Just as she looked over, Yan Zhiqing looked over as well and their eyes met. Yan Zhiqing coldly averted her gaze, pretending she had never met her.
Lin Chu could not help but grin, it seemed like she was there to look for Wei Zilin and not bring trouble to her.
Although Lin Chu wanted to pretend as if she had never met her as well, Yan Zhiqing was still there to look for Wei Zilin. That would bring forth problems for Wei Zilin, and that made her felt apologetic.
If it were any other girl, Wei Zilin would have escaped from the beginning. To be entangled with Yan Zhiqing this way, was it not because of her relations.h.i.+p with Yan Beicheng?
Just as she was thinking about how she would explain this to Zheng Yuntong, she saw from the corner of her eyes Wei Zilin and Shen Zongyi walking by.
"Big Brother Zilin!" Yan Zhiqing was already waving at Wei Zilin from afar.
As she called out, her legs were walking toward him.
Lin Chu looked at Wei Zilin"s expression that had turned gloomy. He glanced at Lin Chu, obviously wanted her to take care of the situation.
Lin Chu, "..."
She would feel sorry if she were to walk away from the problem and had no choice but to obliged. She walked over and said to Shen Zongyi, "a.s.sistant Shen, please take care of Yuntong for a while."
As she said those words, she pulled Zheng Yuntong over to Shen Zongyi"s side.
Shen Zongyi, "..."
Why am I the one taking care of her?
Zheng Yuntong, "..."
Did I need anyone to take care of me?
The two looked at each other and Shen Zongyi did not move an inch. Zheng Yuntong gave up and s.h.i.+fted a step to the other side.
Shen Zongyi, "..."
Shen Zongyi gritted his teeth and followed Zheng Yuntong by taking a step towards her side.
Zheng Yuntong sneaked a glance at him. She had no idea why he got closer to her. They were not familiar with each other, did he not understand what keeping a polite distance was?
She then s.h.i.+fted another step to the side.
Shen Zongyi frowned. He had no other intentions but he got compet.i.tive and s.h.i.+fted along with her.
The two then continued to s.h.i.+ft step by step, without them realizing it they had s.h.i.+fted further and further away from Wei Zilin and Lin Chu.
Zheng Yuntong then s.h.i.+fted once more and became impatient. She gave a fake smile and gritted her teeth asking, "a.s.sistant Shen, why are you following me?"
"Tsk!" Shen Zongyi unhappily clicked his tongue, "Taking care of you."
Zheng Yuntong, "..."
"I"m an a.d.u.l.t, there"s no need for you to take care of me." Zheng Yuntong said as she stood close to Shen Zongyi, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
Standing close to each other, Shen Zongyi was much taller than how he looked from afar. She seemed to have only reached the height of his chest. The pressure was unusually huge.
Zheng Yuntong wanted to take the opportunity to leave. As soon as she was about to take a step, she was pulled back by him.
"Look, Lin Chu was not at ease and did not want you to be left alone. Let me accompany you for a while, once she"s done with the matter over there she"ll come back. Just wait here for a bit," Shen Zongyi explained. He rarely smiled, but he used a softer and warmer tone and albeit still had on a serious look on his face.
Zheng Yuntong blushed, she felt the arm that he was holding onto was particularly warmer. She could not help but gave it a nudge.
"..." Shen Zongyi then awkwardly retracted his hand. "Sorry"
Since Shen Zongyi explained the situation so thoroughly, Zheng Yuntong was not itching to leave anymore. Both continued to glare at one another.
Lin Chu was standing beside Wei Ziling as they watched Yan Zhiqing walking over in high spirits. She then called out sweetly towards Wei Zilin, "Big Brother Zilin."
When she saw her, Yan Zhiqing retracted her smile away and said in a cold tone, "You"re here as well."
Lin Chu smiled at her and did not stoop to her level, neither did she tried to please her. She did not have a habit to be snubbed anyway.
Yan Zhiqing gazed back and forth at Wei Zilin and Lin Chu and asked unpleasantly, "Are you both going out for lunch together?"
The interrogating tone made Wei Zilin"s expression grew even colder.
Lin Chu squinted her eyes, Yan Zhiqing"s way of saying these words had different meanings in them. It was a general question, but it sounded wrong coming from her.
"I was on my way out to lunch with my colleague. I only came over because I saw you." Lin Chu looked into Yan Zhiqing"s eyes and smiled at her. "But it seems like you"re not focused on me, you seem to have ignored me when you saw me."
Yan Zhiqing then recalled seeing another girl beside Lin Chu when she first saw her. It was just that Wei Zilin was her focal point and hence had completely ignored that fact.
Even though she knew it was impossible for Wei Zilin and Lin Chu to be together, she still felt immensely jealous seeing him standing with another woman.
Yan Zhiqing had no interest in Lin Chu. She smiled sweetly at Wei Zilin and asked, "Big Brother Zilin, I had nothing to do today and I was pa.s.sing by. I remembered you and Lin Chu are both working here, so I was waiting for both of you. Coincidentally both of you are here now, let"s go for lunch together then?"
"I already have plans," Wei Zilin replied in a cold tone.
Yan Zhiqing blurted out, "Plans with who?"
Wei Zilin gave her a cold stare, "Apologies but that"s my personal matter."
"Zi—"
Just as Yan Zhiqing was about to open her mouth, Lin Chu interrupted. "Zhiqing, isn"t it almost time for your college entrance examination?"
Yan Zhiqing was startled and looked at Lin Chu. She thought that Lin Chu was harboring malicious intentions with her question.
Sure enough, Lin Chu smiled and said, "Child, why are you not studying at home and constantly going outside? If you wanted to play you should at least wait until after your high school graduation, no?"
Yan Zhiqing, "..."
Was this another way of saying that her age was too young?!
Ever since she met Wei Zilin, what she hated the most was being treated like a child by others.
"Be a good girl, go back and study now!" Lin Chu said as she took her phone out. "I"ll give Xiao Deng a call and ask him to drive you home. If you go out like this, the two elders would get worried."
"I"m not a little kid anymore," Yan Zhiqing said as she gritted her teeth.
"Yes yes yes, you"re a big kid now." Lin Chu replied with a smile, she was basically coaxing a child.
Yan Zhiqing, "..."
Wei Zilin"s mouth twitched, and he nodded in agreement, "Kids should focus on their studies."
He continued speaking to Lin Chu, "It"s better if we don"t bother the two elders, they"ll get worried. Just give Beicheng a call instead."
Lin Chu knew that Wei Zilin had lost all his patience and wanted Yan Beicheng to come and give Yan Zhiqing a warning. She nodded and called Yan Beicheng.
Just then Yan Zhiqing continued saying, "I"m 18 years old, an a.d.u.l.t, no longer a child."
Lin Chu, "..."
She did not know whether Yan Zhiqing was so thick-skinned that she refused to give up, or that she was that brave in pursuing true love. She rather not comment any further and walked aside to give Yan Beicheng a call.
Yan Beicheng quickly answered the call, his soft and warm magnetic voice laced with a smile. "Are you missing me?"
In the conference room, the managers of all the departments looked at him.
Today was an exceptionally busy day because a particularly famous theme park chain intended to build their first-ever theme park in Asia inside of B city.
Yan Hui wanted to win the tender. Their most powerful compet.i.tor would be Qi Lin. However, for the next two years, Qi Lin would be focusing its efforts on the film and television theme park they were building. Hence, they would not be partic.i.p.ating in this tender.
Yan Beicheng placed great importance to this. Today, the heads of various departments were gathered together to have a discussion and make any suggestions. There must be a focal method to win the business.
That was why even their lunches were takeout food, they were discussing while they were eating.
This was when Lin Chu called, he did not even leave the room to answer the call. He only hurriedly swallowed the rice that was in his mouth.
The managers of various departments immediately turned into Chinese cabbages 1 and were unable to disguise. It was just that when he was talking to Lin Chu, he used a lower tone. Not that it stopped them from listening to everything.
The crowd, "..."
President, could you keep a low-profile if you were dating?
She knew that n.o.body could hear her, but Lin Chu still felt awkward. She turned around and glanced at Yan Zhiqing, noticed that she was still staring at Wei Zilin without any reservation. She was also oblivious and ignorant of Wei Zilin"s impatience
She sighed and continued, "Yan Zhiqing"s in Lin Yi now."
"What happened? Did she bring trouble to you again?" Yan Beicheng"s voice grew cold.
"No, she"s here for Wei Zilin," Lin Chu explained as she turned around. "Wei Zilin"s getting angrier but he"s holding it in. It"s not easy."
Yan Beicheng, "..."
"I"ll be right over," Yan Beicheng replied.
"Are you working overtime?" Lin Chu asked as she heard the background noises and it did not sound right.
Yan Beicheng glanced at the managers and did not change his expression as he continued saying, "No, we"re getting ready to go out and eat. You guys wait for me at Lin Yi, I"m coming."
"Okay," Lin Chu replied and hung up.
Yan Beicheng hung up and said, "I"m going off, we"ll continue after the lunch break."
He left the conference room immediately.
The rest of them looked at each other and the takeout food in their hands.
Since they had already ordered them, they might as well continued to eat there. They then acted as if it were a meal gathering and did not leave the room.
Lin Chu walked back and saw Yan Zhiqing"s beaming face turned gloomy again seeing her.
Lin Chu acted as if she did not see that. She did want her mood to be influenced. "Beicheng will be right over."
"Why is my brother coming?" Yan Zhiqing asked unhappily.
"To eat lunch with me of course," Lin Chu said in an obvious tone. "We"re in love, can"t he come over to see me?"
Yan Zhiqing, "..."
Wei Zilin then waved towards Shen Zongyi who was standing not far away. Shen Zongyi came over with Zheng Yuntong following him.
"You two can just go out and get lunch first. We have some matters to attend to." Wei Zilin said.
"..." Zheng Yuntong looked at Lin Chu.
Lin Chu nodded her head apologetically. "I"m sorry, I already had plans with you but now you"re all alone at noon today. a.s.sistant Shen, are you by yourself as well?"
"..." Shen Zongyi did not want to act like an idiot so he nodded. "I"ll bring Zheng Yuntong out for lunch."
Zheng Yuntong, "..."
Did I ask you to bring me out?
Before she was able to protest, she was dragged off by Shen Zongyi.
"a.s.sistant Shen, you need to let go of me." Zheng Yuntong felt as if all eyes were on them and she tried to pull her arm away.
Even though they were not holding hands, the temperature of his hand"s grasp on her arm was intimidatingly hot.
Shen Zongyi frowned, but he did let go of her arm.
Zheng Yuntong then stood by the side, and Shen Zongyi squinted his eyes. He asked in an unpleasant tone, "Why do you keep hiding?"
"Haha." Zheng Yuntong"s ears turned red, and said in embarra.s.sment, "Even since the last annual meeting, the company had been spreading... Spreading that I"m secretly in love with you. So, shouldn"t we keep a proper distance from each other?"
Shen Zongyi, "..."
"Is it my fault then?" Shen Zongyi asked as he raised his eyebrows.
"My fault, my fault, it"s all my fault," Zheng Yuntong said immediately. "I had no other choice as well right? I didn"t want Hu Yuesha to misunderstand last time."
Who knew it would cause more misunderstandings to a lot more people.
Shen Zongyi, "Haha."
"So, a.s.sistant Shen, I"ll be off now. It"d be better if we keep our distance." Zhen Yuntong said hurriedly.
"Wait up." Shen Zongyi grabbed her arm again.
Zheng Yuntong did not know if she was getting embarra.s.sed by the staring, or she was getting nervous, or she was just shy. But, her blus.h.i.+ng got worst than before.
Shen Zongyi also did not know what he was thinking about and said, "If you walk off hurriedly like this, looking like you"re deceiving yourself, it"ll look like you truly are secretly in love with me. But, you"re too embarra.s.sed to walk with me, or you are making it seem like I"ve already rejected you and are walking away in sorrow."
Zheng Yuntong, "..."
"We"re working in the same company and will see each other often, why do you need to hide? The more you hide, the more suspicious it would look. People will think you have a guilty conscience," Shen Zongyi said lightly. "Let"s go."
Zheng Yuntong gritted her teeth and followed along.
It was just a normal lunch between colleagues, she was clear about it herself. Just be open about it and stop minding about what the others were saying!
As he saw Zheng Yuntong following him, Shen Zongyi"s mood got better.
He did not what got over him when Zheng Yuntong was reluctant to get close to him, he felt indescribably upset in his heart.
He sneaked a glance from the corner of his eyes and saw Zheng Yuntong following alongside him looking like a little wife, and he could not help but smiled.
Even if everyone around was staring, it felt like a spring breeze.
Zheng Yuntong had a temperament that could not be calmed. To describe her frankly, she was someone that could warm up to anyone and could keep up a topic unless she was not fond of you and was unwilling to be around you. If she were to find a common topic to chat about, she would spill everything as she would not be able to keep her mouth shut.
Just like when Lin Chu first came to the company and met on the first day, Zheng Yuntong was already fully devoted to her. When Shen Zongyi heard about this, he was in disbelief, it was hard to imagine how someone with a personality like Zheng Yuntong was able to grow up with no harm.
However, Zheng Yuntong had overcome the psychological barrier and was not so nervous with Shen Zongyi anymore. But she was still shy to take the initiative to speak first and had no idea what to talk about with him.
She was not that close to Shen Zongyi!
That was why along the way, she sneaked a glance at him every few seconds.
Shen Zongyi was not blind and noticed her glancing over, and it made him grinned. When she sneaked a peek, he would simply turn his head over so that she would get caught red-handed.
Zheng Yuntong, "..."
Shen Zongyi, "(￣_,￣)"
Not long after Shen Zongyi went off with Zheng Yuntong, Yan Beicheng came along hurriedly with Shao Huai.
He came over hastily and was taking large steps as he walked over. Just as he laid eyes on Lin Chu, it seemed like he gave out a sigh of relief, the same pair of black pupils were then permanently gazing at her face as he walked over hurriedly.
Even though his steps were big it did not look bad at all.
Lin Chu thought that no matter what movement Yan Beicheng was making he still looked good.
As he saw Yan Zhiqing, Yan Beicheng frowned. When he reached in front of Lin Chu and confirmed that she was not harmed in any way, he turned to Yan Zhiqing and said, "Your college entrance examination is nearing, yet you"re not studying at home. Why are you out and about?"
Yan Zhiqing, "..."
Can every single one of them not mention the college entrance examination!
"There"s not much I need to study for," Yan Zhiqing replied stiffly.
Yan Beicheng ignored her and said to Shao Huai, "Bring her home."
"I"m not going back!" Yan Zhiqing said immediately. She saw Wei Zilin walking over and noticed her att.i.tude had turned a bit too eager, she then pretended to look at the time on her mobile phone and said, "Look at the time now, I haven"t had my lunch yet. Since you"re all going out for a meal, just bring me along."
Yan Beicheng looked at Yan Zhiqing with a stern look. Yan Zhiqing that originally had a stubborn att.i.tude suddenly felt guilty. She could not meet Yan Beicheng"s eyes.
"Follow me." Yan Beicheng blurted, grabbed her arm and dragged her out.
Yan Zhiqing had no choice but to be dragged by him from behind, her legs somehow stumbling about.
Yan Zhiqing felt her face burning hot in shame. Especially with her current movements and paces that were not elegant, she felt like a scoundrel.
Thinking how Wei Zilin was looking from behind, Yan Zhiqing hurriedly said, "Big Brother, let me go! What are you doing, I"m not leaving! Let go of me!"
Yan Beicheng turned around and looked at her coldly, not stopping his pace. His usually clear and warm voice had turned unusually cold, "If you want to be embarra.s.sed further, then just start screaming here without hesitation."
"..." Yan Zhiqing looked around and saw everyone in the lobby was looking at them while whispering at each other.
Yan Zhiqing felt more shameful. She did not dare to argue further and followed Yan Beicheng out of the main entrance.
Yan Beicheng did not stop and continued dragging her until they reached a Mercedes car.
He opened the door and shoved her inside. Yan Zhiqing was so badly pushed by Yan Beicheng that she fell on the back seat with her head hitting the inner car door. It hurt so much that her eyes went blank for a moment. Pieces of black colored snowflakes appeared in front of her eyes. She unconsciously teared up from the pain.
"Big Brother, what are you doing!" Yan Zhiqing screamed out loudly, she could not care less about whether or not if it was embarra.s.sing now.
Shao Huai was outside the car and did not follow them in. Yan Beicheng came into the car with his ashen face and closed the car door. "You"re just a kid to Wei Zilin, he"s never going to fall for you. Please stop doing all these embarra.s.sing things. You will be the one who loses face in the end."
Yan Zhiqing never thought that Yan Beicheng would be so blunt to her. Wei Zilin was cold toward her and she was not blind, she knew about it.
But hearing it so directly from Yan Beicheng, Yan Zhiqing was not able to accept it and her face turned red.
"How could you say something like that!" Yan Zhiqing retorted.
"Then how else do you want me to say it? When we put it euphemistically, you can"t understand it. When we said it straightforwardly, you can"t accept it? You"re just a kid, you should study and not think about such complicated things." Yan Beicheng continued, "That behavior of yours would only cause trouble for Wei Zilin and it"s just plain ridiculous."
"Why would it be ridiculous, I"m only here for a meal, what"s wrong with that? I"m not a child anymore, I"m 18! Stop calling me a kid, Lin Chu"s calling me that, you"re calling me that. You"re just eager to belittle me!" Yan Zhiqing screamed, she stopped caring whether or not if people outside the car could hear her.
Shao Huai frowned for a bit, Yan Zhiqing"s voice was so loud. If you were far away from the car you might not hear it, but he was just beside the car and could hear everything clearly. He silently walked further away.
"I should just have recorded your face and let you watch it." Yan Beicheng said with annoyance, "You"re lacking in family education and culture. Even if you shamelessly stick your face to others they still won"t care about you. It"s just plain embarra.s.sing!" Author used the word 大白菜 Dà Bái Cài, which directly translates to Chinese cabbage. It"s another term for 白痴 Bái Chī, which means idiot. 白菜 Bái Cài and 白痴 Bái Chī have the same abbreviation which is BC, that"s also widely used