The next morning, just as Zhou Du finished changing into his suit, Chu Luyao tugged on his tie as usual and demanded her customary morning kiss.
"Ah Du, work is hard on you. Wait for me at noon; I'll bring you a lunch made with love."
Zhou Du wiped the lipstick off his mouth. Before he could voice a refusal, Chu Luyao had already grabbed her car keys and hurriedly left the house.
At noon, still wearing her suit from the law firm, Chu Luyao appeared in Zhou Du's office right on time, carrying a lunch box.
The meal was a perfect balance of meat and vegetables, including the steamed fish Zhou Du loved. She personally picked up her chopsticks and began removing the fish bones, bit by bit.
"Ah Du, eat first. You always ruin your body by skipping meals for work. It breaks my heart. Even if just for my sake, you have to take good care of yourself!"
Zhou Du leaned back in his office chair, looking at the food spread before him. It was all his favorites.
This woman, whose delicate fingers usually never touched a drop of dishwater or busied themselves with household chores, was now bowing her head, carefully and seriously picking out fish bones for him. There wasn't a trace of impatience on her face.
Passing employees witnessed this scene, secretly took photos, and posted them in the company group chat.
"The Boss Lady is so good to President Zhou! She knows he's busy and that picking bones takes time, so she does it for him every time. She's simply too considerate!"
"That's nothing. President Zhou developed insomnia from working too hard before, and the Boss Lady specifically learned Traditional Chinese Medicine just for that. She persisted in giving him massages and acupuncture every day for years!"
"The sky could fall, the earth could sink, but the relationship between President Zhou and the Boss Lady is absolutely as stable as Mount Tai. Because of them, I believe in love again!"
Zhou Du hadn't turned off his computer. Seeing the envy and yearning that everyone in the group chat displayed without reservation, the corners of his mouth twitched.
"Ah Du, stop looking at the computer. Drink this soup while it's hot. I specifically learned this medicinal recipe from Zhang Sao. It supplements the body and nourishes the stomach."
Chu Luyao thoughtfully blew on the soup to cool it down before handing it to him, muttering various precautions for stomach care as she did so.
She had always remembered that he had a bad stomach. She even carried stomach medicine with her at all times.
Back then, Chu Luyao had cut ties with her family for Zhou Du. Later, when they started their business, they lived in a basement. Life was truly difficult.
As a man, Zhou Du naturally didn't want her to suffer with him, so he worked exceptionally hard when going out to negotiate business.
Over time, the company succeeded, but his body collapsed.
Three years ago, he had even fallen into a coma due to a gastric hemorrhage and had a quarter of his stomach removed at the hospital. At that time, Chu Luyao was so scared her small face turned pale, and she cried like a person made of water.
"By the way, I've been quite busy lately and didn't have time to go to the hospital with you to pick up your physical examination report. How were the results? Has your stomach condition improved?"
Zhou Du thought of the diagnosis report confirming late-stage stomach cancer sitting right in his drawer. He didn't intend to hide it from her.
"It's bad."
He wanted to see what kind of expression she would have upon knowing.
However, Chu Luyao kept staring at her phone, a smile lingering in her eyes. "What did you say? Ah Du, sorry, I was just checking a work message on my phone."
Zhou Du's gaze darkened, and he let out a self-mocking laugh.
"Nothing. Same old."
Only then did Chu Luyao put down her phone, her expression turning serious. "Ah Du, how can you care so little about your body? I know an expert who is very good in this field. Next time, I'll go with you to see him."
Zhou Du didn't want to continue this topic, so he nodded casually.
At that moment, the office door was pushed open from the outside. Song Yuhuan walked in holding an afternoon tea set.
First, he intimately called out "Sister Yaoyao" to Chu Luyao, and only then did he look at Zhou Du.
"President Zhou, my girlfriend ordered afternoon tea for our colleagues. I thought I'd bring you a portion too."
When he said the word "girlfriend," his eyes were fixed on Chu Luyao, filled with blatant love.
"Ah Du has a weak stomach; he can't drink coffee and doesn't like desserts. Yuhuan, you've been an assistant by Ah Du's side for two years now, how can you still not remember these things clearly?"
Although Chu Luyao was scolding him, her face carried a smile, revealing a hint of intimacy.
Song Yuhuan slapped his forehead. "Sorry, blame my carelessness. Then let Sister Yaoyao have this portion. President Zhou, what would you like to eat? I'll ask my girlfriend to order it now."
But he clearly knew Chu Luyao was there, yet he had only brought one portion in.
Zhou Du couldn't be bothered to expose his petty little schemes. He glanced at the afternoon tea brand logo—it was a high-end brand, not cheap to consume.
Chu Luyao used to love this specific afternoon tea, so Zhou Du had secretly bought the shop and given it to her as a gift.
Song Yuhuan had only graduated from university recently. Even though his salary as an assistant wasn't low, he suffered from the common failing of boys his age—he loved buying luxury clothes and shoes. His spending habits were lavish, and his salary certainly wasn't enough to support his consumption.
People in the company thought he was a rich second-generation heir out to experience life, or that he was being kept by some wealthy woman. After all, Song Yuhuan did indeed possess a youthful, handsome face.
But no one knew that the person keeping him was none other than Chu Luyao.
Zhou Du stared at Song Yuhuan's face—a face exactly like Chu Luyao's deceased White Moonlight. Right now, it was full of smugness and provocation.
Male university students these days really didn't want to take any detours in life.
He had no desire to tangle with this kind of little boy. "No need to spend the money."
Song Yuhuan, however, seemed to pretend not to understand. "President Zhou, you don't need to save money for me. My girlfriend opened this shop. In fact, she already gave me this shop as a birthday present. In the future, if President Zhou wants to eat anything, just tell me directly!"
He hadn't closed the door when he entered, and his voice wasn't quiet. It quickly sparked discussion among the employees outside.
"Omg, Song Yuhuan's girlfriend is too rich, right? Giving away a whole shop just like that!"
"He's bluffing, right? That afternoon tea shop has a turnover of at least a few million a year. What kind of top-tier 'love brain' is she to give such a big gift just for dating?"
"Maybe it's not a girlfriend, but one of those sugar mamas older than his mother..."
Song Yuhuan was at the age where he cared most about saving face. Hearing this made him somewhat angry.
He immediately posted a property gift agreement in the company group chat, along with an intimate photo of him and a woman.
In the photo, the woman's face was blocked, but the condition of her skin and her style of dress were obviously those of a young woman.
The company group chat ushered in a new round of envy, jealousy, and hate.
"Damn, Song Yuhuan is flexing hard at noon! I want a rich and beautiful sugar mama girlfriend too!"
"Being handsome is so good. How many years of detours did he get to skip?"
"Look at it from another angle—isn't Song Yuhuan's girlfriend just the female version of President Zhou? His girlfriend must love him to death. I'm truly so envious!"
...
At this moment, Song Yuhuan, face full of pride, expressed his love to his girlfriend in the group chat.
[ Song Yuhuan: My girlfriend is the best woman in the world. She loves me, and I will love her forever! ]
Seeing him profess his love so brazenly in the company group, Chu Luyao's eyes filled with smiles.
Right in front of Zhou Du, their gazes seemed glued together, as if they would roll into bed together the very next second.
No one knew that Chu Luyao was the girlfriend Song Yuhuan was talking about.
And perhaps because she possessed too much, she had long forgotten that this afternoon tea shop was originally a gift he had given her. That was why she had so casually gifted it to Song Yuhuan.
They say men turn bad when they get rich; women are the same.
They say the stomach is a person's emotional organ.
The air was clearly filled with the sweet scent of coffee and cake, but Zhou Du felt only acid rising in his stomach. A cramping pain spread continuously to his limbs, robbing him of the strength to utter even a single word of rebuke.