Mu Jinyu had inadvertently fallen asleep.
When he woke up again, Wen Rou was no longer in the room, but the air still carried the lingering fragrance of her perfume along with the smell of the disinfectant brought from the hospital.
He got up, drew the curtains back, and Mu Jinyu looked outside at the sky. The afterglow of the setting sun was still present, and the air was filled with a lazy feeling.
Mu Jinyu took out his phone, checked the time, and found it was already past five in the afternoon.
"Slept for so long, huh."
Mu Jinyu mumbled to himself, hearing what seemed to be noises coming from outside the room, guessing that perhaps Wen Rou was preparing dinner.
Opening the door, he made his way to the kitchen and peeked inside.
Indeed, Wen Rou was bustling about in the kitchen with an apron tied around her.
Mu Jinyu leaned against the doorway, knocked gently on the door, and said helplessly, "You're injured, so why are you still fussing around? Couldn't we have just eaten out tonight?"
Hearing the noise, Wen Rou looked back at Mu Jinyu, wiped the sweat from her forehead with her hand, and said with a gentle smile, "My injury is all healed now, no need to go out for dinner. We bought so many ingredients yesterday; it would be a waste not to use them. Plus, wouldn't that make me an incompetent housekeeper?"
"Phew…" Mu Jinyu exhaled, shook his head slightly, and said resignedly, "Fine, as long as you're happy. I'll go wait outside. Call me when dinner is ready."
"Yeah, you go ahead," Wen Rou answered and turned back to continue cooking.
Mu Jinyu walked out of the kitchen into the living room, lay down on the sofa, and called Mei Yinxue on his phone.
The phone was quickly answered. "Hello."
Mei Yinxue's cool voice came through with a touch of mild surprise.
Mu Jinyu, cradling his phone, turned over on the sofa and said, "Thanks for today. I owe you one. If there's anything you need in the future that I can help with, don't hesitate to ask."
At these words, Mei Yinxue seemed a bit startled and surprised, "That's not necessary, there's no need to say that. If we're to talk about it, you've saved my life twice, so it should be me owing you."
Mu Jinyu responded, "Different matters should be kept separate. I saved your life, and you've paid enough money for it, so you don't owe me anything. Alright, let's not talk such nonsense anymore. I'm hanging up, contact me if you need anything."
Without waiting for Mei Yinxue to respond, Mu Jinyu hung up the phone.
On the other end, Mei Yinxue was about to reply, heard the busy tone, fell silent for a moment, then shook her head slightly, deciding not to dwell on Mu Jinyu's words.
"Have you gotten Huang Qiuhua's whereabouts from the assassin yet?!"
Mei Yinxue asked her subordinate with a cold face.
"Not yet…"
"Then make it quick. I really can't rest easy until we find her!"
...
On this side.
Mu Jinyu hung up the phone with Mei Yinxue and immediately called Xu Qingya.
Because he didn't have Xu Tianzheng's number.
"Doo... Hello? Little Mu..."
Xu Qingya's voice came through the phone, also filled with some surprise.
Mu Jinyu sprawled on the couch and said lazily, "About today's matter, thank your grandfather for me. I'm grateful, and I'll remember it. Consider it a favor I owe him."
On the other end of the phone, Xu Qingya chuckled wryly and replied, "Oh, there's no need for that. Grandfather said it was just a phone call for him, hardly any effort at all. You shouldn't worry about it. We're friends after all, and it's normal to help each other out, right?"
Actually, at first, when Xu Tianzheng received Mu Jinyu's call and heard that Mu Jinyu wanted his help, promising to owe him a favor, he was somewhat tempted to agree and have Mu Jinyu owe him one, thinking that Mu Jinyu definitely wouldn't ignore him if he ever needed help in the future.
But later, he thought it over carefully and realized that wasn't good, as it would only distance him from Mu Jinyu.
It would be better not to claim that favor and instead close the gap between them, which could lead to more benefits.
Then, he instructed Xu Qingya to say just that when Mu Jinyu called.
Hearing this, Mu Jinyu said earnestly, "To him, it was indeed just the matter of a phone call, without needing to expend any real favor. But for me, he's shown his face, and someone gave him face, so I owe him a favor."
He didn't directly respond to the question of whether their families were friends. In his view, he and Xu Qingya could barely count as half-friends. Compared to Gu Xiyan and Mei Yinxue, the difference was quite significant, not to mention Xu Tianzheng, who couldn't even be counted as half a friend.
Seeing Mu Jinyu's firm attitude, Xu Qingya didn't insist further and changed the subject, "Oh, by the way, the company's name has already been changed. It's now 'Jinyu International Fashion Co., Ltd.' Sister Xiaojiao has been very cooperative and has already notified all the senior executives that there's a new boss. When will you come over to meet everyone?"
After thinking for a moment, Mu Jinyu replied, "How about tomorrow? I'll bring a friend with me to help out at the company. She probably doesn't know anything yet, but she's very smart. Try to teach her a little, okay?"
Xu Qingya knew that Mu Jinyu was bringing someone to balance her out in the company, but she wasn't bothered by that and laughed, "Sure, no problem. Send me her information through WeChat, and I'll handle her employment procedures. Just bring her over tomorrow."
"Alright, then I'm hanging up," said Mu Jinyu, and he promptly ended the call.
Then he opened WeChat, accepted Xu Qingya's friend request, and conveyed Wen Rou's details to her.
Afterwards, he remembered that he didn't know much about Wen Rou himself, so he turned to her, still busy in the kitchen, and called out, "Wen Rou, I'm going to take your documents from your room to process your employment paperwork."
The kitchen was noisy, and Wen Rou didn't hear him clearly but replied casually, "Okay."
Seeing her agreement, Mu Jinyu entered her room and, without rummaging around, took her ID card and sent Xu Qingya the specific details.
After seeing Xu Qingya reply that it was all set, he didn't chat further with her and left Wen Rou's room, returning to lie on the couch and wait for dinner.
It wasn't long before
Wen Rou had just finished cooking dinner and came out of the kitchen with a pot of hot soup heading for the dining room, calling out, "Dinner's ready, you can come and eat."
"Hmm," Mu Jinyu responded and went to the kitchen to help carry the dishes and rice to the table.
Finally, when all the dinner was set on the table, Wen Rou touched her somewhat hot fingertips, pinched her translucent earlobe to dissipate the heat, and exhaled, "Alright, let's eat."
Mu Jinyu stood up, scooped a bowl of rice for Wen Rou from the rice cooker, then filled a bowl for himself and said, "I just went to your room to find your ID and other things and have sent your details to the company's vice president. You can go to work with me tomorrow. I've also mentioned to the VP, and she'll teach you more on the job. With your smarts, I believe you'll catch on quickly, so don't worry about being a freeloader."