TBS Chapter 28

Eight and a half hours ago, at 1:30 in the afternoon, Xu Miao arrived at the company.

At 2:00, lunch break ended. Ten minutes later, the team held a meeting chaired by Xia Jingzhou, where members took turns presenting until a final plan was set. The meeting lasted an hour and twenty minutes in total.

When it ended, Xu Miao thought he finally had some free time and started drafting a message to Xie Ge. Halfway through typing, his colleague Yan Zhi Ting interrupted him, saying Xia Jingzhou wanted to see him in his office right away.

Inside, Xia Jingzhou only talked about work—nothing personal. Though he was basically just rephrasing what had already been said in the meeting, Xu Miao couldn’t find any fault with him.

An hour and a half later, Xia Jingzhou followed Xu Miao out of the office. Clapping his hands, he gathered the team together and announced dinner plans for that evening.

The announcement was sudden, and people murmured among themselves. Xia Jingzhou put on an approachable smile, even lowered his stance a bit, then said:
“I know this might feel a bit abrupt, but since I’ve just arrived, I really want to get familiar with everyone as soon as possible.”

“All expenses for tonight’s dinner will be covered by me personally. And if everyone shows up—no absences—each of you will get an extra paid day off, usable anytime, no reason required.”

As soon as those words landed, everyone’s attitude flipped 180 degrees. Complaints vanished, replaced with cheers and flattery.

Satisfied, Xia Jingzhou added:
“There’s just one small request. To ensure the event goes smoothly, and to prevent anyone from sneaking out midway, I’ll need everyone to hand in their phones. You’ll get them back once the dinner is over.”

“Don’t worry—it won’t go later than 11 p.m. If you want to go home after, I’ll arrange rides for everyone. If you’d rather not go home, you can stay at Peninsula Man, and I’ll cover that too.”

When the benefits are big enough, even unreasonable rules stop looking unreasonable.

Xu Miao had never liked joining group activities outside of work hours. In the past, he always found excuses to refuse and successfully dodged every time. But this time…

He couldn’t let everyone lose their extra day off just because of him.

Someone bumped his arm—Yan Zhi Ting. Xu Miao came back to his senses and heard him whisper:
“Seriously, what’s this guy’s background, being so generous? Giving us paid leave just like that. And that’s Peninsula Man—five thousand a night! Even if I die tomorrow, I wouldn’t be willing to pay that to stay there tonight.”

Xu Miao paused. “How would I know? I’m not close to him.”

“Really? Feels like you two are hiding something from me.” Yan Zhi Ting smirked meaningfully, raising his brows. “The way he looks at you isn’t exactly clean, Xu Miao. Don’t tell me you two grew up together—except as enemies.”

“If I actually knew him, the first thing I’d do is tell him to fire you.”

“Alright, alright, forget I said anything.” Yan waved his hands in mock surrender, then after a while added, “But this time, you won’t back out, right? Everyone’s holiday depends on you. I know you don’t like these things, but… just bear with it for me, okay?”

Yan’s voice wasn’t too loud or too soft—just enough for those nearby to hear. Everyone knew Xu Miao’s habits by now. Normally, these team dinners were voluntary, no pressure. But this time was different.

One by one, his coworkers looked at him, pleading:
“Leader, just this once—for us?”

Xia Jingzhou had skillfully put Xu Miao on a pedestal of collective responsibility. Xu Miao had no choice but to follow his rules along with everyone else.

Being forced to drink was inevitable. After a few glasses, Xu Miao lay on the table pretending to be drunk, ignoring anyone who called out to him.

By the time he nearly dozed off, the dinner was finally wrapping up.

He faintly heard Xia Jingzhou telling Yan Zhi Ting not to worry, that Xu Miao was drunk and would be sent to a hotel to rest. Then he saw Xia Jingzhou take his phone from Yan, use it to make a call, and say the same thing.

After hanging up, Xia Jingzhou slipped the phone back into Xu Miao’s pocket. But the moment he let go, the supposedly passed-out Xu Miao sat up straight, his eyes clear, not a trace of drunkenness on him.

Right in front of Xia Jingzhou, Xu Miao answered the phone. His voice was soft, utterly different from when he spoke to Xia:
“Don’t worry, I’m fine… come pick me up, okay? I’ll explain everything properly, please don’t be mad at me.”

His tone was so tender it could even be called coaxing.

Xia Jingzhou couldn’t hear what the other person was saying, but he could hear Xu Miao. Even when they had dated before, Xu Miao had never been this patient, never coaxed him like this.

Resentment surged in him. He demanded:
“When will you ever talk to me like that? Why do you smile at everyone else, but only treat me badly?”

Xu Miao ignored him. He had no energy to spare for Xia Jingzhou. On the other end of the call, even though Xie Ge tried to suppress it, Xu Miao still heard the sound of his stifled sobs.

Frustration welled up in Xu Miao. He realized he always had this bad ability—always making things worse, always making the wrong choices, always hurting Xie Ge.

Yet he still didn’t want to let Xie Ge go. He hoped Xie Ge would stay generous, stay forgiving, stay patient with him.

Xie Ge didn’t make him wait long. Soon, he appeared in Xu Miao’s sight, rushed to his side, hugged him tightly, then immediately began to complain:

“You promised you wouldn’t ignore me. Not messaging me this afternoon was bad enough, but you didn’t reply to any of my texts, you didn’t pick up my calls—and then someone else answered your phone.”

“If that wasn’t enough, he even said you weren’t coming home tonight, that you’d be staying out.”

“Do you even remember what today is? It’s our first day of marriage. I was pretending earlier—I didn’t actually want you to go to work this afternoon. I wanted you to stay with me. We could’ve done anything—or nothing at all. I just wanted you with me.”

“When you’re not here, I’m not happy. I hate how many people are always around you. I don’t want to sound jealous or petty, but I really am not happy.”

Xie Ge said:“I’m not happy.”

I’m not happy.

I’m not happy.

I’m not happy.