Chapter 1

At eight o'clock in the morning, a tall man in a stiff suit stepped into the company's gate on time. After swiping his card, he pressed the elevator and went straight to the eighth floor.

The office was already full of people, each of whom meticulously dressed and with the same serious expression. Even the computer had already been turned on. On the table, there was absolutely no food or garbage left.

The tall man came in, a folder in his arms. He nodded when he saw the people in the office. He immediately got a response;

“Manager!”

“Good morning, Manager.”

“Good morning.”

After all the greetings, the man entered into his single room office.

When the man's figure disappeared completely inside, the people outside heaved a sigh of relief.

“The manager wasn't angry today...”

“Yes, at last. Otherwise it'll be miserable.”

“Speaking of that, why is such a young manager so serious?”

“Silence! Silence! Although the office is soundproof, the manager could still see us inside!”

After a moment of clamorous, the office immediately regained its quietness, leaving only the sounds of documents flipping and keyboards tapping.

Su Ce, a 25-year-old male, holds the position of department manager in a small-scale listed company. He has a slight habit of cleanliness and is strict in his work.

At this moment, Su Ce looked on his wristwatch and found that the last person who entered work, the second hand pointed exactly on the sixtieth. He nodded in satisfaction and started his own work.

Su Ce has always been a good boss, willing to let his subordinates off a little—just a little—as far as he could tolerate.

From morning class, lunch, afternoon class, dinner, taking a shower, dealing with unfinished papers or reading certain books and newspapers, and lastly wash then sleep.

This is Su Ce's daily schedule. There's also his boss who knows his personality well, and a senior of Su Ce's University. Su Ce doesn't need to attend social activities like any other department managers, he only needed to do his own job. After his adopted parents died, this was already the most satisfying life for him — Yes, Su Ce was an orphan at the age of five, who's been adopted by a couple in their sixties with no children. When he grew up, the couple died. He didn't have the opportunity to repay them. Fortunately, they left peacefully, which makes him comforted in some way.

Even though he's always left behind.

After a day's work, everyone in the office was still afraid to leave early. Only until Su Ce's figure disappeared at the elevator, did they pack up their things one after another.

Su Ce drove his car out of the garage and steadily went back to his own apartment. His life may be boring for some but Su Ce enjoyed it.

There was no unfinished work today. He took a shower quickly, walked out in a bathrobe, and sat in front of a large French window with thick and rare original textbook on his hand. He opened the bookmark page when his phone suddenly rang.

“...Senior?” Su Ce was slightly surprised, he said, “Is there anything urgent for the company?” He just returned from the company, if not for this, he didn't know why his boss would call at this time. Tomorrow is the weekend. It's customary to have a rest.

The voice on the other line was very hearty. After a few words and laughter, 'click' — the phone hung up.

Listening to the busy tone coming from his phone, Su Ce slightly frowned. “Hot spring...” He ended the line and continued reading.

The next day, Su Ce drove to a newly built hot spring village at the southeast corner. Because it's the weekend, the scene was quite lively. He parked his car and looked around.

Swiftly, a hand slapped him hard on the shoulder and was pinched around his neck, “Ah Ce!”

Su Ce pushed up his glasses, “...Senior.”

“Ah, it's rare for you to come out for fun, don't be sulky.” The person known as his Senior was half taller than Su Ce, handsome and has a bright smile.

Su Ce nodded, “Senior, it's hot.” He took the man's hand off.

The man sighed, then laughed. “Forget it. You haven't gone to a hot spring for several years already. Come with me and enjoy it today. You've worked hard these days.”

Su Ce shook his head, “I'm the one who should thank the Senior for taking me in.”

This man is Su Ce's boss, Yang Han. At the age of twenty-seven, he's already the second-generation richest man. His relationship with his family was not very good though. After the death of his old man, he got the legacy. Since then, he broke off his relationship with his family and went out to work alone and run his own company. Five years after his graduation, the company developed well and now has certain scale.

The good relationship between Yang Han and Su Ce began in University, both of them are members of the student union. Yang Han, as president, always appreciates Su Ce's work attitude and ability. Su Ce was always on the line until three o'clock. Yang Han thinks he has no vitality so he often pulls him out to sing and eat. After a while, Yang Han became the only person Su Ce would call a good friend. When Yang Han's company had begun to work, Su Ce just graduated. Yang Han called him directly into the company, then the two began to work together. It could be said that Su Ce contributed to the company's current achievements. Yang Han also regarded Su Ce as his younger brother, which became Su Ce's greatest comfort after losing his loved ones.

At the same time, it also leads to this result. It's very hard for Su Ce to reject Yang Han's kindness. For example, like today, such a thing was a complete waste of time for Su Ce, but since Yang Han thinks it's good for him, he'll still come.

This newly built spring village has very good equipment. As soon as you walk in from the door, you could feel the warm water vapor from time to time, hitting people's faces which makes them feel very comfortable.

Yang Han stretched out, rubbed his eyes and said, “Ah Ce, I've made a reservation. Let's go there together... well, you should like that environment.”

Su Ce only held his eyeglasses as a response.

As Yang Han had said, Su Ce surprisingly liked his seat.

The design of this hot spring village is very user-friendly. It's probably accurate that people now advocate the principle of being close to nature. In addition to the closed Japanese-style private rooms, there are also many small courtyards, each have different styles. There were Ancient Chinese styles, European and American wilderness styles, pastoral styles, and primitive forest styles. However, due to local restrictions, they're all only miniatures. But in spite of this, it still made people felt wonderful feeling of nature... So, although the hot spring village had just opened, many people came to admire.

The reason why Yang Han said that Su Ce would liked it is because he set a small courtyard with forest wind. The relative area is quite large. There's more than one mu of land.

*mu — unit of land measurement that varies with location.

All sides are covered with trees. It seems they've been transplanted from other places. They're all more than ten meters high. The dense shade of trees blocked them and could cast a shadow. Where the shadows couldn't be seen, the sunlight penetrates through the gaps of trees and falls down. In the center of the sun was a half a person high circular pool, with brown slate at the bottom. There's a circle of fuzzy and dense green grasses, which was hairy but still doesn't prick people at all.

Su Ce has always been fond of forests and the relatively old or primitive things, including these free and vigorous creatures, which are opposite of his personality but it's what he yearns for. It's just that he hadn't had the opportunity to go out and take a look over these years.

Yang Han knows Su Ce very well, so when he knew that this hot spring village has such a scene, he didn't hesitate to bring him over — in order to surprise him.

Su Ce hadn't been happy for a long time...since Su's mother and father passed away.

“...Thank you, Senior.” Su Ce, of course, understood Yang Han's thoughts. He turned his head and thanked Yang Han softly.

Yang Han rubbed his hair and said, “What do you say? Let's go soak in it!” He said then took off his clothes and launched into the water first, making a sound of enjoyment.

Su Ce turned his back, slowly untied his coat and surrounded himself with white bath towel.

The water in the hot spring was very warm... The sizzling hot steam makes Su Ce perceive lazily, his body feels very comfortable when soaked in warm water. It feels as if every pore is relaxed. He sighed unconsciously then slowly closed his eyes.

He fell asleep.

In his sleep, he felt there was some kind of dark gentleness covering him, long and warm. His body seemed to suddenly become very heavy, slowly sinking in a strong pull, little by little... It seemed like he had fallen into the deepest dream.

When the eyelids noticed a bright light shining down, Su Ce found that his hands and feet were weak, his whole body was wet and sticky, and the bath towel was all attached on his body, making him cold.

There's also something that's sweeping around his face. It was moist and smells fleshy meat.

Gradually, the strength of that thing became stronger, bringing a tingling sensation and even some pain.

...What's this?

Su Ce finally opened his eyes with difficulty. The thing receded a little. He faced a pair of golden pupils on the head of a huge beast covered with long golden hair.