The Boss Always Thinks I'm After Him - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Heartbeat Progress 30% — “You know, the company prohibits office…”

It was just an ordinary, routine meeting, but somehow, Xiao Yang felt inexplicably nervous—especially when he accidentally made eye contact with Gu Che. His guilt was almost palpable.

Xiao Yang suspected something was wrong with him. Why did his heart start racing and his nerves go haywire just from seeing the boss?

“There’s an international AI summit this week, and we received an invitation,” Gu Che said as he swept his gaze across the meeting room, picking participants. “Zhong Jun and Xu Siyang will go, and take two others with you.”

Catching a glimpse of Xiao Yang with his head down, Gu Che tapped on the table with his knuckles. “Xiao Yang, is the smart assistive glasses program finished? We’ll be starting prototype testing soon—any issues?”

“Huh?” Xiao Yang looked up in a panic, eyes darting. “Al-almost. It’s pretty much done.”

After answering, he quickly ducked his head again and internally berated himself.

Ugh, you idiot! Why stutter like that?!

Gu Che nodded and turned to Jiang Nicole and Meng Yue. “This project’s getting a lot of attention. You two need to stay sharp.”

“Got it.”

Jiang Nicole and Meng Yue both nodded and jotted down notes diligently.

Toward the end of the meeting, Zhang Rui received a phone call. His expression changed, and he immediately leaned in to whisper something to Gu Che.

As he listened, anger visibly crept onto Gu Che’s face. He stood up. “Meeting adjourned.”

Turning sharply, he strode away. “Get PR to handle this immediately, control the narrative. And bring those two idiots up here.”

Everyone watched as the boss exited, then got up quietly to return to their desks.

Xiao Yang flopped into his chair, scooting over to Xu Mubai. “I swear something’s wrong with me. Every time I looked at the boss today, I got flustered. It’s weird.”

“What’s weird about that? Totally normal,” Xu Mubai whispered back with a teasing grin. “That’s because you like—”

“Yangzi.”

Someone suddenly called Xiao Yang’s name, cutting Xu Mubai off.

Jiang Nicole and Meng Yue approached their desks. “When do you think you’ll have the program finished? If it’s tight, I’ll try to negotiate more time with the association.”

Xiao Yang turned around, craning his neck to look in another direction. “Almost done. Just waiting on a few modules from Peng Hui.”

Jiang Nicole couldn’t be bothered to go over, so she just shouted across the room, “Peng Hui, are your modules done?”

Hearing his name, Peng Hui bent down and clicked away at his computer, then sent the package over. “Just sent it.”

Xiao Yang glanced at the screen. “Hang on, I’ll organize and review everything.”

“If there are no surprises, I should finish today. Won’t delay the prototype testing.”

“Great, thanks,” Jiang Nicole and Meng Yue left one after another.

Xiao Yang got serious, opening the files Peng Hui had sent.

In truth, he’d already finished coding the smart glasses last week. He’d even integrated it with Xu Mubai’s section. All that was left was debugging on the machine.

He barely glanced at Peng Hui’s files before setting them aside. Then he began running the code he and Xu Mubai wrote, testing the commands.

He entered full work mode, tuning everything else out. The earlier conversation was left hanging.

A few minutes later, the elevator dinged on the 19th floor. The Director and Deputy Director of Sales Division 1 stepped out. One was all smiles, the other looked grim. Both entered the CEO’s office.

The blinds on the glass walls were drawn, blocking visibility and sparking even more curiosity outside.

Inside, Gu Che sat on the sofa, glaring at a negative news story about Phantom on his tablet. His fury was impossible to miss.

“If your brain can’t control your lower half, either remove your head or—” His eyes swept disdainfully toward a certain part of Wang Hongdao’s body.

Wang Hongdao’s knees buckled. He collapsed on the floor, begging, “Boss, I know I messed up. I shouldn’t have… I shouldn’t have made the company a scandal.”

“But it’s not my fault! That b1tch seduced me!”

Sweating, he scrambled to make excuses. “Someone from inside must’ve taken those pictures. This is a setup! Someone framed me!”

Suddenly, he stood and grabbed Hu Xiang by the collar, shouting, “Was it you? Huh? Was it?!”

“You’re insane.” Hu Xiang sneered and shoved him away.

Thankfully, the PR team caught it early, and the trending topic was taken down before spreading too widely. Still, the timing of the scandal couldn’t have been worse, which made Gu Che even angrier.

He set the tablet on the coffee table and looked at the two men coldly. “If you don’t want to work here, fine. Go to HR and resign.”

“I want to work! I do!” Wang Hongdao kept pleading. “Boss, please, give me another chance. I really know I messed up—”

Hu Xiang smirked. With Wang Hongdao out of the way, the Director position was as good as his.

Gu Che stood up and turned to Zhang Rui. “Notify HR. Sales Division 1 will be temporarily managed by Division 2’s director until we find a replacement.”

This move shocked Hu Xiang. He asked, confused, “But Boss, I’m right here. Why hand Division 1 to someone else?”

“You’re here?” Gu Che raised a brow and brought up a report on his tablet. He held it up to Hu Xiang’s face. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out who leaked the photos?”

“A Division Director caught having s3x with a female employee in the office; the Deputy leaks it to the media to serve his own interests and damages the company’s image…”

No one would hire someone that conniving.

Gu Che rubbed his temples and removed his glasses. “Get out.”

Everyone knew that once Gu Che had solid proof, he didn’t show mercy. Pleading was useless.

Though Hu Xiang was furious, he didn’t argue. His face darkened as he walked out.

Seeing him leave, Wang Hongdao also gave up pleading and chased after him.

As soon as they exited, Wang Hongdao punched Hu Xiang in the shoulder.

“You sneaky bastard! Thought you could screw me over? Well, you got yours too!”

The two started fighting, knocking into nearby workstations. Their coworkers scrambled to break them up.

Hearing the commotion, Zhang Rui stepped out and called security. The two were finally dragged away, and peace returned to the 19th floor.

Xiao Yang glanced in that direction, still unsure what happened, and returned to his code.

Xu Mubai leaned over, whispering gossip. “Word is, the Sales Director was caught banging a staffer in the office. Someone posted it online. Looks like he got fired.”

“Seriously?” Xiao Yang was stunned, glancing toward the office.

Xu Mubai nodded. “They say the boss hates office drama. If he catches anyone, they’re out.”

Xiao Yang nodded while still focused on debugging.

It wasn’t just bad PR—it was bad timing.

Gu Che had already been planning to update the company rules, and now this scandal handed him the perfect excuse. If this kind of mess happened with the no-dating rule in place, imagine what would happen without it.

Back in the office, Gu Che sipped water and opened the results of the latest employee survey from HR.

Though labeled as a “satisfaction survey,” few dared to criticize the rules outright—so any suggestions stood out.

Sure enough, he spotted Xiao Yang’s name and felt conflicted again.

After all the times Xiao Yang had hinted at his feelings, Gu Che knew he owed him a clear answer. But he couldn’t be the one to break the rules either. What a dilemma.

With the whole 19th floor feeling the tension, everyone worked quietly.

At 3 p.m., the elevator dinged again.

The head of Tech Group 2 walked in with another person and knocked on the CEO’s door. All eyes subtly shifted in that direction.

Wen Xia entered and, seeing Gu Che’s sour face, tried to lighten the mood. “Who ticked off our CEO so badly today? Point me at them—I’ll twist their head off.”

Gu Che looked up briefly and got himself a glass of water. “Get to the point.”

Wen Xia pulled over the young man. “This is Xiao Xu, one of my best people.”

“I know it’s bad timing, but…” he braced himself and pleaded, “Could you consider revising that office romance policy?”

“Oh?” Gu Che raised an eyebrow, eyes narrowing on Xiao Xu. “What do you mean?”

This guy looked familiar—wasn’t he at that tech conference with him?

Xiao Xu was too scared to speak and looked pleadingly at his boss.

Wen Xia, seeing no point in subtlety, said it plainly: “Last week you told HR to crack down on workplace relationships. Somehow, they caught Xiao Xu and his fiancée. Forced them to resign.”

“They’re getting married in two months! If they lose their jobs now, how are they supposed to survive?”

Wen Xia continued earnestly, “Xiao Xu’s a solid guy. I asked around—his fiancée is hardworking too. They haven’t let romance get in the way of their work. Don’t you think it’s a bit much?”

“Hmm…” Gu Che nodded slightly, genuinely considering it.

Seeing his mood ease, Wen Xia pushed further, “As long as it doesn’t affect work or the company’s image, why not let people live their lives?”

“Plus, I really can’t afford to lose Xiao Xu.”

…

After a while, Gu Che waved them off. “Back to work. I’ll talk to HR.”

“Thank you, Boss!”

Xiao Xu bowed deeply in gratitude.

Wen Xia sighed with relief and patted Gu Che’s shoulder. “Thanks, bro. Dinner’s on me next time.”

Once they left, Gu Che immediately ordered HR to revise the office romance policy and improve several related regulations.

Having his dilemma solved indirectly, Gu Che felt much better.

Within half an hour, HR sent the updated company rules to everyone’s inbox.

Just as Gu Che finished reading them, a message from Xiao Yang popped up:

[Xiao Yang: Boss, I ran the smart glasses program. Everything works fine.]
[Xiao Yang: I didn’t use Peng Hui’s stuff. We’ll play it by ear later.]
[Xiao Yang: dog head emoji]

Gu Che smirked and replied:

[Gu Che: Come see me.]

Then he walked back to his desk and pulled a sticky note off the potted plant.

Soon, Xiao Yang knocked and walked in.

Gu Che cleared his throat and said seriously:

“You know, the company prohibits office romances, right?”