Xia Tan, who was handling company affairs at home, sneezed loudly.
An hour later, the team that had been strolling outside came back.
Xia Tan came out of the study to greet them: "You're back. Did you enjoy your visit, Xiaoquan?"
Xia Quan hummed.
Xia Tan: "Then let's prepare for lunch. The food is ready."
Lin Qingle: "You guys eat, I have something else to do back at the base, I'll come back to pick up Yangyang later."
Xia Tan: "Don't worry, you can have a meal first and then leave."
"No, no, I'm in a hurry."
Xu Tingbai: "Then I'll take you there."
Lin Qingle immediately said, "I drove here, no need to see you off. Um...enjoy your meal, I'm leaving first."
Lin Qingle didn't stop, changed his shoes, and went downstairs quickly.
Finally, there were only three men left at the table.
"Brother Tingbai, I have something to ask you." Xia Quan suddenly said.
Xu Tingbai: "You say."
"Do you like Sister Qingle?"
Xu Tingbai paused with his chopsticks in his hand, but it was only for a second. The next second, he calmly replied, "Well, what's wrong?"
Xia Quan put down his chopsticks without hesitation: "Do you have to be so ridiculous! You, you both like the same woman! Will you compete with each other? Will you break up? Will you never have anything to do with each other again?!"
Xia Tan held his forehead with his hand: "Come on, my brother, can you not be so good at imagining things?"
Xia Quan frowned: "But it's such a pity, why can't I see it, what kind of peerless beauty is Sister Qingle?"
Xu Tingbai raised his eyes to look at him, then looked at Xia Tan.
Xia Tan touched his nose and said, "Alright, don't look at me. Fortunately, I don't have deep feelings for you, otherwise I would really fight you to the death."
Xia Quan sighed and shook his head: "Brother, I'm not saying that you give in a little too quickly."
Xia Tan was annoyed: "What can I do? These two have been childhood sweethearts! This guy has been secretly in love with her for so long, what can I do? I give in!"
"Secret love..." Xia Quan was shocked, "Brother Tingbai, you still have a secret crush on someone?"
Xu Tingbai: “…”
"Shocked, right? I had the same expression as you at the beginning." Xia Tan nudged Xu Tingbai, "Tell me, what's going on between you two?"
Xia Tan was a few years older than Xu Tingbai. He knew Xu Tingbai when he worked part-time at Aurra HME during the summer vacation of his sophomore year. But at that time, he only heard that the chairman brought his nephew back from China. The child was blind and needed surgery.
Because his brother was also blind, he was somewhat curious about him at the time. But it was several years later that the two actually met.
That year, the chairman put Xu Tingbai in aurra hme internship. Xu Tingbai was studying and interning at the same time. Originally, Xia Tan thought that this person was just a relative of the senior management. But later, when the company defeated the opponent in a competitive crisis thanks to the core intelligent device newly created by this "relative", he was shocked to realize that this person he thought was a relative was not a good person at all.
Later, he heard from gossip among his colleagues that after Xu Tingbai's eyes gradually recovered during treatment, he made up for all the lessons he had missed in just a few years of cramming, and finished learning what he needed to learn in a very short time, and was admitted to a good university.
Xia Tan himself was already a very talented person, and he had been praised since he was a child. But facing this "non-human" person, he felt for the first time that his achievements were nothing.
Anyway, from that day on, he paid special attention to Xu Tingbai, this "connected person", and later, they became friends.
However, Xu Tingbai is a man of few words. Xia Tan knows that he had a particularly difficult period in the country before, but Xu Tingbai rarely talks about specific things.
So he had no idea that there was someone he was thinking about in his heart.
Xu Tingbai: "What's going on?"
"Don't you like her? Then why don't you tell her?" Xia Tan asked.
Xu Tingbai paused: "She still has some grudges against me."
"Hard feelings? What kind of hard feelings?" Xia Tan asked. "Let me tell you, I may not be as good as you in other aspects, but I am older and have more experience in relationships. When it comes to chasing girls, I am definitely more experienced than you."
Xu Tingbai: “…”
"Why do you care about her grudges? If you hadn't said you missed her..." Xia Tan said jokingly, "Then don't blame me for stealing your love!"
Xu Tingbai was silent for a while, then said, "When I was in China, my situation was very bad. At that time, she was the only one who stayed with me. No matter how bad my temper was or how bad I treated her, she didn't leave. But later, I left without telling her... It wasn't until this year that we met again."
Xia Tan was stunned for a moment: "Ah? You, you scumbag."
Xu Tingbai: "For so many years, I didn't have the courage and felt that I was not qualified to look for her. I always thought that when I was ready and could return to China, I would go to see her."
Xu Tingbai suddenly raised his eyes and looked at Xia Tan: "Didn't you ask me why our headquarters should be here instead of Shanghai?"
The two cities are equally matched, and the company initially preferred Shanghai...
Xia Tan's eyes widened: "Don't tell me it's because Lin Qingle is here."
Xu Tingbai: "I know she was admitted to a school here. I guess she will stay in this city."
Xia Tan: "Fuck... are you crazy..."
Xu Tingbai put down his chopsticks and said calmly, "Not bad."
"… "
Xu Tingbai: "Didn't you say you have experience in chasing girls? I've finished talking about it, you can tell me now."
I went there because I really wanted experience...
Is this still the Xu Tingbai he knows
Xia Tan scratched his hair and said, "I think I need to calm down. At first I thought you were just secretly in love with me, but I didn't expect you to have such a big crush on me!"
Xia Quan was also stunned, and after a while he said, "Brother Tingbai, Sister Qingle was so good to you before, but now she is gone, she must be unhappy. You have to coax her well, and treat her better than she treated you before!"
"I know."
"Then...how did you make her treat you so well in the past? Think about your own characteristics in the past. There must be a reason why she liked you so much in the past." Xia Quan said seriously, "If you want her to like you now, you have to be the same as before."
Xia Tan: "Do you want me to give you the advice or should I? Have you ever been in love, little brat?"
Xia Quan: "What do you care—"
There was a reason why she was nice to you in the past...
Same qualities as before.
What did he have before that he doesn't have now
—
Lin Qingle has been quite busy with work recently. The company has launched a new fully intelligent Japanese-style home module. This series is simple and casual, and is mainly aimed at people who like elegant and simple decoration styles.
This project is highly valued by the company, so the plan is still being revised.
As one of the leaders of the planning team, Lin Qingle has basically been having endless meetings these days.
That day, after the team finished a new version, the manager said directly: "Qingle, go to Mr. Xu's office later to make a report to him and see what he thinks."
This project was managed by Xu Tingbai, so it was normal procedure to ask him for confirmation. However, the manager went there the first two times... As the deputy manager, she had never reported directly there.
"You are familiar with this project, so you will be in charge from now on. You will be the one to liaise with your superiors."
"Ah... OK."
Lin Qingle naturally couldn't say no, so after returning to his workstation to pack up his computer and documents, he took them to the elevator.
Lin Qingle started to feel nervous as he went upstairs to Xu Tingbai's office.
She couldn't even explain why she was nervous. She would stumble when she saw him sitting downstairs at a big meeting before, not to mention that she had to talk face to face now...
However, the tension didn't last long, and the elevator arrived soon.
Lin Qingle walked out and greeted the assistant outside.
"Jason, I just confirmed the time with you. Is Mr. Xu... Mr. Xu free now?"
"Yes, I'm waiting for you. Come in."
"Yeah, okay."
Lin Qingle pushed open the office door.
Xu Tingbai's office has a great view, and it is bright and spacious once you enter.
"Coming." He stood up from his office chair, walked over and stretched out his hand to her, wanting to help her take the computer and files.
Lin Qingle didn't let go, but put it down on the coffee table himself: "I'll do it myself, Mr. Xu, you take a seat."
Xu Tingbai smiled and said, "Do we have to be so distant?"
"Now it's work..."
Xu Tingbai uttered an "oh" and sat down on the single sofa beside her.
Lin Qingle: "Then let me tell you about the plan now."
Xu Tingbai: "Well, go ahead."
Lin Qingle was very serious about her work. She was still nervous at the beginning, but in the end, in order to avoid being nervous, she simply stopped looking at him and just talked a lot to her documents and the PPT on the computer.
Xu Tingbai leaned there, listening attentively, and would often say a few words to express his dissatisfaction.
While he was talking, Lin Qingle would stop and quickly make notes and revisions.
…
"We still need to consider the spokesperson. Although new traffic stars may be popular, we don't know them well and we are worried that there will be problems later." Lin Qingle said, "Otherwise, we can select three candidates first and tell you after comparing them."
Xu Tingbai nodded: "Okay."
Lin Qingle: "Then... let's do this for now. You said I'll go back and discuss it with them, so I'll leave first?"
Xu Tingbai watched her start to pack her things and stopped her: "Wait a minute."
Lin Qingle: “Hmm?”
"Stay for dinner."
Lin Qingle shook his head subconsciously.
Xu Tingbai said, "I've asked my assistant to bring the food over. You'll have to eat at this hour, so let's eat together."
Lin Qingle: "… Not good, I'd better go to the restaurant to eat."
"Is there a problem with having a meal?" Xu Tingbai looked at her and said indifferently, "Since when did you not even want to eat with me?"
"No… "
"Then let's eat together. We've never eaten together before in this reunion."
Xu Tingbai shed the bossy look he had just had at work, and his tone was completely that of "What's wrong with having a meal with friends I haven't seen for a long time?"
Since he said so, Lin Qingle naturally did not refute anything.
After a while, the assistant brought lunch.
It was a packed meal from the restaurant, with four dishes and a soup. After Jason thoughtfully helped to unpack the food, Lin Qingle lowered her eyes to take a look. The dishes were what she usually ate.
"These are what you made before. You should like them." Xu Tingbai handed her the chopsticks.
Jason was initially surprised that his boss would actually invite employees to eat together in the office, because even President Xia would not eat here on weekdays.
But when I heard the boss say this, I was even more shocked... No wonder I felt that the boss treated Manager Lin a little differently when I was on a business trip, it turned out that we were old acquaintances.
Moreover, it was the first time he heard his tone so gentle.
"Have I done all of that..." Lin Qingle thought about it carefully.
Xu Tingbai put a shrimp in her bowl: "Well, I made it when I was cooking at my house, so I thought you would like it."
"If I cook at your house, I should make what you like to eat, right?" Lin Qingle said subconsciously.
Xu Tingbai paused for a moment: "You don't like it, right? Sorry. Then what do you like to eat? I'll ask them to buy it."
“No, no, actually I like it quite a bit.” Lin Qingle said, “They are all home-cooked dishes, and I can basically eat them.”
Xu Tingbai hummed and picked up the chopsticks.
But he didn't move for a moment, just looked at her. Usually his eyes looked cold, but for some reason, at this moment, they made people feel warm and enthusiastic.
Lin Qingle's heart skipped a beat when he looked at her, and he quickly lowered his head to eat.
After eating a few bites, she looked up and found that he still hadn't touched his chopsticks and was still looking at her.
Lin Qingle's meal stopped in her mouth, her cheeks puffed slightly, and she stared at him in confusion.
Xu Tingbai: "Why don't you eat anymore?"
Lin Qingle chewed a few bites and swallowed: "… Why don't you eat it?"
"Look at you."
"What are you looking at me for?"
Xu Tingbai smiled and said, "When I had dinner with you before, I guessed what you were like when you ate."
"Ah... and then."
"And then?" Xu Tingbai leaned forward slightly, with a smile in his eyes, "It was almost the same as I imagined."
"What?"
“It goes well with rice.”
The author has something to say: It goes well with rice (really want to eat it?)