Shao Yan sat behind the desk, and looked around his computer desk. Similar to his office at home, he did not like any clutter on his desk. Everything was arranged so neatly.
She did not want to be nosy and look around his stuff, so she decided to keep herself busy with her phone.
Li Xiqing looked up at her time to time. He saw she was so engaged with her tiny phone. He put his hand up to signal Karl and Martin to pause, and then he walked to her side.
She saw a shadow was gradually approaching her, and Shao Yan looked up, only to see Li Xiqing was towering beside her.
He smiled, and then opened his laptop and turned it on, "Use this, don"t just stare at your tiny screen"
He rapped his knuckle on her forehead and then rubbed her head.
Shao Yan smiled and whispered, "Thank you".
Li Xiqing smiled back at her and kept his hand on the back of her head for a while, and then he went back to his seat and continued the discussion with Karl and Martin.
The three of them were discussing seriously. She was listening every now and then. It seemed that the three of them were talking about how to manage three offices now that they have a new one.
Sometimes they would unconsciously raise their voice because they get too excited. But most of the times, they were just talking normally, as if they were back to university days, and were just discussing normal college a.s.signment over food in cafeteria.
Shao Yan watched them for a while, they really looked like college kids now. She smiled.
Very handsome three college kids.
She propped both of her hands to support her chin and paid attention to Li Xiqing every single expression. They said men would look most handsome while concentrating.
She blushed, it seemed that the saying was true after all. At least her man was the most dazzling of all.
After watching for a while, Shao Yan was bored. She had browsed all of her social media, so she just sat around, and looked at the scenery outside.
Occasionally, her sight would land back to her purse. And she would look away.
And then she unconsciously would drift back and just stare at her purse for a while. Then she would look away.
But she could not contain this curiosity that have been eating her mind.
Shao Yan peeked at Li Xiqing, and saw that he was not paying attention to her. She moved slowly, and opened her purse.
She took out the paper that she received from Zhong Yu earlier and opened it. She looked at it, read and re-read the content over and over again. It was a list of all the parts that she needed to buy to fix her camera.
Shao Yan felt a headache was coming. Maybe she should not fix her camera after all? She did not want to go back to Eternity Frame.
She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Okay. She had decided. She would just let this camera go. It had been too old anyway. She gave a little nod to herself and then folded the paper back and put it inside her purse.
She turned her chair around, decided to hide away from her purse and stared at the window behind her. Shao Yan lost in her thoughts.
Li Xiqing was paying attention to all the things that she was doing. He saw her looked restless most of the time. He saw she was looking at the scenery and then dazed out of it.
He also saw that she kept looking at her bag over and over again.
And now, he saw that she was frowning at a piece of paper.
His face darkened. What exactly had happened in the last few days? Who did she meet at the festival? And what was that paper about, to make her so restless like this!
His jaw hardened and his eyebrow slightly scrunched. He had a feeling that something bad was coming.
Karl and Martin sensed the change in his demeanor. Daniel"s eyes were showing a scary glint of coldness. They exchanged subtle glances at each other and then decided to keep neutral stance for now.
"So when do you have to go back to New York?"
Shao Yan was chewing on her braised pork, while asking Martin the question.
After the meeting was done, Li Xiqing brought all of them to go to dinner together. There was a small restaurant nearby, opened by an old couple that had been in business for many years now.
The four of them ordered all of the star dishes; steamed whole fish, braised pork in soy sauce and preserved vegetables, sea cuc.u.mber and mushrooms with garlic, salt and pepper stir fry squid, dry chili Chongqing style chicken, Mongolian stir fry beef, steamed tofu with soy minced pork, and hot plate mapo tofu.
Martin looked back at Shao Yan and replied, "In about two weeks. We are wrapping up all the things here, so it should not be longer than that."
Karl was busy with eating. His palate was adjusting well to Chinese food. Now, he knew some words of his favorite food. And whenever food was involved, it was easier to make conversation with the employees here.
Li Xiqing ate in silence. He would still scoop some food to her plate every now and then. Shao Yan was also concentrating on their dinner, so she was in a happier mood, compared to before.
Suddenly, Martin asked Shao Yan, "I heard, that you also live in city N before?" he used his chopsticks to take some salt pepper squid to his bowl.
Shao Yan nodded, "En.. I lived there for few years." she was scooping the hot plate tofu for Li Xiqing.
Their discussion now moved to what good food they could find in city N. Martin was a foodie, so he was interested to find new places to eat.
Li Xiqing and Shao Yan decided to go home after dinner. Usually, Shao Yan would have told Li Xiqing to drive to her place. But she kept quiet this time.
His hand was on top of the steering wheel, while she was staring outside the window. He turned to look at her, could not help himself from asking, "We"re going home now?" he asked her.
Shao Yan who was looking at the view outside, turned to him and then she slowly nodded, "En.. Why? Do you have to stop somewhere first?"
Li Xiqing didn"t answer, and just smiled at her. He took her hand and held it.
Shao Yan squeezed his hand back, and they rode home in silence.