Xu Chi saw the message You Chumu had sent back to him…
What could he say? Right now, he could only keep reminding himself not to trust You Chumu too much. You Chumu’s friendliness and submissiveness were all fake. You Chumu was like a venomous snake, ready at any moment to turn around and swallow you whole, to tear you apart.
You Chumu had no feelings.
He still had to stay vigilant around You Chumu at all times.
There wasn’t much time at noon, so everyone went to the cafeteria to eat. The cafeteria was on the first floor. From the moment he went downstairs and arrived there, a crowd kept following Xu Chi. They looked like colleagues walking together, but their fawning attitude was too obvious, and Xu Chi had nothing to say.
He took out his meal card and wanted to get his own food when a girl with a black bun behind him bravely stepped forward, took his card, and looked at him with big, bright eyes behind black-rimmed glasses…
“Brother Xu, let me get your food for you.”
Her voice was sweet, soft, and careful.
As soon as she spoke, the men around her all felt too embarrassed to say anything. They had originally wanted to pay for Xu Chi.
Xu Chi looked at the person in front of him, paused, took back his card, and smiled. “No need. How can I let a miss get my food for me? You helped me print that file last time, and I haven’t thanked you yet. This meal is on me. Just sit down.”
When he had a cold expression, he looked pretty intimidating, but once he smiled, he seemed especially gentle and good-looking. Especially since he was still young, with fair skin and a good complexion. If not for the business suit he wore, he really looked like some campus male lead… clean and handsome.
Wen Ling stared blankly for a moment, only coming back to herself when Xu Chi brushed past her.
Turning around, she saw Xu Chi walking toward the serving window to queue. Even standing among the crowd, he was still the most eye-catching one, and even his side profile looked ridiculously good.
Actually, she had noticed before that Xu Chi was good-looking, but Xu Chi had been too quiet, rarely showed his face directly, and his personality had not been that great… He had also not been very proactive at work, so everyone’s dislike of his abilities had completely overshadowed the charisma of his face. Now that Xu Chi’s personality had changed, even his face was being seen.
The moment Xu Chi stepped into the cafeteria, nearly a thousand gazes in the whole place kept landing on him. All kinds of surprised exclamations occasionally burst out uncontrollably, loud enough that it was hard not to know who they were talking about…
“Damn, who’s that?”
“Xu Chi?? The Xu Chi from the forty-ninth floor?”
“The forty-ninth floor?? When was there ever such a person?”
“I never saw him when I went up there before either.”
“Damn, he’s handsome.”
Xu Chi: how should he put it? He had looked the same before, so why had he never caused such a stir in real life? Well, maybe because in a manga world, the characters’ emotions were set to be a little more exaggerated?
While thinking this, Xu Chi chatted with the colleagues queued behind him. People from the adjacent line chimed in too, and Xu Chi smiled and spoke to her very warmly. Then people from the next line over joined in, and then from the line after that. They even added each other on Twitter.
When it was finally his turn, Xu Chi handed his tray to the auntie. As soon as she saw him, the masked auntie let out an “Oh my” and happily took his tray…
“What would a handsome young man like you like to eat?”
“Thanks, auntie. I’ll have sweet and sour pork and mapo tofu.”
Xu Chi smiled at the auntie, very polite. The auntie was even happier, scooping him a huge portion without a tremble, piling his tray so full that one compartment wasn’t enough and half spilled into the other one. The auntie even said it still wasn’t enough and gave him another huge scoop…
“Is that enough, child? If not, this young man’s face is really beautiful, really handsome.”
Xu Chi was too tall, so he had to bend down to talk to the auntie. He laughed helplessly. “It’s enough, auntie. You’ve given me even more than my mom would.”
The auntie laughed even more heartily. “Then you’re lovable.”
Xu Chi took the loaded tray, thanked her, got another portion, and the auntie asked whether he was getting it for his girlfriend. He smiled and said no, finished getting the food, chatted a bit more, and left the line.
Wen Ling sat obediently and neatly in her seat. Xu Chi carried the food over and placed her portion in front of her.
Wen Ling froze when she saw the higher-ups’ dishes. “How did you know I…” Thinking of some possibility, her expression turned suspicious, and her face flushed red again.
“What’s wrong?” Xu Chi’s expression did not change. He still looked at her with that warm but distant smile.
Seeing Xu Chi’s expression, Wen Ling felt that she had probably been overthinking it…
The two dishes were spicy chicken and crispy sausage, her favorites. But she had only ordered them once. She never usually ordered these two dishes; she normally only ate vegetables… How did Xu Chi know to order these for her…
Could it really be a coincidence?…
As Wen Ling ate, she secretly kept sizing Xu Chi up. She wanted to talk to him, but she did not know what to say. This version of Xu Chi made her feel distant. She wanted to flatter him, but did not know how to flatter him.
A few men saw Xu Chi sitting with Wen Ling, and their expressions turned a little strange. They all moved to other seats.
Xu Chi pretended not to notice Wen Ling’s gaze. Only after he finished eating did he wipe his mouth and look up. When Wen Ling saw that he was done, she immediately lowered her head and sped up her eating.
“It’s fine. Eat slowly,” Xu Chi said.
“Oh…” Wen Ling replied, slowing down, though she still ate much faster than usual.
She really was stupid. Finally getting the chance to eat with Xu Chi, she could not think of a single thing to say. Clearly, when facing the old Xu Chi, she would smile and talk with him, but with this Xu Chi, she did not dare say a word.
Would Xu Chi keep her? If she still could not find someone to keep her, she would have no money…
“Can you keep me?”
“…”
???!!! Xu Chi was lucky he had already finished eating, otherwise he would have spit it out. He stared at Wen Ling in shock and complete disbelief. Had he heard that right?
Damn, damn, damn. Was Wen Ling in this manga really this direct? No, no, that was wrong. That was totally out of character?!
Wen Ling finally realized what she had said and froze too. Then her heart started pounding wildly. Her face turned bright red, then even redder. After that, she did not dare look up, buried her head in her food, and her eyes were covered with a thin mist, as if she were about to cry.
“You, were you asking if I was unwell? Haha, it’s nothing. I’m fine now.”
This was the first time Xu Chi had ever experienced something like this. Even though he kept telling himself to stay calm, he still could not recover for a long time. It was just too explosive. He had never even thought about this. He was just an ordinary office worker. He was still a model student. He was only interested in studying and work.
“Yes, yes, I was asking whether you were unwell.” Wen Ling’s face was still blazing red. She did not dare look up at him at all, and she did not even know what she was saying. Her mind was buzzing.
Suddenly, a wave of nausea rose in her. She felt disgusting, felt that among all the people in the whole company, only she was this disgusting.
She felt she should be buried in the dirt, that she was not worthy of sitting here. She wished she could disappear on the spot.