"I shouldn't—" he stopped her before she could finish the sentence.

  "Don't need to be courteous with me. Sit." This time, his voice was gentler. He scooted to the other side and rolled the covers back to make space for her. Once she was seated, he huffed.

  His book snapped closed and the glasses came off. He put them beside his pillow and turned his torso towards her. With the press of his palms against her shoulder, he pushed her back into the bed.

  Her feet followed on instinct and she didn't act reluctant any longer.

  Mo Qingchen bit back the smile as he covered her and tucked her in.

  "You aren't going to ask me what is keeping me awake?" she whispered, worried she would disturb him.

  "You plan on telling me either way," he deliberated.

  She smacked her lips together before responding. "Mr. Bai is willing to sell the company to me," she announced.

  Mo Qingchen's eyes glittered with pleasure. "That's good. Have you thought about who will take care of executive action when Mr. Bai retires?" he asked.

  "I plan on giving him a dividend. I will set up a stock portfolio for the founder and he will live his life in comfort and I have a few people I am considering for the position of CEO," she admitted frankly.

  "And what about the son?" he asked. "He must have shares to his name, right?"

  Qian Meng nodded. "He should. The same goes for the wife, but I have a plan."

  "Force them to quit if it comes down to being dirty," Mo Qingchen said dryly. He wasn't above those methods. Especially if it would make their lives easier.

  She grinned. "Don't worry," she uttered confidently. "I have it all covered."

  Mo Qingchen sank into the bed, his head resting against the pillow. For a second, he wondered if he should fluff it to make it more comfortable.

  Maybe, this was part of why he couldn't fall asleep. He pressed his head in. Beside him, Yun Qian Meng's breathing was loud. He almost wanted to call it a snore.

  He snickered and tried to keep the sound to the lowest as he watched her mouth drop open.

  Mo Qingchen was sure she would start drooling next, but he couldn't find it in himself to feel disgusted.

  Welcome to married life! He told himself. Well, who could say anything after that, right?——

  Morning came. As usual, Qian Meng awoke before the alarm rang. She turned it off and turned to Mo Qingchen, expecting to see his sleeping face.

  Alas, he was already up and staring at the ceiling.

  And then a strange thought came to her mind.

  "You didn't sleep?" she asked.

  His head turned to her slowly. "I just woke up," he lied smoothly.

  Qian Meng shook her head. "You just recovered and you've gone back to not sleeping. The light was switched off, what did you do all night?" she asked, worried more than anything.

  "Just thought about some things." The blasé way in which he spoke made her angry. But she didn't say anything. She needed to retreat to formulate a plan. That was all.

  She crawled back to the guest room to get ready for the day.

  Mo Qingchen was slower. He joined her at breakfast and lazily stretched on his chair as he wated her go over the news.

  "How much money did you make?" he asked. He hadn't forgotten about the monetary aspect.

  "I'll know in a few hours. But you earned a pretty penny yesterday!" She turned the phone to show his figured and he smirked.

  "Looks like a normal day to me," he boasted. "Your profits will be off the chart for the next few days, of course. Maybe you'll beat me another day?" he goaded.

  "Don't spur on my competitive side when I just came out of a battle victorious. I need to place my energy on a single front," she groaned.

  "So easily infuriated," he commented.

  Xiong Hua watched the couple with a pleasant smile until they left.

  Back at the office, the numbers were out.

  "Boss, the link for pre-orders is out as well," Li Min commented before starting. "The growth in online sales was 515% of total sales in a month. We achieved that in one day."

  Qian Meng looked mildly horrified. "And we had the stocks for all of this?" she asked. Li Min nodded.

  "The latest seasons and collections are sold out, while the remaining stocks from last year cleared out within the first twenty minutes of the video going live." She showed the screen.

  "Pre-orders for all collections have added up to 1.2 million individual products as of this moment. We are working on overdrive to get the orders shipped, as well."

  "Okay, make sure all ecommerce websites are vetted. No third-party seller should try to resell," Qian Meng warned. "And how are the physical stores doing?"

  That was a concern. "Footfall is a lot higher. The higher end clothes are still not seeing a remarkable percentage of sale compared to the others but the cosmetics, accessories, and skincare products are selling out quickly."

  The meeting ended and Qian Meng's brain was fried.

  "Are the designers working on the new collection?" she asked anxiously.

  "Yes, all drafts and final products have been tested. We will be ready for launch soon. Don't worry about it. Do you want to go to the work stations to ensure everything is in order yourself?" Li Min suggested.

  "No, I have a lot to handle," she said softly. "I'll go finish up everything. I have a class in the evening," she whispered.

  Li Min didn't comment.

  "Oh, I also need to make an appointment with Mr. Bai. Urgently," she prompted.

  Yun Qian Meng seat herself behind her desk and shot off the figured to Mo Qingchen. Hadn't he wanted proof? Now he had it.

  [Open primetime news.]

  And that was that.

  She blinked at the response and scrolled through the news until she saw the bold headlines.