97: Chapter 97 Overtime Workers

At six-thirty in the evening, the conference room door was pushed open.

The young lady from Administration hurried in carrying two large bags, panting, "The boxed meals are here! Can someone give me a hand?"

Zhou Yuan stood up and walked over, taking the bags and placing them on the long table.

Another young man came over to help, taking out the boxed meals one by one.

"The chopsticks are in the bag," the young lady from Administration said. "I bought Coke and bottled water for drinks; help yourselves."

Someone called out, "Is there any Sprite?"

"No, just Coke and water."

"Then I'll take water."

"Me too, water."

Liu Li stood up and walked over, flipping through the bags. "Hey, this one is braised pork. Whose braised pork is this?"

"Mine, mine!" Xiao Wang raised his hand.

"This one is chicken leg?"

"Mine."

Qiao Yichen walked over, took a chicken leg meal and a bottle of water. He returned to his seat, opened it, and the food was still steaming. The chicken leg was soy-sauce colored, with green vegetables lying beside it.

Liu Li sat next to him holding her own meal box, snapped open a pair of disposable chopsticks, and immediately buried her face in two big mouthfuls of rice.

While chewing, she suddenly seemed to remember something, turned her head to look at him, her mouth still full of rice, her voice muffled, "Oh right, the data for stocking in universities on your side, send me a copy later, okay? My version is missing the East China region, I was just worrying about it."

Qiao Yichen nodded, picked up a piece of chicken, and said, "Sure, I'll send it to you when I get back."

Liu Li picked up a piece of braised pork and put it in her mouth, scrolling through her phone while chewing. "Yuan Ye seems to be stocking aggressively in East China. I’ve been seeing a lot of store visit videos from Jinling these past two days."

"Mhm, more university stores."

"Why do you think they are stocking so aggressively in university stores?"

Qiao Yichen thought for a moment, "Students like to drink it, I guess."

Liu Li nodded, feeling that made sense, and then buried her face in two more mouthfuls of rice.

Someone at the next table called out, "Who took my Coke?"

"It's here, I'm drinking it."

"Don't you see there's bottled water? Why did you drink my Coke?"

"Bottled water isn't thirst-quenching."

"Coke is?"

"It is, why wouldn't it be?"

A few people laughed.

Liu Li also chuckled and continued eating.

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After a while, she suddenly spoke again, her voice a bit lower, "Do you think we can get this done in these five days?"

Qiao Yichen glanced at her. She wasn't looking at him, staring at the braised pork in her meal box.

"I guess so," he said.

Liu Li smiled, picked up the piece of meat and popped it into her mouth, and didn't ask any further.

At nine-thirty that evening, the whiteboard was already completely filled.

Arrows, circles, keywords, crossed-out words, question marks, exclamation points—the entire whiteboard was covered. Three directions emerged from those messy lines.

Direction A: Real Tea, Real Juice—Function-oriented, target demographic is young women who focus on health.

Direction B: Hand-drawn Illustration Style—Visual-oriented, target demographic is those focused on aesthetics (Yan Zhi Dang).

Direction C: Fresh and Pure—Emotion-oriented, target demographic is university students and new professionals.

Liu Yanran stood in front of the whiteboard, looking for a long time.

No one spoke. Everyone was looking at her.

She finally turned around.

"Keep these three directions for now," her voice was still flat. "We'll finalize the strategy tomorrow morning."

She glanced at her phone; it was ten minutes to ten.

"That's all for today. Send the results to the group chat and go rest." She paused, "Gather at nine-thirty tomorrow, don't be late."

People gradually dispersed. The sound of chairs being pushed under tables, the sound of laptops closing, the sound of someone yawning as they walked out.

Qiao Yichen packed up his things, put his computer in his bag, and walked to the elevator entrance.

The elevator went down to the parking lot. He pulled open the car door and sat in the driver's seat. He adjusted the seat backward, leaned against the backrest, let out a breath, and took out his phone to send a message to Liu Yanran:

"Yanran, have you come down yet?"

After waiting a few minutes, his phone vibrated.

"Almost. I'll go down after I reply to this last email, just a few minutes."

Qiao Yichen replied with an "Mm, no rush," and tossed his phone onto the center console.

The garage was very quiet. Occasionally, footsteps could be heard coming from a distance, then disappearing into some corner. He leaned back against the seat, staring blankly at the concrete pillar ahead.

About seven or eight minutes later, the passenger door was pulled open. Liu Yanran sat in, threw her bag onto the back seat, leaned her whole body back against the seat, and let out a long sigh: "So tired—"

Qiao Yichen turned sideways, reached out, and gently stroked her hair. The strands were soft and slightly cool. He didn't speak, just looked at her.

Liu Yanran closed her eyes, letting his hand gently caress the top of her head.

After a while, Qiao Yichen withdrew his hand and started the car. "Let's go, home."

The car pulled out of the underground garage and merged into the night traffic. Liu Yanran leaned against the passenger seat, eyes half-closed, saying nothing.

Qiao Yichen also remained silent, only occasionally glancing sideways at her.

Arrived home, opened the door, lights on.

Liu Yanran kicked off her high heels and stepped onto the floor barefoot. She walked a few steps to the front of the sofa, collapsed onto it, sinking into the cushions.

Qiao Yichen stood at the entrance changing his shoes, looked up toward the direction of the bedroom—they had left in a rush that morning, the duvet was still piled up messily, the sheets were wrinkled into a ball, and the pillow was crooked to one side.

He walked over, stood at the bedroom doorway looking in, then turned back and called toward the sofa, "You go take a shower first. I'll change the sheets and duvet cover."

Liu Yanran opened her eyes, followed his gaze to the bedroom, and nodded, "Mm."

She pushed herself up from the sofa and slowly walked into the bedroom, pulled out her pajamas from the closet, and went into the bathroom. Soon, the sound of running water came from inside.

Qiao Yichen walked over, yanked off the sheets and duvet cover in one go, rolled them into a ball, and tossed them aside.

He rummaged through the cabinet for clean ones, put on the sheet, put on the duvet cover, and stuffed the pillow core—the whole set of movements was smooth and practiced.

By the time Liu Yanran came out after showering, the bed had already been made.

The clean bedding was spread out flat, the pillow resting softly against the headboard. She wiped her hair and glanced over, said nothing, and burrowed into the covers.

Qiao Yichen took his change of clothes and entered the bathroom. He showered quickly, coming out in a few minutes.

He didn't get straight into bed. First, he went to the balcony to put the used sheets and duvet cover into the washing machine and pressed the start button.

The buzzing sound started. He walked back into the bedroom, lifted the covers, lay down, and reached out to pull Liu Yanran into his arms.

She had just showered; her body carried the scent of body wash, her skin was smooth and warm. He pressed close to her, resting his chin on her shoulder.

Liu Yanran didn't move, just rested in his embrace. After a while, she suddenly spoke, her voice soft, carrying a hint of hesitation: "Yichen... Can I take a few days off?"

Qiao Yichen paused slightly, looking down at her. She didn't lift her head, her face buried in his chest, revealing only half an ear, the tip of her ear slightly flushed.

He lowered his head and kissed her forehead, his voice low, carrying a hint of a smile, "What do you take me for? Do I think about that stuff all day long?"

Liu Yanran let out a soft laugh, not exposing him.

Then she kissed his cheek and immediately snuggled back into his embrace.

Qiao Yichen reached out and turned off the bedside lamp.

The room darkened.