The “Silly Boss” and the Green Hat Crisis

Chu Nian put away his phone and pushed open the office door once more.

His colleagues, seeing something was off, quickly asked, “Chu Nian, what’s wrong? Why do you look so pale?”

Chu Nian shook his head to indicate he was fine. He sat back at his station, picked up the cup of lukewarm coffee, and drained it. As the bitter brown liquid vanished into his stomach, a faint, lingering sweetness finally touched his palate.

He rubbed his bloodshot eyes, forcing his attention back to the computer. He stared at the screen, but the fluorescent glow felt strangely piercing; the longer he looked, the drier his eyes became, until they began to throb with a dull ache.

His hands hovered over the keyboard for a long time without pressing a single key, until someone in the office shouted: “Off work! Off work! President Shen told us to head over first!”

Chu Nian’s gaze snapped back from the dense lines of code. He blinked, realizing that from the moment he had hung up the phone until now, he hadn’t typed a single word.

His mind was a mess. He copied his unfinished proposal onto a USB drive, planning to continue working on it after the gathering.

This team dinner had been arranged by Shen Que, supposedly to celebrate the successful acquisition of their last project. A colleague walking ahead teased that Shen Que actually treating them to a meal was a once-in-a-blue-moon event—he must be up to no good.

Everyone at Huanxing Group knew that Shen Que was a troublemaker who was usually nowhere to be found.

Chu Nian walked at the very back of the line. His colleagues’ chatter drifted into his ears as the sunset glow, which painted half the sky, rested on his shoulders, enveloping him in a soft, golden halo.

Entering the hotel private room, Chu Nian received a message from Lu Jinnian just before he sat down.

Lu Jinnian: [Not coming to the hospital today?]

Chu Nian lowered his eyes. He edited a reply, deleting and rewriting it several times, before finally sending a simple: [Mhm.]

After a thought, he added another line: [Company gathering.]

Lu Jinnian: [Okay.]

Lu Jinnian: [You don’t need to go there anymore anyway.]

Chu Nian frowned.

That vague sentence from Lu Jinnian made him feel slightly uncomfortable. He waited for a moment, but no further messages came through.

He curled his lip slightly and set the phone aside. His fingers brushed against a freshly filled teacup; the scalding temperature made him instinctively flinch.

The dull pain in his fingertips seemed to resonate with a slight discomfort in his chest.

His colleagues were chatting animatedly. Chu Nian leaned back against his chair, rubbing his aching temples. The room was air-conditioned, yet it couldn’t strip away the sticky heat clinging to his skin. He frowned, finding the atmosphere incredibly stifling.

A while later, he picked up his phone again and stared at the chat history. Lu Jinnian’s last message had been sitting there for fifteen minutes.

Chu Nian bit his lower lip and hesitantly typed out three words: [Why is that?]

The other replied instantly: [I’m being discharged today.]

His thick lashes trembled twice. It felt as if his heart, which had been lodged in his throat, finally dropped back into place. Chu Nian breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he paused, confused by his own reaction.

Was I nervous just now?

How strange. What was there to be nervous about?

Chu Nian gave his thigh a hard pinch.

Chu Nian: [Why didn’t you tell me that just now?]

Lu Jinnian replied instantly again: [I was waiting for you to ask me.]

Chu Nian’s heart skipped a beat.

The heat, despite the air conditioning, surged back over him.

A second later, he received another message from Lu Jinnian: [Can you send me one more message? I don’t want to be the last one to speak.]

Chu Nian: [?]

Chu Nian: [You’re sick.]

He had overestimated Lu Jinnian. This man definitely had a few screws loose.

Chu Nian put his phone down as the clatter of chopsticks and bowls echoed around him. Shen Que’s secretary had stopped by earlier to announce that Shen Que had some urgent business and would arrive late, so they should start eating.

The others didn’t hold back; in fact, they seemed much more relaxed knowing Shen Que would be late. The table was covered in high-end hotel delicacies, where a single dish could cost an entire month’s salary.

While his colleagues were digging in, Chu Nian’s bowl remained empty. He hadn’t even taken a sip of water.

“Nian-Nian, what are you sitting there smiling like a fool for?” The colleague sitting next to him turned, looking at him with a strange expression.

Chu Nian froze. He looked back and touched his cheek: “No… it’s nothing.”

“What, did your partner come to check in on you?” The colleague took the opportunity to fill Chu Nian’s glass to the brim with liquor.

Chu Nian tried to decline, but the man held the glass right to his lips. He really couldn’t push it away, so he had no choice but to down the whole glass in one go.

“Brother Yang, stop teasing me.” He wiped the traces of liquid from his lip. “I’m not in a relationship.”

The relationship between Chu Nian and Lu Jinnian was only known by the people at Lansheng and Xu Chi.

“Exactly, everyone knows our youngest is still single,” chimed in a colleague sitting diagonally opposite. “Nian-Nian, why don’t you take a look at the girls in our group who are pining for you?”

As she spoke, she nudged the female colleague next to her, whose face turned beet-red as she playfully slapped her arm.

“For real? With a face like yours, you’re afraid of not finding a partner?” Brother Yang seemed to have had too much to drink. His face was flushed as he rested an arm on Chu Nian’s shoulder. “Drink this glass, and I might just believe you.”

Chu Nian had no choice but to drink another glass.

Seeing how fast he drank, Brother Yang immediately refilled it: “Whoa, the kid knows how to handle his liquor!”

The pungent alcohol stung his taste buds. After two glasses, Chu Nian’s stomach began to burn.

Company gatherings always involved this, especially with the seniors who loved to press the younger staff to drink. Over the years, Chu Nian’s tolerance had actually increased, but he still disliked the harsh liquid.

Glass after glass was handed over. The others stared at him. This batch of liquor seemed to have a very high proof; Chu Nian’s head started to feel fuzzy. He frowned, pushing away the hand in front of him. The insomnia of the past few days, combined with the alcohol, was having a bad reaction. He felt that if he sat there any longer, he would fall asleep instantly.

“Enough, enough, he was already feeling unwell,” said the female colleague who had been helping him earlier, pulling Brother Yang back. “You should drink less too.”

Brother Yang mumbled something incomprehensible. He was wasted; the moment he was pressed back into his chair, his eyes closed and he began to snore. The female colleague looked out the window. It was dark. They had waited nearly two hours for Shen Que, but there was still no sign of him.

Fortunately, the bill had been paid in advance. Seeing that everyone had had their fill, she suggested they all head home.

She turned to Chu Nian, only to find him slumped over the table, looking quite drunk. She gently woke him: “Nian-Nian, can you make it back on your own?”

Chu Nian forced his eyelids open, looking around blankly. He nodded reflexively: “I can.”

Then, he stood up, said goodbye to his colleagues, and walked out of the restaurant alone.

Stepping out from the air-conditioned room, the outside heat wrapped around him once more. Chu Nian’s mind was actually quite clear, but his eyes were too heavy to stay open. He dragged his feet forward, completely failing to notice the person walking toward him. With his head down, he walked straight into them.

A muffled groan of pain came from the other person. Chu Nian looked up to see a man with a deep frown, one hand clutching his chest where he had been hit.

Chu Nian froze. Recognizing the man, he asked: “President Shen?”

The man before him was Shen Que. Those eyes, which looked at everyone with icy indifference, were fixed on him. Chu Nian would never forget the terrifying expression Shen Que wore whenever he ordered him to redo a proposal.

Shen Que’s lips moved, seemingly saying something, but Chu Nian was too sleepy. His dry eyes couldn’t hold on anymore. His ears seemed to auto-block all sound; he could only see Shen Que’s lips moving rapidly before everything began to blur.

Then, Shen Que felt a sudden weight on his shoulder.

He looked down at the man leaning against his shoulder, who had managed to fall asleep while standing.

“Chu Nian?” Shen Que’s frown deepened. “Wake up.”

He tried to shake Chu Nian awake, but the latter was like he had fainted. If it weren’t for the even breathing and the flushed cheeks, Shen Que might have called the police.

Shen Que stood there stiffly. After a long moment, he reached out as if in surrender and put an arm around Chu Nian’s waist, carefully picking him up and turning to walk away.

He had only taken a few steps when the person in his arms suddenly opened his eyes, struggling to jump down. Shen Que couldn’t hold him, so he set him down and steadied him.

Chu Nian stood there with a bright red face, patting himself down as if searching for something. Then he abruptly looked up at Shen Que and began searching the man from head to toe.

“What are you doing?!” Shen Que looked shocked, taking a wary step back.

Chu Nian’s eyes went wide. He stepped forward and grabbed Shen Que’s hand: “Where is my USB drive?!”

“How should I know?” Shen Que tried to shake off Chu Nian’s hand in disgust, but Chu Nian held on tight.

“I can’t lose my USB drive! My proposal isn’t finished yet!” Chu Nian’s emotions suddenly spiked. “If I don’t finish the proposal, I’ll be killed!”

Shen Que was stunned: “Who’s going to kill you…?”

The moment he asked, he felt a strange sense of regret. He had a bad feeling.

Chu Nian pouted: “…My silly boss.”

Shen Que: “…”

The drunk Chu Nian began to wail in collapse. His mournful voice made passersby turn their heads. Shen Que gritted his teeth and covered Chu Nian’s mouth, hooking an arm under his to drag him out the main gate.

At that moment, from a dark corner near the hotel, car headlights flashed unexpectedly.

Inside a black car sat a man in a black suit. He stared through the windshield at Chu Nian and Shen Que exiting the hotel.

Then, he leaned back slightly and spoke to the person in the back: “President Lu, Mr. Chu is indeed with another man.”

The man in the back seat moved. His hands were folded over his knees, the faint light from outside occasionally catching his slender fingers.

“As expected, someone has designs on him,” Lu Jinnian snorted coldly. “Zhou Ze, is that man better looking than me?”

Zhou Ze shook his head: “Too far, I can’t see clearly. But it looks like President Shen from Huanxing Group.”

“Hmph. Shen Que is younger than him; he won’t like that.”

Then, Zhou Ze added: “President Lu, Mr. Chu was just hugged by that man.”

As soon as he finished, a series of “clack-clack” sounds came from the back.

“He definitely didn’t do it willingly,” Lu Jinnian’s voice trembled slightly.

Zhou Ze: “What do we do, President Lu! Mr. Chu just touched that man!”

THUD! Lu Jinnian slammed a fist into the car roof.

Zhou Ze jumped in fright.

“Dammit…”

Lu Jinnian’s voice sounded repressed.

It looks like my boss has been given a green hat.

Zhou Ze hesitated, wondering if he should comfort his boss.

“President Lu…” Zhou Ze called out softly.

He was about to say something when Lu Jinnian spoke again—

“Chu Nian actually likes younger guys.”

Zhou Ze: “…”

Lu Jinnian looked up, watching the two people acting intimately in the distance: “They’re getting in a car.”

“Follow them.”