A

s he beddeddown for the night, he got a text message from Yin Ting, ‘I forgot to tell you,although people say to climb high, I think Yong Kai is already very high, youhave to carefully consider your position oh. I know there is an offer on thetable and everyone has their own plan. I’m not trying to interfere; I’m juststanding out in the rain.’

Zhenqingfrowned, so what are you trying to say Miss Ying Ting?

Zhengqingwas quite satisfied with the status quo; Qin Wen Yi gave him a lot of support,s.p.a.ce to do his own thing, paid him well and he felt like a valuedemployee.  Qin Wen Yi was also verygenerous and trustworthy. Several times in the course of their partnership, QinWen Yi had been the one to extend the olive branch.

When hefirst met Qin Wen Yi, it wasn’t an automatically successful negotiation. Theymet several times and had lots of chats. Wen Yi did not tell him of the workconditions but talked about Yong Kai. Zhengqing a.n.a.lyzed Yong Kai’s strengthand weaknesses, while Wen Yi a.n.a.lysed Zhengqing’s academic performance andprofessional experience, things he heard via word of mouth, resources (Zuben:Sounds droll. Asia and academic prowess. I dunno any Asians so I dunno if booksmart but cant work is a thing there)

He told ChouZhengqing, Yongkai needed him.

Zhengqingwas impressed: Yongkai needed him.

He knew withhis abilities many companies wanted someone like him, but he needed a boss likeWen Yi and a workplace like Yong Kai. He accepted without the thought of thesalary. Wen Yi asked him how much he thought he was worth, Zhengqing gave ahigh number that was not modest.

But Wen Yionly laughed and said, ‘You know your worth, but in my heart you are worthmore. I hope you understand that you can get more than you want; this isambition. Young people must have ambition or the higher levels will be filledwith too many old men.’ In the end, Wen Yi paid Zhengqing one and a half timeshis requested salary.

But time provedthat being young was a big disadvantage for Zhengqing (Zuben: Isn’t thatbecause you live is a seniority obsessed society?). In his rise through theranks, he encountered a lot of intentional obstacles and lack of cooperation. ButZhengqing found it challenging, it excited him and spurned him to work evenharder. Zhengqing had come to Yong Kai on Qin Wen Yi’s behest, and Zhengqingwanted to fight for his place.

Eventually,he won the executives over. The veteran board were now respectful to him. Hehad Qin Wen Yi’s appreciation and trust. Wen Yi became interested in gettinghis daughter Yufei and Zhengqing together. Since Yong Kai had no successor,Zhengqing was a worthy candidate. (Zuben: You could always just give it to yourdaughter to run)

 ButYufei and Zhengqing remained lukewarm at best. Neither of them was romanticallyinterested in the other.

Although atthe start Zhengqing considered leaving Yong Kai, that idea was long behind him.As long as Yong Kai was Yong Kai and Wen Yi was Wen Yi, he was not leaving.There was no reason to give up long term development for a quick profit.

❀❀❀

The nextday, Qin Yufei came to see him and asked him to lunch.

Since heknew it was impossible for her to like him like that, he was not worried that hewas being tested for a date, so his first reaction was, ‘Have you donesomething bad?’

‘I may besuperficial, but I don’t do bad things.’

‘Okay, whatdo you need me for?’

 QinYufei gave him a casual look and said, ‘You think too much, can’t two colleaguesoccasionally eat together, chat, get to know each other, reach a more tacitunderstanding of each other…?’

 Zhengqingfrowned, ‘It still sounds a bit shifty to me,’ but he didn’t refuse. So theywent to eat lunch.

At lunch,Yufei did talk about work for a bit but he was still suspicious. When they werehalf way through their meal, Yufei asked, ‘Qiu Zong, what do you think of GuYingjie?’

‘Very good,he’s practical, hard working, and promising.’ Zhengqing said; his evaluationcompleted.

Qin Yufeidawdled for a while and said, ‘Ah I wanted to say, I am in love with him.’

‘Oh,’Zhengqing realised this was the original reason for their lunch. It seems thatYin Ting’s red string not only moves one’s own peach blossom but also other’speach blossom. (Zuben: all those peach blossoms sound so inappropriate. Can’twe just use springtime?)

‘I dare nottell my parents. I don’t know how my dad will take it. Do you think he’lloppose us if he knew?’

He wasn’t herparents, how was he to know? But it was normal to give comfort so he would try,

‘I don’t thinkyou should worry about this. Did you ask me to eat just to ask about whatPresident Qin might think?’

‘Of coursenot,’ she said, ‘Truthfully, I wanted to talk to you about Xiao Ting.’

Yin Ting?What does she have to do with Gu Yingjie?

‘What abouther?’ he asked.

‘I heardthat when she came to the company to see me, she came by the meeting room andsaw you and Yingjie, she asked you out for a meal. Gu Yingjie thought she was verywarm to you and that she might be interested in you, since she offered aninvitation to you. It might have surprised you since you don’t know her verywell, and you might misunderstand her, so I asked you out for a meal to clarifymatters.’

‘…’ Zhengqingwas mollified; black lines hovered over his head. How could he think that YinTing was interested in him? That girl that was hugged tightly by a G.o.d of thoughtlessness.Actually, he had thought Yin Ting was interested in Gu YIngjie, but he wouldn’ttell Yufei that, he didn’t want to get her into trouble.

‘I wanted toask you not misunderstand how she thinks of you. At that time things wereawkward with Yingjie, I did not want to see him. So I asked Xiao-Ting to comeand help me get rid of him.’ Yufei’s explanation was long winded but he focusedon one thing.

‘What you’resaying is you were at the office, but ignored my instructions and refused tocome to a meeting. Not only that you got an outsider to interrupt myconversation with our customers? What kind of work att.i.tude is this? You haveto behave responsibly; you can’t allow your personal feelings to affect your performance.That is unprofessional.’

‘Stop,please, stop,’ Yufei cried, but Zhengqing did not care for her discomfort. Hewent on and on, Yufei snapped.

ButZhengqing did not back down. It was an opportunity to stop Yufei’sirresponsible behaviour. As they returned to the company, Yufei regrettedasking Zhengqing out for a meal.

Zhengqingthought it was a little strange, in order to prevent any misunderstanding aboutYing Ting about him. Just for a misunderstanding, these pair of friends put upa performance. They really had no scruples. Also why did Yin Ting give him thered string, and the grapefruit?

Zhengqing wouldlike to try and understand but eventually the conclusion was that you could notguess what women were thinking, it was a waste of time and it did not matter tohim.

Later on,Zhengqing had a meeting with Wen Yi. On his way back to his office, he metYufei with a strange hesitant expression on her face. Zhengqing didn’t botherguessing what was up with her and went on his way; he had a lot of work to do.

He did notexpect that the next afternoon Yufei suddenly rushed into his office to ask himwhether he talked to her father about Gu Yingjie.

Zhengqingwas surprised, ‘President Qin? We didn’t talk about that.’ He said.

Yufei was lookedsurprised, ‘You mean that you and my father talked for half a day and you didnot mention the Gu Yingjie?

‘No,’Zhengqing said confused, ‘It is your private matter, if you want to tellPresident Qin then tell him. Why would I, an outsider, tell him? Why would I begossiping about this?’ But Yufei did not seem thankful for his discretion, she actuallyshe seemed more angry.

He wasreally flabbergasted now, ‘Did you deliberately tell me about him so that Iwill talk to your dad?’

Yufei’s facedarkened, ‘Of course not,’ she replied and she turned away. (Zuben: I don’tknow if it is already obvious, but I do not like Yufei)

Zhengqingthought about it for a while, but did not understand. Miss Qin was a usuallystraightforward person, when did she become so befuddled and reserved?

The thoughtof reserved made him think of Yin Ting. He knows Yu Fei would tell Yin Tingabout what was happening. Yufei would complain to Yin Ting if she had wantedhim to help.

To behonest, he did not want to help and he did not even know if she wanted help.Women are really troublesome, Zhengqing thought as he sighed.

Later, hecalled Yufei, ‘Manager Qin, if you want me to help you talk to President Qinabout this matter, I can still help.’

‘No need.’Yufei said angrily and she hung up the phone.

Zhengqinglooked at the handset for a short time, and then calmly put it back in place.Good. If she didn’t want his help, that was all well and good.

The rest ofthe day went smoothly. The next day, Friday, Huizhu was due to return.

She calledZhengqing about meeting for a meal on Sunday.  Zhengqing agreed. The same as last time, he’d choosethe place to eat. Huizhu certainly did not express an opinion, but she was alsothoughtful, she said he did not need to pick her up, she would drive herself.The two agreed.

Zhengqing’smind flashed to several places to eat. He remembered someone criticise hischoices as expensive and not delicious, and the atmosphere is not suitable fordating and so on. So he decided to take the time to go online to find arestaurant suitable for dating.

ButZhengqing was serious so he did not use company time to do his research. Atnight, while he ate his dinner, he sat in his study and tried to find arestaurant.

He was on afamous restaurant’s website reading reviews when he came across an ID, TingtingYu Li 413. The comment was written a long time ago. He clicked on the ID and itled to a blog home page. It was a very active blog, there were many restaurantreviews. He didn’t even need to look at others, just by looking through the blog;he could find a nice place to eat.

Zhengqingfound the blogger very entertaining as he read through their reviews, whilemost people wrote one or two sentences, this blogger reviewed from décor todishes to the service and the prices. She usually went to the restaurants twiceand made note of it, but some restaurants she did not visit more than twice. Atthe end of each review was a one sentence cla.s.sification comment: Suitable fordating. Suitable for business talks. Suitable for flattering. Suitable forloading. Suitable for family dinner. Suitable for friends. Suitable for meetingwith the fool. Suitable for breaking up. Suitable for anything.

Zhengqinglaughed.  He had an inkling that TingtingYu Li 413 was Yin Ting.

He felt itmight be necessary to consult directly with the reviewer about where to go onSunday, so he called Yin Ting.

❀ Chapter 10...