As night falls, the city that has been dormant throughout the day gradually wakes up. The flow of cars continues, some returning home or rushing to their destinations. Neon lights begin to light up in every corner, and the same is true for office buildings. However, unlike neon lights, every lit grid in the office building represents a group of people working hard.
Lin Qingle is one of these hard-working people. She has been very busy at work recently. After returning to the office, she didn’t even have time to think about “why did Zhao Ziai come to see Xu Tingbai today” before she was overwhelmed by a pile of work.
After finishing all the things at hand and leaving the company, it was almost nine o'clock.
"Aren't you hooking up with Xu Tingbai? Why, do you still need to work overtime?" As soon as he walked out of the door, he met a flamboyant woman head-on.
Lin Qingle still had a look of fatigue between his brows: "Ms. Zhao? I don't know what you mean, but please be more polite."
"What do you mean by polite?" Zhao Ziai glanced at her, "Lin Qingle, I just want to ask you one thing, are you and Xu Tingbai together?"
Lin Qingle had been busy all day and didn't bother to pay attention to her: "Move aside, I have something else to do."
"Wait a moment!" Zhao Ziai held her back, "I've been waiting for you here for a long time, how dare you leave!"
Lin Qingle was puzzled: "I didn't ask you to wait for me here."
Zhao Ziai: "Then I just waited, I don't care, answer me, is it true or not?"
There were people coming and going in front of the company. Zhao Ziai not only didn't let her leave, but he also didn't control her voice.
Lin Qingle couldn't do anything to her: "Okay, you really want to know, right? Then let's find a place to sit down and talk it out."
Zhao Ziai glanced at her and said, "Okay, I'm afraid of you."
"… "
Finally, Lin Qingle chose a nearby coffee shop.
After sitting down, she ordered a cup of coffee and a dessert: "What would you like to drink?"
Zhao Ziai: "... Latte."
"Want something to eat?"
Zhao Ziai frowned: "Eating cake so late at night? You're getting fat."
"Okay..."
After ordering, Lin Qingle pressed her eyebrows. Seeing that she didn't want to speak right away, Zhao Ziai said directly: "Hey, go ahead."
Lin Qingle: "What..."
"That's what I asked just now! Your fish memory? Xu Tingbai likes you, right?"
"oh."
Lin Qingle coughed lightly, wanting to say "no" to prevent the young lady from pestering her. But then she thought about how he did confess his feelings that day, and it would be bad if she lied.
"Um... this..."
Seeing the look on the man's face, Zhao Ziai felt very disappointed. "So he's really with you? He's not deliberately using you to fool me?"
Lin Qingle was stunned and looked up: "Ah? He said we... are together?"
Zhao Ziai's face darkened, and she seemed about to cry: "Why is this happening? How am I inferior to you? I have been with him abroad for so long! He fell in love with you as soon as he came back. Why don't you follow the principle of first come first served..."
The waiter just brought coffee and cake, and glanced at the two of them when he heard what was said.
Lin Qingle held the coffee cup: "In a foreign country...you are with him?"
"He couldn't see when he came to Aunt Han Jing's house. I often visited him during his treatment. I bought him a lot of food and kept him company. We were classmates in college, and he would teach me questions I didn't understand..." At this point, Zhao Ziai's voice weakened, "If he hadn't returned to China, he wouldn't have met you and wouldn't have liked you."
Lin Qingle: “…”
Zhao Ziai glanced at her and said, "Tell me, is he really bad? Is he unfair to me?!"
Lin Qingle lowered his eyes and took a big bite of the cake. He felt very annoyed. "If the order of first come first served is really as important as you said, then you have no right to tell me this."
Zhao Ziai: "...What?"
Lin Qingle raised his eyes, his expression slightly cold: "If a person doesn't like you, what's the point of being so persistent? Feelings are mutual, not one-sided. This cannot be summarized by fairness or unfairness."
"But I—"
"Besides, what do you like about him? His appearance? His abilities? Or is it because he doesn't like you?"
Zhao Ziai choked: "What are you talking about?"
Lin Qingle: "I just think that people like you may have a smooth life and get things too easily, so sometimes you feel unwilling when you can't get them."
People like you? Who else
But no matter who else was there, Zhao Ziai was a little stunned. In fact, she knew that she was a little unwilling and felt a little embarrassed, so she was entangled in this.
She was just unhappy that Xu Tingbai treated her like this. From childhood to adulthood, no one had ever treated her like this!
"Actually, Miss Zhao is so outstanding, there should be a lot of people who like you, right?"
Zhao Ziai didn't expect Lin Qingle to suddenly praise her, and turned her head away, "Of course!"
"So why would you lower yourself so low just because you like someone?" Lin Qingle looked at her, "You are beautiful and have a good family background, so many people want to hold you in their hands."
Zhao Ziai came here today to confront Lin Qingle. She was unhappy because she was rejected by Xu Tingbai, so she wanted to deliberately tell Lin Qingle that she had known Xu Tingbai for a long time and about what happened abroad to make things difficult for her.
But unexpectedly, Lin Qingle's reaction was always indifferent, which prevented her from fully exerting her power, and she even wanted to agree with him.
Zhao Ziai: "You said that on purpose so that I would withdraw, right?"
Lin Qingle took another bite of cake, and his mind was filled with her words, "She was the one who accompanied him abroad," so he spoke more bluntly, "Ms. Zhao, where are you going to retreat? You've never been here in the first place."
"you!"
Lin Qingle: "Okay, you've said what you needed to say today, and I've listened. I'll buy you some coffee, and I'll be leaving first."
"Hey! Lin Qingle!"
Lin Qingle walked out of the coffee shop without looking back. When he turned the corner, his phone vibrated.
She took it out and took a look. It was a message from Xu Tingbai, asking her if she had returned home.
Lin Qingle didn't reply and threw the phone back into his pocket.
Humph... He also said that he was only thinking about her when he was abroad... He was a playboy and who knows how many more people like Zhao Ziai will appear in the future!
—
Lin Qingle didn't reply to Xu Tingbai's message all night, but he sent her a message the next morning, asking her when she had bought the high-speed train to go home.
Later, probably because she didn't reply no matter what, he called her directly, and he would not stop calling her unless she answered.
"Hello, what's going on?" Lin Qingle was annoyed and said unhappily after picking up the phone.
Xu Tingbai was stunned for a moment: "Are you angry?"
"Why are you angry?"
"Yesterday Zhao Ziai came to my office—"
Lin Qingle choked and said insincerely: "What does it have to do with me... I'm not angry."
Xu Tingbai: "Then why don't you reply to my message?"
"I, I'm busy! It's vacation time, and I have a lot of things to deal with.
reason."
"Okay, let's meet tonight and have dinner together."
"no."
"What's wrong?"
"The department is having a dinner party tonight."
"Then tomorrow—"
"I'm going home tomorrow."
Xu Tingbai: “…”
"Deputy Manager, this is the information I compiled. I give it to you." Just then, an intern from the department came over.
Lin Qingle said indifferently to the person on the other end of the phone: "I'm still working, hang up."
"wait… "
Toot-toot-toot
In the other office, after the call was hung up, Xu Tingbai stared at the black screen of his phone in a daze.
"What's wrong? What did Qingle say?" Xia Tan on the side asked cheerfully.
Xu Tingbai: "She hung up on me."
"Didn't you agree to have dinner with me?"
"They said that the department is having a dinner today."
"Pfft... Damn it, I knew that your peach blossom physique would bring you trouble. Zhao Ziai came to your office to look for you yesterday and she saw her. She must be angry."
Xu Tingbai frowned: "She said she wasn't angry about this."
"What? My dear Mr. Xu, do you believe what a woman says?" Xia Tan shook his head repeatedly, "As expected, you still suffered from your lack of experience."
Xu Tingbai: “…”
—
On the last day before the holiday, the atmosphere in the company was a little different. When Lin Qingle was doing all the work preparations before the holiday, he could feel the obvious excitement of his interns.
At the last minute before getting off work, when Director Cheng came out and asked everyone to get ready to go to the booked restaurant, several interns jumped up from their chairs.
Lin Qingle found it funny, but she could understand it. After being busy for so long, anyone would be happy to finally be able to relax.
At seven o'clock in the evening, everyone in the planning department went to the restaurant to have dinner together.
No one drank much at the dinner table. After chatting and laughing, everyone moved on to the next game.
The second event was a very regular activity, singing in KTV.
After drinking some wine, everyone became more excited and the place gradually became more lively. Lin Qingle knew that he could not drink much, so he basically did not drink much and sat aside to play the dice game with everyone.
"Director, where have you been all of a sudden? Did you sneak out to avoid drinking?" The door of the box was opened, and Director Cheng came in and was seen by everyone.
On this occasion, everyone lost their reservedness as in the company, and a few bold subordinates even dared to tease the director.
Director Cheng: "What nonsense are you talking about? I can drink so much, do I need to avoid alcohol? You bastards are still young!"
"Hey - Director, if you say that, then we will really be rude to you tonight."
"Director, come here quickly, don't run away again."
"I wasn't running away just now. I noticed that Mr. Xu and Mr. Xia were in the next room, so I went over to say a few words to them. Hey, everyone, come with me and say hello."
“Ah…” Several interns became scared when they heard that the company’s top management was actually right next door.
"Why are President Xia and the others here?"
"I haven't spoken to Mr. Xu yet..."
Director Cheng: "Hey, what are you afraid of? I can still eat you."
Knowing that their superior was next door, although they were a little scared, most people still wanted to go and say hello and show their faces. After all, in normal times, many people would never have the chance to meet someone like Xu Tingbai.
But Lin Qingle really didn't want to go there. Although she knew Xu Tingbai didn't have that kind of intention towards Zhao Ziai, she couldn't help but feel a little depressed. No matter what, it was true that he hadn't had her for the past eight years, and it was also true that she had no idea how many people had appeared around him and how many people had accompanied him.
And we have to admit that when Zhao Ziai said confidently and affirmatively that day "she accompanied him through the treatment period", she was really unhappy.
"Qingle, what are you doing sitting here? Let's go." The manager turned around and pulled her.
It is understandable for ordinary employees not to go, because the people next door don’t know them anyway. But for a deputy manager like Lin Qingle, it is unreasonable to not go when he knows his superior is next door.
Lin Qingle had no choice but to stand up slowly: "Here I come..."
After Lin Qingle followed the group to the next door, she stood at the back in a low profile. But she still saw Xu Tingbai at a glance. He was sitting in the middle, surrounded by stars, handsome and unparalleled, and he was not someone who could be ignored.
When she looked over, he also saw her. Their eyes met in the air, and he curled the corners of his mouth slightly. He clearly didn't say anything, but she suddenly felt an undercurrent that no one else knew and that only the two of them could feel.
An undercurrent that makes people feel inexplicably hot on the face.
Lin Qingle coughed lightly, rubbed his nose, and "calmly" looked away.
Director Cheng briefly introduced the people in his department to several superiors. When he mentioned Lin Qingle, he joked, "I don't need to introduce him."
Xia Tan: "Of course, of course, she's the most beautiful girl in your department. Deputy Manager Lin has a great reputation. Is there anyone in our company who doesn't know her?"
Lin Qingle was slightly embarrassed: "Mr. Xia, stop joking."
Xia Tan glanced at Xu Tingbai, and seeing that the latter was sitting on the sofa motionless, he called Lin Qingle over: "I'm not kidding, everyone knows that. Oh, by the way, I don't think I've had a drink with Deputy Manager Lin yet, so, I'll drink it."
Lin Qingle smiled at him, picked up the wine glass and wanted to respond politely, but the glass was quickly pressed down by someone.
She looked down and saw Xu Tingbai's fingertips lightly placed on her cup.
Lin Qingle: “…”
Xu Tingbai said calmly: "People who don't know how to drink don't have to drink."
The people around were stunned and some of them didn't react.
Xia Tan raised his eyebrows. Tsk, look at how protective he is! So infuriating!
He glanced at Xu Tingbai and said, "Hey Xu Tingbai, would I bully the female employees of our own company? Really, listen to me, okay? I did it, and she can do whatever she wants."
Xu Tingbai raised his eyes to look at Lin Qingle and said, "Deputy Manager Lin and I have been on a business trip before, and I think he can't drink."
Lin Qingle knew that this was an explanation and would not make the people present think it was strange that he suddenly stopped her from drinking.
"I can drink a little." Lin Qingle pulled his hand away and broke the silence, "Mr. Xia, thank you."
Xu Tingbai: “…”
Xia Tan said happily: "Okay, just drink a little, otherwise our boss will say that I am bullying."
…
After politely greeting each other, the planning department returned to their own private room. As soon as they sat down, several interns couldn't help but start chatting.
"Mr. Xu is so handsome! He looks even more handsome up close!"
"Yes, yes, although I'm still a little scared."
"It looks quite serious..."
"But I think we should just watch. Mr. Xu is still very
He is a gentleman and just now he spoke up for our deputy manager."
"Yeah, a boss who doesn't force his employees to drink is awesome, okay?"
"Hey... did you say he has a girlfriend?"
"No! I know this. I heard other colleagues talk about it before."
"I wonder what Mr. Xu's wife will be like in the future."
…
The more they talked, the more excited they became. Finally, several old employees joined in and analyzed Xu Tingbai from his education to his experience, from his appearance to his preferences.
Lin Qingle felt something was wrong after hearing this, and finally left the box under the pretext of going to the restroom.
"Huh..." The door closed behind her and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Just now, when she heard them talking about what kind of person he likes and who he will be with in the future, she broke out in a cold sweat. She was inexplicably nervous, but now that she was out of it, she finally felt a little better.
"Where are you going?" She had just turned around and was about to walk towards the bathroom when she heard the voice of someone who had just become the center of discussion.
Lin Qingle turned around and saw Xu Tingbai standing in the corridor.
Lin Qingle paused for a moment: "I, I'm going to the toilet."
"Oh, what a coincidence." He walked forward, "Let's go together."
"… "
Who wants to go to the toilet with a man
There were no other colleagues around, so Lin Qingle didn't pretend to respect him. He didn't answer anything and just walked forward.
This is the only way to the toilet, and she can't stop him from going.
But she could walk faster and not be with him.
Lin Qingle really thought so, so she walked faster and faster. As a result, when she turned the corner... she was pulled back by Xu Tingbai.
"ah… "
Xu Tingbai grabbed her arm and blocked her between himself and the wall. He lowered his eyes to look at her and asked, "Are you hiding from me?"
"No." She raised her eyes and looked at him, trying to express her calmness and confusion.
But when she really looked up and saw his eyes, she felt scared for no reason. He was too close to her. At this distance, she seemed to be able to feel the heat of his breath on her forehead and the faint smell of alcohol on him.
She lowered her eyes to avoid his gaze and repeated, "I didn't..."
"I have no relationship with Zhao Ziai. I only know him because his father is familiar with my aunt and uncle."
Lin Qingle didn't expect him to suddenly start explaining, and was slightly startled: "... Why are you talking about this now?"
"I just want to tell you that I don't like her." Xu Tingbai pulled her, his voice a little deep, "Lin Qingle, I only like you."