Xu Zixi turned off the screen and said with a smile, "Sure, but Mr. Pei will have to wait. My apprentice is currently too busy to handle these matters."
"How long do I have to wait?" Pei Mingyuan was a bit fidgety. "If these things were really man - made, the person behind them definitely won't stop. Could they be leaving even more vicious tricks up their sleeve?"
Xu Zixi replied, "Why are you in such a hurry, Mr. Pei? Didn't Mr. Yan say it would take about half a year? And even if that person has other tricks, it's unlikely to drive the Pei Group to bankruptcy. Don't panic. Just wait a bit longer."
Pei Mingyuan had no choice but to say, "Okay then. I'll wait for your news."
Back in her own office, as soon as Xu Zixi sat down on her chair, Wen Li's call came in. "Yuan Xi! All the things that were stolen from me before have been returned intact! All my files in the computer and my competition entry are there! Thank you!"
"Really? It's good that you've got them back. Remember to take better anti - theft measures at home in the future," Xu Zixi said.
"By the way, that night when you called to ask about the name of my work, was it because you'd found the suspect? Who is that person? Can you tell me?" Wen Li asked persistently.
Xu Zixi knew that as soon as Fang Ruiyang returned the things, Wen Li would surely ask about the culprit. Silently saying "sorry" to Wen Li in her heart, she said, "I'm sorry. I just asked someone to find your stolen things. I haven't found out the identity of the suspect. After the competition ended, all the competition entries were destroyed. We've missed the best opportunity to trace the matter. There's nothing we can do about it."
Wen Li said disappointedly, "Okay, it doesn't matter. I'm already very happy to have the things back."
Xu Zixi said, "Wen Li, I know it's unfair to you to have lost the opportunity to participate in the competition. So I promise you that after the main construction of the 'City of Hope' is completed, you can be in charge of the interior design of a part of it, and your name will be added to the list of designers. Do you think that's okay?"
"Really?" Wen Li was extremely surprised. "Sure, I'd love to! Thank you so much, Yuan Xi!"
Laughing, Xu Zixi said, "You're welcome. I hope you can show your true talent then."
Wen Li's call proved that Fang Ruiyang had indeed kept his promise. His trustworthiness satisfied Xu Zixi. Soon afterwards, under the pretext of handling work, Fang Ruiyang was called to her office.
"I said that as long as you returned all the stolen items, I'd officially start teaching you hacker knowledge. So from now on, you're my apprentice."
Fang Ruiyang could hardly conceal his excitement and joy. He stood up from his chair, looking a bit at a loss. "I... I haven't prepared a teacher - apprenticeship gift yet." Suddenly remembering something, his shoulders slumped. "Maybe we should wait. I don't have the money for the apprenticeship fee for now..."
"You can choose the teacher - apprenticeship gift as you like. As for the apprenticeship fee... I've just taken a task for you. The reward is 20 million. After you complete this task, you can pay me back the 500,000 you owe me and the apprenticeship fee all at once," Xu Zixi said calmly.
Fang Ruiyang was still calculating his salary. "I only have a few hundred yuan left on me. I won't get my salary for a few more days. My salary this month is 15,000. I can give you 10,000 first... What did you say?"
His eyes wide open, Fang Ruiyang was so shocked that he almost bit his tongue. "20 million?!"
Xu Zixi asked with a smile, "So, do you want to take it?"
Fang Ruiyang nodded vigorously. "I'll take it! What's the task?!"
"When the company was checking the financial reports of the past six months, they found that several losses were very likely man - made. But after the investigation, they couldn't get any useful clues. Your task is to find the evidence, dig out the person behind it, and stop them from continuing to damage the interests of the Pei Group. The time limit for the task is six months. Of course, it would be great if you can finish it earlier, but there's no extra reward for early completion."
Fang Ruiyang was a bit surprised. So this task was issued by the Pei Group?
"Of course, you're not capable of handling this task yet, but I'll teach you step by step," Xu Zixi said, handing him a reading list and a USB flash drive.
"First of all, I want you to finish reading the books on this list in ten days. Then, based on the content of the books, try to crack the program in this USB flash drive. When you crack it, we'll move on to the next step of learning. If you have any questions or don't understand something, you can come and ask me. Now, you can start thinking about your code name."
Fang Ruiyang scratched his head and smiled shyly. "I've already thought of it. I want to be called 'Zhen Yang', taking one character from my name and Zhenzhen's name. In traditional Chinese medicine, 'Zhen Yang' refers to 'Yuan Yang', which also implies interdependence and inseparability. It has a good meaning."
Xu Zixi: "..." She just asked for a code name. Why did she have to be forced to eat the dog food of him and Huang Zhenzhen? It was so excessive!
After sending away Fang Ruiyang, who was overflowing with the aura of love, Xu Zixi found that she couldn't concentrate at all. Helpless, she picked up her cup and planned to go to the tea room to make some coffee.
When she went out, seeing her reflection in the glass wearing a pink rose - printed knitted dress, she stopped.
Actually... she quite liked that black star - patterned fishtail knitted dress. It was really a custom - made dress that could perfectly show every curve of her body, making her look mysterious, sexy and noble.
But how did he know her measurements? The dress fit her perfectly.
It took quite a while to customize a dress. He gave her thirty dresses at once, all from different brands and styles. When did he start preparing them?
Calculating the time, it must have been before the design competition, right? Was it when they were just engaged and living together?
Coming back to her senses, she shook her head vigorously, forcing herself to get rid of the thoughts in her head, then turned and walked out.
When passing by the next - door office, she found the door tightly closed. Xu Zixi couldn't help but stop. Looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to her, she leaned over to the door to listen for any movement inside.
To her surprise, all she could hear was silence.
That sticky piece of "candy" didn't come to work again today! He disappeared yesterday to secretly find the two kids when she wasn't around. What about today?
Thinking of her act of asking Aunt Zhang to throw away the shopping bags yesterday, Xu Zixi couldn't help but feel guilty.
Was he so sad that he didn't dare to come to work? Well... probably not?
If someone just checked a bit, they'd know that all she threw away were empty bags!
At this moment, after taking a short nap, Third Master Yan got out of bed again, dug out the equally sleepy Wei Shu and the bodyguards, and continued sitting on the sofa with a serious face, studying the drama "Love in March".
Wei Shu yawned. "Third Master, didn't you say you were going to take this drama off the shelves? Why are you watching it again?"
Yan Yincheng said, "When I figure out why Xuanxuan wants me to watch this, I'll make it completely disappear from the film and television industry!"
"Love in March" only had twenty - four episodes. They'd stayed up all night last night and only watched half of it. Today they continued. As they watched, Wei Shu and the bodyguards couldn't hold on anymore and fell asleep on the sofa, snoring loudly. Only Yan Yincheng remained highly focused, not missing any plot or detail.
Finally, when the music of the finale started, Third Master Yan, who'd watched the whole drama overnight, excitedly jumped up from the sofa and shouted, "I know what Xuanxuan is hinting at me!"