Ha ha

"Manager Xu...Manager Xu?" The woman's soft voice.

Xu Chenchuan took a deep breath and raised his head: "Ah... what's the matter?"

"Your coffee." The beauty smiled and put the tray on his desk.Xu Chenchuan rubbed his throbbing temples, pulled himself together and said, "Thank you, Xiaojin."

"Manager Xu, are you okay?" Xiao Jin looked at him worriedly, "You look really tired, you should pay attention to rest."

"It's okay, thank you." Xu Chenchuan watched her walk out of the office, raised his hands and rubbed his face randomly, and drank the cup of coffee in one go.

The few days after returning from Cheng Rong's house, Xu Chenchuan was exhausted physically and mentally.While feeling depressed because of Cheng Rong's death, he couldn't stop working. Even because Xu Guoqi was busy arranging cremation and funeral, he still had to take on many tasks.

Now Xu Guoqi is very relieved to let his son take over some core affairs, but Xu Chenchuan, the prospective successor, must always tense up, for fear of making a mistake.After a few days, my mind seemed to be rusty and groggy, and it couldn't function properly.

"Tuk tuk", someone knocked on the door.

"Come in—" Xu Chenchuan said without raising his head, he didn't react until he heard the sound of the wheelchair turning, and saw Bai Qi sliding into the doorway that was just wide enough for him to pass through.

"Manager, these documents need your signature." Bai Qi put a stack of documents in front of Xu Chenchuan.

"Hey, just call me next time something like this happens, and I'll go to your side." Xu Chenchuan felt very sorry, picked up a fountain pen and said while signing.Bai Qi didn't respond.

Regarding his recent state of distress, other colleagues such as Manager Lu came over to express a few condolences, only Bai Qi did not say anything.But in fact Xu Chenchuan could clearly feel that Bai Qi's overtime hours had become longer.

No matter what unfamiliar business he takes over, Bai Qi can immediately keep up with the rhythm and share all the parts that don't need to be handled by him personally.As an assistant, Bai Qi really did the best, making other managers jealous.

Xu Chenchuan couldn't be more grateful.However, he didn't want to think about those vague, unrealistic thoughts, and the longing in his heart to be with someone.Moreover, after witnessing the ending of Cheng Rong and Shen Ji, Xu Chenchuan's mentality also had a subtle change.

On the one hand, he is more envious and longing for such intimate and intimate feelings, but on the other hand, he has a little more inexplicable awe and deterrence.

Bai Qi put away the documents and left.Xu Chenchuan felt a little cold, and turned his head to look out the window.It's been raining a lot lately, and occasionally it stops raining and it's also a gloomy cloudy day.Autumn is deep and the temperature is cooling down every day.

Xu Chenchuan habitually picked up the cup at hand and took a sip, then suddenly frowned and looked down.

This is not the cup he just emptied, nor is it filled with bitter coffee, but warm black tea that nourishes the stomach.

And he didn't pay attention at all just now, who put it on the table.

******

"Tuk tuk", someone knocked on the door.

Richelieu raised his head impatiently from the desk: "Any news?"

The guard at the door bowed anxiously. He also knew that he was not welcome. After all, there had been enough bad news recently.

The waiting process was far longer than expected.The besieged La Rochelle people swear not to surrender, relying on the little food and grass left to survive, wholeheartedly waiting for the British rescue.The French army couldn't break through the city, so they could only spend time and military pay outside the city.

It seemed that the heavens were going to test the bishop's willpower, and even this seemingly simple waiting itself encountered many obstacles.The Catholic Church, which was supposed to fight against the French army, was stingy with funding because it was dissatisfied with Richelieu's hard-edged style.At the beginning, Louis XIII was full of confidence and high morale, but he was the first to lose patience, left this boring battlefield and returned to Paris.As time went by, colleagues who had long had a rift with the bishop joined the anti-war faction, and kept calling for Louis XIII to cease the war and withdraw his troops.

The British fleet approached the port once, and when it came, it was aggressive, but it slowed down after seeing the magnificent dam clearly.In the end, only a burst of artillery was fired from a distance, and part of the embankment was blown down. After the French army began to counterattack, they immediately died down and turned around to return.No one believed that Britain would let it go, and Buckingham could make a comeback at any time after gathering intelligence.

The alliance's support was delayed, but domestic opposition continued to come. The morale of the French army was low, and they could only rely on high-intensity training to maintain their combat effectiveness.The barracks spend money like water, and the already worrisome finances are even more difficult to maintain...

And now, the guards had to bring another piece of news that made matters worse.He bowed and said at the risk of being angered: "Buckingham has finished his preparations and is ready to sail from Portsmouth Harbor."

Richelieu paused: "Britain is going to send troops?"

"Yes." The guard was trembling. He knew that with the current strength of the French army, even if they could resist the British army, they would suffer heavy casualties.At that time, it will be hard to say whether there is any spare power to surround La Rochelle.

The bishop laughed suddenly: "That's good. I'm afraid they won't come."

The guard stared blankly at the man who was smiling happily, and secretly speculated, could it be that this lord has been driven crazy, and he wants to die?

In the end, he didn't get the chance to verify the conjecture.Because the French army waiting in full battle did not wait for the ships to appear on the horizon, but waited for a piece of joke-like intelligence.

The Duke of Buckingham in England was assassinated on the eve of sending troops, he was slashed twice in the heart, and bled to death on the spot.

"The demon man who bewitched the king is finally dead!" - this is the relief of some British people.

"French spies have infiltrated us, can they assassinate us at any time?" - This is the panic of another group of people.

However, the dull truth soon spreads that the killer was a self-proclaimed righteous English Puritan named Felton who had a personal rift with Buckingham.The British killed each other, just in time for this most critical moment, as if they were deliberately drawing their salaries for France.Everything seemed so coincidental that even the French soldiers jokingly celebrated their good luck.

When the guard delivering the military report knocked on the bishop's door again, he handed in a letter with a private seal.

Richelieu went to the window and opened it, and a delicate lily petal floated out of the envelope.He looked in again, and picked up a piece of exquisitely embroidered clothes.At first glance, the bright red material was almost the same color as the red robe on his body, but it smelled like blood.

The gorgeous face of a countess appeared in front of her eyes.As if responding to the sender's bad taste, he chuckled a few times, held the corner of the clothes tightly in his palm, crumpled it up, and threw it into the flames.

Death... so easy.

******

"It's all my fault, brother, don't say anything, and don't blame Xiao Hao, it's all because of me being stupid."

Bai Sheng made several appointments, but Bai Qi couldn't find anyone. He panicked, and finally ran to guard the door of his house. He didn't expect to wait until late at night for him to come back from get off work.

Bai Sheng showed the most upright attitude, and made a very positive self-criticism: "I misunderstood the relationship between the two of you, and I will find an opportunity to apologize to Chenchuan, and I promise to explain it clearly to him, and I will never implicate you..."

"no need."

"……what?"

"You don't need to contact him recently." Bai Qi rubbed the corners of his eyes wearily, took out the key to open the door, "Go back if you have nothing to do, I'm tired, I won't entertain you anymore."

When Bai Cheng heard this tone, he felt that he was still angry, so he begged with a mournful face, "Give me a chance to make amends, the matter must be resolved..."

"Things will change." Bai Qi opened the door, "Maybe after a while, you won't need to apologize."

Bai Sheng didn't understand.No need to apologize?That is to say - the "sister-in-law" in the misunderstanding will no longer be a misunderstanding?

"Brother, don't you mean—" Bai Sheng's heart was pounding, "What are your plans?"

"Are you going to... Probably just make a mistake and correct it."

Bai Sheng was completely dumbfounded, staring blankly at Bai Qi in front of him.He didn't know what happened before, and he didn't know what the correction in Bai Qi's mouth implied, but he suddenly felt that his brother looked so strange, as if he was played by another person.

"Brother, why do I feel that you seem a little different?"

"Is there?" Bai Qi said casually.

Seeing that his face was indeed tired, Bai Cheng could only hold back his doubts and waved his hands: "I'm leaving, come back next time."

Bai Qi entered the room, turned around to close the door, Bai Sheng who had already walked away for a while suddenly turned around and asked, "Then you said 'after a while', how long do you have to wait?"