Chapter 179: Sorry
In the afternoon, Ning Qing was in her small office. She texted Zhu Rui.
Zhu Rui said that the president wanted to drink coffee. The man had a sharp tongue. The coffee beans had to be ground into coffee powder and then boiled in a coffee pot.
Ning Qing wrote down the ratio of coffee beans to water, and finally added a spoonful of sugar and two milliliters of milk.
Zhu Rui at the other end asked, [Madam, is this the president’s favorite? Would it be too light? ]
Ning Qing answered, [Not his favorite, but my favorite]
Zhu Rui replied with three dots, […]
Ning Qing’s mouth bore a sweet smile. What picky mouth. It was all because he was spoiled and not used to it. It was not good to drink coffee that was too strong. He would grow to like light coffee when he tries it.
So Zhu Rui brought the coffee into the president’s office according to Ning Qing’s instructions.
Lu Shaoming took a sip as he read the doc.u.ment and paused for 2 seconds. He put down his coffee and looked at Zhu Rui. “What kind of coffee is this?”
Zhu Rui should be very familiar with his taste.
Zhu Rui laughed and said, “President, this is the new way of making coffee that I recently read in my book, so I tried it out. President, how do you like it?”
Lu Shaoming took another sip of coffee and nodded with a light expression. “Not bad.”
The coffee was a little less bitter, and it had a tinge of sweetness from the milk, and there was a sweet aftertaste in the mouth.
Zhu Rui, who got such high praise, sent a text message to Ning Qing when he left the office, [Madam, President said that it tastes very good!]
And with that, Ning Qing smiled sweetly.
In truth, she was a very easily satisfied person. The situation was very bad now, but she felt happy if she could just see him, and let him taste the coffee she had prepared personally.
When Ning Qing was happy, a knock sounded at the door and Ye Ting came in.
“Miss Ning, this is Cabbage Plume’s advertising plan that our marketing department has just discussed and come up with. You can see if there are any issues.” Ye Ting was very professional when she had to be. She didn’t want to pack up her things and leave.
Ning Qing took the marketing strategy into her hands and flipped through a couple of pages. She twisted her eyebrows and said, “Your plan is to walk on a T stage and then shoot an advertis.e.m.e.nt film. This is no different from a traditional advertis.e.m.e.nt. It is not innovative enough to catch people’s eyes.”
Ye Ting’s expertise had been questioned. She put her hands on her waist and said, “Miss Ning, do you know what marketing is? How do you want to be innovative? If you don’t understand, don’t comment here unless you have better suggestions.”
Ning Qing held on to the marketing plan, looked at Ye Ting calmly, and said, “Alright, since Manager Ye thinks so highly of me, I will definitely come up with a good suggestion for Manager Ye to listen to.”
“Hah, whatever.” Ye Ting laughed scornfully and turned away.
Ning Qing fiercely raised a small tender fist behind her. Don’t look down upon people.
She would definitely come up with a better way.
…
Everyone was off work, and Ning Qing got up and walked to the elevator.
The elevator was crowded with people. Ning Qing decided to wait for the next batch.
While waiting, several Guang Qing girls came to her for her signature. “Wow, Ning Qing, you are so beautiful. Can you give us your autograph?”
“OK.” Ning Qing burst into a flower-like smile and gave them her autograph after taking the pen.
She had just finished signing when a handsome figure appeared in her eyes, she looked up, Lu Shaoming was walking to the president VIP elevator on this side.
He looked at her calmly, and perhaps because of their cooperative business relations.h.i.+p, he nodded slightly to her.
“Young Master Lu.” Ning Qing returned the pen to the little girl and stepped forward. “The elevator is too full so I’m waiting. Now that I’m lucky enough to meet Young Master Lu, can you give me a lift?”
It was just a VIP elevator, he wouldn’t be unwilling.
The man’s good upbringing took the reigns.
“All right.” Lu Shaoming nodded and opened the elevator doors with his fingerprint. The gentleman let her in first, and then he went in.
He stood in front of her and closed the elevator doors.
When the elevator went down, n.o.body spoke. Ning Qing raised her little head, and a pair of gentle autumn pupils wantonly lingered on him.
His back was straight and upright, and his watch-wearing hand was randomly inserted into his pocket. Ning Qing could see the s.e.xy prominent Adam’s apple of the man around his white s.h.i.+rt collar and his clean deep hairline.
He remained unchanged, exquisite and charming everywhere.
They were very close, about 30 centimeters apart. Ning Qing knew that as long as she stepped forward, she could hold him tightly, and she could take in his charming scent as before.
But she couldn’t.
Because… He would push her away.
Maybe he wouldn’t let her get close at all.
It was good to sneak a peek at him like this.
Lu Shaoming knew she was looking at him. He looked at her through the gla.s.s mirror in the elevator. She was looking up at him with such dedicated and pious eyes.
“Miss Ning, are you getting off on the first floor? I’m going to get the car on the ground floor.” The man suddenly opened his mouth and spoke with a low and rich voice.
Ning Qing’s thoughts were interrupted; he did not turn his head when he spoke, as if he had asked a casual question. Ning Qing tucked a strand of beautiful hair on her cheek behind her ear and answered with a raised willow eyebrow, “Alright, I’ll get off on the first floor.”
With a Ding, the elevator stopped on the first floor.
“Young Master Lu, thank you. Bye bye.” Ning Qing stepped out of the elevator. Instead of turning around, she stood at the door of the elevator and waved her plain fair hand at him.
Lu Shaoming took a look at her. She was wearing a black cashmere sweater, pearl turtleneck, a small wine-red fluffy skirt, a pair of jeans, and white shoes on her feet. The woman had an energetic aura full of youth and fas.h.i.+on.
She was very beautiful. Her palm-sized face was delicate and beautiful. There was a small ear stud hanging from her snow-white earlobe, glittering brightly.
The light of the hall on the first floor was s.h.i.+ning on her, and her eyes curved to say goodbye to him warmly.
Lu Shaoming had no expression. He nodded slightly and reached out to close the elevator.
The girl disappeared before his eyes.
On the first floor, he went to pick up the car and opened the door of the Bentley. He cleared his throat a little. He didn’t know when his mouth had gone dry.
…
Ning Qing stood by the roadside waiting for the car. Her limo would come to pick her up, but she thought about it and sent a text message to Xiao Zhou to let her know to not come to pick her up.
As soon as she grabbed her cell phone, she saw the familiar Bentley coming.
Ning Qing raised her smiling face and jumped down the roadside steps. Her entire body stood in front of the Bentley.
Lu Shaoming drove slowly. As the Bentley was driving down the street, he noticed Ning Qing standing by the roadside at first sight.
He was not surprised that she had jumped out to stop the car. It was already expected.
He raised his lips indifferently.
Ning Qing came to the window and said, “Young Master Lu, it’s not easy to get a taxi now. Can you give me a ride?”
Lu Shaoming nodded. “Get in the car.”
Ning Qing opened the back door and went in.
…
The car still had the smell she was familiar with. It was similar to the smell of the man’s body. Ning Qing looked up at him, only to see his clearly knuckled palm pressed on the steering wheel. His actions were natural and smooth.
“Miss Ning, where are you going?” Lu Shaoming asked as he peered at her through the rearview mirror.
Ning Qing was not embarra.s.sed when he caught her looking. He had probably guessed how she felt towards him. She didn’t have to hide.
Ning Qing raised her lips, and the neon light reflected from the window onto her, making her delicate and pretty, warm and moving. “Young Master Lu, where do you live now?”
He doesn’t remember her. Does he still remember the Tea Pavilion Villa?
There were romantic moments where they were obsessed with each other there.
Lu Shaoming looked at the car in front of him and said, “Living in an apartment.”
A polite and distant answer.
“Mmm…” Ning Qing smiled lightly, he had indeed forgotten the Tea Pavilion Villa. “Then please send me to the Ning family villa on s.h.i.+nyi Road, Young Master Lu.”
“Alright.” Lu Shaoming agreed.
The girl in the back seat stopped talking. Lu Shaoming took a look at her. She looked out of the window with a soft, boneless hand supporting her chin. She knitted her eyebrows, thinking about something.
Lu Shaoming was amused. What did the woman who obviously wanted to seduce him want to do?
Her figure and face are indeed good enough to attract men. She had created a chance encounter, went into Guang Qing, took the elevator with him, and now sat in his car. Didn’t she just want to get close to him?
Now that the opportunity had arrived, she didn’t even say anything.
She does not shy away from her obsession with him, but Lu Shaoming always felt that she was looking at another person through him. Does he look like her “never before, never again?”
She was looking for a shadow of someone on him?
Otherwise, why did she try to get close to him, just to look at him quietly?
Lu Shaoming felt ridiculous. He had lived for 31 years and had always been the pride of heaven. He was outstanding and had never flirted with any women. There were many women who wanted to seduce him, but he was always indifferent, seldom desiring them, and he was very proud.
But he hadn’t expected to be used as a stand-in by others now.
“Miss Ning, what package did you send to my mother in the United States the other day?”
She knew he would ask this question.
“Oh, Auntie wanted a record of a deceased senior. That record is my private possession. I met Auntie on the Internet. I happened to go to the United States and brought it to her on the way.”
“Mmm,” Lu Shaoming answered, his meaning unknown. “That’s the first time you saw me?”
Ning Qing froze when she heard his question. She slowly turned her head, wittily fluttered her long eyelashes that were like b.u.t.terflies’ wings, and asked with a smile, “Had Young Master Lu ever seen me before?”
Their eyes met in the rearview mirror. He did not reply, but only raised his lip and gave a light laugh.
Listen to her, it seems as if he was thinking too much.
The girl was quiet. Lu Shaoming started to turn on the music in the car. It was a lyrical and romantic French song.
Ning Qing felt very familiar with the song. Her dainty small nose turned red and a bright watery fog covered her eyes. She didn’t want him to see her like this, so she leaned against the window and asked in a low voice, “Young Master Lu, do you like this song very much?”
Lu Shaoming did not answer.
So Ning Qing sang along to the familiar melody. She knew she was not good at singing. She could not speak French except this sentence.
After singing, she muttered to herself, “Young Master Lu, do you know the meaning of this lyric? I didn’t understand it before, but now I understand it… From the first time I saw you, I have been deeply in love with you…”
Last year, when they were newly married, she had laid on a big bed full of rose petals. That was the song he had sung in her ear.
He was a deep and restrained person, not good at expressing his feelings, but he was so good at confessing, like using a French song to tell her that he loved her at first sight.
How romantic.
Ning Qing was trapped in her sadness. Suddenly there was a sound of someone stepping on the brake, because of inertia, she fell forward unexpectedly.
Before her small head could hit the front seat, two fingers gripped her small jaw. The man had great strength and directly dragged her face to his eyes. Lu Shaoming asked in a low voice, “Who on earth are you?”
Ning Qing hadn’t expected such a big reaction. She raised her eyes to see him, but the tears fell down and blurred her sight directly.
Lu Shaoming’s palm was warm and wet. It was her tears that fell.
She was crying.
Lu Shaoming felt the pain coming from his heart. His deep black and white pupils flashed with a little panic. “Why are you crying?”
Ning Qing looked at him foolishly and did not know how to answer.
How awkward it was for them at this moment. His exquisite and impeccably handsome face was magnified in front of her eyes, and his breath was blowing on her pretty face.
Tears flowed more and more. Ning Qing bit her lower lip with her pearly white teeth, so as not to make a sound.
She really wanted to hold him and cry.
He would not know that she had missed him so much in the days without him.
Lu Shaoming could not bear to see the way she bit her lip. His head began to ache. He frowned and felt uncomfortable. His rough thumb uncontrollably wiped her tears, which turned into a caress.
Then a series of ringtones broke the silence as Lu Shaoming’s cell phone rang.
It was as if Lu Shaoming suddenly woke up from a dream. He took back his hand like lightning. He said, “Sorry,” in a somewhat confused and irritable way.
Lu Shaoming answered the phone.
Without his restraint, Ning Qing sat back in the back seat. She wiped her tears with her little hand. Just now, she lost control. He…
Actually, it was not like he had no feelings for her.
Her delicate skin still retained traces of being caressed by him. It was a little painful and numb. His palms were so big that they were twice the size of her little face.
Lu Shaoming hung up after saying “Ok” several times. He restarted the car. The Bentley slowly drove into the main lane. Not a trace of discord could be seen on his handsome face. Stretching his tongue out to lick his dry lips, he slowly said, “The French song just now gave me a familiar feeling, so… Sorry. I’ll take you home first. I have to pick someone up at the airport later.”
Ning Qing calmed down too. She laughed and said. “Just now I remembered something about some past events, so I was a little…sad. Unexpectedly, Young Master Lu also likes this song, so we are quite fated. Are you going to the airport? It happens that I’m going to pick up a friend at the airport. Let’s go together.”
Lu Shaoming no longer spoke, and those ripples in his heart became quiet with Ning Qing’s “past events.”
He lifted his lip with self-mockery and indifference, Lu Shaoming would not be a stand-in for anyone.
…
At the airport
Lu Shaoming went to pick up his mother, Song Yajing, and a very elegant and beautiful woman stood beside her.