Plans could never keep up with the changes.
Ruan Jiu Jiu could only temporarily shelve her plans to give Cheng Jun a nice surprise on his birthday.
Cheng Jun only said that it was a work-related reason, and that he needed to go on a business trip. As look would have it, it just so happened to be during New Year"s. Ruan Jiu Jiu was thinking about what she should do to let her plans continue. She munched on the jujubes with a crunching sound, one after another.
Thus, the next day Ruan Jiu Jiu developed some inflammation. She sported a red pimple right between her eyebrows as she went to work.
She secretly snuck out a compact mirror to check her face. If she had known earlier, she would have used concealer to cover it up a bit. But now her bright red pimple had Mr. Meng in st.i.tches for a long while. He said that it was the crimson birthmark from her past life and that she should take good care of it.
Ruan Jiu Jiu"s face sank and she was very unhappy.
In the afternoon when she was sketching the ma.n.u.scripts, the gave the valiant female warrior a red birthmark between her eyes. Mr. Meng took one look and said, “Hey, this looks interesting.”
Ruan Jiu Jiu said with a straight face, “Please treat every woman with a red birthmark well.”
Mr. Meng laughed.
During dusk, Fat Birds Fly First posted a Weibo message.
[The fairy with a pimple <>
The accompanying picture was a black-and-white line art. The female warrior was sitting on a branch, with one foot on the branch. A blade of gra.s.s hung from her mouth. She was daydreaming in boredom. The only different color was the red birthmark on her forehead, as if the whole drawing came alive with it.
In a short hour, there were tens of thousands of comments. They laughed and praised it, calling it cute.
Ruan Jiu Jiu made the line art her profile picture.
The secretary sent Ruan Jiu Jiu a message, saying that Tu Nan just finished a meeting and was in his office doing work, and that it was convenient to talk. When Ruan Jiu Jiu got the news, she scampered over to his office.
One second, Tu Nan was his respectable self. The next second after seeing Ruan Jiu Jiu, he quickly became a shameless lap dog.
“Sister-in-law, you"re so pretty today. Sister-in-law, come take a seat. Sister-in-law, what would you like to drink? Sister-in-law, are you busy with work these days? Sister-in-law…”
Ruan Jiu Jiu: “Stop stop stop!”
She was about to go dizzy with all of Tu Nan"s “sister-in-law”s.
Tu Nan turned back to normal the very next second. “Is there a problem with work?”
“Erm, no. It"s actually a private matter.”
Tu Nan silently muttered that hopefully it wasn"t another silent standoff between the couple. He pulled a chair and sat across from Ruan Jiu Jiu, looking like he was all ears. “Go on.”
Ruan Jiu Jiu carefully asked, “What is Cheng Jun going on a business trip during New Year"s for?”
New Year"s? Business trip?
Tu Nan was shocked.
He didn"t even receive any notice about Cheng Jun going on a business trip in the first place. Moreover, how could he let his boss go on a business trip at that time? Cheng Jun was the last person to want to move locations. If there wasn"t anyone else to go, he"d rather just be lazy and not accept the business in the first place.
But… realizing that his boss had definitely lied to Sister-in-law, the loyal, professional lap dog Tu Nan was very dedicated to his work.
He quickly matched Ruan Jiu Jiu and said, “Yeah, yeah. He"s going on a business trip. Pretty busy.”
Ruan Jiu Jiu was a bit dejected in that moment and let out a long, “Ohhhh…”
Seems like Cheng Jun"s business trip was set in stone. She could only regretfully cancel her restaurant and movie reservations, plus her surprise. Everything was useless now.
Tu Nan asked: “Sister-in-law, what is it? Is there something wrong?”
“Nothing, I just didn"t think that there would be someone working during the holidays.” Ruan Jiu Jiu stood. “I thought we could celebrate the New Year"s together.”
“Oh right, is where he"s going for his business trip far?”
Tu Nan coughed. “I think, probably, from my best guesses, one could consider it relatively far away.”
Ruan Jiu Jiu: “?”
“Cough, it"s at that uh, uh H city.”
It took three hours by plane to get to H city, and it indeed wasn"t that close. Ruan Jiu Jiu understood that the likelihood of Cheng Jun returning earlier was slim, and that she could only let go of her plans.
After Ruan Jiu Jiu left, Ru Nan already formed ten thousand mental scenarios.
Though he didn"t know what this couple was getting at, Tu Nan was still a good employee, and helped Cheng Jun keep his secrets at all times. As for what was actually going on, Tu Nan didn"t have the guts to ask Cheng Jun and could only silently swallow his suspicions.
Upon thinking of when his boss would know of this tireless accompaniment, he definitely would praise him incessantly, and Tu Nan would get promoted, receive a raise, wed a beautiful rich lady, and peak in life… cough, cough he didn"t need that promotion, he nearly was about to ascend to the heavens anyways.
Tu Nan was very pleased with how brilliantly he handled the situation.
The whole night Ruan Jiu Jiu was busy canceling all sorts of reservations. Because it was the holidays, reservations were all hot commodities. With her cancelations, she also lost quite a bit of deposit money and it hurt her to the bone.
She counted her money with a pain in her heart, and completely didn"t notice Cheng Jun casting quite a few glances in her direction.
One hour later, Cheng Jun finally realized that he was completely, utterly ignored.
Today, he was wearing black hoodie and pants. His hoodie collar was a bit loose, revealing slim collarbones. His skin was milky white rather than a ghastly, never-seen-the-sunlight white. There weren"t even moles or signs of pores. His good skin made Ruan Jiu Jiu incredibly jealous.
Cheng Jun sat next to her and toggled the remote.
The television channel suddenly changed to an interview, and the person being interviewed just so happened to be Gu You.
Ruan Jiu Jiu was currently absentminded. When she heard Gu You"s voice, she subconsciously raised her head: “Oh? It"s Gu You?”
When her voice landed, the screen turned black.
Cheng Jun calmly hid the remote. “It seems like the TV broke.”
Ruan Jiu Jiu: “… Do I look like I"m three?”
Though she didn"t always understand Cheng Jun"s actions—after all, Gu You currently was already signed to Jiacheng and was a proper employee who could boost ratings—wasn"t it the duty of the boss to see how employees performed?
But Ruan Jiu Jiu was lazy to ask further.
Cheng Jun was always doing things without reason, and she was used to it.
Ruan Jiu jiu said: “Then I"m returning to my room. Night!”
There was one more day of work before she could be on break and properly have her sleep. Ruan Jiu Jiu already prepared to sleep like a log and hole up in her bed eating takeout.
Gadunk. The door shut.
Cheng Jun sat on the sofa in silence.
He silently fished out a bag of cuc.u.mber-flavored Lay"s chips from underneath the sofa. As he munched, he thought about what how the next step of his plan should proceed.
Today, he should have engaged Ruan Jiu Jiu in conversation but that already half-failed. But there was still the coming plans to redeem the situation.
He was very confident.
Just like he said, Cheng Jun tidied his suitcase bright and early, as if he were going far away.
Ruan Jiu Jiu was busy getting changed but didn"t forget to remind him what to pack. Cheng Jun looked very absentminded, as if he were going on vacation. Ruan Jiu Jiu saw this and was worried for him. If time allowed, she would have kept her eyes on Cheng Jun as he placed things in one by one.
Before Ruan Jiu Jiu went out, she said, “Then have a safe trip. I won"t be sending you off.”
“Mm.”
“Also…”
Ruan Jiu Jiu almost let “Happy Birthday” slip out of her mouth. But after thinking about it, she rubbed her nose and said, “Nevermind, it"s nothing. Take care of yourself.”
Though Cheng Jun did make one worried, even when she wasn"t there, he was able to get along fine by himself. He probably wouldn"t have any slip ups.
Watching Ruan Jiu Jiu leave, Cheng Jun even waved goodbye to her as usual.
When the door shut, he immediately started moving. Just like the guide, he planned to prepare a beautiful candlelit dinner. Of course, he couldn"t forget the candles, red wine, and steak.
Ruan Jiu Jiu didn"t know Cheng Jun was lying.
The whole day, her thoughts wandered.
Though Cheng Jun wasn"t here, she should attend the company party and eat and sing with everyone.
Even when she got off work, she wasn"t sure whether she should attend the party.
Upon thinking of the empty house that would be greeting her when she returned, she suddenly became uninterested. An idea flashed through her mind—
What if… she just bought a plant ticket to where Cheng Jun was to celebrate the holidays together?
Meetings were definitely during the day time, so they could celebrate at night. It might not be such a bad idea to go to the other city!
To occasionally go on a spur-of-the-moment trip, Ruan Jiu Jiu was a little happy. She was action-oriented, and would do what she said she would do. The chauffeur said he was busy, so she immediately hailed a cab towards the airport.
En route, Ruan Jiu Jiu quickly booked her ticket. Thankfully she had her ID on her. Only her makeup bag was missing. She"d have to sc.r.a.pe by and purchase some travel-size products.
The soonest flight was around nine at night. She"d make it to the airport right around eight. Since she didn"t need to check any luggage, it should go quicker. Once Ruan Jiu Jiu got off the cab, she sprinted. She got her ticket, went through security, and found her gate in one smooth process. She was very efficient. She arrived at her gate before nine without a hitch.
They were already checking tickets and boarding people. After Ruan Jiu Jiu boarded, she sat in her a.s.signed seat.
She fortunately was able to purchase a window seat, only this time it wasn"t in the first-cla.s.s cabin. Cheng Jun wasn"t next to her this time either. There was a couple seated in the two seats next to her. The guy uncontrollably snuck a few peeks at Ruan Jiu Jiu but was discovered by his girlfriend, who yanked his ear until they swapped seats.
There were still a few more moments til takeoff. Ruan Jiu Jiu opened her phone, and tapped her conversation with Cheng Jun.
Ruan Jiu Jiu: “I"m coming to find you. Aren"t you surprised? The flight is about to take off. See you in a few hours~”
After saying this, she shut off her phone and leaned back, closing her eyes.
Cheng Jun, who finished his preparations, was currently at home patiently waiting for Ruan Jiu Jiu to finish with the company party and return home. Then, he received the message saying that she was going to find him.
Cheng Jun: “…”
Where is she going? The sky?
He reacted very quickly and immediately called Tu Nan. Cheng Jun rarely dialed him. When Tu Nan saw the called ID, he was shocked. Not caring for his blind date"s reaction, he immediately went to the side to answer.
“Boss, what"s wrong? Don"t tell me I have to work overtime.”
Cheng Jun"s voice was faint. “Where did you tell her I was going?”
Tu Nan was a little stunned, and then quickly realized who Cheng Jun was talking about.
“I randomly just said H city. What is it? … Don"t tell me Sister-in-law went to find you?! d.a.m.n!”
But the only reply Tu Nan received was the sound of the call hanging up.
He was sullen and in the moment, forgot that he was at a blind date. It"s over, this time everything is ruined!
Author"s Note: The couple sabotaged each other"s surprises hahahaha