At the meeting, although Director Ge never said a word about Old Qi’s critical condition or the turmoil about to hit the company, his unusually urgent pushing of the R&D project so unlike his usual steady working style, indirectly confirmed the “insider information” Su Mo had given Li Zhao in advance.
“Everyone knows how important this innovative Radium Element development is to our entire department. If the group approves it, we won’t have to worry about R&D funding for at least the next three years. And I believe that with everyone’s abilities, we’ll be able to develop more innovative uses for the Radium Element in this time, playing an important role in the high-end medical and beauty industries, generating revenue for the company and for ourselves.”
“But if it doesn’t pass,” Director Ge’s expression turned solemn and his tone grew stern, “our department will have no funding to develop our business for a long time to come. At that point, team transfers, reassignments, even layoffs are all possible.”
“So this week, everyone pull yourselves together and put in some overtime to revise the report. The specifics will follow what we just discussed in the meeting.”
“Xiao Li, you’re the team leader. You need to lead the way and work hard, make that report as good as it can be, so it passes the group’s review committee on the first try! Time waits for no one!”
Li Zhao nodded. “Understood, Director Ge.”
“Mm.” Director Ge relaxed and patted Li Zhao’s shoulder. “Thanks for the hard work. Everyone, thanks for the hard work.”
When the meeting ended, Director Ge took his thermos back to his office, leaving Li Zhao and his team to continue their meeting in the conference room.
Li Zhao divided up the work based on the report revisions needed, making clear to each team member which parts they were responsible for, then bounced ideas and revision approaches off everyone before dismissing them.
“Ah, there goes another perfectly good weekend,” one colleague sighed.
“Yeah, I was supposed to take my girlfriend to a movie. If I break that promise, I’ll be kneeling on the washboard tonight.”
“Tsk tsk tsk, don’t flaunt your love life here!” Su Mo teased with a laugh. “You’re the only one in our team with a partner. Careful, or the team leader will punish you by making you sleep at the company and work overtime.”
“Oh oh oh, my mistake, my mistake! Team leader, I won’t dare again!”
“Hahahaha…”
Everyone burst out laughing, and the gloomy mood brought on by the overtime eased considerably.
Good-natured Li Zhao laughed along with everyone. “Alright, everyone go get busy. Afternoon tea’s on me, send what you want to drink to the group chat, Mo Mo will compile it.”
“Yes sir!”
“Thanks, boss!”
“Long live Li Ge!”
After the joking and laughing, everyone returned to their workstations to begin their miserable overtime.
Although Li Zhao was the project team leader, he didn’t have his own private office, he sat together with everyone else.
Their R&D team had nine people in total, including him as leader. The team members’ desks were arranged in two rows facing each other, while Li Zhao’s desk was at the very front of these two rows, closest to the window. So compared to the other team members, Li Zhao’s spot was relatively well hidden.
Back at his seat, Li Zhao was organizing his work on his computer when the phone at his hand suddenly started vibrating continuously.
Li Zhao had set his phone to vibrate during the meeting just now, so without thinking much of it, he waited until he’d finished reading the revision notes marked on a page of the report before turning his gaze to his continuously vibrating phone.
One look was all it took Li Zhao’s heart abruptly stopped, and even his breathing softened, it was a call from Ouyang Pei.
With no time to calm his excitement, Li Zhao quickly rubbed his hands together and answered before the ringing could cut off.
“Hello?” Li Zhao’s voice was trembling from sheer excitement.
On the other end of the line, Ouyang Pei’s voice was lazy and drawling. “I’m bored. Keep me company at dinner.”
“Huh? N-now?” Li Zhao hadn’t expected Ouyang Pei to call and immediately invite him to a meal, and he stammered a little.
It was only a little past four in the afternoon, no matter what kind of meal it was, this timing seemed a bit awkward.
“Mm, I’m hungry. I’ve been busy since this morning and haven’t eaten anything.” Ouyang Pei paused, then said in a somewhat coquettish tone, “Are you coming or not?”
Li Zhao was someone with an extremely dedicated work attitude. Even when working overtime, he had never been late or left early, let alone in a situation like this.
But if the person inviting him was Ouyang Pei…
Seeing that Li Zhao hadn’t spoken for a while, Ouyang Pei lost patience. “Fine, forget it. I’ll invite someone else.”
“I’ll come! I’m coming,” Li Zhao quickly replied, lowering his voice. “What do you want to eat? I’ll book a table and then come pick you up.”
Ouyang Pei gave a light laugh and named a Western restaurant that was quite famous in the city. “No need to pick me up. Let’s meet at the restaurant in half an hour.”
“Oh, okay. S-see you then.”
After hanging up, Li Zhao held his phone with a sweet expression on his face, savoring Ouyang Pei’s words and voice from the call.
It seemed Ouyang Pei still had a good impression of him otherwise, she wouldn’t have taken the initiative to suggest having a meal together. Li Zhao had originally worried that if he proposed meeting up himself, Ouyang Pei would refuse. Now it seemed he’d been overthinking everything.
When they met later, he’d have to put on a good show, make Ouyang Pei…
Just as Li Zhao was lost in his own lovesick little world, a voice by his ear nearly scared the soul right out of him.
“Zhao Zhao, why are you smiling like a cat in heat?”
“…” Li Zhao clutched his phone tightly and looked up. Su Mo had somehow appeared beside his workstation at some point.
“How do you walk without making a sound? You scared me to death.”
“? You’re the one sneaking around with a lovesick look on your face, you can’t even hear people walking normally. Tell me, who were you just on the phone with?” Su Mo bent down and interrogated him mysteriously. “Is it about last night? You went on a blind date? Hit it off with someone?”
“…” Li Zhao couldn’t help but admire his old friend’s astonishing and accurate powers of deduction. He really couldn’t hide it anymore, so he just went along with Su Mo’s words. “Mm, mm, I do think he’s pretty great. He invited me to dinner, we’re meeting in half an hour. I have to head out first. Cover for me, okay? I’ll come back right after I eat.”
“???” The flames of gossip in Su Mo’s eyes were nearly burning Li Zhao’s eyebrows off. “How is it? What kind of person? What do they do? Did you smell their pheromones? Why didn’t you tell me sooner…”
“I really have to go, or I’ll be late.” Li Zhao stood up and reassured him. “I’ll give you all the details later, but I really need to leave now. Cover for me here, I’ll be back right after lunch!”
Although he was itching inside to know more, seeing that his buddy was genuinely in a hurry, Su Mo nodded considerately right away. “Go ahead. I’ll cover for you on everything!”
Li Zhao shot Su Mo a grateful look, grabbed his car keys, and bolted. “I’ll transfer you the money for afternoon tea—I’m off!”
Then, before any of the team members had even processed what was happening, Li Zhao had already swept out of the office like a whirlwind. Some people looked up in confusion, but only managed to catch a blurry glimpse of his retreating figure.
“?!”
“What’s going on?”
“Where’s Li Ge going?”
“Keep it down, everyone, keep it down!” Su Mo, the fire-extinguishing expert, quickly stepped in. “The team lead had to step out for a bit. He’ll be back soon let’s get to work. Oh, by the way, who hasn’t ordered their afternoon tea yet? I’m about to place the order…”
Meanwhile, Li Zhao was speeding toward the Western restaurant like the wind.
The restaurant Ouyang Pei had chosen was quite far from Li Zhao’s company. Along the way, Li Zhao overtook fourteen cars, ran six red lights at the absolute limit, and shifted his aching lower back and hips twenty-eight times as if sitting on pins and needles finally arriving at the restaurant entrance five minutes before the half-hour deadline.
He parked and shut off the engine in record time, then endured the soreness as he hurried on foot to the restaurant door.
The greeter smiled and asked, “Do you have a reservation, sir?”
After giving his name and phone number, Li Zhao was led into the restaurant by the server.
It was before five o’clock, so the restaurant wasn’t very crowded. The server guided Li Zhao to a quiet spot by the window and handed him the menu.
Li Zhao took a look and ordered the violin accompaniment, then set the menu beside him and said to the server with a smile, “Sorry, my guest hasn’t arrived yet. I’d like to wait for him before ordering.”
“Very good, sir.”
After the server withdrew, Li Zhao, bored of waiting, began idly flipping through the menu, trying to guess Ouyang Pei’s tastes.
All he knew so far was that Ouyang Pei liked strong liquor and could hold it far better than he could. But since he had to go back to the office and work overtime after the meal, drinking was an option he’d have to pass on for now.
The violin accompaniment service arrived quickly, a young man in a black tailcoat suit stood beside their table and began playing a melodious, lovely tune.
Li Zhao didn’t have much of an ear for music; he’d ordered this accompaniment purely because he felt Ouyang Pei matched this kind of elegant, beautiful musical atmosphere, and would surely appreciate it.
So he listened to the violin music he couldn’t understand while flipping through the menu, and after waiting a good ten-plus minutes, Ouyang Pei finally made his belated arrival.
He was wearing a loose hoodie and jeans, with a face mask on, walking toward where Li Zhao sat under the server’s guidance.
Li Zhao quickly stood up and, ever the gentleman, pulled out the chair beside him for Ouyang Pei, greeting him with a smile. “How about sitting here?”
The mask covered the lower half of Ouyang Pei’s face, leaving visible only a pair of eyes brimming with liquid charm, as expressive as if they could speak.
As he drew near and glanced down at Li Zhao, Li Zhao felt his heart practically melting.
“Did you wait long?” Ouyang Pei asked.
“Not long, not at all,” Li Zhao answered eagerly. “I just got here a little while ago myself.”
“There was traffic,” Ouyang Pei offered by way of explaining his lateness, then leaned sideways toward Li Zhao and said, a little coquettishly, “I’m starving.”
Li Zhao quickly sat up straight to support the tall girl, who was nearly a head taller than him. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Take a look at what you want to eat, and I’ll have them hurry up with the dishes.”
With that, Li Zhao eagerly spread open the menu and pushed it in front of Ouyang Pei.
Ouyang Pei took off her mask, the corners of her lips curving up slightly, she was clearly enjoying being fawned over by Li Zhao. “Sure, then I won’t hold back!”