Chapter Text
Wu Suowei woke up entirely too warm. He was buried under a heavy, expensive duvet, and the sunlight streaming through the penthouse windows was entirely too cheerful.
He blinked at the ceiling, trying to remember how he had moved from the leather chair in the study to his own bed.
Then, the memories hit him like a physical blow. The trackpad tutorial. The heat of Chi Cheng's hand covering his own. The terrifyingly gentle way the syndicate boss had lifted him up and carried him down the hallway while calling him a bumpkin.
Suowei groaned loudly, grabbing a pillow and smashing it over his face.
With a familiar, sugary pop, Yue Yue appeared in the room. Suowei peeked out from under the pillow to see his fairy best friend hovering near the curtains. She was wearing tiny, completely black sunglasses.
"Why are you wearing sunglasses indoors?," Suowei muttered, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
"Because I am trying not to go blind!," Yue Yue squeaked, adjusting the dark frames on her face. "Your aura is out of control this morning, Suowei! It is no longer just crushed strawberry. It is blinding, radioactive neon pink. You look like a walking Valentine's Day advertisement."
"I do not!," Suowei threw the pillow at her, which simply phased right through her glowing form. "I am just... well-rested. Mortal sleep is very rejuvenating. It has nothing to do with warlocks or hand-holding."
Yue Yue pushed her sunglasses down her nose, giving him a deeply skeptical look. "Just be careful, Your Highness. If you blush any harder when you see him, the syndicate guards might mistake you for a stop sign."
Suowei ignored the fairy, quickly washing his face and changing into a fresh set of dark green scrubs. He grabbed his laptop from the desk, clutching it to his chest like a shield, and marched out into the hallway.
He needed to establish immediate professional boundaries. He was an aspiring QA Engineer, not a damsel in distress who needed to be carried to bed.
When he reached the kitchen, the smell of fresh coffee filled the air. Chi Cheng was sitting at the marble island, wearing a tailored charcoal suit, calmly reading the news on his encrypted tablet. A small plate with three leftover homemade steamed dumplings sat next to his coffee mug.
"Good morning, Servant," Suowei said loudly, placing his laptop on the counter with a firm click. "I expect you slept well, knowing your perimeter is secure from software bugs."
Chi Cheng slowly looked up from his tablet. His dark eyes scanned Suowei from head to toe, pausing for a fraction of a second on Suowei's slightly pink cheeks.
"I slept adequately," Chi Cheng replied, his voice a low, morning rumble. "Though my trackpad seems to be functioning just fine today without any manual assistance."
Suowei felt the tips of his ears burn. Before he could formulate a suitably arrogant comeback, the kitchen door swung open.
Assistant Guo walked in. He looked completely exhausted. In his hands, he was holding the most standard, boring, beige plastic keyboard Suowei had ever seen.
"Good morning, Boss Chi," Guo said, his voice completely devoid of emotion. He walked over to the coffee machine, strictly avoiding eye contact with Suowei.
"What happened to your colorful keyboard?" Chi Cheng asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
Guo stared blankly at the wall. "I threw it in the incinerator at the warehouse. It was too distracting. I prefer my peripherals to lack personality. And lighting. And... emotional depth."
Suowei winced, feeling a sharp stab of guilt. He silently vowed never to let Yue Yue near the kitchen drinks ever again.
Chi Cheng set his coffee mug down and locked the screen of his tablet. He turned his full attention to Suowei, tapping his long fingers against the marble counter.
"Open your laptop," Chi Cheng ordered.
Suowei blinked, quickly opening the lid of his laptop. The screen booted up, showing the empty spreadsheet from the night before.
"You said you wanted to find cracks in a system," Chi Cheng said, his tone shifting into complete business mode. "The syndicate is rolling out a new secure messaging portal for our logistics drivers. I had the developers create a dummy version of it on a private server. A sandbox."
Chi Cheng reached into his suit pocket, pulled out a small USB drive, and tossed it onto the counter. It slid right next to Suowei's laptop.
"Install the portal. It is completely isolated, so you cannot accidentally delete the global shipping routes," Chi Cheng explained. "Your job is to break it. I want a list of every error, every logic failure, and every bug you can find before dinner."
Suowei stared at the USB drive, his heart doing a strange, excited flutter that had nothing to do with romance. This was a real assignment. Chi Cheng wasn't just humoring him; he was actually giving him a chance to do the job.
"You are trusting me with syndicate software?" Suowei asked, looking up at the mob boss.
"I am trusting you to be incredibly annoying and complain about every minor inconvenience you experience while using it," Chi Cheng corrected smoothly. "Which is exactly what makes a good QA engineer."
Suowei felt a massive, genuine smile stretch across his face. He grabbed the USB drive and plugged it into the side of his laptop.
"Prepare to be amazed, Servant," Suowei declared, opening the files. "I will find bugs that your developers didn't even know existed. I will dismantle this portal pixel by pixel."
"Don't break the laptop while you do it," Chi Cheng warned, though the faint shadow of a smirk played at the corner of his mouth. "And if you get stuck on the trackpad again, do not hesitate to submit a formal request for assistance."
Chi Cheng stood up from the stool, adjusting his suit jacket. He walked past Suowei toward the front door, the lingering scent of sandalwood trailing behind him.
Suowei stared at his computer screen, trying very hard to ignore the way his heart was hammering against his ribs. He took a deep breath, placed his fingers carefully on the trackpad, and began to test the login page.