The more she thought about it, the more worried Xia Wei felt. She tried to find comfort in the group.

　　Asking For Suicide At Eighteen This Year: But he"s only gone for a month, so it should be okay... right?

　　Eight Treasures Congee Female Hero: ... When I first started this project, the project manager also told me that it would only last a month [smile] this sort of thing is hardly certain, deadlines can always be extended [smile]

　　Not Losing 5kg Not Changing Name: Eight Treasures is quite right. One month quickly becomes two, two months becomes six, half a year becomes a year ... and you two just got together, too, so the relations.h.i.+p is still pretty unstable. It"s a bad foundation to start on.

　　Asking For Suicide At Eighteen This Year: ..........

　　Was this revenge for her previous extravagant displays of love?

　　Invincible Little Sweetie: Don"t scare her, I don"t think Mr. Jiang is a bad guy. There should be no problem.

　　Not Losing 5kg Not Changing Name: I too thought Li Si was a reliable man at the start, but then he proved to me with his actions that believing in a man is the same as believing that pigs climb trees.

　　Invincible Little Sweetie: ...

　　Eight Treasures Congee Female Hero: And Mr. Jiang"s in a much better place than Li Si [digging nose]

　　Asking For Suicide At Eighteen This Year: ... I"ve decided to leave this group to protect my peace of mind :)

　　She didn"t really leave the group, of course. She just blocked the group chat, and then stared at her messages, waiting for a reply she hadn"t yet received.

　　Why would an uptight, rigid man like Mr. Jiang suddenly think about giving her gifts? Was he feeling guilty? Had he done something bad?

　　Xia Wei: "..."

　　She knew she couldn"t continue thinking like this. The two of them were together now and should trust each other. She ached to make a phone call and have Jiang Zhi Zhou rea.s.sure her, but if he couldn"t even return a text message then he must be very busy and she was afraid of disturbing him.

　　Forget it, she would say h.e.l.lo to him that night.

　　Ever since Jiang Zhi Zhou left for S City, he would call Xia Wei every night before going to bed. Xia Wei took a shower, watching the clock. Surely it was almost time for Mr. Jiang"s phone call. The call still had not come after waiting a little longer, so she opened the texting app and reread the message he had sent her that afternoon.

　　Jiang Zhi Zhou: So besides me, which suitors have you told about eye cream and face-slimming ma.s.sagers? :)

　　Jiang Zhi Zhou: I"m a little busy today. Let"s chat tonight.

　　Xia Wei snorted. Well, since he had splurged on a very expensive eye cream and ma.s.sager, she would wait a while.

　　She opened their walking campaign and looked at today"s rankings. To her chagrin, she found that Mr. Jiang, who had always hovered around 3,000 steps, had leapt up the ranks today with a total of more than 9,000 steps!

　　Xia Wei could not calm down. She thought of the chat in the girlfriend group today, and her eyebrows could not help but wrinkle in worry. She would call him back.

　　The phone rang a few times before being picked up by Jiang Zhi Zhou: "Xia Wei?"

　　"It"s me." Xia Wei asked him, "Are you free now?"

　　"Well, I"ve just returned to the hotel."

　　"That"s good!" Xia Weihe snorted. "I just saw our pedometer tracking campaign. You took more than 9000 steps today, did you go shopping with some young lady?"

　　"..." Jiang Zhi Zhou was silent for a moment, "Are you calling to ask me this?"

　　Xia Wei choked. It sounded like he was implying that she was being unreasonable. "So what have you done today to walk so far?"

　　"I accompanied my niece to the park."

　　"Your niece?"

　　"Yes, my eldest cousin"s daughter is just five years old. My cousin got a divorce last year, and even at the best of times he isn"t an exemplary parent - he cares only about work and doesn"t have much time for his daughter. This time, Man Man followed him to S City. I stayed out with her all evening, that"s why I"m so late."

　　Was Man Man the name of his niece? Xia Wei thought about it and told him: "It sounds like your cousin has his priorities skewed. Such a young child surely still needs her parents around."

　　Jiang Zhi Zhou loosened his tie and took off his jacket: "Well, their family has their own circ.u.mstances too, and it"s not good for me to pry. All I can do is to spend more time with Man Man."

　　Xia Wei smiled wide, "Didn"t you go to S City on business? How did that change into being a full-time babysitter?"

　　"I"m not really that interested in the company"s projects. My two cousins are already at loggerheads, I don"t want to get involved."

　　"I didn"t expect to be so closely related to a drama! Normally I only see this sort of thing on TV."

　　Jiang Zhi Zhou smiled a crooked smile and didn"t comment. "Did you received the things I sent you?"

　　"Indeed, but why did you choose such a expensive eye cream?"

　　Jiang Zhi Zhou said, "I didn"t know what brand was best, so I just chose the most expensive one the mall had to offer."

　　Xia Wei: "..."

　　This logic seems terribly familiar... Wasn"t this exactly how he"d chosen cat food for Tangerine?

　　"Come now, Mr. Jiang, are you sure that the money you earn can keep up with your spending? Are you still taking care of the company?"

　　"Don"t worry, the money Tian Xia Restaurant brings in is quite enough to support you for the next ten years."

　　Xia Wei: "..."

　　She"s capable of spending a lot of money if she"s serious about it!

　　"But why did you want to gift me something?" she asked.

　　Jiang Zhi Zhou said: "Haven"t I gifted you a silk scarf before?"

　　"That"s not the same, we were cas.h.i.+ng in on a promotion then."

　　"You said you wanted it, so I gave it to you."

　　Xia Wei was truly touched by this sentence, especially when the two of them were talking over the phone. His voice whispered directly into her ears, like a breath blowing across her heart.

　　"S City is quite amazing. Even Mr. Jiang, a piece of rotten wood, could be sculpted into a wood carving."

　　Jiang Zhi Zhou: "..."

　　He pondered for quite a while on whether this sentence was praising him or scolding him.

　　The two chatted for over an hour until it was time for Xia Wei to go to bed. She yawned and said goodbye, "I"m going to bed now, good night."

　　"Good night."

　　Xia Wei watched the phone screen go dark, then put it aside and turned off her lights.

　　When she got up and prepared breakfast for Suns.h.i.+ne and Tangerine the next morning, she found that Tangerine"s whiskers had grown again. She took a photo cheerfully and pa.s.sed it on to Jiang Zhi Zhou: "Tangerine"s whiskers are quite long now! Once you get home, you can take him to be neutered."

　　Jiang Zhi Zhou didn"t reply until a couple hours later. "Is the camera fat, or Tangerine?"

　　Xia Wei: ...

　　Xia Wei: Why don"t you buy him a face slimmer too? There"s a kind that can ma.s.sage the entire body :)

　　Jiang Zhi Zhou stared at this message for a long time. Is she trying to hint that he should buy her one for her entire body?

　　In the end, he couldn"t figure it out, but... it was never wrong to buy gifts.

　　That evening before his phone call with Xia Wei, he checked out ma.s.sage devices online and found quite a number of models. He was choosing a few to send to Xia Wei when he received a text from her: "I"m currently on the phone with Eight Treasures. Let"s chat in a bit."

　　Jiang Zhi Zhou frowned just a little, and replied: "Sounds good."

　　He went to take a shower and blow-dried his hair before sending her a reply: "Have you finished your phone call?"

　　Xia Wei: Not yet, Eight Treasures encountered some problems on the construction site. She"s so upset that she"s in tears...

　　Xia Wei: Do you know Eight Treasures? You saw her the last time I went to Tian Xia Restaurant with her and Xia Ming Ming.

　　Jiang Zhi Zhou: Why don"t you call me right after you finish chatting? I"ll go see to some doc.u.ments first.

　　Xia Wei: Sounds good.

　　"Xia Wei, are you listening?" Eight Treasures found that the person on the other end of the phone had not responded for quite a long time now, and felt like she was doing a monologue.

　　"Of course." Xia Wei moved her gaze away from the computer, "You said that the stingy project supervisor wouldn"t even send you a boxed lunch during the meeting."

　　"Yeah! And do you know how long he dragged the meeting on for? It was supposed to be over, but then he said, "Looks like it"s raining heavily outside. Since that"s happening, let"s talk a little longer--" ...I just want to hit him with a brick!"

　　"...what a considerate leader. Are you eating now, then?"

　　"I just finished, otherwise I"d never have the strength to call you. That supervisor really is insane. In the middle of the night, he got a little too drunk and ended up pounding on our door! The other girls sharing our room were so scared!"

　　"...that really is scary. Definitely remember to lock the doors and windows. And if you can"t, raise a dog."

　　Eight Treasures Congee Female Hero:"......"

　　Xia Wei comforted her for a while longer, before a message from Jiang Zhi Zhou came again: "Aren"t you done yet?"

　　Xia Wei: ......_(:3"∠)_ The person in charge at Eight Treasures" construction site really is too horrendous to describe.

　　Jiang Zhi Zhou: ......

　　Jiang Zhi Zhou: Alright, I"ll wait a bit longer.

　　Xia Wei: I think I might go to sleep after this call. Today the shop was super busy, so I"m really tired.

　　She did not expect that her message would make Jiang Zhi Zhou angry: "We never talk during the day, so I can only call you in the evening! Aren"t you able to set this time aside for me?"

　　Xia Wei saw this reply and ignited. Slamming her fingers on the keyboard, she replied: "Don"t you think that"s being a bit selfish? Eight Treasures has to work all through the day, and has been my friend for ten years. Isn"t it just a phone call? And anyway, when I want to call you, I"m always worried about disturbing you when you"re busy. The most I can do is to send you a message, which you take forever to reply to. But now that you want to call me, I have to hang up on my friend and pick up yours right away?"

　　"Xia Wei Wei, what"s wrong? Why are you suddenly breathing heavily?"

　　"Nothing, just quarreling with Jiang Zhi Zhou."

　　Eight Treasures Congee Female Hero: "......"

　　"Are you talking to me and quarreling with him at the same time?" How very busy.

　　"I think he"s being too possessive."

　　"... Are you showing off?"

　　"...No, I"m very angry about it."

　　"Well, men are just like that sometimes, and your family"s Mr. Jiang is already the sort who can"t even accept an ex-boyfriend..."

　　Xia Wei said, "I think he can"t even accept my friends. He got angry when I called you."

　　Eight Treasures Congee Female Hero:"......"

　　So he wasn"t without jealousy over girl friends either.

　　"Well, then I"ll hang up so you can concentrate on quarreling." Eight Treasures said this crisply and immediately hung up. Xia Wei put down her phone - Jiang Zhi Zhou just sent another message.

　　Jiang Zhi Zhou: I think we both got a little worked up. Let"s talk about it tomorrow.

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Crystal: I just wanted to say that the last thing my boyfriend bought me was Taco Bell. Jiang Zhi Zhou sends his girlfriend $450 face creams, do you think I should demand pizza too?