Not very long

Ying Yue's version of 'working a bit longer' seemed vastly different to Fei Huangjin's definition of it. What was supposed to be work that would get finished right after dinner instead extended well into the night, and it was almost ten in the evening when she agreed to go home -- and not without Fei Huangjin's prodding.

Mr. Yang slowed to a stop in front of the house and eyed the young master from the rearview mirror. "We've arrived, sir."

Fei Huangjin nodded. But he didn't move. His wife had fallen asleep on his shoulder and he didn't want to wake her up by moving. Instead, he settled by looking down to look at her, gazing at the long black strands of her hair across her face, and those slightly-parted pink lips that seemed to be begging to be kissed. They looked like fresh peach blossoms from his point of view.

He sighed. Why did she have to be so damn alluring and cute at the same time.

They sat there quietly until Ying Yue stirred, groaning a little at the stiff muscles of her neck. When she opened her eyes, she realized that the car wasn't moving anymore, and that it had stopped right in front of their house. "Oh, we're here." She blinked, first at the sight of their front door and then at Fei Huangjin, who was looking at her with a gentle smile. Her hand came up and felt a slight wetness at the corner of her mouth and realized that she'd been drooling. How embarrassing. "Sh*t, have I been sleeping for long?"

Her eyes drifted towards his shoulder that she was leaning on a while ago. There was a faint damp patch where she must have drooled. She flushed.

"No, not very long." He replied.

Mr. Yang glanced at the two again through the rearview mirror. Not very long? Really? The young madame was asleep the entire ride home and they sat there in front of the house for a good half an hour, and that wasn't very long?

"Let's get inside so you can go back to sleep."

"Okay."

A warm bath later, he'd put Ying Yue to sleep, and she was curled up under the quilt with a serene face. She seemed extremely tired.

After the incident a few weeks ago, she'd been having a hard time sleeping. Even if she didn't tell him, he knew that when she'd finally fall asleep after hours of turning, she'd wake up again an hour later and have trouble falling back to bed. And that was why, tonight, although she seemed exhausted, Fei Huangjin thought that perhaps letting her work in Juyan was the best thing for her to do these days.

He extricated himself from the bed and left the room to go to his study. And when he was alone, he picked up his phone to call Guan Ting.

"Boss?"

"You call those flowers?" The chilling voice of his master made Guan Ting flinch.

The man scratched his head, confused. "Boss---sir, uh, you said to get the best flowers from the flower shop, and they had that one from their catalogue. The basket seemed to be a nice touch--"

"You dare to send my wife funeral flowers?!"

"Sir! They weren't funeral flowers! That was not my intention, boss!" Funeral flowers? Guan Ting was confused. He'd never attended a funeral in his life so wasn't sure what those looked like.

Fei Huangjin hissed in exasperation. "I'm cutting 30% of your pay this month."

"Sir??"

"You heard me." Fei Huangjin looked away and his lips thinned. He honestly wanted to cut the man's pay by 70%, but he was being merciful only because Guan Ting had been loyal to him all these years and he'd saved his life twice now -- the most recent one during the incident with Ying Yue. "How are the investigations doing?"

Guan Ting wanted to complain, but he shut his mouth. How was he supposed to know those flowers were for a funeral? He cleared his throat. "The target Su Jianjun doesn't seem to have gone anywhere outside S city these days. Our men following him have only reported trips from his home, the Changsu building, and to the pier."

"Hmm." Fei Huangjin pondered the information for a bit and then nodded. Now that Ying Yue was running Juyan, he was sure she'd be able to get more information than this. "By the way," he paused. "I'll be temporarily passing control of the Dragon Club to my wife, so she may use the syndicate at her disposal. Grant her anything she wants -- and I really do mean anything."

Guan Ting bristled at the news. "What?! Boss, isn't this a little bit too much? I know she's your wife--"

"If you know she's my wife then shut up before I dock your pay even further."

"But boss--"

"50%!" That effectively shut him up. If he had argued even further, Fei Huangjin wouldn't have hesitated to reduce his pay even more.