didn’t you get enough last night? You greedy little piggy.”

“Hehe... Just one.”

Mua! Xia Xue’s sweet cherry lips were pressed to Liu Zhengnan’s cheek.

Love was an intoxicating wine, but also an ensnaring vine.

Xia Lei walked towards the workshop where he was building the second generation Thunder Dragon intelligent lathe. Before he got close to the workshop, he spotted a person in the doorway. Fan Fan. She was wearing Thunder Horse Military Factory’s summer uniform. It had short sleeves and long trousers, and the shoes on her feet were a pair of work boots. She did not look like a scientist in those clothes, but a blue-collar worker who had just got to the factory.

Fan Fan was in work clothes but she was as curvaceous as ever.

Xia Lei found it odd, but he still put on a mask of cold. “What are you doing here/.”

“I’d like to be your assistant,” said Fan Fan.

“Hah?” Xia Lei scoffed. “You want to be my assistant?”

Fan Fan seemed earnest. “Yes. I want to be your assistant. I’ll help you finish your work, and you help me finish my work.”

“Your field is bioengineering. My work is machining and electrical engineering. What can you help me with?” said Xia Lei.

“I... I... I can help you fetch tools. I can get you water when you’re thirsty. I can even wipe your sweat for you!” Fan Fan’s face was red. She knew well that she was no use at all to Xia Lei in his work, but she could not think of any way to get Xia Lei to help her in her work other than this “exchange”.

“Just go back. I’ve said that I’ll cooperate with your work when I have time.” Xia Lei walked around Fan Fan, went to the door, and entered the passcode.

The door opened, and Xia Lei walked into the workshop. Fan Fan followed him in.

Xia Lei looked wordlessly at her. “What the heck so you want?”

“To be your assistant!” said Fan Fan in a huff. She’d never been ignored like this before, and Xia Lei was not just ignoring her but belittling her.

“Fine. Go over there and bring me a roll of electrical lead.” Xia Lei pointed to a corner of the workshop. There was a roll of electrical lead weighing 25 kilograms there.

Fan Fan walked over and bent to lift the roll in her hands. It was quite a strain for her, and she was unsteady in her walk. However, she gritted her teeth and went over to Xia Lei, step by step.

“Don’t force yourself if you can’t do it,” said Xia Lei.

“I’ll be your assistant, so you have to help me complete my work,” said Fan Fan.

Looking at her strain herself made Xia Lei’s heart soften and he almost agreed, but he swallowed his words when they got to the tip of his tongue. He had to go by his plan, or all the hard work he did so far would be wasted.

‘I’m sorry. I don’t want to do this too, but you are working for Bureau ZN. You are an opponent I must beat,’ thought Xia Lei.

Fan Fan wobbled over to Xia Lei, and slipped on a patch of grease right when she got to him. She let out a shriek of surprise, and the two of them fell to the floor in a tangle of wire.

Xia Lei lunged at her, putting his arms around her waist and turned her about to rest on him, letting his body cushion her fall.

Crash! The two of them fell to the floor, but Xia Lei was under Fan Fan. He had acted as a shock absorber for her and she was not injured.

The two of them became strangely quiet.

She liked Xia Lei, and this seed of ‘like’ had been planted when they had been in the Academy of Science.

“Director Xia!” A male voice suddenly came from the speaker system in the workshop.

The two people on the floor froze in quite a beautiful scene.