Overtime and business trips are unavoidable no matter what.
Even illness doesn't excuse it.
Hadn't she seen how severe the man's allergic reaction was, yet he still insisted on going to the sample factory to communicate?
How could she, a mere underling, dare to question?
The slave driver frowned, his collar loose, revealing a expanse of his chest, where a large patch of light red marks was very conspicuous.
Yet it didn't look the least bit ferocious.
Qi Sui took a deep breath.
She touched her cheek with the back of her hand, confirming her body temperature was still within normal range, then declared she was fine, like a martyr going to her death.
Outside the hotel, the guide from yesterday was already standing by the car with a pained expression, waiting for them to get in.
Qi Sui understood him and sympathized with him, but after thinking it over, she felt she should sympathize with herself even more.
LEO opened the car door first, taking a large step, and Qi Sui followed him, stepping onto the car.
The car was a classic executive model, with a long body and plenty of space in the back seat. But compared to the relaxed Qi Sui, LEO looked cramped. His head brushed the roof of the back seat, and once seated, he couldn't straighten his legs, having to bend them halfway, looking almost pitiful.
There was a reason he liked driving SUVs.
The guide was very talkative, obviously very familiar with the sample factory, and after getting in the car, he briefed them on the current simple situation of the factory.
The cooperation between the company and the factory couldn't be finalized with just a simple visit; at least, long ago, this sample factory had already appeared in the company's projects. So their business trip this time wouldn't affect the final decision.
This was already considered relatively simple and easy work among ordinary business trips.
Qi Sui turned around, hugged the back cushion, and sighed softly.
So tired. She never wanted to be a corporate slave again.
All day long, she was like a little tail, sticking close behind LEO. At meals, she kept her mouth shut and her head down, listening to them discuss topics she barely understood. Occasionally, LEO even asked for her opinion, so Qi Sui stammered out her thoughts like a child forced to perform a show during New Year's.
LEO's eyes were subtle.
He was mixed-race, but his pupils were darker than those of ordinary Chinese, and his emotions rarely showed.
From the corner of her eye, Qi Sui followed his jawline to his shoulder.
He had a not-so-well-hidden habit: when he heard a point he agreed with, he would nod slightly. By judging her correctness through his habitual actions, Qi Sui did well.
When they were ushered out of the factory, Qi Sui felt that her light-headedness had worsened. She just focused on following behind LEO, walking quickly toward the factory exit, without noticing the man repeatedly turning his head to look at her, his frown a bit intimidating.
Once in the car, the cool temperature brought her mind back a little.
Beside her, LEO was curled up uncomfortably, his tall figure leaning against the seat back, holding a laptop as if handling work.
So busy.
Qi Sui rested her face on the large cushion, her eyes half-closed, feeling like she would pass out completely at any moment.
Her body alternated between hot and cold.
Her phone vibrated against her thigh from the pocket of her jeans.
She pulled it out and saw a message from her mother-in-law: "Suisui, are you free now? Mom wants to call you and have a heart-to-heart."
Qi Sui stared at this message for thirty seconds before processing the key information.
Her relationship with her mother-in-law could be described as respectful but distant. When she got married, her only requirement for Qian Jin's family was that they not live together. She could tolerate the poverty of Qian Jin's family, even let Qian Jin send his salary back to them, but she absolutely could not accept living with unfamiliar old people.
Let alone confiding in her mother-in-law; that was impossible for Qi Sui. Even if she fell in love with a phoenix man, she couldn't be a saint and accept everything about him.
She typed a reply: "Tonight. I'm on a business trip this weekend. I'll call you back later."
Beside her, LEO took off his glasses, and his dark eyes looked at her as if examining her expression.
After she put down her phone, he finally asked: "Aren't you feeling a bit off?"
"Huh?" Qi Sui didn't notice that her voice was already thick and slurred. In the dark back seat space, she found the man in front of her extremely blurry, couldn't even see his expression clearly. "No, am I?"
LEO didn't speak. He reached out his hand toward her.
That hand carried a heavy warmth, approaching bit by bit in her vision.
The next second, it was placed on her forehead.
In that instant, Qi Sui's first thought was: I hope my face isn't oily.
But the next second, she had no time to worry about such trivial things.
LEO closed his laptop with his left hand. The hand on her forehead, after sensing her temperature, moved hesitantly along the curve of her cheek until it touched her ear. His fingertips gently brushed against the cartilage of her ear before stopping—a measured pause.
His fingers were warm, lightly pinching her thin earlobe, as if trying to melt that cool piece of flesh.
His voice was hazy. Qi Sui instinctively reached out, grabbing his forearm, trying to bring the source of sound closer so she could hear clearly the meaning behind it.
"You have a fever," LEO said.
When the human body enters a high-temperature state, medically known as a fever, not every part maintains an elevated temperature. Due to different exposed body parts, temperature also varies.
Ear temperature, armpit temperature, oral temperature—these are generally more accurate and commonly used values.
LEO looked at Qi Sui, whose eyes were already dazed, and still explained: "I was often hospitalized when I was little. The doctor told me ear temperature is more accurate. Sorry."